Copycat decorating

Last time I visited my sister-in-law I noticed this simple but brilliant way to showcase her daughter's artwork.  It looked simple anyways.  Black metal frames opened up from the outside so you could constantly change up the artwork showcased.

And then I looked these frames up online.  $39.95 for a black picture frame to show off my kids' art?  

I don't think so.  I have so many better ways to spend $40.

So, I scoured the aisles at my favorite local cheapie craft store (namely Pat Catan's for you local readers) and after spending $15 TOTAL I replicated the look!

Sure, I have to actually take the frame off the wall and open it from the back to put the new art in but that's an inconvenience I'd happily suffer to save a few bucks.

And now that we have these hung up in our dining room, it's so fun to see the kids' creations smiling down on us.  Chloe has always been a *prolific* draw-er but even Clive is getting into the artsy habit now that he can proudly see his work on display! 

  

Taming the wild mane

It's no secret that Chloe's hair is wild, thick and easily-tangled.  Poor girl had the misfortune of inheriting my hair exactly.  The color, texture, thickness - everything about Chloe's hair is identical to mine. And since I do my hair in a grand total of TWO different ways (down or ponytail) I'm pretty clueless as to how to manage Chloe's hair.

The mane problem (that's not a misspelling, just a cheesy intended pun) is keeping her hair out of her eyes.  I've done pigtails, braids, ponytails and barrettes to no avail. Sure they work at first but give her hair a few hours and it's bird-nest-city.

Until now that is!  I think I may have finally found the solution to keeping Chloe's thick hair off her face.  The fabric headband!  Usually headbands aren't strong enough to keep Chloe's hair back.  But these fabric headbands really stay put.  And they're cute to boot!  And super easy to whip up in an afternoon (check out the linked tutorial here though I opted not to use interfacing). 

The bonus is that Chloe really likes wearing them.  She helped me pick out the fabric (went with navy blues to match her school uniform ensembles) and even did a little of the sewing and cutting.

Any tips and tricks for me on managing my little girl's hair?  If you'd like to come and french braid her hair every morning I'd feed you breakfast.  Any takers?  :) 

Apple pickin'

Last Friday I impulsively packed the kiddos into the car and drove to a local apple orchard.  It turned out to be a beautiful day for it!  The sun came out, the predicted rain never appeared and the kids had loads of fun tromping around exploring the orchard.

Besides coming away with 2 bushels of apples for only $20, it was lovely to see my three enjoying the outdoors a bit. 

I usually remember to throw my camera into my purse for outings such as these but I don't always remember to snap any pictures.  We were QUITE the sight to see.  I was hollering, leading and instructing three kiddos (one of which is semi-permanently attached to my hip) to the correct apple trees, messenger bag over my shoulder with supplies, two bags in hand for gathering fruit and my camera out snapping photos.

Even the lady handing out bags at the market didn't think I'd be able to swing it.  I told her I wanted two bushel bags.  Simple, right?  But then she saw my crazy wild bunch she said, "I'll give you one thick bag and one thin bag in case you don't fill it all the way up.  These thick bushel bags are really expensive and I don't want to waste them."  My tongue doesn't respond quickly these days (and that's probably a blessing in disguise) so I just nodded, took the bags and escaped her demeaning looks.  [Don't worry, said lady apologized to me later when I came to pay for my two full bushel bags of apples.  She said, "I really didn't think you'd be able to pick so many!"  Just because I have small children doesn't mean I'm not a serious picker, lady!]


On outings such as this, I get a kick out of spying out other young families in the rural setting.  We saw two other families out picking this time around.  The first was a small family with mom and dad and two small girls. They weren't really picking at all -- just taking cute photos and trying to keep the girls clean.  It made me smile.  Especially as I looked at my own children who, by this time, were neither cute nor clean.  The other family we noticed was more of an entourage.  Grandparents, parents and other relatives were all cooing and excitedly helping two small children pick apples.  Again it was papparazzi time as their adorable cherubs snatched apples from limbs and beamed in the sunshine.


I'm not judging here; it truly was sweet to see such doting and vicarious enjoyment in the faces of the relatives.  I have been in those same shoes when I had fewer children and my family was in town visiting.  But usually I'm not in that doting zone and it's interesting to watch it from afar. I'm about pragmatism and survival when I'm out alone with my three short people.  As I kept Solomon from eating rotten apples from the ground, I smiled and was grateful for my dirty happy children.  Plus did I mention we came away with 2 bushels of apples and some pretty cute pictures to boot? 


