It's a Sweet Life!

No news, but a few photos to catch up on.  The kids went to their last Pioneer Club's event for the year and enjoyed playing in the water and shaving cream.  I didn't take my camera, so my friend Mindy covered for me and took some photos.  Merrilee and Jacob enjoyed playing in the shaving cream with the other kids, but Katie Mei seemed to get more enjoyment out of trying to smear it all over me!  By the way, she doesn't really like the fresh menthol taste of Barbasol.

Last weekend we attended a Family Day gathering at Chehaw Park with other Marine families from the base.  Smelvin the clown was there and made balloon things for the kids.  Katie Mei and Jacob also enjoyed bouncing in the bouncy houses.  Thanks to one of Jay's co-workers for taking the following two photos.

The best part of the event was when Katie Mei asked the balloon guy to make a flower for her.  I think she was a little stunned by what she received.  It wasn't what either one of us was expecting, and even Jay cracked up!  I was nearly rolling on the floor laughing at her reaction--she couldn't see it and she couldn't put her arms down!  She hasn't worn it since.

However, the bracelet, she wore all day.

Eggs and Chocolate

I think I'm about done with coloring Easter eggs.  Every year it seems to get messier and more annoying for me, and I'm already rolling my eyes at the thought of wrangling five kids trying to dip eggs into smelly batches of vinegar solutions while dribbling pastel colored stain all over their clothes and each other.  Just not real fun for me anymore.  But the kids still enjoy it, and I always seem to forget how much I don't, once the store shelves fill with Paas coloring kits (and Reese's Peanut Butter Easter Eggs) each spring.  So, the tradition continues, and I continue to go through a whole roll of paper towel and more than a dozen eggs, only to throw them away two weeks after they're colored. 

This year we graduated to the dozen-and-a-half size container of eggs.  I can't believe in a few years we'll be buying 30 eggs so each kid gets to color six.  We may have to find a new tradition, because I felt terrible throwing out all those eggs after Easter this year.  Tossing two dozen eggs will make me feel even worse!

I tried to change things up a bit and bought the marbleized egg kit this year.  I thought it would be like the one we used once or twice as kids where there were some drops of a toluene-smelling substance you put in the water, and the dye floated on top and swirled over the eggs when you dipped them.  I guess that stuff must have proven too toxic or something, because the kit I ended up with was just a nasty mess of dye tablets, and vegetable oil had to be added to the cups of vinegar solution.  I initially thought maybe some of the dye would be organic (from a chemist's standpoint) and dissolve in the floating oil while the water-soluble oil would stay in the water, and the two dyes would make a swirl effect on the egg.  Not so.  Essentially it was just a nasty, oily mess so the eggs came out nice and slippery, the dye dribbled into oily blobs on the picnic table, and the greased up eggs were not pleasant to touch, let alone peel and eat.  I will never do anything "fancy" like that again, unless the package explicitly states that the kit contains the old, wonderfully toxic, toluene-smelling poisonous dye that I loved as a child.

The day before Easter Sunday our church once again hosted the Easter Eggstravaganza.  Lots of candy and plastic eggs later, we came home, and proceeded to allow our children to fulfill their wildest dreams of a sugar high.  Merrilee, ever the conservative one, at a couple of pieces of candy and called it quits.  Katie Mei grabbed a few pieces of chocolate to eat, enjoyed them, and spent the rest of the day asking "Can I have a piece of chocolate? Can I have a piece of chocolate?" over and over.   Jacob not only finished all the candy from his Easter egg hunt at school three days prior, but he also finished every piece of candy from the Saturday egg hunt.  On Sunday, he finished all the candy received in his Easter basket.  There is no stopping that boy when he has candy waiting around to be eaten.  In the past I've tried to limit his intake, but then I have to keep watch to prevent him from sneaking it when he's not allowed to have it.  I now feel it's better to just let him feast, and then spend the next two weeks watching his sisters slowing nibble their stashes away.  Maybe one day he'll get it.

After church on Easter Sunday I made the kids suffer through sitting for a few photos.  Wasn't much of a photo session, but at least I got a few pics of them cleaned up and smiling.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter, too.  Now, onto summer....

Global Village Field Trip

The girls and I went on our last scheduled field trip of the semester with the homeschool group.  We went to the Global Village and Discovery Center in Americus, GA.  This was our first time there and it was a great place to see.  It was created by Habitat for Humanity (Americus is the international headquarters of HFH, which was founded by Jimmy Carter.). 

