Finishing Up November

It's the end of November. Halloween, All Saint's Day, Nutmeg's birthday, Thanksgiving . . . all recent memories made. . . Now were are quickly heading into Advent. Thankfully Advent is a little later this year.  I need every single one of those extra days. I'm in the midst of some preparations for what I hope will be a simple, thoughtful, preparatory Advent season.  

Here are a few pictures (and explanations) from our last few weeks here on the home front  . . . 

We had talked about doing some special activity for Nutmeg's birthday but she just wanted to have friends over, so we did. Sunday brunch with some friends. Along with this same group of core friends we've started up a bi-monthly family gathering and Bible study on Sundays. It has been so great! The separate men's and women's studies are great but it has been super refreshing to join in on  the collaborative discussions with both sexes AND to have the kids in the mix too. Community-building is such a blessing! Doug and I always are so grateful that we are surrounded by so many fantastic people in this town. 

Nutmeg's minty icebox cake. Huge hit! 

Thrilled with her drone. This a girl with all brothers. What girl wants a drone for her birthday?  Some do, I guess. 

Thanksgiving table. Part of the gang humored me by driving out Thanksgiving morning to look for some greenery. One of my favorite traditions. 

Private table for Mace. 

Doug and I were both pleased by our Thanksgiving spread. A couple improvements for sure were needed (many of the green beans from the garden were too big and tough; gotta get those picked earlier next year and I also need to work on getting my crusts lighter/flakier) but overall we were happy with how things went.  It was a much, much less guilt-free holiday meal. I have been avoiding dairy for almost two years now and I didn't want to throw that out the window for Thanksgiving. I wanted to enjoy the meal along with everyone else. Success!  The green bean casserole is vegan, the mashed potatoes are vegan, and the stuffing actually had very little butter. The kids and I agree that the cranberry sauce was the best yet! Doug likes the canned version; so we oblige him that.  Here are the recipes I definitely think are worth sharing:  cranberry sauce, healthier stuffing, vegan green bean casserole, and make-ahead turkey gravy.  

We were so lucky to have Grandpa S join us again this year!  It's always a treat to spend together. I'm not sure we were the best host family (some of us were under the weather) but at least we were together. I'll say this . . . many board games were played. I even played three myself! Yes!!

We've been getting some stellar sunsets just about every evening lately. Nutmeg keeps grabbing the camera and snatching pics for us. 

My two sillyheads. 

Oooh, I love them!

Nutmeg, Mace, and I have been loving this author lately. Check him out!  

Check-In

Hi there,


Great Books
I have a few little items to share you with today.  First are some new book favorites. When we drove to Iowa last week the kids and I listened to The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  Wow, what a book! The kids and I were mesmorized. Basil called it "a little rough around the edges" but I would say in a good way. Plus, some of that might have been the narrator and how she choice to do the voices.  But man, the life lessons in this book are so profound. I guess it's a children's book but I was captivated by the themes. I may just read it again myself.

The other would be a read by Basil. Aunt Roxie sent a bag of books home with us and one that Basil picked up was Call of the Wild.  Basil and I peruse book lists quite often but somehow we just skipped over that one. Today Basil walked upstairs today and told me he just finished the book. He surprised me with saying that Call of the Wild is just as good as The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I just about fell off my seat. This is the kid who talks about Lord of the Rings incessantly. And for my part, I'm just relieved that he's realized that there are great books out there not authored by JRR Tolkien.

New Things
Today is the first day of swim clinic for Nutmeg and Basil. We plan to do the swim clinic for April and May and then swim team for June and July. Sage and I are anxiously the arrival of the Parks and Rec Summer Activities guide. I have an idea that might prove a good fit for him; we'll see.

A bit of education
We've been reading up on the nervous system. Nutmeg practiced drawing a neuron and got pretty good at explaining the parts. Here she is . . .

Friends
Here are a few pics of a Saint Patrick's Day celebration with some local homeschoolers.

