heatherstuff

This week!

We had such a great time this week and enjoyed many fun things. Well - some were routine, but we enjoyed them just the same.

Monday we took a class on North Africa taught by a new friend Deborah as part of the Mile High Co-op. Clayton looked up many facts about some countries he was assigned, and together we learned about Niger, Chad, Morocco and Sudan. We learned their flags, population, major religion(s), government system, and more! Clayton then made his own Mancala board and we played together - he winning everytime (the kid is good!) We discussed a little about the history of Mancala while putting the game together using and egg carton and some dried chickpeas. Afterwards the kids were able to eat some Moroccan food, including Leek Salad, an eggplant dish, some Beef Stew (which was a HUGE hit) and Baked Bananas.

After that class we decided to check out the library on that end of town. The kids played a clue finding/treasure hunt game over there and loved it! We also came home with several more books.

Although I had to work both Tuesday and Wednesday, our evenings were wonderful. Tuesday night we spent time together as a family, which is always a great experience, and on Wednesday our home teachers came over. That was really spiritual as well as fun to chit-chat with other grown-ups!

We were supposed to go on a hike Thursday, but it was threatening to thunderstorm so we decided not to attend. Instead ~ we cleaned out the kitchen cupboards. Now, to normal people, this may not be that big of a deal. But to me - it was out of control. So I was able to freecycle a ton of kitchen gear, including appliances, dishes, and cooking utensils that I was no long using. I also put my Nordic Trak (did I mention how much I HATE that thing) and my AbDoer up on frecycle as I am not using them anymore. I'll just stick with my treadmill and my crunches.

WE had a chocolate tasting co-op on Friday with CCHF's coop. What a blast - the kids got to sample chocolate from Hershey's all the way to 88% dark! They had a blast. We went shopping afterwards at the ARC where Clayton got an "army shirt" and I was able to finally get some sleeping bags for camping. Shopping on such a tight budget stinks!

Yesterday was a blast for sure. We went up to Ellsworth Park to celebrate Pioneer Day. We had a big barbecue with members from our Stake, and then the kids participated in several different activities, including beading, making nature necklaces, whittling, horesback riding, and "fishing" (for prizes!). There was violin, songs, and stories. Our family ended the night playing volleyball with a bunch of the youth and the missionaries - there must of been 12 people on each team! We are studying pioneers right now for our homeschool and it was a fun event to tie it in with. Plus we just love being with our church family.

Speaking of church - it is about time for me to head off. Hopefully I won't be cramming a weeks worth of info into one blog in the future, but hey - I might!

posted by Heather @ 7:57 AM