B-day Pics.

Laurel's birthday brownies w/chocolate frosting - mmm! 

Travel Roll-up

This is my project that I have been working on. The binding took a lot of time. I'm glad to have that over with! I enjoyed it, though.

Now I hope to make either a skirt or a petticoat. I think it would be fun to try out petticoats. I love poofy skirts and it would be warm in the wintertime.

Soaked Rice Flour Waffles

Our homemade buttermilk



Mix:
10 cups brown rice flour
Approx. 4 cups water
Approx. 4 cups buttermilk

It should now look like this. Put tinfoil over it and soak it overnight or up to 24 hrs.

In the morning add:

5 eggs

1/2 to 1 cup oil

2 1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Enough water to make a good batter consistancy.

Stir and fry on waffle griddles.

Mom freezes the extra waffles for breakfast during the week.

Skiing

Yesterday our whole family except Mom went skiing! It was so fun! I'm really proud of myself since I went down the Milky Way, Little America and Hollywood High (all black diamonds). Especially Hollywood. Some experienced skiers might think that's no big deal, but I'm still proud of myself ;-)

We skied from about 1:00 - 9:15! It took a whole hour to get checked in. The lines were huge and people kept sneaking in the middle of the line. We got to bed at 10:15. I could hardly get out of bed this morning because I was so tired. I'm surprisingly not sore! Must be all the skating.

Grandma and I sorted books in her small library today. I've been saving for seeds for the spring. I work in her antique shop for pay sometimes, too.

Tonight we are going to an aunt and uncle's place for supper. There are 9 kids, and each of us have a buddy there. I'm really looking forward to that!!!!!

Birthday Party

Laurel's having a birthday party today. We're having over a couple cousins and some grandparents. Dad and I put up some streamers (actually, I was just his personal tape dispenser ;-) Bennet made a banner for her.
Dad made french toast! Laurel didn't even remember what it was it's been so long!

Laura Wilder

Mom has been reading the Laura Ingals Wilder books to us in the evenings. I have been enjoying them so much! We're reading 'the Long Winter'. It's about one winter when there was blizzard after blizzard and the people almost starved to death because the train couldn't get through with supplies and the people and the stores ran out of food. We're at the place where a couple men go out to get some wheat from a settler who was said to have grown some wheat. It was just a rumour but the two men found him and bought some wheat and were racing a blizzard back home. That's where we left off and then we had to go to bed :-( Maybe we can read tonight.

Some other books I enjoy:
-Ralph Moody Series
-The Golden Filly Series
-Nancy Drew
-Betsy-Tacy Series
-Cheaper by the Dozen, sequel Belles on their Toes
-Lord of the Rings

Some movies I like:
-Emma
-Sense and Sensibility
-Despicable Me (for some reason some things a weird character said all the time in this movie were going through my mind today :-S OH YEAH! OH YES! BOO-YA!)
-Lord of the Rings

Cleaning

Today was our cleaning day. We had sheets going through the wash continually and we vaccuumed and mopped and cleaned the bathrooms. It's so nice  to  have a clean house!

It finally snowed some, but not very much. I'm not going to be able to appreciate summer fully when it comes if it doesn't snow at least a foot! I'd appreciate it even better if we got snowed in (I think I'll go with a foot or two, though :-).

Yesterday was homeschool swim day and Grandpa took Me and Avery and some cousins to the Y. We did swim relay-races and side-crawl laps. I learned to sit-dive and knee-dive during free time.

I knit this scarf from the 'Drop Stitch Scarf' pattern from Ravelry.

By the way, Ravelry is an awsome site to get patterns from.

You can search what kind of pattern you want. You can find all

kinds of good patterns there and print them out for free.

I used size 6  needles instead of 5 and sock-ease yarn.

Super Supper!

Tonight we had a SCRUMPTIOUS supper! Fresh bread, frozen cherries and (pause for effect) WILD RICE SOUP! I'll show you some pictures, just to make you jealous ;-)

Freshly baked Whole Wheat bread

Old-time Traditions

I think it's interesting how some of our traditions originated. We were reading about that some today and yesterday. For instance, the days of the week. Nations translated days of the week from different nations. It started out as gods, then turned into planets, then into gods again, and then finally into what we have today.

Babylonian
__________
__________
Nergal
Nabu
Marduk
Ishtar
Nibib

=

Roman

Sol
Luna
Mars
Mercury
Jupiter
Venus
Saturn

=

German and Norse

Sun's Day
Moon's Day
Tiu's Day
Wodan's Day
Thor's Day
Freya's Day
Saturn's Day
=

USA

Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

Also, Christmas day. Romans celbrated Mithras, or the sun of light on the 25th of December. Christians didn't know what day Jesus was born, and so they took that day and made an excuse: Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness.

We got some wedding traditions from the Romans as well. Brides toss their bouquet while Roman brides toss a torch with which they start a fire at their bride groom's house when they come home.
In both countries the brides wear veils. The cutting of the cake is the same as well. There is a feast afterward. The bridegroom carries the bride over the threshold to the house.
I think these similarities between Roman times and nowadays are interesting.

Tortillas!

Tonight Mom, Laurel, Bennet and I made tortillas. Mom made the maseca. Bennet and Laurel each took a turn at pressing. I flipped them on the griddle. Mom was flipping at the end because my fingers got sore from touching hot tortillas all the time (and getting burnt on the pan :-)

Bennet pressing

Delicous supper!

Poem

Here's a poem I wrote about Greek gods that live (supposedly) on Mount Olympus. I've been learning a lot about them this year. I included their Roman and Greek names.

Jupitor, great Jupiter!
The great god Zeus!
Mighty and proud
Lets his thunderbolts loose.

Juno his wife, and therefore the queen,
A peacock her pet,
A sceptor in hand;
Hera's the best, you might bet.*

Neptune, great Jupitor's brother
Poseidon, god of the sea,
Rides in a chariot drawn by seahorses;
Marvelous is he!

Vulcan the lame blacksmith,
His forge is in a mountain cave.
Haphaestus, the god of fire
To Minerva, her life he gave.

Apollo, the most beautiful god;
Every day he drives his sun chariot east to west.
Apollo is the god of sun, song and music.
I'm sure if you could you would greet him with zest.

Goddess Diana, or in other words Artemis,
A virgin is she.
Goddess of the moon, and also of hunting.
Apollo; her twin brother is he.

Mars the terrible,
The god of war;
Ares is only happy
To see people made poor.

Mercury, messenger of the gods
Mends quarrels with his magic wand.
Hermes flies about with winged sandals and cap;
Of him you've got to be fond!

Minerva is the goddess of wisdom.
She was born in a way very strange;
With a pound on a head, out of Zeus' brain she appeared!
Athene's knowledge has a very extensive range.

Venus, the most beautiful goddess,
Goddess of beauty and love.
Aphrodite, so beautiful
Also dwells on Mount Olympus above.

Ceres, the goddes of agriculture and the farmer,
Also marriage and fertility is she goddess of.
Her other name is Demeter;
That name you must love.

Vesta, goddess of home,
Looks out for the family.
Also goddess of hearth,
She is our twelfth and last god of the Olmpian family.

But there remains yet another important god...

Pluto, great Jupitor's brother
rules the underground world.
God of the dead,
Great Pluto remains in the underground world.

And so, my story comes to an end.

* I personally don't like Juno, or Hera very much, but I had to find something that rhymed :)

Gardening

Today Mom helped me with seeds: I showed her which ones I wanted and she found the best place to get them, eg. E & R is at least 75 cents a packet cheaper than Seed Savers.

I'm planning on ordering lots of flowers. I hope we'll find room for them all!

In our big veggie garden we plant things like potatoes, tomatoes and other basic vegetables and plants. Sometimes we grow a little corn, too. We use our tractor for tilling big patches of bare ground and our little garden tiller for between isles. We usually work for an hour or so and then go swimming :-)

Avery worked for Grandpa full time last year and I did part time. Hopefully I can work full time this year. Here's a summary of what it's like:
Wet mornings, hard work, soaked clothes, sometimes hot afternoons and itchy pollen and a really good time with cousins/friends, as well as an occasional watermelon...or to be more accurate, an occational few watermelons.
Early in the year in June and July we weed fields, which is 35 acres, then later we pick corn and gourds and squash and weed the biggest weeds out. The very last thing we harvest is pumpkins, which is about the easiest thing since one isn't hurrying to keep ahead of the tractor too much.
The more experienced people get to sell the produce all day. I hope to do that someday, too. One starts out as a seller's assitant, helping an experienced seller.
Working for Grandpa is hard work, but it has lots of good things to it. If we're hungry we can just pick up an ear of corn from the load while we're riding on the trailor to or from the fields.

Today I played hockey hard with some cousins, uncle and friends. I don't even know who won; we weren't keeping track of scores. It was really fun.

Painting!

Today I taped my room some so that I can paint it soon. I didn't get very far since I'm not an expert like my dad, so maybe he can help me sometime soon. I want to paint my room light blue. It'll be nice to have a change from light pink...and from spider guts.
I also went to Grandma's and helped her with her antique shop for two hours. I had a good time there.

Apple Turnovers

I made apple turnovers for the first time! I tried rice flour first so that Mom could eat them, but that didn't work out so well. It stuck to everything; even the wax paper! Then I mixed up some wheat crust and that worked perfect, and it probably helped that we remembered to flour up the pressing untensils, too :-)

