Crafty In Coffeeland

Derby Girl

2012-01-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

The snow is gone and someone please tell me how we get back to lessons when a few hours of skating sounds so much nicer.

Self Portraits...

2012-01-28T12:14:00.000-08:00

I keep finding our lesson boards erased, which is more thn a bit annoying if I have spent a ton of time preparing for a lesson but she is so proud of her work.

Our Snowy Day

2012-01-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

The kids each picked their favorite way to enjoy a snowy day!

Ferdinand!

2012-01-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Who Ate My Porridge?

2012-01-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Smiles, Happy HolyDays!

2012-01-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

A lovely Feast!

2011-12-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

The feast of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by the Righteous Anna (whew its a mouthful of a title!) was this week.
We celebrated by taking our annual walk to the local nursery to choose a poinsettia. This year Biddy decided to try rollerblading up the huge hill and made it, though her going back down was a bit scary! It was thankfully dry this year but very foggy and for the first time the fields held a huge flock of sheep, usually it is geese or goats. The kids thought the sheep fitting though they were very big and Blue Eyes insisted they were not sheep but aliens! Iddy Biddy tried her very best to convince her siblings to pick large sparkly purple ones but they choose 2 small red poinsettias.

It Never Looks like this!

2011-11-26T14:34:00.000-08:00

It never looks like this in Coffeeland- not ever, so I had to snap a picture, to prove to my self that sometimes perfect moments happen.
My lovely MIL had sent some nice ladies over to clean our house so it would be tidy for the holidays (Thank you Grandma Katie!) So the kitchen was clean, both Iddy Biddy and Ferdinand were working independently on their Main Lessons with out complaint and I pulled out last years tree decorating activity to keep Valentine busy while I made stuffing, and he allowed Blue Eyes to help with out screaming. I got all our Thanksgiving cooking done with out too much trouble...but don't worry by the end of the day Blue Eyes and Valentine had a good knock down , Valentine stained the floor with cranberry sauce and spilled milk twice, and the big kids were grumbling about chores. So you know-real life :)

Winter Saints Main Lesson

2011-11-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

Ferdinand is in the middle of a Winter Saints main lesson block.

We split up saints during the second grade year in to winter and spring blocks, drawing them from the church calendar and grouping them around the archetypal themes of light in the winter and new life in the spring.

Of course being Orthodox we are immersed year round in the lives of the saints but this is a time of digging deep into the stories in a more focused and "academic" way.

So far this year we have covered-St. Martin, St. Matthew, St. Gregory the Wonder worker (Ds loved this one!) and St. Catherine.

As a side lesson we have been working on spelling word families drawn from our stories. Its been challenging as his speech issues really effect his ability to make and compare vowel sounds, it doesn't help that he just lost his two front teeth (for Christmas!) He is great at coming up with words for me to right down but has trouble identifying vowels if I say a word orally, he is making good progress though.

In the coming few weeks we will cover, St. Barbara, St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, and Saint Herman and perhaps one or two more, we will see how busy things get with Nativity preparations.

More November Chalkboards...

2011-11-26T13:52:00.000-08:00

Faith and Hope-Nativity Fast Weeks 1&2

2011-11-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

The first 2 weeks of the fast have sped by quietly and purposefully.

During the first week one candle was lit and our Nativity scene/nature shelf was bare save the presence of God.
Iddy Biddy thought it was a bit too bare and after studying some books of icons, made a radiating half circle of gold and blue tissue paper to hang in the window.

During this last week angels began appearing after we lit our second candle.

We have been opening and enjoying books from our book sleigh each night before prayers , mostly Old Testement stories, Advent themed books and books for the Enterence of the Theotokos and St. Catherine.

Our box of Jesse Tree ornaments has gone missing and we have been trying to keep things simple this year so we have been hanging one golden star on our Jesse wreath after reading the days bible passage. It is looking quite lovely.

And of course leaf hunting has been abandoned for pine cone collecting! There are already piles everywhere and have broken up two pine cone fights-in the house! (but M-o-m! we don't have any snow, its just like a snowball fight!)

The only downside is all our cleaning and de-cluttering has been waylaid by a nasty cold and a broken tooth, hmm... maybe rest is more important than organization. :)

Hope everything is going peacefully for the rest of you.

Preparation...

2011-11-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

After the kids went to bed I stripped down all our fall decorations...it has been a busy week of cleaning and purging shelves and closets. (I could not believe how much stuff was in those closets!) We always spend the week of St. Martin doing a big donation purge and taking down our busy fall decorations was the last step before easing into the nativity fast tomorrow.
I wrapped up the first week of books- old testement stories and jesse tree books and other "advent" books, set out fresh new red candles, wiped down all the chalkboards and dug out our Jesse Wreath for the kids to hang up.

Making plans...

2011-11-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

The kiddos brought me these drawings and lists this week, "just in case you needed help making plans for the fast"
I'm glad someone is on the ball!

St. Martin...

2011-11-14T20:39:00.000-08:00

We almost missed Saint Martin's this year due to a sick Blue Eyes but at the last minute invited a few friends over. We did not get a whole lot of pics from our soup potluck as a certain 2 yr old kept making off with the camera but it was a lovely evening- we ended up with 6 quarts of chili, 3 quarts of chicken soup and 2 quarts of potato soup!
We were especially blessed to have our priest and his daughters with us this year. Blue Eyes was quite pleased that he took the time to read her our copy of St. Martin by Verena Smith since the rest of us had already read it a dozen times and were worn out!

Reds and Blues...

2011-11-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

Blue Eyes has been taking pictures...this is her favorite and asked "Pleeeeeeeeeeesseeeeeey please put it on the computer! "So here is to my favorite 4 yr old and her ever painted toes!

November Chalkboards

2011-11-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

Logs and sticks...

