Exploring blindness

After reading a couple of book about blindness Spark tried his hand at writing in Braille. The top line says "Spark" and the bottom line is "Dancer".

The kids tried an every day activity without being able to see. We choose brushing their teeth.

Spark had an easy time finding his tooth brush. He some how chews the end so it looks like Q-tip. Yes, I could get him a new one but it takes him less than a week to get it back to the Q-tip stage and he always has good check ups. He also found the tooth paste with out a lot of difficulty. Dancer had a harder time finding the paste and finally gave way to taking half the things in the draw out to find it.

Feeling for the faucet.

Got a lot of tooth paste on there, probably about a teaspoon. Dancer didn't hardly get any on hers.
With all the tooth paste, he had it dripping down the handle of his tooth brush and even on the blindfold. Also a huge mouthful that he just had to spit out because it was too much to manage.

Feeling to make sure that the brush is rinsed. Dancer was able to listen to hear if her brush was under the water by moving it back and forth under the stream of water. We thought she should try flossing because with her braces she has to thread the floss in between each brace but she wasn't game for that.

We also looked at a fun web site http://www.afb.org/braillebug/ This site has a place where you can put in any name or word and it will spell it out in Braille. It also has some games, a bio about Louis Braille, and the kids Hellen Keller Kids Museum online.

180 degrees

Today couldn't have been more different that yesterday. Instead of being gone all day and running round, we stayed home the entire day. I only went out to do chores in the barn. The kids watched a marathon of the Timewarp Trio. Dancer made more shrink art jewelry and made jewelry with all the pieces she made on Friday. Spark played some Wii and was in his room cleaning (he looses his DS if his room isn't cleaned, and since he can only play it after 5 p.m. or if we go somewhere, it is important to have that room clean). I managed a couple hour nap - yeah! Tonight Big Love was back on after not being produced last year so watched that. We finished watching Biggest Loser because I was too tired to stay up and watch it last night. I guess you could say we were just slugs. Even the weather has done a 180. We went from lower than -30 to 20 degrees today. 50 degrees make a huge difference. It is actually enjoyable to go out and take care of all the animals and they seem so much more active and content. Tomorrow I know is a holiday and school kids don't have school but my kids don't know that so we will have business as usual here.

Bird Dance

We ran around today like chickens with our heads cut off. This morning started early with a basketball game at a school that is 40 minutes to our west. The driving there was fine but by the time we started home, which was only 10:45, all that had changed. There were cars in the ditches on both sides of the freeway. We get home, grab a quick lunch, get Dancer all dolled up for a dance show. The dance show is 40 minutes to the east and by now the roads are horrible. We drove 35 mph on the way to the show. There was a 2 o'clock and a 6 o'clock show. We were very fortunate that Grandma was staying in a hotel there and we were able to relax in her room between the shows. One of the dances they performed was one where they are birds. It is really quite a cool dance. Here are pictures of the costumes. This is Dancer and one of her friends from class.
Spark and Grandma in the stands during the intermission

Spark was a wonderful brother and bought his sister a rose. He even wrote her a card.

Shrinky Dinks

Dancer got the Shrink Art Jewelry book by Klutz for her birthday. She just loves this book. She kept thanking us for buying her such a cool gift and saying how happy she was to have it. That doesn't happen too often. Most of the afternoon was spent in a flurry of tracing, coloring, cutting and then watching the little pieces shrink up in the oven. I had played with Shrinky Dinks as a kid and had forgotten how fun they are! Tonight her basketball team played during the varsity game half time at the high school and so she didn't have time to make these into earrings, necklaces etc. It almost killed her to go to bed knowing that this was all sitting waiting for her on the dining room table.

Winter Fireworks

Even in these way subzero temps we find ways to entertain ourselves. When the temps are way below zero if you take a cup of boiling water and throw it up in the air it freezes instantly making this huge cloud with ice droplets that zing to the ground. It makes a sound like fireworks going up in the air right before they burst open.

