It has been too long since I've shared a Show and Tell Friday. Here are some pictures from the co-op that I'm leading. We're doing the Prairie Primer with about 12 children, ages 5-12. We've met twice now. The first week we dissected owl pellets and the second we made models of log cabins using popsicle sticks. We had some very colorful log cabins!

Working on owl pellets. What did our owl eat?

Working on the log cabins. Love the colors :)

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Just when you thought you'd seen the last of 4-H related posts, here's another one :) My boys are in the pig project and yesterday they went and picked up 6 young pigs. They each need 2 for the fair in August and we always get a couple of extras, just in case. Right now, the pigs weigh between 60-70 pounds. They can't weigh more than 70 pounds on the official "weigh-in day", which is tomorrow. Then, 100 days later, at the fair, they have to weigh at least 220 pounds. Here's a couple of pictures of the new additions to our farm.

This week Wednesday the kids and I helped out at our local Senior Center. They were having a volunteer appreciation carnival and asked our homeschool group if we could help out with the games. The kids spent a couple of fun hours running carnival-style games (bean bag toss, fishing pond, etc), handing out prizes to the winners and running the kitchen. Here's some photos of our afternoon.

My oldest and his friend ran the fishing pond.

Trying to look cool in fish hats

Middle child helped in the kitchen, making corn dogs, nachos and handing out ice cream.

The cheerful kitchen staff

My daughter handing out prizes at the bean bag toss

Half way through the afternoon, my daughter switched games with her friend and did the ring toss instead of bean bag toss.

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I've been thinking ahead to spring. I know, technically it's already spring and we have had a few nice spring-like days. However, for the most part it's not yet feeling like spring. Two weeks ago I started tomato, parsley and broccoli seeds and yesterday I added some basil, oregano, chives and cucumbers to my collection. The first ones I planted are up and growing. I can't wait to be able to get them in the garden outside!

These are all of the seeds I've started so far. There will be more in about 2 weeks.

This is the broccoli

And here's some tomatos. I have 4 different varieties. So far, only one pot of seeds hasn't sprouted anything.

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Last Saturday my son and I went to a poultry/small animal swap meet. He is in the poultry project for 4-H and this is an annual event for us to go and buy some birds for him. He's come home with as many as 20. This year, he got 6. We also picked up a couple of bunnies (only 4 weeks old) for my daughter who is in the rabbit project for the first time. Here's some pictures of our new additions.

This type of chicken is called a Silver Spitzhauben. My son has wanted one for about 3 years. He now has 3, 2 hens and a rooster. I think they look like they're having a bad hair day.

This is a leghorn rooster. I love the long tail feathers.

What happens when you put 4 roosters together? You get a fight for male dominance. The Spitzhauben and a Brahma rooster are getting ready to decide who gets to be the head rooster. Spitzy won, and no roosters got hurt. A few feathers were lost, but that's it.

This is Dusty. Not sure what kind of bunny she is, but she's cute!

This is Patches, a Dutch rabbit, but she doesn't have exactly the right markings for a true Dutch.

Janelle and her new pets.

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These are the pictures I talked about last week, the ones of our new milking parlor. We've had a week of milking in the parlor now and things are slowly starting to work the way they're supposed to. It's taking a bit to get all the "kinks" worked out. After we finished milking for the first time, we had a small party in the barn to celebrate the "grand opening". Several of the men who helped to build the parlor came and helped move cows around that first time. (Yes, it took more people since cows are creatures of habit and didn't want to do things the "new" way).

Milking isn't the cleanest job around, but it's better with the new facilities!

Party after the work is done for the evening.

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I was going to show pictures today of our new milking parlor, the one I mentioned yesterday. However, as sometimes happens with construction, it didn't get done yesterday. We've been promised that it'll be ready for business tonight, so stay tuned for that.

Instead, these are pictures from a 4-H family learning day that we attended last Saturday. The kids signed up for different sessions, up to 4 for the day. It was a day to learn something new or to practice something they've done before. And, the projects they made can be brought to the fair this summer.

This is my son painting a ceramic dragon.

My daughter's turn for ceramics--a horse is her animal of choice.

