Thanksgiving crafts

Lapbooking is all the rage here! We did some cool math centers a couple of weeks ago (I'll post about them later) and recently we've been working on our Thanksgiving lapbooks. I pretty much just copied what 1+1+1=1 did. The boys love going back and looking at all they put into their books.

An invitation

There has been a lot going on that I've wanted to post about but the hours just seem to slip away. Anyone else feel like they are barely keeping their necks above water?

I just received a very important invitation. At breakfast Agent H declared he wants to be a knight when he grows up (not the first time) and then he asked what I want to be when I grow up. (I'm not sure if that's good the he thinks I haven't grown up yet or not.) I said I'll probably stick to being a momma and their teacher for awhile. He said "Well if you want, maybe you could be the princess in my castle." Sigh . . . that sounds wonderful.

Stinky and crunchy

Ebug commented to me "Something's stinky!" in his little 2 and a half year old voice. "Could it be your diaper?" I questioned. After a pause he pointed to his nose and said "Nope, it's the boogers."

Can you handle some bathroom talk? After Ebug deposited some business into this diaper he came to me to say " I have crunchies in my diaper." Nice. I know that in the past I've posted about potty training but have I mentioned lately that we're STILL doing it?

Our first snow fall

Agent H and Ebug are at the table warming up from their early morning play in our first snow. Hot cocoa and fresh apple cinnamon muffins do wonders to help with that. I've served myself some Throat Coat tea that magically transforms my scratchy throat into something much more tolerable.

What only hours ago was a peaceful landscape of white is now a maze of boot tracks and playful caos.

We get what we ask for

I've removed my McCain/Palin sign. Sigh. . . My good friend MT noticed my lack in posting lately and remarked that I must be in political mourning. It's true. I think I'm in a denial phase. I recall A Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor remarking after our election four years ago that he wanted to just roll into the fetal position and stay there for the next four years. Well that's how I feel this time around. I'm trying not to bite my nails to the quick and fight the urge to go buy huge surpluses of food/supplies to be prepared "just-in-case".

The mantra among like-minded folks that I meet with these days: Of course God is still in control, but we get what we ask for.

Library Redemption

Blue Train, Green Train. I had a visual memory of Ebug reaching up to slide the book into the library book drop but I guess that doesn't help much when the library says they have no record of you returning the book so they charge you $17.99 for it. (yes it's a run-on) Even after I asked them to double check, they said it wasn't there. Then about 3 months later I got a check in the mail for my 17.99, the book had been found and I was redeemed. Sigh. . . it so good to know that I'm not completely loosing it.

Agent H humor & politics

"We're like a family of chickens, only we're not chickens!" yes Agent H said that.

As I was eyeing a nice sensible BROWN leather ottoman that was on clearance at Target, Agent H was eyeing the bright RED ottoman across the aisle and he said to me "Sometimes its good to shake things up Mom."

This conversation was relayed to me by Ga. She and Agent H were out and about and he had a conversation that went something like this with a store employee.

Store Employee: Are you in kindergarten?
Agent H: Yes, homeschool kindergarten.
Store Employee: Ahhh okay.
Agent H: And we don't want the brown guy to be president because he doesn't like homeschool.

Hmmm . . . explanation. Earlier I had been reading to him a story about good sportsmanship that focused on the abuse that Jackie Robinson endured as the first professional colored baseball player. Then to explain how things have changed for the better, I explained that a black gentleman is running in the presidential election. He thought that was cool and that we should vote for him. I explained that it is cool but that we disagree with him on a lot of issues (including that he doesn't want us to be able to homeschool) so we would be voting for someone else. So, now he tells everyone just that. I guess we don't need a sign in our yard, he's telling everyone for us.

Happy All Saints

This was before they realized it was "gooey and gross" inside the pumpkins. Then they begged the job off on to me. Wimps!







I could have chosen the picture where they were nicely posed beside LE but let's face it, this one is just funnier!






After an hour of trick or treating we went to a nearby church for a party and a magic show. Our army guy is a bit spent and the little pirate snuck in one last lollypop before crashing into bed.





I leave you with a little of EH's handiwork.

I'm giving away Amy! (Closed)

THIS GIVE AWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Thank you to all who entered! One blessed winner gets to bring home Amy Grant's Rock of Ages. I love my copy and I guess I liked it so much I picked up a second copy - hmmmm - who knows! (THE FINE PRINT: The jewel case has a crack in it but otherwise it's new and still in its plastic wrap.)

Short and sweet - 'cause for those of you going through the list of 1300+ giveaways at Bloggy Giveaway you're probably a little cross-eyed.

Leave me a comment - tell me if your dishes are done or not. Currently my husband is doing the dishes. Neener neener neener!

I'll do the drawing between Saturday night and Sunday night. I'll ship to the US and Canada (cross my fingers that it doesn't break the bank).

Hey, don't forget to stretch your arms a bit and focus your eyes on something across the room. I'm sure there are more give-aways being added by the minute and you don't want to go permanently numb or blind, cause of course that could make future blogging difficult.