Thoughtful Quotes
Here's a quote from JPII that spoke to Doug and I yesterday:

However tiring, the road to Emmaus leads from a sense of discouragement and bewildernment to the fullness of Easter faith. In retracing this journey, we, too, are joined by the mysterious traveling Companion. Jesus approaches us on the road, meeting us where we are and asking us the essential questions that opens the heart to hope. He has many things to explain about his and our destiny. In particular, he reveal that every human life must pass through his Cross to enter into glory. But Christ does something more: he breaks the bread of sharing for us, offering that Eucharistic Table in which the Scriptures acquire their full meaning and reveal the unique and shining features of the Redeemer's face.

(FYI: the passage about the road to Emmaus is found in Luke 24:13-35)


That's a wrap. I love you guys!! 

(and yay me: two blog posts in a row. Wahoo.)

Library Top Pick and a Grandma Update

We just discovered a new favorite Advent book! You really must check it out. I love it in so many ways! It rings so true to life. I think I may just put in this on my "to purchase" list. 

And SOMEBODY took his very first steps on Friday, the day this picture was taken. He took about 1.5-2 more steps today. Crawling is still his main mode of ambulation but it won't be long before he's on two limbs like the rest of us. 

Recording Memories (a book)

After eight years I am FINALLY doing it!

Ginny was commenting on this book she purchased for her self a while back and I knew I just had to do the same. One line a day for five years. Perfect! I'm already looking back to see what's happened in a few months. Five years of lines will be such a treasure.

I'm using it not only for things the kids might say but anything about them. Firsts for Mace. Insights with any of them. Accomplishments. Tough moments.

I'm also using it for anything at all about that day. Pondering. Sightings of things beautiful. Anything.

It's been good.

 Here's a little peek into the trove of treasures:


April 4, 2014

Doug tells Sage that his toenails look like talons. (they need trimming) Later Sage proudly says "I'm an eagle when I take my socks off!"

April 6, 2014

Nutmeg walks into her bedroom to go to bed. As she walks in she proclaims, "The princess has arrived!"

April 16, 2014

Nutmeg is taking a bath. I walk into check on her and I see her holding two figures right next to each other (a girly figure and a Star Wars figure). I smile to myself and ask "Nutmeg, are they kissing?" She answers, "No, they are hugging." I stay in the bathroom to pick up a few things. She continues, "He has three eyes but she loves him."




And a smiley sequence to sign off . . .

Coupla Library Picks

We were just at the library two days ago and have just started in on our stack of
books. Already we have two winners. Basil and Nutmeg both wanted them read multiple times today but I had to make a rule. Once a day. The first one was recommended by Ginny over at Small Things. It's already sparked imaginative building in the boys' room that I have yet to see.

By Doris Burn



All three kiddos loved this book but Nutmeg especially was dying to read it multiple times today. I love it because its so true to life AND it gives kids a sneak peek into how things can be for a busy mama. Cute book. 

By Mary Ann Hoberman

Read-Alouds for Second Grade

For those of you home educating mamas who like reading lists, here's my tentative list of read-alouds to work from this year.

"Understood Betsy" Canfield Fisher

"Five Children and It" Nesbit

"Black Beauty" Sewell

"Tanglewood Tales" Hawthorne

"Heidi" Spyri

"Pied Piper of Hamlin" Browning

"The Light Princess" MacDonald

"English Fairy Tales" Joseph Jacob

"Of Swords and Sorcerers" Hodges

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" Baum

"Five Little Peppers and How They Grew" Sidney

"Parables from Nature" Gatty

"The Door in the Wall" de Angeli


Wahoo! Bring it on!

Library Picture Book of the Week

We've read and enjoyed the Paul Galdone version of this Brothers Grimm tale but this telling swept us off our feet last night. The illustrations on many of the pages brought "Ooohhs" and "Aaaahs" to our lips. Magically wonderful.  

We'll be on the lookout for more books by Jim LaMarche. 

First Grade Read-Alouds

I'm always on the lookout for age-appropriate reading lists. Good, classic literature. Stories to feed our children's natural inclination towards imagination, a rich vocabulary, and wholesome values. Reading IS the curriculum around here. We read picture books before naptime and bedtime. We read to immerse ourselves in all the subjects we study:  science and nature study, math, the lives of artists and musicians, history, Bible stories, stories of people of great virtue, and so on. The list below is the list of chapter books that I read aloud to the kids meant to expose them to classic literature. Perhaps it may be helpful in helping someone out there in composing a list of her own.

