a gypsy caravan

All Hallow's Eve Highlights

Annie as a pink poodle...

Mary as a fierce mountain lion...

Christopher as a cowboy ghost...

Benjamin as a glow in the dark Stick Man...

Without the flash... :)

Hope you all had a fun and Happy Halloween!

Woodcarving/Woodworking with Children

When Ben was four years old, we gave him a hammer, a two by four and a couple dozen nails. He was content for a long time, hammering away in the basement on his little workbench that I had picked up at a Montessori school sale.

He has always enjoyed all things artistic but really seems to have found a niche working with wood. He has made several projects over the years including a little table for his sister, shelves, wooden toys, bird houses and a mail organizer for Mike. Here he is sanding some wooden figures in the wood shop in our garage.

This fall he has focused on woodcarving and has completed two projects thus far. The first is a snowman ornament. Second, is a Christmas stocking that he mounted on a pin backing. He is planning to give both as Christmas gifts. They still need painting or staining but I had to show them to you all because I think they are super. :)

Very few tools are necessary to begin carving wood. Ben uses a Flexcut KN12 knife and wears a thumb guard. He also finds it helpful to use a non slip rubber pad (similar to those used to open jar lids) to hold the wood in place so the project does not move around while working on a table.

It is a good idea to start learning under the direction of an experienced carver. Ben took a beginning woodcarving class at a local woodcraft store, for one afternoon. The class was intended for adults but the instructor was welcoming to well behaved, older (ten and up) children who were serious about learning to carve.

There are also woodcarving clubs in most cities who meet monthly or more often. Many of the members are retirees who are more than happy to pass along their knowledge and experience working with wood to younger carvers. It is helpful to see other people's work by attending woodcarving shows where local artists can exhibit their wares on display or for purchase.

If you are interested in exploring woodworking or woodcarving with your children, I have listed some books in my right hand sidebar.

He,

who works with his hands,
is a workman.

He,
who works with his hands and his head,
is a craftsman.

He,
who works with his hands and his head and his heart,
is an artist.

--St. Francis of Assisi

Complimentary Knitting Patterns

I just had to share this link. There are hundreds of free patterns at Knitting Pattern Central available for knitters to use. With all of these lovely things to make, one might never have to buy a pattern again!

You might also find this instruction page useful. It explains many basic knitting techniques such as casting on, binding off, knitting in the round, adding a ball of yarn and more.

But do me a favor, don't sit in front of the computer and try to knit. Print out the directions and sit on your sofa with your children. Play some classical music or an Irish jig. Turn off the ringer on the phone and enjoy the moment. It will be much more satisfying than knitting by the glow of the computer screen. :)

Downtown Field Trip

The children and I took the day off from lessons on Friday to take a field trip to the city library. We decided to ride the bus downtown, which was an adventure in itself. My two youngest had never been on a bus and they had a grand time. They were thrilled that public transportation provides no seat belts and that they did not have to sit in car seats!

(Here, I would like to mention that Mary is four and gets dressed "all by herself". Thank you for letting me get that off my chest :)

When my two boys were small, Mike and I shared one car. We lived closer to downtown in the city itself, so the boys and I took the bus quite often when Mike took the car to work. Children seem to think there is something fun about riding a bus, subway or train. Mine really enjoyed it (even though the bus was a little less than clean--public transportation and all) If you know me, you can picture me passing out the handwipes at the end of the trip. LOL!

Anyhow, we met a few other families at the library where we took a guided tour. Our city's library is an enormous place, two large buildings of ten stories or so each. It is third in the nation in size only to New York and Boston.

The boys sprawled out on the floor in the Children's Literature department and read for quite some time.

After leaving the library and our friends, we walked around the downtown square. We stopped at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, inside which contains the names of thousands of Civil War soldiers who fought from our county alone.

Here is a lifesize bronze relief from one of the walls in the monument.

The kids paused for a moment so I could take a picture of them on the monument's steps.

The baby was ready to go home at that point. She fell asleep on the bus in the sling as we rode home. The rest of us ate licorice and sang songs. It was a very fun day!

Fresh Baked Bread

My home smells delicious this evening as the kids and I spent the day baking bread.  Here is the recipe if you'd like to give it a try.  Just the very scent of it adds five pounds to my hips! :)

Embroidery

My friend Kim sent me this link for some wonderful, free embroidery tutorials. If you check out the right hand sidebar, there are instructions for many different stitches.

The ladies on my mother's side of the family spent many Sunday afternoons stitching on their front porches together or by the fireplace in the winter. My family has table runners, placemats and tablecloths from several generations back, all lovingly stitched by hand. I have several runners adorning side tables in my home as well as atop girls' dresser.

I would like learn this pretty handcraft. I need to start small and not overwhem myself so I think I am going to begin here. The little squirrels holding the acorn are darling, as is the acorn fairy at the top of the page.

Anyone else have a favorite site for embroidery patterns?

Comments?

A few people have asked me why I have not opened each post for comments. Lest you think it is because I do not want to hear from all of you or that I do not value your opinion, I wanted to clarify.

Getting a comment in my inbox is such fun, way TOO fun for me. I used to run back and forth all day long looking for comments from my readers. Finally, I decided that if I was going to write again, I would have to discipline myself and only allow them on an occasional post. That way I am not so tempted to check back when I should be scrubbing my floors or washing my windows. :)

If you do want to comment on a certain post and the comments haven't been opened, feel free to drop me a line at the email address in the lefthand sidebar. Thanks!

Family Art

This fall we continue our art lessons using Artistic Pursuits art curriculum. Desite their edgy anime covers, the text and internal illustrations are classic and beautiful. Our family purchased the first K-3 book last fall and have been working slowly through it as a family. The lessons have been done by all of us, from toddler to adult. Though this first book is supposed to be for grades K-3, anyone who lacks a real art education would learn much from its lessons. (You can view the table of contents and sample pages at the last page linked.)

In addition to the Artistic Pursuits program, we are also enjoying the free lessons available from Stockmar. This is the lesson we worked on today. It involved scraping the beeswax crayons and ironing the shavings between two sheets of paper. Here is some of the finished artwork:

I will post our artwork from both the Stockmar and Artistic Pursuits in a sidebar photo album for you to see.

Heart of the Kitchen

Last spring when I decided not to blog anymore, I backed up all of my sites at a free Wordpress site before deleting the Typead blogs just in case.  Last week, I reimported my recipe blog back to Typepad.  I have linked it here: Heart of the Kitchen  and in the right hand sidebar.  I apologize that I am missing many photos and images.  They were deleted in the switch to Wordpress.  Hopefully, I will get them back up and visible soon.  Though there are no new posts at Heart of the Kitchen as of yet, I hope to add some yummy recipes in the near future. 

P.S. Karen, you will find the white fruitcake recipe there! 

Enjoy!

Tasha Tudor Shawl

A couple of people have asked about the shawl in my knitting photo album. It is based on Tasha Tudor's own shawl which she is never without on a chilly Vermont day. My friend Chris sent me the pattern as she knows I love Tasha Tudor. Chris is the patient woman who taught me to knit when Benjamin was just a tiny baby. :)

You can view and print out your own copy of the pattern here. It knits up beautifully and is a relatively simple design as the entire shawl, sans the lace edging, is done in garter stitch. Tasha and her family have a lovely website with many of their wares available for purchase. Enjoy!

Using What We've Got

Our backyard becomes a skating rink this time of year.  There is no ice to be seen but the ground is covered with thousands of acorns, making walking very difficult and slippery.  We have a number of pin oak trees on our property.  All of them are very tall and laden with nuts.

It is rumored that many acorns mean a cold and snowy winter.  If that is the case, we are in for a rough one!  Rather than let all the squirrels grow fat on the acorns,  we have decided to put them to good use.

Our family is studying Botany together this year.  While there are various books we are using, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George is full of ideas for identifying edible plants and general wilderness survival.  The kids and I are using it as a read aloud this fall and plan to try some of Sam Gribley's excellent culinary ideas. :)  First on the menu are acorn pancakes!  They are mentioned in the first chapter of the book.  If you scroll part way down this page, you will see directions for baking acorns and how to prepare the flour.  There are many recipes to be found here.   

Christopher has also put the acorns to good use for math manipulatives. While the weather is still warm, we are doing most of our lessons outside.  Here he is working on his 5x table. 

I will try to post photos (and reviews :) of the acorn pancakes later in the week.

Annie

There is something utterly irresistable about my littlest girl. It might be those plump, kissable cheeks that frame her sweet smile or those petal pink lips that curl up at the corners. When she smiles, I get a warm feeling deep in my stomach. It spreads up my chest and neck and bursts out into a big, goofy grin.

If you tickle her under her chin, you can catch the scent of her delicious baby breath (like a mix of vanilla, honey and chamomile). She is terribly ticklish. She throws back her head, mouth open wide, laughing her deep, bubbling laugh. Then she signs "More" and dares you to do it just one more time, looking at you out of the corner of her blue eyes.

And I do it, again and again and again, as many times as she asks because she will only be this old for this very moment. Then, the moment is gone and another has taken its place.

Just like that.

Hello and Welcome!

Thank you for stopping by! Here, I hope to keep a record of our family life; to share what we are learning, how we are growing and where we've been travelling. Please stop in often for a visit. We are glad you're here!