The Colorado Adventure

There’s something wrong with my dog….she used to look like this:

Now she looks like this:

(Yeah, her tongue is really that pink!)

What is up with that one ear up thing?

I don’t like it; I think she looked cuter with both ears down.

Also something is wrong with my fish, besides the fact that he’s 4 years and 2 months old. He used to be orange, and then he turned white, now he’s got red spots on his gills and his tail. Funky fish.

Other news is that Joel’s English grammar book has disappeared and so has Bethany’s geography book. It’s somewhere in here, I know it is!

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Today we hopscotched the order of the original 13 colonies. It wasn’t easy drawing that map on the driveway, you’d think they would have done a better job at making the colonies square (like, it’s very easy to draw Colorado, because by then people had given up on using natural boundaries and said, “Hey, just draw it into a square!”)

Anyway I put the abbreviation of the state and its number in order of appearance.

I also wrote the capitols of each state around the map.

So the kids had to jump from 1-13 while saying the states. Then do it again adding in the capitols. I still think they need to give New Hampshire another capitol, I can’t remember Concord, it just doesn’t sound right (Neither does Columbia, SC or Harrisburg, PA.) Here is a good resource for learning about the 13 colonies. Here is a quiz on the colonies.

Even Maisy got into the hopscotching, well, not really, she was just trying to get in the way.

I told Joel he could go inside after he named the states and their capitols. Um…yeah, Concord NY or MD sounds just as good as NH (but that’s not right.)

And if we mostly abbreviate by first and last letter in a state (like DE, CO, GA, CA), then shouldn’t New York be NK?

Hannah didn’t learn anything other than one is ‘ginnuh’, but that’s ok.

Hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow, I’d like this to stay up for a few days.

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Beautiful and we didn’t cry as much as last time (although I think we’ll cry more next time because all 3 girls will be dancing!)

Bethany danced to “Above all”, see it here.

Grace danced to “Forever”, see it here.

Here is part of the ending, Bethany has a white flag in the back and then comes to the front at the end.

I messed up with my camera, I found out I could set it to NOT autofocus and I changed the pixels, but now I can’t download them because they are too big! So, these videos from rehearsal will have to do until I can figure out how to get the others off and onto something to upload to here.

Bethany did much better at the recital, she was wearing a red top and a red flowers in her hair. Grace was wearing a sparkly green belt and flowers in her hair and on her wrists.

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Hannah says as she tries to catch a flake.

We finally got Bethany’s ballet video, a front moved in, guess we won’t be taking Maisy to the river…..

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Presentation club:

Joel did origami and helped everyone make an origami box.

Bethany did volcanoes and we watched hers overflow with lava.

Grace did blue whales, yeah he’s a little round, but he is blue!

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Well, it’s that day again. Since I am a SAHHSM, my kids spent the day with me! Since I tend to do cool things, they not only spent it with me, they spent it at the ballpark! (Not that I think I’m cool, but my kids like the neat stuff we do, so that makes me kind of cool to them.)

So, we headed out to Coors field to sit in the rock pile. I’m not sure why they call it the rock pile, maybe because it’s on top of this?

I have to say that the guy behind me was so rude. The National Anthem was playing and he was on his cell phone, my gosh! Get off the phone and sing or just shut up and listen.

Anyway it’s the cheap seats and we were 1 bleacher from the top, which made it easy to squish the Cubs with my fingers, see?

(Ok I couldn’t really see the pic I was taking so the guy isn’t actually getting squished in this shot.)

Hannah got a chance to hit some home runs in the kiddy bat area and Grace was a hit with her hot dog hat.

The fan photographer lady came over and took our pic because of that hat.

Also fans got a Rockies 2007 championship ring from Shane co. I hate their commercials, but these rings are too cool. Wonder twins activate!

At the start of the game I felt like we were in Chicago with all the yelling for the OTHER team. Hello? We’re in Denver, so you’re supposed to root for the Rockies. And yes, I know green isn’t a Rockies color, it’s so they don’t get lost.

So, we ate snow cones and cotton candy to while away the innings.

We had a 1-0 lead, then it was 1-1, then 2-1, then 2-2, then at the bottom of the 7th we hit a homerun. In the 8th we shut out the cubs and got two more runs to lead 4-2.