The Global Village and Discovery Center is a place where one can see and learn about the poverty that affects much of the world, and see how Habitat for Humanity is building homes for families in these poverty-stricken areas.  HFH does not just build the homes for free; the families moving into the homes are required to help with the labor ("sweat equity"), and then pay affordable payments for their homes.  It is a wonderful program.  Many of us are familiar with the homes HFH builds in the U.S., but we often don't see the work done in other countries around the world.  The Global Village has a mock-up of the very poor shanties and shacks many people in the world inhabit, along with signs explaining the effects of poverty on those living in such poor conditions.  Then the trail leads the viewer through a "Global Village" of  new homes built by HFH in different cultures, and gives the student a multi-cultural experience of what kinds of homes people live in outside our own borders.  I was so happy to have the opportunity to take the girls on this trip.  Here are a few photos.


These are from the poverty portion of the trail.

The homes below are samples of homes that HFH builds in different countries.  Each home had a sign describing the building materials needed and the approximate cost of each house (usually $3000-$5000).  We learned that in some cultures, all the doors of the rooms open outside to the front of the house because family members spend most of the time outside.  In other cultures, there are no bathrooms because they use a separate building.  And in yet other cultures, there are no kitchens because all the cooking is done outside.  It was very interesting.  The homeschooling parents were given a teacher's guide which described each house and the facts surrounding it's appearance and use.

The girls were also given "passports" to get stamped with a seal representing each country at each house.  Katie Mei found that to be the highlight of her visit!

We were also shown the method used to build bricks on-site in areas where there is no electricity.  The future homeowner is required to help dig the dirt and mix the materials to make the bricks, and then use the brick press to make the bricks.  The bricks require about two weeks to be dry enough to use.  The average home uses about 2000 bricks, and the time to make the bricks (including digging up the dirt) is about 5 days for 100 bricks.  There is quite a bit of labor involved, since the soil has to be sifted and each brick is individually pressed.  It's definitely a team activity!

Merrilee came away from the trip with a better appreciation for how some families live is poorer areas of the world.  Her heart's desire is still to be a missionary, and this trip has broadened her idea of what it means to serve God around the world.  I love that she is learning that mission work is not confined to just preaching, but more importantly it is coming alongside others and sharing the love of Christ with a hurting world.

Thanks again, Georgia, for being a great state in which to homeschool my kids!

Field Day for Jacob

Last Friday was Field Day at Jacob's school. His class and all the other first grade classes enjoyed foot races, sack races, water games, and many other hot sweaty fun activities.  He had a great time and enthusiastically encouraged and cheered on his classmates. I was really impressed with how well his classmates treat each other and I credit his teacher, Priscilla Hammond, for being such an encourager herself.  She is a lovely woman.

Jacob did not place in any of the races, but he did win the Good Sportsmanship award for his great attitude.  Mrs. Hammond was happy to award him the gold ribbon.

After the games were over, the girls and I treated Jacob to a yummy Caramel Crunch shake at Hardees.  It was a well-deserved treat!

Aaaahdiggers

That's the way Katie Mei pronounces "alligators".

Sometimes our schedule works out nicely so that Katie Mei can attend Tadpole Time at the Flint Riverquarium.   It's a little preschool program that takes place on the third Wednesday of the month and involves a craft project, a story, and a snack.  There is always a theme involving some kind of animal from the aquarium and last week's theme was alligators.  Since we love going to the aquarium anyway, it's always fun to attend Tadpole Time and then hang out to visit our aquatic friends for awhile afterward. 

Katie Mei made a craft project to show the alligator's bumpy skin, which involved green-colored macaroni noodles glued to the back of a cardstock alligator.  Note to self: glue sticks do not hold noodles well--go home with handful of fallen noodles and reglue with Elmers.

After the story and snack, Ms. Vicky brought out a real live American Alligator for the kids to pet.  I had to resist the urge to shove little kids out of the way and cut in line so I could pet the alligator first!  I do believe I was more excited than they were to touch the alligator.  Silly kids...they have no idea how awesome that was!  For the record, if you look closely at the photo you will see the alligator's mouth is held shut with a simple rubber band.

The alligator's skin did not feel as dry and rough as I expected.  It was bumpy, but it was a moist feeling.  Now wet, but cool and dampish.  I supposed since they do hang out in water, we should not expect them to feel dry.  She only let us touch him on the side of his belly, but I sure did want to stroke that long tail.  Ms. Vicky said he weighed about 10 pounds, smaller than I expected, and she said he was a bit annoyed at being picked up and used his tail to slap her.  I heeded her warned and didn't mess with his tail.

Merrilee tagged along, so she got to enjoy her second hands-on alligator experience.  The first time was last summer at the homeschool program at the Riverquarium.

When Tadpole time was over, we got some close-up peeks at Moonshine, the albino alligator; Katie Mei's favorite alligator snapping turtle, Big Al; and her favorite rattlesnake under the tortoise exhibit.  Those are her favorite animals at the Riverquarium, and we always have to visit them. (The photo of Big Al is from the Flint Riverquarium's website.  I didn't have a recent photo.  He's much bigger now--about 3 feet long!)