Room layout

For part of our history of the Romans, we were supposed to read the book City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction...but we're trying to move things along and it's a long book. However, one of the activities that was suggested to go along with the book was to make a plan of what your house looks like from above using graph paper. So I thought this would be a fun activity for Daddy to do with Luke. Of course, Cameron wanted to try to. I told them to just do the boys' bedroom.

Daddy helped further explain it by saying...if a bird was flying overhead, what would he see?

Here's Luke's design...pretty good if you know the layout of the room. The bathroom features are a little off. I think Daddy was too tired to help him draw it more to scale. The thing that looks sorta like an angel is supposed to be clothes hanging in the closet. Also the little thing that's in the potty all the way on the bottom left is a mosquito...because Daddy said there's always a mosquito in the potty!

Here's Cameron's drawing

New recipes

I tried a couple of new recipes for dinner tonight:

Beef Gyros and Yogurt-Dill Sauce from Woman's Day Magazine - the meat was really good, but it just reminded me of roast unless you ate it with the yogurt-dill sauce

Greek Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans from allrecipes.com - I thought this would be a good side dish for the gyros, but it didn't really have a greek flavor to me. But it was a really pretty dish.

MckHummus - well I really just named it that...MckMama's hummus recipe - pretty good

We also had the left-over Bean Salad from lunch.

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls - adapted from the recipe in Classical Kids

1 can italian breadsticks

margarine

brown sugar

cinnamon

1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Take a breadstick. Spread margarine on it. Sprinkle with brown sugar & cinnamon. Add raisins if you like. Roll into the cinnamon roll shape. Bake as directed on the package.

Olive Rolls

Olive Rolls - adapted from the recipe in Classical Kids

1 can italian breadsticks

1 can Manzanilla olives (the green ones with pimento stuffing)

1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water, stirred together

Garlic powder (if desired)

Parmesan cheese

Put an olive on the breadstick and roll it into a ball to cover the olive. Paint the roll with the egg wash. Sprinkle with garlic powder and parmesan cheese. Bake according to directions on the breadstick package.

It's fun to find hidden olives in the warm rolls!

Bean Salad

Bean Salad - taken from Classical Kids

2-15.5 ounce cans garbanzo beans (chick peas)

2 green onions

1 tomato, chopped (I used grape tomatoes)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley or 2 tablespoons dried parsley

salt & pepper to taste

Drain the garbanzo beans and rinse them in a colander. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Chill in the refrigerator.

Roman style food

A suggested activity that I've been putting off for weeks is to make some Roman style foods. We finally did it today for lunch.

Bean salad - similar to something the Romans would have eaten...

fresh vegetables and salads were a favorite food Our lunch: bean salad, crustulum (garlic toast), olive rolls, and artichokes.

Olive roll

For dessert, we had cinnamon rolls

Rolls were popular because they were made of Romans' favorite food: bread. (Maybe I'm Roman!) It was said that the only things Romans cared about were bread & circuses!

Surprisingly, my kids liked the food...especially the artichoke. They kept asking for more! Cameron even discovered that he likes green olives as well as black olives. Maybe it helped that they somewhat helped make it.

Disappearing Eggshell

Romans loved to wear pearls and once Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, drank a pearl at a Roman banquet. She dropped a pearl worth 10 million Roman dollars into a glass of vinegar. The vinegar dissolved the pearl and then she drank it.

We tried the experiment with an eggshell. We put the eggshell in vinegar last Wednesday.

Today, 5 days later, most of the egg shell was gone.

Crocs Giveaway - 4 pairs

As you can tell I love Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls (although she's a Gator fan), but she has always has awesome giveaways! One lucky family will win 4 pairs of Crocs in their choice of style/color/size! Isn't that awesome?

Go check it out here:
http://frugalmommyof2girls.blogspot.com/2009/06/crocs-win-4-pairs.html

Corazonas heart-healthy chips giveaway

Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls is at it again...She is giving away a sample of Corazonas heart-healthy chips...check out the neat flavors.

To enter her contest, go here:
http://frugalmommyof2girls.blogspot.com/2009/06/corazonas-giveaway.html

Aquarium

Outside the Audubon Aquarium, they had this display to advertise the dinosaur attraction that's currently at the Audubon Zoo.

Luke had wanted to take a picture in front of it...that is until it started making noises
My little angel

Sara, Luke & Levi looking at something

One of the penguins

Luke petting the baby shark

Albino alligator

Jellyfish...can you see my reflection?

Sea star...one of my better pics of the day...

also reminds me of Peach from Finding Nemo

My favorite thing to see at the aquarium...they're always smiling for pictures like me :)

Sea turtle

School of Fish

Shark attack!

...not really

My favorite photo of the day!

I like how you can see all the little tentacles or whatever they're called

Another decent shot

Sting ray swimming over the moray eel

Here's the eel

We went through the aquarium really fast. We went an hour later than usual hoping to miss all the camp groups, but it was still really crowded. Plus on top of that Levi was really whiny. So that being said I didn't take too many pictures and the ones that I did take weren't very good because I didn't have time to mess with the settings on my camera.

However it was a day that we got to spend with Aunt Sara...this was her first time to go with us...plus she hadn't been since she was in elementary school (probably right after it opened).

I really appreciated her going since Craig wasn't able to go. The kids didn't even seem to mind that we didn't stay long. They were just ready to go eat at our usual stop after the aquarium, Corky's BBQ.

This is what happens when you spend the day in the heat and the aquarium with whiny kids...

you turn blue (or you forget to change the setting back on your camera!)

Levi was definitely the Klingon today!

Whining like Levi!

Walking back to the car

Luke leading the way

and now that college baseball is over...

the sports fans at our house are waiting for football season

Geaux Saints!

NurseMommy Bows Giveaway

Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls is giving away a bow from NurseMommy Bows. Check it out here:
http://frugalmommyof2girls.blogspot.com/2009/06/nurse-mommys-bows-giveaway.html

SnackTaxi Giveaway

For those of you interested in going green, Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls is giving away a SnackTaxi.

Check out the contest here:
http://frugalmommyof2girls.blogspot.com/2009/06/snacktaxi-giveaway.html

Roman jewelry

We're still talking reading about the Romans...I'm not sure if they're listening. I've made Luke read a couple of the things that way I'm sure he knows about it. So we made Roman jewelry today...I figure at least doing something will might help them remember!

Men also wore bracelet that they had won as prizes in contests.

Cameron's

Luke's

" Roman women wore earrings that hung their ears from loops of gold thread. Pearls of jewels were strung on the threads so they dangled below the ear." - Classical Kids

Miriam's bracelet

Wordless Wednesday

During VBS last week, I noticed this right outside the playground fence. I guess a weekday preschool class was doing an experiment...wonder how it went?

Roman aquaduct

Demonstrating how a Roman aquaduct worked...in order for people and rivers to pass through, archways were used.

Happy Father's Day to "Your Daddy"!

Happy Father's Day to Mr. Jerry (Craig's Daddy/Paw)!

Look Craig didn't have gray hair at one time :)

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Luke & Daddy March 2003

Cameron & Daddy September 2004
Miriam & Daddy February 2006

Levi & Daddy April 2007

Micah & Daddy May 2008