Ukranian egg decorating is a favorite of my son. He does it every year.

Making a birdhouse. This even fits in with our current science unit on flying creatures!

Playing a theatre game-"duck, rabbit, elephant"

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Yesterday, I mentioned my son's love of cooking and baking and shared a couple of his favorite recipes. Today, I just have to share what happens when this 12-year old takes over the kitchen for a day. He had Super Bowl party coming up the next day with church youth group, plus we have a friend who had just had a baby, so he decided to make pies--some for the party, one for our friend and some for us. Here's what he made:

That's 7 pies. He made a banana cream, chocolate, lemon cream, blueberry, pumpkin and 2 apple. And, they were all delicious from what I've been told.

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It's Friday and that means it's time to join Canadagirl and others in Friday Show and Tell.

My show and tell today is probably nothing new to most, but it was to my kids and they loved it.  It's been so cold here, the coldest weather we've had in 13 years. It got all the way up to -5F yesterday. So, we decided to do some cold weather science. We put out 2 containers of water, one boiling and one cold to see which one froze faster. (the boiling one did) While we waited, we threw a pan of boiling water into the air and watched it turn into "snow". I didn't get a picture at exactly the right time, the water is still water and hasn't frozen yet, but you get the idea. That's my son, Gregory, throwing the water. We chose to watch from the warmth of the doorway, which, by the way, was filled with steam because it was warm inside and so cold outside (another science lesson from yesterday).

For the last several years, my middle child has wanted bagpipes for Christmas. He has no idea how to play them or anything, he just likes them. So this year, well before Christmas, I found some online and ordered them. Somehow, they got lost in shipping and all attempts to locate them failed. Two days before Christmas, I requested my money back and frantically went shopping for something else to give my son. Last week, I got my money back, so I thought that was the end of it. Guess what was delivered yesterday? The box was smashed and ripped, but inside was a set of highland bagpipes. One piece seems to be broken, but I think it's fixable. I say seems to be broken, because I really don't know anything about bagpipes.

Now, I have to recontact the company that sold me the bagpipes and pay for them again. But, my son is happy. The problem now is that the only sound he's gotten out of them so far sounds like a sick cow. It's going to take some practice!

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Today I just have to share a couple of the highlights of our Christmas celebrations. We started the season on December 19 with gift opening with Grandma. My son got a ventriloquist's dummy.

My family (parents, 2 brothers and sister and their families) came for Christmas. That meant that there were 24 people (counting us) here for 4 days. During those 4 days, we did lots of fun things. We had a snowman making contest (see the previous entry for photos of that), went to the EAA museum, went swimming, played lots of games, and went sledding. Here's my daughter getting ready to go down the hill.

The highlight of the season for my oldest son came after Christmas, after some of my family had already gone back to their homes. On December 28, my brother-in-law got 4 tickets to see the Packers-Bears game in Green Bay. My husband, son, brother-in-law and nephew all braved the cold to go cheer on the Pack.

It was a really fun and special Christmas, having the whole family together for a couple of days.

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Each year we go to the local Christmas Tree farm to find and cut down the "perfect tree". This year, with the temperature around 20 degrees and lots of wind, I was hoping for a shorter trip than normal. Unfortunately, my guys insisted on checking every tree, all the way to the end of the farm. Here are some photos from the trip. I usually take a few more, but it was too cold to take out the camera very often.

How about this one? Big brother sees a better one down the row a bit farther.

Did I mention it was cold?

Finally, it's time to cut one down!

My turn with the saw!

Let's get this back to the parking lot

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I have to tell you about a great planning tool I've found to help me through the holiday season.

I finished getting my Christmas cards ready to mail. I've never had them ready this early before. I've been using The 12 Week Holiday Planner for the Christian Family this year to help me be a bit more organized. I decided organization was important this year because we have a lot of things going on. We had my mother-in-laws birthday party the beginning of November, Thanksgiving with 20 people tomorrow, and my family is all coming for Christmas--that's 23 people for 3 days. This planner has helped me plan menus for each holiday, plan what I need for decorating, plan when to do to what. I love it!

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