The top of the 9th we were all standing as the pitcher struck out cub after cub. Boom-ba-da-bing, WIN!

A few parting shots….

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Art show co-op, here is a montage, click on it to see it:

Art show 08

My favorites:

The park:

A hike:

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We went to City Park today to take dance pictures. I forgot it was Earth day, so the park had all kinds of tents and school kids milling about, but on this side of the park we were pretty much alone. Hannah won’t really be in dance until September, but she can put on a tutu and look cute, so I let her take pictures too.

At one point she started screaming ‘Who dat guy is!’ and when I turned around I saw this:

It’s a running toilet, get it? Don’t let your toilets run, earth day, save the water…..Hannah thought it was funnier later when she was safe in the car. ‘Know dat guy, dat toilet paperey guy, hah, hah!’

So, Bethany is in WD3A, this is her third recital.

It is a really hard song/choreography and at some points she is in the front and doesn’t have anyone to look at, but she says she thinks she knows it pretty well after 10 weeks of practice.

Grace is in WD1B, this is her second recital.

She has another cute veggie tale version of a praise song and she knows her dance by heart.

She usually sings it while she dances too. Grace says that it will be much easier this time with no cast on!

Hannah will be in WD1A in September.

She already knows how to skip and do angel arms thanks to watching sissy.

She’s rarin’ to go, I hope I can find the other ballet shoe around here somewhere or I’ll have to buy a new pair just for her (or maybe she should get a new pair because it’s her first class?)

Here is a ladybug that flew over to us.

After that we ran back home and got Joel to go take yearbook pics at the library. Here is what they will probably look like (a friend was taking them with her camera, so there are like 4 shots of each kid.)

Then it was back home for Tea Tuesday, today they wrote to 3 people each! We’re waiting for Bethany’s volcano to dry, Grace needs to paint her whales eyes and we have an art show tomorrow (also park day and a hike that day too.) So now I’m off to mat art and get things together.

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Ok, so our summer co-op board was open last night and we have the following (in addition to school, field trips, clubs, park days, sports, library outings and family outings.) Those with an * are my offering.

5/2 Mornin’ Chores (Yes, kids will do them if you have goats and a horse.)
*5/8 Longmont museum (My favorite, after the museum we’ll picnic at the park)
5/9 Ice skating (Falling on our butts, well, me anyway.)
5/19 llama ranch (wait list)
5/23 Headband weaving (Simple headband on a cardboard loom.)
5/26 Underground railroad (We’re going to be slaves trying to escape via the Underground rail.)
*5/27 Duct tape wallet (Wallets out of tape!)

6/3 Presidential lapbook (wait list)
6/5 Fish store tour (Fish, some info. and a craft.)
*6/13 Speed cup stacking (Stacking cups in a 3-6-3 method and seeing who is the fastest.)
6/19 Spy school (We get some gadgets and try out codes.)
*6/23 Rock and bowl (Melting records in the oven to make bowls.)
6/26 Princess tea party (Just Grace and Hannah in this one, they get their hair done.)
6/30 Lego playdate (Um…playing with Legos.)

7/15 Aurora beach (Another favorite, they have a great shelter to sit in.)
*7/22 Poetry slam (Learning about types of poems, writing some and sharing some.)
7/29 Cross stitch (Bethany only.)
7/31 Hiwan homestead (We haven’t been here before.)

8/7 Bear creek lake (Another summer favorite to cool off in the icy cold water.)
*8/18 Rock and bowl #2 (More melting records.)
*8/28 South America tour (We’re going to visit S. America with songs and stories, do a craft and learn about what comes from S. America.)
8/30 Girl stuff talk (Like periods)

There are 2 we’re on the wait list for and 1 that was full when I tried to sign up. Pretty good mix of stuff to do. Some things (like the tea party) are for Grace and Hannah, some are for Bethany, some are for Joel and some are for all. This is the advantage to being in a HS group that has 98 members right now!

Some were wondering about this:

Participant’s Information
1)Name/Age: Joel/13
2)Name/Age: Bethany/9
3)Name/Age: Grace/6
4)Name/Age: Hannah/3

Non-Participating Attendees
1)attendee: Liese

Please list any special needs here, like allergies. Hannah – no goat poo, milk, peanuts, corn, tomatoes, soy

It’s because she ate goat poo at a friend’s house (and it’s funny!) I changed it to no llama poo for the llama ranch co-op.

