Grand Rapids' Annual "Art Prize", Gerald R. Ford Museum, and Grand Rapids, Michigan Sept. 27, 2016

Grand Rapids' Annual "Art Prize", 

Gerald R. Ford Museum,

 and Grand Rapids, Michigan Sept. 27, 2016

Hello Friends!

 Every year in September, Grand Rapids holds a huge art competition that is open to anyone in the world.  There were a lot of artists from Michigan, but I also saw some artists representing Norway and Poland.  A church friend, and her daughter (2 years younger than Dd) invited us to go downtown with them to see Art Prize on Tuesday.  It was a last minute thing--not planned--she called offered, and I said "YES!"  Not only did she show us Art Prize, but a very good tour of Grand Rapids!!!!  We actually haven't seen anything but the downtown library, and so appreciated the walking tour.  What a blessing good church members are to us!!!!

 I was expecting to see maybe 50 pieces of art, but we spent 6 hours walking from venue to venue, and still only saw about half of the works!  I think the only thing I didn't see was print making types of art---but, perhaps that was where we didn't get to.  They had SO much art to see!  The crowds were thick, and that made getting photo's very difficult, so please excuse the tilted or odd angles.

I just loved these three landscapes--I showed close-ups of the ones above this, though the pieces, especially the one in the middle, were fairly small.

  

These dog sculptures won the grand prize for this year!

Gerald R. Ford Museum

The museum had art works inside and outside, and all around the museum.  It was great getting to actually get into the museum for free and see some of the attractions all at the same time.

Gerald R. Ford was the 38th American President from 1974 to 1977.  He took over when President Richard Nixon resigned.  Gerald R. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This is how the Oval Office looked while he was President.

Grand Rapids views---

I think I could see and count five bridges while standing on one of them.  The Grand River goes through the downtown area and is very scenic. 

It was a cloudy day, and the clouds reflected so beautifully on these towers!  Each time I looked, the buildings looked differently.

This was a great day, great field trip, fellowship with a fellow church family, and we really enjoyed it!

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Healthy Moms Magazine mention

Look at the blessing I got today----

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Sept. 19-25, 2016 Home Economics Week

Sept. 19-25, 2016 

Home Economics Week

We went to Lake Michigan this week!

Hello Friends!  

We finished "Core G" last week, and so deserved a free week off to celebrate...and get some chores done.  We will start "Core H" next week.  Core G" is the 'spine' of our homeschooling curriculum, that covers the history from Creation to the 1600's.  Next is "Core H" which covers the history from 1600 to Present Day.  We also use BiblioPlan as our history curriculum too.  If you don't know Sonlight: http://www.sonlight.com/

If you don't know BiblioPlan:http://www.biblioplan.net/p/welcome-to-biblioplan.html

Generally speaking we use good books (living books), Charlotte Mason type of a homeschooling style.  We believe in reading, making things, real life, being outside, and finding a balance between lessons and living--always putting God first! We have used Sonlight since Kindergarten, and plan on using it all the way through each grade until my Dd is in college.  



Free week:
Finally the weather was perfect for painting!  Not too cold or too hot for paint to dry fast.  It is hard to believe we have lived in our new home for 15 months and are still pulling down wall paper, spackling, painting, and still trying to get into (use) all of the rooms.  Any warm days that come our way are going to be painting days.  Michigan's fall seems to get cold so much faster than Indiana, and I was hoping for more 70 degree days to use for home projects.  I'm thinking I should have taken more days off from our lessons during the summer and painted then...living and learning!

The upcoming Rec Room in basement...(new patio doors are next on the 'to-do' list.

We still have a LONG ways until we can live in the basement living room.  I painted the floors & stairs "stone" color and then covered them in layers of polyurethane.  Dd used her spectacular blue color she had specifically chosen and we had mixed at Lowe's.

Painting:

This week Dd and I listened to audio's and painted for hours!    I painted the stair well up to her room and brought out a tall aluminium ladder for her to get up and down; placed in the sun-room, so she could keep painting up there.  She had always wanted to bring a ladder in so she could get up and down that way...instead of the boring stairs!  

Basement hall way is finally painted!!!  Two coats of oil base and so far, two coats of polyurethane...more to come, but I used up the whole can and need to go buy more!

Four sections of stairs--two to go up, and two going down!

Kirk Park- Lake Michigan:

On Monday, weather working with us, we went to Kirk Park!  I posted some pictures of our day already on the post before this one.  We had a really nice time; very relaxing.  I thought it would be chilly, and so dressed for the cold. 



 Dd wore her bather under her clothes, and got to swim and enjoy the lovely day; while I was in jeans, smart wool socks, and a long sleeve shirt!  I was disappointed I couldn't get in with her!

Music Lessons:

Wednesday we still had our normal routine---Beginning Band (Tenor Sax), Piano lesson with Mrs. March, and Intermediate Band (Bari Sax).  Dd and another teen girl at church have accepted to do the "Games" section of our church's Olympians program on Wednesday nights (with me there to help out).  This is really fantastic for her to do!  I'm so glad she so easily stepped up to volunteer into a leadership role with the kids at our church.

The pool I only got to swim in three times this summer, is put up for the winter...maybe next year will be better and the pump won't break!

 Closing the Pool:

Thursday night Dh came home; just in time to help us close the pool on Friday.  A church friend is a retired pool man, and he was willing to teach us how to close our own pool, so we don't have to pay other people to do it!  Friday, Dd helped us, as we all worked together in closing up our pool--draining the water, adding chemicals, putting the cover on, taking apart pipes, blowing air through the pipes, adding RV anti-freeze into the pipes... 

Here is the landing on Dd's stairwell-- you can see her bb gun and home-made Captain America shield.

Home Economics/Kitchen:

Dd made dinner twice this week:

Tuesday she made her mayonnaise/Parmesan Tilapia dinner: (time 1:30)

Thursday's dinner: (time 2:30)

Thursday's dinner was exceptional-she marinated chicken in a bunch of different flavors-soy sauce, garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder...then she cut it up into chunks and baked it.  She kept the marinate sauce in the pan.  She asked me to cook some Jasmine Rice to go with her dish, and I did.  Then she made a side dish of peas and tofu in another sauce.  The sauces were really great on top of the Jasmine rice.  We put the chicken, peas, and tofu on top of the rice and enjoyed her dinner for the next two days!   She does a good job of making a lot, so we can have lots of left-overs.

Dd's bedroom

I made her pancakes on Monday morning, to reconcile the fact that Pappa (DH) hadn't made her breakfast over the weekend like he normally does b/c he was in Italy.  He usually makes a special breakfast on the weekends.

Dd's bedroom

Dd's room:

Last year we only had time to paint her floors, so this summer she has been trying to paint her bedroom walls.  Her bedroom is really a long narrow loft above our sun-room, kitchen, and living room.  I don't think it was really planned for bedroom use, but the previous owner used it as one so we are too!  She has had a particularly difficult time painting her walls due to having all her furniture in the way!  She has had to move book cases and dressers, etc. to get back behind there!

Music Classes/Homework: (4:30 total)

Fundamentals of Piano Theory book: Lesson 9 completed (1:00)

Piano lesson with Mrs. March: 30 minutes

Beginning Band class: 1:30

Intermediate Band class: 1:30

Music Practice: (4:00)

Piano: 2:30

Sax: 1:30

combined music total: 8:30

Ginger, orange, rootbeer, and other soda bottles that Dd has collected since Rachel L.'s birthday party, years ago.

Audio Books: 20:09 hours total

1) The Mermaids Mirror by L.K. Madigan: In Process: 2:00 hours

2)Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling:Completed: 8:33 hours

3)The Siege of Macindaw, Ranger's Apprentice: by John Flanagan: Completed: 8:36 hours

4)Story of the World: Vol 3: Early Modern World: 1:00 hour

Readers: (13 hours)

1)Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton:Completed:  (10 hours)

2)Alex Rider:Skeleton Key: by Anthony Horowitz:In Process: (3:30 hours)

My audio:
*I'm listening to God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew, and really enjoying it very much!!!  I love stories that share how God, time after time, after time, provides exactly what Brother Andrew needed.  This story is wonderful for growing faith!

Church:

Volunteering for Olympians: 1:30 hours

Church and Sunday school: 1:30 hours

Sunday night service: 1:00 hours

Dd's chicken, peas, and tofu dish

Home Economics:

Cooking: 4:00 hours

Painting daily this week: 26:30 hours

Chicken Car: 3:30 hours

Laundry: 30 min

Cleaning bedroom: 4 hours

Physical Exercise:

Swimming in Lake Michigan: 1: hour

Games-Dodge ball: 1 hour

Educational DVD:

Liberty Kids DVD, Disc 3: 3 hours

Dd painted her light switches to look like the doors in Lord of the Rings.

This was a good week.  We managed to fit in some educational things along with doing the work/painting.  We missed Dh, but kept really busy!  Next week we will start Core H (1600's to Present Day).



Dd's bathroom decorations are coming along nicely; thanks mostly to Giz and Grampy getting her some lovely Lord of the Rings stickers for the walls.

Dd was super excited Dh brought her home some bags of "Fonzies" chips from Bologna, Italy.  In Rick Riordan's series, he mentions them and therefor our RR fan wanted to see what they were like!  She liked them!

Now to take off all the blue tape around the house!!!
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