School

Here's a bit about what I've been studying this year.
I read about Egypt for about a month. I thought it was pretty cool how they dug canals so that when the Nile flooded it would fill them up and when it dried up the canals would have plenty of water to water the fields. One of my readers that I enjoyed that took place in Egypt was 'The Golden Goblet'.
After Egypt I studied Greece. All their myths and gods really fascinated me. If some of their temples were still standing it would be interesting to visit there. A book of myths that I enjoyed was 'De'aulaires Book of Greek Myths'.
Currently I am studying Rome, and am learning a lot. Right now for history I have been reading about Augustus Ceaser, although I'm not enjoying that
too much; too much war and want for revenge and power.
Some readers that take place in Rome that I have been enjoying are 'The Mystery of the Roman Ransom', sequel to 'Detectives in Togas' as well as 'the Eagle of the Ninth'.
Besides history I have been studying zoology. My zoology book is called 'Land Animals of the Fifth Day' by Jeanne Fulbright. I've actually read her series for science for 3 years. I like them.
I do Easy Grammar grade 6 and Spencerian handwriting (although I'm not too diligent about handwriting).
Avery and I are on our own a lot with school. Mom helps us if we need. Bennet and Laurel need the most help, though.
Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go to school. It seems like it would be a lot more formal without your mom being your teacher.
I love our activities with other homeschoolers. Every other Thursday we go to the Y for either swimming or gym lessons. We pay $20 a year! We just do it in the winter. I like the gym lessons best. Last time we did basketball. I made a kind of stupid mistake (though I imagine I will be able to laugh at it in a year). I actually ran all the way to the other side of the gymnasium with the ball without dribbling it! Go ahead, laugh :-)
Those are the main activities, but we do have a fall kickoff every year.

These are some of the goats by their rocking toy

Travel Traditions

This is what I might pack on a trip with my dad or family:
-a notebook, multi-colored sharpies
-bird field guide, binoculars
-a knitting project
-a book
-an MP3 player with Laura Ingals Wilder audio books
-earrings, hairthings
-my journal
-rubik's cube
This is what a family trip looks like:
The day before we pack clothes, food and occupations. On the morning of departure we get up early and scurry around doing chores and finishing packing and eating breakfast. Then finally we get everything loaded up and everybody in the van. I like it when we first get on the road, the excitement of starting a trip.
Then we take a few minutes to be quiet and Dad prays for a safe journey.
My big brother (Avery) and I sit in the back seat all cozy with pillows and read or talk and goof off or listen to something for a long time. Bennet and Laurel (little siblings) pretty much do the same thing in the middle seat. Mom and Dad talk or listen to something also. When we've been driving a long time Mom hands back snacks or lunch. We make some rest stops (and sometimes a DQ stop, but don't tell anyone :-) When we go on family trips we don't go farther than 5 hrs because we're usually going to visit some grandparents. We get to their place mid-afternoon and hang out for an over-night. On the way back we pretty much do the same thing. We usually make our DQ stop on the way home, not on the way there.
Trips with just Dad and certain sibling are extra special since he can give us his full attention (and because it's really likely we'll make a treat stop :-). We each get our own turns.

'Spring is in the air'

It is so warm! We had about 1" of snow on the ground at noon and about 3:00 PM it was all melted! Our pond is all slushie :-( I'm ready for some winter! Are we going to have at least a month of it?
I'll give a tour of our animals.

Daisy (Alpine)

Sheri, Bennet's goat (Saanen, Alpine cross)

Rumor (Neubian)

Dutchess

Rascal

Tabby

The geese. We don't name most them, but the dark one's named Robin Hood :-)(Embden, except for the dark one; it's a cross with something)

The chickens by the coop. They're Goldstar breed. They're getting older, so hopefully we can get some new Rhode Island Reds soon.

The playground Daddy made

Nesting boxes in the chicken coop

Issabel (Izzy), Avery's goat (3/4 neubian, 1/4 alpine)

Lady, my goat (3/4 neubian, 1/4 alpine)

Annabel (Annie), Laurel's goat (3/4 neubian, 1/4 alpine. She has airplane ears; more straight out because alpines have straight up ears and neubeans have floppy ears, so a cross can turn out with sraight out ears :-)

We have lots of fun (and work) with our goats. We milk them mostly in the summer. We have them dried off right now. Once they have their babies in the spring they will hopefully be full of milk.
What we make with their milk:

-kefir smoothies :-P
-yogurt
-cheese - mozerella, feta, cream cheese
-buttermilk
We drink it plain, too.

Our goats are very friendly. They won't butt people, but they do butt each other, in play and not in play. They have a certain pecking order, and they fight to keep leadership or to gain it. Dad made them a rocking toy so they can jump up and balance and play. Us kids sometimes do it with them. One time I hiyped the goats up and was jumping up on it and them running off. They would follow me. I almost skipped a heartbeat when Daisy didn't stop, but lowered her head and charged for me! She skidded to a stop a foot away from me.
We have a couple shy goats. They're shy because they weren't bottle-fed when babies; they nursed. They didn't learn to trust people.
Our duties to maintain our goats:
-Milk them
-Feed them
-Trim their hoofs
-Keep the fences nice
-Keep the bedding nice (one time a goat of ours died of pnemonia because it was too damp)
-Keep them in good health
-They like love, too :-)
We love our goats, but they are not exactly pets. We grow them for meat sometimes. They multiply very quickly; they can be bred at 7 months and their pregnancy lasts 5 months. Their first year they usually have 1-2 kids. Over one yr of age they mostly have from 1-3, sometimes 4 (that's not very common, though; it's only happened to us once).
This April we should be getting lots of kid goats. It's fun guessing how many they're going to have :-)