A free lunch

Today we went shopping. We wanted to get some of the sale items at our local grocery stores and Walgreens and then we did a little gift shopping at JC Pennys. I had read in the paper that Marketplace, one of our local grocery stores, was having "A Taste of the Holidays" from 1-7pm so we decided to hit that store last (at 1 pm) and use it for our lunch.

They were giving out free samples of veggies, fruit, juice, bread, chips and crackers with all kinds of things to dip them in, meatballs, roast beef, shrimp, sausage, lutifisk (we passed on that one - I may be from MN but I don't care for that!), ham, pie, fudge, cake, brownies, ice cream, egg nog, lefse and cookies. The cookies were being decorated as we watched and the kids picked the one that they wanted. Mara picked the one that is in the picture and then decided that it was to pretty to eat yet and had to bring it home so that I could take a picture of it.

After all those samples we were quite satisfied and were able to go home, read our story and take our naps. It was quite fun to have a lunch "out". The store we were at, Marketplace, has the nicest carts for children, which made having lunch while shopping a ton easier. The carts have a truck on the front of them that both boys are able to ride in and then they still have the baby seat. (It also rolls very nicely unlike Wal-marts muti seater carts). Only Mara had to walk which made it very easy. It was interesting being out at that time of day. Pretty much the only other people getting all the samples were retired people. Mara felt a little out of place but it didn't bother her very much.

What do you do for free fun?

Colonial Homeschool co-op class

We had our 2nd homeschool co-op class on the Colonial times on Tuesday. This time we talked about work and play. Candle making was one of the jobs they had to do in the time, so we decided to dip candles for part of our class.

Dipping candles was something that all of them seemed to enjoy. I didn't have the authentic ingredients of tallow, beeswax or bayberry but they still got the idea of how it was done pretty well. (I used old yucky candles and crayons that I had melted down for the wax. ) The kids each got to dip one set of candles. While we were dipping we talked about other jobs that they would have had to do in that time. Some of the different jobs were: Blacksmith (he also served as the dentist), Whitesmith (tin repair), Town Watchman, Town Crier, Church Watchman, Silversmith, Cooper, Cabinet maker, Schoolmaster, Tanner, Post Rider, Cobbler, Hatter and Carpenter.
We also talked about some of their play. They might have had kites, yo-yos, hoops, marbles or poppets (dolls) to play with. They also played things like leap frog races. We tried that out and guessed that may have been just a boys activity as it is rather difficult in skirts. They also played Jack straws which is like pick-up-sticks except you use straight straws or twigs or something like that. Mara found some stems from ferns which worked quite well.

We had a very fun morning and hopefully the kids will remember what it was like to work and play in Colonial times!

"O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God,

And a great King above all gods,

In whose hand are the depths of the earth;

The peaks of the mountains are His also.

The sea is His, for it was He who made it;

And His hands formed the dry land.

Come let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture,

and the sheep of His hand."

Psalm 95:1-7

On Sunday after our fellowship dinner, which was after church we went out to the land that the church has purchased. Lord willing we will be building a new church building there. We are very excited about it. The building we are currently in is small and also there are steps that the older people in the congregation are finding difficult. The new land is a few acres so there will be room for kids (and adults!) to play! God has really blessed! Another cool thing about the land is that it is close enough for us to bike ride there!

At the dedication on Sunday there was prayer, scripture reading and speaking. It was fun for many of us together to truly dedicate this land to God and to His work. We also buried a time capsule with papers that most of us had put in describing our commitment to God's work here.

A New Look!

My friend Betsy e-mailed me this new header today. Isn't it lovely?! I love the flowers and gardening stuff. I'm afraid it will make me miss my garden more all winter. Oh well, I will have to spend my time baking pies!

Music lessons ~Money making Monday

Crystal @ MoneySavingMom has started Money Making Monday in which she shares ideas for making money from home and has a place for others to leave links to their posts about the subject. I really have enjoyed her posts and I enjoy the subject in general as that is something I have enjoyed doing for a long time.

I am so happy to be able to be a Stay at home Mom and though that is what I would be even if I didn't work from home (as my husband provides for us well.), I enjoy being able to make a little more money to help out. I have done many different things to make money at home but this week I thought I would talk about Music lessons and other ways to make money with music.

I have enjoyed music since I was very small. We went to church regularly where there was a lot of music and also we had a lot of music in our home and enjoyed making music with friends. My parents made sure to get us music lessons so that we could learn the instruments we were interested in. I took lessons up through college (and then I have taken them afterwards as well.) I started teaching lessons about 7 years ago.

Music lessons are a nice way to make money as it provides a steady income as the students come every week. It is also something that can be done with children in the home, just have your children trained to not interrupt during lesson time. My children are not always perfect during lessons but that is something we have worked on. Somethings that I have done to help them is: 1. talking about what they would do and how they would act before the lesson. 2. Have a snack set out for them to eat during the lesson (especially good for little ones) . 3. Explain to them where they need to be (example- quietly playing in their room) and also sometimes 4. Try to schedule it during the child's nap.

Here are some things that I have done for advertising: 1. Put up posters at businesses all around town. 2. Put an Ad in the newspaper (very honestly, this did not work very well). 3. Develop a relationship with the local music store and get referrals from them. and 4. Word of mouth.

Some tips from what I have learned: 1. I have found that it works much better to have them pay in advance and then tell them that they would need to cancel a week in advance or their payment would be lost. (I did also offer a rescheduling in the case of sickness). Before I started doing this I had quite a bit of problems with students calling an hour before their lesson to cancel or just not showing up. 2. Have recitals. My students and their families have really enjoyed them even though it makes me incredibly nervous!! 3. Always be on the lookout for new ideas or materials to make lessons interesting. 4. Keep practising yourself so that you can be a good example and keep improving.

This has been a fun thing for our family, we have become friends with my students and it has definitely been a way to make money without putting out much money.

Next week I will share some of my other ideas for making money at home. As I love to try new things I would love to hear what you might do to make money at home!