Mother's Day

What a fun day!  I first was given the surprise of homemade chocolate covered strawberries (my eldest's idea; he made them as a surprise with his dad for me)  This was after the best gift of all-- letting me sleep in!  :-)))

After Church, we took the kids to a Family Fun Center where they could play their hearts out.  Yes, the kids were having the fun, but isn't that what Mother's Day is all about?  Celebrating our children?  They are the precious gifts who make the day possible!

The Fun Center had go-karts (which even our baby girl drove for the first time!), miniature golf, batting cages, amusement rides, a giant tube contraption to climb in and lots of video games.  Needless to say, they tired themselves out! 

May God bless all mothers on this Mother's Day, and always, for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make for their children and families.  They are precious in God's eyes, for He too, chose to be born of a woman and called her "Mom."

Dyeing Easter Eggs :-)

It has become a Palm Sunday tradition in our family, that after Church, the kids dye their eggs.  It is a fun way to begin a somber week; a week in which we engage in many other activities/prayers/crafts to remember the real and true meaning of what took place during that first Holy Week.  I will post pictures and photos of those, as well.  But first, the dyeing of the eggs....  :-)

Sun prints

Last Thursday, we had a bright, sunny day for a change and the kiddos and I took advantage of it!

When at the Lenape village, I had purchased a sun print kit from the gift shop and thought the bright sunshine was just the ticket to trying it out.

It was a lot of fun and only took about a minute or two each.  We all came up with our own, unique designs.  :-)

 

 

 

Trip to the Lenape Village

On Thursday, the kiddos and I were part of a field trip to a local nature center that has a Lenape village. Two costumed interpreters split the group in half and began a 4 hour adventure and trip back in time to learn all about the Lenape tribe.


Much could be learned from their culture- their thankfulness for all of the blessings bestowed upon them, along with the failures, as their lives wouldn't be what they were without either. Children were seen as precious gifts. They wasted nothing and were a very adaptable and capable people.

There were many stations that we visited. Each represented a particular part of Lenape life and at each, the children all got to have hands-on experiences.

The kiddos got to grind corn:

 

 











Make corn pancakes:

"Hunt" for firs:

Start a fire:

Make pottery:

Make/weave cordage:

 











And garden:

Another fun and educational day together!  :-)

Lenten Pretzels

On Friday, the kiddos and I baked Lenten pretzels.  We learned from the "Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure" program, that pretzels originated as penitential food for Lent.  We also found out that the first pretzels were made in the Italy in the early 600s.  A monk was making Lenten bread with flour, salt and water because he could not use butter, milk and eggs due to the much more strict abstinence requirements than we have today.  He made them into the shape of prayer, as it was common to cross your arms over your chest when praying.  They were given to children as rewards for knowing their prayers.  They were also distributed to the poor and were a good form of sustenance.

After hearing all of this from the program, they were anxious to make their own.  So, after our school work was complete, we followed the recipe provided and they came out really tasty!  The kiddos put salt on the first batch and cinnamon sugar on the second.  We had a lot of fun!  :-))

Maple Sugaring at Springton Manor Farm

Today we went on a field trip to a farm (originally part of William Penn's manor) that gave the kids hands-on lessons in maple sugaring.  2 of our kiddos volunteered to measure the tree to see if it was large enough to be tapped, each got a turn to drill a hole in it and then watch the sugary sap pour out into the bucket. 

Did you know that the sap travels inside the tree at over 50 miles an hour?  I sure didn't.  Each child got to listen to the sap inside the tree with a stethoscope and my kiddos are still talking about hearing the "fast, swishing" noise!  We were told how the maple sugaring process started with the Native Americans, continued to the colonials and pioneers and is much the same today.  It was a lot of fun and we had awesome weather to boot!  :-)

After tapping the tree (we learned that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup!), the kids all were treated to a taste test of syrups.  They had to decide what they thought taste better: pure maple syrup, Aunt Jemima's or corn syrup.  Maple syrup won in the group as a whole (there were 20 kids), but only got votes from two of our kiddos. The other two, predictably went for the Aunt Jemima in all of its artificial splendor.  :-)

We were treated to a tour of their barn where there were all kinds of baby animals.  The baby lambs were born only 2 days ago.  The piglets were born the beginning of this month, along with the goats.  What a wonderful treat to see the beginnings of new life as we are about to begin springtime!

Another wonderful day of memories made with the kiddos!  :-)

Flashback: Valentine's Day

The kiddos and I had a great Valentine's Day afternoon.  They asked me to bake them cookies. When I suggested that we all make them together, there was nothing but lit up eyes and big smiles.  That is one of the incredible beauties of homeschooling-- being together.  There is nothing like the special bonding that comes from doing, sharing and learning together all day long and of course, there is the awesome fringe benefit of dropping everything and going to the kitchen to make cookies together!  :-)  These are the moments that they will never forget and for which I am grateful beyond words.