I got started during the week with sharing the pictures of our day in Niagara Falls, but didn't finish.  Therefore, it has become my Show & Tell entry for this week!  For more Show & Tell fun, visit CanadaGirl.

The first thing we did when we got into the town was to stop at a "souvenir mall" where there was a glass-blowing studio.  We thought it would be fun to watch the artisans at work for a bit, and it really was interesting but I didn't take any pictures.  There were a couple "photo op" places there, and Kennady wants her pictures taken every chance she gets, so I complied with some of her requests:

This is what I got when I asked Landon to pose at the same place:

Other "characters" that Kennady met included this RCMP officer

the Pink Panther

and - how thrilling - Hannah Montana!

We chose to park at the lot quite far from the falls and downtown and take the shuttle in.  We got off the shuttle at the Floral Showhouse (link takes you to my pictures) and looked around at the greenhouses, and then continued on to the main attraction - the Horseshoe Falls.  This was one of the first views we had:

I kept thinking about those cartoons - like in The Lion King - where the characters are floating down a river saying "I wonder what that roaring noise is?"  LOL

 As we got closer, we could see the famous rainbows.  Now I'll keep quiet and just post pictures of the Falls...

That's the Maid of the Mist boat tour above.  In this next picture, you can see the little knot of people in raincoats - that is the Journey under the Falls tour that we wanted to do but the timing didn't work out.  DH and I went down there years and years ago (as in - when we were dating!!) and it was awe-inspiring.  The power and beauty of waterfalls is breath-taking, and to think that God planned it and created it for our enjoyment, and I believe He was also planning ahead to provide hydro-electricity!  Amazing!

We went into the shopping district to have our dinner and then came back to the Falls in the evening for the fireworks show.  From where we sat down to watch the fireworks, this was our view until it got dark:

The Parks light up the falls at night, with colored lights, which is nice enough, but it doesn't begin to compare with the rainbows and sunsets that God creates!  Thanks for coming by!

For this week's Show & Tell with CanadaGirl, I'm going to show and tell about someone else's "show!"  While on vacation in Ontario, we were able to visit with some friends of ours and enjoyed the garden showplace they had created in their backyard.  My younger two children weren't really interested in sitting in the shade at the patio table so I suggested that they explore the garden, and gave them my camera so they could take pictures if they wanted to.  At the end of our visit, we toured the garden as well and I took a couple more pictures, but I think all but one of the ones I'm sharing today were taken by Landon (9yo) or Kennady (just days shy of 7yo at the time). 

If I had a green thumb, THIS is the kind of garden I would absolutely LOVE to have. 

 Our friends told us that this garden had been "inspired" by a Bed & Breakfast at which they had once stayed, and that almost all of the "props" are things that have been picked up from trash.  Keith made the bird feeders himself, and they have designed their own squirrel "baffles" on some of them.  I just loved this peaceful little oasis right in the city!  There were many birds and butterflies - and apparently squirrels too!  And I'm proud of the job my young photographers did on their pictures as well!

Stop by CanadaGirl's blog for more Show & Tell fun!

Time again for Show & Tell - visit CanadaGirl to see others and to participate!

So... we got a wireless mouse for the computer last week, which requires a USB port.  That being the port that I use to load pictures from my camera.  And I forgot to get DH to show me how I should load the pictures from now on.  So today I am sharing an older picture.  LOL

Almost a month ago, Kennady and I stopped at the grocery after a ball game, and noticed a bird on the sidewalk in front of the store that didn't seem to be disturbed by the people walking past.  We had a closer look, and this little bird held his ground and didn't act at all nervous by our presence.  We think perhaps it had flown into the window several minutes earlier and wasn't quite recovered yet.  But it was odd that he seemed so calm and wasn't breathing quickly the way startled birds will do.  Anyway, being a good homeschool mom  I got out my camera and took a couple pictures and Kennady and I knelt there and watched and talked for awhile before heading into the store to do our shopping. 

I'm not a birdwatching expert, but I studied a lot of field guides growing up and learned a little about identifying birds.  This is, to the best of my knowledge, a young Grey Catbird:

A close relative of the catbird is the Northern Mockingbird, and we have a pair nesting in a tree in our backyard.  They are here every summer, but we've never found their nest before.  Mr Mockingbird likes to perch on our TV antenna tower, but its terribly difficult to get a picture of him when he's up there. 

Thanks for visiting!!

I sure haven't blogged much lately, so it's a good thing I have Show & Tell to keep me coming back!  Hopefully I'll have time to do a little more soon.  For this weeks Show & Tell with CanadaGirl I'm going to share a couple of pictures from last weekend, when DH and I took part in a Relay for Life event in town nearby.  We went with a team from our church which included a number of teens.  The teens from our group raised almost $2000 in donations - good for them!

Many of the Relay for Life events take place overnight, but some, like ours, are "mini-events" and are just a part-day.  Ours started at 10am and was finished around 4pm.  Since this was the first time DH and I had done something like this, the shorter event was a good introduction!  The relay was held at a retirement community in town, so the Opening Ceremony was held in front of the clubhouse:

Because it was a daytime only event, we were able to buy balloons in honor of, or in memory of, folks we know affected by cancer.  The events that take place overnight offer luminarias.  The balloons were placed on the lawn in front of the clubhouse:

DH and I bought a balloon in memory of his Uncle Bill...

... and in honor of his mother, who was recently diagnosed and is now receiving follow-up treatment.

I have two friends on a message board, both with little boys that were diagnosed with leukemia recently.  I purchased balloons in honor of these two Strong and Mighty Warriors as well.  Tristan (his mom is L:indaI)

and Suzanne's son Philip:

After the other ceremonies and the Survivors Lap, the balloons were handed out and there was a ceremony for releasing them.

After that we started walking.  It was hot, but not as bad as the previous weekend, and at least there was a breeze. 

Overall, it was a wonderful day, and we are almost certainly going to participate again next year.  I'd be willing to do the "full-length" Relay for Life event as well, if my schedule permits and there is a team I could join with.  I joined our church team literally at the last minute this year, but will plan ahead for it next year.  If anyone reading would be interested in making a donation, my personal page is still available to accept donations to The American Cancer Society.

Thanks for visiting! To visit other Show & Tells, or to participate, head over to CanadaGirl's blog and learn all about it!

Well, it's time again for Show & Tell with CanadaGirl, and since I've been neglecting my blog lately, I thought this might be a good opportunity to get caught up a bit.

Late spring is a busy time of year - we have two kids playing baseball (my last S&T entry) and those schedules keep us hopping!  And of course we are busy, as always, with church commitments.  DH is extra busy at work this time of year as well.  On top of all of the extra-curricular busy-ness, it is the "official" end of the school year, and I need to get report card information sent in to our oversight.  All of us that have had experience in public school or at college are familiar with the term "cramming" I believe - and that is what happened in our homeschool this year as well.    Report cards have been sent away - barely on time - but is that the end of the school year? Not for us.  Way back in September I thought it would be, but it didn't work out that way.  That's okay, because we've done year-round school before, so its nothing new for us to have at least a couple of subjects still going through the summer months.

We finished our weather unit in Science, and had a very short Oceans unit to end the year.  The last demonstration we did involved ocean currents - how cold and warm water interact.  The pictures didn't turn out very clearly, but here they are:

The colored water had pretty much spread out by the time we got the picture, but you can kind of see the swirl pattern near the opening of the mini Coke bottle (yes, we used a mini Coke bottle to do the experimment - it was the perfect fit for the bowl!)  We took a clear glass bowl and filled it with cold water, then filled the small bottle with very warm water with red food coloring.  Then we put the bottle on its side in the bowl and slowly uncovered the opening.  The warmer water rose to the top of the cold water and made a little "current" pattern that we could see.  Then we tried again, with the opposite - bowl filled with warm water, the colored water in the bottle was cold:

I took this picture a little earlier, so you can see that the cold water sank and spread more slowly.

We tried saltwater painting, but that didn't turn out at all.  I think I should have put WAAAAAAAAAAY more salt in the solution.  I'll remember that if we ever try it again.  The picture of Kennady painting was cute (of course I think ALL pictures of Kennady are cute.  LOL) so I'll share that anyway:

Something else that's kept us busy lately is the youth center at our church.  We've had a couple of parties and special events lately, celebrating our youth pastor.  Pastor Donnie has just moved to New Brunswick to do youth ministry at a church there.  We're sad to see him go.  Donnie is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, so at the Vault Wednesday night farewell party a couple weeks ago, we had a GIANT sheet of brownies decorated just for him:

And finally... last Saturday Harrison and I worked at our yard sale and car wash fundraiser.  The proceeds were to support our missions trip team going to Honduras later this summer.  It was a HOT day!!!!  The sale was successful, and we have more fundraising activities coming up.  Harrison and I are finally getting our support letters sent out to friends and family as well, so please pray with us that we are able to raise the necessary funds.  Anyway, back to the yard sale - of course I was happy to buy some of the items for sale myself - money I probably would have spent anyway, and this way it also helped raise support.  However, Kennady fell in love with something that I wouldn't have bought otherwise, but since it was still there at the end of the day, I did.  Here is her new (antique?) school desk:

(yes its in my kitchen LOL)  She got right to work on her Math:

(and that's her newly awarded baseball trophy stnading guard over her as she works)

To participate in Show & Tell, or see what others are sharing this week, head over to CanadaGirl's blog and join in the fun!

This week for Show & Tell with CanadaGirl I have some pictures from our baseball teams.  Landon and Kennady are both playing again this year - Landon is playing "kid pitch" for the first time, and Kennady is playing Instructional Ball, where the coach does the pitching.  I haven't taken a lot of pictures this year - and there are fewer of Landon than of Kennady for some reason.  Most of the pictures I have taken were the first couple of games and I haven't bothered since then.  My bad.

Here's Kennady on Opening Day:

And this is one of her first at-bats in a game:

Different game, on base:

Harrison got bored and wanted to go back to the van:

The few pictures I've tried to get of Landon don't even turn out.  *sigh*  And he refuses to pose (for me) so I guess I'll have to wait for the official photos.  Which are too expensive and take way too long IMO, but I won't bore you with the negatives of the baseball experience for us this year - the photos are only one of many.  LOL  I found ONE picture of Landon and you can barely see him.  He's #9 at first base.

So that's how we've been spending much of our time this spring - baseball practices and games.  Its fun, but it takes a lot of time and gas money!

