Winter welcomes us

with wide open arms.  Winter, in our garden, is a time of rest and preparation.  In our rest we prepare for the coming year!  I am already thinking about seed catalogs and ordering seeds.  We are doing some simple composting this year, even though I have yet to figure out a bin that will work for us.  We are doing something very simple, holes in the garden that will later be tilled under.  Please share your composting experiences and methods. 

This year I also have plans to developing some water conservation methods around our gutters.  I found one that appears very doable on Pintrest (see the link on the side--->) that I am hoping, Lord willing, we will be able to incorporate into our little victory garden.

Cookies 2010

Thanksgiving is over, Christmas cards are ordered and I am thinking about our year end holiday letter.  I am also thinking about our cookie list that we will make this year and have plans to start them in the next couple weeks.  This should be a fun project this year as Sarah will be able to learn more and more and I plan to use it for school projects as well. 

The sewing in commencing as I wrap up school as well.  We still haven't decorated.  I had a bug Friday and Saturday and have used today to rest, though with our wonderful Northwest weather, decorating outside today would have been a sad event with downpours.  When the weather is decent we have other plans and when we have something like that on the schedule, well it rains!  :-)  Despite the wetness of the Northwest, we love it and I feel very much at home.  Maybe it's the Scottish/English in me? 



This year we are trying to do a less commercialized Christmas season.  More homemade, local crafted, etc.  Though we have made a few purchases from box stores (if you can call Amazon a box store--since they are a Seattle based company I feel a bit better about it).  I do want to encourage everyone to check some of your local shops though.  Wal-mart can't rule the season.  Ok, off my soap box now.  :-)



Yankee Trader 2010



This month we are going to be learning about weather.  I think we will learn about snow flakes and snow and other winter type weather.  I found some snow kits at the dollar store and think I will buy one for each of the girls in our Homeschool Group and I think for December we will concentrate on learning a couple Christmas carols for Sarah to sing at our annual Yankee Trader Party (a family party that we have where we also celebrate our background as well--English and German celebration traditions--with our own twist.). 



I will be making a Christmas tree to replace our Thankful tree and each day I will let Sarah put a ball on it with a good deed she did for someone else that day.  I hope this will encourage her to think of doing good for others, the true spirit of the Season.  We do not believe Christ was actually born in December, but we do celebrate His birth during this time.  We also have adopted the Santa legend into our family, I know this might upset some, but for our family it works as we talk about Santa Claus and how he gave to those that had less.

On that note, what are your holiday season plans?

Happy Tending!

Join the Hip Homeschool Hop!



We did!

Thanksgiving Greetings

May you and yours be blessed this Thanksgiving. We are thankful for each of you.  I am also thankful for the family God has blessed me with, and our home and our health.  God has certainly blessed us.

The last of the harvest --back in October

BE THANKFUL

Be thankful for home

Be thankful for food

Be thankful for birds that fly

Be thankful for sleep

Be thankful for flowers

Be thankful for clouds in the sky.

Be thankful for friends

Be thankful for rain

And the rainbows that follow close by.

Adding a leaf to the
Thankful Tree

We have had a busy week.  Last week we celebrated the First Thanksgiving with our small group of other homeschool friends.  We had quite the preschooler happy feast.  Peanut butter and Jelly, fruit, goldfish crackers, juice and crapes.  The girls decorated paper with hand print turkeys and played dress up.  It was fun.

Saturday, after much thought we traded in our van for a vehicle that would get cheaper gas mileage.  We will miss the luxury of heated mirrors and tons of room, but we wont miss the huge gas bill every week. 

This week we also created a homemade magnifying glass....  a ziploc style bag filled with water.  :-)  This was Sarah's idea and we went with it and what a learning adventure that was.  We also created placemats for Thanksgiving day.  That was a big adventure as well!  So much paint everywhere.  Sarah said, "Mommy the handprints are the funniest part."  I had to laugh right outloud at that.  I bet it did seem like a really fun project to be told you MUST paint your hands and print paper.  Then she created stories surrounding the pictures.  One poor flock had to deal with a tornado, another a bad rain storm and another had "turkey poop and eggs" all over. 

Sarah also started Tae Kwon Do (TKD) couple weeks ago and she is having a blast doing it.  She is starting to learn to count to 10 in Korean.  If you are local and want to look for a place for your children I can highly recommend Master Pae's.

I made my first ever batch of Beef Jerky this week.  Sarah and I cut the meat and cured it with the spices, etc., and then dried it for what seemed like, days!  :-)  It turned out very good I think and Bob loves it.  I will be making more and it may even end up in some Christmas presents.

Giving Thanks

For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,

For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,

For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,

For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home --

Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,

For the cunning and strength of the workingman's hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!


