Saturday, December 26, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve.

The Gingerbread House decorated by the little people with Grammy and Bompa.

Jammin' on their new guitars with Bompa.


Christmas dinner....Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Gerie treated us all to an awesome prime rib dinner. They cooked all day at my Dad and Lu's house. Yummy!
(somehow Grandpa Chuck and Uncle Adam aren't in this pic)


Grandpa Chuck and Bompa

Monday, December 21, 2009

Winter Solstice Celebration

This year we celebrated the Winter Solstice with family and friends. It was such a special evening. Thank you to everyone who made the night magical!

Our Luminary Lit Path
The kids (all 14 of them) walked down the luminary lit path at sunset to the chiminea where we read some winter poems and my friend Piaf told a Solstice Story that her mom told her when she was a little girl. After a delicious dinner we each wrote a special wish or desire on the luminary bag and offered it to the new sun in the fire. The evening ended with caroling around the fire. It truly was a magical night!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Kris Kringle Cookies



KRIS
KRINGLE SUGAR CUT OUT COOKIES -- My Gram's Recipe...


1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp soda dissolved in 2 TBSP milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour

cream butter and sugar. when well blended add eggs, vanilla, milk and soda. Mix well. Add 3 cups flour and creme of tartar. Add the rest of flour as needed. Roll out and bake at 375-400 oven. (she didn't say how long) my guess is 8-10 minutes.

Icing.
Scald small amount of milk add confectioners sugar and almond extract.

Enjoy!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Trimming the Tree


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Demo Day

For the past 16 weeks the kids have been attending a one day home-school enrichment academy. The semester ended with a demonstration from each class and a pot luck lunch. I knew this was a wonderful place for my children to spend one full day each week. I knew that because they love it soo much. They come home sweaty, paint covered, muddy, singing new songs, and excited to share their days with me. All of the teachers are so loving and I love the Waldorf inspired day. Annie's classes included Rhythm Gym (bal-a-vis-x), Native American History, Waldorf inspired Expressive Art, Creative Choir/Drama, Math Through Movement, and Outdoor Classroom. Emerson's classes included Spanish, playing in the creek, running around, art, and simply playing with his friends. As always, these videos do not do the performances justice...it was truly a magical day for Mike and me.

Emer's Spanish Class


Annie's Creative Choir


The Math Through Movement class demonstrates "counting by" times tables using their whole bodies to create patterns and shapes....very cool.





Sunday, December 6, 2009

Ren Fest 2009

On one of the man powered rides...
Princess Annie the Goat Whisperer...

We love going to Renaissance Festivals. They are just fun. We love the playfulness of it all and can't think of a better way to learn a little bit of history than through recreations and witty humor. I guess I love any kind of living history and any kind of dramatic play.

Rumor has it that the Texas Renaissance Festival is the largest in the country. I'm not certain of that fact, but I do know that it takes us two days to do and see all we want to and not feel rushed.

This year Mike and I dressed up. My dad made an amazing , to spec, Jester costume for Mike and he took on the alter ego of a Juggling Jester. He has pants, a shirt, a great classic Jester hat and cool shoe covers. (The pants, and hat were made out of recycled sheets from Good Will)
This is my costume....we didn't get any pics of all of us together so this photo is from the designer. I have a full skirt, corset, and full length chemise.

They each had $10 to spend and chose to get Racoon Tails, which they lovingly care for.


Until we meet again, fare thee well!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Skin Deep

OK, I don't want to be "in your face" about this but this is a good article from my gym's publication, Experience Life, about the products we use every day. Read it or not. Sometimes "ignorance is bliss" sometimes its simply dangerous.

Through the years strangers have tended to tell me their life stories while in the grocery store, the bank, the dr's office, or where ever. I'm not sure why I have this effect on people....maybe its the eye contact or because I listen closely and engage them. I tell you sometimes I come home from the grocery store feeling the heavy weight of their life. Sometimes I share their joy. Sorrow or joy, I always seem to remember the details.

Lately it seems I've noticed people have been confiding in me that they have or have had cancer. I always ask them if they know what caused their cancer and many do not have an answer.

So anyway, the Experience Life Magazine article is about the products that we all use everyday, from hand soap to make up and even after shave. Give it a gander if you have time. It is a quick read.


Friday, December 4, 2009

It's Snowing!!!







Yes, indeed it is snowing here on December 4th!


