Misunderstandings

     I've been spending some time lately making Christmas presents for other people's children.  Unlike the gifts I've been working on for my kids, I've been working on these things in front of the kids.  This has caused no small amount of misunderstanding with Samuel.  He has somehow got it into his head that I am only making toys for other children, and he wont have any toys on Christmas.  His little heart is broken, and I can't seem to make him understand that Mommy has been working on toys for him too.  He has gotten Abriel worked up about it too, and she has started coming up with very specific things that she wants for Christmas.  What she has asked for is a stroller and a Violet root child.  Luckily, I'm already making them.  It's nice when what you want for your child and what they want happen to coincide.  I will be glad when Christmas is here, and they will realize that I haven't forgotten them. 
      And in case your wondering, this is what started the big fuss.

A little camping set for my niece.  It has a tent, sleeping bag with pillow, and a campfire.  I'm thinking about making some of these to sell in my Esty shop. 

     And a little doll for my granddaughter.  The body is made from a felted angora sweater, so it's super soft and snugly. This is the first time I have stitched the hair directly on to the head.  I had some yellow fingering weight wool yarn, that wasn't enough to make anything much with, so it was perfect for this.  I didn't fill in the whole head, as it is mostly covered with a crochet cap, but the little bit peaking out looks cute.
      I really like making these types of doll.  I use the pattern for the "floppy doll" out of "Making Toys With Children."

     Along with making toys, I finally started dyeing some of my wool roving.   I say finally, because even though I love dyeing silk and wool yarn, I was very intimidated by dyeing wool roving.  I had this vision of it turning into this big felted blob the instant I submerged it in hot water. 
     I needed some colored wool for projects, and was even planing on buying some, but since I hate buying what I can make myself, I thought I would give it a try, and just see.  It turned out to be easy, easy, easy.  The colors are beautiful, it did not felt at all, and it's so much cheaper this way!  All I did was very gently push the wool down into the dye bath, let it sit for a few minutes, then scoop it up with a long spoon.  The water drains out of it quickly, so there is no need to squeeze it.  I then put it in a colander and ran cool water over it, and let it dry.  I then got to use some of it to make the "fire" in the doll campfire!

Winter Nature Table Without Snow

            Our winter nature table is up before January this year, which is a first for us. Woo hoo!  This year has been so warm, I decided not to put a white cloth down for snow.  I did add a little bit of wool for snow, but it looks slightly yellow, and we all know what yellow snow is. ;)  I still have the icicles and snow children, who are looking down and wondering when it is going to snow.  I am wondering the same thing.  I would love some snow this year, as we didn't have any to speak of last year.  Today is cold and overcast, so I might get my wish. 
      I put a purple silk behind everything, as that is the color of our mountains in the winter.  I love the way the mountains change color through the seasons.

Turkey Anatomy Lesson

     Today, while getting a turkey ready to pop in the oven, I had an Ah ha! moment, and realized that I had a fantastic teaching opportunity in front of me.  Inside that bag of giblets, that I never know what to do with, and so therefore ends up in the trash, were organs!  What a great way to learn some anatomy! 
      I have a confession.  I have never actually opened the giblet bag, and I thought it contained an organ called a giblet.  I wasn't sure what this was, only it was obviously something turkeys had, and we don't.  It turns out that giblets are not an organ, (OK, don't laugh or wonder how I could have not known that.) but are actually the heart, liver, and gizzard.  I've eaten all of these before, and they are quite tasty and not at all gross, but we weren't going to eat them today.  We were going to dissect them! 

These are the neck, heart, gizzard, and liver.

     Anna thought it was cool getting to touch, feel and cut open the organs.  She was impressed at how smooth and slippery the liver was.  "Like wet silk."  
     We also talked about what the different organs were used for, and what was similar to ours, and what was different.  Such as what a gizzard is used for and why we don't have one. 
     We then looked up some info online an examined the bird diagram below. 

Doll house, finished and ready for Christmas!

    I finally finished the doll house I was making for the kids Christmas.  It is to go along with the play mat, seen here. I also made a stable, but put it away without taking pictures first.  I hate when I do that.   I loved making the doll house, especially the roof.

       A few months ago I saw this Norbert Vereuer doll house.  I fell in love, and just knew I would have to try and make it.  I changed up the design a little bit to better suit our needs, but it has the same feel.  Mine doesn't have a balcony, as I wanted the house to be able to be pushed up against a wall, to save space.  I also like round windows, so I added some.  They look kind of gnome or hobbitish, don't you think?  My stairs are different (I couldn't figure them out) and I have a doorway between the rooms.  All in all, I like mine better, and I love the fact that I made it myself. 

      Here's how the top of the roof looks.   I really had no idea how I was going to work until I started putting the slats in place, and just fiddled with it until I liked the way it looked. 
      These pictures really show how small and messy my shop is.  I really need to get better at cleaning up as I go.  I tend to let everything pile up until my project is finished.  Everything is precariously placed here and there, so when Dave comes in to help me out with something, he's a bit of a bull in a china shop.  I have Susannah sized pathways around every thing, so he can't take a step without knocking into something.
     The doll house, mat, and stable are for all the kids to share, but I think Anna will appreciate the doll house most.  She sets up little doll's houses all the time, and is very creative in using blocks, books, and everything else to make little rooms and furniture.  I did wonder briefly if giving her a doll house would kill the creativity that she shows with these set ups, but then I thought, "No, she would love a doll house.  Stop over thinking." 
     

One of Anna's dollhouse scenes

Decorating the Tree

     This year was different tree decorating experience for me.  Instead of doing it completely by myself or with only Anna helping me, as I have for years. This year I didn't lift a finger!  Thanks to a bad case of tennis elbow, I stepped back and let the kids decorate it by themselves.  Well, nearly by themselves.  Dave put up the lights, and I couldn't resist doing a little repositioning the next day. 

