Lake Superior Children's House

2008-09-08T10:08:00.002-04:00

We're still alive over here! It's been quite a busy summer and my camera died. So, I now have a new camera and tons of pictures to upload. We also had a flood in our basement and that has occupied us for the last three weeks! Ick! Everything in our school room got wet and the majority of our homeschooling supplies had to be tossed because of mold and mildew issues....not to mention the magnitude of items in the laundry room part of our basement that got ruined! All of the furniture and even our desk top computer got ruined....sigh. It's been a long three weeks!

2008-05-23T23:22:00.002-04:00

Happy 4th birthday Nick! He was a pirate all day! He had a wonderful day! We had lunch with Grandpa and Grandma. Then a nature treasure hunt and back to the grandparents for dinner and a party! I can't believe my guy is 4 already! He has grown in so many ways over the past year! The past month has brought a nice maturity to his character and the mischievious naughtiness has tapered down....perhaps we are at an end? He was quite delighted with the green hulk pajamas from grandpa!

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BlogBreak

2008-05-23T22:52:00.003-04:00

Well, it seems my blog break has been noticed and I shall update! Nick turned 4 on May 6Th and I have a world of pictures to share as well as our Whitefish Point trip and the recent trip to IL for the Waldorf at Home conference with Donna Simmons of Christopherus fame. I am anxious to tell all about that,but need to get some rest first. We have had such a busy week and not alot of sleep! Is there ever enough sleep in this house? The question is...when exactly does Liam sleep through the night? He is 16 months old and it is time! Time for me to get some sleep! The little two both took a nap at the same time and the big two played and you know what I did....I cleaned. Why did I clean instead of napping? The house is still a mess and everything I did clean will be messed as soon as the little two wake and I am still tired! Oh the wonderful joys of being a mom of little ones! Joys like hand prints on freshly washed windows or mud tracks on freshly mopped floors.....although dad was the one who did that last! We have had wonderful sunny and cold weather! It has been quite nippy and still too cold to plant our seeds in the garden. We have started seedlings indoors and they are growing well,but when do we get warm weather?

Break Away Tennis

2008-04-21T22:22:00.000-04:00

Wayne has started another business with a friend called Break Away Tennis. You may check out the website at http://www.breakawaytennis.com/ The website was done by yours truly. I think it's a great concept....even for someone who really doesn't give a hoot about sports!

Spring has Sprung...Finally!

2008-04-21T22:10:00.000-04:00

Oh warm weather has finally found us here in the wild north! The kids and I played hookie and went to the library and then the park! It was wonderfully warm and we had a fabulous time at Lower Harbor park playing with our friends. There was an oil spill in Lake Superior and we were able to see the barge and all the going on's of the coast guard, firetrucks and police officers on duty. We saw the detective that we met last Friday at the Police station field trip we had. Alec asked why the Detective was there. I wasn't sure....maybe they didn't see the large barge in the middle of the oil spill....hmmm! I need to get batteries for my camera and then I will upload the pictures I have been promising for a month! Elysa had her figure skating show this past weekend and she was fantabulous! She looked really cute in her outfit and skated wonderful! She really enjoyed it. Our friend's were in the same group and during rehearsal the mama taught me to knit! This is big! I can crochet fairly well, but knitting.....that's a whole 'nother can of worms! I have tried unsuccessfully for two years and through 6 books and numerous online tutorials to figure out how to get those little stitches on those little sticks to look okay! Alas, my dear friend showed me a much easier way to do it and....drumroll please.......I CAN KNIT! Nickolaus promptly tore all the stitches off my needles,but I can knit! Now if only there were more hours in the day and a few maids in the house....I'd be good. I just noticed that Liam had taken off with my knitting needles and ball of yarn and has wrapped the unraveled stitches around his body and is trying to knit.....it would be cuter if it hadn't taken me so long to get that bit done!!

Alec's Poem

2008-04-16T13:36:00.000-04:00

Alec wrote this poem and I just had to share!

Spring
A new flower blooms
The sun is bright
Crisp air looms
Out come bugs at nights

Up shoots new grass
The big oak gets new leaves
The bird starts to nest
Old Man Winter grieves

Holy Tuesday!

2008-03-18T11:41:00.000-04:00

We are continuing with our Holy week projects and will update with some pictures as soon as I track down the cord! We would like some special prayers for Grandma today. She is in the hospital at the moment and having some surgery done. She may have to have another stint put in. Please keep her in your prayers today and pray that all turns out well! Thanks!

Happy St.Patrick's Day and Holy Monday!

2008-03-17T08:56:00.000-04:00

No green script for today! I guess the good ol' people at Blogger didn't realize it was St. Paddy's day and green script was required! We will be making shamrock cookies, decorating them and then blessing a few lucky people's homes with them! We have very festive three leaf clover headbands and we shall all be wearing green while we head to a festive dinner with corned beef and cabbage. On this day, we will not forget that it is Holy Monday and we will be changing our seasonal table in our classroom to reflect that. Now if only Princess Spring would chase that darn Jack Frost home.....

What's New?

2008-03-11T20:40:00.000-04:00

Well, things have been busy here! William had the rotavirus and that was alot of fun! lol I turned 28...even more fun! lol Nick gave me a dirty diaper, Elysa gave me a dead laptop battery wrapped in a silk, and Alec gave me a movie we had watched the day before! Someone needs to work on them in the gift department! We've been working on this really fun math unit from Serendipity http://ebeth.typepad.com/photos/gnomes_gnumbers_/index.html and the kids are having a blast. I will upload some new photos in the next few days hopefully! The kids have been having fun with their imaginative play lately and everything they play has an "Uncle Larry" in....ala the picture of Uncle Larry on the fridge! We now have Uncle Larry gnome, knight, barbie (the boy one!), army guy and a plastic fish! It used to be my sisters that would always be included in their creative play, but now it's Uncle Larry everything!