To participate in Show & Tell, or see what others are sharing this week, head over to CanadaGirl's blog and join in the fun!

Since I am pressed for time, and behind with blogging yet again, I am combining my BFS assignment with my Show & Tell entry for this week!!  The link for Blogger Friend School is below - be sure to visit for other assignments about our homeschool travels.  To participate in Show & Tell, visit CanadaGirl

This is the assignment Nancy has shared with us for this week:  This week we're going to reminisce on our Favorite Travels!  I had three requests to do something about favorite field trips, favorite vacations, or just favorite places to go as a family or with other homeschool families.  I combined those three requests and came up with Favorite Travels! Do you have a favorite travel prayer that the children recite or a favorite verse you can add?  That would be fun too.  Don't you just LOVE the graphic for this assignment...it's thanks to someone on Fliker (not sure that's spelled right), there was no name to give thanks to.  Please share pictures or a direct link to them if you have any!
I love sunshine faces!

I will have a hard time narrowing this down!!  First, I'm going to provide a link back to my own blog entry when I entered a drawing based on "the most memorable field trip"  (guess what - I won!!).  I listed several great trips that our family has experienced, including:

A church-sponsored field trip to Hope Acres (a dairy farm)  (my blog entry about it is here.)

We live close enough to Gettysburg that we can visit Gettysburg National Military Park often, and we do.

On vacations, we have enjoyed some great "field trips" - we have been to Taliesin in Wisconsin.  I blogged a little about it here.

We have also visited The World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, which I definitely counted as a history lesson!  Our family loves to visit Disney World, although we haven't been as often as we would all like.  Our family vacation to Alberta, Canada this past November gave us the chance to spend a day in Banff National Park, which was very educational as well as being lots of fun!  I blogged about that day in three separate entries.

I was able to take my oldest two boys on an all-day field trip to Philadelphia.  Another three part report.  We saw the historic city...

...and the Franklin Institute, which was featuring the King Tut exhibit at the time:

But I still think our most memorable field trip was the weekend camping trip at Camp Flintlock near Historic St Mary's City, Maryland.  DH and I took the boys on this trip with other homeschool families several years ago and it is a favorite memory of ours.  DH has talked about possibly doing this encampment weekend with the mens group from church, and if the opportunity comes up for us to do it as a family again, I'm sure that we will.  If you really want to read my entire post about it, follow that "most memorable field trip" link - but here is a little bit of that post, and one of the pictures:

A group from our homeschool fellowship went together to experience a little bit of life as it might have been in colonial and revolutionary war times.  We slept in tents with straw ticks under our sleeping bags, dressed in period clothes, were awakened by drum call, gathered firewood and hauled water, cooked over an open fire, made crafts, played colonial games, and we even learned how to throw a tomahawk and shoot a musket! 

Here's our family portrait, taken in front of the tent we called home for two nights:

 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"

~Psalm 119:105

It's time for Show & Tell Friday, hosted by Mary aka CanadaGirl - head over to her blog to participate and to see what others are sharing today.

Our spring co-op classes ended a couple weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to load up my pictures to share.  Our homeschool association has a co-op class opportunity for 12 weeks in the spring.  This year Landon and Kennady participated.  Their classes were Art, Science, and Spanish. 

The second last week of co-op, the kids that were in Spanish classes had a little "fiesta" Show & Tell.  Each of the children was to bring something to "show and tell" about a Spanish-speaking country.   We found that the previous week, we had to give them a list of countries to choose from other than Mexico! LOL  The teacher was hoping that the kids would be able to connect with someone who was a native of one of those countries, or had lived there.  The kids (well, actually, the mothers) brought a food item to share from that country as well.

Landon and Kennady chose the Central American country of Honduras, because a young lady we know from church (Danielle) is currently teaching there, and also because Harrison and I are planning on going on a missions trip to Honduras in the summer.  We were able to borrow some things from Danielle's family for them to show in class.  Here is Kennady giving her little presentation:

We got her class to pose for a group picture.  Kennady is in the front row, on the left.

Here's Landon giving his presentation (love his hair.  LOL  I don't think he was happy that I was taking his picture):

He is showing a photo album covered in cloth woven by the Lenca people of Honduras.  We showed all of this:

Our friends also loaned us this clay pot that they brought back from Honduras.  It's kind of like a fondue pot - you put a candle or heat source in the bottom to keep the food warm.  They said this is served as appetizer in many Honduran restaurants, the same way Red Lobster gives biscuits.  It is just refried black beans, and cheese, with tortilla chips. 

We even used beans that came from Honduras! 

(I don't think the picture on the package looks very appetizing, do you?   But it was SO good.  Kennady practically licked the bowl.  LOL)

Here's a plate full of a sampling of the foods brought by all the co-op participants:

What a delicious co-op class!!!

It's Show & Tell Friday again, with CanadaGirl as our host.  Click over to her blog to participate and to see what others are sharing today.

My Show & Tell today is rather silly.  I had these pictures from awhile back and thought they were very funny but didn't have opportunity to share them on my blog.  For your entertainment and amusement, I offer my kids' version of sumo wrestling. 

Spencer, Landon, and Kennady came up with this idea - I do not know how, I just heard them having a good time on the trampoline and went to see what they were up to.  They stuffed pillows into their clothing and then went and jumped on the trampoline, bouncing against each other's padded bellies especially.  I had them come onto the deck so I could get some pictures.

