Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Welcome, knights of the realm!

That was how the guests of my son's birthday party were heralded in this morning. My little knight turns 6 tomorrow, but today was the day we celebrated.

Here is the invitation each guest received by email:


As the knights arrived, each was given a shield to paint. I had researched each family's heraldry, and had the appropriate colors and images available. After the shields were painted, the heraldic images were attached using just wet paint - no need for glue! Swords, tunics and helmets were then handed out. I made the swords using instructions from "Knight and Castle Things to Make and Do" by Usborne. The helmets were made from a pattern on the Cleveland Museum of Art website.

Don't these little knight's look remarkably handsome?

After the quick photo-op, I jumped right into my character; announcing "To test your loyalty to the king, you must seek and find the royal treasure! Twelve gold coins have been lost and must be returned to the king, time is of the essence! Go and return quickly before the king's anger is aroused!" The boys were directed to another room to hunt for twelve coins...I had only hidden 11, but it didn't matter; they only found 9! lol

I then proclaimed, "You have failed in your quest to return the gold! The king has ordered that you be shackled! But all is not lost, if you can escape your chains and help your brothers in knighthood escape theirs also, you will pass the test of honor." A black balloon was then tied to each knight's ankle (think ball & chain.) They had to help each other pop the balloons to be free. I wish I had gotten a photo of this, but the action was just too fun for me to remember a camera! lol They of course LOVED this (whereas when we played a similar game at my daughter's 7th birthday, the girls did NOT like the game at all!)

We continue the story with..."A daring escape! This display of honor to your brothers shall be rewarded henceforth! What is that I see? Could it be the twelfth coin? It is!" I show a coin at this point, and no one comments that it came from my pocket...or that it really wasn't the twelfth coin at all! "Your honor and loyalty are commendable, but are you brave and skillful enough to storm the castle ruins and rescue the fair maiden?" They were actually following my dialog and all declared "YES!" I explained, "With this slingshot, take careful aim! Knock down a parapet from atop the wall - only then will you be able to tunnel under the castle ruins, slay the evil dragon, rescue the maiden from the dungeon beyond and make your escape through the moat at the back of the castle ruins! Return the maiden to the king and your skill and bravery shall be richly rewarded!"

I had set up an obstacle course of sorts...our big screen tv box became the castle wall. I set four gallon milk jugs with a square of gray paper attached to each across the top to be the parapets. The tunnel was a quilt over the backs of two couches. After that they had use their swords to pop bubbles that the girls were blowing, then make their way around the couch to an overturned mini laundry basket.


Atop the basket was a "dragon" (really a plastic dinosaur) and inside the basket a fair maiden (my daughter's doll) waited to be rescued. Once that task was completed, the knights "snuck" out of the back of the castle but were faced with the moat - enclosed area of blue balloons. They had to sit on the balloons to pop them!


Of course, that was another extremely fun activity for the boys and they popped all 15 balloons we had blown up!

I then knighted each boy...


By then everyone had worked up quite an appetite! The cake was revealed, and everyone was so excited to see this dragon cake! (You can make one too, with directions from Family Fun magazine online.)


We all had SO much fun, and we finished up with gifts for the birthday boy...he is still playing with them 8 hours later! OMGoodness, we had to practically drag him outdoors earlier to play with an afternoon visitor! And because he is SO my son, he will not mix his toys, but required no less than four plastic containers and one large container to hold them all! We then arranged his bedroom so that he could continue to play in there after daddy arrived home!

Thanks to all the moms who wrote into BirthdayPartyIdeas.com and shared their ideas, which helped me to make my son's day absolutely wonderful! Another thank you to all the moms who came today and shared the morning with me! (I'd love to hear what your son's favorite part of the party was...or just his thoughts in general!)


*Ü* Blessings,

Recent Happenings

Recently we've done some yard-saleing, and have found some great treasures.

I found a science experiment book for ds, and he just loves the neat stuff he can do with it. Here are a couple pictures of the experiment dealing with gravity, air resistance and drag...a clay dinosaur goes for a parachute ride:





We also found an Easy Bake oven. I swore to myself I would never buy one of these since they are such a huge waste of money...but it was only a dollar. Big sister splurged for it...it was meant to be a sister bonding thing. As it happens, the one we bought had all the parts, except the pans! Ugh! A couple weeks later, another yard sale, and another dollar yielded a second Easy Bake oven, this time with said pan. So, yes, now we have 2 ovens and only one pan...but we've only shelled out $2 rather than the $27 they go for new...so not such a big waste...that is until we went to buy mixes for it. What a sham! Nearly $6 later (three times what we've paid for the oven & pan!) We have the mixings for just 4 three inch brownies! Personally, I think the brownies were the best deal...you get to make 4 of them, verses two with the cake or cookie mixes. Still...when it is all done, we'll be using an ounce of REAL brownie mix rather than buying more itty-bitty mixes! Here's dd with her oven and treat:





Lastly, I have to share the fun we had in school today! Can I just say I LOVE my Heart of Dakota curriculum! We are using Little Hearts for His Glory, and finishing up the last few units we did not get done last year. Because I am homeschooling dgd three days of the week, we are doing 5 days of Little Hearts in 3 days of school...this makes for some fun days! We sometimes have to push a couple history lessons together...sometimes a couple art activities! Yay! Right now we are learning about the American Revolution and George Washington. Today we made tri-cornered hats, and added white "wig" curls to the sides...they love these hats! And look how cute they are:



Aren't they adorable? If you haven't looked at Heart of Dakota yet, I highly recommend it!

