Jesus, Pirates, and the Oregon Trail

we went to the oregon trail museum in baker city this last weekend. my family, the nieces, and in-laws. if you have never been, you should put it on your bucket list. it is way fun and very informative. there are actual horses, buffalo, oxen, sheep that have been stuffed (is taxadermied the right term?) they are set up to look like they are traveling on the oregon trail. there are foot paths you can walk on when the weather is nice and see ruts from the wagons. it is very neat to be in the place where these brave americans ventured out to find a better life.

while we were enjoying the life size wagon train, we talked about how the people had to walk 10-20 miles each day and once the children out grew their shoes, they went barefoot. this is our last field trip of the school year. and we are now enjoying the summer before third grade (gah! third grade? oh time, please slow down, just a bit)

near the end of the display, there is a man driving his sheep. he has a nice staff and about six sheep. of course his hair is long, because there were no barber shops along the oregon trail. Ehm sees the shepherd and yells out “LOOK! I FOUND JESUS! I SEE JESUS, HI, JESUS!” now i am trying not to laugh, because her faith is so perfectly childlike. but Jesus on the oregon trail? then i took a closer look, it does look like the classic pictures of the Savior that are so often portrayed. Ehm was so happy that she got to see “her Jesus.”

then comes the part of the museum where we start our oregon trail adventure starting at independence, missouri. there is a wonderful display of a ship in a box and Baba thinks it is a pirate ship. she has an unnatural fascination with all things pirate and has for over a year now.

right now in the exhibit room there is a life size wagon and foam blocks that are labeled (beans, rice, fine clothes, work clothes, china, grandmother’s clock, chair, bed roll, bedding, linens, gun making supplies, bullets, whiskey, medicine, cast-iron stove, cook ware, bacon, hard tack, dried fruit, trinkets, toys…there are many others to, i can’t recall any more at the moment.) the idea is to pack your wagon making sure not to exceed the weight limit and to make sure you are taking the necessary things and not wasting room on things you would like, but are not necessary. this is a fun way to learn about how difficult traveling would have been. also makes me grateful for all the things i have and feel that i can not live without.

there is a place to put on a puppet show with animal puppets, and a giant magnet word board (this was my favorite), also a dress up corner and a play camera to see what clothes and hats from that time were like.


the kids loved this part a lot. and who doesn’t like dress up?

all in all it was a very educational and super fun time had by all. and now i have shared it with you so now you know the oregon trail started out with pirates  on a ship and ended with Jesus and his sheep.







 click on the photo to read more true stories

homeschooling

so i just read jasmin's blog about her mom. talk about beautiful. i hope that i can be that kind of fun mom for my kids. you can read her story here:

http://www.jasminestarblog.com/index.cfm?postID=827&making-up-the-rules


i think we are going to do school out in the yard on monday,
and watch the birds and plant seeds

for the garden...sounds fun and relaxing, and educational.

i sometimes forget it is about the fun of learning

 i loved school as a child. that is part of why i choose to homeschool, i like* (read LOVE) school. i have a huge collection of stickers and chalk and papers

and pencils

and sharpeners. and i have "mommy's" crayons (i can have my own set that still has its papers on and are free from teeth marks.) i even have text books on all sorts of subjects that a school was tossing out.

i love the look my kids get on their darling little faces when they understand something. also the look of concentration when Yah is trying to perfect her cursive (she looks like Daddy-o.) the delight in creating something and the joy of completing a project.

we are going to do more "fun" learning things. and i pray my children like* (read LOVE) school and learning as much as i do.

thanks for reading...

HOMESCHOOLERS: the fear of zombie hordes everywhere

another new project

like i need a new project, right? oh, well. i have already started...oh you want to know what it is? well my oldest daughter needs a little encouragement to read more. not that she can't read, quite the opposite, she reads very well. but she needs a little push to read more. so i came up with the idea to have her write book reviews. what better place to share them but here with you all...
our goal is two small books or part of a larger book each day.

