Fall Foam Fiassco

Girls out in the early morning gathering sticks for doll house furniture.

Well foamed dog house seam...

 Today, my oldest boy figured out a way to unclog a sealed can of spray foam and away he went, spraying to his heart's content.  What his heart didn't tell him, was what a mess it would be to clean up!  Great analogy of the temptation of disobeying God's rules... everything seems so fun and amazing and free until we realize the mess we have on our hands. 

My boy did get my permission to "work" on unclogging this can of spray foam.  I had no idea it would be so hard to get off!!!  He inserted the end of a white flag used to flag the warning perimeter of our underground electrical fence system for the dog, into the can's nozzle.  It worked fairly well until the last.  Somehow, the flag got foamed into the seam of the dog house.  We wondered why the dog was barking at his house!  He was confused.  Hopefully he won't notice it there when we flip right side up again.

Yep, still picking foam off my hands...

Leftover foam after picking it all off for over half and hour!

Same hands, a day earlier, finding a new and exciting way to color...

We have been reviewing books and preparing a history timeline this week in preparation for home school.  My oldest boy has never had much of an interest in coloring so when I found him coloring away with a tidbit of colored pencil in his leather men's tool I grabbed the camera!

Which hand should I use?  I'll stick to my left.

If I could just get a little closer....

Posing for the camera with a sweet smile

Our official school start date is Monday but we had to do some prep work this week.  I'm trying to remember that our home school is not going to look like any other.  I'm so glad we are doing year two of  "My Father's World."  The planning and scheduling is done for me.  All I have to do is figure out how to fit it all in!!!  I told my kids they are going to be self-starters simply by default! 

My ability to post daily will be gone.  I'll try to get on and do this once or twice a week.  It will probably be the weekends.  I need the motivation to stay on top of their school work and this will help!

Digging Our First Potatoes!

Look at the size of this one!

How do potatoes grow anyway?

This one is the biggest!

Look at my bucket full of potatoes:  I'm a hard working boy!

I think these potatoes need a little extra dirt...



We harvested our first potatoes a couple days ago.  There were squeals of delight every time some one discovered a little pink showing through the dark brown dirt.  If you didn't know it, you'd think they were seeing gold nuggets! 

How do potatoes grow?  I asked this question of my three year old and she said, "I don't know.  Maybe Daddy knows."  I then took the opportunity for a mini science lesson.  She had seen the old dead rotten potato left in the soil from when we had been digging.  We talked about the new potatoes growing from the old potato along with some sunshine and rain.  I then emphasized how a potato never makes anything else but a potato!  I believe teaching creationism even at the level of a three year old can be fun and quick and a delight to all who listen. 

The conversation is still continuing as I sit here and type.  My little girl tells me all about the seeds that God planted in the first garden and how they grew and about Him making ladybugs and then putting them gently on the new plants he made.  She doesn't understand the sequence of the six days of creation but even she knows that you have to have plants before you can have insects! 

How could things possibly know when to evolve all at the right second to produce everything all at once in perfect balance that we know exists in creation?  I've asked this question of scientists and they usually tell me I just don't understand the process of evolution which happens over a long period of time.  They tell me to read books like "The Origin of Species," and "The Blind Watchmaker."

Having read and taken notes as I read these books, I find such amazing claims that are not even logical.  Christians have nothing to fear.  The only fear a Christian should consider having is what God will ask them when they stand before His throne.  Have they bothered to teach their children what the deception is that evolution creates in place of truth? 

In case anyone has not considered what that deception is.... There's no time like the present to learn.... It is that nothing has purpose other than what it accidentally came to be;  merely by time, chance, or environment.  We wonder at all the depression and suicide and drug use... what's the point.... nothing matters anyway... I'm just here by a random collision of cells.....

I'd better stop rambling now, see what digging potatoes in Alaskan soil can do?

If there is anyone reading this that would like to know more about this subject, go to www.answersingenesis.org.   They have awesome material to combat evolutionary thinking and you can even set your homepage to theirs and get a daily devotional. 

Caring for Babies in the Wild

Who needs a stroller when you've got strong arms to carry?

Is this adjusted well?

Let's make sure this is secure.

We don't want her to fall out!

Picking wild raspberries!

Look!  Wild raspberry coffee!

Last week, us girls went for a walk in the wild.  We took our friends from Washington down to the, "Loop-de-loops," as the children have aptly named the bike path located near the end of our gravel road.  Before we left for the hike, all the girls adjusted and readjusted their baby dolls to make sure they were comfortable.  They had run full speed down the road and back before we left and decided it was very hard to do with a baby in tow.  They were laughing and giggling and having a great time. 

We found a patch of wild raspberries and picked to our hearts content.  If you look close in the above picture you will see a raspberry floating in my friends cup!  It dropped in by accident.  My friend was getting ready to take a sweet picture of my little girl sharing her berries with baby brother when suddenly his little hand shot out and grabbed a fist full of her hair instead!  She caught the blurred image on her camera and we had a good laugh!

Four Wheeler Adventure

Taking it for a test ride...

Some more testing and fixing...

Working together

Helping hands, a mix of boy and man...

When our friends were here from Washington, the Daddy spent a whole day working with our son on restoring this four wheeler to working condition.  He also gave a great science lesson on combustion and how an engine works.  We couldn't hardly believe that they got this machine to work!  Someone had brought it over as a project for our son to work on and he'd been looking forward to this visit and working with his best friends Dad on this very project.  He was one happy boy to have spent precious time in this way!

The Caribou Hunt that Never Was

This handsome caribou is also known as a reindeer...

This handsome boy is also known as my firstborn son...

The mighty hunters

Daddy and his longtime hunting buddy and friend, pictured above with our son, went Caribou hunting one evening.  They took the truck and camper fully stocked with food and supplies and were disappointed to realize the next day that it was illegal to hunt caribou in the area they had driven.  It was a good lesson in honesty for all as they had a beautiful reindeer in their sights and no one would've known had they choose to take its life.  They did the right thing and even though they were really disappointed about it, I know God and He will bless regardless.  I was so impressed with the attitudes of these guys when they came home.  The next day they all pitched in and worked on the cabin bathroom.  Nobody sulked around feeling sorry for themselves.  They did what a man's gotta do and that was some amazing teamwork!  I've got the photos to prove it! They read the hunting regulations and studied the map and even called the fish and game to make sure they were in the right season and place.  It was so complicated that even the gov't workers had the wrong impression and they refunded our friends money.  I hope everyone comes again next year to try it all again and come back with a trophy Caribou!