Oyster stuffing. Pecan pie. Corn casserole. Pecan pie. Pumpkin pie. In that order.
Now I just have to brave the grocery store rodeo and get to baking!
This is absolutely my favorite holiday, even if the grocery store is crazy.
Enjoy your holiday and hug the one (or ones) your with.
Jen
Gobble, gobble, gobble,gobble...quack, quack, quack, quack
Impression: homeschool
I was planning on doing a little mini unit on the Impressionists during our time in France, but I stole an added idea from Joy.
Today I took Asher and Rachel to one of my favorite spots to paint en pleine air.
Before we went we looked at some great art books. Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists is a fantastic series for elementary students. We picked up Monet and Renoir in the series, and throughly enjoyed the stories and illustrations. Picture This by Joyce Raimondo is a fun book chocked full of activities to add to your Impressionism studies. Rachel was most excited by a book about Degas. She absolutely loved his work, being that his subject was her favorite thing:ballet. And my personal favorite was a book my sister-in-law Meghan picked up for the girls called Katie Meets the Impressionists.
Then it was off to paint. The weather was as close to perfect as I can imagine, and the sky was the brightest blue. And as for the company, parfait.
Right back at ya
Jennifer blogged total randomness tonight, so I thought I'd reply...
I love blogs. I love keeping up with friends through blogs. They are so much more real than Facebook or Twitter. We used to write letters to each other, now we publish a blog post.
That Pepper Cheese Chowder needs a new name. I always get confused about the ingredients. Isn't it called "Pepper" because of a habenero or something? I made spaghetti tonight. I had leftover sauce from Aaron's lasagna birthday dinner, so I threw it on some noodles I bought earlier today.
When I went to the store today I had to pick up something for a baby shower. I bought chips and salsa and picked up noodles for tonight. When I got to the shower I realized I left the noodles in the grocery bag I brought in. So I put the noodles in my new very big purse because I was being lazy and didn't want to walk to the car. A little while later I told Skyler I had a book for her in my purse and she pulled out the noodles and said, "No book, but you got some spaghetti!" Then when I came home I told Aaron I got noodles and I went to the bathroom. When I came out he was standing there with my purse in one hand and the noodles in the other. He said, "Did you steal them?"
I hate blowing leaves, but only because the extension cord thing. Aren't there leaf blowers you don't have to plug in? I also get pretty annoyed with floors. Aaron loves doing floors, don't ask me why. Maybe it's because I cleaned the house today, but I can't think of any chores I like.
I, too, wore a Debbie Gibson hat. I think I look pretty cute in hats. When I'm old I totally plan on wearing really big ones to church every Sunday.
35 is not old, but tell David I said Happy Birthday. And your parents Happy Anniversery. Do you remember it was Williams b-day too? And the anniversary of my dad's near fatal car crash?
I want to have a movie night and watch Mama Mia and Julie and Julia. And all involved will dance.
If I had another boy I think his name should start with a "J". We've got two A's, two R's and only one J. But then, if I had another boy, we couldn't pull a chair up to the end of a booth in a restaurant. We'd have to wait for them to put two tables together. And I couldn't say "Party of Five" and sing "Everybody wants to love, like they need to love..."
You should adopt.
Old school Third Day. We really need to get us one of those chairs at the Strand.
When I was little my dad always did this thing where he asked me if I've ever seen a crow land on a fence post. Then he would make his hand like a bird and make caw sounds. Then the "bird" would land on me and tickle me. I do this to my kids all the time.
In response to the rave...my MIL reads this blog.
I got an email today about two female calico cats available. Do you want one?
I hate the phone. I'd much rather hang out with people in person.
I'm terrible at googling things. You know that commercial where the wife asks if the husband booked tickets to Hawaii and his response is a little shady? Yea, that's me and google. But I almost always have less than 50 emails in my inbox. Except right now, I have 130. It's totally stressing me out.
I was just thinking today how people don't generally think about the poor in America, because of how rich our poor are. But there are extremely miserable people out there, and money is not going to change that. Only the love of Christ.
Fantasy Football is not as fun as I thought it would be. In fact, I'm really not enjoying football at all this season. Probably because I'm terrible at Fantasy Football, and I want to be the best.
We're having family game night and I'm over here typing on my blog. Needless to say Aaron and the kids are annoyed.
I have a secret desire to live on a farm. Aaron really doesn't share that dream.
Rachel won Monopoly! Only because I sold her all my property for $5, just to insure Aaron wouldn't win.
Eye Key /u/
So... the last couple weeks we have been imaginary visiting Norway and Scandinavia.
For those of you just joining us we are going around the world in 180 days, studying World Geography and cultures.
Norway has been fun. Today we took a little field trip to Ikea. Bet you didn't know that some of the largest forests in the world occupy Norway, Sweden and Finland. Hence, furniture is a major export. Hence, Ikea. Plus, they have a Swedish market so I could pick up some authentic eats.
The other day we did some Rosemaling, which basically means painting roses. I found a great pattern and instructions at Teach art at Home.
