The Christmas tree is decorated. The cookies are baking. Shoppers are scurrying for the perfect gifts. In many places it has already been snowing for weeks...and here in Florida, well...let me just tell you the story... We went to the zoo a week or so ago and I saw something unexpected as we were driving down the road I made my husband stop so I could get a picture...
FALL COLORS!!! The leaves are finally starting to change colors...very few leaves. We don't have many deciduous trees to begin with, so any time I see any color that is out of the "ordinary" palm green color, I take notice. And when it's the oranges and reds of fall...I stop in my tracks. I was so excited to see these leaves I think my family was beginning to think they needed to refresh their memory on where the nearest psychiatric ward was.
It's one of the few things I miss about living up north (very few things). That and snow at Christmas...just Christmas though ...the lights are so pretty shining on it. Palm trees wrapped in colored lights just aren't the same...they scream "JIMMY BUFFET LIVES HERE!!!"...but he really doesn't. I digress...
It was nice to see some fall color...even if I had to wait for Christmas to see it. After living here for...how many years now?...I didn't realize that we had leaves that changed colors so "close to home." Now if I could just find a place where it snows close by that I didn't know about... Oh well...I'll be content with the leaves for now.
We were blessed to be able to host a small International Fair at our house (due to low turnout canceling the location our homeschool group had arranged). We had a great evening of fellowship and the kids got to share all they had learned over the past few weeks.
We chose to learn about Sweden (where my grandfather came from). After doing a preliminary search online, I found a few topics to cover...and handed them off to each of the kids. My 14yo dd took over St Lucia's Day and Christmas Traditions...and all the baking. My 12yo ds took over learning about Vikings (yes, they were in southern Sweden too). And my 10yo and 8yo dd's did the other holidays and general information about Sweden. Here are a few pictures from the evening...
You can see some of the things we did in the pictures above. We wove Swedish paper heart baskets for teh Christmas tree. My younger dd's made purses/bags that we saw in a book of a child wearing a traditional Swedish outfit. I sewed some "costumes" for the kids...the St. Lucia gown for the oldest daughter (of course), 2 identical Swedish traditional dresses for the other girls, a Viking outfit for my oldest son (which was actually just some cool ribbon trim sewn onto an oversized men's henley shirt from Walmart...and (don't tell anyone or my ds will die from embarrassment) a pair of women's slippers that looked like viking boots...fur and all...and my younger ds's were both supposed to be the Jul Tomte, the Swedish traditional Christmas gnome, but we couldn't convince the 3yo to dress up, so we only had one...and he was so cute.
I love sewing their costumes...and it takes me something like this to actually do any kind of sewing whatsoever. There are too many other things to distract me other times. I am embarrassed to say that my oldest dd has a quilt I have still not started quilting that I promised her for Christmas LAST year. needless to say, I need to pull out my machine more often. Oh well...I digress...
we found out so may cool things about Sweden that I did not know before. And the kids did their own lapbooks in addition to the display board..and a few of them made Jul Tomtens (You can spell it Tomte, Tomten, or Tomtar...don't know which is correct...but it's pronounces "Yool Tahm-tuh" from what I recall my father saying). The kids also found a Dala horse picture to color (traditional Swedish woodcraft/artwork) and my 12yo ds made a Viking ship out of Legos. It was so cool...The oars were sticking out the "holes" on the side of the ship. I was rather impressed with his creativity. My oldest dd also made her own St Lucia candle crown out of a styrofoam ring and Christmas holly garland. She did a great job, don't 'cha think? ) The kids also made PepparKakor, traditional Swedish Christmas Cookies, and Lucia Buns...which turned out a bit dark on top, but they were delicious anyway. We also made a wheat sheaf decorated with red ribbon, and found a Jul Bok online (pronounced "Yool Bahk" to the best of my recollection...traditionally the Jul Tomte rides the Jul Bok, a straw goat, to give good children Christmas presents on Christmas Eve) for our display...and to use as a decoration now.
The kids also completed two lapbooks for our Project. One on Vikings and the other on Sweden. There are some pictures below. I didn't think to open the mini-books so you could see what they did, so it's kind of "boring", but there are actually lots of pictures and color inside. If I get a chance, I'll take a few more pics and post them...
Viking Lapbook...
Sweden Lapbook...
And there you have it...I honestly have to say..this has been the best project my kids have done...and while it wasn't "complete" by any means, I am happy with what they've learned.
When I was taking pictures the next morning of their display...
...Look closely at the Jul Bok (straw goat) under the table.
...Here's a close-up...
...Someone had" shot" the Jul Bok with a Nerf dart gun...Someone is SOOOOO not getting any Christmas presents from the Jul Tomte. hee hee What a great night... I think my favorite part of the night was not so much what the kids had learned, but the fellowship that we had with the other families. They all had a ball...
I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. It's been over a month...BUT it has been a nice break. I've been able to get a number of things done around the house and focus on my kids and my husband. It's been so refreshing. I can't say that I'm sorry I took the break.
If you've been wondering what we've been up to...first...our "Not-to-Be-Forgotten" Thanksgiving. Oh, the plans I had...the recipes I searched endless hours for...the ingredients I carefully chose (spending way more than any normal person should have)...just so we could have a perfect Thanksgiving dinner never to be forgotten by any one person who tasted the scrumptious delicacies. (Not to mention, my dad and I used to have contests to see who could "secure" the most turkey skin before the other one got to it...mmmm I just love perfectly baked turkey skin..I know it's kind of sick, but it's one of my quirks. )
My 14yo dd and I spent from Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday baking and cooking and mixing and whatever else you do in the kitchen to create a culinary work of art for the most special "eating" day of the year. We had 2 delicious apple pies, and a pumpkin pie baked on Wednesday, I went out to buy some last minute sewing supplies for out International Fair we were hosting (more on that later) and came home around 11:30 PM...finished a few things in the kitchen and went to bed. I woke up at 6 AM to start on the rest of the baking. My DD made our version of Boston Market cornbread. I started on the turkey (which had been thawing since Monday, but still wasn't completely thawed ...that should have given me a hint of what was to come), paying careful attention to all the hints and tips I found on how to bake the perfect turkey. When I finally got it into the oven, I started simmering the giblets for gravy (for hours...I think they were way beyond tender when they were done...mmmmm).
The day went on and the potatoes were peeled, the stuffing was prepared (a wonderful recipe using pumpernickel bread, apples, raisins and sauted onions...mmmmm it smelled so good), the green bean casserole was mixed up, the carrots were glazed, and all was going according to plan. The turkey was finally finished cooking so I took it out of the oven...it looked so good I almost didn't notice the little bit of turkey juice that spilled over the side...oh well, I'd have to clean that off later, but for now, I had to get the green bean casserole and the stuffing in the oven so it could be done by the time the turkey was ready to carve. Perfect timing!!...It was all coming together.
I turned away from the stove to get my wooden spoon to start making the gravy and when I turned back to the gravy pan, there was black smoke pouring out of the oven...I looked down and saw an orange glow in the oven window...needless to say, I started to freak, but remembered that baking soda puts out oven fires (don't ask...but I had a previous experience in high school Home Ec. where it was necessary for me to know that..and we'll leave it there). So I grabbed the box of baking soda (as I yelled frantically for my husband)...just to toss a few measly teaspoons on the fire...I was out. My husband came in (did I mention we have a gas stove)...telling me to find the phone "in case" we had to call the fire department. I'm thinking ...PHONE!!! I'm saving my PERFECTLY PLANNED AND COOKED MEAL!!!!!
So I'm trying to pull my stuffing and green bean casserole out of the oven (which I would highly NOT suggest doing if I had been in my right mind) and he's running to the garage to get the fire extinguisher....which I am happy about. The kids are running out of the house in case the whole house blows because we're dealing with gas here...while both mom & dad are inside putting the fire out (and potentially orphaning my children). They're having a party out in the front yard and my husband (turned firefighter) tells me to get out of the kitchen (which I watch from over the "bar") as he sprays the tar out of the oven with the fire extinguisher. What a HERO...the fire was out thanks to my "big strong man" and his trusty fire extinguisher. I was so happy to be able to get back to Thanksgiving dinner. That Turkey looked so good...and smelled even better. Turkey skin here I come! The kitchen was still smoky (as was the rest of the house...the smoke alarms had been blaring for at least 5 minutes...time to check the batteries. I think we may have sucked the life out of them) and funnily enough, we could see smoke coming out of the bedroom windows. so we let it air out for a few minutes before going back inside.
What I didn't realize is this... fire extinguishers have a dusty kind of stuff in them to put the fire out, and it goes EVERYWHERE when you spray it. What I thought was all smoke was partially fire extinguisher dust...and it was settling all over my kitchen and the adjoining rooms...including my turkey, my gravy, my potatoes, my green bean casserole, our apple pies, our carrots...everything except the pumpkin pie (which my husband had put into the microwave to make extra counter space), the cornbread (which I had covered to keep it from drying out), and the stuffing (covered in foil...which my husband informed me that we could not finish baking because the oven was now unusable). I was so stunned I couldn't even cry (right away..that came later))...I just went outside and sat in our lawn chairs on the driveway with my head in my hands...no "perfect" Thanksgiving meal to bless my family with. No "Oooos" and "Aaahs" over the great recipes I found. No TURKEY SKIN!!!
And then came the tears...because not only did I realize that we had nothing to eat...and nothing to cook it with...I also realized how much I had spent on what was now covered in fire extinguisher dust...and how long it had taken to do it all...and that I was REALLY HUNGRY...because even though I spent my entire morning around food...I hadn't eaten since dinner the night before and it was now 4 PM...I was starving. And the cornbread my husband brought out for my kids to eat just made my stomach hurt even worse because it reminded me of everything else that was GONE! While my kids ate cornbread and played, I sat crying because now I just wanted to feed my kids something decent...even if it wasn't the perfect Thanksgiving dinner...and I couldn't. I had let everyone down...and there was nothing I could do about it. My husband suggested that we go to over to a family from church's house since they had given an open invitation to anyone who wanted to come for Thanksgiving dinner...to which I said (and I have no idea why I said this)..."NO!!" I think I just didn't want anyone to make fun of me for burning dinner (which I didn't do...the oven caught on fire AFTER most of it was done and it was sitting perfectly cooked on the counter waiting for someone to enjoy)...and to be honest..I really didn't want to be around anyone at the moment...especially if they were having a great time.
So I suggested we go to Cracker Barrel...the only place I could think of that might be open...Apparently, everyone else in town who wasn't cooking their own dinner decided to got to Cracker Barrel too. So much for not being around anyone. At least no one here knew what happened or was going to ask me why we were there. We waited for over an hour for a table...and they were so busy that we actually waited almost another hour to get our food, but I really didn't care. Normally I'd be watching the clock, but then I was just happy to be able to get something to eat. I would have waited 5 hours for it. The lady who brought our food out to the table (not the waitress) was so sweet and she asked us how our day was...and before I could say my normal "fine" (which it wasn't)...my husband spilled the whole story out (being in a good mood and all...taking it in stride)...The server actually turned out to be a Christian and she (out of nowhere) said "you all seem like Christians. Do you love just Jesus?"...then we started talking about how the Lord was good...and she went along and we ate our food.
Then we waited what seemed like forever to get our check. (Did I mention the place was REALLY busy?) But again, I didn't care because I was just happy to have something in my stomach besides a low rumble. Finally our waitress came out and told us that the server told the manager what happened and he wanted to buy our dinner and we weren't even allowed to leave her a tip!!! So I started to cry again...and she started to cry...so I had to stop so she could stop...then the manager came out and talked to us...turned out he was a Christian too...and apparently 4 or 5 other people there were Christians because they stopped us on our way out to encourage us.
You know...I think God had that planned all along. I'm reminded of Psalm 19:21 "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." I am so thankful for the staff of that Cracker Barrel. On the way there, my husband said, "I think this will go down on record as the worst Thanksgiving," but it turned out to be one of the best. God is so good...even in the midst of the "fire." He always has a plan that is for our ultimate good in the end. Here are a few pictures of the "Not-to-be-Forgotten" Thanksgiving (and even though you can hardly see it, there was a fine layer of fire extinguisher dust on the turkey and the water in the pan on potatoes, but you can see the black residue on the stove and the dust all over the inside of the oven and the stuffing pan--covered in foil-- and the "festivities" outside after the fire was safely out)...
I think that will do it for now. I had planned on telling about our International Fair project, but that will have to wait...just to give you a "teaser" though...someone got "shot." But I'll leave you with these tow things I learned...1.) Keep a fire extinguisher in your house. You may never have to use it, but that one time you do, you'll be glad you have it. And 2.) Never put your turkey in a pan that "just fits" or you may be needing that fire extinguisher sooner than you think. My FIL (who used to be a volunteer firefighter) told us afterwards that the cause of the majority of house fires is grease fires in the oven. (OK...I'm done with my community service announcement)...and 3.) (I know I only said 2....but I must reiterate)...God is good...all the time. Even when you think all is lost, He has another plan that is better than MY "perfect" plan. And after a week of the oven not working because we had to clean every square inch on it...I am VERY GRATEFUL to be able to use my oven to cook again.
I've just uploaded a new lapbook to my group, Homeschool Treasure Trove. It is a Thanksgiving-themed lapbook for early or non-readers.
It appears a bit on the plain side, but we're going to "decorate" ours with some clipart and images we've found on the internet. You can do what you like with it, but I will give you some ideas of what we did (are doing) to make it a bit more visually interesting. For each letter of the alphabet, I found a picture that describes the word associated with the letter. For example, for "C is for Corn", we pasted a few pictures of corn inside the booklet. (We found some great images of Indian corn.)