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

New Patio

Our front entry was a weed infested muddy mess with cinder blocks dating back to 1972. You stepped off the driveway onto five 12" square boring concrete blocks to enter the front door.
This is the only pic we have of it. You can see the cinder blocks and the concrete square ...I'm standing in the doorway taking the picture.

It really drove me crazy and Mike and I went back and forth trying to decide between a concrete patio and a natural stone patio. The decision was easy to make once we realized there were major roots to our beloved Live Oak trees in the way. (these trees are currently being treated for oak wilt and I don't want to injure them in any way)

We dug about 6-8 inches down, purchased 8,000 pounds of local flag stone and decomposed granite and went to work. You can see the roots in the photo below...

Actually, Mike and my Dad did 90% of the digging. The kids and I did a little....
It's 400 sq ft of natural stone patio with decomposed granite. It's porous so the trees can still get water.
Emerson at work with his mentor, Grandpa Chuck
We are so very thankful to Grandpa Chuck for all of his back breaking hard work on the patio. THANK YOU DAD!!!!
The image above was taken from inside the house on a rainy day... You can get a good idea of the variations in color, shape and texture of the rock.

We added some iron patio furniture and some loblolly pine stumps from our friends in Bastrop, TX.

It is so nice! We love it so far!!

Now I have to get to work on covering up the remaining cinder blocks, planting my herb garden under the window and painting the house trim. Did I mention I need a red front door? Eventually, we want to add a pergola and a water feature...eventually.


Friday, November 20, 2009

Children of the Earth


Today I made fire with friction using a bow drill.

WoW!!

My kids and I took a class with one of our homeschool groups based on the Teachings of Grandfather Stalking Wolf and Tom Brown Jr. with The Children of the Earth Foundation.

Their Survival teachings were about the Sacred Order: Shelter, Water, Fire and Food. We made a debris shelter (in the pouring rain). We played some tracking games, played an awareness game, and made fire using a bow drill (by far the high light for me).

There are not words to tell you how incredibly amazing this program is. We were all exhilarated, and mud covered after spending a cold rainy day learning from these wonderful guys, Rick, Juan, Dell, and Paul. Thanks so very much!!!!

And a special thanks to my friend, Jennifer, who got the ball rolling and brought these guys to our back yards and to Mundy for hosting and Wendy for being the driving force behind my fire making experience!!

I took no photos...we were having too much fun....

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Teaching Kids to Needle Knit

Recently I've been asked some questions about knitting with children...so here is a very long winded account of my experiences teaching children how to knit. If anyone has any tips or insight to add, please comment....

I started finger knitting with Annie when she was 5. We practiced that for a year and then I started needle knitting when she was 6. I think first grade is a perfect age to start. I have taught a few kids to knit. I think the kids need to be excited about what they are making. It seems that many kids are more excited to knit a toy for themselves as their first project.

We've knitted simple rectangles, stuffed them, and glued or sewed felt features on them to turn them into owls, rabbits, dollies, cars, whatever the kids are excited about. I found this helped keep up the motivation. Another thing that worked for me was to keep the first project fairly short...kids this age seem to lose interest quickly. They prefer more instant gratification.

I've had success using the short bamboo needles with young children (the kind that are attached for knitting in the round). It seems the shorter bamboo needles are easier for little hands to maneuver and metal needles are too slippery for beginners. But some kids are confused by the connecting piece so I use regular bamboo needles with them. I guess that would be something I would experiment more with. Also, lighter colors and bulkier yarn seem easier for the kids to work with.

I always have the kids roll their yarn into balls. Sometimes I even buy glass jewels or marbles (like you would put in a vase or fish bowl) from the dollar store and let the kids roll these into their balls of yarn. As they knit, the jewels are exposed and the kids can keep the treasures. There seems to be something very soothing for the kids to roll a skein of yarn into a ball.

The very first thing I do is tell the children a story. I used the Enki Education story "The Gnomes and the Dragon". There is a dragon in the gnomes home and he is waiting for them to return home so he can have him some gnomes for lunch. When the gnomes return from tending the jewels in the depths of the Earth they are startled by the dragon who has fallen asleep in their Gnome Home. The gnomes decide that if they are really quiet they can get their jewels out of the house without being eaten . They tie a rope around their ankles so they can be pulled out if they need to. They go "in through the front door to the back, jump right around and grab your sack, slip through the window without a peep, hop on off in one big leap." After the gnomes do this several times and wake up the dragon, they realize they've knitted a blanket. The dragon chases them until he becomes sleepy and the gnomes use the blanket to cover the sleeping dragon and he never bothers them again...(that is until the purling story a year later) (of course you would tell a more detailed and magical version to the kiddos)

The children memorize this verse or one like it and then after a story has been told and the verse memorized, I show them the actual knitting while reciting the verse to help them remember the steps.

