our week
Our first week in many that had a bit more of a sane schedule still moved along really fast. We still had somewhere to go each day, but that was OK. My laundry pile continues to be evidence that I am not caught up. That’s a concept I’m realizing may not happen ’till I’m 73.
I have an odd assortment of photos to share from this week. We began by making a couple loaves of banana bread.
A stapled-together, green chef’s hat that makes your ears stick out with an apron that isn’t cinched up high enough are essential when baking. Essential! In Bible this week, we were reading about Jesus being the Bread of Life. Banana bread isn’t the best example of a bread staple, but it was still a good tie-in to our subject.
One of our science experiments involved mixing warm water, yeast and sugar in a jar and fitting a balloon on top to see what happened.
We also tried it with warm water, yeast and salt. Of course, that didn’t work. We learned the yeast needs the sugar to make the carbon dioxide.
We welcomed a new item to our school table this week. A real pencil sharpener!
I don’t know why it took me so long to get one, but after the shavings from my little hand-held one were accidentally spread all over the table, I decided it was time for something more practical. This is the old fashioned kind, but instead of attaching to the wall, it has one of those super-strong-suction thingies that attaches to smooth surfaces. I had a granite tile laying around, so…voila! It makes ridiculously sharp pencils.
Yesterday, we visited a pumpkin patch farm, and among other things, Ethan got to feed a calf!
Today, we made butter!
As an activity to go along with our look at colonial life, we put some whipping cream into a jar with a lid and proceeded to shake it for 10-15 minutes. Ethan and I took turns shaking, and very soon we had butter. Ethan was thrilled and amazed at our accomplishment! 
We had to try some on toast right away.
For a long time while I grew up, we always made our own butter. We bought milk from friends down the road who milked a cow or two, so we had cream to make butter and other goodies. I remember the kids at school thinking that was really odd. Today, I was reminded of what a simple process it really is, once the cream has been acquired, that is!