Swedish Dad Makes Italian Pizza Crust

Our dad loves, loves, loves pizza. He has taken on the project of making perfect pizzaria pizza crust at home and makes pizza a couple of times a week lately. Are we lucky kids or what?!! We don't think we will tell him when he gets it right. Tonights pizza was really good but if he wants to try making it even better who are we to stand in his way.

What goes

up

must come down

Puppy, it's cold outside

-27 degrees today. What is a dog to do? Nikki, lay over one of the heating vents with her nose stuck on it trying to glean as much heat from it as possible. She lay like that for a long time with her ears flapping in the warm air that was blowing up.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl

It was a great day!

Presents

Grandparents

Movie

Dinner

Stare down

All things Peanut Butter

The peanut, also know as arachide, cacahuete, earth almond, earth nut, goober and ground nut just to name a few of it's other names, was the focus of our cooking for lunch. Spark and I made peanut butter banana milk shakes and peanutty nachos. Dancer made peanut soup. The yummy recipes are as follows.


Peanutty Nachos

tortilla chips
1 tbsp. peanut butter
5 tbsp. salsa
Shredded cheese


Mix peanut butter and salsa together. Lay out tortilla chips on a cookie sheet. Place a dolp of salsa mix on each chip and sprinkle with a bit of cheese. Bake in 400 degree oven for 4 minutes.


We were surprised at how good these were and will for sure make them again.


Peanut Butter Banana Milkshake


5 tbsp. peanut butter
1 tbsp. honey
3 scoops chocolate ice cream
1 small banana
1 cup cold milk

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.


This was very, very rich. The kids loved it though.



Peanut Butter Soup


2 stalks of celery
1 carrot
1 small onion
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 C. peanut butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 soup can of milk
1 soup can of water


Chop veggies and cook in butter until they are soft. Add the peanut butter and stir to mix. Add soup, milk and water. Cook until hot but do not let it boil. Serve with crackers or crusty bread.


This was so good and it was quick.

4-H Sledding

Spark on the sled

Going

Going

Wipe out!



The only bad thing about going down is trudging back up.

Nazca Drawings and food of the Amercias

The Nazca were the people who lived in South America in ancient times in what is now Peru. The Nazca left behind very few clues about themselves. However, two thousand years after the Nazca lived in South America planes flew over Peru and saw drawings that covered hundreds of miles. The drawing were scraped into the earth and because there is little rain in the area of the drawings they are still visible today. There are drawings of a monkey, pelican, hummingbird, flowers, spider, flowers, squares and patterns. How they drew these no one knows. Some thoughts are that they were great at math or that they used the stars for their guides. To see what it would be like to make a picture without being able to see what you were drawing the kids made these using a white crayon on white paper. After they brushed them with water colors to see how well they had done. They enjoyed this and each of them made several drawings.

One of the foods the Nazcas ate was cassava. They dried and ground it into a powder to make pudding. Tapioca is made from the cassava root, also known as manioc. Their pudding probably didn't have apples in it but we wanted to spice it up a bit. Here is the recipe we tried. It was so good we didn't even have any left overs and we are already looking forward to making it again.

Baked Apple Tapioca Pudding

1/4 C. tapioca

1/2 C. sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

2 C. water

3 1/2 C. apples cut into thin slices

1/4 C. brown sugar

1 tbsp. butter

Butter well a 9X9 baking pan. Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Blend tapioca, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Stir in boiling water. Cook and stir over medium heat 5 to 6 minutes or until clear and thick. Spread sliced apples in buttered pan, sprinkle with brown sugar and dot with butter. Pour tapioca over apples pressing apples down with spoon. Bake 25 min. pressing apples down 2 or 3 times during cooking. Cool and serve warm.

Navajo Fry Bread

These would have been typical of people in North America. Not sure where they would have gotten baking powder over 2500 years ago so we assumed that they would have had unleavened bread. We ate these with guacamole and garlic hummus. We know that they wouldn't have had hummus be we eat it on almost everything so the fry bread was no exception.