In this one, you can kind of see Landon and Spencer having at it in the background.

Let the games begin!!

And check out Kennady's saddlebags!!! They have a couple of small neck pillows, the kind shaped like a "C" - and Landon and KEnnady put those inside their pants to pad their bottoms! LOL

(I do not know how I managed to cut Landon out of that picture.)

And because I don't want to leave Harrison out, because he is at least as weird as the rest of this family, here is a recent picture of him.  He's wearing a Burger King crown, but can't go without his ball cap on:

Hope you've enjoyed this very silly Show & Tell!!

I had hoped to get this done earlier in the day, but that's how it goes sometimes.  Today is Show & Tell Friday with CanadaGirl - head over to her blog to join in the fun!

I think I can keep today's Show & Tell pretty short and sweet.  My short, sweet daughter finally lost her first tooth yesterday.  Well to be accurate, she did not lose it, I lost patience and pulled it out.  LOL  She had it hanging by a thread and I didn't think it was a good idea for her to go to bed with it like that.  So she agreed to let me pull it out once and for all.  She also informed me that she had a second tooth starting to get loose, so I told her that the Tooth Fairy Rules state clearly that only ONE tooth can be loose at a time, so the first one had to come out. 

Here she is showing how loose the tooth is - it is leaning forward at a 90* angle and resting on her bottom lip when she smiles!

Not such a happy face immediately after I yanked the tooth out:

If your tooth offends you, pull it out????

Enjoying the new space:

She showed me this morning that she can "whistle" now, through the space.  LOL

Show and Tell Thursday, April 3

Show off those talents. Share a story, a special moment, a piece of artwork. Any accomplishment, great or small, is fair game.

Since about this time last year (in somewhat chronological order):

My daughter played baseball for the first time:

Kennady loved it, and became quite a good little player.  She is playing Instructional ball again this year, but I haven't got pictures yet.  Something about it being so COLD at practices that my hands cannot operate the camera...  She is quite proud of the fact that she made the suggestion for her team's name this year that they voted to adopt:  BlueJays  (and Dad and I are secretly thrilled, because naturally we are Toronto BlueJays fans!)

Landon played ball last spring too:



It was not his first time playing, he had four successful seasons under his belt by this time, but this was with a new team, and where we didn't already know any of the players or coaches.  Landon is not a particularly shy boy, but I think it was still an accomplishment that he bravely went out there and got to know some new friends.

We all helped DH's parents move - here is the last picture in front of the old place:



We went to Kingdom Bound, where Landon got Toby Mac's autograph



I finally found a way to keep current schoolbooks accessible, and in some semblance of order:



That was in August when we started the schoolyear.  It is not quite that tidy right now.  But surprisingly close!!!

We started using the "chorebox" which I consider an accomplishment because it has worked better than any other "system" of divvying up chores that we have tried to date:



The official First Day of School (2007-2008) pictures:





We made "marble" and ate it!



We designed our own totems:



I really don't know why she was so straight-faced.

Kennady sang her first solo at the church talent night:



We made and ate a whole "volcano":



Spencer designed a medieval castle, complete with floor plans:



We finally were able to visit my family in Alberta and have EVERYONE there for a family picture:



It looks like we were in one of those tilted-floor funhouses, doesn't it.  LOL

We took the most awesome field trip to Banff National Park:



The Alberta trip was also Kennady's first time on an airplane:



We added a new feature to Social Studies - making and eating dishes from some of the countries we study:



This was Charlotte Russe (Russian night)

Harrison had successful eye surgery:

He looks much better now!!!

And we did so much more - but this is where the pictures run out!

I mentioned in my last post for Home Education Week that I was a day late AGAIN with it.  Well, today I am posting this a day late on purpose - honest!!!  By doing my year-in-review as my Home Education Week Show & Tell, I will also use it for my Show & Tell with CanadaGirl entry for this week!  Head over to her website for more Show & Tell fun, and thanks for visiting my blog for my trip down this year's memory lane!

Other than going to church in the morning, I mean.   Actually we had an excellent service - we had a combination of worship music and readings, so there was plenty of participation opportunity for the congregation.  My DH was one of the readers and I was on the worship team. 

We got home about noon and the kids made their favorite springtime treat, Resurrection Rolls, so we could have them with our lunch. 

(Good grief, look how messy the counter is!!!  )  Ready to go in the oven:

And I realized I never took a picture of them when they were done!  The kids scarfed them up too fast, I guess.  LOL  I noticed several bloggers shared the recipe for the cookies last week, the ones with nuts and you leave them in the oven overnight etc...  well I have never made those for two main reasons: 

1.  my kids do not like nuts; and 2.  I'm too lazy!  LOL  But we have been making these very simple Resurrection Rolls for years now and it's good enough for us.  

Resurrection Rolls

1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls

large marshmallows

melted butter

cinnamon sugar or colored sugar

Wrap one marshmallow in each crescent roll triangle - do your best to seal up the edges!  Brush melted butter on top, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or whatever you like.  Bake according to crescent roll instructions.  When you take them out of the oven, the marshmallow will have melted and you have a sweet roll that is empty inside, just like the tomb!!!

