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Friday, February 26, 2021

Viennetta

Once upon a time, as a child, I remember seeing Viennetta, and thinking it looked so fun.

I don’t remember having it growing up and it was no longer available in recent years.  Then, I saw it was being sold here again, so I bought a tray for our family.

The kids thought it was super fun, but in the end, I was unimpressed.  There was nothing wrong with it, but it was more bland than I expected.  Turned out I hadn’t missed anything anyway!

But it is pretty!

* not a paid review

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Freedom!

 Well, for one of us.

We spent two afternoons digging and made it most of the way up our hill, with that Justin was able to get out to pick up the piece to repair the kids shower—no more dripping and buckets!!! and to get a few groceries—milk, eggs, and butter were about to give way here, despite our great care and using substitutions at every opportunity.




Here’s hoping tomorrow we can all get to church!

Friday, February 19, 2021

A Snowy Week

Like much of the middle US, we got snow.  At first it was sleet, but then the snow fell, and fell, and fell.  Well for here, it is a lot of snow.  Except for Justin’s brief (or not so brief) attempt to get to church on Sunday, none of us have left our cul-de-sac since Justin got home last Friday (all three girls have been home since last Wednesday)!!  We never saw a plow or a salt truck.

Our fridge is starting to look empty and the back door was frozen shut this morning, but thankfully we have canned goods, heat, and snow to play in.  And play they have.

They also worked!  We had a car and an SUV both stuck down here, so we dug, cleared, and salted.  With a thick layer of ice, it was a lot of work!

The thaw is coming, so one more day before it starts turning to slush, and we can return to normalcy...just in time for a super busy week!












Monday, February 15, 2021

Current State of the House

So they called for snow, but they often call for snow.  It rarely stays around.  To be completely honest, we didn’t get snow, we got sleet...  The world is a sheet of ice.


These three think it is great fun.  That is an old mower (no blade or motor) that Justin let Nate tinker with—it became one of their favorite toys!

I didn’t make the crazy Southern run for milk, eggs, and bread, so I spent a chunk of the morning figuring out what we have in the freezer and pantry.  (If you are from an area that gets much cold weather, here they don’t clear roads, which are usually iced, not covered in snow, and few drivers learned to drive in this, so even if you know what you are doing, most people don’t.  I drove on ice in Kansas, but I don’t do it here!)

Everyone is pleased with our meal plan for the next week.  Everyone will be fed, even if we are having peanut butter on leftover hotdog buns instead of regular bread one day!

Justin is able to teach from home these days, so we are grateful he can do that!

Unfortunately, the kids’ shower sprung a leak.  We’ve had this part go out before, which isn’t too big of a deal, however, we can’t get to the hardware store for a replacement.  So, we are collecting the water to use to run the washing machine, so we aren’t wasting water! 🤣

Hopefully life will return to normal soon!

Wrapping up in Greece

We finished up Tapestry of Grace: Year 1: Unit 3 (for the second time, our third time through ancient history, using Story of the World the first time): the Ancient Greeks!

One more unit this year (Romans), before I have TWO high schoolers!?!

Things we’ve done as we learned...

Nate made coins for the city state of Sparta

Ellie colored a picture of Alexander the Heartless the Great & his horse (SOW Activity book)

Ellie colored a map of the land Alexander the Great conquered (SOW Activity book)

Gabby made a mosaic (Ocean at Sunset)

I free hand our maps on the board, which is a fun reference for us.

Ellie made a theater mask.

Katie built a Greek home

Ellie drew about a book we read together.

Nate created both a Greek shield and Poseidon’s trident.

We also wrote about the differences and similarities of specific city states, the benefits of a monarchy versus a democracy, the arts, the wars, and great leaders.  Hopefully we’ve made some lasting memories!




Monday, February 1, 2021

January

 First month of 2021 down!

Nate made a trident

Our troop’s middle & high school girls made lip gloss and soap.

The crew went skating






The gals worked on a leadership patch...including making a pie

Katie drove to Starbucks

And school, of course