Playing in the Stream

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted anything until I saw the date of the last post.  Our schedule has really picked up with all the activites and now I have a whole backload of posts to put up.

A few weeks ago, after the rain subsided somewhat, Big T and Little A asked if we could walk to the stream.  We had been cooped up in the house for a few days because of all the heavy rain and when the sun started to shine again we just had to get out.  So, after lunch, off to the stream we went.

Of course, it's hard to go to the stream without putting just your toes in.  After your toes are in, it seems silly not to put your feet in.  Then, if your feet are in you must try wading a bit, with your pants rolled up.  And before you know it, somehow those pants get unrolled and you're practically swimming.  "That's okay," Big T assures Little A  "we have a country mom, she won't mind."  Lol. 

So here they are at the stream....

  

And with a "friend"...

Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Let's Go to the Fair!

It's fair week! Yay! Our family loves the county fair! 

Tuesday morning is the day to enter any crafts or food items you've made during the year.  Usually the week or so before the fair I give the kids a couple of boxes and we go on a scavenger hunt through the house to find things we've made during the year to enter.  It's always fun and surprizing to see how much we've done through the year!  Big T entered 8 items, Little A entered 7, and even I found 3 things to enter.  Judging is done on Wednesday and we pick up our items (and ribbons and checks) on Sunday afternoon.  So, we'll have to wait 'til then to see how we did.

After entering all our items it was pouring down rain so we walked around inside to look at all the exhibit booths (including our 4H club's) by local organizations, merchants, etc.  Then when the rain subsided a bit we went out to the livestock barns to look at all the animals...cattle, goats, ponies, miniature horses, pigs, regular horses, sheep, chickens and other fowl, and rabbits. I forgot to go to the agri building so we missed out on seeing the largest pumpkin and watermelon...I'll have to remember to stop by there Sunday when we pick up our entries. 

We decided to leave to eat lunch and I had to get ready for the sewing class that I teach some of our homeschool girls on Tuesday afternoons.

Tuesday evening is  Free Admission as well as Armband Night at the fair, so that is usually when I take the kids to go on the rides and eat fair junk (woohoo!).  We usually get there around 4:00ish to get good parking and buy our armbands.  Also, if you get there around 4:30 many of the rides will go ahead and start and you don't have to wait in line!  The crowds usually don't really get going until around 7:30ish and that's usually when we're leaving.  Three hours seems to be plenty of time for my kiddos to enjoy all the rides and food and I don't have to drive home in the dark. 

It was a bit drizzly but all in all a very fun day! 

Here's some pics of Big T and Little A on some of the rides:

Little A on her first ride the merry-go-round

Big T on his first ride the swings

Little A on her favorite one: the tiger slide (I pretty much stood here watching her slide for most of the time we were at the fair)

Big T on the "ride that started it all" ... after this one he was ready to go on all the other 'thriller' rides LOL!

A couple more of Little A on the bumper cars and fun slide:

Tree Walk

Today we started a unit study on trees so we went for a walk to identify some trees and gather a few leaves.  My plan is to study just two or three trees every day or so and by the end of the month we will have learned about many of the common trees around here.

We could have started with the trees in our yard, but why waste a chance to go for a walk down the road, around the pond, and into the woods? So we packed guide books, paper, pencils, crayons, ziplock bags, and a clipboard in a backpack and away we went.

The first tree Little A picked to gather samples from was a Persimmon tree:

Here is what the fruit looks like:

We did a bark rubbing and a leaf rubbing on some paper with the crayons and labeled them.  Then we collected a leaf sample, to press when we get home, and put it in the ziplock bag.

The next tree was a Sweetgum tree:

Here is a picture of the gumballs:

We did our bark and leaf rubbings, then collected a leaf sample.  All was going well and I felt we could probably study one more tree.  But Big T had found something he wanted to show us and we got distracted exploring the creek bed.  As we were walking along, Little A slid on a muddy part and stepped on something that cut her foot.  It was bleeding quite a bit so I went back to the house to get the car (and a popsicle for Little A - those make everything better, lol) and drove her home.

I doctored her up, prayed for her foot, read her a story, and encouraged her to take a nap.  She woke up feeling much better.  Tomorrow, we'll probably just pick a few trees in the back yard to study.


Bonus:  We found a happy little Sassafras tree, too.  But we didn't collect any samples from it (except one leaf for tasting, lol).

Homemade butter

Today we made butter from fresh cream. The cream we used was from milk that we get straight from the cow. We let the milk set in the refrigerator overnight and this morning there was a thick layer of cream. I spooned the cream into two clean glass jars and we sang the "shake the butter, shake shake the butter" song for about an hour.

How do we know when we're done shaking? When it looks like this:

At first when it was a small clump, Big T said it looked like a scoop of ice-cream. Then at the end he said it looked like scrambled eggs. Anyway, we had a large clump of butter in some clearish liquid which is the whey.

Then we drained the whey off (and saved it for soaking grains) and rinsed the butter of any remaining whey or it would cause the butter to sour. Then we salted it a little and here it is:

Fresh homemade butter, yum! Of course we had to try some right away!

It was very soft and spreadable and we enjoyed half a package of crackers with it LOL!

The remaining butter we put into the fridge and it hardened up just like any other butter. Altogether I would say that the amount we made would equal about 1 stick or 1/2 cup of butter.

This was our first time to make butter and I was so glad it came out so well. We'll probably be making butter once a week now that we are getting fresh milk.



Big T spotted this female pondhawk dragonfly hiding in the grass:

Sharp eyes, son!

And here's a little hummer at our feeder: