The Family

The Family

Monday, November 25, 2013

Cardboard Turkeys

Want a fun, festive, fast craft to do with the kiddos this week?

Check out this great idea posted on the blog Cupcakes and Commentary.



We did it today and ours looks nowhere near as good as the one posted there. The author of the blog is a friend and one of the craftiest people I know!

Our glitter didn't cover completely and we used real leaves for tail feathers because that's all we had on hand. The children loved it!

Check it out because her post is much more detailed and shows just how cute this craft can be!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Fireside Chats

I love a frigidly cold night. One that enables us to put the logs on the fire and nestle close together on the couch.



And to enjoy the burnt taste of a sweet treat.


And with joy in our hearts and a happiness that comes only with the simplest of things, we know that winter is on its way!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

CSA Wednesday

On Wednesday we head to a local farm to pick up produce as part of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Here's what we got today:

Farm-fresh eggs

Lettuce

Turnip roots (The greens were damaged; no matter, the root is my favorite part)

Broccoli

Thursday, November 14, 2013

The Wind in Our Hair


The first stanza in Christina Rossetti's poem "Who Has Seen the Wind" goes:
"Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through."
On Tuesday the wind blew the reeds in the bog at the arboretum as we sat nearby and read our favorite stories.


We walked and observed the large yellow leafs hanging from the trees and the clusters of brown ones fallen to the depths below.

We followed the path that led us to where the water falls and then wound our way back to where we started.





You never know what you'll spot as you take your learning outdoors.


 Which made it all the more fitting when trying to finish a book like this.


And lest you think it was all a picture-perfect morning, I should report that one child, who had a runny nose that morning that today has turned into a wheezing cough that sent us to the doctor who promptly sent us to the pharmacy for meds, whined incessantly almost the entire time. The other one screamed and cried the entire way home. Both of which made me wonder why on earth I ever leave the house.

Then I looked at our pictures and remembered the wind and the sun and the brief moments of feeling at home that morning in nature and realized days like that, as well as most of life, is about taking the good right along with the bad..

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

CSA Wednesday

On Wednesday we head to a local farm as part of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Here's what we got today:

More Kohlrabi

More sweet potatoes

More eggs

More lettuce

Sunday, November 10, 2013

A Work of Art

I'm a believer in encouraging my children to follow their interests.

As a parent that often means paying extra close attention to what they say and do. Even more importantly, especially at this young stage of life, I find it means not pushing them into things I would like for them to do but for which they have expressed no desire to be a part of.

Jack loves to draw and do art at home. The challenge can sometimes be finding a quality outlet in which to help him express himself artistically.

Lucky for us we live in a community that places a high premium on both education and a commitment to artistic endeavors. This has translated well for many homeschooling families because the local arts association offers an art class for homeschoolers every quarter.

Jack's teacher homeschooled her children, both of whom are in college now, and is familiar with the style of education so many of us parents are seeking for our own children. I am constantly amazed at the true artistic nature of the class.

Ms. Amy, the teacher, breaks the two-hour class into a variety of learning objectives which include a book that illustrates elements of the lesson she is trying to teach that day, a story about an artist whose work correlates with what was learned during the reading of the story and then the children, or young artists as she often refers to them, replicate a specific piece, painting, drawing, etc. of the artist.

Last week, for the final day of the class, she hosted an art show where all of the works were on display. Beside each collection was a description of the lesson and how the children went about creating their art work.The description also included an art concept , a list of techniques/mediums, art vocabulary and a literature connection.

Here's just a snippet from the explanation of each week's lesson that she sent to all the parents the day of the show:
 "Our theme this quarter was “Trees, Leaves, and Branching Out.” During the eight weeks we studied the work of several individual artists and explored fun techniques like tearing newspaper, burnishing foil, masking with painter’s tape, and using spray paint. Paying attention to texture and utilizing texture in art is a natural way of exploring leaves, so texture was one of the art elements developed in most of the projects this quarter."
And without further ado, here are the masterpieces:














Wednesday, November 6, 2013

CSA Wednesday

On Wednesday we head to a local farm to pick up produce as part of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Here's what we got today:

Apples

Squash


Eggs

Lettuce

Kohlrabi - This is my favorite. It is delicious, even though it looks like it could be one of the stepmother's sculptures from the movie Beetlejuice


Monday, November 4, 2013

95 Years

I can only hope if I live to be 95 that I would be surrounded by as many loved ones as Matt's grandfather.



We were in Pensacola this weekend celebrating Grandpa's 95th birthday. We went for one night, and it's amazing how much quicker we get places now Mattie is a bit older!

We also got to spend some quality time with Matt's family, and Mattie got to love on her favorite canine friend.



We picked up a couple of lightsabers at a Cracker Barrel on our way down. Star Wars is the latest obsession.


Friday, November 1, 2013

Zombied Out

You would think that after watching every episode of The Walking Dead during a marathon a few weeks ago, a few Friday the 13th movies as well as several of the Halloween flicks this past week during AMCs Scare-A-Thon, I would be getting tired of all the gore.

Nope.

I'm a slasher film lover. I don't know why, but those cheesy movies from the 70s and 80s like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th are my favorites. I could watch Halloween over and over. I was actually hoping it would be on again tonight because I missed parts four and five last night.

When I was in middle and junior high school, a lot of the sleepovers we had consisted of staying up as late as we could watching as many of these movies as we could get in. I can remember after watching one at my house, someone swore there was a man in the yard. We probably woke up the entire neighborhood with our screams.

I'm glad AMC shows the movies because other channels don't anymore. It just doesn't feel much like Halloween without them!