Chloe especially enjoyed climbing a particularly low apple tree.  In general she likes to be outside but she's definitely more of an indoor cat.  So it was a big surprise to me when she said, "Mom, if we had an apple tree in our backyard, I wouldn't need any toys at all!"

For now we're enjoying eating lots of fresh apples and I'm slowly working on peeling, coring, chopping the fruit for applesauce.  So far I've made two batches of spiced crockpot applesauce, an apple crisp and an apple snack cake (which delectably included walnuts and butterscotch chips).  Yumminess!

Now I just wish I had more time or more hands to get these suckers peeled, cored and chopped so they can get off my countertop!  I sure am thankful that apples have a long shelf life.

What's your favorite way to cook with apples?   I'd love to hear your recipes and get some new ways to use these Jonathans and Cortlands up!

Can you tell she's used to pausing so mama can take her picture? 

The apples were tasty but a bit tough for toddler chompers.

Tree climbing is SO FUN!

These strange-looking apples came home with me too.

Perfectly safe Solly seat!

Solomon LOVED being a big boy sitting in the tree with his sibs!

Classic Clive expression as he expounds and enlightens.

Clive was serious about his apple picking.  For about 1 minute that is.  Quickly he discovered that carrying a bag with more than 5 apples was too heavy for his little 3 year old arms.

What's playing in your head?

THESE.DAYS.ARE.EXHAUSTING.  I thought about blogging a list of all that happened within these four walls today but I couldn't remember it all!  The fluidity and pace of our days keep me hopping and it's hard to slow the moments down. 

What's hardest I think is seeing my own impatience and occupation with the immediate take over my spirit.  Blech.  When I *raised my voice* (that's a nice way to say yelling, isn't it?) at my dear toddler today after he whined at me for the umpteenth time I saw his hurt clearly in his little brown eyes.  He had only wanted to get my attention. I snatched him up, kissed and hugged him mercilessly and tickled that hurt right away. 

During these full full days I often find myself crying out to God for help.  Not just a nebulous warm fuzzy feeling to wash over me (though that would be lovely).  But I'm asking for help in action.  To practice thankfulness, kindness, PATIENCE, gentleness, joy and love.  Mostly to flesh these out for my kids but also in other relationships.  Like to my complaining elderly neighbor who insists on discouraging our schooling choices for Chloe.  Lord give me patience and graciousness!

These are the songs I keep singing to myself during these crazy days of hurry and flurry:

I need Thee every hour

Please be my strength (Gungor)

Grace is sufficient (Shane & Shane - click the "Organic Remix" player link to hear)


And oh, these words have been a comfort to my harried soul!

What's playing in your head right now?

We have a winner!

Jenny Muth is the fortunate commenter who wins the new Shaun Groves cd, Third World Symphony!

Kind of bummed more of you didn't enter my bloggy giveaway.  But that's just testimony to the fact that I need to BLOG MORE to keep you guys reading and commenting.  I'll work on that.  Still wish there was an app which connected my brain directly to blogger.  That would save me so much time and effort.  :) 

Congrats go out to Jenny too on the safe arrival of new baby Cadence!  I've got some other fun goodies to throw into the winning package too.  (Doesn't that make you wish you had entered now?) 

Happy listening!

Family-isms

I am typically AWFUL at recording the memorable tidbits and retorts of my children over the years.  Even though my mom bought me a super cute and helpful journal for doing so, I'm often so busy with daily tasks that I breeze through the moment and neglect to capture the sweet words for posterity.

Thankfully I have this blog to help me record, remember and share these beautiful moments in time.  And hopefully these lovely memories will help me smile when the ugly moments of motherhood come threatening to steal my joy and deplete me of God's good grace.  And believe me, we have PLENTY of ugly moments in the Horn household!

Usually it's my 3 year old, Clive, who is spouting out the cuteness and funniness.  He's a natural chatterbox and his 3 year old *accent* makes {almost} every word that comes from his lips seem like utter adorableness.  This boy who is ever imagining, building and racing cars spills out with pure childish joy.

Lately though, I've jotted down a few memorable exchanges from other members of the family. My husband included.  :)  Enjoy!

Chloe-isms (age 6)
* Chloe has been up and down about the impending start of school. One VERY exciting moment happened recently at a school picnic when we discovered that her very favorite friend from Sunday school, Logan, would be in her class!  Seriously, Logan and Chloe are bosom buddies.  They love to play together and greet each other with hugs.  But her smiles turned to furrows the next day as she thought more about it.  I asked her what was bothering her and she replied, "Mom, I don't know if I want to go to school anymore.  I'll be the only one in first grade with a boyfriend!"  We then had a mommy lesson about what a *boyfriend* really is.  In 6 year old terms that is. 
* Chloe received a phone call recently from her sweet little friend, Grace.  They talked on the phone for what seemed like a long time.  After she hung up I asked Chloe what the conversation was about.  She retorted, "Oh, nothing really.  It's hard to explain."  And that was that. From 6 year old to teenager in the blink of an eye!
* I asked Chloe to keep an eye on Clive in the bathtub while I put Solomon down to bed.  Chloe was not happy about that and huffed her way into the bathroom.  She instantly complained, "But mom, it smells in here!"  (And usually she'd be right but having freshly cleaned the bathroom I knew it was sparkling clean.)  I replied to Chloe, "What does it smell like?"  And Chloe complained, "It smells like . . . water!"  Right, because clean water is SO STINKY.  The drama of this little girl is astounding at times.  And I'm sure I was never that dramatic when I was her age.  (No comments from the peanut gallery, please.)

Clive-isms (age 3.5)
* Clive put on his sunglasses as we embarked for a car ride and announced, "Sunglasses would be no good for caves!"
* One night when the kids were each watching their allotted video for the day, I slipped upstairs to take a cat nap.  Clive came up crying looking for me because something went wrong with the player.  He was really crying hard and when he saw me he said, "Mom?!?  Where were you?  I almost called 9-1-1!"  I, alarmed, responded, "Why would you call 9-1-1?  I was just upstairs!"  Clive responded, "I almost called 9-1-1 because I had a missing mommy!"  Good answer I guess.  We then had a serious conversation about when to call 9-1-1 and when NOT to.  Yikes!
* During playtime, Clive triumphantly came upstairs with his toy ninja turtle in one of my canning jars.  He proclaimed, "Mom, I captured this turtle and now I'm going to put him in jail and do science on him!"  When I inquired as to what kind of science experiment he would do Clive was obviously baffled.  Not missing a beat Clive replied, "I can't tell you mommy, it's a secret experiment!"  Hopefully we don't have a mad scientist in the making here!
* The other day I was fighting insanity after having braved 50 cent Monday with all three children in tow.  It was in a word, HORRIFIC.  Next stop was the grocery store.  I put Clive in the cart to attempt the grocery shopping and felt defeated already.  He promptly gave me a big hug around the neck and said, "Ah, there's nothing like a good mom!"   I.love.that.boy.

Matt-isms (age 35)
* After acquiring two baskets of peaches I was researching what to do with them.  I kept tossing ideas out in the air like, "Maybe I could freeze them whole like raspberries" or "Are these peaches the correct ones for canning or should I look for the freestone variety?" or "I wonder if I could freeze peach cobbler or peach pie filling".  Matt finally retorted, "Or you could just make peach cobbler."  And that's JUST what I did. :)
* Last week over the dinner table Matt suddenly got quiet adding weight to the words he would utter next, "Family, I want you all to know that next week at this time we'll be watching . . . . FOOTBALL."  Crickets chirped.  I think Matt was expecting a rousing cheer of "Go, Pack, Go!" but it did not happen.  We'll be excited come Thursday though!  Already got the green jello bought and Packer shirts ready to wear!
* We raised praying mantises this spring/summer and we've kept one adult close at hand to observe (we named her George).  Matt's been letting her out of the cage more often and after finding her on the sunflowers, he hollered something loudly.  I thought he was directing his words at me since I was standing at the kitchen window and well within earshot.  I shouted back, "What was that, Matt?  I didn't hear you."  And he replied, "Oh nothing.  I was just talking to George."  And then we both laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it.  Trumped by a praying mantis.  Didn't think I'd see the day!  :)

Shaun Groves Giveaway!

No, I'm not giving away the musician Shaun Groves.

But I AM giving away Shaun Groves' newly released and fantastically crafted cd, Third World Symphony.

I know I've blogged about this before but Matt and I have a very short-list of Christian artists that really move us. There's a power in these guys that comes from their expert blending of truth, poetry, heart-felt sincerity and musicality that is incomparable with other more mainstream Christian artists. 

I won't walk too far down the rabbit trail here but scores of Christian musicians are facing mounting pressure from Christian radio stations which will only play *lighter* music.  The radio stations want songs with softer lyrics which fit a particular soft-rock pop song style.  BLECH.  Thankfully, many Christian artists are still generating music that is weighty, unique, powerful and relevant.  They're just doing so independent of record labels and going "underground" so to speak.  (Read more here and listen to more gourmet Christian music here at Under the Radar.)

Shaun Groves has always been on our short-list.  (Along with Shane & Shane; the Gettys; Andrew Peterson; Seeds Family Worship and Sons of Korah.)  I can't explain why exactly we like his tunes so much.  His heart sings through his words palpably.  You can hear his earnestness and it's urgent and pleading.  It's as though he's just singing to God and could care less about any other audience.  But you happen to be at the door listening in; overhearing the overflow of his heart and blessed because it's also the overflow of your own.

But it's not just his honesty that compels us to listen to his music repeatedly.  His poetry is inspired.  I don't know what else to say about it.  His lyrics are effortless, poetic and infused at every turn with grace.

And the music itself is GREAT.  The fast rolling riffs of "Enough" and the surprising twangy banjo of "No Better" are toe-tapping and enjoyable without distracting from the song messages.

I could say much much more about this cd.  Many of the phrases keep stabbing at my soul and haunting me (in a good way) with the encouragement of God's truth.  Words like this . . .

"When you throw your stone, aim it at the heart . . . where every crime comes from, where every stumble starts and save the next for me . . . We've all got hell to pay and grace pays all we owe.  Lay me down with the liars, brawlers thieves and backbiters.  Lay me down with the others 'cause I'm no better."

"In this brawl between the empires of our good Lord and the liar will you stand?  Please stand with me.  'Cause right now my faith can take it but oh, when they come to break it, will you pray?  Please pray with me.  So we'll stand and pray 'til the dark gives way and we will sing, sing, sing."

"Thank you for daily bread.  Through us fill the empty.  Thank you for bodies whole.  Through us mend the breaking.  All is grace, All is grace, All is grace and grace enough for all."

 
Have I convinced you to buy his album yet?  :)  (Buy it on itunes, amazon or on Shaun's website)

Take a listen below and become convinced!

I'll give away a copy of Shaun Groves' new cd to one randomly chosen commenter.  To enter the cd giveaway just tell me who your favorite moves-you-deeply artist is and you're in!


Third World Symphony by shaungroves

Happy Birthday, dear Chloe!

Chloe turns six today.  SIX!

I can't talk about it I'll just tear up and get my keyboard all wet with my mushy gushiness.

How did she go from this sleeping cheeky peanut to this sweet little young lady so fast?

Praying that God preserves my Chloe's sweetness as she grows another year older and that He roots her sweetness in His love.  I pray that she will learn to love the Lord with all her heart, soul and mind and then give that love away to others.

Super happy birthday to my dear baby girl!   And let the birthday festivities begin!  

The new 6 year old will wear a made-for-her fancy dress to church today (thanks, Abuelita!), receive gifts from family, eat a special dinner (Chloe requested shrimp, pesto noodles, and fried zucchini), and welcome grandma and nana for a week long birthday visit.  This girl sure is blessed (read: spoiled).  :) 

Exploding head

This week has been killer busy.  My online job is picking up.  I've been coordinating meals for a local family going through chemotherapy.  I've been planning Chloe's upcoming 6th birthday party.  I've been arranging travel details and purchased tickets for relatives.  Oh, and somehow EVERY DAY this week we had a commitment on the calendar.

My head is going to essplode!

It's no secret that I am not an organized list-making soul.  I have small piles of papers with jotted notes sitting on my desk to remind my fragmented brain of important tasks.  But dumping the information out of my brain onto small sheets of notepaper doesn't seem to be easing the mental overload.

My poor belabored brain keeps shouting out random unrelated thoughts.  "Don't forget to buy breadcrumbs at Drug Mart" or "Email so-and-so about her syllabus" or "Did I ever look up the instructions for making cake pops?" or "I wonder who's on the leaderboard at the PGA Championship?  I should google it" or "I really need to blog about Shaun Groves' new cd" or "I wonder what kind of butterfly that yellow woolly caterpillar we saw on our neighbor's porch will become after metamorphosis? I should look that up online with Chloe"

These non-essential thoughts keep bouncing around my cranium at 70 mph.  And by the time I settle on one thought and decide to take action, I'm completely distracted from my original task.  Fractured, fragmented and disorderly is my thinking of late.

Has my head exploded yet?

I'm praying I make it through the upcoming birthday festivities with my head still firmly intact.  And hopefully I won't be such a frazzled flake that I can complete sentences when speaking to other adults.

How do you keep your mind organized and whole during these busy days?  My brain needs HELP.  Desperately. 

