Hannah, Please Help Me with My Math

 Hi, would you like to do some math? We have picture cards that represent ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands. I will be the teacher. Say you have 2,475 and 3,645. When you combine them you have 5 thousands, 10 hundreds, 11 tens, and 10 ones. We can't write the number like that. If one of our sections has a 2 digit number, we have to trade to make it 1 digit. In the above picture we have traded our 10 ones for a ten, making our tens a whopping 12! We need to do some more trading.

 Okey, that's good. You traded 10 of your tens for a hundred. Now we have 11 hundreds. Do we need to do moe trading? Yes! You can trade 10 of your hundreds for a thousand leaving you with 6 thousands, 1 hundreds, 2 tens, and zero ones. In other words 6,120. Good Job!

 Do you want to play again?

A Winter Smilebox

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Wordless Wednesday - How to Stay Warm on a Cold Day

Thanksgiving 2010

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Josiah's Bike Riding Tutorial

Josiah recently learned how to ride his bike with just a little instruction and some practice. I wanted to get a video and was not expecting a tutorial as well. But I'm not surprised. I hope that you can tell that his speech has improved also. Since he goes to speech therapy and is encouraged to practice his speech, I think he takes it seriously and literally. He seems to be the most outspoken person in our family right now.

Hope you enjoy this video!

My Father's World - Nature Study

Before the weather got too chilly, we gathered on the deck and made nature journals. Using needle and thread we sewed together brown packing paper (recycling).

We read about trees and identified some of the trees in our yard.

Josiah really enjoyed doing this.

















Hannah had picked up a Junior Ranger book when we went to the Indian Mounds and has been doing some of the activities in it.

She began entering things in her nature journal right away.












Then we had the opportunity to go on a field trip with an expert. The weather had turned colder, but we headed out anyway.

She taught the kids how to identify trees by their shape, bark, leaves and fruit. They learned about conifers, animal homes, and got to play a game.

Josiah has to get to know the tree while blindfolded, then find the tree again after taking off the blindfold. It's harder than it looks. Then the kids gathered leaves to identify using field guides.

All of the kids seemed to like the cottonwood leaf. It was big and almost heart shaped. The second most chosen was the sweet gum, probably for its star shape.

On our walk, Josiah spotted these bugs on a pine tree. Do you know what they are?

Next we made plaster casts of tree bark, starting with pressing
clay into the bark.

The edges of the clay were turned up and plaster was poured in. We took it home to let it harden and then we peeled the clay away. Alot of fun things for a nature study day!

Reformation Day 2010

We had a great time at the Reformation Day event once again. Thanks to all those who helped. I was unable to take pictures this time as my camera battery went dead, so look over here http://sojourningpeas.blogspot.com/
They got some wonderful pictures.

What's on the Menu?

I seem to not know what to fix lately. Maybe some inspiration from past successes will help. I remember this meal!

Hannah made the colorful carrot/raisin salad. I made cranberry "sauce". The yummy chicken pot pie was a joint effort.

I used left over chicken, mixed vegetables, cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise, and Durkee's french fried onions. I made the topping from scratch, but it was very easy and delicious.

I also made a dessert not too long ago that turned out well. . .

A carrot cake for a friend's birthday.

Okey, I think I'm inspired to get back in the kitchen. Hope it inspired you, too.

Afternoon at the Park

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Now and Later

Yard Work! I just love yard work, especially when it involves planting. Today Hannah and I worked together to beautify part of our yard.

These are to enjoy now!

And these are for later!

They will pop up right behind where Hannah is planting the pansies.

Here is our finished product. The lamb's ear was already there. It just had to be trimmed back.

In this middle section, we have jasmine trying to grow in the back with some irises. Also some herbs and, I think, ganzania that came back from seed.

This last section looks almost identical to the first. We were aiming for a symmetrical look.

Looking forward to enjoying this bright spot in our yard.

Wordless Wednesday - Hannah's Latest Creation

using my mother's canned apple pie filling

and homemade crust.

