Yesterday our Five In A  Row homeschool group had a Winter Art and Music Festival where the children could play an instrument, perform in some way, or display art they’d done through the year.  

I was so proud of Michaela for working on this hot air balloon, inspired by The Pumpkin Runner.  The idea was totally hers.  She took a balloon, blew it up, and then used a recipe for paper mache to make the paste and then put layer after layer of newspaper strips on the balloon.  Once it had enough layers to hold its form and was completely dry, she painted it.  Then we coated it with a satin glaze to seal it. 

We found that some science came into play as we looked for a way to suspend the balloon over its basket.  We used an empty coffee can (heavy paper, not metal) and bamboo skewers.   We cut the bottom of the can for the basket, then another “ring” from the can to slip inside the basket so that we could stand the skewers between the layers and have them supported, and then the top ring of the can was hot-glued onto the skewers to make a “stand” on which to sit the balloon.  It looks so delicate, but the 5 skewers are spaced to give equal support.

Michaela also took this very fun abstract piece that we all love!  You could look for hours and keep finding things hidden in this picture:  sea creatures, faces, birds…

One of Michaela’s favorite parts of our fieldtrips and co-ops and get-togethers is being with the other children.  She really loves seeing the little ones.  I am just so thankful for this amazing group of moms and their children.  It’s really a privilege.

Of course today is a work day for me, but I’m armed with my Guayaki Mate Chocolatte, a warm shawl, and soothing music — very low so as not to distract.  Then tonight is karate night.  Fridays are busy days ’round here!

Happy Friday!

Books that are great as go-alongs for The Pumpkin Runner.

Australia (Enchantment of the World. Second Series)  This is a great book with very beautiful, interesting pictures and current information about Australia — nature, history, government, economy, etc.

Hooray for Sheep Farming! (Hooray for Farming!)  A very, very informative, easy-to-understand book.

I recommend them both!

Lynn

We finished up The Pumpkin Runner yesterday.  It turned into a 3-week study instead of a 2-week study for us due to the unforseen events of late.  This week we are working on the Election Fold-N-Learn from Five In A Row and we are just doing some review and the 3 R’s. 

We made a little felt pumpkin for the doll house.  How’s that for bright orange??  Doesn’t mom look proud of the pumpkin she’s put on the front porch?  I think she does.  (I simply must remember to trim all the little pieces of hot glue when we’re done.  They’re not so great for pictures.)

I toned Mr. Pumpkin-head down a bit for this picture, but he’s still bright!

Princess of the Universe has decorated the house for Halloween.  I had to laugh.  She’s got this little boys hands in the air and his hair on end when he sees this spider on the couch next to him.  Poor thing.  He’s trying to have teatime.

The rest of the children are in for a fright as well.  Princess of the Universe has also put a large scary bug on their play wagon.

That’s me, above, in my rented sports car.  I called ahead to someone in the United States (Princess of the Universe) and said, “Hullo.  I’m a reporter and I’ve just flown over from Australia where I’ve been following The Pumpkin Runner.  Have you heard of him?  Well, I need a room to rent and I need to buy a horse.” 

You can see all my money spread out in the seat next to me.

The person I hooked up with in this nice U.S. dollhouse said of course she had a room and furniture and a horse for sell for $1,000.00.  (I thought she did pretty well on the pricing of the horse.)

Amity, remember the ham thing?  You are so right.  Just get her around a camera. 

Lynn

I love that saying, Take Joy.  It sounds so easy.  Most of the time it is.  You just get over yourself.  You look deep inside yourself and find that “big person” side of you that your parents taught you to be, where you put on a happy face, give thanks for food and a warm bed at night, and remember that there is always someone who has it worse than you.  You find a way to give.

And… you appreciate those who love you and give to you.  There’s joy there for the taking if you’ll look for it.

My sweet friend, Demeca, brought me a basket full of homemade muffins — still warm, for breakfast this morning.  I won’t tell you how many I ate, but I’m sure you can tell from the bits of cranberry and orange, they were sooooo good.

While Halloween is not my favorite “holiday,” I love the joy in my daughter’s face while walking around in our small neighborhood and ringing doorbells, running into friends and saying “Trick or Treat!”  I always dress up too, in some sort of prairie-girl outfit (what I’m most comfortable in) and we walk around together. 

Uh, can you believe her costume?  Do not fear, I did not buy it new.  Our Goodwill gets a lot of new costumes, still in the packaging, and sells them for a couple of dollars each.  Miss Priss saw this one and wanted it.  By the second house, though, she had ditched the mask, was just a plain old “sea creature” and looked a whole lot more like my Princess of the Universe.  I must admit, I was quite relieved.

I happened to see a great pumpkin idea at The Nesting Place, so Miss Priss and I used daddy’s drill today to make this pumpkin the most beautiful porch light ever. 

Once we get out on the streets, I love looking at the homes and the way they are decorated.  I love to get a peek, when the door opens, at the paint colors just inside the door.  Sometimes I glimpse an antique buffet.  Or maybe get just a sliver-sized view of a kitchen.  It’s fun!

And let’s not forget that you get to check out everyone’s landscaping ideas as well.

See the pumpkin way up in the window?  It’s just a bit scary, if I do say so myself.

I am trying to settle into our new “normal” around here.  With any other scenario I’d say it’s going to just take time, but my husband’s heart can’t wait around while I take my sweet time to rework how I shop for him.  We cannot run out of baby aspirin.  Ever.  I’ll be packing his lunches daily.  His evening snacks will have to change. 

