Making Pom Poms!

Have you ever made pom poms using a pom pom maker?  It is really fun and easy to do!

Mommy bought a bunch of pom pom makers from Jo Ann's so that we could all make pom poms.

All you need to do is pick your favorite color yarn and wrap it around half of the maker.  When that is full of yarn you close it and wrap yarn around the second half.

Then you cut through the middle of the loop following the guide lines of the maker.  Then you tie a knot around the middle of the cut ends.

The pom pom maker opens easily and out pops a cute pom pom!

We made a bunch of cute pom poms of all different sizes.

Then mommy went crazy and made a whole bunch of pom poms using Christmas colors and hot glued them to a wreath!

The makers sure make better pom poms then using cardboard or forks which we have tried before. 

Look out for more pom poms in the future!!

Tea Party Time!

Angel and Shelli had  their friend, Emily, over for a play date! When it was time for a snack, we had a tea party!

Emily had never had tea before!

We had Apple Cinnamon tea, sliced apples and Ginger Snaps.

We got out our great-great aunt's tea set.  

Before the tea party, we put on fancy dress from our dress up box.

During the tea party we tried to be proper ladies and use correct English and proper manners.

After the tea party, we played the game, Sorry. We also made  a time lapse movie with Emily's iPad of the Sorry game and then another one when it was time to clean up. 

We also did a fashion show and held a singing competition.

We had a great time! 😊 

Making a Fairy Garden

Shelli and Angel made a Fairy Garden in the backyard.

We put Morning Glories and succulents around and in the Fairy Garden.  

We made a trail out of Popsicle sticks and sand.  First we made a big square and then put a little square inside of it.  Then we put sand between the Popsicle sticks.  We used a little bit of sand because we didn't want to hurt the plants.

We decorated around the garden with rocks.  We got little rocks and big rocks so it would be pretty.

We stuck a Morning Glory leaf in the soil and we put some bird seed inside of it. It was curved like a bowl so we could put in bird seed.

Then we got a mushroom and put bird seed in it also. We ripped the stem off and got a little stick and pushed it into the mushroom.  So the mushroom bowl was upside down.  We stuck it in the soil just like the Morning Glory leaf.  

We made a bench out of popsicle sticks.  We used 5 sticks at the bottom and back of the seat and two sticks for the legs.

We pretended that peppermint leaves and sage were trees.  We put one over the bench for shade for the fairies.

Then we put two fairies on the bench and another one in the garden.  

When it rained, all the little birds came and ate the birdseed we had left in our Fairy Garden!

Angel and Shelli Make Cookies

This last weekend, Angel and Shelli did some baking.

Shelli made Ginger Snaps: They are spicy and taste like gingerbread.  They have molasses, ginger, and vanilla.  You have to stir a lot and roll them into little balls.  You put them on the pan and make sure they are all separated from each other.  I had to make two batches of cookies.  I had to put the first cookies in the oven and when they came out I made the next batch.  

Angel made Peanut Butter Blondies:  These cookies have peanut butter and peanuts sprinkled on top.  They are baked in a square dish and I cut them into squares.  They were delicious!

Peanut Butter Blondies are delicious!

Making Salsa with Daddy

We went to our friend's farm, The Broken Plow Farm, and he gave us tomatoes, peppers, and jalapenos.  So we decided to make salsa!

First we chopped up the onion, some of the tomatoes and a bunch of cilantro. 

 We put the vegetables on a pan and drizzled olive oil over them. Then we roasted them until they were blackened.

After they cooled a bit we took the stems off the peppers and cored the tomatoes.  We also diced the onions.

Then we put all the vegetables, the cilantro and lime juice in a blender.  We blended just a little bit and it was done.

Then we ate it with chips!  It was delicious!

How a Carburetor Works

Today we took apart the carburetor off our lawn mower. 

First, we talk about a carburetor's job of mixing air and gas to combust inside the engine.

Then we experimented with the float valve which lets the fuel into the carburetor from the gas tank.

We poured water into the funnel and opened and shut the valve by raising the float with our finger just like the valve in the back of the toilet.

We talked about how the air flow through the carburetor body sucks the fuel up the jet and into the engine.

Then the girls drew pictures of the carburetor and wrote explanations of how all the different parts worked.

Angel's diagram

 Shelli's diagram

Carburetor lesson and blog post courtesy of Daddy

Sunday Feast

While Angel and Shelli, who are fighting colds, watched Sci Girls, a movie on Sacajawea as well as Sean the Sheep, I decided to try out some new recipes.  

The new Vegetarian Times magazine had a few interesting recipes that I needed to try.

The first one was a Potato and Leek Soup.  It turned out really delicious.  It was made with potatoes, leeks, celery, as well as some cashews and spinach.  Amanda said it tasted like Christmas.

Next was the Soda Bread.  My first idea was to have Angel and Shelli make the bread but they were too sneezy. So I made the bread alone this time.  

I made two loaves, one gluten-free and the other with regular flour.  They turned out really delicious, even the gluten-free one.  The bread went perfect with the soup.  We like to dunk pieces in the soup.

Next, I made a Sweet Potato Pie.  This recipe also came from the newest Vegetarian Times. It was super easy to make!  After boiling the sweet potatoes you put them in the blender along with the other ingredients and then just pour it in the crust.  

We weren't sure if we should eat it warm or after it had been refrigerated so we tried both.  It tasted better after it had been in the refrigerator over night.

It is so rewarding to cook healthy delicious food that everyone else loves too!

Taking Out the Tools

Today, after reading 2 chapters of Anne of Green Gables and 2 chapters from Life of Fred, we decided to take apart our old George Foreman Grill.

Our grill was really old and not cooking like it should.  I had made a quadruple batch of waffles on Saturday and it took 10 minutes per waffle and the waffle was still floppy.

So after ordering a new waffle iron from Amazon we got our screwdrivers out and went to work on the old waffle maker aka the George Foreman Grill.

There were a lot of screws to undo.  We had to find the right screwdriver to fit in the screws.

Once opened we could see all the electrical wires inside and the heating element that cooked the waffles.

Angel and Shelli do a lot of electrical circuits so they knew all about the wires inside.  It was pretty interesting.

Now it is the end for the waffle maker/grill. We took it all to the garbage can.  Now we are looking for the Post Office to deliver the new waffle maker sometime today.