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At church we’re on a series entitled Baggage. Today’s title was discouragement, despair and depression. First off, I have no idea what depression is like. I have never had post-partum depression or any other kind. I have had experience with the depression of others though. My uncle was so very depressed that he took his own life. Standing there at his funeral watching his son hug and kiss his body was overwhelming; I couldn’t understand the depths of being so sad that death was better than life. My husband is bi-polar and sometimes he swings into a depression, never as bad as my uncle, but still a heavy sadness and feeling of unworthiness. So, while I can’t truly understand the sorrow of depression, I can empathize with those who suffer.

So, back to Sunday: people want to belong. They want to have encouragement and a sense that they are liked. But sometimes we take that and move it from the Godly area to a human area, we look to people to get our sense of self rather than God. We start to conform our behavior to the standards of those we wish to be a part of. 3 areas of conforming behavior are: the way you dress (I have to have that outfit so I can fit in), the way you talk (if I don’t talk like them they won’t like me), the group’s moral standards (blurring the lines between right and wrong.) All of these are masking cries for acceptance and belonging. But what does the Bible say?

Romans 12:2 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We should desire to conform only to God’s standard so that we can understand what He wants for us.

Discouragement (like not being accepted by a group) leads to despair and then depression. Things like: a death in the family, a sickness of a loved one, a divorce (which our pastor calls a living death because you are separated from your spouse, but not in a ‘death do us part’ way), a job loss and many other things can bring on depression. A shift in what is normal, like when a 12 yr. old boy in our church lost his eye to cancer last week. What was once normal suddenly changed for him. If we have no faith, no belonging, no acceptance, we will more easily fall. The Bible says that two can help each other and God is there too in their midst.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: 10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Why is it important for someone who is depressed to seek help? Because the effects of depression are: they don’t want to feel that way anymore, there is a temptation to mask their feelings (so others won’t be bothered by them), but masking is a form of denial and some people are tempted to self-medicate. Our pastor described his depression as a train wreck. Like you wake up in the morning and you feel like you need a tow-truck to haul you out of bed and carry you over to the couch. You have no desire to function or you have a desire to get better, but your body reacts in slow motion and everything you do is a chore. God did not intend for us to go alone in this life. He did not make up a network of individuals to cling to themselves. He set up a way for people to be His hands and feet, to minister to those in need. Maybe it’s a phone call, watching the kids, taking someone to the doctor. Maybe it’s a word of encouragement, a hug or a listening ear.

For those who want to rid themselves of depression here are some thoughts.

Be honest with yourself and identify your pain.

Psalm 51:1-6
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Here we have David, a king, a great man, but also a man thrown into the pit of despair because of his sins. It took a prophet of God to make him look and see what he had done was a sin, a sin against God, and that he needed to be forgiven.

Reach out for help, this goes back to the ‘when one falls down another is there to help him up’ (Ecc. 4:9-12) Again, God did not make people to strike out on their own and lean only on themselves.

Invite the personal ministry of Jesus to attend to your soul.

Matthew 11:28-30 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

He will give you REST.

Isaiah 61:1-3
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

He will BIND your broken heart, FREE you from darkness and COMFORT you.

When depression is crushing your very life:

Psalm 34:18 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

What can He give you when you are crushed in sprit, but you come to Him and ask for help?

Psalm 51:10-12
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

JOY!

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Friday we stuck around the house cleaning and putting up paper curtains. The cleaning was because we needed to, the paper curtains were to try and cut the sun in the house. The front room and the kid’s rooms get so much sun and get so hot in the summer. Now they have a paper curtain, blinds (and in the girls room curtains too.) It was so dark in there the next morning that Hannah slept until 9am! (Hmmm….this could be a good thing!)

Our friends the Carlson’s from TX were coming into town to pick up a goat and drop Tim’s dad off (not in that order), so they dropped in on us. They only brought 5 kids with them (children, not goats), they have 11 now. This is the newest, Seth. He had two moods here; take a guess as to what they were? (Hint he’s 11 days old.)

They brought 2 of the older girls and 2 of the little boys. Since I haven’t seen them in forever I had to use the process of elimination to figure out the girls, they were a lot older than last time, and children change. The boys were easy enough, but they ran around too much to get a pic (except for a quick shot of Judah when he stopped for a second.)