Grandma and Grandpa Rose

Alot of prayers have gone up for Theron's parents. God has been gracious and has allowed us to see many of them answered. On September 8, 2010, Grandpa was hospitalized with a punctured lung and several broken ribs (although we were initially told there were no broken bones) after a fall several days before. This is one tough man!

He started out in one hospital and was trnnsferred to another and then another after his condition worsened. Finally on October 8, 2010 he was moved from Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, TN to Parkwood Nursing/Rehab facility in Snellville.

The biggest blessing and answer to prayer is that he is better and that he is close. Maybe it's a bigger blessing that we can get Grandma and Grandpa together again - visiting at least once and sometimes twice a day. No more 3 hours drives for Grandma and only visiting every other day.

Thank you, LORD!

Which Came First, The Waffles or the Egg

 Well, in this case, the waffles come first. The picture download process is different than I am use to and therefore my pictures are in reverse order. Since I don't have time to rearrange them, I am going to run with it the way it is. As you can see, Hannah is very proud of the waffles she has just made!
She did everything except take them out of the waffle iron. That was mom's job.

 She measured the batter and put it into the iron at the proper time.

She mixed the ingredients by hand. She likes to use the wooden spoon.

I had her put her hair up, but I forgot to have her wear an apron. Oh well, the flour brushes off anyway.
She carefully follows the recipe from the Bread Beckers cookbook and reminds herself to put the egg into the bowl and the shell into the trash and not visa versa ( she has obviously learned from her mistakes).

Our Trip to the Etowah Indian Mounds

the walk from the museum to the mounds

Our adventure began on Friday with a trip to Chattanooga. Theron's dad is in Erlanger Hospital. He wanted to take his mom for visiting hours. We arrived at 3:00, too early for the 4:00 slot, so we had a snack at the nearby McDonald's. Inside the restaraunt was too chilly and outside was very toasty. We chose the outdoors anyway. There was no playground, but the children enjoyed watching the little sparrows that came close and ate whatever they were offered. Josiah also spotted all the insects that many would overlook.



132 steps and a great view



At 3:30, Theron and his mom decided they would rather wait in the more comfortable hospital, so we drove them over. Since the kids were not allowed to visit CCU patients and this McDonald's did not have a play place (strange if you ask me), I took the kids on a tour and we saw the huge train yard and water treatment facility that are close to the hospital from the comfort of our van.

We made a wonderful discovery as we went over the bridge to get a better view of the train tracks and yard. Chattanooga Zoo! The kids were so excited. I was skeptical. We only have 45 minutes or less and I don't want to spend a bunch of money for such a quick trip to the zoo. Believe it or not, I paid $25 for admission, an ICEE (to keep me cool, it was a hot day) and a souvenir for each of the kids. And we saw everything in the park (quickly) and got back to the hospital for pickup with time to spare. It was an excellent way to pass the time

Friday night was spent at Theron's mom and dad's house in Ducktown. It was another long drive, but some things needed to be taken care of there. On our drive home, we stopped at the Etowah Indian Mounds. Since we are studying Ancient Egypt and the pyramids and one of our books mentioned the Indian mounds in North America, I thought we might try to go see some. When I looked up the site on the internet, I noticed that they were having a free day. Can't beat that!

view from the top of mound A

 You can see why the chief of the village would live here, so he could keep an eye on everything. Everytime a chief died, they burned him and his house on the top of the mound and buried it, making the mound higher. It is interesting to think about this being a busy village where people once lived and farmed. The mound you see in the distance was used for gatherings. It had posts around the perimeter, but no roof.

We can make it!

there's a cool breeze on top

Sorry there are no pictures of the zoo. I did not take my camera. These were taken with Theron's new phone. Grandma did not go to the top. She sat on a bench at the bottom of the steps and kept company and made conversation with a mom and baby who were . . . get this. . . from Lilburn, Ga. I don't know them, but they had a good chat with Grandma. Grandma even got to hold the baby for a minute. What a blessing!

Josiah's Newest Addition and a Surprise

The new addition - Miss Katydid

And the surprise - fuzzy caterpillar has shedded his fluffy coat

for something more armour-like (a chrysalis)

Wordless Wednesday - Josiah's Critters

a cacoon
hopper
caterpillar

mantis

anole