A Journey of Joy – Faith, Family and Home Learning

See The Light May/June Special and Giveaway

May 13, 2014Written by Joy

Be sure to check out this great See The Light May/June special and giveaway! My children all enjoy the Art Classes, Art Projects and the Bible Story and Art Lesson Dvd’s. It has made learning how to draw and learning more about the artists from the Project Dvd’s so much more fun. I know you will enjoy See The Light Art curriculum as much as we do!

Now on to the See The Light May and June special and giveaway!

GOD’S RUNAWAY DELUXE GIFT SET is on special during the month of May and June!

In God’s Runaway the children will engage and learn how God told his prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah was determined to disobey … The shocking consequence got Jonah’s attention! This always exciting story is artfully brought to life, and demonstrates God’s love and mercy to Jonah, to the people of Nineveh, and to each one of us.

Included:

DVD w/ 268 minutes of content
black light
fluorescent pencils,
fluorescent chalkuary

The regular price: $29.99.

During the months of May and June Special, you can purchase God’s Runaway $25.00 + FREE SHIPPING in the USA.

Coupon Code to use: STL

See the Light wants (1) family to have their very own God’s Runaway Deluxe Gift Set. We will be picking a random winner on May 24th at 12a. All entries will be verified.

Entry -Form

NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to the owner of this Facebook page and not to Facebook.

2014, homeschooling art, giveaway, homeschooling, See The Light

Denver Museum of Nature and Science – field trip

April 9, 2014Written by Joy

One of the joys of living next to a large city, is the many places that you can go on field trips. Denver has a multitude of museums that we can choose from. One of our favorite museums is the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We love it so much, we bought a membership for the family.

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has wonderful programs and Imax movies that they play. The one we saw yesterday was the Journey to the South Pacific. It is a beautiful story of a boy growing up in the islands of the South Pacific, discovering and learning all about the sea life that surrounds him. We are looking forward to seeing the other Imax movies they have showing at this time.

Kids at the Shuttle docking game.

Another favorite area of the museum, is the Space Odyssey section. This area covers anything and everything that you want to learn about Space. My kids love to sit at the Shuttle docking game and try to park the space shuttle. I also love the many workers and volunteers that talk with the kids and let them ask any question.

Sarah and Claire checking out the seals.

I think my favorite area is the Wildlife section. They have different animals from around the local area, to the whole United States and even animals from around the world. The kids can read about these animals, look at what their habitat looks like and see what all they eat.

Sarah and Samuel talking about the Walrus’.

While we haven’t seen some of these animals alive, like the walrus and sea lion,

Claire reading about the Bison.

in the area we live in, we have seen live bison,

Samuel reading about the Elk.

elk and deer. In fact, we see these often when we ride through the Rocky Mountains.

Kids reading about animal scat.

We enjoyed this little impromptu field trip. I love going places with the kids like this. There is so much hands on learning and it really does bring education and learning to life. If you ever do get out to Denver, CO, I highly recommend going to this museum.

2014, family, field trips, homeschooling Denver Museum of Nature and Science, field trip, history, homeschooling, science, Space, wildlife

Denver Aquarium ~ field trip

January 31, 2014Written by Joy

4 Comments

Yesterday, they kids and I went to the Denver Aquarium with some others from our homeschool group. The Denver Aquarium held classes for 3 different age groups, for our kids. My younger kids went to the “Sensational Sharks” class and my oldest went to the class that took them behind the scenes of the Aquarium. They learned all about how the aquarium operates and how they take care of all the fish and animals that live there.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed this aquarium so much, is the way they have everything split up. They have several different exhibits split up into North America, In the Desert, Under the Sea, At the Wharf, The Rainforest, Coral Lagoon, Sunken Temple, Shipwrecked and At the Beach.

The kids and I had a wonderful time and can not wait to go back. I took almost 700 pictures. It was so hard to choose which ones to share with y’all. I hope you enjoy the ones I chose.

The snapping turtle they have, is one of the largest I have ever seen. He was HUGE. I loved watching him, as he swam in the tank.

snapping tutle

They also have soft shell turtles. This one just looked so peaceful as he swam. He just glided through the water.

soft shell turtle

Obviously, since it is an aquarium, they have an abundance of fish. The colors of some of the fish are so vibrant. They are just beautiful.

fish

I have always been fascinated with sea horses. They are very unique creatures.

sea horses

the aquarium also had a lot of different stingrays. They would swim up to the glass and it looked like they watched you as you walked by. We saw one that looked like he was smiling at us.

stingray

The tank with the starfish and sea cucumbers was pretty cool. I didn’t know that the starfish came in so many different colors.

starfish

It was fun to look around at all the different exhibits. Some of the fish liked to hide and keep sheltered by the plants and coral.

fish

My oldest daughter was fascinated with the ones that were hidden. She had fun trying to locate them in the exhibits.

Sarah looking at fish

The younger kids couldn’t get over that the piranha tank didn’t have a lid on it. They were certain that the piranha’s could jump put of the tank. They also noticed how thick the glass was for the tank. They were happy that the fish wouldn’t be jumping out.