I'm realizing too that I can't just keep blaming *mommy brain* every time I act flaky or forgetful.  While I do think becoming a mom helped me get to this frazzly point I am positive I can reclaim my pre-mom brain cells.

I know what I need to do.  I need to re-train my brain to focus.  By forcing myself to do SINGLE tasks, reading chapters of books instead of paragraphs in one sitting, and only allowing myself 1-3 tabs open on my computer browser instead of 7-8.  But I can't start right now.  Right now I need to go google yellow woolly caterpillars.

Jesus loves the little children . . . even Solly

By day's end I was ready to offer up my third-born for adoption.  It was THAT kind of day.  My Solly was crabby, clingy and full of impertinent screaming today.  Blech.

I sure hope he's getting sick.  Yes, you heard me right.  That would at least explain the bad behavior.  If he's NOT sick then there are troublesome days ahead for me and monster toddler boy!

Solomon epitomizes the phrase *busy boy*.  My boy doesn't often sit still.  He only remains stationary for really engaging activities like reading books, dismantling sippy cups or digging in the sand.  Even when reading books he has his limit.  I think he might have ADD.  Seriously.  If he doesn't like the book he slams it shut after only a few pages and squirms his way off my lap to choose another book from the shelf.

So tonight after literally wrestling him into his diaper and jammies, we sat down to read our pile of bedtime books.  He was not so cooperative. Solly slammed several books closed after only a few sentences.  UNTIL we came to the book Jesus Loves the Little Children  that is. 

I sang through Jesus Loves the Little Children  all the way through and Solomon sat quietly and helped turn pages.  And then he opened the cover to read through it AGAIN.  His recent insatiable squirminess highlighted his sudden attentiveness.  As I sang through the book a second time, I couldn't help crying a bit as I realized God was speaking.  Speaking soft soothing words to my weary impatient soul and reminding me of the unchanging truth of His love.  He loves the little children of the world -- even my crabby pants Solomon. 

And so should you, Alicia.

God has given Solomon to me as a priceless gift.  I know that's trite but God hammered me with that truth tonight.  Precious, loved, dear and known by God.  I let those words wash away my frustration.  Why was I irritated and impatient with this beautiful bundle of boy again?

I am humbled again and transfixed by the idea of God's unconditional love.  Jesus loves Solomon regardless of his actions and affections towards him (or lack thereof).  That's such a huge thought.  Especially now that I'm momming it to three little ones.  I so often find my expressions of love wavering up and down through the day as the kids please or displease, upset or delight, fight or make peace. 

Lord, fill me up with your kind of love!

A new bloggy look

For ages now I've wanted to change up my blog header a bit to reflect the season and update the pictures of my growing-faster-than-weeds offspring. 

And tonight I finally did just that.  Ahh.  It was so refreshing to ignore the household duties and to waste an hour dinking around with colors, fonts, and photos. 

With the able assistance of picasa and this stellar tutorial by Clover Lane I created the header above. 

What do you think?  Do you like it? 

Next up: serious blog layout changes.  Stay tuned!

What have I been up to?

Not blogging that's fo' sho!  :)

Summer has been glorious, hot, fun and whirlwind-esque thus far!  I WISH there was a way to push the slow motion button on time to soak up these sunny carefree days.  

Here's a photo highlight reel of what I've been doing instead of blogging:

Celebrating my mom's RETIREMENT!  Woo-hoo!  Now if she'd only listen to reason and become my live-in nanny . . .

Swinging.

Praying with all my might that my children won't injure themselves while fishing.  Every time Chloe cast her line into the pond I cringed that the hook was going to snag her skin somehow. 

Gardening, weeding, watering, picking and canning. 

Experimenting in the kitchen making homemade wheat thins, mayo, and wheat tortillas.

Dressing myself and children up like cows to receive free food from Chick-Fil-A.  Moo!

 

Eating at good ole Milwaukee favorites like George Webb, Pizza Shuttle and Kopps.

Snapping self-taken pix with my super cute grandma poolside.

Getting good and sandy on the shores of Lake Michigan.  You're really not having fun until there is sand in your diaper (or underwear).

How's your summer been thus far?

School's out for summer!

Chloe proudly showing off portfolio evaluation.

[WARNING: This post includes excessive use of exclamation points.]

Chloe is officially DONE with kindergarten!

Yahoo and Hallelujah! 

I'm unspeakably proud of all that Chloe's accomplished this year.  She's a fabulous little reader and a true joy to teach. 

We've had many mountain and valley moments through our year of kindergarten.  I pray the valleys will help teach Chloe the value of perseverance and keep her humbly relying on God for strength in her educational journey.