For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the "Land of the Free" --
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures:



Day 23 of our Thankful Tree

One of our last days of outside fun.



Look Mommy....  I am making TURKEYS!



Looking at her uncles guitar.... 
She says Uncle Jr is in a rock band...





Our Turkey Placemats!

 A Thanksgiving Dinner

by Maude M. Grant

Take a turkey, stuff it fat,

Some of this and some of that.

Get some turnips, peel them well.

Cook a big squash in its shell.

Now potatoes, big and white,

Mash till they are soft and light.

Cranberries, so tart and sweet,

With the turkey we must eat.

Pickles-yes-and then, oh my!

For a dessert a pumpkin pie,

Golden brown and spicy sweet.

What a fine Thanksgiving treat!

Happy Tending!  And HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!

Occupation and my thoughts.....



At Occupation Tacoma



The time has come to state my thoughts on this new movement that is afoot.  Most of you know, if you have been reading my blog for some time, and understand that I am not just a homemaking, homeschool blog, sort of person but I also a blog about being me and my adventures in life.  This is why, occasionally, I branch away from the "home arts" and venture into some current event topics or what is bugging me. 

I first heard about those "wacko hippie liberals" marching and occupying back in mid September once they took root in Seattle.  I will admit that I believed what everyone else told me about them.  I thought they were liberal people bought and paid for by the big powers that be to create a sense of disharmony in the world.  I also thought they were a bunch of layabouts, nar-do-goods (is that a word?) and ruffians.  You know, SCARY DUDES.  

Seattle



I took the time though to learn and listen and not just listen to what the news was telling me or people that believed they knew best because they are "well learned" or greater educated in the matters of politics.  I attempted to learn for myself and keep a truly open mind, so I could make an informed choice after I sat down at a park in Seattle during one of their "rallies."  I was tired, my back hurt like hot pokers were stabbing me and my leg was dragging.  It was not a good weekend getaway.   It was yucky and I spent some of it just in tears.  That being said, I heard a few people speak and listened to a few people in the crowd that really made sense.  I will admit, there were a few "Marxist" wanna be's but those were not the majority.  They were very much the minority. 

As most know I am a Christian Conservative.  I try to treat others as I wish to be treated, though I falter more times than I care to count.  I know I am covered though, so it gives me the strength to forge ahead and do better next time, hopefully learning from my mistakes.  I say this because I want you to know where I am coming from.

Seattle (10/9 & 10/10/11)

So why have I  joined with the occupied ranks?  What does that mean and does it mean I am now a socialists wacko as well?  I know I sound like a broken record but I contend that the Occupiers I talk to do not want everything given to them, despite what we are told via the news outlets. That includes me, I don’t want nor expect to be handed anything. I have awoken and have recognized that something is DREADFULLY wrong with our nation.

What changed in our nation in that past 50 years? Why did it change? Those are the questions I ask as I gaze at my sleeping daughter and wonder what future will await her. I ask them as I look at you and wonder, “What questions do you ask?” What questions do those around you, that have yet to open their eyes to see and their ears to hear, ask? Why do many remain in the media induced coma? God gave me a brain, and I intend to use it.

Bob



Our nation needs a stable, sound, and sustainble economy.  We need to stop outsourcing our labor to other nations.  We need to buy and make things built by Americans.  The Occupiers I meet and talk with are patriots. They are occupying for a cause they believe in, they want better for our country. They are trying to make a difference.  They are giving more than lip service as they speak out against health care and insurance companies kicking a woman down just because she now is recovering from breast cancer, or throwing the child that now has cancer to the curb as his parents struggle with issues beyond the comprehension of most of us. 

The large corporations WANT person-hood yet hide behind a veil of boards and nameless identities. This is not just or lawful (it might be legal but it is NOT lawful). As a conservative I understand that what we have today is in NO shape or form what our founding fathers intended.   We fought against a large corporation that day when on that green a group of men said “HELL NO. WE WONT TAKE IT ANYMORE” and fired their guns. Or those rabble rousers in Boston that woke up one day and took the boat out and boarded a ship and tossed all the cargo over board. They were fighting corporate greed that day as well. The only difference is, in the 1770’s it was a king and today it’s a nameless and blameless entity. I imagine they were ridiculed and despised by the masses as well. I suppose many people believed what the king’s men reported. They stood fast however and their cause was just, even when all seemed lost that winter at Valley Forge. Some might have looked at them and snickered and said, “Is it worth the fight? You agreed to pay those taxes when you bought that tea (paraphrase of what actually occurred).” Or “You agreed, when your ancestors sailed over and worked as indentured servants to the crown and Hudson Bay that you would pay high taxes and work yourself into the grave…” well those that forget history are bound to repeat it. We forgot, as a nation, and we are now repeating the fight of unjust and unequal representation and the resulting issues that follow.

