Science Experient: Making Carbon Dioxide

We started learning a bit about solids, liquids, and gases this week so we did a little experiment to create carbon dioxide gas. 

 First we put about 1/2 cup of vinegar in a jar

 Then we put 2 Tbsp of baking soda inside a balloon (not blown up!)

Next we stretched the balloon over the top of the jar without spilling any of the baking soda in

Then we dumped in the baking soda to mix with the vinegar

And watched our balloon being blown up by the carbon dioxide gas!

The kids had fun and thought it was pretty amazing!

Blessings,

Linked up with:
Raising Homemakers
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Titus 2sday
Women Living Well
A Delightful Home
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The Modest Mom
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Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

No Heat Curls: Rag Curl Tutorial

Sweetie has stick straight blond hair.  So straight that it absolutely doesn't hold curls when I've tried curling it with a curling iron.  Any hair that actually curls, will be straight again within 10 minutes.  While this makes it super easy to do her hair on most days, she is sad whenever we have tried to curl it and it doesn't work.  We have been reading the Little House on the Prairie series and once it was mentioned that they used rags to make their hair curly.  I wondered if that would work for Sweetie and so we gave it a try.  It worked beautifully and Sweetie had curls that stayed ALL day!  Her hair was even still curly the next day!  It is super easy too, so I thought I would share with you how we did it.

All you need are strips of cloth about 6 inches long and 1 in wide and wet hair.  We've done it right after Sweetie takes a bath in the evening and I just cut up an old pair of ripped pants into our strips of cloth.

First, start by taking a small strip of hair and wrapping the end around one of the strips of cloth, right in the middle. 

Then continue rolling the hair around the strip all the way up to the head.  Then take the ends of the strip and tie a knot in it. 

Continue doing that with all of the hair until it is all tied up in the strips of cloth. 

If you want smaller curls, use smaller sections of hair and do more of them and if you want bigger curls, use bigger sections of hair.  Then go to bed for the night.
When you wake up in the morning, take out the strips, style your hair, and ta-da, beautiful curls that will hold for a long time!

Blessings,

Linked up with:
Raising Homemakers
Far Above Rubies
The Better Mom
Teach Me Tuesdays
Titus 2sday
Women Living Well
A Delightful Home
Raising Arrows
The Modest Mom
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Tasty Tuesday: Easy Baked Spareribs

I tried out another pork recipe last week and it was almost as tasty as the pork chops I shared about before.  The kids weren't too excited about them at first, but I told them ribs are supposed to be messy and they could eat them with their fingers and then they loved them! :)

Ingredients:

4 pound slab of pork spareribs
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

For the Barbecue Sauce:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup bottled barbecue sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Hot sauce to taste, optional

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees . Line a large roasting pan with heavy duty foil.  Sprinkle both sides of the spareribs liberally with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Place seasoned ribs in the baking pan. Combine lemon juice, barbecue sauce, ketchup, balsamic vinegar, and hot sauce in a bowl. Stir vigorously until combined. (Makes about 3 cups of barbecue sauce.) Pour half of sauce into a separate container and set aside. Drizzle remaining sauce over the top of the ribs, covering all exposed areas. Cover pan with lid or foil. Bake 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until tender. Serve spareribs with reserved barbecue sauce. Optional: You can char the ribs on the grill or under the broiler before serving if you wish.

Enjoy!
Blessings,

Linked up with:
Raising Homemakers
Far Above Rubies
The Better Mom
Teach Me Tuesdays
Titus 2sday
Women Living Well
A Delightful Home
Raising Arrows
The Modest Mom
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Glorious Day

