More Visits to the Land Between the Lakes

This past week when my sister visited we did TONS of fun things (we're checking off that summer fun list!)! One place that we visited two times was the Land Between the Lakes.

One evening early in the week we went with friends from our church to the Elk& Bison Prairie. It's just a nice, easy area to drive through and hopefully view some elk and bison. We didn't see a lot of activity that evening, but what we did observe was beautiful.

I also finally managed to get a decent shot of a mama eagle and her nest on the bridge going out of the Land Between the Lakes. There are two huge nests on that bridge with several eagles and they are so gorgeous!

Later in the week we went back for Children's Day at The Homeplace . It was a lovely day for a picnic (our family loves to picnic--and my sister snapped the requisite photo to commemorate the moment:) before heading into the farm.

The Homeplace is a 1850's interpretive center--a total working farm they've created with authentic structures from that time period. They were hosting Children's Day, which meant children got to experience what it would be like to live on a farm in the 1800's. They did all kinds of farm chores to earn "tokens" to spend at the general store. My kiddos absolutely loved it! I wonder why they don't get that excited about their chores at home now...

They hauled water to the garden, swept the house, beat the rugs, picked up rocks in the garden, hoed the garden, practiced weaving, attended school, learned about making wooden shingles, blacksmithing and bartering, and they even earned themselves some old-fashioned play time and money to spend in the general store.

You might have noticed that The Princess looks a little different at the end of the week compared to the beginning.

She got a summer haircut! My sister was kind enough to cut it for her, although I think the kindness was more towards me since The Princess has been nearly driving me crazy asking for a haircut for at least a month. It turned out really cute!

We had so much fun with my sister, Kari, here and I'll be sharing more of our fun times with you soon.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

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