Kendra's excited to have finished her 1st grade math book! 

According to PrairieFrog tradition, upon completion of a level in math the accomplished scholar and her teacher are both entitled to a lunch out together.  Kendra chose a fun local bakery that grinds their own bread and makes a tantalizing variety of fresh sandwiches, salads, and pastries.  She had heard tales of their turnovers, and had been planning the outing for weeks. 

Although it was a bit cool, we couldn't resist the allure of plein air dining. 

Over the summer I hope to help Kendra accomplish the remainder of her first grade graduation requirements. 

I so enjoy those one-on-one outings with each child!  Kendra's a sparkling and sweet conversationalist!

Lovely handmade flowers:

Precious handmade cards:

The biggest size of Land's End Tote (Perfect for back exercise and hauling ALL the library books!):

Playtime Outside After Church:

Making dandelion cookies:

And a phone call to my own dear mother!  (Sorry, no picture of the telephone.) I love you, Mom!

The children are drawing with colored pencils at the table.  Keianna asks, "Daddy do you know how to sharpen pencils?"  (Perhaps only Mommy has this talent?)  Ken replies that he can, and willingly sharpens it for her. 

A few minutes later, Keianna looks up from coloring to announce, "I'm proud that Daddy can sharpen pencils!"

Warning, I'm about to do something daring, and post the Questions and Answers below despite a migraine.  Odd syntax and homonym issues might cause me to regret this reckless move later.  (Why does my brain have homonym issues with migraines?  Admittedly, I am spell-check-dependant even at my best, but I KNOW my homonyms--they are usually the only words I spell correctly!  With a migraine though, I can't sea strait and eye make two many errors.  I hope ewe will excuse me if this makes know cents.)  ;)

 

Posted by MamaMahnken (24.40.145.229)

So, I just realized, and I want to know - when do your kids bathe? I am trying to figure out the most efficient way to get 4 kids clean, besides hosing them off in the backyard... :) Veronica

 

A. You mean we are supposed to BATHE them?  Our dirty little secret is out?

Seriously, we do bathe them, but only about 1x a week in winter and 2x a week in summer.  Typically we snag them in the 5-6 pm slot on the schedule 1 or 2 at a time.  Kaira does her own bath without help.  (I wash her hair separately in the sink.)  Ken bathes the boys together at this age.  Keianna and Kendra were together, but are now bathed individually.   Typically bath night is Saturday, and we just morph the schedule accordingly, and skip recorder practice or whatever. 

Posted by Anonymous (216.129.238.194)

Hello! You have had a busy household! What fun changes in your home! I enjoy visiting your blog....gleaning ideas and being inspired by your fun learning ideas and dedication to home schooling. Thank you for sharing with all of us. :) A question for you.....your coffee table full of books is an awesome idea. I love the idea of having books around relating to the similar subject/time period. My question....how are you able to have all of those books for that same subject all at the same time? We have a small library here in our area, but I have to place a "hold" on many of the books, which means waiting for them to come from another library or from someone else who has checked them out. How do you keep it so organized that all of those books are available right when you need them? Thank you so much for your time! I know you don't know me, but please know that I've really appreciated gleaning ideas from you. I do have an e-mail, and I now have a "nook" (similar to a blog) over in the "Homeschool Lounge" that is now up and running. God bless you and yours, JamieB A Montana home schooler

A. Hi, Jamie!   I typically buy or borrow (from friends) the ones that I feel are "absolute must haves"--even if the library has them.  (Usually only a couple fall into this category.)  Then, because I have a serious book addition, I buy a few more that I just kinda want after making sure the library doesn't have them.   When I go to the library, I'm just looking for icing on the cake!   Especially considering that we aren't in a really big city, our library has fantastic, although often a bit quirky selection. They always have some wonderful surprises!  I usually search around the dewy numbers of the books suggested in my Tapestry of Grace manual, and then also by the names of people or events we are studying. 

Posted by Jeaneen (168.103.141.248)

Hello, I really have enjoyed reading some of your blog and am curious where you got the "rack" to hang the teaplates/cups?How much was it? I have saucers I am collecting and was going to hang them by glueing a paperclip to the back-got the idea from a plate I found at a thrift store:) Also how did you hang the plates with string? I am AMAZED at your clean house! What are some of your hosue rules/ways to help it stay so nice? THankyou for your time

A. Hello, Jeaneen!  The plates are easy, they have a lacy border of holes to string a ribbon through, and are designed for hanging.  The hangers for the tea cups were a Christmas present from my sweet husband.  I had my grandmother's tea cups sitting in boxes because my hutch and curio were filled.  My clever husband found a link to Ritter's Gifts titled "hint for wife for Christmas" or something of the sort saved in his "favorites" bookmark on the computer, and "surprised" me with the cup holders!  

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I've decided that I need to reply to the comments in the comments because otherwise I forget to do a separate post.  I'm going to try doing it that way for a bit and see if I can be consistent.  :)  Comments are so much fun.  Thank you all for leaving them.

The children are tucked in bed and I'm heading there too.  Goodnight, bloggy friends.

