Brrrr! And C is for Cactus!

Okay so um...why is it freezing already? It's *still* September. It's damned cold outside. I got up this morning and threw a gallon of apple cider and some mulling spices in the crock pot. It's lovely and warm and almost makes me feel better. But, it's officially Ohio Grey outside and all I want to do is sleep. I'm convinced I was a bear in another life. We did school today! Hurrah! Last week was crazy with first one thing and then another and we didn't get much done. Yesterday we were busy getting ready for a house showing in the afternoon, but today we're back at it. Today's little project was for the letter C. Now in hindsight, I should have maybe tried to shape this cactus so it looks like a C??? I don't know. Feel free to try that and send me a picture! Gather up something spikey. I used pine needles. Toothpicks would have been good as well. Then just draw a cactus on a piece of green paper, have the kids color it and then glue on the spikeys. I had a brain fart at the last possible minute and decided that it would be fun to paint the cactus with a mixture of glue, water, salt and green food coloring to give it some texture before adding the spikeys. Divine intervention did not allow me to remember where I'd put the paintbrushes, though. I was completely convinced that the cold and the wind would take the fire right out of my brood and once they warmed up they'd happily fall into slumber...which is what *I* would like to be doing, but they're apparantly immune to the whole get cold, eat, warm up, pass out thing that happens to any other normal warm-blooded person.

Mabon

Happy Mabon to all those who still call today 'Mabon'. And happy first day of fall to the rest of you! Little known fact: it's entirely allowable to be a Christian and still recognize and celebrate the ancient holidays. Really. No, Benedict didn't tell me this, I just know it. Go ahead and call today Mabon. Celebrate Imbolc, and Yule, and Samhain. I give you permission. We started our celebrations yesterday with a trip to the apple orchard. Then we came home and decorated. We were going to have a bonfire, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Today, we started out school day off by reading a little Frost - After the Apple Harvest. We colored a harvest picture, and made 'Harvest Muffins' for our morning snack, which really became lunch since my kids ate so many of them. Here's the recipe: Harvest Morning Muffins 3 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup grated apples 1 cup grated carrots 1 cup whole-wheat flour 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tbs. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. cinnamon Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-muffin tin or line it with paper liners. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the eggs, sugar and oil until well combined. Stir in the grated apples and carrots. In a separate bowl, sift the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Blend the dry ingredients with the apple mixture until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins. Of course, I doubled this. I also added a lot more cinnamon. They were really good, and quite healthy. And, because I have a nifty new camera with a setting just for photographing food, here's a picture: Yeah, that really doesn't look any better than any other picture I've tried to take of food. Oh well. This afternoon, we're heading to the vegetable stand to pick up some turnips, carrots and butternut squash for dinner tonight. I'm even making an apple pie for dessert. I'm raising my kids Catholic, but I also want them to grow up being in tune with the changing of the seasons, and learning how much of an impact that change would have had on our ancestors who depended so much more on their local harvest for their very survival. I want them to slow down a little and recognize what the Earth is doing from day to day and month to month. I want them to take the time to marvel at the moon and the stars, to see the trees change from spring to fall, to study how the squirrels get ready for the winter. I want them to see the cycle of death and rebirth happening right in their own backyard. On a less heavy note, we also started with the letter 'C' today. Our activity was super simple and can be found here: http://www.dltk-kids.com/Crafts/insects/mcaterpillar-numbers.htm

B is for Bumblebee!

This was fun! The wax paper wings really make it believable. For this project you'll need a paper plate, black construction paper cut into strips, a black triangle for the stinger, yellow paint or markers, buttons, and something to use as an antennae.

Start by making the bottom of the paper plate yellow. We used markers. Paper plates really lend themselves to being painted rather than "markered" but, well, my kids were wearing white today. :P You could also use crayons, or decoupage like we did with the buckeye.
Then, glue on the black stripes. Older kids can cut the stripes themselves.
Add something for eyes. We used buttons, but googly eyes would have been cute.
Then, add the stinger. :)
And the wings. I highly recommend a grown-up cutting out the wings. Waxed paper is slippy stuff and very frustrating for a young one to try to cut.

Then, add the antennae. A pipe cleaner would have been really cute, but we are still out of pipe cleaners. So, I curled a narrow strip of cardstock around a pencil.
A buzzing batch of bumblebees!

A Day

Today started off with a little construction project. Then it was time for some learnin', A fun bumblebee craft (instructions in the next post:)) And then some outside time! YAY!!! We hunted for bugs. Did some hanging. Little brother can hang too now. Threw a little fit. Helped a brother out.

Built a teepee.
Fed some goats.
Hope you had a productive day as well!

B is for Butterfly!

Today's craft was super easy and a lot of fun. We were late getting started with school today, so it was good to have something quick and easy to do. Start off by drawing two Bs back to back on construction paper. Have the kiddies color them, and add stickers to make them look like butterfly wings. Then, cut them out. Owen is obsessed with cutting and now has to even cut the holes out of his letters. Glue them to another sheet of construction paper. Then glue on the body, some googly eyes, and something for an antennae. A pipe cleaner would have been great, but we're fresh out of pipe cleaners. A piece of yarn works too. :) And there you go, a beautiful bunch of butterflies!

B is for Buckeye!

This weekend on the way back from a wedding, Dave and I stopped to see the "Historic 'S' Bridge" in New Concord, OH. Well, we actually stopped to see the John and Annie Glen Historic Site, but since it was closed, we decided to tour the bridge. Which turned out to be...well, a bridge. Supposedly it was easier to build back in the 1830s, a bridge shaped like an S rather than one that went straight across the stream. Now, I did graduate in Civil Engineering, but for the life of me I can't imagine a scenario where building something squiggly could possibly be easier than building something straight. Maybe someone can enlighten me on that one. Anyway, while we were walking across the bridge, we noticed a Buckeye tree, and the nuts had fallen everywhere. We were just finding the pods, though, no seeds. So, we decided to go ahead and trespass into an alfalfa field bordering the stream where we saw there was a HUGE Buckeye tree with buckeyes hanging low enough that we could swat them with a stick and knock them off. We left with a whole grocery bag full of buckeyes. I think it might actually be illegal to take them like that, but luckily for us, the Buckeye police were off on Sundays. We thought it would be neat for the kids to tear the pods apart and dig the seeds out. Of course, being Buckeyes ourselves, we plan to dry them and make necklaces by alternating them with pretty scarlet and gray beads strung on a leather cord. What else would you do with Buckeyes. That's why they're grown, don't ya know? To make necklaces. :) Two things. 1) Please tell me I'm not the only person who did not know that Buckeyes actually grew in pods, and 2) Buckeyes are poisonous. Don't eat them. More importantly, Buckeye 'juice' is will burn the piss out of your eyes if you rub them after you've been digging Buckeyes out of their pods. Ask me how I know. The kids and I dug out some Buckeyes today, and they're drying. Since we're doing the letter B this week, I thought it appropriate to do a little Buckeye craft. By the way, there are absolutely NO free Brutus the Buckeye coloring pages on the internet. None. Draw a Buckeye on a piece of construction paper. It doesn't have to be wonderful. Then, tear or cut some small pieces of construction paper, and have the kiddies glue them on the nut. Tearing would be good for little hands, I thought. But, Owen wanted to cut his, so naturally everyone else had to cut. Even Bodie. He needed a little help with the scissors, so I held the paper and told him when to open and close. Just keep adding the brown paper pieces until the nut is as filled in as you want it to be. Some kids like to use a lot of glue. Like Maggie, for instance. Then, cut out your leaves. We talked about how the Buckeye tree has groups of five leaves. We also talked about how the Buckeye is the state tree and it was named by the Native Americans because the seed looks like a buck's eye. We did not talk about how the pattern of the leaves looks vaguely like marijuana, but you can if you'd like. Draw a branch coming off your Buckeye, or use another piece of brown paper. I gave the kids a choice and they preferred to just draw it. Then, glue on the leaves. At this point the whole project becomes anatomically incorrect as the seed you just did really grows not on the actual branch, but inside a pod which looks like this: See, not so attractive. So, we'll just be anatomically incorrect. Work with me here. Then, you can color the B if you want. Or not. And there you have it. All done. Wasn't that easy? Now, if only beating USC could be that easy.

Not a good start.

As many of you know, we have decided to keep the older boy kid at home this year and do Kindergarten with him here, and we'll reevaluate the situation next year.  I was so gung-ho for this homeschooling year to start.  I bought binders, and file boxes, and freshly sharpened pencils.  I spent hours perusing the internet for fun crafts and activities and worksheets.  I also bought uniforms.  Yes, I did.  But, that's another post. The electronic gods are not smiling down on my homeschool efforts.  First, the monitor died.  Then, the printer cartridges needed replaced.  $175 later, I thought I was ready to sit down and print off some of that fun stuff I'd spent the last three weeks' worth of naptimes bookmarking.  Today was the day.  And now, the printer heads are bad.  So today I spent naptime trying to clean the damn things, which didn't work (of course it didn't work).  Naptime is over and I'm no closer to my nice organized homeschooling dream than I was three hours ago.  But I'm more pissed than I was three hours ago.  Humpf.  Now the debate is whether or not to brave the idiot-infested Walmart to get a $39 printer or have it shipped for 97 cents, save my sanity, but not be able to print anything until Wednesday.  Grrrrrr.