We had a good visit and then they left for Boulder to spend the night. They have a Swede farm back in Waller, TX. They use the goats for show, milk, and wool. Their eldest daughter makes lotions and soap out of the milk. They are going to Lyons Sat. to get a goat to make their stock bigger in size. They also have chickens, bees, horses, dogs and alpacas….which brings me to Saturday.

Pack corn farm? (Sorry, it’s Hannah talking.) No, we went to an Alpaca farm. Where we learned that: Alpacas are not llamas. They are fiber-producing members of the camelid family. In the camel family there is 1 hump, 2 humped and double-fleeced fiber bearing camels. These include llama and guanaco, vicuna and alpaca.

There are 2 breeds of alpaca: suri and huacaya. Most of the pics are of huacaya alpacas which have crimp to their fiber. The suri is very rare and their fiber hangs downs in pencil locks. Alpacas are shorter than llamas, have shorter necks, different ears and shorter faces.

Their fiber is stronger than the finest sheep’s wool and it contains no lanolin so you can spin it right off the animal. Here is some fiber from the alpacas on the farm.

Here is a spindle with some raw yarn and Grace is spinning a machine handle that is taking that fiber and pressing it and smoothing it into a skein of yarn.

Hannah can’t quite reach!

Here is some finished yarn.

Alpacas have a split hoof, but the bottom of their foot is padded like leather. They don’t trample grass and when they eat it they don’t up-root it, they just nibble. Female alpacas don’t have a heat cycle; they drop an egg when the physical act of breeding occurs. This means they can get pregnant anytime! (This is why you want 2 pens for your alpacas, 1 male and 1 female pen.)

They don’t need a lot of space to live, they eat grass and hay (and they don’t eat a lot of it per alpaca per month, about $5-10 worth of hay.) Their poop is a great fertilizer and they use a communal pile, so it’s easy to clean up! Alpacas are herd animals so you can’t get just 1, it will pine for a friend. Sometimes llamas are put in the pen with alpacas to protect them. Because llamas are bigger (and temperamentally a little meaner) they protect the herd from coyotes and predators. Alpacas communicate in lots of ways, especially by humming. Here is one that thinks he’s a sheep (at the very end he does his little ‘maaa-aaa’.)

So that was our alpaca lesson for the day. Here is a coloring page picture of an alpaca. Oh, and we got these cute little alpaca finger puppets made out of their wool.

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We saw this in Houston, but they didn’t have the show going about the different cultures. It was really neat. First, we crawled into the tunnel and went into the dome.

The guy from the children’s museum started with Africa. We closed our eyes and when we opened them we saw pictures in the sky. There was Osiris where we have Orion; there was a crocodile where we have the big dipper. There was a dog around the Sirius star where we also have a dog. Then he told us that in Africa the legend of the stars is that Osiris’s brother put him in a box and when Osiris’ sister, Isis, went looking for him and couldn’t find him she cried and cried so much that she made a river. It was the Nile River where all life flows. She searched to the ends of the earth for him and as she searched she took stones out of the river and threw them into the air to show where she had gone. When she had found him she stayed beside him and all of her stones stayed in the air. The Milky Way was part of the river that flowed to earth too.

Then he put in another disk and it was the Greeks. So we are familiar with these, Orion and his dog behind him. Taurus the bull in front of him that he’s chasing. Orion is afraid of Scorpions so when he sets in the sky, Scorpio rises from the other end to chase him. One story that he told us was of Cassiopeia. She claimed to be the most beautiful woman on earth and some mermaids got mad at her. To stop their wailing Zeus put her in the sky and she spends half the year upside down. (If you watched Clash of the Titans you will see another part to the story. She defies the gods by saying that she is the most beautiful woman, more so than the daughters of the sea. So Zeus punishes her by making her give her daughter as a sacrifice. Perseus saves the daughter, but Cassiopeia still ends up in the sky.) The Greeks had a bear where we have the big dipper and where the Egyptians had a crocodile.