Fairies!

2008-02-27T18:17:00.000-05:00

Fairy cupcakes

2008-02-27T18:12:00.000-05:00

Elysa chose a cupcake tree with fairy dusted pink and purple glitter and fairy mushroom cupcakes instead of a cake. Her's had glitter candles and Tink. What's that Jon? Your cupcake sprinkles are popping? Woops! It looks like Mama and Elysa must have put pop rocks on yours on accidental purpose!

Enchanted Fairy Ice Skating Birthday Party!

2008-02-27T17:58:00.000-05:00

Elysa had an Enchanted Fairy ice skating party with all her little friends at the Commons. I set up the fairy arbour and meadow complete with a wooden stump entwined with tulle fo her to sit on and our enchanted play qult sprinkled with rose petals for the girls. We used Tinkerbell decorations and dried poutpourri on the table and a whole lotta magic fair dust sprinkled everywhere....glitter! We hid the magic glitter fairy eggs filled with tiny fairy eggs around the ice rink for the girls to find after they began skating. When the girls arrived they each got a fair hair wreath, magic wand, and mttens I had glued roses on to complete the fairy look! I will have to put pic's of those up later....I am quite proud of my work! ;0

Presents!

2008-02-27T17:49:00.000-05:00

Elysa's birthday pictures

2008-02-27T17:41:00.000-05:00

Here is Elysa the big 6 year old cutting her cake at Grandpa and Grandma's house, her cake and Papa scoopin' icecream for all.

The last photo is Elysa talking to Auntie Heather on the phone!

The kids in the schoolroom

2008-02-27T17:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Elysa!

2008-02-23T09:33:00.000-05:00

Happy 6Th birthday Elysa! Yesterday, was Elysa's birthday, but I had a slight malfunction with my laptop (Some little children and an infamous pug spilled water around it and the battery completely malfunctioned.) and my computer network crashed (That would be the mom trying to "fix" everything.) Elysa had a wonderful birthday and I will post more about it and pictures later today. Happy Birthday Bella!

Knights of the Round Table

2008-02-17T13:59:00.000-05:00

We've been working on this unit in math with the kids http://www.charlesbridge.com/school/pdf/RoundTableMasters.pdf It's been alot of fun! Anything with knights is a big hit with the boys! We've been reading through The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer. We're in the second book that covers the Middle Ages and the kids are loving it! We watercolored large paper and made shield's out of it. We used watercolor pencil's to decorate them and they had a blast! Alec put his sibling's names on his, Elysa put ballet shoes and hearts on hers, and Nick put dragons and a knight killng it...kind of gruesome, but that's our 3 yr old!

We're on the mend..stay away germs!

2008-02-17T13:55:00.000-05:00

Seriously,stay away! I am soooo tired of being sick! My ears are doing better and I can hear again..there is still ringing....time. Sigh. Liam keeps tugging at his ears....I assume they are getting better like mine and the constant popping is driving him crazy as well! The last visit to the dr and the ears were looking better.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-17T13:54:00.000-05:00

A little late, but better than never! So, Happy Valentine's Day!

Ear infections...bleck!

2008-02-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

Liam and I have been dealing with ear infections since my last post! Bleck and ouch are all I can say! LOL We are slowly on the mend and I have a bit of updating to do!

Warm weather!

2008-01-28T17:46:00.000-05:00

The weather was nice and warm out today. The kids have had it with being cooped up inside and headed outdoors for a little fun! The boys built a snow fort and then bombarded Elysa with snowballs. When that was over.....mom put a stop to it! They all built a snowman...carrots and dried cherries make nice facial features! Look at that pretty little face on Bruiser! He's smiling and yes...he's wearing an argyle sweater! It's stylin'!

Children's Museum

2008-01-28T17:36:00.001-05:00

We visited the children's museum while we were at the tournament. It was not as large as ours, but much easier to keep an eye on the kids! The kids all loved the little wheelchair's they had! Aren't those the two cutest firemen you've ever seen? Nick and his buddy Drew.

Visiting the Children's Museum

2008-01-28T17:18:00.000-05:00

Hockey Tournament Weekend

2008-01-28T17:08:00.000-05:00

Alec had his first hockey tournament the weekend of January 12Th and 13Th. Here he is playing and then collecting their medals! Go Casa Calabria! They played awesome and came in 2ND!

My boys!

2008-01-28T16:11:00.000-05:00

The other morning there was a road crew doing something in the road and I walked into the living room to find my three boys cuddled on the couch like this! I thought it was kind of cute! I made them turn around so I could get their faces also! For the record, William is simply not as bald as he looks.....his big brother- a certain three year old-gave him a haircut!

Gnocchi...mmmm!

2008-01-28T16:01:00.000-05:00

We love gnocchi in this house! My middle two eat helping after helping of it! We enjoy making our own and her are my two little kitchen helpers whipping up a batch. Nickolaus gnocchi turned out a little better than Elysa's.....she liked hers more biscuit sized! They are absolutely divine with organic spaghetti sauce!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately!

2008-01-28T15:36:00.001-05:00

Well, we have all been sick with viral gastroenteritis and then upper respiratory infections! It feels like we have been sick non-stop! The stomach flu was a fun one! We had no idea that was coming! Within 2 minutes of Wayne walking in the door, Alec told him he had an upset stomach. Alec promptly started throwing up and within seconds Elysa and Nickolaus followed! I can honestly say, that it was the most disgusting day of my mothering career! We had three children getting sick the rest of the night and the other half of us soon followed! We are now midway through the upper respiratory and have been using this recipe for herbal salve to help with the chest part of it. You can find more great recipes here http://www.wildroots.com/salves.htm.
Eucalyptus Salve / Chest Rub © Millie Fodor
30 drops Eucalyptus essential oil
40 drops Camphor essential oil
15 drops Wintergreen essential oil
1 ounce Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Beeswax
Melt the beeswax in the olive oil. Remove from heat and add the essential oils. Stir, pour into salve container and label.
Eucalyptus salve is used to relieve respiratory congestion

Birthday Dinner at the Casa!

2008-01-11T20:27:00.000-05:00

Here we are celebrating the big one year old's birthday at dinner at the Casa Calabria. He enjoyed coloring while we waited! We enjoyed dinner and then Liam had his first taste of chocolate cake and LOVED it! That's my boy! It was a pleasure to watch him devour that cupcake! Happy birthday my Sweet Little William!

2008-01-11T20:22:00.000-05:00

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2008-01-11T20:16:00.000-05:00

Ice Skating Birthday Celebration!

2008-01-11T19:56:00.000-05:00

We had a fun afternoon ice skating and then enjoyed cupcakes with our friends! Liam really enjoyed his cupcake!

Birthday Spiral

2008-01-11T19:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Breakfast!

2008-01-11T19:40:00.000-05:00

Alec and Mama made Liam blueberry pancakes in the shape of a 1 for his 1st birthday breakfast celebration! We lit a beeswax candle and put his train and special number 1 pieces on the birthday spiral and sang 'Happy Birthday Liam!"

One year ago!

2008-01-11T16:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday!

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Birthday!

2008-01-11T15:53:00.001-05:00

Birthday!

2008-01-11T15:47:00.000-05:00

Birthday!

2008-01-11T15:41:00.000-05:00

Birthday!

2008-01-11T15:32:00.000-05:00

New William

2008-01-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

I came across this picture, when uploading the others for William. This was the first picture of William after he was born! My placenta still wasn't delivering and I was about to severely hemorrhage and yes I am in severe pain! It was such a scary birth and a hard recovery!My blood pressure and iron were so low afterwards and remained that way for a few weeks after. It took over a wee before I had enough strength to stand and walk. I couldn't even carry the baby for the first few days I was so wiped out!This was the hardest labor and delivery I experienced out of the four and he is worth every minute of it! Wayne did such a wonderful job caring for me in the weeks following his birth!

Happy Birthday Baby William!

2008-01-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

Today is my sweet little William's birthday! One! I can't believe it! This year has flown by so fast!

Treehouse and Playquilt from Christmas

2008-01-04T20:28:00.000-05:00

The kids got this deluxe build-your-own-tree house complete with furnishings and gnome families and a fairy family for each child for Christmas from Santa. I made the play quilt...though they think it is from Santa.....despite the 'handmade with love by mom" label! The play quilt has a water pixie river that runs the length of the quilt and ends in mermaid lake. Gnome Forest is the darker green and Fairy Meadow is the lighter green. Elf field is the light brown at the end by mermaid lake. The kids have been playing with it constantly!

2008-01-04T19:45:00.000-05:00

Nick the Angel

2007-12-28T21:27:00.000-05:00

Okay, Nick is not exactly an "angel," but I thought if he were to dress up as an angel it would rub off or at least make him think like an angel....hint...hint! He put it on and then quickly took it off as it was a "girl's dress!" I do think he looks adorable...and that lovely face!

pa rum pum pum pum

2007-12-28T21:03:00.000-05:00

The kids had a nice surprise present Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma's.....Papa got the three eldest drums for Christmas! Real drums! The kids were pretty excited. We will begin drum lessons in a few weeks as a family and they are excited! Liam enjoys pa rumping on them also! I suspect we will be buying another for him soon!

On the 12th day of Christmas....

2007-12-27T21:05:00.000-05:00

We are celebrating the 12 days of Christmas currently! Unlike some popular consumer haven's would like us to believe with the "after Christmas sales" and the like......Christmastide should be celebrated until the Epiphany on January 6Th. Today, is the Feast day of St. John http://www.catholicculture.org/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2007-12-27 . We've been using this site for some fabulous ideas for Saint days and feast ideas. This site is also interesting regarding the 12 days of Christmas http://www.cresourcei.org/cy12days.html .

Alec needs glasses

2007-12-27T20:50:00.000-05:00

I have suspected for awhile that Alec needs glasses. He has experienced some pretty subtle difficulties while doing school that peeked my attention. Some of the more prominent"attention-getters" were the "reading makes my brain hurt" comment and the headaches after reading. I just had a "feeling" that something was wrong...you momma's know all about that...intuition! We had our eyes checked this afternoon and he does in fact need glasses. He did great and needs glasses for reading and is farsighted. He picked out some uber-trendy glasses with help from his ever stylin' hip momma! You'll have to wait for a pic as it will be a few weeks before they are in with the mad rush to get glasses at the end of the year! He is excited for them and I am hoping it will end the headaches while reading! Here is an interesting article regarding vision I thought some of you may be interested in http://www.besthomeschooling.org/articles/vision_skills.html . It is regarding vision sills and is pretty informative.

Liam likes chocolate!

2007-12-27T20:41:00.000-05:00

We had made chocolate chip cookies and surprise surprise.Liam likes chocolate! He should probably not have chocolate, but it is a little difficult when the 3 yr old big brother gives it to him! The big brother finally does something he considers "nice" and well to take that away wouldn't be wise! So, here's our little cookie monster!

Elysa's doll

2007-12-27T14:49:00.000-05:00

I made this doll for Elysa for Christmas. Her name is Isabel. Elysa named her with William's help! Her arms are curved so she can hug her new momma's neck! Elysa gave her a haircut with hair I left long enough for her to cut. Isabel is lying on a brand new made by momma quilt that was also a Christmas gift.

2007-12-27T13:19:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Friends and Family!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-27T13:15:00.000-05:00

We hope all had a very Merry and Blessed Christmas this year! I have been very slack on updating posts this month with all of the gift-making and festivities of the Christmas season and will soon start posting more!

Tag!

2007-12-03T14:17:00.000-05:00

I've been blog-tagged! Thanks to Sally at http://faulkner-family.blogspot.com/.

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here are the Ye-Shall-Not-Break-Me Rules:
*link to the person who tagged you*post the rules*name 8 things others don't know about you*link to 8 other blogga-mamas

1. I am a homeschool graduate and went on to college with ambitions to ironically become a teacher!

2. Chocolate chip cookies with semi or dark chocolate and cinnamon chips are one of my favourites!

3. I have a gift to "craft" anything and everything without a pattern! I can also cook anything without a recipe..not much, but it's my gift! ;0

4. I love to read!

5. Christmas is my absolute favourite time of the year! I like the bling and making things for other people.

6. I have a pug named Bruiser.

7. I like bling!

8. I hate housework!

tagged http://www.biggestethiopianflag.blogspot.com/ and http://labibliotecarialaura.blogspot.com/ and http://placeofeasypassage.blogspot.com/ and http://natural-childhood.blogspot.com/ and http://www.xanga.com/naturekiddosmama

i will finish tagging in a bit..

Advent begins

2007-12-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, marked the official start of the Advent Season! We lit the first candle on our Advent Wreath and said the prayers and talked about the meaning of the candles. We used some ideas from this website for anyone interested http://www.teachingmom.com/features/advent.html. We had our first Advent gift which was a quarter to represent the 25 days of Christmas. We also began our Jesse Tree for which we will decorate daily until Christmas by placing one ornament a day on to represent something meaningful. We also read the verses for the Jesse Tree and talked more about it. You may find ideas here to use http://www.cresourcei.org/jesse.html.

A Perfect Monday

2007-11-26T20:05:00.001-05:00

Mondays, in our home, are usually very trying and hard for Mom! We are trying to get back into our weekly rhythm with Papa back to work and the beginning of our "work" week. I was fearing today, with the long Holiday weekend we had, but I was fearing nothing it turns out. We began our day as usual with breakfast and getting dressed. I lost the three eldest when they went upstairs to get dressed. Rather than let them be to play, I decided to follow with some cleaning items and thought we would tackle Elysa's bedroom which was in great need of a clean and weed! We did this until noon, and no we're not done, but we started! We are readying the house in preparation for the Advent season and cleaning out the old and unused! It's a bit of a headache with 4 little one's underfoot, but we're together and that's what's important...right? We had a lunch of grilled cheese on whole wheat no crusts and salad with carrots. Then, we headed to the schoolroom to begin our schooling. I was prepared for the now famous "Monday Struggle," but alas what's this the middles did worksheets while I did Alec's Language Art's and Math lessons. When Nick was done he had a bit of a challenge with me asking him to pick up 3 giant floor puzzles he had left on the floor the day before. He needed to pick those up before he got out anything else or he was on "the bottom step." We just so happen to have a bottom step on each level and this serves as the "thinking spot" for children who aren't so kind or are misbehaving. Nickolaus is on the bottom step quite a bit. Well, Elysa saved the day and decided to help him and they worked together to clean up the puzzles and each earned a sticker jewel for the good queen or king crowns. These crowns are my little invention for good behaviour in the schoolroom. When someone does something I am especially happy with they get a sticker jewel for their crown. For the record, Elysa has the most...she used her newly acquired skill of counting to let everyone know just this! When all were picked up, Nickolaus got his new math game out and sat on the carpet and played with it while I gave Elysa her lessons. She read fabulously her new words and then copied them on paper using her "spaceman" (a clothespin with a face) to put spaces between the words. She did a marvelous job! We started our notebooking journal pages for our History books and accomplished quite a bit on those! A tub of stickers engrossed them for the good part of the afternoon! From now on, Monday will be sticker day! :)

Momma Loves Reading!

2007-11-26T19:05:00.000-05:00

I enjoy reading....books,magazines, Internet articles, recipe books, newspapers, cereal boxes (;0 ask my mom and sis's!) if it has words I'll read it! I LOVE reading! I find I "need" to read. I just need it. I can fulfill that need by spending hours and some days we literally spend hours reading to the kids. Studies show the benefits of reading to little ones so I therefore have the "go ahead" to read read read! I am lucky that my children greatly enjoy books as well and are always game for a read-a-thon....everyone piles onto the love seat (it's closer to cuddle more tightly!) or into bed or a little nest of silks and blankets to enjoy an afternoon of good quality literature. I like good quality literature for their little sponge minds not watered down "Barbie's new shoes" or something similarly cheesy! Books that are timeless and have substance are our favourites. I just finished a few timeless classics with the younger three while Papa and Alec are at hockey. Our favourites were 'Chicka Chicka Boom Boom' and 'Chicka Chicka 123' and runners up were 'A Color of His Own'...Leo Lionni books are always appreciated for the beautiful artwork...and the timeless message of 'The Little Engine That Could.' We gave 'The Pirate Mom' a nut much substance, but fun story award and 'Tucker's Best School Day' got the award for downright depressing! This book was from Scholastic and is only available for the "school market" and was originally published as 'Tucker's Four-Carrot School Day.' It is written by Susan Winget and is about a little rabbit who is going to Kindergarten for the first time and all the things he messes up at school and how he is having a hard time. :( It was horribly sad for Tucker and the kids didn't enjoy it at all! Poor little Tucker wanted to be at home with his family and missed his little sister. I added to the end...."and Tucker's momma decided to homeschool him so he could be at home with the family." Nick and Elysa were really bothered by how horrible Tucker's school experience was. If my children were going to go to school and we chose this book to prepare them I think they would be rather unprepared! Anyway, on our agenda for the evening is to read a chapter or three of 'The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk' found here http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=burgess&book=skunk&story=_contents. This book is filled with passages of well written literature for little ones and the vocabulary is wonderful...I am forever answering questions of what does this word and that mean when reading books from this site....I love it! This book is from 1918, I believe, and how different the language was then. It's a pleasure to read!

Form Drawing

2007-11-26T17:05:00.000-05:00

Here we are in the schoolroom practicing our form drawing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-26T16:25:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa at our house. Here are some pictures of us enjoying our feast! We enjoyed some stories on the Pilgrims and Indians in the days leading up to Thanksgiving and some more today. We mapped them out on our maps and put a cross sticker where Plymouth is on the map.

Holy Turkey!

2007-11-26T16:08:00.000-05:00

We picked up our local farm raised turkey the Monday before Thanksgiving. To my surprise, the smallest turkey they had was......gulp......29 lbs!! What! I hope ya like leftovers......here he is in all his glory...being prepped in the sink....in the oven....and sitting before carving. All day we were enticed with smells of fresh Rosemary and Sage alongside turkey wafting from the kitchen! While it roasted I made Herbed Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes and kept them warm in the crock pot. Nickolaus and I had spent the last few days toasting and shredding Colorado Cracked Wheat bread for a delicious Apple and Sausage stuffing that was the best I've ever tasted! Elysa and Alec had prepared all of the "chopped ingredients" the night before so it was much easier for me when preparing to grab celery, onions or whatever I needed. The middles made a fresh Cranberry Orange Relish and sweetened it with Sucanat and that added extra depth and earthiness to it. Elysa had made lemon bars the night before and we enjoyed them on Thanksgiving as well. We had Haricots Verts with Onions and Bacon from the farm and fresh baked pumpkin bread. Grandma brought rutabaga's,sweet potatoes, green and black olives, 2 different kinds of coleslaw and pumpkin and apple pies she had made with the oldest three the day before. I know I am forgetting some things, but have the main dishes! It was all so delicious and we will be getting a turkey from the farm next year!

Nickolaus the comedian

2007-11-26T15:53:00.000-05:00

Nickolaus never ceases to put a smile on my face! He is my most trying and challenging child....yet I enjoy his humour and thank goodness he is cute....he gets into so much trouble! He is counting in English in addition to his Spanish counting! He is smart as a whip and pays attention to what I teach the others in school...even when I think he is not! He has requested his own "schoolwork" and I have been giving him some worksheets from the Developing the Early Learner series from Sonlight http://www.sonlight.com/PR01.html. We have a variety of workbooks similar to these, but these are my favorite. The pictures are very vintage and that appeals to me....plus they are tremendous with fine motor which both older boys have needed practice in. Today, he made flashcards using colored index cards and stickers for each Alphabet sound. Here he is in William's booster seat having his sister feed him and in his brother's goalie equipment.

Halloween Pictures

2007-11-26T15:45:00.000-05:00

Better late than never 'eh? Alec and Nickolaus were pirates, Elysa was a fairy princess (her wings are missing in this pic), and William was a skunk. Cute 'eh? These were taken at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Beautiful Stories

2007-11-14T14:44:00.000-05:00

Today, we read some very beautiful stories from The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project http://www.mainlesson.com/main/displayarticle.php?article=feature . We've been enjoying the stories from this site immensely! We read 'The Story of Persephone' and 'Little Cosette' and then drew pictures in our main lesson book's. Alec is working on skip counting by 2's as he has all the other's down pat and Elysa is working on her counting skills. Nickolaus is working on getting into as much trouble as he can.....there has to be one in every bunch 'eh? Liam is working on crawling all over and getting into as much mischief as he possibly can and enjoying the little "snacks" the kids have left behind! He covered himself in Elysa's oatmeal that she had left on the coffee table and was as happy as I have ever seen him! We are working on some crafts this afternoon...not sure quite what, but Christmas present related!

Skating...and school?