Catholicism and Other Random Thoughts

Hello, Blog.  How've you been?  Good?  We're right in the middle of summer craziness here, but I'm feeling the need to put some of my "deep thoughs" down on paper...er...cyber-paper anyway. So, we decided back in October to give the Catholic church another chance.  As many of you may know, I kind of gave up on Catholicism when Dave and I were engaged and the Catholic church wouldn't marry us until Dave, who has never been and will never be Catholic, went through the very lengthy and complicated annulment process.  I, on the other hand, as the Catholic party, would have to go through a much less involved annulment of my first marriage train wreck.  Does that make sense to anyone?  'Cause it doesn't to me. We shopped around a few different churches, but for me, nothing really hit home.  I was doing it so that we could go to church as a family, but then I realized that Dave really didn't care an iota about being at church on Sunday.  So, if I were going to be the one doing the leg work...why not do what I felt comfortable with.  I had to first do a lot of soul searching and decide if *I* could be comfortable going to the Catholic church.  Would I feel hypocritical?  There are a LOT of things about the church I disagree with, but *theologically* I identify with Catholicism. One big thing I don't agree with, is the Church's teachings on birth control.  I'll even give them their arguments against the pill, considering the abortifacient properties.  But what about sterilization?  What about other methods?  The Church's arguments about this are that those things go against the will of God.  And that is the argument I just can't understand.  I've decided that until the Church decides to speak out just as loudly against fertility treatments, Clomid, IVF, egg and sperm donors and the like, I'm ignoring the whole "will of God" argument, as it just doesn't hold any water.  The will of God is for some people to have ZERO children.  The will of God is certainly not for people to have six children at a time.  I mean, God gave women two boobs, for Pete's sake.  It's pretty obvious by design what His intentions were. Now, I would like very much (sometimes) to have another child or two.  My husband does not and that would explain his willingness to have someone slice into his "boys" to take care of the possibility of any future babies.  I wasn't completely on board with the decision, but his arguments all make sense.  Children are expensive, I think, if you do it correctly.  Kids need sports, they need to get out of the house once in a while, they need some nice clothes to wear so they feel good about themselves, they need family vacations and college educations.  They need weddings and cars.  Those things get more and more impossible to provide the more children you have. There's this whole "Quiverfull" movement.  Have you heard of it?  Those who are Quiverfull will tell you each child is a blessing and use *one* Bible verse to defend their decisions to never, ever, ever, use *any* form of birth control.  And then the justification will start.  They will tell you that kids don't need their own bedrooms, that they don't need soccer, or nice clothes, or cars.  They'll tell you that it's perfectly normal for their 16 year old to spend more time with their one-year old than they do.  Everyone in a large family has to pitch in.  They'll try to justify why their kids are eating bologna every day.  They'll tell you that yes, in fact, God *does* want them to suffer and struggle.  I generally think to each their own.  But you know what...I have a problem with this.  I have a problem with a family having kids that they can't provide for and relying on my tax dollars to help them raise their brood.  I read a blog today by a woman who is pregnant with number nine despite myriad problems with previous pregnancies.  She's now facing the very real probability of either dying during this pregnancy, or losing the baby because of preterm labor, or both.  And you know what she has to say about it...if she or the baby die, that's God's will.  I came away from that post boiling mad.  What if, you know?  What if she leaves eight babies motherless?  What if she and her family have to go through the horror of burying another preterm baby?  Why?  Because she's so stuck in her convictions that she's taking for granted the blessings God has already given her.  God will take each one of us when He's ready, it's true.  But he gave us free will.  How is purposely getting pregnant knowing the risks (and especially if the risks are very very high) any different than refusing a life-saving medication?  Does this woman take herself to the doctor when she's ill, or does she rely solely on God's will then too?  Would she let her child bleed out in front of her citing God's will, or would she call an ambulance?  At what point do people pick and choose when to rely on God and when to rely on the gifts God gave us through modern medicine?  Why is a surgical procedure to remove a hot appendix o.k., but a surgical procedure to prevent pregnancies not? I'll never convince any Quiverfull person that they're philosophy and their arguments are just plain messed up (to put it mildly), because they've got that big book that they like to pull verses from, all the while ignoring other verses that might be just a line or two before or after.  And you know what?  Even the verse they cite is full of room for interpretation: Psalms 127:3-5 "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."  Where here does it say that my quiver can't be full of just four arrows?  Every quiver is a different size, no?  And youth?  What's youth?  Maybe God wants us to stop having children at 35? Well, there you have it.  My musings on everything from Catholicism to birth control to the lack thereof.  Have a nice day!