Samuel and Claire looking at Piranhas

I think we were all surprised to see the tiger at the aquarium. They actually have several tigers on display, but we only saw one. He was just hanging out, watching everyone walk by.

tiger

Ever since the movie “Nemo”, my kids always enjoy looking for the Nemo and Dory fishes.

clown fish

A highlight of the was the shark tank. I was surprised by the amount of sharks they had AND the size of some of the sharks. They have a few sharks that are up to 10 feet long. The aquarium doesn’t look that big on the outside, but it is fairly large. We were able to watch them feed the sharks. You would think the sharks would have plenty to eat with all the other fish that are in the tanks, but they do feed the sharks with fish that they bring in.

shark

We enjoyed watching the sharks and watching all the other fish. It is really neat to see and learn about the different types of sharks and fish that live together and don’t bother each other.

shark

The jelly fish had tanks of their own. They were beautiful to watch, just floating around.

jelly fish

I am so glad that we were able to go to the Denver Aquarium. I am looking forward to going back again, soon. We have talked about getting a membership, so that we can go as often as we want to. My oldest daughter, also saw that she will be able to volunteer when she turns 17. She is counting down the days, until her next birthday. Yes, I do think this will be a place we will visit often, together, as a family.

Have you been to an aquarium before? What sea creature do you like the best?

2014, field trips, homeschooling aquarium, classes, Denver Aquarium, field trip, fish, homeschooling, science, sharks

homemade baked macaroni-n-cheese ~ recipe

January 24, 2014Written by Joy

For the last year or so, our family has tried our best to eat healthier, a lot more vegetables, fruits and proteins. Sometimes though, we just crave that southern comfort food, that we grew up with. Macaroni-n-cheese is one of those dishes that just brings us back home, to our roots. We don’t eat this often, but enjoy every bite of it, when we do bake it. This is a dish that can be a side dish or you can even make it your main dish and add ham chunks to it, right before putting it in the oven.

I watched my mom and dad make this recipe often. They would make it for the holidays, for a potluck dinner at church, or for any meal that they knew would have a large crowd. This recipe doesn’t hold back the calories or the fat. So I definitely don’t recommend this on a daily menu, but every now and then, maybe for a special occasion, would be alright. Remember, all in moderation when it comes to those foods that have a few more calories and fat.

Homemade Baked Macaroni-n-Cheese

1 pound of elbow noodles (we use different shapes of noodles, it just depends what we have in the pantry. I have even used gluten free noodles.)

1 stick of butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup of milk

2 pounds of cheese (my moms recipe just calls for 1lb, but I have always added more cheese.)

salt and pepper to taste

Boil the noodles to al dente or almost done. You don’t want to cook it all the way, because the oven will finish cooking the noodles. The time it takes for the noodle to cook, will vary on the type of noodle that you are using. Once you boil your noodles, strain the water off of the noodles. In a bowl, pour the noodles in it, add the butter, milk and the slightly beaten eggs. Then add your shredded cheese and mix it well. Save a cup of cheese to spread on top of the noodle mixture. Lastly, pour the noodle mixture in a casserole dish. Bake the macaroni-n-cheese in a preheated 350 oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until firm and the cheese on top is melted and slightly golden.

Mac-N-Cheese

Are there any comfort foods that you just crave on occasion?

2014, family, recipes cheese, comfort, easy, family, food, homemade, macaroni, macaroni-n-cheese, recipes

Moist Pound Cake ~ recipe

January 21, 2014Written by Joy

4 Comments

Since we moved to Colorado, I have had a hard time adjusting to the higher altitude, with my baking. While I have been able to tweak most of my recipes, to begin with, the one recipe I have had such a hard time with is my dad’s Moist Pound Cake. The problems would stem from rising and overflowing, to collapsing and being very dense. No matter what I tried, I just could not get it to rise to a normal level and stay that way. That is, until today.

When I made the cake on Sunday for practice, for my daughter’s birthday coming up in February, it was a disaster. It overflowed, all onto the bottom of the oven and then collapsed to almost nothing in the bottom of the pan. I put a plea on Facebook and had a couple of people to send me websites that give help on higher altitude baking. My husband and I started reading and going through what we have tired and what we haven’t tried on this cake. We finally decided on what changes we would make when I tried baking this cake again.

Pound Cake just taken out of the oven.

As you can tell by the picture, the change we made this time, was perfect! I was so excited! Below is the original recipe. It is the one that my dad and grandma baked, all the time. I am going to make the changes next to the ingredients that we changed. They will be highlighted with an * and be in bold.

Moist Pound Cake

2 sticks butter, softened

2 cups sugar

6 eggs (room temperature) *I added an extra egg, so the total is now 7

2 cups all-purpose flour (sifted 4 times, you have to sift it. This is what makes the cake rise.) *I added an extra 1/2 cup of sifted flour

1 TBSP vanilla extract

Preheat over to 300 degrees(*I upped the temperature to 350). Grease and flour a bundt pan. Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add 1 egg, at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour, beating until creamy. Add vanilla and mix well. Spoon into greased/floured bundt pan. Bake at 300 (350) degrees for 1 hour (50 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

So the changes that I made were adding an extra egg, adding another 1/2 cup of flour, baking it at a higher temp at 350 and only baking it for 50 minutes, instead of an hour. It is very simple changes that took a lot of trial and error to figure out.

Pound cake taken out of pan too soon! 😉

I was so excited about the cake baking perfectly, that I didn’t let the cake sit long enough to cool. When I tried turning it out on to a plate, the top of the cake stuck to the pan! So a little advice about the cake, let it sit long enough to cool. Don’t be inpatient like I was!

This cake really is an easy cake to make. It takes no time at all to mix up. You can even change the flavoring extracts for different flavors. I have used Lemon, Almond, and Rum extracts in place of the Vanilla. You can even mix up your favorite frosting and pour it over the top.

Now that I have finally figured out how to bake this properly, I plan on making these often and give them away, just like my dad did. Nothing better than giving away something that you love making, or in this case, baking!

What is your favorite cake? Have you ever had a recipe to give you a hard time when cooking for baking?

P.S. One of these days, I will remember to get our good camera out, instead of using my phone camera.

2014, family, recipes baking, family, high altitude, pound cake, recipes