4H Cooking Class

Over the course of January and February, the three older kids were all involved in a 6-week cooking class for 4H.  It would be an understatement to say they loved it!  The instructor did a fabulous job (and SO MUCH prep work),  and each week they focused on a different meal course.  The culmination was a dinner for their families, and we were delighted that Nana and Papa could also join us. 

One of the long-term benefits I've noticed is that they all want to do more in the kitchen, and are more able to actually be of help!

Skiing

Like penguins sliding on the ice!

She looks happy now, but give her 15 minutes and it will be a different story...

 Just across the street and down a short bit from our house, we have easy access to the lake!  We spent many hours this winter playing snow baseball on the lake, and did a little skiing, too!

Even Abby likes making snow angels!

Headed across the lake because, well, they can.

Firewood

Andrew's getting pretty strong, splitting wood by hand!

 We have many modifications to an old adage, this one being
The Family that splits wood together stays warm together.

Jacob and Anna running the borrowed wood splitter.

Boone waits patiently for Mark to load.

I do actually do more than take pictures...I'm the dog-handler and unloader at the woodpile!

A job well done!

Wood Splitting

This is what happens when a little girl doesn't wait for permission or instruction from her daddy to try her hand at splitting wood, and thus holds the mallet right at its head and tries to swing and hit the wedge and crushes her finger between the two in the process.  *cringe*

Goldfish

 For our unit on fish for science this year, we bought some goldfish.  I foolishly proposed that "Oh, they're only twenty-nine cents each!  Let's get one for everyone!" 
Why do I do these things to myself?
The kids were delighted with the fish.  We were able to conduct our experiments on changes in a fish's respiration rate according to the water temperature.* 

Fortunately for me and unfortunately for the kids, this was shortly before Mark and I were to head out on our vacation...so of course we had to find a new home for the fish. The end.

*In case you're wondering:  Cold water holds more oxygen than warm water.  Therefore, a fish must take more breaths in warm water to get the same amount of oxygen it gets from fewer breaths in cool water.  Their rate of breathing is evidenced by watching the operculum movements (the flap over the gills).  You're welcome.