Colonial Life

This past weekend we took off on a mini-vacation (or, extended field trip) in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown were offering steep discounts for homeschoolers. We chose to visit Williamsburg and Jamestown over two days.

While Williamsburg is lovely, and large, I don't think I would suggest anyone pay full price for admission. There are countless other re-enactment sites throughout the nation that are just as educational, even if they don't have a wigmaker on staff. That said, we did have a nice time visiting. This year they instituted a new program, RevQuest: Sign of the Rhinoceros. We were given a bandana to identify ourselves and a packet containing a puzzle book, code book, and "colonial money." We spent about 2 hours to tour the town and figure out the who, what, and where of the puzzle. In the afternoon ceremony we were given a brass coin to celebrate solving the mystery.

At Jamestown we were signed up for a 2-hour tour. Again, the site is nice, but we wouldn't have gone at full price. Jamie was the most engaged on the tour (it was geared toward his age level), but we enjoyed seeing the sites as well. My take-away? Those ships were tiny! I can't imagine the trip across the ocean!

Overall, the kids thought the trip was fun, if sneakily educational. The best part, of course, was the hotel: pool, cable tv, and bacon for breakfast!

See Pictures HERE.

Rain, rain, go away

Last week Hurricane Irene came and left her mark in our basement. Now we have an mostly empty basement ready for fixing up a bit, and a garage full of stuff with no room for a car.
This week Tropical Storm Lee has come to visit while Jim is in California. We tried out the new generator, and it keeps the sump pump going. That's all we ask of it, really. Keep our basement as dry as possible.
We could use a dry autumn now, as our ground is like a sopping wet sponge. A day of sun, with a nice breeze to dry things up a bit, now that would be nice.
Pictures from Irene, HERE.

Summertime creativity

Even though we aren't doing school, the kids don't get to have the entire day to waste. We still meet for a short while each morning to read from a book (currently, Names of God), during which time the kids can draw or color. To help them, I have brought home Ed Emberly's drawing books. They have really enjoyed his thumbprint book. Here is Dot's "choir" picture, full of action.

Jamie, on the other hand, has decided to move into more 3D artwork. Actually, he only decided this during dinner the other night. (Our children do not like eggs right now, and I have been trying different ways of cooking them to see if they will change their minds. So far, no luck.) We had soft-cooked eggs, which while they weren't good enough to tempt them to eat, they were terribly fun to crack open and spill out over the plate. This is Jamie's "mess of eggs."

My sewing machine has been busy. Not only have I made many pieces of clothing, I have also begun a series of baby quilts (there are lots of church babies due this summer!). The first was for a mom of two boys who is expecting her first girl. She loves shabby chic, so I made a simple 9-patch quilt and added in blocks with rosettes. Very girly!

NASA visit

Saturday was NASA/Goddard's open house, and after a trip to Dot's recital, we headed over to check out what they had on display. Lines, lines, lines... there were so many people! Jamie did not get to go to the Lego program (someone said that it was just an hour of letting 200 kids play with legos on the floor, so I suppose we didn't miss too much!), but Dot did get to hear a woman speak about being an astronomer. We visited quite a few booths and picked up lots of posters, stickers, and bookmarks. We looked at lots of models and pictures of satellites, and wandered through a rocket garden. The highlight, for Jamie, was what we took pictures of...

story time

The Hidden Treasure

by Jamie

April 8, 2011

Two boys were playing in the back yard. One decided to dig a hole under the house. He wanted to trap people in their scary basement. While they were digging they found a treasure map. “Wow!” they said. The treasure was on an island, Australia.

The boys went to a pilot, and offered to pay him with gold coins after they found their treasure. He flew them there. As they followed the map, they found a forest. A boy ran by, saying, “Don’t go in there! There is a skeleton in there!” The boys were not afraid, and went on in. They found the spot and got out their shovels. They dug up the treasure. Then they met a skeleton that said, “Put me treasure back!” The boys said, “ If you come back with us we could make the ultimate scary house! We’ll pay you two gold coins!” The pirate skeleton said, “Only if they have a 10 on them!” The boys agreed. As they left the forest with their treasure, they met the scared boy again. He asked how they got the skeleton to come with them. They said, “We paid him two ten-gold coins!”

The boys paid the pilot and flew back home. The skeleton and the boys put on parachutes and jumped out over their house. They dug down to their basement and put the skeleton inside. “Tomorrow is Halloween. When you hear people coming, say ‘Aaarrr!’ and scare them! We’ll make sure they come in. This will be the perfect trap. It will be a rubber hole gag – they will fall in and you will get them!” said the boys.

