Well, I haven't moved yet...obviously...I just can't seem to make the break...the community here is so great...I'm hemming and hawing ...so until further notice this is my blog home!
Well, I've finally made he commitment to move my blog...I'll be posting at A Sweet life
from now on. I've been getting very frustrated trying to upload photo's here at HSB. I am going to miss the community, though. So, if you get the chance, check out the new blog...not much is happening there at this time...mostly housekeeping as I move my posts from here to there. But you'll notice a new header (designed for me by my Dear Knight) and some new pages...oh, and another thing... I'll be signing off as "Lola" from now on...the Dear Knight finally told me he thinks "Motherhen" is too frumpy. So , thanks to our nephew "T" for christening me with my new moniker when he was 2 (ok...not so new..."T" is 19 so I've been call Lola for a long while).
I've posted previously about my 1000 Things for which to be thankful here and here. However, I really slacked off in posting any more "things". Until now...I have been inspired yet again by Ann at Holy Experience. And so I have created my own homekeeping/gratitude journal. If I can do this any one can. I challenge you to start your own "Endless List" or add to the one you've already started. Check out Ann's blog, drop her a line , and be added to the "Endless List" blogroll. If we "...seek the things that are above" and " set our minds on things that are above and not on things that are on earth..."~ Colossians 3:1-2~ then we will be living indeed!
If you have never heard of Bravewriter I suggest you go straight away to the Bravewriter
website. There you will find a wealth of information regarding the Bravewriter lifestyle and the Bravewriter writing philosophy. The two oldest chicks and I just finished up a 6 week course called Kids Write Basic. This course taught ME how to teach my children how to write. It allowed me to see that my children have funny, interesting, thoughtful ideas in their heads and that they CAN write if they have something about which to write. It allowed my children to see that they can write and there is nothing to fear about writing. Bravewriter is not a curriculum...it is a lifestyle that nurtures the writer in you and your children!
This weekend, our local homeschool group held their annual Project Fair. This is the first year any of my chicks has entered. Lala created 8 small felt dolls using the book Felt We Folk by Sally Mavor as a guide. Lala created the 8 main characters from Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. She took first place for her age in the Arts and Crafts category. We are very proud!
I wanted to let you all know about a great online Geography resource. It is called Mystery Class. It is a free online line "class" the purpose of which is to use the changing sunset and sunrise times to track down the location of 10 "Mystery Classes" scattered throughout the Northern Hemisphere (or maybe the whole world--I think I'd better check that out...LOL). I copied this directly from the website:
'Somewhere under the sun, kids at 10 secret sites are watching how day length changes with the seasons. We challenge you to find the 10 Mystery Class sites using sunrise and sunset clues.'
It is completely free and looks very fun. I just signed up this morning and will be working with my three eldest children to track our daylight times and graph them appropriately. Hopefully we'll be successful and solve the "Mystery'.
Additionally, the site has other programs that utilize the sightings of various harbingers of spring (migrating birds, butterflies, melting ice, etc...) to track the changing seasons. There is even a "botany" related experiment involving the planting of tulips and charting the first sprouts....unfortunately we're a little late for that one but there is always next fall.
After a night of very little sleep what with a sick baby toddler..5:30 anounced its presence way too early for my taste. But, alas, Wonder-Beagle needed to be let out and fed, so out of bed I rolled. With me came Babycakes--newly 2 (as of yesterday) and unbelievably awake considering the amount of sleep we both missed. Giggling the whole time, she watched as I fed Doggie and retrieved the paper form the driveway. We made our way back into the house. Her sweet but LOUD voice accompanying us into the kitchen. She sniffed delightedly as I measured out the coffee and declared (still very loudly):
"Mmm, I love it!! That's my girl!