I'm sure there are many stories or verses available on-line or in knitting books for children, especially those books that take a holistic approach.

One could easily make up a sweet story for the children. Annie often creates a story and a verse of her own as she is knitting....I really must remember to write these down...

Here is another similar verse I found when I googled "knitting verse"



In through the front door
Around the back
Out through the window
And off jumps jack.

A Summary of Above

One important thing is to be sure to have a rest or sleep cycle between each step in the process.

The steps being:

* Tell a short story using a knitting verse.
* Have the children draw or somehow artistically manipulate the story
* Have children write the verse. (by now they have it memorized)
* Show samples of knitting while they are rolling their skeins into balls.
* Start actual knitting using the verse as a reminder

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Halloween and More Woodworking

More wood working...we each made a leaf press....now if we only had some colorful leaves....

Halloween Mermaid and Pirate

Friday, October 30, 2009

Poetry

During our Summer break in Autumn my kids have taken to writing and illustrating poetry on their own. I even over heard them chatting about binding the book and making a page with the name of the poem and the page number. They're including blank pages so they can add to it when they "write more in the car or whatever".

Here is one of Emerson's

The Cat and The Bat

The cat sat on the bat
The bat sat on the cat

The bat sat on the cat
The cat sat on the bat

(he said one bat is a flying bat and the other is a baseball bat)

Annie's Poetry

Wind

Wind, Wind
Ripe and Wail
Take me to a land far away.

(here is her explanation of above,"The wind made me feel like I was in an apple orchard, so I wrote ripe and it was wailing so loudly and I wanted it to carry me away to New York)

A Land Above the Sun

A land above the sun and the moon
Oh, Where is it?
Oh, Oh, where is it?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ending 1st


Annie finished 1st Grade!!!!!! . Congratulations Annie!!!

Enki Education has no traditional text books for children instead the child creates their own good books and readers. Below are a few samples of the pages and pages of her work over the last year. Her "Good Book" represents her best work and is beautiful. Ask her to look at it if you have a chance, she is very proud of it!!!!

It has been a lovely year and I am so grateful for this opportunity to spend the days learning with my kids.

We have been on our "summer break" for the past 3 weeks enjoying this cool Autumn in Austin. We will start 2nd grade on November 2nd.


this frog illustration above goes with her frog poem below

She chooses a word that she doesn't understand from the verse and she illustrates it. Here she chose "nestled" and she drew us nestled under the covers with hearts...ahhhh..my heart melts...
Because she is obsessed with Paris
Our second vowel block. The illustration is a log in the fire.
some form drawing
Our first vowel sounds block
Number Qualities Block

A love note she gave me one night.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Needle Felting

Last weekend, while visiting our friends in Kerrville, I learned how to needle felt. Thank you Shayene for sharing your knowledge, your wool, and your supplies!!! I love it!!!

To needle felt wool you use sharp barbed felting needles to push the layers of the wool together (think velcro) . The wool fibers stick together and the wool felts. One of my favorite things about this is that I can just take some lucious lambs wool and create something with it. I don't need a pattern or a recipe -- which fits me since I'm no good at following either.

My Fall Fairy and 2 friendly Halloween spiders.

Fall Festival & Baby Chicks

Emerson holding a baby chick
Annie holding a baby chick

We spent the weekend in Kerrville, TX with our friends Jennifer, Derek, Georgia, and Evangeline. The company was great, the air was crisp, and we all had a great time.
We went to a Fall Festival on a farm in Medina TX where we celebrated Georgie and Angie's birthday with pin the tail on the donkey, baby chicks, a petting zoo, baby chicks, pumpkin painting, baby chicks, pony rides, baby chicks, Lakota tribal dancing, baby chicks, and of course Birthday Cake! Baby chicks.
The drive was beautiful through the Texas Hill County. A great baby chick time was had by all.
(I also learned how to needle felt...I will post about that later!)
Thinking about baby chicksBaby Chicks!!!