Paper Fashions

Klutz books have always been a favorite around our house, but this latest one, Paper Fashions, has got my daughter obsessed!

A couple of her friends have the book and she would pour over it whenever we went for a visit. Luckily, she got it from her grandpa for Christmas, and it seems to be her favorite gift as she's spent hours making different outfits over the past week.

I especially like the two shirts on the right in the above photo.

The evening gown is also very elegant.

Now if only she would take up sewing!

Gingerbread House

On Thursday we went to visit some friends for a little Solstice get-together. They have a really neat reversible cast iron mold that makes two styles of gingerbread houses. Since we've been enjoying the Little House on the Prairie books for the last little while, Bee decided on the log cabin style.

We got the house constructed, but brought it home to decorate, which Bee did last night.
The gingerbread mother, standing by the door, is wearing a blue apron and calling the kids in for dinner. Santa is up on the roof getting ready to go down the chimney. I love the vivid colours she chose for the icing, and the little added details such as the skating marks on the pond and the holly decoration on the front door. The warm glow coming from the windows looks very welcoming.

Merry Christmas!

Homemade Caramels

The kids absolutely love the caramels that one of the vedors sells at our local farmer's market, and I was planning to contact the woman who makes them to see if I could get some for stocking stuffers, but then I got to thinking that surely there must be a recipe for them out there, and I could just make them myself. I did some searching and finally found one that looked promising.

These are the resulting caramels - glossy and creamy and unbelievably good. They might even be better than the ones at the market! They taste a little like the Werther's hard candies, but are soft and chewy and melt in your mouth.

My plan of putting them in the kids' stockings flew right out the window when they started going stir crazy from being stuck at home while I was in the kitchen baking, so I put them to work wrapping the individual candies in waxed paper. Bee (my little manager) took great pride in wrapping them just so, and was so pleased to show off our huge pile of professional looking candies when her dad got home. I think we've got a new holiday tradition on our hands.

The recipe that we used to make these delicious treats can be found here.

Piano Lessons

Bee started taking piano lessons last spring, and loves to play her favorite songs over and over, (one time as fast as she can, the next time really slow).
Her brother has music in his soul (he's always humming quietly to himself), but he's never shown any interest in learning an instrument. Until last week, that is, when he asked Bee to teach him how to play the piano.

They spent almost two hours that day working on the first two songs in her lesson book. I was stunned by her patience, and he was thrilled to be getting so much attention from his big sister. The next day, while she was away at a class, he decided to learn one of her favorite songs. He worked on it steadily for about an hour and a half (with a little help reading the music from me - I played the guitar and clarinet in my "youth"), and by the time she got home, he could play it no problem. I think he may have found himself an instrument!
While they were practicing the other day, I peeked into the room and saw her playing the piano, with him beside her resting his head on her shoulder. Trust me, they can fight like you wouldn't believe (especially now that she's maturing and he's, well, a typical 7 year old boy), but I think the bond they share will serve them well throughout their lives.

Word Cloud

Here's the essence of our blog summed up in a "word cloud".

Click here to make on of your own.

Door decor

We've been busy doing most of our Christmas decorating over the past few days.

We made this wreath several years ago using gloves and a hat. The photo is a bit washed out - his nose and bow are supposed to be red, not orange (and the door is actually dark blue like the one below).

The kids made these gorgeous snowflakes using patterns from a book we borrowed from a friend. We've never made such pretty ones before!

Favorite Things - Chess

Playing chess is one of our favorite ways to pass the time.

Making Candles

We bought a bunch of beeswax a while ago and have finally gotten around to making some candles with it.
This wax gets its nice brown colour from the buckwheat that the bees got their nectar from. It smells absolutely heavenly.

The kids helped me get the votive molds ready by sticking the pre-tabbed wicks down with a bit of Tacky Wax.

After pouring the melted wax into the molds, we used some chopsticks to hold the wicks in the middle until it hardened a bit.

When the wax cools, it shrinks, making it possible to tap the candles out of the molds.

Making candles this way is incredibly easy. The kids are going to give these ones to their various teachers as thank you gifts.

To read more about our attempts at candle making, click here.

Online Snowflake Maker

Now that our own snow has started to melt, the kids are having a ball with this website where you can make virtual paper snowflakes, and they've made some pretty incredible designs. There's also a gallery where you can see some of the amazing flakes that others have made.
I love it because I don't have to sweep up thousands of paper bits!

Make-a-Flake

Snow Fun

We had a rare winter blast over the weekend and the kids (the furry one included) had a great time playing in the snow.

Jay gets a snowball ready.

Princess looks on expectantly.

Pounce!

Bee in the snow fort we built.

There's more snow in the forecast for tomorrow - we can't wait!

To see some more snowy photos, click here.

Multiplication Fun

A lesson in oxymorons, or a great way to learn your times tables?
My son has been really enjoying a game called Timez Attack lately. It's an adventure game for the computer that teaches kids their times tables while they try to escape from a dungeon, battle trolls and fight dragons. We downloaded the free version a while ago, but we purchased the full version today, as they're offering $10 off until the end of November (just enter the word "turkeybrainz" in the coupon code line during checkout).
Jay played it for 2 to 3 hours tonight and is up to his 4X tables!

Go to the Big Brainz website for more information and a free trial.

Self Portrait

Bee completed this picture of herself in her art class last week.

It's done with a combination of pastels, watercolours, and collage.

To see some neat photos of our mason bee house and its inhabitants, click here.

The Many Uses of Cedar

Last week we took part in a program at a local museum to learn more about the many ways the local Musqueam people used the cedar tree. It's amazing how important it was to their way of life.

The above photo is of what a waterfront village may have looked like hundreds of years ago. The houses and story poles were all made with cedar.

This is some of their large collection of story poles...

...and there was an artist on site doing a carving demonstration, which the kids were quite interested in.

This canoe is decorated with some traditional coastal artwork.

Jay was very interested in this canoe, which the kids were allowed to touch and examine close up. It would have been hollowed out, and then filled with several inches of water and steaming hot rocks in order to steam the wood to make it more pliable. After a while, the sides of the canoe would then be spread to make it wider in the middle.

They made bentwood cooking boxes in a similar fashion, steaming a single piece of wood and bending it to make the four sides of a box. They would cook in them by dropping hot rocks into the box to heat the contents.

One of my favorite things that we saw were these bowls. Everyone got their own individual beautifully carved bowl when they were born, and they took it with them wherever they went throughout the rest of their lives.

Even more impressive was that they could even make various articles of clothing out of cedar. These hats are woven out of individual fibers of the inner bark. They were a particularly good thing to have in our rainy west coast weather, as the fibers would expand when they got damp, making the hats impervious to water.

It was an interesting field trip, and the kids enjoyed playing anthropologist, figuring out what various tools and artifacts were used for.

Our guide seemed a bit wary of the whole homeschooling thing to begin with, but she warmed up pretty quickly, and one of the moms even heard another employee say what a good group of kids they were.

I guess it was educational for all involved!

Hooked Rug

Bee finished hooking this rug yesterday using a kit that her aunt and uncle bought for her. It's pretty small (maybe 10 X 10), so she's thinking of turning it into a pillow. I think it looks great!

Busy Kids

I just read this article about how full kids' schedules are nowadays and I think it's right on the money. My two get really stressed if we're out all day and they don't have a good chunk of time at home when they can do their own thing, whether it be cooking, working on a project, or just reading a good book. You have to wonder how kids cope when they're at school all day and are then sent off to various activities in the evenings and on weekends. How are they supposed to formulate their own thoughts and figure out who they are if they don't have time to just be?


No Time for Childhood

Call it "hyper-parenting," and it's rampant, according to Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld.

This child-rearing phenomenon has well-meaning parents delivering kids to an endless array of academic, social and athletic activities and programs in order to accelerate accomplishments and enrich childhood.

"Over-scheduled lives have become the norm. Parents feel remiss, even neglectful, if they don't fulfil every iota of a child's potential," says Rosenfeld, an author and child psychiatrist in New York.

So adhering to a relentless to-do list in order to make kids the very best they can be is the name of the game. It's widely believed to be the sign of good parenting, but just who is it good for and at what cost?

Read the rest of the article here.

Field Trips - Fire Hall and Pathology Lab

We've had a full week this week, with two neat field trips in the past two days. Yesterday we went to a local fire station to learn all about what the fire fighters do and to see all the neat equipment that they use. The kids were thrilled to get to sit in the trucks, and got a real kick out of seeing one of the moms dressed up in fire fighting gear.

It's amazing to think that the gear she has on weighs close to 100 pounds, and then there are all of the tools and equipment to carry on top of that! They must be incredibly fit.

One of the dads in our homeschool group is a doctor, and today he arranged to take us on a tour of the pathology lab at one of our local hospital. There was an entire room filled with walls of specimens like the ones pictured below, and we saw some pretty amazing things. We were able to examine samples of almost any body part one could think of, as well as compare healthy tissue to diseased or damaged tissue.

It was enlightening for the kids (and the adults too) to see what a difference your lifestyle choices can have on your internal health. It really makes you realize how incredible the human body is. In the above photo, some of the girls are learning about the female reproductive system with one of the moms (who is also a nurse).

After these two trips, we're definitely inspired to be more careful about our health and safety!

Pumpkin Carving

The kids carved their pumpkins this morning and Princess was very interested in what they were doing.

We love Halloween and the kids always have a great time planning their costumes. This year Jay went as Harry Potter, and Bee was Hermione (they're both obsessed with the HP books). They looked fantastic and we all had a lot of fun trick-or-treating with their friends, but the poor dog won't even go outside to pee because of all the firecrackers!

To see the final result of their carving, click here.

Halloween Cookies

The kids spent the morning decorating cookies for Halloween, and now we've got a plateful of scary ghosts, spiders, pumpkins and witches hats to share with the kids in Bee's art class.

I'm surprised the kids are sleeping, they're so excited about the big day tomorrow!

Favorite Things - Brambly Hedge

One our very favorite things to read is the Brambly Hedge series of books by Jill Barklem. Her illustrations are amazing; a person could spend hours looking at them (and I think we have).

The stories center around a community of mice living in the English countryside. In the books we hear about their weddings, birthdays, voyages, snowstorms and other fun adventures. In the above photo you see one of their kitchens, where all of the big feasts are prepared. I hope to have a kitchen just like it one day!

This is the store stump where they keep all the goodies they've collected over the summer. They also have a dairy and a flour mill. The books are filled with wonderful illustrations, including landscapes and cut-away drawings of each of their houses.

The stories are sweet, but with a sense of adventure. They're a bit like Beatrix Potter, but don't have the dark element that some of hers have. I think the illustrations are even better.

The kids and I dream of living in Brambly Hedge one day, but in the meantime the books transport us there whenever we feel like a visit!

Panda Cub Web Cam

I thought some of you might enjoy this:

http://www.zooatlanta.org/animals_panda_cam.htm

So cute!

Homemade Baby Carrier

Bee spent some time this morning making a baby carrier for her Calico Critters.


I swear, the girl can make anything out of a few scrap materials and some hot glue!

Chocolate Cupcakes

The kids and I had an entire day at home today, so we decided to do some baking. In our search for something to make, we turned to one of our favorite cookbooks, Honest Pretzels.

Mollie Katzen's book has one of the very best chocolate cake recipes I've ever tasted. It's incredibly easy to make (it can be mixed right in the pan), and is totally vegan (no eggs or milk). Even if it wasn't either of those things, it would still be one of my favorites. We decided to use this recipe to make cupcakes, as the kids firmly believe that anything tastes better in miniature form!

Made-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour (I've used half whole wheat with good results)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. vinegar (cider or white)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Stir together until batter is smooth (or mix directly in an 8 inch square pan for a cake). Spoon evenly into a 12 cup muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes (30 minutes for cake). Allow to cool before frosting (this cake is even good without anything, or with fruit).

Chocolate Frosting (from Allrecipes.com)

• 2 tbsp. butter or non-hydrogentated margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 1/2 tbsp. milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups icing sugar

Mix butter and cocoa with mixer until combined. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add icing sugar until frosting has reached the desired consistency. Adjust with more milk or sugar if necessary.

Cakes made with this recipe are even more moist and delicious the next day,not that they ever last that long!

Okay, I've waited long enough - time to go eat one!

Thanksgiving Clay

The kids decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner for their Littlest Pet Shop animals a few days ago (in Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October). They made a delicious looking feast out of modeling clay, including salad, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, roast turkey, gravy and stuffing, with pumpkin pie for dessert.

Bee is quite an amazing sculptor. She's been able to make things with incredible detail from an early age. Here's a photo of some elves she made out of Fimo a couple of years ago.

She's a big fan of Barbara Reid's work, and would like to get into claymation (she loves Wallace and Grommit).

Field Trip - Native Plants

We took part in a program about native plants at a nearby park today. We learned a lot about the plants native to our area, and even got to taste some of them.

It was a gorgeous day for a walk, and the red leaves of the blueberry bushes were stunningly beautiful.

We saw some really cool mushrooms in the underbrush, and the kids had fun imagining the fairies and gnomes that might live in them.

I've only ever seen toadstools like this in storybooks!

We learned about cattails and their edible roots (which apparently taste like celery). Muskrats must like celery, because a pair of them moved into the park and ate every last one! Here are some of the kids blowing cattail fluff back into the pond.

The ground in the park is covered with cranberries. Here our guide is telling us all about them - did you know that cranberries float, so the farmers harvest them by flooding the fields and scooping them off the surface? . We'd love to visit a farm during harvest time (which is right now)! At the end we got to taste the berries - they were sour, but yummy!

Racing back to the nature house!

Back at the nature house we got to make cattail bracelets while snacking on blueberry fruit leather and labrador tea.

Pay a visit to our other blog to see some more pictures and learn more about our native plants.

Some Colleges Courting Homeschoolers in Quest for Best Students

COLUMBIA, Missouri (AP) -- Bombarded by choices at a college job fair, Sara Kianmehr quickly found her match: Columbia College, a small, private school that didn't mind that her transcripts came from her parents.

The college "was the only institution that didn't have a puzzled look and say, 'Home school,' and ask me a million questions," the 19-year-old junior said. "There was a big appeal."

With colleges and universities aggressively competing for the best students, a growing number of institutions are actively courting homebound high achievers like Kianmehr, who took community college courses her senior year of high school and hopes to eventually study filmmaking at New York University or another top graduate school.

The courtship can be as subtle as admissions office Web sites geared to home-schooled applicants or, in the case of Columbia College, as direct as purchasing mailing lists and holding special recruiting sessions.

After years of skepticism, even mistrust, many college officials now realize it's in their best interest to seek out home-schoolers, said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

"There was a tendency to kind of dismiss home schooling as inherently less rigorous," he said. "The attitude of the admissions profession could have at best been described as skeptical."

Home-schooled students -- whose numbers in this country range from an estimated 1.1 million to as high as 2 million -- often come to college equipped with the skills necessary to succeed in higher education, said Regina Morin, admissions director of Columbia College.

Such assets include intellectual curiosity, independent study habits and critical thinking skills, she said.

"It's one of the fastest-growing college pools in the nation," she said. "And they tend to be some of the best prepared."

Read the rest of the article here.

Littlest Pet Shops

The most played with toys in our house at the moment are the numerous Littlest Pet Shop animals that the kids have collected.

They use them for all kinds of things, including as models for their many photo shoots.

This fairy monkey is just so cute!

Here's "Cappy" hiding in a cave during a recent camping trip.

Their latest ongoing project has been making a movie (using Pet Shop animals as actors) of Bee's favorite book, "Into the Land of the Unicorns". The above photo was taken for the movie poster. Another movie is also in the works - "Harry Paws and the Philosopher's Bone" (starring a Littlest Pet Shop dog, of course).