31 Days to Clean

This sounds intriguing - how to clean your house in 31 days, a practical side (the Martha side for those of you familiar with the biblical account) and a spiritual or motivational side (the Mary side). And until the end of today this woman is offering a free ebook about it here:

31 Days to Clean

I think I'll have to try it!

Hamilton War Plane Museum

We had a visit to the Hamilton War Plane Museum with Grandma and Grandpa. Old war planes are one of Grandpa's favourite things to visit! The boys are pretty interested too - it's more interesting when you're with a Grandpa who knows lots of neat things about them! It's not just all facts at the War Plane Museum - some of the planes you can get inside! Pip making mid-air flight adjustments: Ben is Tim's copilot: Wow - they look all grown up now don't they?

Math with the Marshwiggles

Every now and then we come across a type of math lesson that has entered the Marshwiggle lexicon as "fun math". Ben got one of these lessons recently, involving the measurement of volumes. Pip came to help, and the rest of us popped into the bathroom from time to time to see how they were making out.

The first step in the math lesson was to create a measured litre. We used a jug, put one litre in it, and marked the spot.



Then, Ben had to estimate the volume of another container. A large, laundry soap jug was taken from the recycle bin, and estimates made. Pip estimated it would hold 100 litres. Ben thought 2. Emmi popped in at this point and noted it looked about 6 litres, so Ben revised his estimate to 6 litres. How many did it hold??


The answer was seven! Pretty good estimating! (OK, Pip was a little off!!)

Next job, estimating a laundry tub. Then measuring. It held 11 litres.




The math lesson was complete, the bathroom floor was relatively dry, brotherly love was in evidence... what could be better?

Snowman!

This happy guy is on our front lawn now. It feels like we have had a lot of snow, but it hasn't been packing snow - so finally we got some packing snow! The children were out there and putting it to good use! The boys got together and built a snow fort, and Emmi decided she'd like a snowman. She even got him all dressed up for his photo!

Sometimes you just see the funniest things...

This is what I saw when I walking in the living room not too long ago. He didn't even realize I had taken his picture until later!

Pretty Things

I was inspired by a recent Style at Home magazine to create a little, pretty, space - the magazine people call them "vignettes". It just took a little looking around to find the jugs (china cabinet), cut down the chrysanthemums from a fading bouquet, find them a martini glass and then to get out Pip's Valentine's Day craft from last year. Now this falls on your eye as you walk in the front door!

Sledding

One of the great things about living in Canada is enjoying the snow! This past weekend, we had great sledding weather - cold and sunny. Some snowmobilers had been out on the hill earlier and had created a big, packed down part that our sleds really flew on.

At first, some of the party were a little hesitant, because the hill was so steep, but after a trip down, everyone (except me!) caught the sledding bug! I stationed myself at the top and steadied sleds and pushed the travellers off. This was a smart move I later realized because it prevented me from bringing up any sleds!

Here's Emmi about to launch!


The boys discovered that a two-man sled would go farther than a one-man. They went through the ditch, up the other side, and into a small scrubby bunch of plants!


It's a long walk back up to the top!

Snow, when you think about it, is an amazing play material - you can mould it, throw it, climb it... and it is (relatively) clean. We have a pretty amazing Creator! I was thankful for this afternoon!

We returned home with red cheeks, ready for hot chocolate!