Kidisms

Owen:  Where's MOOOOOMMM??? Mom: I'm up here. Owen:  Awwwww, not on the computer AGAIN!  Why don't you hurry up? Mom:  I'll be down in just a minute. Owen:  Well, it doesn't seem like it.  It seems to me like you might stay up there forever until you die and then you'll leave and your bones will still be on the computer. Really, I don't spend *that much* time on the computer....

High-Low

Almost every evening at dinner, we play "High-Low", where we each get to tell about the high and low points of our day. The rules are you can only have one of each, and you HAVE to have one of each.  It's always interesting to see what the kids remember about the day and how their highs and lows compare to what I might think their highs and lows were.  Here are tonight's: Molly's high: Riding around in the snow in the Rhino with Dad. Molly's low:  Cleaning my room. Owen's high: Playing in the snow. Owen's low: Um....um....Maggie and Bodie are chewing with their mouths open. Maggie's high: Talking on the phone to Moshe. Maggie's low: When I was climbing so carefully up that mountain and then falling down in the snow, losing my mittens and then laying there screaming because you wouldn't pick me up. ***Disclaimer - I don't remember Maggie's low even happening, but apparently it did, because Maggie wouldn't ever lie.**** Bodie's high:  ****stares at me blankly, them purses his lips and bats his eyes**** Bodie's low: Ahhhh DAAAAAA!

Homemade Thin Mints

Yes, you read that title correctly.  No longer do you have to hunt down the little twerps in the green sashes and pay a bunch of money for cookies that seem to shrink every year, and decrease in number in the package every year.  Plus, these cookies are made with all natural ingredients.  No weird hydrogenated oils, no preservatives.  And they are YUM-O!  Homemade Thin Mints 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1/4 cup cornstarch 6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 1/3 cup milk (any kind) 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 3/4 tsp peppermint extract In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and the extracts. Mixture will look curdled. Gradually, add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated. Shape dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches (or about 4 cm) in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours, until dough is very firm. Preheat oven to 375F. Slice dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick - if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp - and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cookies will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are firm at the edges. Cool cookies completely on a wire rack before dipping in chocolate. Dark Chocolate Coating 10-oz dark or semisweet chocolate 1/2 cup butter, room temperature In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Melt on high power in the microwave, stirring every 45-60 seconds, until chocolate is smooth. Chocolate should have a consistency somewhere between chocolate syrup and fudge for a thin coating. Dip each cookie in melted chocolate, turn with a fork to coat, then transfer to a piece of parchment paper or wax paper to set up for at least 30 minutes, or until chocolate is cool and firm. Reheat chocolate as needed to keep it smooth and easy to dip into. Makes 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

Three

I love all my kids...equally.  Though perhaps not at the same time, but that's another post. I love Maggie.  She's spunky and sassy and fun.  She loves babies, animals, tattoos, her blankie, dark fingernail polish, chocolate, coffee, and Johnny Depp.  Yep, she's my kid.  She also love to cuss, and spit, and alternate beating up on her brothers.  She's cuddly and sweet, but she has quills and she won't hesitate to let them fly.  She's got an elaborate, explosive vocabulary.  Here's an example of a few Maggie-isms we've heard lately: "I'm gonna kill those cops....with a sharp knife." (we were watching the Santa Clause on Christmas Eve.  There's a scene where the police actually arrest Santa.) "Hee hee....get off of me before I rip your face off"  (said while I was wrestling with her on the floor) Me: "Maggie, pick up these stuffed animals."  Maggie: "Um, actually, I'm going to suck my thumb." "Where is my f*cking horsey?" Maggie is three, and as much as I LOVE my kids, I do not like three.  Three seems especially difficult for my little curly-haired spitfire.  Maybe we'll make it to four, but I'm sure we'll all be a little scarred, both physically (she packs a mean punch) and mentally (like the mortification that occurs when she lets fly with a "dammit" just as the priest is performing the consecration).  Maggie's always been demanding.  Remember this is the baby the neonatal nurses spent the night bouncing up and dow the halls when she was 12 hours old. This is the baby that screamed when strangers *looked* at her.  This is the child that has always, always been able to look a hole through you.  I'm interested to see what the future holds for her.