2007-11-12T22:39:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, we went ice skating in the afternoon. We had been working on these particular forms - ) a line and a curve. We had been drawing them with different mediums and walking or skipping them and on the ice I decided to see if they could skate the forms. We then went on to do the letters of the Alphabet. How's that for Waldorf? Elysa has been really enjoying the letters lately and will copy anything and I do mean anything! After receiving a copy of 'The Swiss Colony' gift catalog in the mail and sticking it on the table, I later noticed in perfect little print that someone had written EVERYTHING down from the catalog. There neatly lined on a plain white piece of paper was summer sausage gift baskets to fine chocolates and the fine print to prices...how cute is that? She has perfect little handwriting! She also noticed I have the Christmas lists on the computer in Wordpad and read her name and then proceeded to read...doll...I closed the page before she went further! She has had very little if any formal instruction on reading. She is just going to read one day!

Monday and back to school

2007-11-12T22:32:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a story from our Enki fairy tales entitled 'The Singing Cave.' It was a quite a nice little story and the kids enjoyed it. We picked up the house and made a very yummy ham and bean soup. We worked on some Christmas presents for those lucky enough to be on our lists!

St.Martinmas Day

2007-11-12T22:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was St.Martinmas day and we had a feast with Grandma and Grandpa! The kids cut shapes out of beeswax modeling clay and adhered them on little glass baby food jars to use as lanterns with beeswax tea lights inside. They turned out lovely and will post pic's later. You can read more about St.Martinmas here... http://www.fisheaters.com/customstimeafterpentecost15.html. We also boxed up two rather large boxes to donate to St. Vincent De Paul.

New toy recall :(

2007-11-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

I opened my inbox this morning to find a new toy beng recalled.....made in China of course! Here is a link to the article.... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119445657913685394.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yaho Now you see why I am leary of buying items made in China? I would like my children to not slip into comas from their toys!

Native American Studies

2007-11-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

November has begun and with it our study of Native Americans has as well. We read some Native American folk tales this morning. Today is Monday our baking day and we baked cornbread muffins. Then had dried fruit leather and cornbread muffins for morning snack. We had more stories and putting puzzles together in the schoolroom. Dad came home to enjoy some homemade Ham and Split Pea soup with us. The soup was really good! We picked up the half a pig we ordered Early this spring from our organic farmer. Lots and lots of questions regarding the pig and Wilbur from Charlotte's Web! We have lots of discussion on why we eat animals and it has been hard to explain to the kids at different times! To my vegetarian friends I know you're probably grossed out at the moment so SORRY! We have made a conscious effort to eat meat that has been raised without antibiotics and raised in a humane way. If you read about some of the things that they have put in our food supply it is enough to make your stomach turn! The meat that we get always tastes so much better and actually has flavor to it! After eating steaks that were grain fed and raised in a pasture, I don't think I will ever care to eat the supermarket variety again! We have ordered half a cow and a turkey for Thanksgiving and I am excited about the turkey...the size of the cow is starting to concern me! They are special cattle that have higher omega's and are leaner and healthier for you. Shetland something...I think! Well, anyway we are learning about Native Americans this month through stories and their culture. We visited some websites that sell Native American goods and they were pretty neat. Perhaps, Alec will get a drum from one for Christmas?

Momma's making Christmas presents..ssshhhh!

2007-11-05T20:19:00.001-05:00

Well, it occurred to me in the midst of this sickness that it was November and Christmas is right around the corner! We have decided to do away with as much commercialization and toys that are made in China ;0 as possible! I would really like to support the families in the USA that are making toys and selling them. We have also decided to make alot of toys for the kids......which means MOM is going to be making them! I started my lists today and then began crocheting these for the boys http://www.novanatural.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1399/.f They oldest two have both expressed interest in them and I thought I would give them a whirl! I have some pretty cool gray and silver yarn and am working on them tonight. My first start didn't quite work out as planned and I am now starting fresh!

Poor sick Little William

2007-11-05T20:07:00.001-05:00

Well, we thought we were on the mend and then little William ended up with an ear infection, double bacterial conjunctivitis and an upper respiratory infection. :( He is also getting his top two teeth! Poor little man! He cried all night Friday and Saturday and we didn't get a wink of sleep! Last night, he was doing much better and today he was back to getting into trouble for a little bit!

Halloween

2007-11-03T18:34:00.000-04:00

We had a fun halloween! Alec and Nickolaus were pirates, Elysa was a fairy princess and little William was a skunk! Oh were they adorable! We did a little trick or treating then back to grandma and grandpa's house to celebrate their anniversary with a yummy cake the kids picked out.

Still sick, but on the mend..

2007-11-03T18:28:00.000-04:00

We are all still sick, but are on the mend finally! William ended up getting an ear infection and bacterial conjunctivitis in both his eyes alongside an upper respiratory infection. Poor babe! He is on an antibiotic and is doing much better today! He was so miserable yesterday all he did was sit on me and stare into space and cry a hoarse little cry if I put him down! No nursing he was so miserable! Today, we got some smiles and activity out of him and he looks to be on the mend!

Everyone is sick!

2007-10-25T23:56:00.000-04:00

Well, we all have some sort of bug and everyone is miserable!

Where oh where is my little boy?

2007-10-25T23:42:00.000-04:00

It hit me the other day when I looked at Alec...really looked at him. He's really growing up fast! I can't believe he is 7! My favorite number. So many things, this age brings. He is really growing and developing in all areas of his life. He is not the shy little boy anymore! No sir, he will now answer when an adult talks to him! Big steps! He's been really taking off in reading! He sat and read me several "reader" books today and was so proud of himself. It's just clicking for him! He's one of the top guys in his hockey team and I'm impressed when I watch him and his "skills" on skates! We went ice skating and gulp it's finally happened...my kid can skate faster than me! I think, the only reason he learned to skate was to whip me in a race! Oh and to eat,sleep and drink hockey! If he could play hockey all day life would be good for him! He has also turned into a cunning little comedian and sneak! After, I announced to the kids we were going to head down to the schoolroom in a few minutes so let's clean up our lunch mess he came over to me. He promptly told me he thought he would like to go clean his room..not just a little, but really clean his room.He was going to get it cleaner than he had ever done before...hmmmm do I smell a rat? Nice try Alec! I smiled and said that's great...right after we finish school! Mister funnypants has been trying to pull one over on me every day now....I have no idea where he gets it! :) I am really proud of him!