I also found a number of Thanksgiving-themed pictures to "dress up" the blank spots on the lapbook (in between mini-books. I'm going to have my ds paste some fall leaves and pumpkins, turkeys and corn sheaves to make it more "fun."
I found our images by doing a google image search based on the word (occasionally adding "pilgrim" or "plymouth" to narrow the results). You may also like to let your child draw pictures of the associated word. This is a great link for Pilgrim coloring pages... http://home.surewest.net/moseley/colorbook/colorindex.html
To download the lapbook, just follow the link in the right sidebar, or click here. Happy Lapbooking!!
I'm so proud of this TV news anchor. She happens to be from here in Florida...on what I thought to be a liberal news station..but maybe not. You go, girl!! Keep asking those tough questions.
After this interview, WFTV was black-balled by the Obama campaign and interviews with members of Obama's team (including Biden's wife) were canceled. Personally, I was appalled by the lack of respect and professionalism of Biden towards this reporter. He acted like he was shocked that she didn't worship the ground he and Obama walked on...like everyone else in the media.
I love this time of year...The hurricane season is almost over. The leaves are changing colors (in other parts of the world). It's starting to cool off to the lower 80's. The pumpkins and Indian corn are in the grocery stores...
...AND It's time for the Homeschool Blog Award Nominations!
I love this time of the year because I get to bestow on my fellow bloggers the honor due to them for sharing a bit of their lives throughout the year. I could go on and on about my favorites, but you'll probably find a link to them in the right sidebar under "Friends." If you've never nominated someone, I highly suggest you run over there and do it. They may not win their category or even be a finalist, but they will get warm fuzzies just by knowing that someone out there loves them.
And if you should just happen to want to nominate me (no...I wouldn't be dropping hints...really!), I might point out that I just redesigned my blog. (No hints meant to enter me for the Best Blog Design..or Best Artistic Content...or even the Best Variety...or the Live-What-You-Believe...or whatever...really...I'm not hinting. )
You can see the categories at the Homeschool Blog Awards website (There are 24 of them..and no, you don't have to nominate someone for each category). I'll only give a few hints about who I nominated.
...Someone who reminds me of fine China...
...Someone who runs a Station...
...A Cannon...
...Someone who makes me think of Scarlett O'Hara,...
...among others... (Have fun figuring those out. )
Please check out the Nomination Rules if you want your nominees to count. (Especially, to include the "http:/" in your link to the blog and the location of your favorite Geographical blog)...There's nothing worse than taking the time to nominate your favorites just to have the nomination D-Q'ed by missing some little thing the guidelines. (But I know all you women out there do in fact read the directions. )
...Looking forward to seeing who gets nominate...and voting on the finalists.
I found a wonderful giveaway from a friend's blog (Thanks, Kristen)... It is for the Pilgrim's Progress All-in-One Curriculum found at Answers in Genesis. The giveaway is found at the Seaside Tales blog . Scroll down to the October 14th post.
I just found this great website that has penmanship animation to help your kids learn the order of strokes. Only the basic manuscript and cursive are demonstrated (Zaner-Bloser)
Ta-da!! I finally got my new template up and running. First, I want to thank Ali from Mission Field Designs for sharing her wonderful 3-column blank template. (You can find out more about her services and ministry at her website.) It is so nice to have that extra column. I feel a bit more "organized" now. Not to mention my playlists are at the top instead of "hidden" somewhere on the right column. I personally love my music (which is why I picked it...novel concept, eh?), but I know that not everyone does. So I chose another playlist of purely instrumental music...and if you'd rather not listen to any music, you can turn them both off. And you can find them easily to do it!!
Anyway, I've been busily trying to get my school and house in order...and it still is not done. Which also means little time for blogging. And what little time I did spend on it...I spent on my template. But I think it's time well spent. I hope not to change it again until maybe Christmas. (I love to decorate for the holidays.) But maybe not...it's so pretty the way it is. :-)
Welcome to my blog...Why "gidget"? Well...my husband tried to teach me how to surf before we were married. I was lousy at it, but he called me his "gidget" and the name stuck.
Why "Treasure Trove"? I love sharing about my sweet little "treasures"...and God has blessed me beyond measure....and no, I didn't mean that to rhyme.
...the lights are so pretty shining on it. Palm trees wrapped in colored lights just aren't the same...they scream "JIMMY BUFFET LIVES HERE!!!"...but he really doesn't. I digress...
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