The next day was Halloween, and the whole neighborhood fell into the trap. The boys were happy because they got all the candy, which they shared with the skeleton. They couldn’t wait to do it again the next year.

updated photos

I wanted to take advantage of Snapfish's 11th anniversary sale (111 photos for $1.11 plus S/H), but had to get my photos ready first. I now have more photos up on Picasa, including this past Christmas, a couple of snowstorms, and a field trip or two. Check them out here. (Of course, they don't compare to the tropical beauty that KJ has posted recently on FB...)

Second grade writing

My Funniest Relative
by Jamie

Uncle Andy is very funny because he makes things make-believe seem real! He tells jokes. he even told us to go on the table for breakfast! He is weird and funny. He is a Rupert.

A special treat for me

Not eating anything made of milk is hard. All the good stuff has milk in it! Think of it: cheesecake, ice cream, cheese, just about anything Italian... Even going to restaurants with large menus can be tricky - most places believe that cheese makes anything better. Sigh. I have to agree. Cheese does make things better. But not for me.

Ice cream is wonderful. I can find Rice Dream every so often, but it is expensive! I'd make my own, but I hadn't found a replacement for cream. While searching online I found a new resource: Mimicream. I bought some on sale (clearance because they need to have dual language boxes!), and it was on the porch this morning.


This afternoon I used one box to make chocolate ice cream. Jamie helped me put in the salt and ice, and sat by as the machine went to work. Sadly, even when the machine is done, the ice cream isn't. Into the freezer it went for a few more hours.


After dinner we scooped out this treat. Some had plain chocolate, some had cookie dough tidbits mixed in, some had whipped cream on top. All enjoyed!

Fun with fondant

Aah... the season of holiday treats! It's time to get into the kitchen and make something wonderfully delicious without worrying over the fat/calorie/carbs content.

This past week I went to work on our list of Christmas treats. I have two types of cookies in dough form in the freezer now. I also finished the two treats that need fondant, and that is what I want to share with you today.

Candy making can be tricky for those of us who avoid milk products. So many are based on butter, or sweetened condensed milk, or cream (I miss you, dairy products!). In trying to make an old-fashioned candy called Martha Washingtons, I found I needed to make my own fondant for the base, as all the modern recipes used sweetened condensed milk to start out. Traditional fondant is tricky when your candy thermometer is off by an unknown number of degrees! I searched the internet for another, easier recipe, and found marshmallow fondant to be the one. Originally meant to be used to cover cakes, it works well as a base for candies, too.

1 bag marshmallows + 2-5 Tbsp. water + confectioners sugar + crisco
Melt your marshmallows and water in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Knead or beat in enough confectioners sugar to make a smooth non-sticky dough, using crisco to keep it from sticking to your hands or mixer beaters.
*Flavorings and colors can be added before the sugar.

With one full batch of fondant I made my Martha Washingtons. In the food processor I chopped 1 cup pecans + 1 cup dried cherries + 1 cup coconut. These I formed into small logs to be dipped in chocolate. Yummy!

My small dark chocolate cookie needed a topping of mint, and I didn't want to use fudge that needed to be kept cold, or frosting that might be too sweet. I used a half batch of fondant, tinted green and flavored with peppermint. I rolled it out thin and cut it with a small circle cookie cutter. It needed a little smear of icing to stick to the cookie, and then a drizzle of chocolate to finish.

Christmas wishlist 2010: Laura

It's hard to find things for my wishlist that aren't completely out of the usual price range. I have been blessed to be able to buy most of the small-ticket items I want... but I have come up with a few items that might work:

Half-sheet pan size cooling rack

Oneida Easton serving utensils

Large shawl, like THIS

Fiesta dinnerware

Emma
Wind in the Willows
The Railway Children
Under the Greenwood Tree
Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Christmas Wishlist 2010: Jamie

from Lego:
army men
knights battle pack
lego minifigure grab bag
Meltdown
Preston Stormer
William Furno
Star Wars Echo Base
Shave a Sheep game
Creationary game
Ramses Pyramid game
Minotaurus game

from Amazon:

PS2 PacMan World 3
PS2 PacMan Fever
PS2 Snoopy vs. the Red Baron

Danny Dragonbreath: Lair of the Bat Monster
Danny Dragonbreath: Curse of the Were-wiener


any dvds of these characters
Tom & Jerry
Phineas & Ferb
Scooby Doo
Darkwing Duck (not volume 1)

thrift store / yard sale options:
legos
magazines for kids (Highlights, Cricket, Spider, etc)

Christmas Wishlist 2010: Dot

Taize songbook
Final Fantasy III
Animaniacs DVD set
Artemis Fowl: Eternity Code book
Physics book

Items from Think Geek
plush microbes: Malaria, Clap, Sleeping Sickness, Black Death, Swine Flu
t-shirts: meh, keep out of direct sunlight, enough social interaction, no, I never finish anyth, 2+2=5

Nose off the grindstone for a week...