After lunch we had a little bit of time to relax before we headed out to Hershey, PA.  When we got there, we first went to the Hershey's Chocolate World for the (still completely FREE!) tour!  We stocked up on some chocolate treats in the shop, and then headed over the Giant Center to pick up our hockey tickets.  We know a player on the team - he's the son of some good friends of ours from back in our Calgary days.  DH sometimes takes the kids to Hershey Bears games, so when we found out he was playing there, we got in touch with him.  He was willing to get us tickets for a game, since it would give him a chance to use the "friends and family" tickets allotted to players.  So we had awesome seats for the game.  (Stats on our friend, who also just signed a deal with the Washington Capitals) 

Warm-up:

Before the anthem:

End of the game:

I noticed that up on the second tier our friend has his own little fan section!!  (his last name is Beagle and if you can't make it out in the picture, the banner says "Beagle's Dog Pound" LOL  He was pretty amused by that.  And apparently the t-shirt just because available in the fan shop the previous week)

Kennady took this picture of the Bears mascot, Coco.  We still are unsure whether Coco is a boy or a girl bear, but we have been told that the person inside the costume is a girl.

Kennady used her Easter money to get herself a CocoBear to take home.  Later our friend autographed it for her.

After the game we went out for dinner with our friend and finally got home around 11pm.  A long day, and a kind of different way to spend an Easter Sunday afternoon and evening, but we had a great time!!

Join us for Show & Tell hosted by CanadaGirl - head over to her place to participate and to see all the other neat Show & Tells for this week!

 Last week, I found this poem on Suzy's blog and it went so well with something I had planned to do for a Show & Tell, so I borrowed it!    First, here is the poem (and the pictures that went with it, I don't take any credit for those!):

In that long ago time when things were saved,
When roads were graveled and barrels were staved,
When worn-out clothing was used as rags,
And there were no plastic wrap or bags,
And the well and the pump were way out back,
A versatile item, was the flour sack.

Pillsbury's Best, Mother's and Gold Medal, too
Stamped their names proudly in purple and blue.

The string sewn on top was pulled and kept;
The flour emptied and spills were swept.
The bag was folded and stored in a sack
That durable, practical flour sack.

The sack could be filled with feathers and down,
For a pillow, or t'would make a nice sleeping gown.
It could carry a book and be a school bag,
Or become a mail sack slung over a nag.
It made a very convenient pack,
That adaptable, cotton flour sack.

Bleached and sewn, it was dutifully worn
As bibs, diapers, or kerchief adorned.
It was made into skirts, blouses and slips.
And mom braided rugs from one hundred strips
She made ruffled curtains for the house or shack,
From that humble but treasured flour sack!

As a strainer for milk or apple juice,
To wave men in, it was a very good use,
As a sling for a sprained wrist or a break,
To help mother roll up a jelly cake,
As a window shade or to stuff a crack,
We used a sturdy, common flour sack!

As dish towels, embroidered or not,
They covered up dough, helped pass pans so hot,
Tied up dishes for neighbors in need,
And for men out in the field to seed.
They dried dishes from pan, not rack
That absorbent, handy flour sack!

We polished and cleaned stove and table,
Scoured and scrubbed from cellar to gable,
We dusted the bureau and oak bed post,
Made costumes for October (a scary ghost)
And a parachute for a cat named jack.
From that lowly, useful old flour sack!

So now my friends, when they ask you
As curious youngsters often do,

“Before plastic wrap, Elmer’s glue
And paper towels, what did you do?”
Tell them loudly and with pride don't lack,

“We used that wonderful old flour sack!”

--author unknown

Well, here's what I had planned for Show & Tell - two flour sack quilts that my aunts made for me!  I did an IRL show & tell with them a couple weeks ago when missionaries were visiting our church and I found that the wife was a quilt enthusiast.  So I wanted to show them to my online friends as well. 

This one was my birthday present this past year.  The "points" on the stars are scraps cut from flour sacks:

Those are a couple of the more interesting prints.  This quilt was designed especially for me, because my aunts knew that although I am fascinated by the FLOUR sack prints, I am not really a FLOWER person, so here's the backing fabric they chose:

And you can't see it in the picture, but they embroidered a panel on the back of that quilt explaining its history.  I'm told this increases the value of a quilt to a collector.  Interesting! Although I sure don't plan on parting with these!!  Here is the other quilt I have:

In 2001 we had a family reunion of sorts, and my aunts had several sample quilt squares made up, with different designs.  My sister and brothers and I each got to pick a design for our flour sack quilt - although I'm not a flower person, tulips are one of my favorite flowers, so I chose this one.  Here are a couple close-ups of the squares:

Do you know, I remembered some of the prints from aprons that my Grandma wore - but when I was a young girl I didn't realize they were made of flour sacks!  My Grandma had flour sack aprons right up until her final visit to the hospital.  My aunts tell stories of wearing dresses made of flour sacks!  Here is the history panel from the back of the tulip quilt - it is printed so it will show up in the picture better (but I removed the last names for the purpose of showing the picture here!)

Designed & Quilted by Alice and Linda D. 2005-2006

For Kym F. T.

Prints are feed sacks used in 1930s and 1940s, collected by our

mother, Elisabeth T. D.

I'm so blessed to have these beautiful history lessons to remind me of my Grandma!

