Rainbow Cake

Yesterday we made a rainbow cake. A lot of our extra discussion/school time was spent talking about weather this week. Especially Cyclone Hamish. Anyway, we tied that in to the story of Noah. A couple weeks ago I ran across a link for a rainbow cake somewhere on the big internet world. Since I don't have the regular computer I can't find the saved link. =) But this is our version of rainbow cake.

I made our normal vanilla cake recipe--vanilla cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, 1 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup liquid, 1/2 cup oil, 4 eggs. (from the cake mix doctor) Then I let each girl pick out a food colour. Then we put in a liberal amount of food colouring. And finally layered it into the angel food cake pan (I seem to have gotten rid of my bundt cake pan? weird!) As the cake rose while baking it got a bit of a curved shape going on with the colours. And as you can see our final result was VERY bright colours. The girls love it. I'm a little afraid to eat it myself. =)

busy, busy

Saturday Josh put 2 garden beds in for me. This one I'm going to try some Square foot Gardening. Along the front and left edge the squares aren't squares and aren't one foot. So I've planted some marigolds and other flowers that help with bugs, some repel and some attract. Along the fence I will plant sweet corn and sunflowers. Other veggies in this garden will be radishes, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, cauliflower, rainbow chard, turnips. Can't remember what else. As you can see Josh also installed a sprinkler system for me. (he also fixed the camera. pretty handy, doncha think?) =)
This one has flower seeds all mixed up in it. And I will plant tomatoes along the fence and also plant cantaloupe and pumpkins.

The garage-turned- guestroom turned into a schoolroom/computer repair area on Sunday.

Standing in Josh's work area. He's planning to build a dividing wall. Still looks bare but soon it'll be better. Also, all his stuff is moving off that shelf so I can put up their puzzles, games, books, etc.

The girls helped decorate. They put up all the farm stuff. Beka asked to be in the picture. =)

We've been busy today too. Already this morning I've washed and hung out 3 loads of laundry, washed dishes, started an art project with the girls, changed all 3 girls' wardrobes from winter to spring/summer, gotten irritated because the girls' new "washable" markers aren't so washable, changed stuff around in my kitchen and paid the van registration. I still need to buy shorts for Catie, buy new plastic containers to help contain toys in Beka's room since I moved the bookshelf into the schoolroom, clean off the computer desk and put clothes away in my room. Plus I'll have 3 loads of laundry to fold and put away later. But it's spring and it's beautiful and it's good cleaning weather. =)

Things to learn from the dishes

• Don't try taking turns on different nights. The girls prefer doing it all together.
• Rinsing is a VERY important step when you're learning to wash dishes. (granted, tuna noodle casserole makes for messy water very quickly)
• At this age, they beg to do the dishes. so let them.
• Have all the pre-dinner dishes done and a sink of clean soapy water ready before you sit down to dinner.
  
• Aprons are a must! =) note to self: make them each another apron in case they don't get cleaned, dried, folded all in one day.
  
• giggling and messes are okay
• thank whoever invented plastic plates. =)
• Remember how fun it was to do dishes at Grandma's house every summer
• Working together makes jobs go faster and chores more fun.
• Plan for a BIG kitchen next time around.

Onward Christian Soldiers!

The girls decided to try out the Armour of God costume that showed up in the mail last Friday. It's for VBS next January.

the light at the end of the tunnel

Well, the girls are almost over their colds. After three days of rest Josh seems to be on the mend as well. The girls are all happily playing. They seem back to their more-normal-not-so-grouchy-mostly-happy selves. And so I leave you with these pictures that Grandma took when the girls stayed with her two weeks ago. Doesn't she take fabulous photos?? Thanks Gwen.

Mental Health Day

Back in PBBC days I had a friend whose mother used to let them have Mental Health Days off school. We would take them every once in awhile at college spending the day in our pj's watching tv, painting our fingernails, dyeing our hair, etc. They were good days. Well, today the girls and I had an MHD. It is 4:30pm and the girls have just decided to go outside for the first time today. They are still in their pyjamas. I'm still in mine. Catie and Beka had a long sleep while Emma had some quiet time in her room. You know, it's been a good day. We trimmed and painted some fingernails and toenails, had a picnic on the rug, we watched a video and some tv while snuggling together.

I also took some profile pics of the girls for a project for the "wall of shame." I worked on another project for the wall as well. I'll share them when I'm done (if they turn out.) =) You know, my mom had a wall of pictures when we were growing up. We called it the wall of shame because we were embarrassed of our pictures. And now I have one in my hallway, as do my sisters I believe. I use mine to show the girls' their US relatives. Beka loves it when I pick her up and we go from picture to picture, "who's this?", "who's that?" Do you have family pictures in your hallway? Are they somewhere else in the house? How do you display/preserve your family photos? Have a great day. And give yourself a Mental Health Day sometime. I bet you'll enjoy it. =)

Helping Daddy

So, I think this week we are having "Nature Studies" and "working with Daddy" for homeschool.