It seemed like we were working hard week after week, looking forward to our vacation, and now we're home and back to working hard week after week. Oh well, it was a nice vacation, a wonderful break from the ordinary. We've never done the Shenandoah region in the fall before. The spring is a beautiful time to visit, with all the new growth and just awakening wildlife. Autumn is beautiful, too, with lovely colors spreading out over the mountains and valleys.
The Rocky Branch Retreat was a very nice house to stay in, more spacious than we expected, and well-appointed. The grounds were large and fun to ramble. It was a perfect place to relax. In my imagination, life would always be relaxed and easy in a place like that... (no, don't correct me! I like that life in my imagination!!)
HERE are pictures of our time; if you haven't had a fall vacation, live vicariously through us!

Summer 2010

Life is going by quickly... and I need to catch up!
Some of our summer photos are HERE.

The future is here!

JETPACKS!

Start saving your spare change now! You, too, can own and operate a jetpack, as long as you weigh between 140-240 pounds and have $90,000 sitting in your bank account.

Unfortunately for Jamie (who has always wanted a jetpack), we don't have that much money sitting around. Oh well, maybe by the time he's old enough...

kids pictures

For those of you who normally receive photos of our kids, and have access to the photos taken recently, please pick out the ones you want printed up for you. You should pick one of each child, and one of them together, if you want. Comment on them, and I will get them printed up and delivered to you!

what a deer

While in Shenandoah, we saw many, many deer. The kids got tired of us pointing them out, and are now totally unimpressed by the sight of deer, whether in the wild or not.

However, on one hike we got very close to some. In this video you can see some of the deer crossing the AT right in front of Dot. (She wasn't paying attention and would have run into them if we hadn't stopped her!)

Vacation 2010 photos

I've begun the process of sorting through our many, many, many photos from this year's vacation. You can see the first 100 HERE.

Our trip itinerary:

Sunday: Winchester, Virginia - swimming at the hotel, went to see a movie

Monday: Winchester - Shenandoah Valley Discovery Musuem, groceries, travel to the Old Rag Cottage in Syria, Virginia, enter Shenandoah National Park - Limberlost trail

Tuesday: Shenandoah National Park - AT, rain/cold! Luray Caverns, dinner with the Shavers

Wednesday: Shenandoah National Park - Big Meadows, Ranger talk: Birds of Prey, hike to Rapidan Camp, more rain

Thursday: Montpelier, Shenandoah National Park - Hikes: Dark Hollow Falls, Stony Man, dinner at Skyland, hike the Meadow Spring trail

Friday: pack up the car, hike White Oak Canyon trail (just down the road from our cottage!), drive remaining northern portion of Skyline Drive, head home!

Easter 2010

I tried to post a video of Dot's recital this past week, but something went wrong each time I was uploading... so, sorry, no video. She did well, no mistakes other than playing the piece a little too fast and forgetting to bow at the end of the performance. Good job, Dot!

Easter dawned beautifully this year - sunny and warm(ish - it was still under 65 degrees when we left for the early morning hymn sing). It was perfect for our new Easter clothes. Jamie got a Talbot's seersucker suit (very dapper! He got lots of compliments!), and Dot and I got new custom-made dresses (sounds expensive, eh? I know how to talk up my skills, don't I? Quite a few women at church seem to expect me to make them each year, and I don't want to disappoint anyone... ).

We didn't start the day in quite so good a mood... Norah was busy at work just before 6am, ridding our house of a mouse. However, we didn't stay cross at her long - we are very happy when she does her job. Perhaps our congratulations did something for her, because she got another mouse while we were gone at church. Hooray, Norah!

Washed up

Last weekend was a very wet one. We had so much rain that the whole region was under regular and flash flood warnings. It's those flash floods that bring trouble to our house. And they brought trouble this past weekend. Thankfully, we had pulled up all the carpet in the basement, and had generally cleared the areas that are most often involved with flooding. We did have to shop-vac and mop, but it didn't take too much of our day (although it did tire us out!). To help with the drainage, we tried to clear some of the leaf debris from the drain at the bottom of the steps outside. That is where I found this little guy floating in the water. I thought he was dead, but fished him over to the lowest step anyway. Not too long later I saw that he was alive, and trying to get away from all that water.

We've had a couple of these snakes in our basement before. It's a Dekay's brown snake, stays quite small, and isn't dangerous (just smelly). We keep taking them to the garden to live among the bushes. I don't think Norah would appreciate one of them taking over some of her territory inside!

On another note, Jamie received his glasses in the mail this week. His last pair bit the dust when he fell in DC. I let him pick out his back-up pair, and this is what he wanted:

Yes, camoflauge glasses. They match a lot of his clothing. I ordered very sensible glasses for him, but did surprise him with clip-on sunglasses that he has always wanted. We're all happy now. And very, very "cool."