In Ohio, there are at least three different ways you can provide documentation of your homeschooling year.  I chose to compile a portfolio of Chloe's year of schoolwork and then to have the portfolio evaluated by a certified teacher. (Ironically, both Matt and I are teachers but neither of us are certified to teach K-12 here.  I suppose we might be a trifle biased in evaluating our own daughter anyhow.)

I purposely didn't take a photo of the ginormous binder we put together chronicling Chloe's kindergarten year.  It's embarrassingly huge.  I had no clue what to omit.  Nearly everything that was worthy of saving throughout the year made it into the portfolio binder.  Besides dividing out her work by discipline, I also had sections for handwriting, book reports, field trips, enrichment, homeschool co-op group, and unit studies. 

Thankfully, she passed the evaluation with flying colors! 

And now we celebrate, eat chocolate cake and take a much-deserved break from schoolwork!

Though not entirely.  Our family life is so completely infused with books that reading will naturally continue throughout the summer months.  I have a list of chapter books I'd like to read aloud to Chloe and both kids have already completed their first week's chart for our library's summer reading program.

And of course summer is the perfect time to do a few fun outdoor science studies.  I hope to do a unit on stars with the kids and explore the warm summer sky with our telescope for constellations and other celestial objects.

Don't worry, we're not such eggheads that we'll read the summer away.  Bike riding, swimming, visits from family, park playdates and general summer fun-nity is also on the agenda!

Big congratulations to our new little first grader! 

Enjoying the celebratory dessert of chocolate almond cake and ice cream.

 

Clive is happy to partake in the spoils of big sister's hard work! 

Horn homeschool: Weeks 34-36

For our final unit study of the year, we've been learning all about flowers. 

As usual, we began with a boat-load of books about flowers from the library.  We talked about the vast variety of flowers including flower bushes and grasses.  Did you know that grasses flower?  I sure didn't!  We also learned about the basic anatomy of a flower and the processes of pollination and fertilization.

We dissected a tulip flower head and I showed the kids the various anatomical parts of the flower.  Then Chloe drew her own flower diagram of a tulip on a posterboard.

We planted lots of different flower seeds in pots for our yard and noted the great contrasts between them as we planted. We did sunflowers, marigolds, snapdragons, calla lilies and sweet peas.  I love it when we can combine a learning activity with a household task!  Got my flowers planted and did a little homeschooling at the same time.  Nice. 

Another fun aspect of our flower study has been our "What's in Bloom?" poster.  Chloe and I are charting the perennial flowers that we see blooming around our area.  On the chart we note the date the flower blooms, I write down the flower name and then Chloe colors a swatch of color to match the blooming flower.  Then we both draw the flower in the last column.  At the end of the summer (assuming we keep it going) I look forward to seeing if there's anything we can conclude from our flower chart.  One of the flower books we read said that in general, flower color can tell you what part of the year it blooms in.  For example, pinks and purples are mostly mid-summer flowers while whites and yellows are spring bloomers.   We'll see if our findings prove or disprove that color-season pattern. 

I'm certain we could have done more crafts and such for this unit.  The possibilities with flowers are practically limitless!  But the end or our school year is in sight and we're ramping down considerably.  Only 10 pages left in Chloe's math book and then she's all done with her formal kindergarten studies.  Hooray!

Patriotic food

"What is it about Memorial Day weekend that makes me want to grill up some good ole American food?" I posed to no one in general while standing in my kitchen yesterday.

"You are a product of the culture, my dear," retorted my husband.

"Thank you for that insight, Dr. Horn," was the comeback I should have fired back.  But alas, I thought of it 5 minutes later.  Sigh.

Dr. Horn is absolutely right.  But when it comes to cooking yummy barbecue food, I don't care a bit that I'm a cultural lemming.  It's delicious!  (Summer barbecue that is, not lemming.)

Here's the menu for our Memorial Day cookout dinner tomorrow:

* Bratwurst (Johnsonville, of course)
* Corn on the cob
* Baked beans
* Watermelon
* Potato chips

Nothing fancy, to be sure, but definitely patriotic!  Am I the only one who's culinary cravings are inspired by the holiday?  What are you cooking up for Memorial Day?

Horn homeschool: Week 33

For week 33 of our homeschooling venture, we did a short study on drama and the performing arts. 

During the last few months of our homeschooling co-op, we had endeavored as moms to create more opportunities for our kids to present projects in front of the group.  So, we concocted a few poster-style project and each kiddo got a chance to present his/her work to the others.  It was GREAT to see how they blossomed and grew in confidence through these mini-projects!