2011-10-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

A neighbor boy came by to see if the kids could bring out their sword collection...we have been grounded due to a nasty lingering cold. We were tired of being cooped up and came outside to soak up some warm autumn sun. I explained the kids were still sneezing and unfortunately were not up for a sword battle. The boy said sorry and was leaving when he stopped and blurted out "why do you always have all these logs and sticks on your porch?" He looked embarrassed- "I always wanted to know." My grumpy kids who had been crabbing and snarking all morning launched in to a full on demo of just what you could do with them from log rolling to acorn pounding to making leaf crowns. Twenty minutes later the coughing kicked back up so we bundled back inside to rest and the neighbor said goodbye. He was impressed but said his mom didn't let them play with sticks "cause they were dangerous". He wandered off with a few acorns in his pocket. Our collection of stumps and logs and sticks has come into conflict with the land lord a few times, but I am willing to fight for our stumps and sticks and share a basket of acorns.

October Chalkboards...

2011-10-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

2011-10-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of wonderful thing about homeschooling for us has been the involvement and closeness of the older kiddos with their younger siblings. Iddy Biddy has taken over much of the storytelling for the little ones. This month we used the story of Peter Pumpkin eater and made a little felted pumpkin, I think this idea was taken from Suzanne Down's most recent newsletter, if I am wrong let me know so I can get it right :)
We try to tell the story to the little ones several times over a 2 week to month long period, but lately after I tell it initially I find Iddy Biddy telling it before I get to it. We have had a few tearful times when those siblings wreaked havoc on her lovely story, trying to eat her puppets but mostly they prefer big sister to mom and pay close attention to her storytelling.

Local Geography Block

2011-10-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

We finished up the Local Geography block around the first of the month...It was not a huge hit and we spent most of it on field trips which probably was the best way of handling it for my very wiggly 10 yr old. Iddy Biddy was resistant to beginning desk work and as always showed a bit of a back slide in her ability to focus and produce written work. Although she has officially "graduated" from occupational therapy fine motor work continues to be a struggle. Also a few relatives have asked: Biddy is officially a 4th grader, her summer b-day puts her in the middle of her age mates- her friends being split between 4th and 5th grade. The Waldorf curriculum assumes a slight older age than many public schools start at and has worked well for her. She did complete a few pages for her MLB but mostly we enjoyed some unusually gorgeous fall weather.

Animal Legends

2011-10-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Ferdinand has been working on a Animal Legends main lesson block. It took a little patient convincing but he has enjoyed it. It is always tricky transitioning with him, he hates every new block we begin but cries when we come to the end because it was his "favorite one".
We used Donna Simmons second grade book Animal Legends plus some stories from The Baldwin project. He was particularly take with the "Crow and the Pitcher" and spent some time at the sink trying to see how adding stones could raise the water. He also attempted his first watercolor of the year and though he usually fights painting he was quite happy with his finished grapes. It has been fascinating for me to go back and compare his MLB with Iddy Biddy's and has given me a lot of insight to how each of them learns. I am feeling more confidant the second time teaching this.

Not at Home School...

2011-09-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

As always we go from lethargic to overdrive as soon as the temps drop...September has been busy... ponies, trains and dino bones, oh my!

National Gymnastics day...

2011-09-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

Local Geography Nature Block

2011-09-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

The first block for Biddy this year was on local Geography...We kicked it off to with a day trip to a nature reserve...we are so lucky to have a friend from our parish homeschooling this year... yay! Now we have a field trip buddy! We saw lots of animals and Valentine even walked for a while. Anyone know what bird the pretty striped feather is from? We were guessing some sort of raptor...

Signs of Autumn!

2011-09-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Asters and Mums! (Thanks L.!), long sleeves, woolly bears, acorns, and outdoor forest animal puppet shows!
Our favorite season is finally here!

SuperHero sightings...

2011-09-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Magical Mermaid Miss, Sir Spoon-A-Lot, The Candycane Queen and The Flaming Lance have been popping up and leaping out all week...mostly right before Captain Mom hollers "ack don't jump off of that!!"
Who needs P.E. and team sports when you have your own super team hmm?

Many Years Blue Eyes!

2011-09-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Our Blue Eyes is named for the Theotokos twice :) A special Many Years to our little one on her names-day and a blessed feast to all.

To those imperfect days...

2011-09-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

Ahh Not-Back to School!

After weeks of restless inactivity, bursts of busy-ness and faltering rhythms the kids were ready. After tons of planning and tweaking, non-existent budget magic and arranging and rearranging the lessons were ready. After months of broken computers, lost cameras and missing memory cards everything was fixed and ready. After a whirlwind cleaning and sorting and moving furniture the house was as ready as it gets! After a summer of studiously not reading anything vaguely schooly I was rested and ready.

We were all ready for what turned out to be the one of the cr******t days of our homescooling and parenting lives.
There were brief moments of humor and smiles, fleeting magical moments (the candy dish cod-piece is burned into our collective memory!) but otherwise it was sobbing, screaming, stomping and tantrum filled day.

So to all of you who have these days and are to embarrassed or afraid to admit it -this post is for you. If it helps today was a little better, tomorrow hopefully better than today. So here is to all our most terrible rotten days, they pass and that kid that yesterday was screaming that you are a meany pants who hates them, just may come skipping in today asking to give you a foot rub. :)

Those kiddos- blessings, burdens, Beautiful.

Pony Barn...

2011-04-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

We attend a wonderful event several times a year that makes equitherapy with ponies available to kids with all kinds of special needs for free. The kids look forward to it and Ferdinand has really come around over the years from being unable to approach the barn to running ahead of his siblings to get in line. I went upstairs to call the kids to go and found this on the floor. All our pics from inside the barn unfortunately were blurry but the big surprise was Valentine's reaction, all our dc have taken time to warm up but he threw himself at the ponies, screamed when he had to get off and cried harder when we had to go. He has been bringing us pictures of horses for days and signing "please please more". I'm going to have to find a pony...so you think one will fit on the back porch? :) We also made friends with a new puppy, some chicks and participated in a fun egg hunt.

Blossom Babies...

2011-04-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

St. Mary of Egypt...

2011-04-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

I had a church school lesson planned for the wee ones but my kiddos all came down with a stomach bug. More than half the under 12's are sick this week at our parish.
So St. Mary of Egypt spent the day in our icon corner.
I am hoping this means we will all be well for Holy Week and Pascha since we now have had the flu, the obligatory spring cold and a stomach virus during Great Lent. We are looking forward to it since we have yet to experience an Orthodox Holy Week since last year they were sick (surprise) with the flu .

Rainbow Sightings...

2011-04-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

Many Years Ferdinand!

2011-03-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

His expression says it all! He couldn't have had a better birthday surprise. A certain little man has been looking for a proper "boy ballet bag". Well who could believe there was one out there with a penguin centurion on it! Then to discover it was full of not one but 2 wooden battle axes and an wonderful ranger hood (immediately stolen by a certain blue eyed hobbit!) Add a battling dragon topped dish of cornbread and a lovely feast day celebration with fellow Orthodox home schoolers and all in all it was a lovely day.

BTW since Ive already have several people ask -we got the Penguin bag at Cafe press and the axes over at Friendly Fairies. The card (hand painted!) and hood were from a nice bunch home schoolers at Fig and Thimble.

St. Pat's 1

2011-03-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Our St. Patrick's celebration started with dinner last night. Veggies cooked in corned beef pickling spices and our favorite Colcannon - (potatoes mashed with kale and carrots). It was a little hard for us when becoming Orthodox to contemplate a vegan St. Pat's day. As a child is was the only day besides Christmas we had real butter on the table- it was a HUGE deal to my parents from the parade in the morning to the Guinness Prune beef stew (really!) to the steaming mugs of after dinner coffee. There was nothing vegan or sober about it. Dh and I didn't blink about the idea of a vegan Thanksgiving -not a big deal- but St. Patrick's day sigh...
Well we have adapted;) We transferred a lot of our non-vegan favorites to Pascha and enjoy the time together.

The kids have been making trap plans since the 1st...this years ended up being a 3 level complex but alas...

the leprechauns outwitted us and made quite a mess but left some rainbow filled treats behind...

along with some friends to remember them by!

Ponies in Spring (Briddy guest posts)

2011-03-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

One day the ponies decided to go on an adventure.

They started by the snow drops...

and then they climbed the trees...

then on to rock climbing...

and bungee jumping!

Then the ponies gardened...

and tried to make a pony pyramid but it didn't work very well.

They had a wonderful adventure.

The End.

By Iddy Biddy

Slowly Slowly...

2011-03-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

As always I planned to jump into Lent running as always we were forced to slow down. The littles woke up on Cheesefare with fevers. The big kids joined dh for Liturgy and that evening I took them to Forgiveness vespers but the next morning they were feverish as well.
A week and half in pajamas has everyone ready to get back into the rhythm of life again.

We haven't been able to attend services so far this Lent but we did manage to make a tasty Lagana Bread for Clean Monday and make a cute little octopus kite to fly. It was a gorgeous day but only Valentine perked up long enough to go outside and fly it. We have also been enjoying the Lenten door calendar.

When our plans for the week crashed with the kiddos I was glad I had put it up...we didn't bother with the magnets we just used thumbtacks as door knobs and stuck it to the cork board (behind Biddy).

Are we keeping busy?

2011-03-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

The last few years, between speech and occupational therapy we had 2-4 appointments a week on top of homeschooling and life in general. Since the first of the year that has decreased to 1-2 appointments a month. A grandparent commented on the lack of blog activity and wondered if we were getting anything accomplished. With this new found time were we "keeping busy?" Are we "finally getting school work done?"

Yes, we are busy- too busy to take pictures and too busy to blog :)
so for you dear Grandparent some highlights...

We played in the surprise snow, planted daffodils on St. David's day, watched an enthusiastic Iddy Biddy exhibit before the University gymnastics meet, met the Cat In the Hat, and practiced our cute faces.

We made gluten free oatmeal scones and ate them all at once, and made gluten free jelly rolls and delivered them to friends with a new baby. We learned a new way of writing and made a neighborhood for our number families. We played in an empty fountains and began planing to catch that Leprechaun once and for all.

We began our new month roaring like lions and gathered pussy willows in the blustering rain. We read about the Trojan horse and brandished swords in the living room. We made some funny new friends that wave when the door opens and began preparing for Great Lent. So yes we are busy and the biggest surprise is that now that we are not sitting around in waiting rooms we are getting lots of "school work" done too! So dear Grandparent please breathe easy!

St. Gerasimos

2011-03-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

Happy B-day Valentine...

2011-02-14T20:25:00.000-08:00

February 14th is a special day for us since our own little Valentine was born.
We enjoyed the day, Valentine ran to get his cross when we sang many years...he wants to be just like Fr.
He enjoyed an elephant book from The Utah Grands and scooter from the Local Grands but just might have loved the bow the best!

We enjoyed treats and making valentines and read through our Saint Valentine books which we will read again in June on the Eastern date for St. Valentine. Our b-day boy enjoyed his gifts from his siblings and everyone exchanged our home made valentines ...

This was my favorite of the day:)

Rainy Day Fashion show...

2011-02-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

A Joyous Feast!

2011-02-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

First breath of spring...

2011-02-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

I grew up in northern Utah and moving to the Pacific North West really threw me, I found myself very frustrated with the seasons not being able to see the beauty in each season, I missed the things that previously had coincided with the various feasts- I mean really a snow-less Christmas? Slowly though I began to see the little changes, the quiet differences in our climate and new traditions and signs have crept in to the rhythm of our year.

Yesterday was Iddy Biddy's name's day, St Brigid has always been a favorite at our house and over the last few years has become the day where we really notice the first signs of Spring. The weather obliged us again this year with our first clear week of sun, warm weather and so many golden crocus blooming along our path. We know there will be many grey days ahead but taking time to notice the buds and birds and blue skies today makes it easier to bear.