We enjoyed all the books. "Alice's Adventures" was a bit over the top for first graders, I thought. But the kids sat through the whole thing and seemed to be interested. I am glad we read it but I found it a little painful at times because the descriptions do get long at times. I probably should have waited a year or two. The rest of the books were fantastic! As you can see, we are HUGE fans of Thorton Burgess. Sage took quite a liking to the "My Father's Dragon" series as well.


"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" Carroll

"The Courage of Sarah Noble" Dalgliesh

"The Adventures of Buster Bear" Burgess

"The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" Hoffman

"The Adventures of Reddy Fox" Burgess

"The Hobbit" (with dad) Tolkien

"The Jungle Book" Kipling

"My Father's Dragon" Gannett

"Elmer and the Dragon" Gannett

"The Dragons of Blueland" Gannett

"The Little Lame Prince" Craik

"Old Mother West Wind" Burgess





Audio Books:
"Raggedy Ann"
"Mary Poppins"
"The Wizard of Oz"


I mostly have our read-alouds chosen for next year. If you are interested, let me know, and I can share what I have planned out so far. Best wishes on your own planning!!

Picture Books This Week


Here are some picture books we've enjoyed this week:

This has to be one of my favorite Jim Arnosky books now. A little dose of science every day right on the couch. Very applicable to our lives because we can easily look out for tracks every day. I've encouraged the boys to run inside and grab their nature notebooks if they find a track.  Our whole family loves this book. Last night Doug was busy doing something else in the room and I heard him remark, "Wow, that's amazing."

Based on a true story. A determined eight year old year climbs Long's Peak in memory of her mother.

Based on true events. An enterprising man from Illinois tries to introduce popcorn to Europe.

A Chinese tale retold. A story about generosity and kindness.  

Library Picks of the Week

Author Tololwa Mollel

Fantastic story of a thoughtful, kind, and responsible boy in Tanzania. One of my 7 year old boys especially liked this book.

Author Adele Porter

Funny thing. It's my three year old girl who asks to read this book with her stack of pre-naptime stories. Okay, well she doesn't really want to read it but she wants to look at all the pictures and know the name of each bird. She gets excited when we find one that she sees in our yard.

Best non-fiction bird book we've ever checked out. It's laid-out in such an attractive way. My boys like me to read the interesting facts whenever Nutmeg doesn't turn the pages too fast to actually read them. 

I just googled this author and there are also books in this series on Minnesota, Michigan, Rocky Mountain, and Northeastern birds. 

Check em out!

  

Picture Book of the Week


Every week (just about) we go the library and come home with a stack of picture books. We cozy up together on the couch before nap time or bedtime with blankets and a several books. We tear through the stack in less than a week and are ready for another round the next week. One of my favorite things.

Picture books are great because they interest such a wide age span. Most of the picture books we read together, both Nutmeg (3) and the boys (7) find interesting.

Each week we usually find one or two favorites. I thought I'd try out a weekly post of the favorite(s) we find each week. May this be helpful to somebody out there.

This week's find:

By Margaret Wise Brown

Grab your library card and go!

Saint Patrick's Day

Howdy ya'll!

We've been thinking and talking about Saint Patrick and Ireland a bit lately, so I thought we'd share our finds with you in case you might benefit from them as well.

We picked this book from the library a couple weeks ago. It doesn't talk about about Saint Patrick but you definitely get a feel for the Irish countryside. Plus, what a classic author/illustrator team!

Of course, there is always the Tomie de Paola classic too. Again you cannot go wrong with Tomie de Paola.

Here is an awesome cartoon on youtube about Saint Patrick. This had us ALL in stitches. Twice. Grandpa, I think you would enjoy it too. There are actually several fun videos on youtube but we thought this the best!

I think I'll make this Irish Beef Stew and Mashed Potatoes on Sunday. Looks yummy!

And possibly this Irish Soda Bread. I've always wanted to make this fruit rainbow but I'm not sure I'll get to it. All those fruits in the winter time could get expensive.

We'll print out some coloring pages here.

Check out this beautiful icon of Saint Patrick off orthodoximages.com.  We made this the desktop background on our computer. I hope I'm doing this legally. Need to look into that.