Next were the Native American stars. There were 2 stories he told us about their stars. One is that in the beginning there were no stars and the first man and woman climbed a giant ladder to the top of the heavens and placed shiny stones in the air in the shape of animals. A bear (where the Greek bear is), a snake (where the Greek snake is), a chief (where Orion and Osiris are) and other creatures. They climbed down very tired and were greeted by coyote who asked where his picture was. They said tomorrow and went to bed. The next night they climbed up again and made a rabbit and a dog (where the Greek and African dog is too!), but no coyote. So later coyote threw the rest of the stones in the air and there was only one left, so that became coyote’s eye and when his picture is up in the air he howls because he only has one star! Another story is that a little girl got lost from her father and made a fire. The smoke rose up into the sky and became the Milky Way. She threw the glowing embers up into the sky and they became the stars. The North Star is the home fire for the Native Americans. All the other stars go around the picture of the home fire. They also use the bear to know the seasons, when the bear comes up it means it is Spring, he is out of hibernation; when the bear goes down it means Winter is coming and he will hibernate. The rabbit too is a hunting sign, when he is up it is hunting season (spring/summer.)

Lastly he put in the show of just the stars and showed us how to find Orion. Then you go ahead and find a triangle of 3 stars, that is Taurus the bull that he is chasing. If you go behind Orion you see the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, the Dog Star (though not responsible for summer heat, it is part of the saying ‘the dog days of summer.) That is Orion’s dog trying to catch up to him. The bear is the box of the big dipper, go along his back and you reach Polaris, the North Star. Follow that and you have the little dipper. All the stars rotate around Polaris because it is in the northern sky. Cassiopeia is right around there too and half the year she’s upside down. If Orion is gone then Scorpio is rising on the other side. The kids thought it was neat that many different people saw some of the same things in the stars. They all saw a person where we have Orion. They all saw a dog by the brightest star. The snake and bear were the same in two of them. I think of all of them I like the idea that the North Star is the home fire, that just sounds so neat.

So, get out on a cloudless night and try to find a few of these, or make up your own story about which star is what and what they are doing.

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That’s what Hannah calls it anyway.

We didn’t take Maisy this time, so I got to sled a lot more.

The snow was really crunchy and made some great snowmen, even if they were small.

Bethany made a great snow angel and then Grace joined her.

Here’s upside-down snow angels.

Here’s Hannah talking about what the snow tastes like: sled, sissy and then Grace saying it tastes like her arm (my children must go around tasting things a lot.)

We were out there for two hours!

I think I have a slight sunburn, but it was fun.

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Ohh…..I’m giddy. Snow just makes me so happy (and it makes Maisy happy too!)

We drove through it last night to swim at the pool and on the way home we played the Charlie Brown Christmas CD. It was fitting, it was gorgeous.

Don’t worry those of you who hate snow, it will be gone by this evening probably, tomorrow morning at the latest. But for now…………

O Spring,
Winter’s icy breath enfolds you in white,
A fine garment of glowing crystals.
Your new life halted for a moment
By a gasp of frozen ice bestowed upon you.
Too soon you will be free from your prison,
And continue your journey.
-Liese

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Hannah painted her pots yesterday.

She did have 4, but she dropped one and ‘it broknen.’ But, that’s ok, look at the concentration required to paint that pot!

And now so proud!

Today she filled the pots with dirt and planted her seeds.

It was just a little windy outside.

The weather man said snow; I said where is it and then it came.

A nice Spring day in Denver, CO (a few minutes later.)

The girls started on their papier-mache. Here is Bethany’s volcano starting to look like one.

Here is Grace’s whale standing on its head.

Yesterday we picked up James from the airport and went to dinner at Black-eyed pea. Note: don’t eat at the BEP in Castle Rock, it majorly sucked. No rolls, no special of the day, my meat was cold, no box to take home, and they tried to leave a kids meal on (but Joel ordered an ‘adult’ meal, so that made 3 adults and 3 free kids meals.) We haven’t been to BEP in 4 ys., might be another 4 at this rate. James dropped me off late at TNO, but there were 2 other moms there who were just about to leave and stayed to talk, so that was fun. Then we ran by the post office at 11pm to drop our state taxes in the mail (yes there was a line!)

Today we did the pots and papier-mache and now we’re just watching the snow. We’ll go swimming tonight. I was going to do a solar system on the driveway in chalk, but we’ll see if it clears up in time tomorrow (we have a star lab at the library tomorrow and then an astronomy night Fri. and I’d like to give the kids a refresher course in the solar system before we go.)

If we get a few more inches we’ll sled in the morning, yay April snow!

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