4 C. flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 C. warm water

oil for frying

Mix together dry ingredients and add water. Knead dough until soft and elastic and does not stick to bowl. Roll dough into balls and flatten in your hands until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Make a small hole in the center. Heat oil and fry until brown on both sides.

The fry bread was so good! Don't think they would be classified as healthy but they sure were tasty.

Nikki, You've Got Mail

Grandma sent Nikki a magazine, ArkanPaws, in the mail. She was so excited, it is the first thing she has gotten with her name on it that hasn't been a reminder to go to the vet!

Who am I? Just look in my bedroom.

By Dancer


The words funky and fun could be used because I have a fuzzy green headboard on my bed. A cool shade hangs from my light. It is two tiers of different hues of purple circles that hang down. My room is painted dark lavender and lime. Two walls are lime and two are dark lavender. Fairies play in my fuzzy headboard, dance from strings on the ceiling, and perch atop my curtains, mirror and bulletin board. Pink wooden flowers hold back my drapes to let the light glisten in. I designed my own room when I was eight and I still love it.

By looking at pictures on my shelves and bulletin board you can tell I lead an active life. I have pictures of the last three dance classes I've been in. A picture of all the showlines at the Nexstar competition last year is on my bulletin board. Pictures of my basket ball team from the last two years are also on my shelves. On my bulletin board hangs a photo of my team after a winning game. A number that was pinned on my shirt for a 5K is also tacked up there. On the floor by the food of my bed lays my dance bag full of shoes waiting to be grabbed for Tuesdays dance rehearsals. The knob of my closet door is where a basket ball jersey with the number 54 hangs in pride during the basketball season.

Before even stepping in the premises of my room it is obvious that I love to draw. I have numerous drawings taped to my door. On the gallery of my door are pictures of fabulous, fly eating frogs, an adorable hippo with a feather tucked behind her ear, Nikki, and a shield adorned with a fairy. Decoupaged on the top of my dresser are more work of art that I have drawn and colored.

A few other things that would be obvious is that I like goats, Neopets, frogs, painting ceramics, purple and green (my favorite colors) and I am a little bit messy.

I am a blonde

Spark squints at me and says "Mom, you have a blonde hair" I just smile at him and think 'bless your heart you sweet boy, it's gray'.

Prickles

This is Spark reporting to the Once Upon a Family blog. This is my new toy Prickles. He use to belong to my best friend Eleana. Of all her toys, he was my favorite. I loved to play with him when I went to her house and when ever she came to my house she would bring him with. I saw her last night and she gave me a Christmas present. When I opened the box I was so shocked what I saw inside the box. I saw Prickles the Hedgehog. I just can't believe that he is mine now!

Fun with a glove

Spark did get a lot of new toys for Christmas but this is what he has been playing with the last few days. I thought they were suppose to play with the boxes. Rooster

Horns

Ears

Hair

Greek stone sculptures

The Greeks and their famous architecture inspired the kids to try their hand at stone sculptures. Being fresh out of slabs of marble they used little hand soaps. First they etched the design in the soap and then carved it with a paring knife. The soap they used was quite dry and brittle so it was difficult to carve without breaking it. I think new bars of Ivory would have worked well but this is what we had on hand. The final results were a big and little fish and a pine tree. The kids really enjoyed this project, spending a good portion of the afternoon on it, so perhaps we will pick up some Ivory the next time we go to the store.

Make your own paper

For Christmas I got a paper recycling kit. Here is what you need to make recycled paper: water, shredded paper, a tray, a food grinder, a screen and rags to soak up the water. I tore up newspaper and soaked it in water. I put it in the food grinder and Mom ground it up. I took it out of the food grinder quickly because it was leaking all over the counter. Then I poured it in a tray. I put a form over the screen and put the screen in the paper soup. Lift the screen out of the water and take off the screen. Put it on a cloth and flip the cloth over to take the paper off the screen. Press down on the paper with another cloth to get off a lot of the water and then lift it off. Hold it in both of your hands to take it somewhere to dry. For the picture I held it like this but I didn't carry it over to dry this way. That is the process. I made 6 sheets of paper. They look like laundry lint.