Thanks for visting my (long) Show & Tell today!!  Show & Tell is hosted by Mary aka CanadaGirl - please head over to visit her and find the links to many other Show & Tells around the blogworld!

I'm trying to be quick about getting my Show & Tell posted this morning, so it will be short!

This is a framed print we have in our living room:

Close-up:

Years ago, when we still lived in Calgary, DH had a friend named Ian who had this picture in his house.  We admired it, because it had the Coke signs featured, and when Ian was getting ready to move, he gave it to us.  Unfortunately we know very little about the picture - where this store is located, or even who the artist is.  Ian thought that it was one of a series of pictures of small-town Canadian stores, but we haven't tracked down anything to substantiate it.  The scenery reminds us of any number of locations that we've been to in several provinces, and there is nothing other than the name of the store - Little's - to help us narrow it down.  So we gave up, and just enjoy the picture for its Coca-Cola-ness and what we presume is its Canadian-ness.

For other Show & Tells, and to participate in our weekly showcase, visit the charmingly CANADIAN blog of my friend Mary, aka CanadaGirl

I cannot remember if I have already done this for Show & Tell - if I have, it was quite long time ago.  In any case, I know I've mentioned our love for Coca-Cola and that we are collectors of all things Coca-Cola so if I haven't shown any pictures of our vollection, I should have!  DH and I have been collecting Coke memorabilia since before we were married and have done some of our home decorating with our collection.  This is some of our collection that is displayed in our dining room:

I even have an American Idol/Coca-Cola directors chair!  I'm very proud of this one, because it was a mail-in offer and cost me only the price of a stamp!

When we moved into this house, the checked wallpaper was already up in the dining room and kitchen, so I just replaced the border at the top with a vintage Coca-Cola girl border.  I was so delighted that I didn't have to try and live with a green or blue kitchen/dining room that "clashed" with my Coca-Cola reds!  That worked out exceptionally well for me.

Now that I've started, I'll have a fall-back on Show & Tell days and can show more of the collection and some close-ups of certain things we have. 

Join us at CanadaGirl's for Show & Tell every Friday!

Welcome to Friday Show & Tell with CanadaGirl - click on over to her place to participate and to see what others are showing today.

My week has been busy, and I haven't got any new pictures.  However, I did get a picture of the sunrise this morning.  I was so disappointed that I couldn't get a picture of the sunset last night, because it was gorgeous.  But I was driving, so probably not a good idea to try and work the camera at the same time.  Here's what I saw this morning:

Very RED for a sunRISE, I thought.  And then I remembered that in a couple of the books I'm using for our weather unit, weather myths and proverbs are discussed.  For instance,

Red sky in the morning - sailor takes warning.  Red sky at night - sailor's delight.

Here's what Our Weather and Water has to say about this saying:

This saying is very old and is even mentioned in the Bible.  Matthew 16:2-3 says, "He answered and said to them, 'When it is evening you say, "It will be fiar weather, for the sky is red"' and in the morning, "It will be foul weather today, for the sky is read and threatening."  Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.'"  Like many old sayings that have lasted, this saying is based on real science.  Red skies occur when sunlight reflects off of dust particles in dry air indicating a high-pressure system.  Because air circles the earth from west to east, the red sky in the morning means a high-pressure systems has just passed through and winds from a low pressure system are likely to bring rain.  On the other hand, red sky at night indicates a high-pressure system is just moving in and is likely to bring fair weather.

So I went to weather.com and checked - there's no rain in the forecast specifically, but there's a cold front headed this way and the forecast is for clouds today and tonight before some sun peeks out tomorrow.  I think meteorology is my favorite area of science. 

I'm late getting a Show & Tell entry done this week - I was kind of busy on Friday!  We found out on Wednesday that Harrison would need surgery on both eyes, because of problems with his retinas.  Detaching in one eye, and potential for the same to happen in the other eye.  I posted the good news and the bad news on Friday morning before we had to leave.  And an update on how he did in surgery once we got home Friday night.

Yesterday morning we took him to the surgeon for his follow-up appointment.  The surgeon said he was very pleased with the results at this point, his exact words were something like "it's really not possible for him to have done better"  so that was good to hear.  On the flip side though, we are getting a little better sense of just how serious this really was.  Not only was the surgery itself handled in an "emergency" type of hurry, but another thing the surgeon said was that he was "much less worried now than on Wednesday"  I don't like to hear that the doctor was "worried" y'know?    LOL  But all is well now, and we will see the surgeon for the next follow-up on Thursday.  (By the way, I hope I can get the appointment early enough in the morning so that it doesn't interfere with the afternoon co-op class! I will have to work on a back-up plan in case someone else needs to take my class for me! It's a small concern in the bigger scheme of things, but I'd appreciate prayer about it anyway.)  So the remainder of yesterday was spent in the first round of me putting the drops in his eyes four times a day, and bringing him pills, drinks, food, and ice packs.  His eyes are still very swollen - not just the eyelids, but the eyeballs too, which is weird to me.  I am a HUGE wimp when it comes to blood/needles/stitches etc, but other than me feeling ready to faint during most of the time in the recovery after his surgery, I have been just fine.  I guess because it's really UP TO ME to do the drops and change the bandage.  Two things really bothered me when Harrison was in recovery - as he was starting to wake up, he was trying to scratch his eyes; and there were two or three times when the nurses added something to his IV line.  Yeah, the needle was already in (which I had NOT watched!!!!) and this was just adding something to the port; and I didn't even look but the very thought was enough to make me woozy.  And of course, there I was, watching my big boy all pale and hurting and there really wasn't anything I could do to make it better.  That's hard for a mom.  In my mind, he is still my baby; and seeing him that way also reminded me of when he was a newborn and in NICU for awhile.  Same feelings for me.    DH teased me quite a bit about being so squeamish, but the nurse told me that well over half the moms react the same way (or more dramatically) when they see their kid in recovery so I am not that weird after all.