We spent two days studying Lapland and reindeer herders. I got two great books, Welcome Back Sun and Far North, to compliment our studies. We also made a Lapland felt square from the book Global Art.
Next week it's on to France...so stay tuned.
This is the kids painting their rosemaling projects. Except Asher is painting a crocodile he calls a lizard, and I promise there are no roses on it.
Rachel's Lapland felt square. The clothing in Lapland is bright and has many patterns. This way they are very visible against the white snow.
Nothing like a big plate of Swedish meatballs! Yum!
Star Wars in Concert
Here's a riddle:
Where can you go to find thousands of dorks , a few Jedi and a triangle player?
Well, Star Wars in Concert- of course.
You say you don't know what that is? Neither did I until last night.
If you want to find out more about this incredible experience go here: http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/#_theshow
I'm Gonna Dress You Up In My Love
My boy is the "ruler" of the world!
Darth Asher
Rachel is the American Girl Felicity. My mom whipped up this beautiful dress for her. Gorgeous.
Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair! I made this costume. The white fabric is from the curtains I had in my first apartment when I got married.
What was your favorite costume as a kid?
*Bonus points if you get my post title*
Break an Egg
I have to admit, I've fallen in a bit of a homeschool mama bad habit. This year it has been so easy to skip science experiments. I heard other homeschoolers do this in years past and honestly, I gawked at the thought.
But this year I have fallen into the trap. I don't know if it's our science book or what, but I am always skipping science expriments. Sometimes I'm determined to do them, only to find I don't have the necessary materials. Other times they take way too long. And then there are the days where I'm just plain lazy.
So today's experiment called for eggs. Simple enough. Until I opened the fridge to discover I was out of eggs. I was starting to think I was just over science expriments forever, but changed my mind and headed out to the store. I mean, it's really not that hard to buy a dozen eggs. Especially in the name of science.
Our experiment was all about the arc shape and how strong it is. First we tried to squeeze the egg to break it, over the sink of course. I squeezed as hard as I could with no luck. The egg was still in one piece!
Then we were to take the small tip off four eggs and stand them up like domes. We each guessed how many books we could stack on the egg shells. I guessed three and Rachel guessed four.
At this point I'm thinking, "Oh... Rachel was right." But the eggs still were not broken so we just started grabbing all the books around us.
The next book after this picture was taken actually broke the eggs. I forgot to take a picture of that because I was frantic to clean up egg shells. But I couldn't believe this many books stood on four fragile egg shells!
This was an egg-cellent experiment. Skipping science is not all that it's cracked up to be. I won't scramble anymore for an excuse to get out of it.
Weekend Update
I am going to clean my house today. I usually clean on Saturday, but not this weekend. It was crazy busy. But I had fun. Friday night we had dinner and watched Survivor with friends. Saturday we headed out to visit my mom. We were going to leave at 1 p.m. and about 12:40 Aaron asked, "What are we going to do about the dog while we are gone?"
I seriously had not thought about it. Oops. In the summer I think we had a few quick overnight trips and we just left the dog outside. I mean 24 hours or less and my thinking is that he was once homeless. He can handle one night on my covered deck in his favorite patio chair. But I totally forgot about the fact it is freaking freezing cold around here. So I called my mom and asked if we could "board" him in her garage. She agreed. So in addition to three kids, overnight bags and my wedding dress* we also had to get Radar's HUGE crate and Radar in the Honda CRV. I think we have hit capacity in our car. I'm pushing the limit on my mini-van stubbornness.
So we were off, looking just like the 2009 version of The Beverly Hillbillies. We had a great time with my mom. The kids painted pumpkins and I made a big pot of chili. We watched Bait Car and opened our presents from their recent trip to Disney World.
And every few hours we took the dog out for a walk.
Sunday morning we got up and went to visit the church my mom and her husband have been going to for awhile. We very rarely visit other churches, so it was pretty fun to check out other Christian digs. Nice church, but it made me miss mine.
After reloading the car we were off. We made it about two miles before Rosie had to go to the bathroom. Another 15 and the gas light came on. Did I mention we were trying desperately to make it to Aaron's dad's 60th birthday? The usual 1 hour trek took almost two and we had to stop off at home to drop the dog off. Things take so much more time when multiplied by six.
But we made it. We had a great day celebrating my wonderful father-in-law. Then it was off to celebrate Kara's birthday. We ate tapas and laughed and listened to live music and ate delicious cake. Wonderful.
I got home to find a large box on my doorstep. I had lent my maternity clothes out almost two years ago and they had been returned. On my doorstep. Finding your maternity clothes on your doorstep is almost as nerve racking as finding a baby on your doorstep. I quickly deposited the box as far out of sight as possible, with the intention of putting them in storage today.
Now I'm not saying kids aren't great. But go back and read the 2nd paragraph of this post. Nothing else is fitting in our car!
So recap of today's to-do list:
1) Clean house
2) Get maternity clothes far, far away.
*After the recent flooding I thought I should move my wedding dress from my MIL's basement to my mom's attic.
Have a great Monday!
Jen
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