Time fails me to go on. I just remember what I heard one time and will paraphrase here, in the beginning of change a patriot is a scorned and hated man, but when his cause succeeds the masses join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. I don’t want to be like that proverbial frog in the stock pot that doesn’t realize he has been cooked until it’s too late.

Children at Occupation Park



So why am I occupying?  I am occupying for my child, for your child and the child down the street. I am generational in my thinking. I am looking ahead and seeing the future and hoping and praying that it will be better for our children. My hope is that our FREEDOMS will not be LOST due to ignorance and greed. This is why I feel compelled to OCCUPY

Ok, so I will close by saying, seek truth in all things and don't let someone do your thinking for you.

 

Blessings and Happy Tending!

A Tree of Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful for each of you!

Happy November!  How many of you are doing a Thankful Tree, or some other thing, in celebration of your thanks this month?  Please feel free to share a link or a photo, or even a description of what you are doing this month.

Sarah before heading out.

Halloween was so much fun.  We went trick or treating with some friends from our homeschool group.   Every year the Proctor District in Tacoma shuts down the main section of the district and all the businesses hand out candy and goodies to the little ones.  Its always as much fun seeing the costumes as the actual trick or treating for us.  Sarah had so much fun pointing out all the costumes and laughing at the funny ones.  Many, in some fashion or another, make their own so you can get a great mix of ideas and characters.  We seen one family of bees and the father was a beekeeper, another family was Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, and Thing 2.  Of course there were a lot of princesses, butterflies and lady bugs to be had, as well as a smattering of pirates.


As for me, the month has gotten away from me.  I can't believe it is already the second week of November!  We are still drying apples and have a gallon or so already dried.  I love them but Bear is still not overly fond of them, as of yet.  Our Thankful Tree is shaping up.  I think this doing a tree this  year is really giving Sarah the opportunity to learn what being thankful is about.  She is also older and able to understand a bit more.  Some of her things are funny, as only a child would think of:   Things like being thankful for movies, crayons.....  Another friend that is doing a Thankful Tree as well said one of her little girls reported that she was thankful for princesses.  Children are adorable!

Taken Day 3

Putting the leaf on the tree.

I am about to get started on my Christmas crafting and gift making.  In this frame means I will be starting to make Jam, next week I think.  That depends on time though.  I may wait until finals are done. This year we are doing a more handcrafted approach to Christmas.  Our hope, for all involved, that it will be more of a special time.  One that is remembered for being with loved ones and remembering why we, as Christians, remember the season.  Sarah was given a gift card for her birthday and we allowed her to buy whatever she wanted and she picked out an 18 inch doll, so I plan to make her a few outfits for it.  I discovered at Joann's Fabric the other day that they sell a variety of shoes that I will be able to buy as well to go with the outfits.  I will be making her a few barbie dresses as well.  Then she will very likely ask Santa for the one big gift, which is what we have done in years past.  So far she really wants a Electric "ROCKIN'" guitar.  We shall see.  :-)  She has done very well with her acoustic, of course she doesn't play yet.  But she enjoys pretending that she does.

I have been wanting to try my hand at those homemade shaped crayons as well and tried those last week.  They were fun!  Very easy to make as well though it does kind of make for a smelly few hours from the wax.  I think some will end up as Christmas presents this year.  shhhhhh.

I think we enjoy the crayons!

Little Miss. Lauren 

 The month of November is all about harvest as well.  Last week we learned about animals harvesting nuts and even ground oats and made muffins from items we have harvested ourselves, including applesauce from early this fall.  We also have made bird feeders to hang in the yard.

Toilet Paper Roll Bird feeder:
How to make your own!

• EMPTY Toilet Paper Rolls (enough for the children to make at least one a piece)
• Peanut butter
• Paper plates (one per child)
• Butter knife (one per child is helpful to lessen the "I WANTS")
• Bird feed/seed of your choice 
• Yarn or twine
• Scissors (use your judgment, you know your child, cut the twine yourself or if they are old enough they can)

Directions:
Over each empty toilet paper roll slather peanut butter.  Place a goodly amount (1/2-1 cup) of birdseed into the paper plate and then put the roll with the peanut butter in the plate and roll repeatedly and cover all the peanut butter with the seed.  Cut twine into about a 12-16 inch section and feed through the roll and tie ends together to make a hanger.  Admire your child's handiwork and then bundle up and head outdoors while you child finds the perfect spot to hang it.  Enjoy seeing feathered friends snack on the treat.



Next order of business is to cook and puree our pumpkins and freeze for later bread and pie!


Happy Tending my friends!

More Bird Feeder Pictures!

Little Miss Cerridwen