My strange, strange child

Julia created a family portrait that she can carry with her all day long.

Below are Dad, Mom, Kevin, Quincy and Grant in that order.

Not only does she get to be the biggest one of all of us, but when she walks, she gets to crush us. Such a sweetie. :0P

My latest project

This isn't the best picture, but here is my first completed project from the felted sweaters. I had a red Christmas sweater with a design already in it. The bottom of the sweater became the top of the stocking and all I had to do was cut it out and blanket stitch around the edges.

I'm thinking about replacing the buttons with something a little fancier.

Mummy's are interesting too!

Our most recent history lesson was about making mummies. One of the possible activities listed in the workbook was to make a mummy out of a chicken. http://yhspatriot.net/~jschild/mummy.html

Yeah, well, I don't think that is going to happen... not on my kitchen counter, but the kids thought that it would be fun to turn themselves into mummies. So we mummified the little turkeys.

They learned alot about the mummification process from their history lesson and even more so from this fun game. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/launch_gms_mummy_maker.shtml
After they removed each other's brains through their noses (so much giddy laughter) and removed all their internal organs (an excellent opportunity to tickle), they "covered" each other with salt and spices. I doubt the Egyptians used parsley, but that's what Grant got out of the spice drawer. What a waste of toilet paper, but what a lot of fun! Julia thought her hair looked like the wigs that they put on mummies, so she didn't want to cover her face. Grant insisted on being wrapped from head to toe. I did open up the tissue by his nose so that he could breathe.

Julia has some amulets to provide her with safe passage to the afterworld.



Anyone who watches Scooby Doo knows that a mummy isn't a mummy unless it comes back to life and terrorizes the town.

Another Wild Visitor

This guy flew in and perched on our deck for a few moments. Long enough for us to get a good look and an okay picture. Quincy named him Puck. That's short for Hawkey Puck.

We think we've identified him as a Cooper's Hawk. What do you think, Leslie?

Happy Fall!

Fall is finally here. The weather is nearly perfect and winter preparations are under way.

This little squirrel came knocking on our back door recently trying to paw his way in. He was looking for a good hiding place for his winter stash. After he realized that he wasn't going to be able to get into the house, he moved on to the bag of potting soil. He dug around for a while, but then rejected that idea too.

I don't know where that nut finally ended up, but I hope he remembers.

Apple Picking and Blackberries too!

I love the fall and apple season. Julia, Grant and I picked enough apples to make many recipes... can't wait to get started. We even got some late season blackberries. Yum.

Mom's are interesting

All of my kids are getting so big.

When we were at Hershey Park, Julia tried out a couple of kiddie rides only to find out that they weren't as thrilling as they used to be. She was the oldest child on this swing ride and said that she felt a little silly.

My baby is growing up, but sometimes she says something that reminds me that she's still little and cute.

Yesterday, she was at the computer finding cute pictures for her latest collage. I was beside her, focused on a project that I was working on. She kept drawing my attention to what she was doing and after a while, I gave her the "Mmhmm, that's nice sweetie..." treatment. At one time, I answered, "I see that." as I was looking down at my paper. She paused and then said,

"Mom's are interesting. You know why? They can see things while they are seeing other things. That's why I think it will be cool to be a Mom."

Ohhhhhh, so cute. She's still little. And now I have to remember that, because she won't be little for long and I need to "see" things without looking at other things. I need to pay more attention before she gets all big and teenagery like some others around here.

Hello? 1982?...

...Julia called and is coming to visit.

I love to shrink sweaters!

I had so much fun today!

I've been thinking about making things out of old sweaters for over a year now, since someone gave me a sweater they shrunk thinking that it might fit Julia. Julia refused to wear it because it was itchy, but I kept thinking that it might make a nice pillow.
Recently, I've come across a couple of craft books about felting and re-using old sweaters. Sometimes, the ugliest sweaters make the cutest bags, dolls, mittens or purses.
So, today I went to the thrift store and had a blast. It was so much fun to just pick up sweaters, the uglier the better and not worry about size or style. I only had to check to make sure they were wool. I was worried that there might not be that many wool sweaters, but I was wrong! When all was said and done, I brought home 15 wool sweaters and only spent $50. Now I just have to do something with them.
When I was shopping, I didn't have any particular plans, so I just bought anything, but the more I handle them, the more they "speak" to me. The green one above wants to be a pillow with appliques. There's a knobbly brown one that is going to be a stuffed animal.
The best part of it is seeing them shrink. :o)
That pink sweater in the middle was the one that shrunk the most, but I still don't know what I am going to do with it. Any ideas?

Hershey Park

We went to Hershey Park this weekend. We were supposed to go last week as part of Quincy's birthday, but Hurricane Hanna kept us home. The rides were lots of fun, but we REALLY loved Chocolate World. After we were done with the park, we went to chocolate world and had chocolate ice cream and chocolate shakes and I even tried a chocolate coke! I highly recommend the chocolate coke if ever you need a sugar rush. After we ate chocolate, we went shopping for more chocolate and other chocolate related souveneirs to bring home.

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, YUM!

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, YUM!!

This was Julia's first ride of the day. Quincy went for moral support and to help her get buckled in.
Julia had the controller and could have made the plane go higher. I kept encouraging her to go higher, but just as I was taking this picture, she yelled "this is high enough!"
I love that picture.

Grant and Dan went off on their own and rode all of the roller coasters. I didn't get a chance to try this one, but I'm not too upset about it. It looked scary! Julia, Quincy and I tried out a couple of tamer ones. Well... tamer in my opinion. Julia screamed like she was going to die the first time she rode the Comet. She got over that and decided to try it a second time.
Who can resist an opportunity to hug a Reese's Cup! Yum!

After the picture, Julia looked at him and said, "You're Yummy!!"

He looked a little scared after that.

Cave Paintings

Yesterday we did one of our first activities in the Story of the World. This was to go along with Chapter 1 The First Nomads. It was a relatively easy activity for me to set up, just a brown paper bag and a few paints. Luckily, we had a beautiful day and were able to enjoy some school time outside.

They tried using some "natural" paintbrushes like the early people might have used. Grant mostly used his fingers or a stick.

Quincy took a break between her math and science to study literature,
or maybe she was just reading a book.
Julia says, "It's two guys fighting a cougar. There's a volcano and there is a dinosaur bird in the sky. There are fireballs in the sky. There is a guy in the cave running away from the cougar. There is a plant and a dinosaur egg nest on the bottom and my hand print."
Grant's picture is of two guys chasing a mastodon with spears.

Our real first day

We got back to school yesterday. Finally! It really was a relief to have a plan and a schedule. We are still working out the details, but so far it has been going pretty well.

Julia has been so happy about getting back to work. I think we are going to have a great year.

Grant and Quincy may not be quite as excited as Julia is, but they are still working hard. I am finding myself bouncing from kid to kid, helping them figure out the new curriculum.

Here is Grant asking incredulously, "Why are you taking pictures of us doing school work?"
Well, I needed something to blog!
What I love the most about this picture is the natural light. I really hate using the flash and before I went all digital, my real camera didn't have a flash, so I got really good at finding "natural light" photos. I'm thinking about finding some willing models and playing around with the light at this window.