Just because she wanted me to take pictures of her summer "do"

Below are the books we are reading to compliment the next four weeks of our Tapestry of Grace studies:

I've been meaning to post this for a week or two, but kept getting distracted.  Still, it is a glimpse into my odd sense of humor.

We recently ordered a lap top computer.  I kept teasing Ken that he already had a Dell lap-top (me), and he didn't need another, but he decided to two-time on me anyway. 

We chuckled over the messages as he placed his order.  First he clicked a box saying he agrees to all Dell's terms and conditions!    WOO HOOO!  I have him where I want him now!

As it processed our credit card, it flashed the message, "Thank you, Ken, for choosing Dell."  I gave the guy a big hug (after all, he agrees to abide by my terms and conditions) and echoed the sentiment.

School is at half speed this week, as yesterday we barely touched academics, choosing instead to watch movies, recover fully from colds, and enjoy my coronation.  (Re: Coronation: I finally have a new crown on a tooth that has been quite the project for the past few months. )

Today we didn't touch academics at all!  With the colds behind us, we enjoyed a wonderful  treat and met up with my friend who was traveling through the area.  We had a splendid time visiting, and my children thoroughly enjoyed her darling daughter!  (The pictures posted here are just my own wee ones though.  I didn't happen to ask for a photo release to post my friend's pictures.  I must say, her  munchkin is absolutely adorable. Aw... sorry, tantalizing about pictures I won't post is hardly fair, is it?)

Kieran enjoyed a new game in the swings.  It is called "Bop Big Brother on The Head."  As the swing came forward each time, he'd give Keegan a bop.  Oddly, big brother enjoyed the game as much as Kieran did.
 

Still battling the sniffles a bit, but everyone's much better today. 

Millet is the medium of the day:

Sisters look on:

He spotted the camera, and wants to "smile":

In other news: I've somehow missed answering a few questions in the comments, so I'll try to catch up and do a Q&A post soon.  :)

Today a couple of the children were blurry-eyed with colds, and we quarantined ourselves from church. The children amused themselves with carved wooden animals their older cousin sent from a missionary trip to Kenya. Their play was realistic, and each time I looked the lion had some poor giraffe down for dinner, or the crocodile was attacking a water buffalo!

Here's sweet little Keianna, her eyes have been streaming non-stop from the cold, but she had a smile most the day and begged to go to church.

On Safari

Kendra just compared me to a spider.  
 

She comes skipping across the kitchen, Kendra style, with book in hand.  She'd just been reading aloud to her daddy from a nature reader.  "Mommy, you are like a spider!"

"Oh, how is that?"


"You like a clean house.  Mrs. Spider has to have a clean web.  If a leaf gets in her web she shakes it off, and if she can't shake it off, she'll cut it out of the web to get it out.  Then she fixes the web, but she can't have dirt or clutter in it."

I think it is a compliment?

Today we made a talking feather as part of our project week and Colonial wrap-up.  I read the children the Sioux legend about how the crow and the magpie were both squaking at once and not listening to each other, and how wise Eagle instructed both of them and gave a lesson to the two legged creatures at the same time. 

Kieran enjoyed the legend immensely--Especally in the parts where I imitated Crow and Magpie!   He joined in mimicking the, "Caaaw-caaaw" and "Kaaack-Kack"

Tonight at dinner we put the feather to use, passing it around the table, and allowing only the feather holder to talk. 

Ken's been on afternoon shift more than midnights or days lately, and I've somehow resisted reworking our schedule.  Perhaps I wasn't trusting the shift to "stay put."  I'm sure he'll bounce shifts a bit, but it looks like it is going to be his default shift for the present. 

This printed sheet seldom gets looked at after a week or so, because it just becomes our routine and is usually pretty close to what we've fallen into naturally.  Still, it helps so much to have it on paper somewhere. 

Ah, beautiful!  It feels good to have things readjusted!

We've come to the end of our Colonial Era Unit, but are lingering one extra week for project fun!  There are many things on our list including, making hardtack, corn husk dolls, a talking feather, maple syrup candy and perhaps playing with Kaira's drop spindle.

Today we made Parkin, a traditional cake from the North of England that was popular in this era.

Parkin

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ginger

1 cup of oats

1 cup of milk (or 1 cup of kefir and 1/4 cup water--we used this option!)

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup molasses and 1/2 cup honey: mixed together  (treakle and golden syrup would be more English and authentic.)

Mix flour, baking powder and ginger.  Soak oats in milk or kefir) for 30 minutes.  Melt the butter, then  combine with molasses and honey.  After the 30 minute oat soaking, combine wet ingredients and add to dry. 

Pour into 9"x11" pan and bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes clean.  Serve warm. 

It turned out beautifully and was delicious!  It will certainly go into our PrairieFrog Recipe Binder as a keeper!  (I might tweak the honey to molasses ratio and have a bit more honey than molasses--keeping enough molasses for a rich flavor.)

Kaira: Measuring carefully:

Kendra: Stirring

I love Kendra’s anticipatory expression as we get it out of the oven for dessert:

Kaira asked whether Parkin is still popular in England.  I have a couple of English friends I hope to ask, but thought perhaps a reader here would know.  Anyone?