Rudolph to the Rescue by Robert L May
 
Yah's OPINION: "I like this book because it is a new story and i have never heard it before."
SUMMARY "Rudolph found some animals that were different and helped them find the circus. Everyone loved the new circus. Rudolph helped Santa deliver presents to the kids at the circus."
Ehm had her OPINION too: "Reindeer and Big Papa in a red car." (we call my grandpa Big Papa, and this last christmas season Ehm called every santa she saw "Big Papa")
 
My OPINION: i enjoyed the illustrations in this book. rudolph is very helpful and caring, i liked that too. of course i like the happy ending as well. lesson is to care for others and be helpful.
Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen
  
Yah's OPINION: "I like it, I LOVE it! Because the girl is tall like me. This is a really good book."
SUMMARY "A girl with big feet and long legs, all she had to do was walk into a room to be noticed. Sassy got to dance with a tall boy, but the mean girls didn't get to go to the dance school."
Ehm's OPINION: "Cinderella is dancing up there."
my OPINION: i got this book because Yah likes to dance and the pictures are so wonderful. the girl is very tall and teased for being different. we got this when Yah's allergies were very bad and kids at school were teasing her because of it. this book shows that being tall or different is not a bad thing, but to use your differences to help you succeed.
have you read any good books lately, or do you have a book that you would like us to review? let me know!
thanks for reading...

i know what you are doing...

this is what evey mother dreads to hear...

"i know what you are doing when you and daddy lock your bedroom door."

"oh, you do? tell me what you think" i tried to remain calm and not hyperventelate because my seven year old daughter has a cute smug expression on her face. meanwhile my mind is racing...what did we do last night? i didn't think we were that loud. good greif her room is clear across the house. yes, daddy-o is my man...mmmm.  oh right "tell me, honey."

"you and dad smook each others faces for a long time. i am glad you lock the door because i think it is gross."

(smook is her made up work for smooch, it has meant "kiss" for the last four years or so.)

"well one day when you get married, you will like to smook with your husband. just be glad that mommy and daddy love each other. it is a good thing for us to smook. " big sigh of releif. oh man, i did not want to get into that subject today...whew.

i do wonder how much she knows, but for now, i think her knowledge is just right. and for now, this is just another pretty dress...



yes, i had to look twice too.  think it is an interesting display.

link up your own true story and join in all the laughter and embarassment with us. thanks for reading...

learnin how to be a man

daddy-0 was changing the oil in papa’s lil red car. Jam was  helping. he got into the tools and tried to eat them. how else is he to get to know which tool is right for the job?

he also made sure there was no damage to the papa’s car, he made a free inspection.



Yah loves the rachet. “it makes cool noises” (a girl after my own heart) but she did not want to hold the rag.

okay, see you again in 3 months or 30,000 miles.
thanks for reading…

sweet little piggy toes

a few weeks ago, Ehm asked me to help put her sandals on. when i put her foot into the shoe, she screamed like i was killing her loudly protested. after a close inspection of the shoe, i decided there must be something wrong with her foot.
.
sure enough, the big toe was gray on the side. weird. i tried again to put on the shoe, *insert more screaming* but it was no use. i finally just snatched her up and put her into the car with shoes in the diaper bag just in case.
.
later that night she kept saying owie, owie, foot. i could not figure it out. so i looked at her foot again to be shocked by discover her in-grown toenail. yes, my dear sweet baby not yet two years old, has an ingrown toenail! What?
.
compelled to ease her discomfort, i got out the clippers and rooted around skillfully got to work. there was putrid green and yellow pus oozing from her sweet toe after i clipped away some of  the skin. *you need to know i have had several ingrown toenails myself, so i know how to remedy this sort of owie* while i was torturing helping my sweet baby girl to feel better, she was SCREAMING (yes, in all caps. my ears are still ringing.)
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ever the one to stick her nose into other's business concerned for others welfare, Yah came into my room to see why her sister was so upset. i explained about Ehm's toe and Yah was disgusted enthralled to find out all about it.
.
i fixed Ehm's toe and after about a week, it was all better and there was no more protesting about wearing shoes. *insert awe and applause for a job well done*
.
.
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just yesterday, Yah told me her foot hurt....yep, you guessed it now she has an ingrown toenail. What? i did not realize ingrown toe nails are contagious. don't come to my house for a while. Yah's poor toe was bright red and festered, i went to get the clippers and she asked me "what are you going to do?" *whimper*
.
i reminded her of little sisters toe and what i did to fix it. "oh No, you are NOT going to do that to me." she said in total seven year old defiance.
"yes, i am" i said in the "i mean business" tone that every nurse has used with Yah. i got the clippers and the hydrogen-per-oxide and was about to reach for her foot, when Yah screamed said "wait, wait, wait, i have something i need to ask you." what. "if you just leave it alone, what will happen?"
.
your foot will turn into one big oozing, bleeding sore and then dad will cut it off with a saw well...i will have to take you to the doctor and they will give you several shots in your toe and then he will cut on your toe with a knife and then he will poke down inside it with medicine and it hurts really bad and you will scream and cry.
.
now Yah's eyes are bugging outta her head and she decides to let "nurse mom" fix her foot. this is going to hurt, but try not to scream, your brother is sleeping and he doesn't feel well, ...and we don't want to scare your sister.
.
Yah was very brave and let me fix her toe. she did cry, but not much screaming. then it was Ehm's turn to wonder what mom was doing to big sister. when she understood what was going on, she took off her sock and said "foot owie" (her foot is fine) i thought it was so funny that she needed a band-aid too.
.
the kids are staying at grandma and papa's house tonight, as daddy-o and i both have to work. when they got to our house to get the kids, Yah told papa:
"guess what, papa? i finally have my very own in grown toe nail! mom fixed it and put on a band-aid"
.
well, isn't that an interesting thing to be proud of?
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link up your true story and play along with all the fun!

