Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which I Blame The SuperMoon for the Lateness of thisPost

Homeschool: I had to trust the boys to do school on their own on Monday, and on Tuesday I didn't feel good (again!) so I more or less let the kids work on their own. Wednesday got off to a very slow start, but we finally did get something accomplished.

Thursday morning we did a Science lesson and quiz before heading to co-op, and as it turned out, we could skip the 'making butter' activity in our lesson at home because both Landon and Kennady would be making butter in their cooking class. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much Landon enjoys the cooking class. He's also really enjoyed his filmmaking class. In Art and Geography class, we talked a little about Mexico and the kids made a stuffed paper sculpture. Friday we got some more Science done, learning about solutions, and finally finishing our experiment in comparing the structural integrity of canned whipped cream versus homemade. We also enjoyed Gingered Bananas for a dessert treat, which was a recipe from India.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="comparing solubility"][/caption]



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="whipped cream - canned and homemade - which has better structural integrity?"][/caption]



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="after one hour - the canned whipped cream is on the left"][/caption]



[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="gingered bananas - very tasty!"][/caption]



In Other News: I took Kennady with me to Hershey on Monday so we could buy our tickets for the Bears game. She and Landon each had one more free ticket voucher to use before the end of the season, and we didn't want to chance showing up on game day (after an hour's drive!) to find out that the game was sold out. We went out for lunch, and of course we stopped by the Hershey's Chocolate World for the free tour and a look around! And stocked up on some chocolate, naturally!

Kennady started softball practice on Tuesday. She had been carrying on for about the previous week saying that she didn't want to play softball, but just as I suspected, after the first practice was out of the way she could talk of nothing but how much fun it was.  Naturally, her practices are on Tuesday nights when I have choir, and Saturday lunchtime, during which I have other commitments for the next couple of weeks too.  Oh well.  Her games will be Tuesdays and Fridays, so at least I'll be able to go to Friday games.

Harrison was our 'guest speaker' at youth on Wednesday night. He's been attending since moving back home, and since he is working on Sunday mornings, that is his 'church' for now. The youth pastor was on vacation this week, so Harrison volunteered to give a short devotional lesson and he did a pretty good job for his first time.  Perhaps more amazing, the youth were all attentive - or at least, they were quiet which gave the impression of attentiveness. ;-)

I fought a sore throat and problems with my voice on the weekend, which kept me from providing music for a ladies luncheon at church on Saturday and from singing with the worship team on Sunday morning.   I have a feeling it may be a strep infection, but it also seems like maybe the worst is over, so I will wait it out as long as it doesn't get worse.

We had company on Saturday evening, friends we hadn't seen for way too long now that we attend different churches.  So good to connect again and have conversations that were silly and serious by turns.  Landon and Kennady even made dessert for us, they had a simple apple crisp type recipe from co-op that they liked so well they made it for company without much help from me.   I tried a couple of new recipes myself - a royal rice dish from India for our side dish (I thought it was very good, but since it contained so many different veggies, as well as fruit, nuts, seeds, and spices, the kids all found something about it they didn't like.  LOL)  and an Irish coffee brownie cupcake.  I honestly thought the chocolate cream cheese icing was the best part of it, but it gave me the chance to learn how to infuse milk with coffee flavor for baking.  Don't know how often I will use that skill, but now I have it, in any case.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="coffee beans for baking"][/caption]

Tonight we attended the Bears game and had a good time, even though the Bears lost the game. :-(

On the Bookshelf:

• Quitting Church by Julia Duin


• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen


• In Search of the Lost Ark of the Covenant by Robert Cornuke and David Halbrook


• Patrick by Stephen Lawhead


• Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott

I didn't get even one of my books finished this week! I think I can attribute that fact to the sheer number of books I'm reading at once. I probably should have left Twilight of Avalon until I was finished at least one of the others. Oh well - I couldn't help myself!

Parting Shot: