family

Great Summer Read for the Whole Family

Posted by

0

Raiven received this book for her 7th birthday.  We just finished reading “Callie Vee”,the night before school let out for the summer.  However, this would be a terrific summer read out loud book for the whole family. And perhaps inspire some to get their own “notebooks”.

Summary of the book : Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones.With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.

Each chapter in this book has an except for Darwin’s Evolution of Species book, the vocabulary in this book is phenomenal, it has some words that even I had to look up and I feel my vocab is adequate.  My son who is 8 and daughter who is 7, listened intently every night to the chapter we would read.  Even the 1 and 3-year-old listened some nights.

This book really brings to light how far women have come in earning rights and respect in many male predominant fields.  Callie Vee wants to be a scientist and go to the University, her mother wants her to be a domesticated women, typical of this time.  Callie has 6 brothers, so she feels the pressure of her mothers desire.

Her Grandfather is an open-minded, mad scientist of sorts, the relationship that builds between them is empowering and inspiring.

Our family fell into many conversations at the dinner table regarding the topics in this book as well as timeline and historical achievements in women’s lib, and how amazing science and nature are.   Read and enjoy, and feel free to add your thoughts on this book.

One day…not including normal household chores…

Posted by

0

breakfast, coffee, school, flowers, doughnuts, Dr. appointment, sports store, grocery store, home, lunch, stories, shower, school, ice cream, home, snack, baseball game, baseball game, dinner, baths, stories, download pictures, back to bed, ……glass of wine!!

It was the last day of school and really quite a perfect day cool and perfect weather to watch the kids play ball in a hoodie and jeans.  No pictures, just a sampling of a day in the life….

Rainbow Birthday Party

Posted by

2

Our oldest daughter just turned 7, this is always a very busy time for us, all the kids schools are having music programs, and family picnics, it is a week before the girls dance recital and soccer practice is 2 nights a week with games in Saturday mornings.

I just did not have it in me this year to have a big birthday party at our house like we typically do.  So we decided to have her party at a local nature canter and a tour of the on site cave would be included.  We are all major nature aficianados as well as avid learners so this sounded perfect.

Right on cue a Parents magazine showed up in our mailbox, I am not sure why we get this, no complaints, jsut one of the wonderfully curious thigs.  So she deicdes this is the cake for her:

So also in this article they have little water bottles with skittles candy sorted by colored and layered as treats for the friends that come to the party.  This seems so easy, I delegate the Cake to Jon becuase he is really the domestic god of our lives and I take on the “easy” skittles job.

14!!! Bags of skittles later I had finally filled 20 tiny bottles with a rainbow of sugary goodness, maybe the cake was the easier job…or maybe it is the worker.

We set teh table with multiple colors of paperplates, cups, napkins and forks after we got back from the cave tour so I do nto have a picture of teh complete table but we used the bottles as a centerpiece and the cake was a huge success!

Everyone got to take one home, these were not the easy project I tougth they would be, but all the kids were thrilled to get them!

Jon’s cake….uuuuummmmazing!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Miss Raiven!!!

Signed up for a local garden plot

Posted by

2

We have always has in our backyard a garden, clearly laid out, with a nice border or fence of some sort, which has produced numerous healthy and great tasting fruits and veggies for our family.  I really enjoy going out at lunch time and picking fresh tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and sometimes peas in June for my salad.  I love watching the kids run out and pick fresh strawberries out of the patch staining their lips and fingers red.

We have a lot that is 1/2 an acre, on this sits our house so the amount on actual space to play is much less, with 4 kids and a small horse of a dog, we are trying a new gardening tactic this year.  This will open up some of the precious green play space for the kids, but still allow us to grow a garden.

I am keeping the strawberry patch and will have some tomatoes in containers on the deck these are the items I can’t have farther than this 1/2 an acre away.

Our city has 2 large spots that they till up and section off into 30 X 30 garden plots.  Each gets a number and is $30.  on May 1st we are allowed to some and plant in our spot.  We will have to carry in all the water that our plants will need.  I think the kids are going to love this, Solomon really likes to garden, he told me once, “gardening is more fun than playing”.   The plot is located just down the hill from our house it will take about 5 minutes to get  there and it is right off the bike path that connects to the kids school and fields where they practice soccer. 

We now have to decide what plants we are going to grow, and how we want to organize our 30 X 30 plot.  I  plan to post a weekly picture of the plot so everyone can see how quickly (hopefully;)) our plants grow! Stay tuned!!!

Scrapped out

Posted by

0

 I went to this home based business party at a friend’s house about 2 years ago it was a party that offered the latest and greatest in digital scrapbooking.  I am a big fan of anything artsy and crafty and had so enjoyed scrapbooking with the unlimited possibilities that one could create on a 12 X 12 piece of paper that also included pictures of my loved ones and preserved a memory in a book that could be looked at repeatedly.  So I bought a “package”  which included a premier membership to all the digital paper, alphabets, brad, and other tags I could imagine along with an 8 X 8 book.  Great started package right?  Also being the great friend that I am and having gotten thoroughly caught up in the excitement….which never happens at these parties…there may also have been wine;)  I signed up to have my own house party.

At my party I served margaritas (is there a theme?) and other got excited about this great digital scrapbooking package.  Short story long I ended up with the premier package membership for 2 years and over $400 dollars in scrapbook credits.  Yowza!

Reality hit, I had to etch out time to make these projects, digital doesn’t necessarily mean easier!!  I made a 5 x 7 book for my mom that she loved and brought tears to her eyes.  Once again inspired the time flew by, without much scrapping.

Last month I realized that I had approximately 6 weeks before my over $400 dollars worth of credits expired!!! GASP!!

So instead of doing anything else after the little darlings went to bed I have been scrapbooking and making a few galley wrapped canvases. 

I made:

 2- 20 X 24 galley wrapped canvases of our family

4- 8 X 8 galley wrapped canvases; one head shot of each child with their name and age printed on the side.

1- 8 x 8 board book of Avalon’s first 10 months, this was a template or I would have done the whole first year….

1- 8 X 8 canvas that is a little owl in a tree art piece that says Santanna’s Room, this should go with her Target Love and Nature bedding…I hope

1- 12 X 12 2010 H**** family scrapbook…65 pages documenting our year…I am so excited!!

I am thrilled to have that done…whew.  I will post pictures of the canvases as they come in and we get them on the walls….it may be 3-4 weeks depending on the production time.

So now, I should have more time to blog:)

Stay tuned for some of my goodwill finds for spring.

Reclothed Resolution..

Posted by

3

It has been awhile since I added to my blog. We had a full and happy couple of holiday weeks. I wanted to quickly get in a short post about my resolution this year.
My plan is to buy no new clothes for our family of 6!!! We will be buying and recomsuming clothing from second-hand stores, consignment stores, Ebay, and donation stores like Goodwill, Savers, and the Salvation Army. 
Disclaimer: this excludes underwear, socks (for obvious reasons, although I have seen them at SAvers….I just can’t!!), and possibly shoes especially for the kids.  I think little feet need to have the full support of new shoes while growing and developing walking, running and balance skills, not shoes that already have a wear path from someone else.  Also I am sure some of you shudder at the thought of used shoes, which lets my mind wander into thoughts of what my have been in a previous shoe.  Typically we also take the kids to a local shoe store that sizes them and checks the fit of the shoe on their feet, the way kids grow and as active as they, it gives us   parents peace of mind.  

This resolution is really exciting for me, I grew up going to auctions and basically treasure hunting with m y dad, I love finding what I consider a “treasure”!  My mom grew up in Santa Barbara and was/is a huge fan of second-hand stores and customizing clothing to make clothes, and accessories  personal.

For years I have sold our kids gently worn and sometimes worn to play condition clothes on Ebay for a small or surprisingly large return on investment, this has been a very fun and often lucrative hobby.  I have seen some of the wonderful items that other sellers have, and am sure I can find clothing for our kids here also.  However, my primary outlets will be the donations stores and local stores. 

What I hope to teach the kids, my husband and I gain from this is  that we can help the Earth by recomsuming great clothes that have been used and tossed aside, save money in the process and even great creative by making a pair of jeans with holes in the knees some great patched jeans. Or find an old wool sweater and make mitten or anew soccer bag.  Additionally, stores such as Saver, Goodwill and Salvation Armay all give to help others, for example, our local savers support the epilepsty foundation.

I originally thought that I would do a 365 of  our finds, but I think I might just do one post a week on how we are succeeding, struggling, and overcoming our reclothed resolution.  I will also include the total cost, and at some point perhaps continue the cycle and sell them on ebay when we are done with them if I deem them sellable, kids can really wear clothin out!

Happy 2011!!!

Literature advent

Posted by

0

I am finding it more important to teach our children creativity and frugality through well thought out traditions, as well as everyday life. This year I decided that the advent calendar for our house would belong to everyone and be made from things we have at home.

I  had the kids run around and gather all the winter, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, etc. books from their shelves.

I  then wrapped each book in red paper, except for one, the books do not have numbers, giving the child whose turn it is a chance to choose the book.  The 24th book is wrapped in green and will be the last one to be opened…can you guess which one  it is? 🙂

Each night, starting with the oldest each child will take a  turn choosing one book from the shelf, they will get to unwrap it, pass a chocolate to everyone and we will all sit together and listen to the book they chose.  Who reads the book will also be their decision.

Things they will learn from this are that excitement can come from items you have around the house when given a new purpose. Patience and taking turns.  It also gives our family a chance to enjoy some of that precious together time.