Makin' Mom Happy!

2007-10-25T23:33:00.000-04:00

Nothing makes me happier than when my little ones are loving each other up! I hope my children grow up to be best friends with each other. Here my "middles" are lovin' each other up at one of our favorite restaurants in town "The Pasta Shop."

Nick learned to ice skate

2007-10-24T23:01:00.000-04:00

Nickolaus began ice skating lessons and is doing rather well. He can ice skate around and is the best in his group..I'm not just saying that...the other two can't even stand on their skates and Nick can skate and skate and skate! I'm so proud of him! He really likes to make ice angels...taking after a certain big sister I suppose!

Our Nature walk

2007-10-24T22:36:00.001-04:00

We were having a hard day doing school work one day last week, so we decided to move it outdoors. Well, the kids thought it would be fun to dress up as "fall." So, we went frolicking down the street to the local university's large "playground." Everybody in their car's kept looking at us smiling...I'll admit I was a tad bit embarrassed, but hey at least they're cute! They had fun rolling down the hill...again more stares....but my kids were having fun!

the last ones...

2007-10-24T22:09:00.000-04:00

And even more...

2007-10-24T22:05:00.000-04:00

And some more...

2007-10-24T22:01:00.001-04:00

Our Schoolroom

2007-10-24T21:43:00.000-04:00

Here are pic's of our schoolroom in all it's glory!

Sorry for the lack of posts...

2007-10-24T21:38:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I had my three remaining wisdom teeth removed and ended up with a dry socket and talk about pain!! Wayne was a wonderful help throughout! He did some of the laundry,dishes twice, cooked meals (we won't talk about the scratches on the bottom of my fav cooking pan!) and helped with the kids! My mouth is still in heaps of pain, but I go tom. to get the medicated gauze strips replaced and that should help. I will post a pic of my giant teeth later!

Alec's Math

2007-10-05T20:56:00.001-04:00

We have been focusing alot on Alec's math this week. Here is a page from his Main Lesson Book showing the Four Process Gnomes, Plus, Minus, Times, and Divide. He is really enjoying working with the gems for addition and subtraction.

Elysa and Mom

2007-10-03T23:23:00.000-04:00

Dad took the older two boys golfing and I got to spend some time with just Elysa. I did some schoolwork with her and then we left to pick up our items from our buying club and that little girl talked the whole way!! She read some words on signs! We were passing Teal lake and I asked her why she thought they called it Teal lake and she kinda said in a are you joking way..."Because it's not blue." Boy, did she make me feel stupid! She has such an unusual way of seeing what goes on around her and what she takes in. The somewhat scary part is that I totally get where she's coming from! I remember myself at that age and it is like a mirror of me!! Some things she says that are somewhat abstract and loopy about what is going on....I totally get it because I had similar things I thought and it makes sense to me now! How she interprets things that happen amazes and amuses me! She has a very vivid imagination and is quite creative! Although, for the record, I never had an imaginary sister.....who smokes! I really enjoyed spending time with her. She helped me make delicious French Onion soup and do the dishes! We bought some raw honey comb at our food co-op and greatly enjoyed that! Elysa is more open to try new things and eats much healthier than her brothers. We start the day with warm oatmeal with apples and cinnamon and the boys have peanut butter on toast. For lunch she'll eat whatever I make...not the boys they have to have their special requests! She is much easier to cook for and loves to cook! I think I may pull down my French cookbook and give her a few lessons.....pretty soon I'll have my own chef!

Someone found a strawberry!

2007-10-03T23:13:00.001-04:00

The advantage of being a baby is all of the wonderful goodies you find on the floor! The kids had a picnic on the back deck for lunch...since we were already their doing school it just made sense! Well, William must have "found" a strawberry off of one of the kid's plates and enjoyed it immensely. As you can see, from the smile on his face and the bit on his lip! And yes, babies in our house go nakey on 70some degree days!

Archeology!

2007-10-03T22:59:00.000-04:00

While making the "Ice Age" I threw some British soldier plastic guys, a monkey and a dinosaur into a pan with water and froze them. Today, we had a little Archeology expedition and the kids got their equipment and uncovered some ancient fossils and weapons........okay that's what was in the paragraph about what Archaeologists uncovered....ours were a bit different! Again, score for mom...the kids LOVED it! Alec keeps putting more water on them after he uncovers them and then freezes it again to do it over! I am getting a bit nervous about the flood and what we're going to do there!

Ice Age!