They did really well, although it's a good thing I have a lot of unbreakable ornaments!  The twins kept dropping them while trying to get them on the tree.  The more fragile ones, Anna put on after the twins went to bed.

 

    Abriel, being the youngest, got to put the star on.  Since Samuel is older only by thirty minutes, he can do it next year.  That's the good and bad thing about being a twin.  You have to share your birth order position. 

 

    Anna's overseeing of the decorating reminded me of how my oldest sister, Elisha, used to dictate to her younger siblings just how the tree should be decorated.  Even to this day, I can't decorate the tree any other way.  A siblings lasting influence.

 



Advent

   Yesterday was the first week of Advent, and even though we did not do anything for it, (due to my procrastination, broken advent wreath, etc.)  I thought I would post my Advent chart that I made last year.  My printer seems to be running out of ink, but it's suppose to be colored purple, pink, and red.  You can still get the general idea. 

   The reason I made the chart was to make preparing for Advent as easy as possible, and not have to do any last minute scrabbling to prepare.  I guess since I'm already behind, I need all the help I can get!  I also really want the kids and myself to memorize some Advent hymns this year, so I thought we could work on memorizing one hymn a week.  

 

 



Hello November

     October was here and gone, and I feel like I've just blinked.  Why does time go so fast when you need more of it? 
     We've already had our first snow; (in October!) luckily not as much as we were predicted to get, and our power stayed on. Yipee!  Normally you just need to look at a power line funny, and our power goes out.  The kids played out in the slush a little bit, until Samuel threw a slush ball at Abriel, and that was the end of that.  I also realized that the kids have all out grown or lost their mittens, and I needed to make some more.  I found a great free mitten pattern online at five green acres.  I had some wool sweaters left over from some other stuff, and some unbelievably soft cashmere sweaters that I had been saving for the perfect project.  I used the wool for the outer layer, and the cashmere for the lining. They are sooo soft inside, it's like heaven.  I love thrift store sweaters!

     I just finished them tonight, after the weather warmed up some, but they'll be ready for the next time it snows. 
    
      Halloween night was still pretty frigid.  Not exactly a great night to be out trick-or-treating.  We shivered through a few minutes of trunk-or-treating at our church, and then decided to call it a night.
    That's the way to trick-or-treat.  You don't have to drag your kids around a neighborhood, but you still get loads of candy.  Candy, which I am contemplating eating right now.  Not that I need any, but less candy for the kids would be better for them right?  So I'm really just thinking of the health of my children right now.  Right.

A True Princess

    There seems to be a feeling these days that there is something wrong or unhealthy about the pink princess hype that surrounds your average little girl.  Girls love pink, and girls love princesses, and probably have from time immortal.  The difference now is that girls are bombarded with images and all the dinky little accessories from a very stereotyped and unrealistic version of princesses.  These of course are the Disney princesses.  They all have impossibly large eyes and small waists, and whether it be spunky Jasmine or demure Cinderella, they all have one thing in common.  Once they have found the man of their dreams, their life is complete.  They can now live "Happily Ever After".   
          O.K., I can see something wrong with that.  I certainly have tried to keep my girls from becoming immersed in the Disney fluff, but does that mean there is something wrong with all fairy tales and princesses? 
          There is a TV show on PBS called Super Why, which has to be my all time least favorite kids show.  The reason is because they revise traditional fairy tales until they are diluted little politically correct things that bear no resemblance to the original fairy tale.  The writers of Super Why evidently think there is something wrong with fairy tale princesses.  So Rapunzel is portrayed as a chubby little girl with brown hair and glasses.  ( I have a chubby little girl with brown hair and glasses, but she's cute)   St. George, (called Knight George) is a coward who is afraid of the dragon.  The princess doesn't need to be rescued; the dragon is just in her way.  The repetitive message through all of them is, Princesses are ordinary looking, and do not need to be rescued by any prince.  But what's the fun in that?  Why not, instead of changing traditional fairy tales, into boring insipid things that no one wants to hear about, or letting your little girl become infatuated with a Disney ding bat, instead find fairy tales that encourage girls to be truly princess like? 
      We have been reading The Princess and The Goblins by George MacDonald.  You couldn't find a better role model for a girl.  Princess Irene is faithful, truthful, kind, and very brave.  She is also beautiful.  All of MacDonald's princesses display true princess behavior, and if they don't, they get taught a lesson, as in The Lost Princess! 

        The way I see it, let your girls be pretty little  princesses, but remember what it is that makes you a princess.   And it's not the inability to sleep on a pea!                                                                                           

Queen Elizabeth I Chalkboard Drawing

     This is my first drawing of the year, as our history readings haven't shown a central theme yet, but as we are getting into Queen Elizabeth's reign in Our Island Story, I decided to draw her on the chalk board.  Not only are we reading her in OIS, but we will soon be reading an autobiography about her by Diane Stanly.  I love Diane Stanley's autobiographies.  Anna and I both were captivated by Joan of Arc last year.  Elizabeth is another strong and fearsome woman, who was so iconic that an entire age is named after her.  I am looking forward to studying about her with Anna. 
     As far as the drawing goes, she looks a little ghastly, as it is hard to get good flesh tones with only primary colors and white and black.  I can not wait to get new chalk, especially since I used up every last bit of white on this drawing.  I am going to get some of this chalk, that is meant for chalkboard drawings.  I can't wait to try it out. 

Michaelmas

     Here is a brief picture summary of our Michaelmas celebrations.  

Making the dragon bread

All ready for the oven

After being baked, with fire (bell pepper) coming out of his mouth

Dragon fire salad

Slaying the dragon!