Our week, March 2 to March 8, 2014, March 9 to March 15, 2014

March has had its share of cold days and we are anxious for spring.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Here comes the cat down from the cupola!  

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

The boys and I had the opportunity to join some from our homeschool group and see a play at the Civic Center called The Civil War.  It was excellent and touched on several points of view and in a way that was child-appropriate.  The girls got to spend the afternoon with Grandma Twyla while I enjoyed my time with the boys.  

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

The girls had to help greet guests coming to the GEMS baked potato supper.  

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Today's game:  LEGO Creationary.  

Friday, March 7, 2014

Happy Birthday to Seth!  He's 35 now!  His present:  some of his favorite candy bars and we enjoyed a yummy steak dinner at home.  Seth has been in the semi overnight a lot and we almost didn't get to have him home on his birthday, but it all worked out.  

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Some of us from our Bible Study met for a couple hours and helped a local non-profit thrift store hang up their spring items.  We had a good time and it was nice to be a blessing to this local ministry.

In the evening, we celebrated Seth's parents' anniversary, previously blogged about.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Ephraim's Sunday School class sang during both services.  

Later in the day, Eliza was worried that someone might steal her chocolate bar, so it is in her mouth while she puts the silverware away.  

Monday, March 10, 2014

Finally, a bit of warmer weather and we weren't about to waste it by being inside.  We took time to get the bikes out.  And in the girls' case, we took off the training wheels.  Wow, they caught on fast!  I think it is all about just waiting until they are ready because now they're riding like pros.  Emmet was quick to offer a steady hand while Eliza got used to a bigger bike.  That melts my heart when I see he has a tender spot for helping.  

Eden was zipping along pretty good on her little bike without the training wheels.  

We had to spend some time airing up all the tires, but it was worth it!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Our enjoyable evening of barn dancing, previously blogged about.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The boys with Grandma and Grandpa at our church's Cadet races, previously blogged about.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Archery Awards Night for Ephraim, previously blogged about.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Seth has had several overnight trips each week for the past month.  Emmet has his bag packed for an overnight trip to Missouri and back for Pioneer.  

Ah, yes.  Clothes on the clothesline.  So ready for spring.  Even in the winter, I still rarely use my dryer and instead hang shirts from the shower curtain bar in the bathroom.  And we have two drying racks set up in the hallway for jeans and pajamas, etc.  This saves us money by using less electricity AND it reduces static electricity in the house. Regardless of those benefits, I am so ready for clothes to be on the clothesline.  

Saturday, March 15, 2014

A birthday celebration for my nephew Garret!

They treated us to the movie Mr. Peabody and Sherman.  It was a cute movie!  Then it was back to their house for cake and pizza.

Happy 10th Birthday!

What we're reading . . .

Here's a glimpse at some of the books we've been reading:

1.  For Science, we read a couple books about the Platypus.

2.  In History, we read several books about Harriet Tubman and then watched three DVDs about the Underground Railroad.

3.  For Missions, we read three short books about Nate Saint, Eric Liddell and Gladys Aylward.  

4.  Also, in History, we've finished up some Civil War books.  The Drummer Boy was a good one!

Now we've moved on to the days of Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express.

5.  Did you know your local library might have coloring books?  Ours does  . . . and it is legal to make 4 copies (perfect for my family) of each page!

6.  The book Courage Has No Color was a book I read.  It was about the black paratroopers of WWII who trained and trained, just to fight forest fires in the NW USA.  

7. We read a couple books on Amelia Earhart, watched a DVD and then the kids did a poster.

8.  The books and DVDs on the right are more Underground Railroad items.  The book The Patchwork Path was a great one about the quilt patterns used to convey messages to escaping slaves.

The book Almost to Freedom was a neat one from a black doll's perspective.

9.  For fun, we read a book about Texas Longhorns.

10.  For Science, we read a book about all the animals that disembarked from the ark.  

I post these mostly for a record of what we're doing.  But if you want more info about the books, let me know.  All of the ones with the white labels are checked out from our local AEA.  

Homeschool Day at the Capitol

The children and I were able to participate in Homeschool Day at the Capitol on Tuesday, March 18.   This is annual event is sponsored by the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators.     We attended this event in 2012.  We did not go in 2013 due to some winter weather the night before the event.  

The children have been asking to go back to the Capitol since 2013.  So, we made plans to go on the Homeschool Day.  We left home early and arrived in Des Moines.  After much ado to find a parking space, we whizzed through security and got checked in.  Unfortunately, all the tours were full and we would not get to tour the dome this year.  

We had a few minutes to walk around and were able to meet our Senator.  He showed us the law library and the former Supreme Court Chambers.  

I specifically took this picture because we took a similar one two years ago.  The kids have grown!  (Eliza was having a fit that her name tag laynard was red.  Red is closer to pink.  She'd rather have a blue one.  Blue is closer to purple.  A lesson in "just deal with it.") 

Seeing the USS Iowa replica was a highlight.

Taking a break on the third level.  Eden wasn't too sure about being close to the railing.  

