play dough

We made play dough today! I thought it would be fun for them to measure things and do a little scientific experiment. After the dough was made, I sneaked a few drops of food coloring into the middle of each dough ball. Then I said, "If you were really great students today, your play dough will change colors when you squish it." And so the squishing began...

Laughing and giggles followed. Here's how you make play dough... 1 cup water, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1 Tbs. oil, 2 tsp cream of tartar. Heat all ingredients in pot over medium heat. Stir constantly until dough begins to stick and take shape. Form into balls. Add food coloring. Store in ziplock baggies.

homeschool is so cool

Ok... WAY too busy to blog. I have no business sitting with a computer in my lap right now, but I need to share this thing that has taken over our house and our world... like completely taken over... HOMESCHOOL.

Let's talk about it. On Monday morning, Little Dean started first grade and Millie g. started kindergarten. This is my first time for real homeschooling my own children. Basically, I spend the whole day feeling nervous, happy, crazy, content, discontent, organized, coo coo crazy, strong, weak, then back to nervous. That's normal right?

I hope you all are very neat and organized and having a lovely Wednesday evening.

straight from the chalkboard in our kitchen

Lots of excitement coming up this Monday! This will involve mucho cake making, present wrapping, lesson planning, paintbrush washing, shoe finding, hugging, and furniture rearranging. Yes, I rearranged my whole house and may or may not have painted the piano and the back door... it's how I cope with overwhelming situations... don't worry about it. What's on your schedule for Monday?

family exercise

Four nights a week we do a "family run." On Mondays we go to a local track. Charlie and I take turns running a mile while the other keeps the kiddies entertained. Other days we run around the campground (which is across the street from our house) or around the neighborhood. It's nearly impossible for both of us to run in the morning since our runs are getting longer and we aren't even close to the same pace. Charlie is just a teeny bit faster than me... or a lot. Anyway, so I spend most of the day with the kids and most evenings running (or icing my old lady-ish back and knees after a run).

charlie's blog

Many of you might be tickled to find out that handsome Charlie has a blog now. Charlie loves teaching people about the Bible, and he's very good at it. When we joined our new church back in February, they wanted Charlie to help start a college ministry. (This is why we started the snow cone business... so he could volunteer his time to this ministry). The college students come to our house every thursday night and eat cookies and learn about the Word. They are funny and they ask good questions.

Our pastor thought it would be good for Charlie to do a little blog each week about our meetings and other things that will help the college students grow. Since I didn't want Charlie's blog to look like a microsoft word document (it was headed in that direction, people... seriously), I've been working hard on "dressing up" his little space. You can click HERE to see Charlie's blog. It's very interesting and challenging. I love Charlie!