Dentist

My girls love going to the dentist. They certainly didn't acquire this love from me. But I do have to day this dental office has been my favorite. They have taken such good care of us and by far have done the best job cleaning my teeth. They are also very patient with my girls asking a billion questions and getting as close as they can to see everything that is going on. I love real life teaching moments.

Violin

Butterfly has been asking to play the violin for quite awhile now. Hubby took her to the music store to check them out. The man at the store sized her and brought her out the correct sized violin. Now she is even more excited. She is going to have to remain patient because now isn't the time to start something new. We all hope that this fall it might be possible for her to start.

Our Friday

Last week, we didn't have our normal time at the library. Today, we made it back. I was hoping to get alot of blogging done to catch up on February but things were running slow. The girls still enjoyed her time on the computers.

Aquarium

 We met up with some friends at the Aquarium in Wilmington. I was able to use free tickets which always makes any activity worth it. It was a small aquarium but included a touch tank, a presentation on turtles, a diver in a large viewing tank and some unique animals.

New animals for this visit were the albino turtle and alligator. I thought it was really interesting that they can't survive in the wild and they are capable of getting sunburned.

Birds

For the past few weeks, PF has been working on the Birds keepers pin. She read several books about birds and gathered information about birds in our area, certain state birds and much more. Her big project was to build a bird house.

 This past weekend, hubby and PF went out and got a kit to build a bird house.

 With a little help from hubby, PF constructed the birdhouse and then moved onto what she was most looking forward to.......painting it!

Her finished bird house ready for new occupants.

Basketball

 Our Saturdays continue to include an hour of basketball each weekend. We have really been enjoying watching PF grow in her ability to play. The games have been nail biters for the parents. PF's team have pulled out a few slight victories in the last few games.

Valentine's Party

We haven't been involved with to0 much with our local homeschool groups this year. I didn't want to do co-op classes this year and field trips seem to always be scheduled on days we have something else going on. But I was excited when there was a message sent out about the valentines day party. PF really wanted to go to one this year so she was thrilled. Everyone brought a snack and cards to pass out. The girls played a few games and met some new girls in the area. Several of our church families were there so it was a great time to socialize. Everyone enjoyed digging through their bags when we got home and laughing over the silly messages. 

File Folder Games

Dragonfly is really doing well reading three letter words. She was done with her lessons for the day so I decided to get out some file folders for her. The first two she worked on required her to read and match up words. Then she worked on a counting one. File folder games are a great way for kids to practice a skill you are trying to teach them in a fun way. There are several books full of games that I have used to make most of ours but I have also found some online doing a general search. Some games take a little while to create but they are well worth the time. My kids love to do file folder games!

Spelling Sisters

Butterfly and Ladybug are in level B of our spelling curriculum. Butterfly is a list or two ahead of Ladybug but they are both learning the same words. They have taken it upon themselves to quiz each other on their missed spelling words. I have seen huge improvements in their spelling lately. I really believe the spelling bees we now have every few days has encouraged them to work harder on spelling words correctly. One way they have chosen to do this it through testing one another.

As a side note the last child standing for each round of the spelling bee gets a candy....a big incentive in my house.

Time in the Kitchen

It has been a long time since we had a cooking day. I know two years ago, I made a point to cook like crazy every Wednesday. The girls were right there with me most of the time. We were trying new recipes, learning about new foods, and preparing foods for the days to come. I really enjoyed those days but I just couldn't see how I could take a whole day away from lessons to be able to do that again.

Today, it wasn't that everything was working out perfectly because it certainly wasn't, it was just that I really felt like our time would be better spent in the kitchen.

I looked through my pile of "wanting to make someday"  recipes and picked out five great ones. Pf remember that there was a cookie pin in her keepers book and wanted to know if the cookies we were making would count. We checked out the book and realized that 3 of the recipes would count for keepers pins. Those were the three we ended up doing.

I really took a back seat and let butterfly and Pf make everything. I was there to help, answer questions and prevent a few mishaps but otherwise I let them learn. I did however grind the wheat because no one else enjoys doing it because it is a very loud task.

The two girls worked pretty well together and mixed everything with just a spoon. (my hand mixer broke a few months back and I am still debating what to replace it with)

They made:
Snickerdoodle hazelnut cream cookie sandwiches (this counts for one cookie for the cookie pin)

Blueberry muffins from scratch with fresh blueberries (this counts for the muffin pin)

Peanut butter and raisin granola bars (this counts for the snack pin)

Everything turned out great. They shared the cookies with neighbors and even saved two for daddy, who thought they were awesome and couldn't believe they made them from scratch. The muffins are for breakfast in the morning and the granola bars will be their snack during piano lessons.

I didn't even mind taking care of all the dishes because I enjoyed having baked goods made in my home again. I really hope we can make this a habit again.

Cooking Pin

PF decided to start working on her cooking pin for Keepers. She searched through all the cookbooks and created a menu plan. From her plan for Monday, she created a shopping list and then we headed to the store to buy what she needed. We saved the recipe to use for future pins.

Breakfast

 Chocolate Chip Pancakes

 Coconut Dream Smoothie

Lunch

 Homemade Mac and Cheese and Hot Dogs

Dinner

 Her friend came over in the afternoon and helped her put together her dessert.

 Hot Dog Burritos

Cheese and Bacon Potatoes

Coconut ice

I believe from this experience she learned how much goes into planning and cooking meals for her family. I appreciate hubby's patience and willingness to eat what his daughter had planned for the day. I believe day 2 of her cooking will happen when hubby is having dinner elsewhere.