Co-op School Field Day

 Our homeschool co-op had their annual field day this week. The weather was excellent as was the picnic lunch. The races were so fun to watch.  I helped S and L's group so I did not get too many pictures of the big kids.

 

  That PreK and K age group was super cute, but it was like herding 13 cats around trying to show them what to do.

 Practice run of M's 3 legged race.

 

 This was a team work activity trying to lift their legs at the same time so that they could walk the boards forward.

  S and L's 3 legged race was adorable.

 I just love seeing them working together.

 

 

 This is a picture of one of those silly family things that my kids do every time I tell them to bring their dirty clothes downstairs... I am recording this for posterity.  They have one person sit below the balcony and throw the clothes down over the railing on them. Usually it is done one piece at a time with the goal being to land as much as possible on the recipient's head. Especially underwear, it should always land on the person's head. 

Family Fun: Ice Skating, Pack Meeting, and Nashville

The kids still LOVE ice skating. A and M are both doing private lessons now.  They have passed out of the group lesson levels. Their coach, Miss Barbara is so amazing. She is in her late 70s or so and still skating and coaching. 

 Unfortunately, after this level they will be passed all the levels that Ms. Barbara teaches as well.  Then we have to find another coach.

 Miss Rainbow Unicorn has lots of fans. I often overhear the other moms saying things like "Awwh she is so cute and boy is she fast!"

 

Hubby was gone most of last week for a work conference in Nashville. He says the food was too good (ate too much) and he learned some things.  He did not leave the hotel much, but managed to see the football stadium and walk around downtown a bit. 

 The kids had their last pack meeting of the year right after I picked him up from the airport.

 They got their rank advancements and a bunch of other badges.

 Then they had a pie/whipped cream in the face "advancement" or "appreciation" activity for the cub master.

Big sister A earned her Faith in God award! We forgot to take any pictures at the recognition night.  Our activity girls leaders are very well organised and created a badge booklet that helps the girls meet their Faith in God requirements. Here is A with her sash, badges, and certificate.

Church Talent Show -- The kids formed a band

 I somehow forgot to blog about this earlier... While our W friends were visiting from Utah the kids formed a band.  The day the W family flew in they jammed for several hours...

Then they performed for the church talent show that night. The W girls on vocals, M on the harmonica and A as the lead guitarist. It was a great experience for them. I am so proud of them for bravely getting up in front of all those people!

 They played the Beetles song, "Love Me Do".

Cub Scout Hike, Back Fence, and a Daddy Date

 I took the younger three kids to this fun playground while big sister A was at volleyball practice.  They raved about it and of course big sister A felt left out.  Hubby took them all there again on a daddy date.

Teamwork on the zip line. 

Hubby and our neighbor finished the back fence line a couple weeks ago.

 The gate and everything look wonderful. Now we just need 3 more sides!!

 The fencing is woven wire -- since it will need to be strong enough for goats.

Big sister A went on a hike with her cub scout den. They focused on shelters and finding your way back home.

Co-op School Talent Show

Brother S took an elementary music class this session and they performed a song using Boomwhackers. 

 

 Big sister A and brother M broke boards in their Hapkido demonstration. 

 We have some cool video footage of this, but I am going to need hubby's expertise to figure out how to upload.

Field Trip: Landis Valley Museum and Plant Fair

This weekend we went to check out another fair -- The Landis Valley Herb and Garden Faire.  Plants are a lot less exciting for the kids than the animals at the poultry swap were. To keep everyone's interest we alternated between plant stands and museum exhibits. 

I love when historical sites have people in character telling us about how they would have done things in that time period. These ladies were actually cooking over an open fire and baking bread in a brick oven outside.  I asked her whether she felt that recipes were simpler then or now.   She said that the trouble with old time recipes is that the measures are not exact.  Just enough to remind the cook about the steps -- she would have been shown by her mother how much "a little flour" was when she learned to make the recipe. 

 Nice pottery.

 Their old time veggie gardens were in progress, but not as nice as the flower beds around the buildings which seemed to be mostly perennials.

 They grew and made flax on the Landis farm.  It was fun to consider what it would have been like to plan clothes a year ahead instead of just ordering them on amazon.

 Cute round smokehouse.

 I bought a good sized witch hazel tree. I am excited about the fall flowers and of course it is a wonderful medicinal shrub. I took a picture so I could remember the instructions. They say it grows in shade, but the internet says sun to part-shade...

 The tin smith was the most fun historical building. She told the kids about how people used to give gag gifts for the 10 year wedding anniversary -- all kinds of silly things made of tin.   She let the kids try on these tin hats, a fan, and even a tin bouquet.

 We visited another little historic house that was part of the museum.  It had this creepy chimney where the smoke comes out of the head's mouth.