We enjoyed a day out after a breakfast of fresh butter and gluten free soda bread, picking up some primroses in Biddy's favourite color.

Many Years Iddy Biddy!

How do they sleep like that?

2011-01-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

I began to clear the dishes and came back to find this...Valentine of all the kiddos finds the most interesting positions to fall asleep in, so far this is my favorite.

Many Years Blue Eyes!

2011-01-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Some one turned 4 this week!
A new blue tutu from brother, a hike with special friends, a rousing "Many years" after Liturgy, 4 gluten free panda ice cream cakes to share, and lovely toy handmade by sister...could there be a better birthday?

ps. the little pandas are printable paper toys from http://www.thetoymaker.com/ one of our favorite sites. Biddy watercolored the blocks then when dry, modge podged the cut out pandas on.

New Year...New Server

2011-01-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

There was a new server at our parish this morning, he was very serious, and very tiny and just a wee bit fidgety.

To be honest his parents were torn between giggles and tears.
But they are very very pleased :)

Gluten Free Vasilopita

2011-01-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

I should have posted this a while back but here is our gf Vasilopita recipe. We adapted our recipe from Simply Delicious Greek Cooking

Gluten –Free Vasilópita

Ingredients:

Cake Batter

1 pound butter

2 cups sugar

6 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

7 cups gf flour (we used Jules)

Decoration:

Whole blanched almonds ( we used sliced un-blanched which is all we could find)

1 beaten yolk

1/2 Tbs milk

1 teaspoon sugar

Coins:

Silver coins (quarters are good- washed well and wrapped in foil)

Directions:

Using stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Mix dry ingredients in separate bowl.

Add dry ingredients to mixer, blending well; batter should be thick but spreadable

Pour and smooth into two buttered 8” x 8” square pans.

Spread batter between 1 – 11/2 inches thick.

Hide coins in cake batter. They will sink down during baking.

Decorate cake tops with almonds. They may sink a bit.

Combine beaten egg yolk, milk, and sugar.

Brush each cake top with egg yolk mixture.
Decorate with almonds.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes until golden and pick inserted near center of cake comes out clean.

Cool completely.

Serve cake slices with fruit and whipped cream or sprinkled with powdered sugar.

This is always devoured before I can get pics but we will be making this again at church school tomorrow so I will try and get a picture then. Happy New Year!

(Though if your feeling like pound cake Go check out this one I ran across it while "visiting" over at one of my favorite blogs By Sun and Candlelight.)

(Once again it got eaten up but here is a pic I snapped before baking)

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

2010-12-29T20:16:00.000-08:00

What a lovely Feast! We had Liturgy, Nativity plays, the famous Christmas enchiladas, loving family and the most generous friends that ever were...what more can we ask? Hope yours was a Feast to remember :)

Nativity Fast Week 6 -Joy

2010-12-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

It was a bit dicey, the flu continued to reign and we didn't get our stove/oven functioning until the 23rd but it turned out to be a lovely week. The people in our Nativity scene showed up , the Magi began their journey as did the Theotokos and Joseph the Betrothed. The angels surrounded the shepherds and the midwife waited by the candles. The manger appeared and the kids worked frantically to earn a few last straws to fill it.

Solstice Lights...

2010-12-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas Card!

2010-12-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

I usually have the kids make up a Christmas card and tuck a family photo in it. Being sick I missed the boat this year and dint get any made or mailed but Iddy Biddy saved the day and here is our card this year. A lovely family portrait.

Carisa over at 1+1+1=1
is hosting Christmas card link up
so click on over and add yours.

We don't do anything fancy with our cards- just hang them on the back of the front door .
If you look close you can see all the tape marks from years past! Ah the memories :)

Spelling...

2010-12-20T13:42:00.000-08:00

One of the Grandparents (who shall be unnamed:) ) asked about spelling since well I can't despite years of drill and kill weekly spelling assignments in school.

We did attempt to use a spelling program our first year of homeschooling and Biddy and I found our selves banging our heads on the table in boredom.

So to answer the question, no we don't study spelling as such. We do pull words from the stories we are reading and write them in our main lesson books like we did this week with Saint Herman...I usually let the kids choose the words. Ferdinand often has words like Tsunami and Centurion and Fenris in his book.

We also play daily word games ie ... I'm think of a word that rhymes with clop and starts with a "t" sound

and make up a lot of tongue twisters ie He held a handful of hot hash.

Occasionally we write out word families.

We have watched Iddy blossom from "I can't spell" to being the best speller in the house.
We will have to wait and see as Ferdinand grows how this method works for him.

Nativity Fast Week 5-Mercy

2010-12-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

My flu is making a comeback, after a busy Monday/Saint Lucia day we kept it quiet, with mommy resting, reading about St. Herman and welcoming the animals to our manger scene. We have had no functioning stove for week and feeling tired of my crock pot but grateful I'm not cooking over an open fire :) (although the kids suggested it!)

Ballet!

2010-12-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ferdinand mentioned when he was about 4 that he was going to learn ballet and dance the "big rat" when he grew up. We smiled and laughed and ruffled his hair and promptly forgot all about it. It's three years later and in October he reminded us out of the blue..."Am I ever going to get those ballet lessons?" We took him in to observe, not knowing if he even really knew what ballet is, and he floored us by having a funny conversation with the director about all the ballets he knew and pointing them out on the posters on the walls and how Peter and the wolf was his favorite ballet. With a moments hesitation we signed him up.

He has 2 months of lessons behind him now and tells people he is going to go to "college for ballet" Today was parent observation day and I was torn between giggling and tears. He is the funniest twitchy-est kid in class but he has the happiest smile - grinning from ear to ear the whole time.

Nativity Fast week 4- PEACE

2010-12-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

We are still struggling to get healthy but the fast is flying by. Last week was busy even just staying at home.
We always get our first poinsettias during this week, and read Tomie dePaola's Legend of the Poinsettia on the 9th.
This year luckily the kids picked a little red one instead of one like last year!

Sankta Lucia...

2010-12-13T13:31:00.000-08:00

We had another incredibly energetic Liturgy this morning followed by a nice breakfast of gluten free Lucia buns, mandarins and gingersnaps which we shared with our fellow Liturgy goers.

This is without a doubt Iddy Biddy's favorite saint's day and it was a tearful decision when getting chrismated whether to take Lucia or use her given name. She ended up choosing to use her given name but maintains a special connection with her "good friend in heaven."

We have been celebrating Lucia day "Swedish style" for eight years now and the kids always love taking treats to church.

It is days like today I miss my camera most! They were all really sweet all dressed up and sinigng. By the time this shot was taken we had broken star staffs, popped buttons and spilled all over robes.

Gingerbread day!

2010-12-11T15:27:00.000-08:00

Why not to have a pretty sink...

2010-12-11T15:04:00.000-08:00

I was looking at this mess on my desk...it was spotless a week ago, I kid you not.
It was depressing and I didn't know were to start. Then I remembered seeing this post at Like Mother Like Daughter.

I decided to skip the desk and tackle the kitchen window sill instead, it looked the same but is a lot smaller than my desk.

No before pics but it had 4 cups , 5 juice lids, 4 paintbrushes, 2 jars, a set of prayer beads, 2 sponges, one veggie scrub brush, one flower pot, one small dish, a little goose, 3 pieces of trash, a playmobil sword, a penguin creamer and an empty vase. The pictures hanging on the wall were dirty and crooked and the window covered in scum, and wax and the curtain ewww, lets just say it was not white.

I thought hey I'll wash the curtain, what a great idea! Then "well why not all the curtains in the kitchen!?"

Despite following the directions on my curtains half of them shredded, while hanging one, I slipped and it dragged across the chalkboard covering it in blue and red chalk and while hanging the last, I broke my kitchen table.

Lets not talk about the implications this has for my current weight hmm?

But the curtains are hung, some vaguely purple and some very wrinkled and one hanging above a wobbly and needs to be replaced table
and it is very peaceful in my kitchen right now.

I can't do much about the view but its clean woohoo!

Thanks Leila for getting things rolling, tonight the desk! (but no standing on furniture)

A Lovely St. Nicholas day!

2010-12-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

We were woken early in the morning on the feast of St. Nicholas by the sound of bells. The kids excitedly assured us it must be the bells on St. Nicholas' censer ("He is a bishop mom!") and not a jingle bell wearing robber. We tiptoed downstairs and sure enough we could smell the incense in the air lingering with spices and all the candles were lit.

What a feast! Ginger cookies, candy canes in shoes and hanging from our Jesse wreath, chocolate coins and hot chocolate for the big kids, a festive reindeer for Valentine and most importantly oranges! We eat seasonally as much as possible and our first oranges of the season brought to us by St. Nicholas are much anticipated. Mommy is happy to report receiving an orange this year instead of last years onion! The kiddos also happily received new pajamas as always and were grateful as its been getting chilly- half our heaters are broken and on back order :(.

We went to liturgy but I must report that there were more children present than adults, even including Father and the servers and that three fourths of the kiddos were under the age of 6. It was the most ahem energetic Liturgy I have ever attended:) So no pics!

Upon arriving home we discovered St. Nicholas had tucked a surprise package wrapped in gold amongst our red wrapped Nativity books.
The kids enjoyed their new book from St. Nectarios Press.

Thank You PAIDEA CLASSICS!

2010-12-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

The icon shrinky paper was a huge with the preschool class at church today...we share a big room for all the ages and the high school group across the way was disappointed we only had enough for the wee ones.
I told them I would order more next year :)

Because of the usual camera woes I didn't get any pics of the finished ones hanging on the tree in the lunch hall but they are very sweet.

If you haven't seen them do check out PAIDEA CLASSICS they are wonderful to work with, easy orders, fast shipping, great customer service and lots of fun freebies on the site.

An early visit from St. Nicholas!

2010-12-05T18:53:00.000-08:00

Guess who stopped by the parish today while we were having our weekly potluck lunch?

Nativity Fast Week 3

2010-12-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Iddy Biddy is really enjoying being the "family photographer", and I am still really missing my camera.
Finally feeling back on my feet, didn't get to our usual St. Barbara's day activities but did visit with a good friend on her names day.
Many Years Michelle Barbara!

December Copywork.

2010-12-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Nativity Fast Week 2- Hope

2010-11-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

I forgot Iddy Biddy has a camera! Turns out she takes as many pictures as Mommy.
After sorting through hundreds of pics of her best friend and doll Jo Jo i found quite a few cute ones from this week:)

We particularly enjoyed the book about St. Catherine by Dionysios Egle-Ekaterine Potamitis and it tied in well with our Old Testament Block Biddy is working through.

We looked online at pictures of the St. Catherine monastery on Sinai and the burning bush of Moses.

The girls made some tissue paper burning bushes and we hung our Moses ornament on our Jesse tree wreath. (no pics of those:( )

And to be totally honest, we have been watching lots of OT veggie tale videos instead of doing main lessons because mommy is down hard with the flu :(

The kids find these hysterical and enjoy finding the differences in the stories compared to their bible book.

Light one candle...

2010-11-28T10:33:00.000-08:00

Several people have asked me about the song I mentioned, the one we use to light our candles.
I was hesitant to post the written lyrics due to copyright issues but over at In the Heart of my Home

Elizabeth has poted a cute link of her beautiful dc singing it.
Do check it out.

We use the tune and add two additonal verses ending up with:

1. Faith
2. Hope
3. Love

4. Peace

5. Mercy

6. Joy

Still no camera but after our quiet first week angels began appearing around our candles and in the empty space where our manger scene will be. This 3rd week rocks and minerals and the manger will appear.

November Snapshots...

2010-11-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

I really miss my camera! Here are a few random November snapshots.

First Snow!

2010-11-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

We rarely get snow in Coffeeland. The last time was over 2 years ago, before Valentine was born. He didn't know what to think of it at first but after bundling up he happily dived right in. The big kids were screamingly excited before we went outside and didn't take long to dissolve into tears and then fighting and then were tucked back in bed to warm up and calm down- sigh- too much excitement , not enough proper snow clothes to go around. Valentine remained quietly fascinated by the whole experience. With warm soup for lunch and a clothes fresh from dryer we will give it a go again this afternoon.

BTW guess what happens when your camera hits the cement at 20 degrees? :( At least my memory card was salvageable.

Nativity Fast week one.

2010-11-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

When we first became Orthodox one of the things that I thought of was "how am i going to fill up two extra weeks of advent?" Which tells you a lot about me:) It is a good thing we all got sick!

This year having a tiny bit more perspective and a some good advice we decided not to fill up that time, we have used our first week of the Nativity to take a big slow breath after a busy fall.

We have been doing so much -schooling and crafting and cleaning , bazillions of appointments and events through out the fall and it has been a joyous relief to simple be together: praying, singing by candle light and sitting on the couch reading (its been an embarrassingly long time since we last did that!).

Hope it was a blessed week for you too.

At the cemetery...

2010-11-19T14:36:00.000-08:00

As Orthodox Christians there are many days set aside to remember the dead but our family's Roman Catholic roots show in early November. We no longer celebrate Nov. 2 liturgically as All Souls day but we do continue to visit the cemetery every year around this time as always. People are often surprised and even upset that I take my young children to the cemetery but they go eagerly and joyfully every time, when there are tears they are as Biddy often says in a wobbly voice "bittersweet". Our trip was postponed by colds and storms this year but was all the more anticipated.

The kids race to "our" grave.

The grave site was a gift in an tiny old cemetery set mostly aside for families who have lost children in utero or at birth.
The stone was made by a lady who had also experienced 3 miscarriages. It has the names and dates of our little ones : Jesse, Karol, and E.D.

Blue Eyes leaves a kiss for "our babies in heaven".

We had some visitors on this trip they were very brave and came with in a few feet of us.

We always search around for the oldest stone we can find and say a prayer, this time we found this tiny grave, definitely "bittersweet".

Please Pray for Kyrie...

2010-11-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well today Kyrie is not so happy,

Many of you know her from

http://aresohappy.squarespace.com/

While in Hawaii this week she fell and broke her ankle badly and with baby bear on the way its difficult to find relief from the pain...i know she would appreciate all your prayers and well wishes.

My what big feet you have!

2010-11-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

A Tribute...

2010-11-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

After meeting and receiving a blessing from Metropolitan Jonah, Blue Eyes spent the ride home singing:

LA LA LAAA

The Met-ro-pol-i-tan caaame

The Met-ro-pol -i-tan is niiiiice

The Met-ro-pol -i-tan is funnny

The Met-ro-pol -i-tan said "I LOVE YOU!"

I like The Met-ro-pol -it-an.

(can you hear the tone :)

That about summed up the entire visit, it was a long and amazing visit.

Blue Eyes is never one to stand on ceremony, after receiving her blessing from the Metropolitan she marched right over to Bishop Benjamin to show off her newly painted toenails- mommy was a bit embarrassed , but not as embarrassed as when she was over heard explaining to the patient Bishop what happens when you sneeze pony beads out of your nose!

They are truly kind and loving men and I was blessed by our time with them.

Blue eyes is still humming her "new song".

Natvity Fast -sneek peek...

2010-11-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

Every year our advent wreath is a little different but we always create one.

The one tradition we followed as kids was the Advent wreath even if we observed no other religious practices, the weeks leading up to Christmas were quiet ones. My mother had a largewooden bowl we filled with pine-cones or nuts or poinsettias and candles, 3 purple one pink.

I continued this with my own family. I could never find a bowl like my mothers so we have had a wreath on the table, one hanging from the ceiling (dripping wax on my ever patient dh) and candles in a row in the window -Swedish style.

Last year we were taken by surprise that the Orthodox Nativity Fast begins 2 weeks earlier that the western Advent. We made a quick call to our Matrushka and made a few candles to carry us through the season. We set them in the window and our wreath is now set aside as our Jesse tree- no more dripping wax on our heads during meals :)

Some of our candle lighting songs were just fine with our new wreath but we had a little trouble with our favorite -it lacked 2 verses.

This year with a little more lead time I was able to prepare a bit, and found the lovely posts at The Liturgical Year for Little Ones and realized that our original Advent themes in our song

were contained in these posts plus the 2 we lack. Do check our the series if you haven't before.

The idea of six instead of 4 was throwing me though, how to find a candle holder for 6...we had four, five and seven but couldn't find one to hold 6 anywhere.

Then we found these wonderful 6-pointed star holders at our local independent craft store- woohoo!

We are excited to use them for the first time, my camera is missing so I borrowed one to post up a peek.

Here are some old wreaths of past are shown in these posts...

http://craftyincoffeeland.blogspot.com/2009/11/first-nativity-fast.html

http://craftyincoffeeland.blogspot.com/2008/12/it-is-begining-to-look-lot-like-advent.html

http://craftyincoffeeland.blogspot.com/2007/12/gluten-free-saints-days-st-nicholas.html

Button Turkey...

2010-11-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

I made a little mental posty note to my self when I first came across this idea last December on counting coconuts. I had forgotten until being admonished by Blue Eyes and Ferdinand's occupational therapist for fastening their buttons.

I remember working in special ed classes years ago before my dc were born- i would wonder why parents would do things for kids they should have been doing for themselves. Well now I know...trying to get four kids dressed and out the door leaves little time for self buttoning!

Well we actually have very few buttoning clothes- ah t-shirts!

So I remembered this little project. I did the cutting out but Biddy did most of the sewing, and it was a hit.

Blue Eyes would pick it up and screech "I can't do it- its too hard!" Then she would throw it, pick it up again and fasten the button. She did this with each button. She was so proud when she was done! She entertained Valentine for some time gobbling at him before unbuttoning each feather "until tomorrow".

Math Envelopes...

2010-11-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

These tiny little envelopes are one of Biddy's favorite ways of math review.

The problem is written on the outside then she has to answer the problem before removing the tape to check her answer.

I spend many an evening preparing lesson plans while watching Star Trek reruns with dh. I can whip out dozens during the average borg invasion , using up my paper scraps .

I keep a large envelope in my file box to pull out for occasional review.

Its nice to have a self checking assignment so I can have some one on one with another kiddo.

Plus they are "oh so cute"- a bonus when you are 9 :)

St Martin sneek peek...

2010-11-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

Due to a visit from the Metropolitan (!!!) scheduled at our Parish this month our family's annual St. Martin lantern walk and soup potluck is being held a bit early. We are in a tizzy collecting fall leaves and rummaging up glass jars to modge podge them to. We are practicing our turnip carving as well! We are hoping for a rain free night, the last few years we got drenched!

Pumpkin Processing...

2010-11-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

For several years October 31st has been the day the we process all the pumpkins we will need for baking through the winter-we start by letting the little ones (OK the big ones too!) pound golf tees into the pumpkins, just for fun. Then carving, scooping, roasting, baking, pureeing and freezing lots and lots of pumpkin. Iddy Biddy was big enough to help with the actual cooking this year ans it went a lot faster. Yay for 9 yr olds!

( And yes 18 month old Valentine is sitting on the table with a real hammer...my wooden mallets are all missing and he stand on chairs only on the table will he sit.)

Math Review

2010-10-25T17:22:00.000-07:00

We are moving into our first math block of the year and are starting with some multiplication review. I remembered this post from one of my all time favorite blogs...Our Little Nature Nest.

We spun off the idea and so far have covered the 1,2,and 3 times tables.

It's been great to see after a few months of "letting it sleep" how Iddy Biddy has matured enough to really start grasping the concept and remember the facts.

We used a paper doll chain for the ones- 1 Iddy Biddy

Noah's dove for the twos- another Nature nest post :)

And Shamrocks (Trinity) for 3's.

Blue Corn and GF Frybread

2010-10-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of blogging lately. Between flooding , mice invasions, out of town guests, Greek food fest and illness October has been eventful.

We did manage to finish off our first Native American main lesson block. We focused on the People of the desert this time around and were lucky to draw on the knowledge and friendship of our Dine (Navajo) neighbors. After reading a bunch of bilingual baby board books written in the dine language we agreed that it is the hardest but most interesting language we have ever tried to read.

Iddy was quite taken with the story of Blue Corn Maiden and there was a lot of dress up and play acting for a few days after. We ground purple corn with rocks, baked purple corn bread and strung colorful corn in to necklaces. We created miniature pueblos from clay and made some gluten free fry bread (I loved this growing up in Utah!). We also fried up a bunch of chilies for some tasty but eye-watering beans.

This recipe turned out great- though the fry bread of my childhood did not include the egg it seemed to make the difference in creating a gf version fry-bread. We thoroughly intended on making tacos with them for dinner but they all got eaten straight out of the pan!

Gluten-Free Fry Bread (adapted from this recipe )
2 cups gf flour (I used Jules)
1 egg
2 Tb canola oil
1 Tb baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup powdered milk
3/4 cup warm water
canola oil for frying

Pour approx 2" of oil into a saucepan and heat over medium heat.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt until combined. Beat egg, add oil and add to flour mixture. Add 1/2 cup water and stir with a fork, adding the remainder of the water if needed. Dough should be soft and somewhat sticky yet firm enough to hold shape.

Form handfuls into balls and let rest for 5 minutes under wax paper.

Drop a small piece into oil to test the heat - it should quickly bubble and turn golden brown within 20 seconds or so.

Pat each ball into flat rounds, approx 6 inches across and drop into the hot oil. Let cook 45-60 seconds and the flip over. Bread is done when it's golden brown.

Drain on paper towels - We like to eat then sprinkled with Cinnamon sugar and of course as tacos.

Pumpkins Pumpkins Everwhere...

2010-10-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins are beginning to replace apples in the nooks and corners of our home.
The kids have been doing a lot of handwork and crafts with wool and yarn, with cute results...

new calendar chalkboard

needle felted pumpkins

the kids candle time shelf with yarn pumpkins

Icon corner flowers-our pumpkin vase finally surfaced replacing our beehive one that has been up since June.

Pumpkins in our seasonal picture basket

BTW -anyone know why our Easter lily bloomed in October

New Lean-to...

2010-10-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well we got in a bit of trouble over the 2 by 4 lean to Biddy had constructed on our porch...but apparently there is nothing in the lease about branches:). Our land lord is happy and Biddy actually prefers these branches to her lumber as well as they are portable and make great travios as well when hitched to a sibling...hmmm shelters, travois, building...I'm not sure will have to crack a syllabus very often this year! I do love Waldorf when it comes to the 9 yr old, it feels so spot on!

September Snapshots...

2010-10-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

Better than PE!

2010-10-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

Field Trip Thompson's Mill

2010-10-05T17:29:00.000-07:00

September was a month of field trips for us. We went on a cold and rainy church picnic to Thompson's Mill State Heritage Museum.

Not my first choice for a family of celiacs but a lot of fun!

I got a huge kick out of all the old posters and signs covering the building.

Note from Ferdinand...

2010-10-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

"Give Me More Gold and Meat"

People of Snow and Ice...

2010-10-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

More of Biddy's work from her Native American Block.

A written narration and beeswax diorama of the story
"Owl and Raven" from the Christopherus Third Grade book.
She was excited to make the "sewing scene" from the story since she had seen the sewing implements at the Arctic Museum.

She decided to try crayon resist watercolors after checking out the
Aurora Borealis chalkboard.

A fun continuation of our block.

Field Trip-The Arctic! (museum)

2010-09-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

We took a field trip to an arctic museum to tie in with Biddy's main lesson block.We saw some beautiful clothes and amazingly well preserved animals. Biddy especially enjoyed seeing the sewing kit and arctic "diaper bag"All the kids enjoyed a rousing game of Eskimo Yo-yo but only Ferdinand was brave enough to sit in the dark by the big grizzly bear during the presentation.

People of Mist and Rain...

2010-09-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

We have started off the year with a lesson block on Native Americans, specifically some of the peoples of the Pacific North West. We have been lucky to see some dancers from a local tribe, a 50 ft tall totem pole carved from an old growth cedar log, explored towering cedars at a near by university forest and hope to attend a upcoming salmon bake.

Here is Biddy's painting from the story of Raven bringing light to the People. We used Gerald McDermott's retelling of this trickster tale.
I thought a trickster tale would be a nice lead in to formal writing again,tying into our lesson blocks last year.

Our neighbor's church was clearing out some underbrush and we were able to score some stumps hooray! We were not going to get them until the pastor discovered they were destined for a home school "wood shop" and they were happily relinquished to us. They have been perfect for our building projects. Anyone else have kids do woodworking in chiffon dresses?

Biddy cut and sanded sticks to decorate into tiny totem poles.

Then she decorated and made this little diorama using the printout from http://susankae.com/

Hand Work...

2010-09-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

We started some handwork lessons ...building off of the sheep exhibit we saw at the Renaissance fair we pulled some unprocessed wool out of the art cupboard (we have everything in there) it still has sticks and hay and dirt in it.

Dog brushes make a great alternative to expensive hand carders for kids.

We moved on to playing with dyed wool , checked out some drop spindles made from stones then pulled out some pretty new skeins of wool yarn. For some reason the kids got very silly with the yarn and kept making jokes about the word "skein" in Monty Python-esqe accents

Spent a LONG time winding the skeins into balls, chased down Ferdinand and Blue Eyes twice and spent a longer time un-knotting and re-winding the yarn balls.

Then showed Ferdinand how to make a finger knit chain.

He was very proud of it.

The joust!

2010-09-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

We attended a near by Renaissance faire for the first time, Huzzah! What fun!
Ferdinand loved the joust almost as much as he loved getting to eat "sausage on a stick"!
Blue Eyes cheered loudly for the Blue Knight...

All the ladies in the crowd swooned over the Green Knight...

But the gallant Yellow Knight forever won a place in Iddy Biddy's heart...

When he paused to lean down and hand her a flower!

Weather Tree...

2010-09-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

We used Donna Simmons's Christopherus 1st grade a few years back for our dd.
One of her favorite activities was creating a big paper tree to keep track of the weather on.

Now that Ferdinand is that same age we pulled out our syllabus. He has been a bit grumpy not so sure he wants to be older and "do work like Biddy"

I was explaining to him about making the tree while pulling paper out of the cupboard. Ferdinand is a pretty mellow guy not excited about craft projects but tends to go along with me most of the time.

I was a bit startled when he loudly shouted "THERE IS NO WAY I'M DOING THAT!" More quietly he continued "I'm using pipe cleaners" and with that he began rummaging around the art supply cupboard until he found what he wanted. He got right to work and spent a long time quietly and happily focused. He did get in a bit of huff about my lack of buttons but settled on using pony beads and found a little box to put them in. I asked him what color beads he was picking and he settled on these:

Blue-rain
Gray-cloudy
Yellow-sunny
Clear-freezing rain/ice
and one snowflake bead just in case:)

The boy knows his Coffeeland weather!

He is very pleased with his project and looking forward to more "work".
I was very pleased too, to see a little burst of initave from him.

Not back to school!

2010-09-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

A fun week, waved good morning to the school bus then enjoyed our school cones with treats and new school supplies.
The first day of public school coincided with the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos this year so instead of our usual breakfast out we got to go to Liturgy-even better :)

A hit, a very palpable hit.

2010-09-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Ferdinand has been getting plenty of battle practice in this summer, unfortunately his sparing partner keeps getting his head knocked off.

August Chalkboard.

2010-08-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

Rhyme Time...

2010-08-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Ferdinand had some fun with the chalkboard this week...

Nature Walk Paintings

2010-08-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

I love water color pencils and water brushes, they make for an easy, portable, kid friendly nature walk painting kit.
As usual Iddy Biddy worked slowly and thoughtfully, arranging her nature finds into a pleasing composition before setting to work.
This week she arranged a circle of pebbles around a clump of dandelions. She titled it wild flowers.
Ferdinand as always just plopped himself down and drew the first things he saw and knocked out 2 paintings before his sister was started, giving him plenty of time to just climb around and poke things with sticks. He chose "The Ditch" and "Ugly Weeds".

Transfiguration...

2010-08-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

The tones are still undecipherable to this tone deaf family but we have been reading the Troparion for the Feast of the Transfiguration before meals this week.

Firefighters...

2010-08-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

The local fireman came to our neighborhood picnic. The kids had a blast.
Ferdinand was especially excited to discover they have "battle axes on their truck mom!"

Back From Camp!

2010-08-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

We attended our first Orthodox Family Camp , it was wonderful (except the sleeping on the ground part!) Ferdinand did not want to come home.

Doll making...

2010-07-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Biddy got a craft gift card for her b-day...its a doll making tornado around here.

A mouse in the house...

2010-07-22T18:24:00.000-07:00

Biddy decided to get out the clay and sculpt a little scene while she was practicing her poem.
She is just about ready to recite it aloud to daddy without peeking!