2007-10-03T22:44:00.000-04:00

We use a mainly holistic eclectic approach to our homeschooling and base alot of our curriculum on Waldorf principles. In Waldorf, in the early grades, they don't focus on History and Science as facts and wait until they are older to present these subjects to the children. When they will fully understand the concepts. In Waldorf, History is presented through a Social Studies aspect using folk and fairy tales from all different cultures and celebrations from those cultures. Science is presented through stories and observation. I, on the other hand, greatly enjoy History and Science and Alec really enjoys these subjects so I present them in a way I think they will understand...or at least somewhat! I would like to delve into Ancient Civilizations and really learn about those using Sonlight Core 1 & 2 books. I thought it best we give a brief overview of Creation from a Biblical aspect and we went over the Adam and Eve story and how God created the world. It brought up alot of conversation about our St. Michael story earlier in the week! I showed several different pictures of Adam and Eve and even gave them a puzzle of the two to work on while I read to them. I pointed out the differences in each Adam and Eve and then brought out a Smithsonian magazine and another book that had "cavemen" in and pointed out how everyone has a different interpretation of the two and how they looked. I noted that we weren't there so we don't know how they looked. This made great sense to them. We talked about the Garden of Eden and sin....it was a great moral lesson if nothing else! Elysa pointed out that bad guys, namely the college kid who mooned my family as we were going out to eat!!,went to live with Lucifer because you have to keep your body covered! Hence the fig leaves! We talked about how they wandered and gathered and then read some about the Ice Age....brainstorm for mom...I ran upstairs and emptied out the ice maker in the freezer into a pan, threw in some army guys...not exactly cave men, but they worked, and some dinosaurs and walla...Ice Age in our school room! We read some more and got into the Archeology part and stopped. The kids had a blast playing with it until it melted everywhere!

More Math

2007-10-03T22:36:00.000-04:00

Alec and I had another math lesson. I made up a story about Plus and Minus and some games they played and we worked on some addition and subtraction problems. We worked on single digit's up to twelve. He had done all of this last year and this was just a fun review for him. He was working on 6 plus 6 and he had 6 gems on either side of Plus and he looked at me with big eyes and said, "I get it! 6 plus 6 really does equal 12!" It had been a very abstract concept for him, until that point!

Charlotte's Web

2007-10-03T22:31:00.000-04:00

As you know, we've been enjoying the book 'Charlotte's Web.' We came to the part where Charlotte is wrapping a fly up in her silky web and we thought it would be fun to wrap Alec-our fly-up in a silk! Learning at it's finest!

Crowning Ceremony

2007-10-03T21:57:00.000-04:00

In Waldorf schools it is a tradition to have a Rose Ceremony for children entering 1st grade. I thought it would be fun to create our own little ceremony for the kids. I made flower wreath crowns for the three eldest to wear. Alec, being the eldest, got the largest orange flowers...orange as we know is his favorite color..so we went with orange flowers over roses. Elysa and Nick got smaller orange flowers on their wreaths. Nick was mad and wouldn't let me take a picture...he wanted the bigger flowers! I read a poem I had chosen for each one and we stood by our special tree in the back yard with their backpacks for their picture. I take pictures the first week of school of each child so I will always have them to treasure! Alec's poem is called The Knight and goes; The knight rides forth,on charger strong,To fight the foe and right the wrong; 'Gainst dragons, giants, men, he'll fight. For lady's favor and for right. Elysa's is When Mary Goes Walking...only we changed Mary to Elysa. When Elysa goes walking, The Autumn wis blow. The poplars they curtsey, The larches they bend low.The oaks and the beeches,Their gold they fling down,To make her a carpet, To make her a crown. You'll have to stay posted to hear Nick's! The apple in Elysa's hand is for her teacher because as she so well put it, "You should take an apple to your teacher everyday Nick. Teachers like apples. That's why I am taking this one to my teacher. I am taking her one everyday!"

Transition Verse

2007-10-01T18:44:00.000-04:00

I thought it might be beneficial for some of you mommas reading this blog to post this transition verse that I find immensely helpful when we-and when I say we I mean the little ones!!-aren't being so quiet and attentive! I chose it because Owls seem to be our special bird!
A wise old owl lived in an Oak.
The more he saw the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we be like that wise old bird?

Someone's paying attention!

2007-10-01T18:09:00.000-04:00

Just when I wonder, is anyone listening to anything I say, I come across something like this. Nick had taken all of the cheese sticks out of the fridge and was using them to count with. Who needs fancy manipulative's when you've got cheese?

Mondays are hard

2007-10-01T17:54:00.001-04:00

Another Monday, and uggh! was today a hard one. It seems we lose our rhythm to the day over the weekend and it is hard gaining it back Monday! It was hard for the three eldest to focus this morning on their lessons...perhaps too much TV this weekend dad?? I plowed through and we made it through! We had our story on the letter B and reviewed A and then made some lovely pictures in our sketch books and practiced drawing A's and B's. Saturday was Michaelmas and we were sooo busy that we weren't able to celebrate so we did today! I read the kids a story about the Archangel Michael and how he slayed the dragon and as I read I added the ingredients to a bowl for making a Harvest Loaf of bread. I added golden raisins for stars plucked from the firmament and an egg yolk for the sun, sugar and salt were ice that covered the earth and so on. When it was all mixed each child kneaded their own ball of dough and while we waited for it to rise we headed to the ice rink with dad and Grandma and had some fun skating. Back at home, we shaped our risen dough into dragons to represent the dragon St. Michael slayed. Then we baked them for a snack. While they were baking, we read a few more chapters from Charlotte's Web and then ate our bread and off to swim lessons. Somewhere in the mix, Alec read his practice blends and digraphs and did a fabulous job! It seems to really be clicking for him with reading this year!

Our Math Gnomes...

2007-10-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

Here are our math gnomes...well at least half of them. Plus and Minus are the only ones done. I am awaiting a shipment from Mercurius school supplies for more felt to make Multiply and Divide.