There seem to be two camps in our home: my way of eating and my husband’s way of eating.  The children are split neatly down the middle, two with his appetite and two with mine.  Let’s just say I’ll glady take joy in that dietary changes will most certainly help our children too.

I said I would update on school, and so I will.  We finished up The Pumpkin Runner this week.  We enjoyed making pumpkin soup one night after visiting daddy in the hospital.  It was a wonderful diversion for me.

I cannot say that all of us liked it, but some of us — including me, really liked it a lot!

My living room is set up now for winter, with our little loveseat facing the warm heater.  (Ignore the air conditioning unit in the window.  It’s cut off.)  Miss Priss and I love to snuggle up in there and do school.  She took the vocabulary words from the Five in a Row lesson plans for The Pumpkin Runner and wrote them on large, colorful, construction-paper leaves.  You can’t miss them.  And neither can she.  We sat on the loveseat and talked about the words and what they mean.

That’s it for now.  I’m working on something for the doll house and something for our Five In A Row story disks.  I’ll share soon.

Lynn

I helps me so much to menu-plan.  I like having several weeks of good menus and shopping lists printed out and then I can easily shop and rotate meals from week to week.  

Breakfast:  I rarely plan out menus for breakfast, mostly because we are on such varied schedules, and also because I work three days a week.  I keep individual packages of instant oatmeal, grits, and Cream of Wheat on hand for warm items.  Also, there are waffles for the toaster.  Then there’s cold cereal.  I have two children who love cold cereal.  One of those children we refer to as The Cereal King.  One morning this week we’ll have overnight oatmeal from the crockpot, just because it’s getting cold and I love to wake up to something like that.

Lunch: 

• Monday –   Egg salad sandwiches with fresh peppergrass and rustic arugula from the garden, just-roasted pumpkin seeds
• Tuesday – BP&J sandwiches, carrot sticks and chips.  (Why do children open another jar of jelly when there’s already one open in the fridge?)
• Wednesday – Turkey & Cheese sandwiches, Purple Punch (the recipe is in Five In A Row volume 4)
• Thursday – Picnic with our homeschool group
• Friday – Sandwiches TBA

As you can see, we like sandwiches for lunch. 

Supper:

• Monday – Turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, waffles with strawberries
• Tuesday – Pumpkin Soup (again, recipe is in Five in a Row volume 4) and a green salad
• Wednesday – Baked chicken with fresh rosemary and garlic, salad, cottage cheese, mashed potatoes
• Thursday – Auntie Betty’s Pasta Casserole (I saw this recipe from a blog I like to visit and will give it a go substituting venison for the ground beef), Pavlova (recipe from FIAR V. 4)
• Friday – London broil with gravy in one crockpot, pinto beans in the other crockpot, rice.

As you can see, we are having several items to celebrate October and of course to celebrate our finishing up The Pumpkin Runner.  I hope for this to be a fun week! 

As far as shopping this week, there are many good sales locally and we are working here to finish up our venison as Hubby will hopefully have fresh venison going into the freezer by mid to late November.  His (and my son’s) hunting from last year has kept us supplied all year!  Yaaay!  It was a good year.  I am working to stock the pantry with things for wintery rainy-snowy days.

Food Storage Tip:  If you have a pair of pantyhose with runs, you can wash them, cut the legs out and then cut the foot out of each leg.  Tie a knot in the bottom of each leg.  Fill each leg with onions, one at a time, tying a knot between each onion then hang from a nail.  They add beautiful (if not funky) interest to the kitchen and are a good way to store onions.  When you need one, just cut the bottom onion off.

I kept my pumpkin pictures from the State Fair separate from the others.  Why?  Because Miss Priss and I are studying The Pumpkin Runner right now (using lessons from Five In A Row) and I wanted to post just our pumpkin pictures all together!

Who knew pumpkins could get this big?  Maybe that’s the reason Cinderella rode in a pumpkin coach?  Do you think maybe someone was growing large pumpkins even way back then?

My!  466.8 pounds.  No wonder they don’t want anyone to touch these.  Can you imagine the care that went into keeping this thing evenly watered and pest-free while it was growing?

Pumpkins!  Look at the variety — the textures, the color.  I think pumpkins are one of the prettiest sights of the season.  It’s one of those “little things” we can be thankful for.  In our culture — in many a childhood — pumpkins are a big part of fall. 

Ooooooooooooh, look at the little teeny pumpkin. 

And more little pumpkins.

I had to save this big daddy for last.  612 pounds 8 ounces!!  Grown in Lexington, North Carolina.  Wow!

Just as an aside, NPR had a pretty neat story about pumpkin growers in the northeast and their exploding pumpkins.  Growing very large pumpkins takes a lot of care.

We hope you enjoy our pumpkin pictures.

Hugs,
Lynn

Yesterday we started our study of The Pumpkin Runner using lesson plans from Five In A  Row Volume 4.

With pumpkins currently on the front porch and Princess of the Universe getting more and more interested in geography, how could we go wrong?!  Australia will be our focus for the next week or so, of course using Five In A Row as our guide.  Oh, I could take off on my own making plans to study The Pumpkin Runner, but I love sitting down with my Five In A Row manual, choosing what I want to do for a given day and just taking off from there.  It makes everything so easy for me.

I’ll continue adding links as we go, and I’m envisioning plump felt pumkins for the doll house. 

Lynn