*Ü* Blessings,

Time Sure Flies By Fast!

I can't believe how time flies! The holidays are over, and we are back hard at work...well, easing in this week by finishing up our mouse lapbook...sheesh, I know! I should have been done with that ages ago! But on the bright side, I have already started work on the mouse lapbook! So that one should go alot smoother! I'm pleased with the rabbit lapbook as I've found lots of things to include. I'll be uploading it to LapbookLessons, and you can download it there if you are at all interested.

I think it would be great if there was a generic animal lapbook that you could use to apply to any animal...but I haven't found one...and I suppose making 8 of the same lapbook would get monotonous and that wouldn't be good...so I'll keep doing them individually.

We had a lovely, small Christmas this year. The kids got maybe 5 or 6 gifts each. No overload, no stress, it really was nice. Favorites? Fisher-Price learn to skate Rollerblades for dd6, and Matchbox race track ramp thingy for ds4!





I was able to finish both sweaters, and they came out wonderful! (If I do say so myself.) I'll have to get a photo on here soon...I have one of dd, but not ds. I also made them "church" coats out of fleece. Their winter coats were so grungy because they are from last year, and I thought they should have a dress coat to wear out to church or even just the store...I love how they came out:



I've got to get lunch going or I'll have mutiny here soon!
I hope you also had a wonderful holiday, and I'll post more soon about our homeschool journey!

*Ü* Blessings,

snow, ice & hot chocolate

This week we did get some school done...but more excitedly we had our first "substantial" snowfall...according to the kids anyhow. Really, it wasn't much, but it was enough to sled on, and that is all that really matters to the kids. See here:






See? Not really more than an inch or so...but enough to sled on at least 3 times.
Then we tried a new recipe for homemade hot chocolate. I don't drink it, but I knew there must be a way to make it from scratch, using powdered milk...and we found a recipe...the kids loved it:



Then we had a surprise ice storm...we were expecting freezing rain, just not so much of it! We lost power, no heat, no water, no tv, no internet...but we were able to power up enough to get the refrigerator running as well as the pellet stove so at least we could stay warm, and not lose our food.

dd18 and dd6 went out to take a few pictures...here is our ice world:






*Ü* Blessings,

Happy Turkey Day! (gobble, gobble)

Hope you all had a wonderful turkey dinner, pie and et al. (did I spell that right?)
We did have a nice time, and my oldest son was home, so we took that opportunity to grab the camera and snap, snap, snap! After dinner, I then decided to scrap, scrap, scrap...oh course? what else was I to do?



I've lots more photos we took today...of just the boys, just the girls, etc. and I can't wait to scrap those as well!

I made my first pecan pie today, and other than being cooked a tad too long...it came out great! I'm happy because I was a little nervous about this. My sister had tried several times to make one for her dh, but has only succeeded once, and given she bakes more often than I do, I didn't think I had it in me...but yay! it came out fine, and my dh liked it!

The turkey was tasty, the potatoes perfects and the stuffing...well it was rather stuffing! lol No really, dinner was scrumptious! I hope yours was as well.

*Ü* Blessings,

Our Pies are done...(well, almost)

Today was our day to make pies! We make alot of pie...so several years ago I decided to bake the day before and alleviate the stress of pies/turkey/taters, etc. all on the same day...boy was that a BIG help!
Because our family is so large, I plan on 4 pumpkins, one fruit and one mincemeat (the jarred apple/raisin variety - a tradition from my childhood.) Well, apparently mincemeat is scarce this year, wally-world didn't have it...so I opted out (*sniff*sniff*) and I'm hoping I'll find it somewhere before Christmas, and I'll make it then.
My dh loves pecan pie, which I have never made...but I did pick up the supplies, and will try to make that for him tonight.

The kids love to bake with me, so of course I let them help. This year I decided to let them help with the crust, so here are a few pics of me teaching them that skill, and two of our finished pumpkins (before baking.) YUMMY!



We are looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving with ALL of my children here at home! I hope your Thanksgiving is just as blessed.


*Ü* Blessings,

A Cardboard House

During quiet time yesterday, while I was busy doing other things, the girls proceeded to unload our paper-to-be-recycled bag (the town picks up every other week...so it was pretty full this week.) B came over and asked for some tape to hold her house together...I didn't pay much attention, just gave her a couple pieces of tape...now this is because the day before the girls were sitting at the table drawing and doodling and making their "future families", so I just assumed they were up to the same thing.