Then a look of consternation crossed her face. I had turned on the cofee maker and the water had started to drip down into the pot. With a deep intake of breath, she whispered:
For Christmas my Dear Knight gave me my own digital camera. I had been using his Nikon D70 with a wide angle lense but it was really too much camera for little ol' me. So he surprised me with a Nikon Coolpix S51--very cool!! Now I can click away and not worry about all the settings and such...I can even make movies with it! I am so much more a snapshot taker than a serious photographer as is my DK.
This image is one I took as I tested out my camera. It is my favorite tea cup and my favorite scented winter-time candle (peppermint/vanilla) along with a figurine my dear momma gave me for my 40th birthday. All sitting on the slim windowsill of my kitchen window. Not too bad for a novice photographer :-)
Today was the day for the chicks and I to get serious about our annual holiday baking frenzy. This little tradition started with my grandmother who always delivered homemade treats to her neighbors. It was (and still is) continued by my mom and me and my chicks. So, after baking 3 batches of almond-choclate-cranberry biscotti, one pan of creamy mint brownies, one batch of HOMEMADE peppermint marshmallows (OH MY! TO DIE FOR!!!) to go with the peppermint hot chocolate mix we whipped up last week along with the numerous batches of white and dark chocolate peppermint bark the Boy has been making over the last week, 3 loaves of pumpkin orange marmalade bread, and a final batch of gingerbread cookies (yesterday we made and decorated two additional batches and about 7 dozen butter cookies and the chicks built 2 gingerbread houses--from kits) and the last of the butter cookies. I finally called it quits for the day and sat down...Whew! It's been a long while since we/I have baked like this...and I'm tired--but it's a good tired. But really this is about the peppermint marshmallows. This is our first attempt at making them from scratch and am I glad we did. Who would have thunk that a simple solution of corn syrup, sugar, peppermint and vanilla extracts, water and gelatin could make such a light and fluffy treat! Absolute marshmallow perfection...just enough mint to let you know it's there but not too much to be overwhelming. These babies are going to be perfect with that hot cocoa!! Or even better---peppermint s'mores! Hey-Daddy-man fire up the ol' bar-b!! Many thanks go to Elizabeth at Real Learning for steering me in the right direction and feeding my peppermint addiction!
I have a habit of walking out my front door and down my driveway and gazing up at the night skies pondering what wonders the Lord has wrought. I am fascinated by the skies and the constellations. I try to discern from amidst the light pollution that floods my community as many celestial bodies as I can. I know Mars when I see it and Venus, too. I can point out the Pleiades and Orion and Cassiopeia. And I can easily spot the Big Dipper, although I have NEVER been able to find the Little Dipper. I am not sure when this habit of mine formed. Most likely during those many nights of walking and cradling restless wee chicks in my arms; "Look...can you see the moon? When the moon is out it is night time. Do you want to go night, night? Say 'night, night, Mr. Moon'." And even now as those restless nights are getting fewer and farther between I sometimes find myself alone, gazing at the moon and the stars. Tonight was different though...I had company. Not the wakeful babe-in-arms kind of company. No, tonight my two eldest daughters joined me...and we searched the heavens together, my arms encircling their shoulders as I pointed out to them Saggitarius and Scorpius--two constellations I only just "found" this evening. My excitement apparently rubbed off on them for they ran inside to consult "Find the Constellations" and "The Stars" (both by H.A. Rey of Curious George fame) to see what else they could find. It was one of those moments that makes my heart sing...surely if they attended school elsewhere this would not have happened--what reason would I have for owning the books I do on constellations and the night skies--they were all purchased our first year of home-schooling when the Boy was just a 1st grader and we decided to followthe recommendations from "The Well Trained Mind". We've only briefly looked through them on occasion all these years...but tonight there was a connection made between my daughters and those books; they will be "friends" for life. And a connection was made between my daughters and me; something a bit different from mom the teacher and daughters the students. Something special and full of wonderment...and for that I am eternally grateful.
Just the simple thoughts on life, children, books, nature, and God (to name a few) of an imperfect Christian momma as she ventures forth in search of the Sweet Life...