Knowing the valuable experience it is for our little students to speak in front of an audience, and knowing the serious cuteness factor involved, we decided to do an end-of-the-year play!

And while organizing 12 children ages 3-8 was, at times, maddening it was also ridiculously FUN.

Another mom and I collaborated to put together a script based on the well-loved story Goldilocks.  I took over as director since I have lots of childhood theater experience (and I also have the loudest voice to be able to get the attention of my rowdy cast).  A super creative crafty mom in our group led the scenery making and stage set-up.  Then each family and their kids were responsible for their own props and costumes.

Our play was titled "The Real True Actual Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears".  Overall, it really went well and was VERY entertaining.  And I was super extra proud of my Chloe (Mama Bear) and Clive (Baby Bear).  They remembered their lines and delivered them with gusto!  Clive even added his own gestures and improvised a little.

During our mini-drama study we read several books about acting and all the behind-the-scenes work necessary to put on a show.  In doing so the kids learned some drama vocabulary words.  And of course we practiced their parts at home while I gave them a teensy weensy bit of coaching.  Just simple things to help them speak in character and to always face the audience.

Additionally, I took the kids to a performance of the Akron Symphony Orchestra. They've both heard orchestral music before but never live.  Both Chloe and Clive were MESMERIZED!  The concert was geared for kids and included many breaks for interaction with the audience.  There was even a narrator and actors who acted out the story, "The Little Engine that Could".

This unit has made me realize that I need to work much harder at exposing my kids to the wonderful world of the arts.  I know they're still young yet but this seems to be the prime time for generating an appreciation and beginning a love for the fine arts.

The bear family realizes that someone's been eating their porridge.  As you can see, Baby Bear was very animated about it all.

Baby Bear encounters Goldilocks.

Papa and Mama Bear confront Goldilocks about her habit of breaking-and-entering.

The cast takes a bow!  (And Clive gets distracted by a newfound set of toy binoculars.)

Processed pantry

I've been attempting these past few years to cook more from scratch and keep fewer boxes of processed foods around the pantry.

I'm finding there are some food items I just can NOT make from scratch myself.  Bagels, sausage, cheese, potato chips . . . these are all products I have no desire to recreate.  (I tried making homemade bagels once.  It was not pretty.)

But what I'm striving to eliminate from our family diet is the processed starchy snacks that are filled to the gills with refined sugars and additives.  So far, I've only successfully eliminated one major item from our processed food stock -- granola bars.

After trying a few recipes that left me with less-than-yummy granola bars, my sister-in-law gave me a winner.  This recipe is AMAZING.  Literally.  You'll never want to buy store-bought granola bars again!  These granola bars are EASY to make and the results are consistently good.  Even for me who is a not-so-accurate measurer these bars turn out great every time. 

Check out the recipe in full here at allrecipes.  Be sure to read the first couple of reviews for some excellent tips on making these even more delicious!  I've only made these the basic way but according to the reviews you can make several variations that sound fabulous.

Next on my to-try-to-make list is homemade wheat thins.  If cracker making goes well, I'll attempt homemade cheez its.  These look unbearably delicious and cheesy.  And there are only 6 ingredients.  Yeehaw!  Now the real test will be to see if the kids will accept the homemade versions over the store-bought stuff.  I'll keep you posted!

What culinary experiments are you cooking up these days?

Horn homeschool: Weeks 28-29

Knowing we had an upcoming field trip with our homeschool group to a local police station, I planned a two week unit study focusing on Community Helpers. 

Our field trip was AMAZING.  The police officer giving us the tour was not busy so he spent LOTS of time and showed us every nook and cranny of the station.  Literally.  We saw the dispatch center, shooting range, detective offices, interrogation rooms, jail, locker room, and police cars.  The officer patiently answered all our questions (from both kids and mommies) and indirectly gave us much insight as to how vital his service is.


At home, Chloe and Clive and I read through MANY books on various community helpers.  We focused on police officers, firefighters, librarians, postal workers, and doctors/dentists.

In studying police officers, we made costumes (ironically, Clive refused to wear his) and role-played with walkie-talkies.  Additionally, we talked about stranger safety at length.  Unfortunately, this back-fired on me.  Instead of creating an awareness and caution of strangers in Chloe, she became transfixed with a newfound fear of unfamiliar faces.  To the point where she would hide behind me in stores and not engage in friendly banter with cashiers or bystanders in public.  It didn't help that during the police station field trip the officer showed the kids a binder full of convicts' photos.  And Chloe thought she spotted one of our local drug store clerks in the mugshot.