Thanks for stopping by.

Congrats Bro!

This December my brother will be a married man! Last night our family celebrated with him and his lovely fiance and her family. It's wonderful to see them in love and we're happy to be welcoming her and her children to our family.

Dinner dress

We have a special dinner to go to tonight so I did a little shopping for something to wear. I came home with black and gray . . . again. Someone really needs to hit me with a rainbow.

Claw Monet

Agent H is enjoying his classes at co-op. He's usually singing his songs from music class for a couple days after class. Yesterday afternoon he asked me if I knew that Claw Monet (insert him clawing the air here!) and De . . on . .ardo La . .Vi . .n . .ci were artists. I love it!

Bosch results

I don't have any pictures to show off my labors but I did get to put my Bosch to work this week. I made 3 loaves of bread with winter white berries (next I'll try winter red berries), a pizza crust for the freezer and a big batch of parmesan herb dough for calzones. Yum, yum, and yum some more. I love that the house smelled so good for EH when he walked in the door after work.

Up for air

The new Lego Magazine just arrived in the post - Agent H will come up for air in a few days.

Homeschool Co-op & a book bag

I'm so glad that I followed through on the encouragement I received to join up with the homeschool co-op at our church. Every other Friday morning we'll meet up with other homeschoolers and Agent H gets to hang out with other K and 1st graders. He has PE, art, and music. Ebug has joined the preschoolers class. He's a little young but the teacher says we'll just see how it goes. I'm working in the nursery for a couple of hours and then I get to go rub shoulders with the veteran homeschoolers and get ideas (and a few other newbies!).

Agent H needed a book bag and I still have fond memories of the Holly Hobby one my mom made for me back in the day so . . . I was convinced I needed to make him one too. He was all about doing stunts and tricks for the camera. At least you can kinda get the idea. It's a messenger bag - I found the tutorial at Lang Lang Creations. We repurposed an old jean skirt for the outside and lined it with some !TOTALLY COOL MAN! car fabric. Agent H picked out his favorite car and we sewed it onto the front of the bag. Ebug keeps asking for his so hopefully I'll get one made for him to show off as well.

Muffin Tin Monday: Take 3

The boys were giddy with excitement to devour their lunch today. The MTM theme was Halloween. Since we don't do scary my plan was to make their lunch of healthy food look like a plate of candy. Hmmm . . . I really wish EH was around during the day to do photo shoots - his shots always turn out better than mine.










Apple slice with a grape on a stick = lollypop
P&J sandwhich roll = candy bar
(that really doesn't look like one cause the boys were super hungry and I couldn't putz anymore)
Cheese borings = marshmellows
Hot dogs (turkey) and raisins = worms in dirt
(okay, admittedly not candy-like but fun)
Sunflower seeds (in stripped green paper stick) = sugar stick
and the candy corn are just that!

Glass bottles

I have been read reviews trying to figure out what type of "healthy" bottles to replace my plastic ones with. After drooling over all the super adorable ones I ended up ordering the cheap Evenflo glass bottles. As I placed the order I felt bummed not to get the ones with the cute bug designs or neat rubber covers. Sigh . . . But, as I pulled my Evenflo from the box (thank you amazon.com) I fell in love with their simplicity. The bottles have embossed measuring markers on the sides and they really are so very lovely!

Now hopefully I can find replacement nipples for them as LE won't stand for the silicone ones that came with them. As a side note, I found out that the Medela plastic bags that I store my milk in don't contain BPA so I can still use my drop-in bottles with the latex nipples.

Milling & Mixing

EH snapped this pic as I was reading manuals and wondering what on earth I just bought and how operate these beasts! I think I even impressed him with my 800W (insert Tool Time grunting here) Bosch mixer and Nutrimill flour mill. I can whip out 6 loaves of bread or 3 loaves of bread, 2 pizza crusts, and a batch of cinnamon rolls with this deal. Last night I milled up my first batch of soft white wheat berries. Hopefully early this week I'll get a batch of bread made up. We broke in the Bosch with a batch of apple/raisin/oatmeal cookies which really didn't even last long enough to know that they ever existed. Delicious!

Muffin Tins: Take 2

Once again I'm really late in posting this but really it's not entirely my fault. I can't download photos to my computer from the camera right now . . . I won't go into it because I really don't understand it. I just nod my head and smile when my dear EH tries to explain it to me. Thank you sweetheart!

* Grapes/Just Fruit Munchies (depending on the kiddo)
* Hard boiled eggs/cheese & crackers (again depending on the kiddo)
* pb&j rounds (cut with an apple corer)
* delicious (!) apple, raisin, oatmeal cookies

More at Sycamore Stirrings

The Loving Brothers

I love you well, my little brother,
And you are fond of me;
Let us be kind to one another,
As brothers ought to be.
You shall learn to play with me,
And learn to use my toys;
And then I think that we shall be
Two happy little boys.

-Mother Goose