Let me interject here and tell you about their "future families". G will marry a man named Jon, and have 3 girls: Cara, Mady and Sophie...do you see the "Jon and Kate plus 8" theme going on...one of her favorite shows! Initially B said she would have 6 girls and 4 boys - she used happy face stickers to show this. G told her that was 10 kids, I said "that is alot of babies!" She then changed her mind to 2 girls and 1 boy...because she didn't want "to have to take care of all those babies!" LOL I had to laugh, I remember as a little girl wanting a dozen (literally) kids...well, I got more than half...and when they all marry, I'll have my dozen - right?

Okay, back to the first story...I gave them some tape...of course once B had hers G had to have some too...then I checked to see what they were up to - wow! Take a look:



Now, I know they didn't come up with this idea all on their own...in ps, G had done this in Kindergarten...but I liked that they were working cooperatively to make this project, they chose the materials and with no help from me created a pretty cool structure that was architecturally sound - we were able to lift it from the floor and move it to a spot safe from the marauding two year old! Best of all, it can all be re-recycled!

Today I plan to make a Thanksgiving Tree...I'll put it on our mini cork board. I think I'll even have the kids cut out the leaves for it. I know I should have started this at the beginning of November, but time just got away from me. So this is my plan...Today we will each write on a leaf something we are thankful for. We will cut out extra leaves and hopefully each person in our family will daily write out a leaf and add it to the tree...then by next Thursday we'll have a tree full of blessings! I challenge you to do one, too! (Bet ya didn't expect that did ya?)

Gotta start school (((hugs)))

*Ü* Blessings,

More Pictures of the Baby

Hi Friends,
Some of you have been asking for updated photos of the baby...well, here she is - pretty in pink!




*Ü* Blessings,

Got Yarn?

I knit...not alot, but this time of year more so. Last year I made the kids hats, I'd like to do it again. Last year I made my dgd a Fisherman Knit cardigan...I've always wanted to make one...it was SO unbelievably easy! I finished it in less than 3 weeks - and I made an extra sleeve...well, I didn't make it extra on purpose...I made it and decided it would be too small, and I would need to make the next size up...so I have an extra sleeve...NO WAY was I ripping out all that hard work. LOL So this year, I decided to make the rest of the sweater to go with that sleeve. I'm nearly done...doing the last front piece, and then I'll have to assemble it and be done. It's for dd5, she knows it, she's very excited...it'll probably be a birthday present since that is before Christmas.
This is dgd with the sweater at Christmas:

Well, today as I sat down to work a little on the latest sweater, dgd asked if I would teach her to "sew." I explained it is called knitting, and found some short wooden needles for her...and dd as I knew once dgd was knitting, dd would have to do so as well! lol I was right, I had just enough time to get dgd knitting away when dd noticed and wanted to do the same.
I wasn't able to get alot of knitting done myself, and I only managed to get photos after dgd had gone home...so I don't have photos of her yet, but she did very well learning the rhyme. If you haven't figured out my A type personality yet - well, dd is the same way! She sat an knit away, right up to dinner and afterward, too! Dear hubby was able to get a couple photos and even a video of her. She is very competitive, and wanted to make sure she had "passed" dgd in knitting length of the "scarf."
Rather than post a bunch of pictures, I decided to make a smilebox for it...so, without further ado...







Blessings!
*Ü*
Karen

Our Wonderful Indian Summer Day

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Apple Picking

Can you believe we went apple picking, and I forgot my camera at home?! That is so frustrating. :o(
I missed lots of great pictures, but we had a great time! We did remember to bring our sketch books along, and got some sketching done.
I had two of my teens, dd18 and ds17, so that meant we each had a little one to watch...which really meant mom wasn't watching 3 little ones all alone! It was so much more relaxing to feel like there were enough eyes there that no one would wander off (yes, it has happened before.)

School is going well. We are in week 4 of Little Hearts for His Glory. The scripture memorization is actually something the little ones look forward to...this surprises me, actually. I guess I thought it wouldn't be much "fun" but actually this program incorporates music into it...and we do one day of copy work which dd5 loves...so they are really quite proud to recite their verses! They are also enjoying the storytime part of our day. We missed it today, so tomorrow we'll read two chapters, and that is kind of nice because the chapters are short and go very quick...even without pictures...speaking of - ds4 doesn't even ask to see them anymore.

We are still working through MUS Primer...we're now more than half way, lesson 19 of 30...counting by 10s to 100. This has gotten too easy...dd5 did her entire lesson without me this morning. We usually do two pages right after our calendar/circle time, but because we were going apple picking, she wanted to "do school" before we left...she started an hour earlier than we normally do, and worked independently!

I just wanted to do a quick blog before I missed another week. Our house is still for sale, and we therefore covet your prayers regarding that...also, my hubby had applied for a supervisor position at work, and we are hopeful that God wouldn't move in that respect also. Thanks for your prayers.

Blessings,
*Ü*
merchi

We have a new granddaughter today, and everyone is just all smiles!
We wanted to share our joy with you!