Easter Weekend . . .

I took the above picture on Saturday with the iPhone 5.  The camera feature on this phone takes better pictures than my current camera.  This is the panorama option and I've even cropped a third of it out.   I'm loving having a portable camera with me at all times again.

Saturday was our last day at Baker for the season.  April has us busy just about every weekend so we won't be able to make it back up.   First we have the Whatcom Youth Fair, then TeenPact and finally Christian Heritage Conference at the end of the month. 

That's the Scientist waaay down there.  He knows exactly where he's going.

The annual Mt. Baker Easter egg hunt was happening while we were there and we ended up finding 3 eggs.  We couldn't open them though.  They are sealed with a warning not to open.

 We had to hold onto them until we turned them into Egg Headquarters... which we got to 15 minutes late.  The staff took pity on us and gave the kids chocolate, lolly pops, a bag of Erin's granola and 3 eggs full of silly putty stuff.  I think we got more stuff showing up late than if we would have turned the eggs in on time.

The younger boys took part in a little kids egg hunt scramble.

I would say these were pretty lame but the goal with all the hunts was to find the golden egg which contained a season pass for next year.  That's a pretty big prize and it brings a lot of people to Baker for the day.  Lots and lots of people!
And the creepy guy dressed up in the bunny suit.

The weather was amazing.  Light jackets, t-shirts and no gloves for most of the day.

 

The snow was in a melting state and slow in critical areas like the 50 or so yards of flat land which feeds into lift 2 and 3.  Short skis just don't slide that far either.  The Professor had the right idea and took his skis off and carried them to the lift.  The Scientist decided to stand still and pout about it.  Our day had just about come to an end at this point and it's was time to head back to the lodge.

We finished off our weekend with a beautiful Easter service at church and a great dinner with family. 

Pinewood Derby 2013 . . .

Last weekend, Pack 4222 held it's annual Pinewood Derby race.  This is our 4th or 5th year participating and we currently have 9 or so derby cars in the house.  Scouts must make a new one each year or be disqualified from the big race.

Josh helped the two younger boys build their cars.  The boys come up with a design and color scheme and Josh helps them make it happen. 

 The Scientist's car is blue and green and the Architect's car is silver with blue stripes.

It was a stellar derby year for the Johnson Family.  Both cars made it to the finals and the blue and green #31 car earned 4th place overall.  We were all very excited.  The Scientist was able to pick from the Lego prizes and we brought home a winning car. 

 

Chicken Pot Pie - My First . . .

Every now and then I have a need for comfort food.  The gluteness kind.  Is that a word?  Today, I made chicken pot pie from scratch, crust and all.  The inspiration came from a bloggy friend.   Mrs. Grasshopper detailed her recipe on her blog over here.

This pie was so hot when it came out of the oven it was still sizzling as it sat on the table and we said prayers.  After it stopped talking to us we cut it open. 

Papa said it was perfect and yummy.  The boys all ate it and were plenty full from one serving.  I love how the crust was flaky not gluey like the ones bought in the store.  The recipe makes two so I was able to freeze the other one.  It will come in handy as baseball season is getting under way and making dinner becomes a challenge.

Scouting For Tigers . . .

I spent the day at the Whatcom Homeschool Association Workshops today.  At lunch time I manned the Cub Scout information booth with my boys.  Each Spring the Pack recruits 1st grade boys for a new Tiger den.  Our booth consisted of crafts, pinewood derby cars, rank books, sample Boy's Life magazines, some brochures from the BSA office and US, all in uniform.  We gave away orange Tiger Cub, ballpoint pens to any parent that came by and let us know they had a boy entering 1st grade next Fall.  We gave away four in 30 minutes.  Not bad considering they would be brand new families to our Pack.  I'm looking forward to working with the new Tiger parents this Fall.

Constructive Destruction . . .

The boys have been wanting to take stuff apart.  To protect the electronics in our house I promised them a trip to the local goodwill store to purchase some items to take apart.

 A 99 cent adding machine was a perfect choice.  Budget friendly, the right size and nothing hazardous to dispose of.

The destruction was total and complete.

Papa showed them how to take the motor, hook it up to a 9 volt with wires and make it run again.  They turned it into a Bey Blade type, electric spinner for the plastic gears they took out of the machine. 

Tiger Cubs . . .

Tiger Cubs working on a gathering activity.

 Working together, sharing, and communicating.  Each gathering activity gives the young scouts a chance to build trust and friendship.  These boys will work together for the next 4 years.  A few may even become life long friends.

Monday Music. . .

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By Your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face
Is before me

I can only imagine
I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I
fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the sun

I can only imagine
When all I will be
Is forever
Forever worship You

I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel

Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I
fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine
I can only imagine
yeah
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I
fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine
yeah
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever,
forever worship you.

School Days . . .

You never know where cleaning will take you.

Here are some tongue twisters created by the Professor for his Language Lessons by Sandy Queen.

Big boys bite blue bugs.

Stinky Sam Skunk slurps smelly smoothies on Saturday.

Patty's puffy purple penguins play ping-pong for pennies.

Tim's teeny-tiny turtles tap tunes on tambourines.

 And the Professor's recent library books.  He's wondering if our "dying a slow death" HP computer running Vista, can be saved. 
 

Using it before I lose it . . .

The program I use for schooling our boys at home falls under the Washington State Alternative Learning Program.  Some of these programs are Parent Partnerships with a public school and some of them allow a parent to purchase curriculum and services that are paid for by that school in exchange for weekly and monthly student updates and reviews.  That's how the program I use works.  But it may come to a screeching end this year.  At the moment there are two Bills in Olympia that would end the funding of all services (music and sports lessons) and mandate 5 hours of classroom hours a week.  (EeeeK!)  That doesn't fly with me.  I chose to school at home for lots of reasons and I will have to leave the program if these Bills become laws.

But I don't just lose funding if I leave the program, I'm looking at having to return many of the non-consumable items purchased over the 3 years with school funds if I leave the program.  One of the neat things I purchased a few years ago for my older two was WeDo Robotics by Lego.  This is the same program used by the "Bricks and Beyond" class at Launching Success Learning Store.

WeDo Lego uses Lego and computer programming to illustrate and teach basic gears and simple machines.  It's science and engineering and my boys love it.  I've been using it this year for the Scientist (age 7.)

 This lesson was about crown gears and sound sensors.  

After building the gear assembly, he then uses the icons to program the motor which is connected to the computer via a USB cable.  This usually goes pretty quick and then he ends up experimenting with his own programming.

 The teacher's manual has questions to ask after the building and testing.

I'm trying to get my youngest student through the lessons because there is a real possibility that we will leave the program and have to return items like these.