Before and almost after

The bathroom is a room we have done nothing with since moving here close to four years ago. Didn't even change the curtain, I like it why change it. The people we bought the house from must have tore off wall paper, primed the dry wall white and called it a day. Today while strolling through Walmart I looked at the paint that has been mixed but the buyer didn't like the color and they put it for sale really cheap. Picked out a color and came home to paint. We ran short but can get a little can tomorrow at the hardware store to match and finish up the one wall. Tried to make the corners with clean lines in case we can't match it perfectly. I really do have good intentions about finishing this because we are notorious for starting projects, not finishing them and getting use to having half painted rooms or whatever we are working on.

WHY does this always happen?

Why does the car break down after it is paid for? Wednesday morning I went to pick up Dancer from basketball practice, about a half mile from home, I hear this flapping sound. Oh oh I think, that is not a good sound. But....then it stops. I am a firm believer that if your car is making a sound and it stops making that sound then it is all better. If it doesn't stop making the sound I try turning up the radio to see if that will over power the sound, where again, if I can't hear it, it isn't broken. We get to the mailbox and Dancer attempts to roll down her window to get the mail and nothing happens. Dang, now I have to walk out to the mailbox. Get the car in the garage and we can tell it is not feeling well, it's radio doesn't even work. Alternator says the Dad when he hears the symptoms. Dang again, that sounds expensive. In her defense, the old girl does have a 129,000 miles on her but, she is paid for, so we love her. It is a holiday, therefore, we can't get it fixed until today. The shop in our town takes the day after new years off we found out this morning after calling them over and over while trying to convince ourselves that they just aren't answering the phone. Finally, we realize that we will need to have it towed (isn't that such a sad word, it sounds so helpless) to the next town over to get repairs done. At least they could quickly fix it, we need it tomorrow to go to a basketball game out of town. On the way home from picking it up the battery light came on, the lights kept getting dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. Dang. I start praying. Good news is the battery light went off just as I was about home and the headlights popped up to their healthy brightness. Thank you God, nothing is to small for You. Crossing our fingers that it works tomorrow or Dad will have to take Dancer while Spark and I stay home. Our other vehicle that runs is a truck that only seats three. Dang.

New Year's Eve Party!!!

We had a rip roarin' celebration here!! .......there was a lot of excitement.....we had to turn them away at the door....the clean up took hours.....we were the talk of the neighborhood......Well, it was not anything you would call the police to come out and break up. Actually, if the police had come they would have knocked at the door and wondered if anyone was even home. We spent the evening in our usual New Years mode of watching movies all night and eating puppy chow (see the side bar for the recipe). Our norm is to have crab legs and then watch movies but Dad worked this year. The weather hasn't been very good so he has just been throwing on his scrubs when he gets up and leaving right away so that he has plenty of time to navigate the roads. So this year we skipped the crab legs and had hot dogs. The kids and I watched 4 - 5 movies. Spark made it to just after midnight and Dancer stayed up watching a movie until 3:30. How do I know this? I was up with her. Every time I said I was going to bed she would say just until 2:00, then just until 2:30, finally at 3:00 I could hold out no longer and went to bed. From 3:15 till 3:30 she came in to tell me how the movie ended. At 3:30 we finally drifted off into slumber. It won't be too many more years until she wants to be out with friends, doing who knows what, for New Year's so I am thankful for (even if they are late) nights that she is still excited to be with just her brother and me. Spark at the stroke of midnight when the ball dropped. He is holding his breath so that he is still breathing 2008 air in 2009. The kids made a nest of the floor in front of the t.v. with blankets, pillows, their Webkinz and other animals. This was an exciting as it got!