When you Live with A History Buff.....

When you combine History and Airplanes my husband gets rather giddy. Having grown up in a military family with a father that flew planes he has a love for all things aviation but especially military planes.  He can tell you exactly which kind of plane you are looking at even if it is flying above us. He often even knows the airplanes whizzing above us simply from the sound they make.  I guess it is good we live right in the flight path for a military airfield.  Last night my husband heard some planes zooming over our house and he ran out dragging the kids with him so he could point out the historical planes that were soaring past us. He was so excited to see not just one but three planes go by. He couldn't wait to head to the airfield today.

 Along with the planes there were also a few other military vehicles.

 But the planes were what we came to see.

 Here the kids go climbing in to the rear of the  B-24 Bomber. Molly couldn't wait to get inside so she could see the bombs! 

 They boys really liked the guns that they could pretend to shoot out the windows.

 We couldn't get very close to the B-51 Mustang.  But the kids enjoyed seeing all the swastikas painted onto the side of the plane. That must mean it saw some action!

 The third plane was a B-17 flying fortress bomber.

 This plane was very tight inside. I bumped my head several times as I tried to navigate through the plane. It was about right for Henry and Ian but the rest of us had to stay crouched down the much of the time.

 More guns!

 Molly had a good time walking the little cat walks in the bomb bays. She thought the whole thing  a lot of fun.

 There were even a few German vehicles there as well.

It was an beautiful sunny day at airfield. My husband got his historical plane fix and the kids got to see a little piece of history. Who knows how long these planes will continue to fly into our part of the world.  It is good to see them when they do!

New Hair style

Sophie loves having long hair. But I like it better when she actually brushes it and does something other than just let it hang. She looks like Hermione in the first Harry Potter movie when she forgets and lets it dry without styling it first. 

Last week I was pulling her hair back. I had just put in two low tails in the back but then decided to braid each tail and attach it to the other. This is what it looked like.

From the front it looked like little short low pig tails. Sophie received a number of complements when she wore this hair to co-op. She asked me to do it again for church on Sunday and it looked even cuter. I am sure if I get to do again and again it will only get better and better!

Cooking with Anne

 Sophie is taking an online Literature class all about Anne of Green Gables.   Today the girls (I guess boys could take the class but I believe it is all girls) all brought their laptops into the kitchen so their teacher could walk them through one of the recipes from the Anne of Green Gables Cookbook. The teacher choose raspberries tarts. Diana Berry brings raspberry tarts in her lunch one day in the stories and many of the food items talked about in the book have found their way into this cookbook.

My boys really want to make the raspberry cordial. I think the part of the book where Diana Berry gets intoxicated is one of their favorite parts of the story.  Yes my boys really enjoyed listening to Anne of Green Gables. They were thrilled when I said they could watch the Anne of Green Gables movie during our drive to and from Grandma's house this past weekend.  The first half on the way to, and the other half on the drive back.

I have a feeling this recipe will get made many more times. There is already plans to try strawberry and maybe even apple.

Everyone is happy when class includes cooking and food!

Baked Alaska - Review

 I  am not usually a Mystery reader. But I do love cruising (I have been on three cruises all to Mexico) and since this book, Baked Alaska by Josi Kilpack takes place on an Alaskan Cruise I decided to give a mystery a try. I received the book from the publisher in return for a review.  I was pleased to see at the beginning of the book, before I even started reading, there is a list of all the recipes that are included in the book.  Yummy things like Salmon Caesar Salad, Glazed Salmon, Crepes, and even Lemon-Zuchini Fettuccine along with what the author claims is the best Salmon and Red Potato Chowder recipe. The salmon lover in me was happy to see three different recipes for my favorite fish. But I guess if you take a trip to Alaska it is one of the things you should expect to see on the menu.

So besides the food I guess I should mention the story. This is supposed to be a review of a mystery novel not a cook book. I mentioned that I am not usually a mystery reader. So I haven't read the other books in this Culinary mystery series. They all have great titles with names of some delicious sounding dessert; English triffle, Banana Split, Pumpkin Roll etc. I may have to give the others a try since this one was so much fun to read.

I do admit that I felt like I was missing something when the characters talked about things that had happened in other stories. These things weren't totally necessary to the plot of this book so it didn't stop my enjoyment it just made me want to read the books that explain what happened before. Sadie is a very likable woman who considers herself an amateur sleuth. When she sees strange things going on around her, and especially to her children, she steps in and starts asking questions. She reminded me of Mrs. Marple (never read one but watched the movies of a few) who is always at the right place at the right time to see the mystery unfold. Somehow Sadie meets all the right people (the good and the bad) so she could get the answers to the mystery. The plot isn't predictable. There were some twists thrown in that kept me reading to find out what was really going on during that cruise. The only thing lacking was a little more description of Alaska. For someone who has never been to Alaska that would have been nice but then Sadie was busy solving a few different mysteries to be too worried about the scenery.

I look!forward to reading more of the books in this series! This one was nice clean, easy read. And I have a few recipes to try out too!

Ten Random things for Tuesday

1. Sophie got more metal in her mouth this week. She got an extender yesterday in addition to the braces that she got last week.

She is having A LOT of trouble talking and eating now. I also get to crank the extender every day. So every day I get to inflict pain on my poor daughter. I really need to remember to get some children's Tylenol at the store tomorrow.

