Slowing Down a Little...Finally!

 

Hello friends! Welcome to The Homemaking Party! It's roasty, toasty, hot and humid in NW Arkansas today but I'm hanging out in our well air conditioned library tonight and feelin' fine! Ha! Life is finally slowing down a bit for me and I feel like I want to stay close to home and do homey things. We are starting school July 9, since we've been off since April, and I'm just feeling really excited to be back in our comfortable routine of home life. I traveled to Oregon in April and England in May (I know, still no photos up...sorry!) and then there's been summer camps and missions trips and...whew!

These three guys are in Honduras this week, ministering at an orphanage and at a school. From the pictures I'm seeing come over Facebook and IG, they're having a great time and really enjoying those sweet Honduran kids!

Lynzie has been house sitting for the youth pastors who took the kids to Honduras and Selah stayed with a friend last night so it was just me and the four littles this morning. We decided to have a little adventure. We went to Walmart to buy lunch (my kids think Lunchables are gold since I buy them so rarely!) and then made a library stop.

After library time, we headed for the park. They rode bikes, took walks (hikes!), played baseball, and laid around panting from the heat. We had an early picnic lunch and then went home for a long nap!

My kids love an opportunity to use a lunch box...one of those cool things like riding on a school bus that public schoolers get to do. Ha! Here Brenna is dreaming about what's inside her box. We were out so early but I wouldn't let them eat until 11. Next time we'll pack breakfast instead!

Our Rose of Sharon bush is in full bloom and hosting all kinds of neat insects and birds. We mainly have these orange not-actually-ladybugs, hummingbirds, zillions of bees, and several kinds of butterflies. Our road is so quiet so I love to stand out on the porch and just listen to the bush buzzing. It's at least nine feet tall and at least that wide and just full of probably a hundred or more different creatures at a time. I think I'll make it the focus of a nature study when we start back to school.

Well friends, hope all is well in your worlds! Thanks for stopping by The Homemaking Party!

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A Band-Aid Box Story Craft

Hello Friends! Welcome to the Homemaking Party! 

This week, Lynzie is away from home until Friday and the teens are at teen camp---which means it's just me and the four littles during the days! Wow, such a different dynamic! 

We're doing some fun crafts and things this week and I thought I'd share one with you all.

 

Years ago, (like 15 or more) I was at a yard sale and found all these metal Band-Aid boxes for sale. I instantly remembered a craft I did as a four year old in Kindergarten and knew I had to grab them so I could do this project with my littles. Those littles are now almost grown but, thankfully, I've got another group of littles who are still little enough to enjoy this!

My mom had some rolls of register tape at a later yard sale so I snatched them up and all these supplies have been hiding away for a really long time. Today was their day!

When I was in Kindergarten at Heppner Elementary School in Heppner, Oregon, my teacher, Ms. Webber, led us in making Band-Aid box stories. This was about 1984 and Johnson & Johnson was still selling Band-Aids in metal boxes in "those days". I posted a teaser on my social media today and a friend joked that those lethal metal boxes were designed to sell more Band-Aids. That cracked me up...but really, now they're in paper boxes, so there's always the risk of a nasty paper cut! Genius moves on their part...hahaha!

Anyway, back to the story... So, as you can see, super trendy tiny me wrote a story about Rainbow Brite and her horse, Starlight. 

The kids loved seeing and hearing my story and thought I was just as adorable as I really was... But then they were ready to get started on their own stories!

Some of the kids chose to cover the outside of their boxes first. I had a huge box of decorative paper to choose from, but everyone went with solid colors and decided to decorate them on their own with drawings and coloring.

Some of the kids chose to write out their stories on register tape first. These two wrote stories about Doctor Who, their newest obsession.

Kynthia wrote a story about Leia from Star Wars. Once they were done with their stories, they rolled them up and fit them perfectly into the little boxes.

Here's Avalon's finished story, along with a matching TARDIS box. Very cool.

This was a super fun, easy, and creative craft. I'm so glad we recreated one of my favorite Kindergarten memories! Perhaps you'll find some vintage Band-Aid boxes at a yard sale and make one of your own, too!

Thanks for stopping by the Homemaking Party! Have a great week!

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Field Trips to the Joplin History Museum, the Titanic Exhibit, and a Farm!

Hello Friends! Wow, well this has really been a week of getting out of the house---and it's only just begun! I spent Monday getting my hair done, getting groceries, and doing several other errands. Tuesday night, we took the kids to the Joplin History and Mineral Museum for a special exhibit. The museum is hosting a small Titanic exhibit through Saturday so we made the quick trip north to check it out. 

We'd never been to this museum and were pleasantly surprised about all the cool things there were to see. Joplin has a (literally!) rich mining history and many minerals and machines were on display in this small museum. Here's Liam explaining to me that this amazing "cave" we were in was probably a real life mine at one time and once the people moved on to another mine, they turned this one into a museum! Ha! The displays really were very well done---but were housed inside an unassuming very much twentieth century building. I just let him believe what he wanted to, though...

Afterward, we took the kids to Wendy's and treated them to dinner and Frostys. Most of the kids had never had a Frosty so it was a life-changing experience...

This morning we got up bright and early to visit a local farm. The dear people at this farm put a TON of work, time, and money into hosting our group of about 100 homeschool parents and students! The kids learned a lot about running a farm and taking care of horses. It was a great experience for them!

I spent most of the morning with the two littlest girls as everyone was divided into groups by age. Kynthia seemed to take to the horses easily and really enjoyed grooming them.

It was a cool and windy day---just right for me...but I guess I'm not really a Southern girl, now am I? 

All these sweeties are such a joy to take places. They're obedient and respectful and very thankful and appreciative. Tomorrow we're going to visit a friend who was injured and had surgery and hasn't been able to attend church for a couple months. After that, we've got our Good Friday service, Easter activity day on Saturday, Easter Sunday...and then two of the boys and I are headed to Oregon for a week! More on that later...but is anyone else feeling as busy as me this week? Ha!! Oh well, it's a blessing to have fun things to do and fun people to do them with!

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