We took some time to sit in the gallery and watch the Senate and the House.  The Senate was actually voting and having debate but the House was on recess.  In the Senate we were able to hear the bell ring (signaling a vote) and then watch the electronic board light up as the Senators cast their vote.  

On the first floor there is a collection of dolls and the girls were content to look at them for a while.  I explained to the girls that these were the dolls that represent the different wives of our Governors.  Eden, without missing a beat, replies quickly "HE HAD A LOT OF WIVES!"  Okay, let me rephrase that.  Each doll represents a wife married to each different Governor.   One Governor=One Wife.   Whew, glad we got that clarified!

We had a brief wait for the shuttle that would take us to the Marriott so we could listen to some specially invited speakers.  Of course, the kiddos were intrigued by the canons.

For 30 minutes we listened to Brian Bopp.  He dresses up as a person from history and talks to you as though he is that character, bringing history to life.  

Here he is Ben Franklin.  

James Madison

John Marshall, our 4th Chief Justice of the United States.  

An anonymous Freedom Fighter, no matter the war, there are those fighting for the freedoms that we have today.  

His point, through each speaker, was the foundations of the US Constitution:  Godly government, Prayer, Freedom from Religion, Justice, Freedom.  

Other speakers included Steve Deace, Steve King, US Senatorial candidates and Bob Vander Plaats.  We left after those.  Ted Cruz would speak later and the media was there to hear him speak.  But alas, my children were tired and ready to go.  

Whew!  Spending the day that the Capitol can be exhausting!

After our shuttle dropped us off, we had to meander back to our car.  On the way we stopped by a couple of memorials.  

Almost to our car . . . .

So long Capitol!  Perhaps we'll visit next year!

Cadet-O-Rama/Cadet Sunday

Saturday, the 22nd, was Cadet-O-Rama in Pella.  This is a big event where boys from all over Central Iowa come to race their pinewood derby cars.  We got there just in time for Emmet's race among other 2nd and 3rd graders.  

In the line-up, oiled and ready to go with his hot rod.  

Emmet's is third from the right.  The races took a while.  They raced 8 cars per heat and the top 6 advanced!  With 4-7 heats to begin with, well, you do the math.  It took an hour to whittle it down to the top three for each grade.  While Emmet didn't race in the final round, his car was able to race several times.  

Then it was time for the 4th graders.  Here is Ephraim with his truck and his friend  Micah with his car.

Ephraim's truck is fourth from the right.  He also didn't win, but he was able to make it through several rounds of racing.  

Also at Cadet-O-Rama, the boys are able to display some of their projects from the year.  Emmet worked on two models:  a Blue Angels airplane and a Hummer.  He got a blue ribbon for his work!

Sunday, March 23rd, was Cadet Sunday.  The boys get to wear their Cadet shirts and stand before the church.  They usually tell their favorite part of Cadets--the campout, 4-wheeler rides, projects, and pinewood derby cars are just some of the popular answers.

Another year of Cadets is finished.  We always enjoy it but it is nice to have a break, too.  

Buttermilk Biscuits

This month, for my Supper Swapper meal, I was able to make the non-meat dish.  I chose to make Buttermilk Biscuits.  

The recipe and an excellent tutorial can be found at southernplate.com.  This recipe has become one of our favorites, but I usually just make them fresh each time.  However, it will be nice to have a small stash in the freezer.  

Here are just a few pictures of my process.  

First, I love that the recipe is only 3 ingredients:  butter, self-rising flour and buttermilk.  

You cut in the butter with the flour and then add the buttermilk.   I used real buttermilk and now always keep it on hand for primarily this recipe.  

After folding it several times, you are ready to cut your biscuits.  I usually cut two sizes, just for fun.

Since I was going to be freezing all these, I just laid them on cookie sheets to be flash frozen.  Once frozen, then I would package them in zippered baggies.  

Here they are, labeled and ready to swap.  The best part is that there is no thawing time required.  Just remove from the bag, and bake.  They thaw quick and taste just as good as if they were fresh.  

For more of our Supper Swapper meals, check out our blog.  

Calf Chores

It is calving season for us.  We got off to a rough start, losing two of our first three calves and even losing one of the mother cows.  It was a bummer but just one of the many risks we take with farming.  The remainder of our calving season has gone very well and for that, we are thankful.  

The cows are calving over at Seth's parents' place.  Between them and us, we try to have someone checking on the cows in the middle of the day.  It is always a delight to go over and see a newborn calf!

Both boys have an incredible sense of knowing which cow is which.  They all have ear tags, but really, the boys know who it is without reading the tags.  To some of us, one black cow looks just like another.  

We thought maybe one cow was in the midst of childbirth, so we climbed on the bales to watch for a bit.  It turned out to be a false alarm.

One of our chores when we go over is to fill the water tank, walk the fence and take a head count.  

This is recess time on the bales!  Way to burn off all that energy they've stored up over the winter.  

The girls can also be great chore-helpers!  

 We've got some great lookin' calves to raise.  

They will help us either expand our herd, raise for beef or sell once they are weaned.  

Our calving season is over half over and we pray it will continue to go well.