Birthday Donations

O(5) asked her friends to bring donations for a local children's home rather than gifts to her birthday party this year. We are so proud of her for making this decision, and she was very proud, too. After gathering the donations together, we went shopping so that O could choose some things for the children herself. After our shopping trip, we went to the children's home to deliver the donations. This trip made the donation process much more real and relevant to O since she was able to see the children and their home.

I started talking with O about the possiblity of asking for donations before her 4th birthday party last year. She wavered back and forth between deciding to get donations or gifts, and she finally decided that she'd rather have gifts. She had lots of fun opening her gifts at her 4th bday party, and I remember thinking that she would never consider asking for donations since she enjoyed the gifts so much. So, I was surprised a couple of months ago when I asked her if she wanted donations or gifts for her 5th bday party. She immediately said that she'd like to get donations, and she wanted the donations to be for children (last year we talked about donating to the local animal shelter). I asked if she'd like to donate to the children's home, and she loved that idea. I assured her that if she asked for donations, she would still get gifts from us, her grandparents, and my sister (so don't worry...she was not at all deprived of the fun of opening and receiving gifts!).

I love that O asked for donations for her birthday, but I love even more the fact that it was her decision to do this. I'm sure she knew that I preferred for her to get donations, but I did my best to not influence her decision. I asked her several times if she was sure this was the best decision for her. I told her that once I called the children's home and sent out the invitations, she would not be able to change her mind. She was sure (although at 11pm on the night before her party, she was questioning her decision :). She said that next year she's going to get gifts and then she'll get donations the year after that, so she'll just alternate between gifts and donations...works for me!

Harvesting Fruit

My prairie girls and I harvested our fruit last week from our fruit trees. We had fun picking peaches, figs, and plums. O(4) was an adult Laura and E(1) was her baby girl, Rose. I was ma :)

A Failed Activity

We (my mom, the girls, my niece, and I) attempted to make hand-dipped candles during "Laura" Camp. It didn't go very well. I dipped a candle for about an hour, and it looked like a bendaroo! I think we'll use our wax to make beach sand candles...eventually.

Making "Town Party Lemonade"

During "Laura" Camp, the girls and I had fun making (and drinking!) lemonade. We used the "Town Party Lemonade" recipe from the Little House books website.

The girls loved rolling the lemons before I cut them. They also really liked squeezing the juice from the lemons. O was excited to dissolve the sugar in the water, and this was a fun science lesson. She wants to explore this further at another time (she LOVES to do science experiments that she creates on her own).

Homemade Laundry Soap

My mom, O(4), and my niece(7) made laundry soap while E(1) and I went to the toddler library storytime one morning during "Laura" camp week. (E helped when we got back...she does NOT like to be left out of any activity!)

My mom wrote the ingredients out on a wipe-off board. Then they they grated the soap.


After they grated enough soap, they mixed all of the ingredients together (with close supervision since Borax is poisonous if ingested).


My mom really likes using this laundry soap to wash towels and sheets.

In addition to making soap, the girls made a covered wagon! They draped bedsheets over a 4 post bed and set it up as a covered wagon. When E and I got back from the library, we all went for a ride. I sat in the front and drove the horses. We had a lot of fun playing in the covered wagon!

Shucking Corn

One of our 1st "Laura" Camp activities was shucking corn to make corn cob dolls. We had fun shucking the corn, and the girls loved eating the corn that I cut from the cob for supper. Frozen corn just doesn't compare to fresh!


We left the corn cobs to dry for about a week before trying to make our dolls. O(4) was not pleased when she tried to draw the doll's face. I think we may try this project again and use the husk next time.

In addition to shucking corn, we made apples and onions (Almanzo's favorite dish) for supper. The girls helped wash and cut the apples. I cooked the apples and onions in butter, and they tasted ok. Elliott is really the only one who liked them. However, O put a little apple cider vinegar on them and said that made them better!

One More Group!...It's Full! Thank You!

The last group is full. I'm still waiting on mailing addresses from Greece and the UK, and I'll be sending the email to the group members after that. Thanks, everyone!

I'm creating one last group for someone that requested 12 and only got put with 6. I have 5 slots open, please email me at chasingcheerios@gmail.com if you would like to be in this group! Thanks!

Cultural Exchange Deadline- Last Week of September

A friend (who has organized swaps in the past) has given me the good advice of setting a deadline for everyone to send out the cultural exchange packages. Please send out your packages by the last week in September. Some of you are traveling and won't be able to do this, but just email your exchange partners and let them know. Please email your group members when you mail the packages, so they will be expecting them. Also, it would be great if you communicate with your group members via email before you send the packages. A lot of you are already doing that, and I'm loving reading the emails...so much excitement! :)

Another Cultural Exchange Post

I've had several people email me who requested groups of 12, and only received an email for a group of 6. If you requested a group of 12, and did not get that, please let me know ASAP. I'm creating one last group...Group 29!