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises

One day when sin was as black as could be

Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin

Dwelt among men, my example is He

Word became flesh and the light shined among us

His glory revealed

Living, He loved me

Dying, He saved me

Buried, He carried my sins far away

Rising, He justified freely forever

One day He’s coming

Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain

One day they nailed Him to die on a tree

Suffering anguish, despised and rejected

Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He

Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree

And took the nails for me

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer

One day the stone rolled away from the door

Then He arose, over death He had conquered

Now He’s ascended, my Lord evermore

Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him

From rising again

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming

One day the skies with His glories will shine

Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing

My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Oh, glorious day

-Casting Crowns

If you would like to listen to this song on YouTube, go HERE

Blessings,

The Scent of Cherry Blossoms {Review}

Another great book by Cindy Woodsmall! If you like Amish romance and haven't read any of Cindy's books yet, you really need to!  I loved her Sisters of the Quilt series that I reviewed before and recently had the chance to review her new book The Scent of Cherry Blossoms.  Although this one is a novella and is shorter than the previous ones I read, it is still just a good!

Annie is an Old Order Mennonite who stays with her Grandfather Moses for a while and helps out at his neighbors' diner.  Aden is an Old Order Amish who runs the family diner and helps care for his paralyzed twin brother, Roman.  Despite knowing that their families and churches would not approve, Annie and Aden begin to care for each other and secretly spend time in her grandfather's cherry tree orchard.  When their relationship is discovered by their families, they must decide if the turmoil from their communities will be worth it if they continue on together.  Another aspect of the story is Aden and Roman's relationship and how much they rely on each other.  Aden stutters and relies on Roman to help him speak and Roman relies on Aden to help him physically.  Roman doesn't think he can live without Aden's help and plots to keep Aden and Annie apart.  Will Aden and Annie overcome all the obstacles or decide it isn't worth it?

I highly recommend this book!  One more thing I love is that it is a hard cover book.  I know paperbacks are much cheaper, but hard covers just feel sturdier, like a book should.

I received this book free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah.

Blessings,

Dawn Comes Early {Review}

Recently I read Dawn Comes Early by Margaret Brownley.  It is a romance about Kate Tenney, a dime novelist, who has fled Boston after her most recent novel was banned.  She answers an ad to be an heiress of a large cattle ranch in Arizona.  When she gets there she finds it is a lot harder than she expected and encounters many challenges along the way.  But she is determined not to give up!  She also meets Luke Adams, whom she begins to fall in love with.  Unfortunately, one of the stipulations of becoming the heiress of the ranch is that she must never marry.  Now Kate has to choose between the ranch and Luke.

I really enjoyed this book.  It is a light, easy to read romance.  Although it was fairly predictable, there were enough surprises, humor, and interesting characters along the way to keep me reading to the end.  It also had a subtle message of faith and trust in God by many of the characters that was neatly woven into the story.

I received this book for free for review from Booksneeze.

Blessings,

Tae Kwon Do Tournament

 Saturday, Buddy participated in his first tae kwon do tournament!  He had so much fun and he did great!  He competed in doing his form (routine) and in sparring.

 He got third place for his forms!

 Sparring is his favorite thing to do and so he was really excited to compete in that.

 Getting instructions from his teacher

 It was hard work, but Buddy won all three of his matches and got first place!

 First place on the podium.  The kid he beat in his final round got second and you can see that he was still taller than Buddy on a lower block! 

 His best friend also got first in his age group, so they were very excited and proud of each other!

 With his 1st and 3rd place trophies.  We are so proud of him!

 Buddy's teacher is on the US Tae Kwon Do demo team and they compete world wide!  They train at the building where the tournament was held, so we got to watch them do a demo for us.

I got some great videos of Buddy and also the demo team, but I can not get them to upload!  I will keep trying, so if you want to see them, check back in a day or two and see if I got them.

Blessings,

A Week Off

We had a week off from school this past week and the kids have been working so hard at their school work that it was a much deserved break.  This school year seems to be flying by and I can't believe we only have 10 weeks left!  It was Hubby's birthday this week so he took a day off and we headed to the zoo for a few hours.

 Riding the train around the park

Sweetie the Tiger (who is not very sweet!)

 Tree huggers?

 Geese and long horned cattle

 Hippos

Inside the lizard cage!

Other than the weather still being a little chilly, it was a perfect day to go!  It is so nice to be able to do things like this without the crowds that are there when the schools are out!

Blessings,