Anyhow, on to today. Nutmeg and I made some of those super yummy Whole Grain Pear and Ginger Muffins this morning. Delish! And while I wrote this post, she entertained herself on the floor. Super cute! Note the pile of pencils she chose.

Just Checking (a short version!)

Outside my window. . . 
Cloudy, snow on the ground but not so cold.

I'm listening to . . .
Magic Schoolbus. Our library has all the episodes. Oh, how we LOVE this show!

These are a few of my favorite things . . . 
Date night! Wahoo! Tonight, in fact. As soon as I get off here, I'm going to finish picking up the house a bit before the sitter comes. And then Doug and I are off on the town. There's a laid-back work party and then Doug and I are going to ditch it early to go see "Lincoln." Stoked.

In the kitchen . . . 
Things were tasty this week. The Lentil Sausage Chard Soup rocked. Today I made the Whole Grain Muffins with Pears and Ginger. Yum! That will be regular too.

The Boy and I are reading . . . 
"The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. Right now Kaa, Bagheera, and Baloo are trying to rescue Mowgli from the Bandar-log.


Other Books with the Kids . . .
We've had an excellent run on the picture books lately! I already shared the "The Quiltmaker's Gift" with you. For our virtue study we've read a couple books in "The ValueTales" series. Excellent! They are fantastic and fun stories of various heroes. Not only are they excellent examples of the virtues lived out but they are a great way to learn some history. I read these to the kids during lunchtime. We just finished "The Value of Foresight: The Story of Thomas Jefferson."  We had a blast diving into a bit of American history.

On my nightstand . . .
A steady stream of George MacDonald. CS Lewis said of MacDonald,  "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master; indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him." 

Learning, learning all the time.
We are plowing right along in everything. We left Raphael a bit early to learn from Rembrandt. Hopefully I'll share a bit about that later.

Plans coming up . . .
Time to get ready for that date. Maybe some skiing for the boys. Dentist for me. Selling a house!! Buying a house, I think. :)  Making dinner for some friends. And some gymnastics for Sage in a couple weeks. Excited about that one! Sage's first solo activity. He's flipping and flying all over the house in anticipation!

Nutmeg helping with roasted red pepper hummus.
I always have the computer nearby cuz that's where my recipes are from

A Good Book

We checked this book out at the library today and LOVED it! What a great find! What a wonderful story with beautiful illustrations. Ya'll should check it out. If its not at your library, you may be able to get it through interlibrary loan.

It All Starts with a Half-Kopeck

Here's an interesting excerpt from "The First Circle" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. This selection is part of a conversation between two prisoners in a "sharashka." A "sharashka" was basically a secret prison which housed mostly intellectuals. During the Stalin era, as you may know, many intellectuals were imprisoned and sent off to work camps. The secret prison in this novel, the Mavrino Institute, was essentially a specialized scientific institute staffed by prisoners for the purpose of creating special technologies for this socialist state.

In 1945, Solzhenitsyn, then a twice-decorated captain in an artillery company, with a university degree in mathematics and physics, was arrested and sentence to eight years of forced labor for derogatory remarks about "the man with the mustache" made in a letter to a friend.

Here's the exchange I found interesting:

"If you want to know the truth, it all began with a half-kopek."

"How was that?"

"That's right, no war - can you imagine? That was before all the wars. Peacetime. Yes. During the NEP, people in state institutions worked six hours, not like now. And everything went all right. People got their jobs done. If they kept you for fifteen minutes extra, they had to put it down as overtime. So what do you think disappeared first? The half-kopeck! That's how it all began. Then copper coins disappeared. And in 1930 silver, too. There wasn't any more change. They wouldn't give you change for anything in the world. Ever since then nothing has gone right. There is no small change, and sometimes they do't even bother giving you your change in rubles. No beggar asks for a kopeck for alms; he says, 'Citizen, give me a ruble!' And when you get your pay in a state institution , don't bother to ask for the kopecks shown on the pay lists-they'll laugh at you, call you a small-changer! They are the ones who are fools! A half-kopeck means respect for a man, and they don't even give you back sixty-kopecks change from a ruble. In other words, they sh-- on your head. No one stood up for the half kopeck-so there you are: we lost half a life."