2. Since we are on the teeth theme already the tooth fairy informed us she doesn't plan to visit anymore to collect teeth. Henry lost a tooth on Saturday and discovered that instead of her midnight visit she decided to just make a direct deposit into his "Bank of Papa" (which is where all his allowance and lawn mowing money goes). Sure enough he looked at his statement and there was his dollar from the tooth fairy.  Hopefully this will be an easier way for tooth fairy to handle the demands of her job. She is often so busy and takes days and days for her to get to my kids.

3. Molly played at her friend Julia's house again today. She loves going there. It is so nice to have a few free hours from Molly's noise and chaos. It is amazing how much school work we are able to get done when she isn't here to distract the students :)

4. My kids have been making up a Temple Run game outside and around our house. Evidently there are traps and obstacles that they have to race through. I guess this is a game that they have played on someone's ipod and they are creating a life size version in our house. They have been using all sorts of string, sticks, duct tape and balls to create it. I almost hate to call them in to finish their math or to take out the garbage. I love to hear them planning, construction and racing.

5. The weather has been so nice the last day or two. Cool, compared to the heat we had last week. I hope it continues a little longer. I like the spring like weather. I am not ready for Summer heat yet. This is another reason I am slow to call my kids in from their play. They won't be able to do as much outside when it is hot.

6. I mentioned already that I got the kids hymn books for Easter. We have been trying to learn a few different hymns but Molly insists on singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" every day. It is so cute to see her sing the Alleluia. Ian always picks "If you could Hie to Kolob".  Sophie is always picking obscure ones that I don't even know. Henry doesn't ever get to pick. He seems to always just let Molly have her choice. But at least he enjoys singing along even if he isn't always on key.

7. We've been able to eat Salmon two weeks in a row. We always eat Salmon for holidays and birthdays. It is too expensive for everyday eating. We have had two birthdays recently and my kids look forward to fish for dinner. I love to see my kids scarf down the Salmon so readily. I don't think I would have eaten it when I was their age.

8. I am often amazed at how my kids can keep all the different stories straight. We have several read aloud/ audio books all going at the same time. Anne of Green Gables in the car. Harry Potter in the house.  I read aloud all sorts of fairy tales and such each day. And my husband is currently reading the One and Only Ivan to the kids at night. This doesn't even count all the many different books they are reading to themselves when we aren't reading aloud or listening to stories.  I am just happy to think of all the many many books with which my kids are acquainted. They certainly have more stories in their lives than I remember ever reading as a kid.

9.  We either need to get more book cases or sift through our plethora of reading material. Our big bookcase is triple stacked on many of the shelves.  The kids shelves are all full too. I guess it is time to make a change somewhere.

10. My kids, Sophie especially, are Webkinz crazy!

They like to drag them all out and stage photo shoots.

How is that for 10 Random things!

Another Month Completed

How can it already be May? Only one month left of formal school. One more month of having to report on our doings to the ES (Education Specialist). But this is more or less what I reported for April.

Math
Sophie - Math Mammoth Percents - She liked this so much more than Teaching Textbooks. She seems to actually be understanding it. She is starting Math Mammoth Ratios.
 Ian - Finished Review book for Singapore 4A and started the 4B review book.
Henry is working through Singpore 3A.

Language Arts
Finished her Online Literature Class. They read The Single Shard, discussed it, did a few projects about it. She is starting a new online class that is a month and a half long and all all about Anne of Green Gables. We are listening to this book in the car.

Ian finished up his GeoTrecker class. He might have been studying geography but he had a report to write each week on the place they were studying.

All the kids have been working on Cursive. They have gotten far enough along through the Handwriting without Tears workbooks that I have given them poems to practice writing.

I have been reading aloud stories and poems from the Book of Virtues. We memorized a few of the poems and discussed many of the stories.

Science
Nothing formal this month. The kids have been reading tons of library books on simple machines and even electronics and computers. They love to walk down the science section in the library and look for the DK Eyewitness books. They have had their Knex set out building lots of different simple machines. And they of course have taken lots of time building and programing their Lego Mindstorms robot.

History
Story of the World middles ages chapters about Martin Luther and the Renaissance. We have read a lot of books about Leonardo de Vinci and Michaelangelo. We watched some videos about the Renaissance.  I really should have them write reports or notebook pages but they have had other assignments so I haven't pushed it.

Piano
All three kids have finished the 3rd book in the Simply Music program as well as the accompaniment book which teaches a lot about chords.  Henry is teaching himself Hedwigs Theme from Harry Potter and Ian is working on the Raider's march from Indiana Jones.

Choir 
Sophie and Ian attend choir every week and Ian even sung a solo where they performed this month.

Spanish
Sophie loved her online Spanish class and looks forward to taking the next one in the Fall. She certainly learned a lot of vocabulary and now needs to jump into some grammar.

Drama
The kids are working really hard on their plays for our co-op end of the year performance.

P.E 
Henry loves his Gymnastics class
Ian got a frisbee and the kids play all sorts of games with it outside when ever they head out there.

Audio Books/ Read alouds
The Magician: The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix ( I broke down and am letting Henry listen to them rather than read them. Ian finished the series and now Henry can't stand not knowing what happens)
The Prince and the Pauper - We listened to the unabridged version of this one and it was a difficult book for the boys to get through. They couldn't follow it as well. Sophie and I enjoyed it!
Fablehaven Grip of the Shadow Plauge - Dad read this one at bedtime.
The One and Only Ivan - This is the book that won the Newberry award this year. So far they seem to be enjoying it a lot!

There is so much more I wish were doing but I just don't know how I would squeeze much more out of these kids. And then there is also Molly who always just seems to be causing havoc and mayhem  but that is a whole different discussion!