thanks for reading...have a great tuesday!

p365 August part 1

yeah, well i decided waiting till the end of the month to post my p365 is just NOT going to work out. it takes too much time, and then windows live writer gets upset trying to post so many photos all at once. i did finally convince wlw to get the job done, but i will try to make it easier for my self too. i decided to post every 5 days or so. that would make six p365 posts in a month. that doesn’t sound like too much does it? i would hate to have become a bore.
aug. 1
daddy-o and i got to have our night at the hotel. his mom is the head of the housekeeping department and she had rose petals put on our bed,

and swans by the hot tub. she also left coke and root beer in the fridge, and cookies and doritos on the counter. how nice is that? thank the Lord i have such nice family. daddy-o and i had a great time just being together and we went out to dinner at a local irish steakhouse.

aug. 2
when we came home from our “get away” this is what we saw
everyone was in our pool! they were having a great time. Ehm was motoring all over in her life jacket. and papa was throwing Yah and Baba into the water. they loved it and begged for more.
aug. 3
we played inside because it was windy. Ehm wanted to wear her brother’s vest and HAD to have it zipped.

a big wind storm came through and there were black clouds over us. but town had an orangey pinkish glow. it was cool and creepy at the same time. almost looked like a fire. then it rained big drops.


this is “rose bluey” Yah saved her allowance for three months to get fish, tank, and accessories. she is very proud of rose (don’t tell her “rose” is a boy) and feeds her every night. she is responsible for cleaning the tank and telling mom or daddy-o when she needs more water. i am hoping to give her freedom and empowerment by having her be in charge of something.

aug. 4
that loose tooth from july? well it finally came out. you can read more about it and our tooth fairy traditions here. (aren’t you proud of me? i can put a link in my post. i have been dreaming of this for a while now, and windows live writer has a handy little button so i can. wow, i’m so cool!)


a big thunderstorm came through. it was amazing. i went out for about 15 min. and got some great shots. the storm lasted well over two hours. it also started three grass fires in the area.


aug. 5
this is what i heard while i was trying to sleep.

this yellow crop duster has been our “friend” for the last eight years. he flies over and “buzzes” our house. i know it isn’t on purpose, he is just doing his job. sometimes he seems to turn right over our house after every pass!

well, this isn’t too bad, right?
thanks for reading…

hello, tooth fairy?

that loose tooth from july?

well it finally came out!

when i was little, i always put my tooth into a cut glass juice cup, then put it in the window so the tooth fairy could see my tooth and bring me some coins. i asked my grandma if she still had one of the juice cups that we could have for our tooth fairy cup. she said that they had all broken a few years ago. we went to the thrift store together and we were able to find the same style cup for 25 cents! how cool.
the story goes: you put your tooth into the beautiful cup, then put some water into it and set it in the window. the moonlight will shine down into the cup and reflect the white of the tooth out the cut glass like a beacon for the tooth fairy to find.

this is the only time all summer Yah has been ready for bed before it is dark. and she even refused to finish the movie we were watching so she could go to bed before the tooth fairy came.
we all know that if you aren’t asleep by midnight, then the tooth fairy will have to come back on a different day. there are so many children around the world loosing teeth, if you are not ready for her, she does not have time to wait on you.

when you are good and asleep, then she will come and leave a gold coin and an indeterminable amount of money in the cup. depending on the size, cleanliness and shine of the tooth of course.

and we all know fairies leave behind glitter when they walk. you can see a fairy trail here where the tooth fairy was. sometimes, there is even glitter in the cup!

what are your loose tooth and tooth fairy traditions?
thanks for reading…