At any rate, he is doing well and so I thought I'd share this for Show & Tell.  Yes, there's a "Show" part to this too - his goofy picture right before going into surgery, modelling his dorky (and much too small, it seems) glasses and the nice floofy hat he had to wear to make sure his 1/8 inch long hair didn't get in the way of the surgeon.

And I took a picture in recovery too - before I started feeling lightheaded.  I thought Harrison might want to see later what he looked like:

If you check back later on, or for next week's Show & Tell, I will likely have a picture of him in his silly glasses, the kind of have the springy eyes that bounce attached to the front.  He insisted that I get him a pair of those because he wants to wear them for youth on Wednesday night.    It was a small request and I was happy to comply, especially since I could acquire said silly spectacles at the dollar store.  Nothing but the best for my kids. LOL

Head over to CanadaGirl's wonderful blog for more Show & Tell fun!!

Last night DH and I got to go out on a date - and for a favorite event for both of us - an NHL hockey game!  We had tickets for the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens in DC last night.  We are all hockey fans, although I have to admit that I no longer watch the games and follow it as closely as I did even a couple of years ago.  My team is the Calgary Flames, and they don't make the news here very often.  LOL  I do check scores daily though.  DH and Harrison (who cheers for the Buffalo Sabres - why, we don't know) are the big fans, but Spencer (Anaheim Ducks) and Landon (Detroit Red Wings) both have their teams that they follow, and they like to watch games on TV.  On Saturday nights during the season, it's pretty much a given that CBC's Hockey Night in Canada will be on our TV - in fact we made sure to get the Centre Ice package with our DirecTV so that we won't miss any games!  DH is a huge fan of the Canadiens - just to give an idea HOW big a fan he is - we named our daughter after the team.  That is 100% the truth.  Say the two names a few times (make sure to use the French accent for the team name) and you will get it.  Canadien - Kennady Anne.  That really is how we came up with her name.   So far she still cheers for Daddy's team and likes them best because she knows she is named in their honor.  As she gets older I wonder if she will "stray from the fold" as the boys have done?  Harrison seems to choose his favorite teams in any sport based on which team is the biggest rival to his Dad's favorite.

So back to last night.  We had pretty good seats, so I did take a few pictures:

The Caps' Alexander Ovechkin got a hat trick - which was good for DH because he has Ovechkin in his fantasy pool - but not so good because it meant that the Caps won the game. 

(For those that don't know, a hat trick in hockey is when a player scores three goals in a game, and its customary for fans to throw hats onto the ice when that happens)

So even though the Habs didn't win, it was a good game - and was a tie game, so the Habs still get one point in the standings.

Last year, on DH's "best day ever" (which was actually my birthday) we had tix to a Caps-Habs game in the SECOND row behind the goalie!!!!!!!! Here are some pictures from that game:

See how close we were??

Here's me and DH at that game a year ago.  We looked pretty much the same last night, but I didn't take a picture.  LOL

More evidence of how much we love hockey...  whenever the youth pastor (who also happens to be from canada) has the tables and chairs cleared in the youth center, he will call up to see if my boys can come over and play floor hockey:

We also have a floor hockey "rink" established on the second floor of our garage right now.

Most highly desired gift at Christmas?  McDonalds Hockey cards (and yes, I know I've shared this picture before):

So that was my Show & Tell for this week!!! Show & Tell is hosted by CanadaGirl and is a great way to get to know fellow bloggers.  Head over to her blog for links to all the interesting and diverse Show & Tells for this week!

This will have to be a mostly "tell" since I didn't get a chance to take pictures at co-op yesterday.  What a bad mom I am, not taking pictures of my littles on their "first day of classes" LOL  In my defense, I taught the first period, so once we got there I was pretty focused on getting my copies and being ready for the class.  I did take my camera along but was too busy doing other stuff to use it.  Oh well.

Our co-op is a highlight of our school year.  This year we have nursery and preschool, as always, and classes for kids aged 5 through about 12 years old.  Kennady is in the 5 and 6 year-old class, and the three subjects they will work on are Science (Astronomy), Art and Spanish.  Kennady really enjoyed her first day and couldn't choose which of the three classes was her favorite.  She was eager to show me the Spanish she had learned, wanted to look at constellations last night with the starfinder they made in class (but it was too cloudy), and informed me that she had learned in Art that people do not have round heads but more like and egg-shape.  Landon, typically, was less forthcoming with details of what he enjoyed or what he learned, but he had a good day as well.  Since I was teaching or helping in two of his classes, I could see most of his reactions first-hand.  His classes are Science (Weather, taught by yours truly), Art and Spanish as well.  I help out in the Spanish class, and I probably learned more Spanish yesterday than in all my previous experience.  LOL  My Spanish language comes from watching Sesame Street and Villa Allegre as a child (anybody else remember Villa Allegre on PBS?? Or am I totally dating myself there...) and overhearing Dora the Explorer when Kennady went through that phase. 

