Making Cider

We spent the day up at Riley's Farms in the local mountains with our school group. The kids pressed cider and then drank it, yummy! We also had an archery lesson, made corn husk dolls, made johnny cakes and went on a hay ride. All of the kids, and mom's, really had a good time!

Amelia in all her cuteness!

She wasn't that impressed with the making of the Johnny cakes.  To confining! lol.

Levi working on his corn husk doll.

Amelia turning the wheel to mash the apples with her friend Morgan.  These two little girls really love each other:)

Paige helping wash the apples before we made them into cider.  The water was really cold!

Part of our group listening to how to make the johnny cakes.  Levi, Paige and Garrett are in the middle.  Those johnny cakes tasted really good at the end of a long day!

I love Garrett's expression in this picture as he is watching a friend trying to turn the wheel to mash up the apples.  All the kids really had so much fun together!

Paige was standing on a box adding apples to the hopper for grinding up.  Her brother was nearby to make sure she didn't stick her hand in to far.  Ouch!

Samantha and a friend watching all the activities.  She wants me to get a juicer so we can make some cider.  These girls really loved their cider.  Oh, and the Carmel apples were a big hit too!

Amelia having a turn adding an apple to the hopper.

The recipe we followed.

Levi and Garrett working together to press the apples into cider.  It was hard work!

Levi and his buddies on the hay ride.

Garrett was really good at archery.  This was definitely a big hit with the boys!  The smaller kids learned how to make rope while the big kids did this.

Look at all those teeth! Oh, how I love this baby girl.  She is such a blessing!

We are off to our co-op this morning.  The boys can't wait to play football with their friends at lunch time! The younger kids trade silly bands at lunch.  Are any of your kids in to this?  Who would have thought those little rubber bands would have taken off like this.  Crazy!

The Masquerade Ball

Samantha went to her first official High School Dance last night.  It was a masquerade ball and all the kids wore dress clothes with a mask they had either made or bought.

Samantha's friend, Bailey, made her mask. We had a green mask so Samantha added some red feathers and a red bow to help it match her red dress. I think both the girls looked great!

This was a home school dance sponsored by our co-op the kids attend on Thursday's, but any home schooled students could attend. I went for the last hour and had soooo much fun watching all the kids dance. They hired a young man to teach the kids pre-civil war historical dances. Think the Virginia Reel, etc.. They had a blast. Samantha thought it was going to be "stupid" but she admitted afterwards that she had a blast.

No one was allowed to dance with the same partner twice and I loved how the boys had no fear about asking the girls to dance. There was NO ONE standing against the wall just watching. Boys danced with girls and girls danced with girls. When the night was over no one wanted to go home. Samantha had to wear comfy sandals to church this morning because she had a huge blister on one of her toes. No complaints though. She had a blast!

I am so thankful that Samantha, and the other kids, have found their new normal here in the home school community.  She cried her way through most of last year, really having a hard time finding some friends to connect with.  I prayed and prayed about this and God has answered my prayers in a BIG way.  She now has at least a half dozen good girl friends that she just loves.  She has joined Student Council at our Co-op and loves her Tuesday academy and all the kids that attend their.  Thank you Lord for answered prayer!

Not one of the kids has asked to go back to "real" school in months.  People told me it would take about three years to get them settled into their new lives.  I am so happy we have finally settled:) Life is good!