THANKFULLY, this intense fear has worn off somewhat.  She's back to her cheerful self and often chats with trusted folks in my presence.  Last week she proudly told the check-out librarian all about her swimming lessons.  Whew.

I didn't forget Clive in this unit study.  I pointedly chose several community helper books of particular interest to him including garbage truck drivers, snow plow drivers, farmers and construction workers.  Anyone driving a machine is very important in Clive's mind!

I really wanted to write up some thank you notes with Chloe for a few local community helpers.  Alas, my dream did not meet reality and we never got around to it.  :(  But thank you notes are never late so I'm hoping to do this with Chloe as part of our handwriting practice in an upcoming week.

There are a myriad of sites out there with valuable resources on this topic.  My faves include:

• Mrs. Kilburn's Kiddos: A wonderful list of ideas, books and linked crafts, songs and activities for this teacher's community helpers week.
• Enchanted Learning:  Enchanted Learning ROCKS MY HOMESCHOOLING WORLD.  It's been a huge aid to me when I'm scrounging for some extra sheets and activities to round out a unit study.  Definitely worth the $20 year-long membership.
• Homeschool Share: Great ideas and printables for lapbooks for community helper themed books.  My kids loved the Community Helpers A to Z book listed. 
• First School: This site is wonderful!  All the activities and crafts use every day household items.  Which is perfect for me since I usually scrounge around last minute in planning out crafts.  This site gave us the police officer costume idea.  Thanks, first school!

And thank YOU community helpers for your valuable service and sacrifice!

 

Horn Homeschool: Week 26

Week 26 of our homeschool ventures found us right around the "official" beginning of spring, March 20.

But alas, spring did not arrive as scheduled here in Northeast Ohio.

Regardless, we still read through stacks of books with springy themes including why seasons happen, signs of spring, and what spring looks like around the world.

We also made coffee filter daffodils, went for rainy cold walks looking for crocuses, and jumped in puddles.  Let me clarify that.  The KIDS jumped in puddles not me.  I watched from the window with Solomon because I don't own rain boots.  :(  A sad fact I'm hoping will change once Target's adorable women's polka dot boots go on clearance come summer.  (Those boots do eventually go on clearance, right?)


Looking for more spring crafts?  DLTK has a super section devoted to fun and easy spring-y projects.  The coffee filter daffodil was RIGHT up our alley since it was using regular around-the-house materials and still involved a new technique (spritzing water to spread the marker color).


As usual, we continued with our regular school work during the week plodding along in math, phonics, reading practice, read-alouds, and handwriting/journaling.

Am I crazy?

With school winding down and my part-time job load becoming lighter for the summer I'm finally planning to tackle some much-needed home improvement projects.

My problem with home improvement is that I'm a dreamer but not a follow-througher.  I want projects to be quick, easy and still produce results that look professional and stylish.

For that reason, I have NOT done much painting in our home and it desperately needs it!  Oh yeah, and I may have been a smidge busy chasing after my three little ones.  (Speaking of which, Solomon has just pulled down all the homeschool books from the shelf TWICE since I've sat down to finish this post).  Matt painted both the kids' rooms but didn't do any trim.  And then I painted the bathroom in one VERY harried day with my mom a year ago.  I wanted it to be a "while-you-were-out" type of project so we crammed the whole shabang into one full day.  With two little kids running around and one big pregnant belly in the mix.

Already, the bathroom needs to be redone in some places.  I didn't sand the vanity or mirror so the paint is peeling off.  We also didn't use moisture-resistant paint so it's bubbled up near the shower and my curious 1 year old enjoys picking it off whenever he gets the chance.

So, that's my brief and sordid history with painting.  And now I'm scheming to add these painting projects to my summer to-do list:

* paint front door and window trim
* repaint worn spots on front porch
* touch-up needed spots on bathroom wall
* sand and repaint mirror and vanity
* strip old paint layers from inside window trim and restore wood

It's that last project idea that prompted this blog post.  I've NEVER stripped paint before and I'd like some advice from folks who have.  Is it worth it?  I have at least 5 window trims and 5 door trims I'd like to strip and restore. There are two layers of paint over most of the trim that I'd have to peel off before restoring the wood.

There are many high traffic spots around the house where the paint is peeling on its own.  I've been chipping away at this spot by Clive's door for a few weeks now.  Doesn't the wood underneath look nice?

Am I crazy here?  Or is this a doable summer project?