Weather Unit - Lesson One

1.  We discussed a working definition of weather and of climate, and the difference between the two, and I gave the kids a quick idea of what we would be doing in the class in weeks to come - things like reading weather maps, and making instruments to help us record weather data.  Weather is what is going on in the atmosphere around us, at a given place and given time.  And climate is an average of what the weather has been like over a long period of time.

2.  We discussed the atmosphere and what it is.  Atmosphere is the air surrounding the earth.  (Have to tell a joke here, which comes from Tori to Phil to Donnie and now I am telling it.  I had dinner at a restaurant on the moon recently.  The food was great, but there was no atmosphere.  I know, groan.  LOL)  We looked at a printout of this:  Layers of the Atmosphere

3.  We defined air pressure and did a couple of demonstrations to show that air has weight, exerts pressure, and expands and contracts depending on temperature. 

•  We poured a couple inches of hot water into an empty juice bottle and left it for a minute, then emptied the water and quickly put the lid back on tightly.  We put that in the freezer and left it for 15minutes.  When we looked at it again, the sides of the bottle were caved in.  What happened?  It took the kids a couple tries to figure it out - the air trapped inside the bottle was warm when we put it in the freezer.  When it cooled down, the molecules moved a bit closer together, contracting and causing the sides of the bottle to collapse because the bottle was sealed.
• I had the kids in pairs and gave each a wooden paint stir-stick and two sheets of newspaper.  We put the stick at the edge of the table, with about half hanging over and laid the sheets of newspaper on top, smoothed flat.  First, slowly push down on the end of the stick - the newspaper lifts up easily.  What do think would happen if you hit the end of the stick hard and quickly?  Most of the kids guessed that the newspaper would rip.  When we tried it though, we found that the stick broke in half! Why??  Because of air pressure - when we pushed down gently, the stick worked as a lever and air was able to flow in under the newspaper so that the air pressure was equal above a below.  But when we struck the stick hard, the air was not able to flow underneath quickly enough to even the pressure.  The weight of the air pushing down on the paper was more than that underneath and the stick gave way.  I got this experiment - and a detailed scientific explanation in one of Donald B. DeYoung's wonderful books, Science and the Bible, Volume 3 if I remember correctly.  The kids were very impressed. 

4.  We had a diagram showing air cells and a simple diagram of how the Coriolis effect causes air in our atmosphere to move.  We discussed that and colored it to show warm and cold air movement.  We talked about how warm air rises because it is less dense than cold air.  (remember the collapsed bottle?)

5.  We cut a spiral shape out of a paper plate and the kids were told they could take them home and hang them over a heat register in their house and observe what happened and why.  We called these air serpents.  They should spin because of the warm air rising from the heat source. 

And that was the lesson.  Sorry for the lack of "Show"  LOL  I'm working with what I have today, and I don't have pictures.  Maybe I'll come back and add pictures to this post next week. 

Head over to CanadaGirl's blog for more Show & Tells - I can almost guarantee that the others will have lots of great pictures to make up for my lack today!

I'm late in getting my Show & Tell up this week - I just ran out of time yesterday!  We've had a busy week,  trying to get a school routine re-established, and having mixed success.  On Thursday, I took Landon and Kennady to see a TheatreWorks USA presentation of "Charlotte's Web"  What fun!! That was one of my all-time favorite stories when I was a kid, and the play was very well done.  I did take a picture of the set:

We were seated very low in the front - second row - but right in the center.  They didn't tell us we couldn't take pictures during the performance, but I didn't think it would be a good idea.  Besides, I've heard the Disney speech so many times, you know the one..."for the safety of our performers, please refrain from flash photography during the presentation"  LOL 

By the time we left the auditorium, the snow had begun - at long last we are receiving snow! We stopped at Pizza Hut to use some "Book-It" rewards and then headed home.  I have yet to grade the work that Spencer and Harrison did (supposedly) while the rest of us were gone all day, but I have been assured that they did do some schoolwork.  However, our ISP was down all day Thursday, so they couldn't do the research I'd assigned, and I couldn't get on my message boards, my email, my blog, or even photobucket!!!  Oh the horror!    I did grab a very quick picture of our front porch in the snow - looking more festive now than it did at Christmas!

And that reminds me... I've been meaning to share this on a Show & Tell for awhile, but it was notoriously difficult to get clear enough pictures.  I've finally decided that the ones I have will just have to do.  Way back in the spring, we noticed a new structure being erected on our (homeschooling) friend's farm.  I asked her what it was and was told that her DH had decided to construct a gigantic swingset.  There's much more to that story, but at any rate, they now have what I call the "world's largest swingset" in front of their house.  It took until December before I actually thought to take a picture.  It's not a great shot, but here is the swingset:

It is indeed as tall as the house - two stories!  One night, beginning of December, we drove by and my DH commented that they should put some lights on it and turn it into the world's largest Christmas tree or something like that.  Well, not a week later, I drove by and found that they had turned it into the world's largest reindeer!!!

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. 

It's a great honor to live so near this famous landmark!

For more Show & Tell fun, visit CanadaGirl and see what others have shared this week!