I'm amazed by how this exchange has grown from me hoping to find 12 people to exchange packages with me into having 28 groups of people exchanging packages around the world! Very cool!

Thanks for all of the excitement! It was a little time consuming to sort and divide the groups, and I definitely made some mistakes, but I really enjoyed setting this up. I've learned a few things, and I think it will be easier next time! Yes, there will be a next time (several of you have asked).

I'd love to do a "Christmas Around the World" exchange and have our kids send & receive Christmas cards from around the world...maybe in groups of about 15. I also think an international postcard exchange would be fun as well as a 50 States postcard exchange. So many ideas, so little time :)

Baking Biscuits

Guhguh taught us how to make biscuits during "Laura" Camp. She showed us how to level the flour, and she told us about the difference between liquid and dry measuring cups.

In the interest of being authentic, we used a Mason jar to cut out our biscuits.


I told the girls about how I (along with my sister and cousins) used to help my grandmama bake biscuits, and my favorite part was when grandmama let us have the tiny pieces of leftover dough to make miniature biscuits. The girls got right to work making miniature biscuits. Then we all tasted the raw biscuit dough. This brought back many wonderful memories of time spent with my grandmama and created new memories for the girls with their grandmama :)



While the biscuits baked, we made butter! We poured heavy cream into baby food jars, dropped in a marble, and shook and shook. I learned the hard way that you CAN shake too hard! I was showing the girls how to shake vigorously and the marble broke my jar!

Eventually, we had butter, and it tasted wonderful on the fresh, homemade biscuits! We ate them all within minutes :)

Done!

I've finally finished emailing all of the cultural exchange group members with your group members names and addresses! I am sure that I have overlooked some emails, so if you sent me name and address and did not get an email from me, please let me know. I have space for 4 more people in a group. Also, if you requested a group of 12 and only received 1 email with a group of 6, please let me know. THANK YOU! I've loved seeing the emails back and forth between the group members. It looks like everyone is very excited about this, and I am, too!!!

Our Art Museum

The girls are SO proud of the "Art Museum" that I set up with their summer art projects in our den. I labeled each painting with their names, ages, and art medium. We set this up before O(4)'s bday party, so they could share their art with their family and friends. O says she wants to keep our Art Museum up FOREVER!

Our Flag Cake

The girls and their friends had a great time decorating (and eating!) this flag cake on July 4th. My mom baked an angel food cake, and the girls "iced" it with Cool Whip. They then decorated it with blueberries and strawberries to make the stars and stripes. This is a July 4th tradition that we started a couple of years ago and hope to continue for many years.

Painting Canvases

As a part of "Art on the Beach" week, the girls painted canvases. E(1) painted a very abstract painting, and O(4) said she was painting a landscape. We've been reading about Monet, so she was painting a landscape like we read about. Her interpretation of what she saw was VERY different than the way I would have painted it!

They had fun, and I have 2 more masterpieces to hang on my walls!

"Laura" Camp

Since O(4) is totally obsessed with "old times" and Little House on the Prairie, I decided to have "Laura" Camp this summer! O and I have been talking about it and planning for months!

For one week this summer, we did a "Laura" activity each day. Since then we've done a couple of "Laura" activities per week. One of the girls' favorite activities was washing clothes on a washboard. They dressed in their prairie clothing and out we went to the front yard to wash clothes!

The struggled with washing one of Elliott's t-shirts, but O loved washing his socks! They were easier for her to handle, and we were all amazed by how white she got them!


Thanks to Guhguh (my mom) for finding the washboard and tub for us to use!!!

The Complete Little House Nine-Book Set

Still Working On It...

I took yesterday off from working on the cultural exchange, but I'm working again tonight. I need 1 more person (who is not from the US or Canada) to exchange in a group sending/receiving 6 packages. I'm double checking the groups for diversity and will hopefully start sending emails to group members tonight or tomorrow night. So far, I think I have been able to include everyone who has emailed me. However, the last few people who have requested groups of 12 will be in groups of 6...sorry about that. So, if you've emailed me your information, look for an email from me within the next few days. I'll post on here once I have everything sent out. Thanks!

Golf Ball/Ping Pong Ball Paintings

On our first "Art on the Beach" morning, the girls painted with golf and ping pong balls.

To do this activity, we dipped the balls in paint and then rolled them around on the paper in a large container. O(4) was not very interested in this activity (some glittery gel that was in the bag of paint caught her eye, and she only wanted to play with that), but E(1) enjoyed it.

Painting with Medicine Droppers & Liquid Watercolors

The girls really enjoyed using medicine droppers (they call them "shotmakers" since they pretend to give shots with them) and liquid watercolors. I diluted the liquid watercolor a little bit with water in an ice cube tray. I gave the girls white cardstock since the paper needed to be thick in order to not tear. They got right to work!