We had a bag of oranges that no one was eating because they were very tart. I contemplated putting them in the compost when Ken said "NO! I'll make orange juice with those!" Great, I thought, but how? We don't own a juicer so we were tossing around the idea of peeling all the oranges and throwing them in the blender then straining the juice. All of the sudden I was struck by a conversation I had had with Granny. "Steph do you want a stand mixer? It even has the juicer attachment." I turned to Ken and put a stop to our master plan and ran to the basement to pull out the box with the stand mixer. 
What we pulled out was a circa 1950, Sunbeam Mixmaster stand mixer with two bowls, beaters and juicer attachment. This antique is so awesome and works so amazingly well!!!
Even Sid had a go at juicing! She decided she would be best suited to stir the strainer so the juice would flow through.
Meanwhile while we were distracted, Groovy took full advantage of the spring mud and did a little "spa" thing. Doesn't she look darling (grrrrrr....... you should see her feet!!!!)
The orange juice is so delicious and the making of was so fun! Thanks for the mixer Granny, maybe next we'll be using it for bread!!!
We also had time to work on another project from our building book. We have been reading about brick construction and mortar. We tried building with mini marshmallow for a first attempt because no mortar is needed. By using a wet sponge to lightly moisten the marshmallows we attached them together and then left them to dry.
The end result was a complete igloo, two Inuit people, four fishing rods, a hole for ice fishing, a campfire with logs and a stack of logs. I love this girls imagination! 
This week Dad came home with a big surprise for us all. He got an Ipad, brand new in a box, from a client! Admittedly we all love gadgets but don't really have a lot of time in the day to play but this is the exception. So far we LOVE this little screen of wonder! There are a huge number of free apps and .99 cent apps that are educational and fun. My brother (yes you know who you are...) introduced Sid to a game called pocket god last year where you control an island of pygmies. This is not educational but Sid LOVES taking care of them, putting them to bed, cooking them fish, birds and altering their universe at the touch of her finger. There is a fair level of morbidity in this app so it would not be for everyone but that is her one game. After her pocket god game there are two apps that stand out the most for us. One is Star Walk, if you have an Ipad, buy this!!! It shows you the night sky and all the constellations, satellites, planets in real time and will adjust to where you move the tablet. So take it outside hold it over your head and start learning to pick out constellations! This works perfectly with the book we just received called A Child's Introduction To the Night Sky. We plan on doing a lot of backyard astronomy this summer! The other app I want to mention is called Let's Create Pottery HD. You have a pottery wheel and a clump of clay. You can design pottery by touching the screen and molding the clay in anyway you would like. Nature sounds play in the background and you can sell your work at the auction to make money to shop for new brushes, colours, prints, handles and whatever else you might need to make your pottery beautiful. Not only does Sidney LOVE this app (Ken and I too!) but she will play it in the car and Ken and I chuckle as she says "I am just going to fire this now" or "Let's sell this baby and see what we get." The funny thing is Ken and I make pottery and get minimal money for it, this girl makes a vase and shouts out from the back seat "I just got three two's for this one!" I turn to see she sold another vase and got $222.00 for it. She is a natural potter with a truly good eye for colour and design.
We are looking forward to many new ways to include this neat little gadget in our homeshcooling lives!
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