Many great things have happened this month: We had Grandma and Grandpa Anderson visit; school is chugging along very well; I hit a deer; we jarred over 120 quarts of harvest... I'm sure I'm missing something.
This year, I'm trying to be more project-oriented. It's keeping things busy to say the least!
Norman helmets and ships. We floated and burned the ships in the backyard.
Carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores: Each paper is a mouth (with appropriate shaped teeth), we glued the right food in each mouth.
Rilie at 10 days old and almost 4 years old.
I had to put the two together!
Eating Grandpa Anderson's cookies! I am ashamed to say, these are the only two pictures I took the whole week. The other picture is on Nick's tablet. I enjoyed just being a part of the fun, but I wish I captured more pictures for my kids. They love looking at pictures of family.
Harvesting
We pickled cucumbers, made tomatoe sauce, applesauce, pear-blackberry sauce, canned pear-havles/chunks, and made grape juice! I can't believe how blessed we were!! Many people took the time to teach, share, and encourage me. I thought we'd have maybe a couple dozen quarts; I would have never imagined over 120 quarts!
Making pear sauce, we added blackberries. The boys loved using the Victorio.
Thanks Marilyn for sharing it!
Some of the fruits of our labor:
Pear-chunks (~24 quarts) and applesauce (~10 quarts)
I think we have 36 quarts of pickles.
Alvin and Alex can probably make pickles in their sleep now.
More pictures making pear and blackberry sauce.
(Blogger isn't letting me pick where to put pictures... so they aren't all together.)
The blackberries made it very tart, so we added some sugar.
The boys didn't complain.
Rilie helping me stir. He was very careful.
Cleaning!
Jackson wanted to be a part of the fun, but usually counters the point of cleaning. Alvin put him in this box, pushed him around while picking up toys on the floor. Jackson loved it! Mama appreciate it for sure.
Jackson is walking and trying to run.
Rilie's hair is growing back out, the way I like it!
More Projects:
Magna Carta: We aged paper, used feathers (quills),
and ink to copy a part of the Magna Carta.
The boys now appreciate all the work scribes did,
because writing with quill and ink is very challenging.
Rilie enjoyed it too.
Even though it was frustrating sometimes.
Family Home Evening:
In Primary at Church, the each boy made an FHE wheel to help rotate jobs. We've enjoyed using it. This week, Rilie was in charge of the treat. He wanted chocolate cake and learned how to frost it.
He wanted to add sprinkles and pretended the jar was a candle.
Halloween Decorations
I grew up making decorations for each holiday. This is something I have not been able to keep up with for my kids, and it's really bothered me!! I'm doing better this Halloween.
Painting pumpkins: The boys really wanted pumpkins, but they decay so quickly. Since, I hold off until the week of Halloween. This year, we compromised! I bought pumpkins to paint, and later we'll buy pumpkins to carve.
You can see part of Rilie's jack-o-latern face, before he painted over it.
Jackson is painting mom's hand and the pumpkin.
Tis the Seasons for dressing up!
Our tire swing. Alvin and Alex added tires to jump from onto the tire swing.
No twisted ankles yet!
Rilie likes to climb up the side and slide down.
This always makes me nervous, because our rail is full of slivers!
More Halloween decorations (I told you blogger puts pictures everywhere and anywhere!)
Making Grape Juice
My Visiting Teacher called and asked if I wanted grapes!
We began the adventure of making juice that weekend.
Alvin and Alex plucking grapes.
We introduced them to the show Macgyver that night.
Before steaming.
This is about a 1/3 of the grapes we got.
More plucking!
27 of our 60 quarts
Is it beautiful!
Alvin and Alex found the jedi robes Aunt Sam made for Rilie last year. Jackson looked ADORABLE! He reminded me of those creatures in the 4th Star Wars, that sold R2D2 and C3PO, "Hudini"
Isn't he adorable!
RECESS
I've had some sucess getting a Recess group going on Fridays. The first week had a great turn out! Some parents have complained about "cold"... babies... so it's petering out. It was fun while it lasted!
This is the scarf Alex made last year. He loves sharing it with Rilie.
Alex was in a hard part of his game, so his dad is lending him a hand.
We love our squirrel. Whenever I see a dead one on the road, I hope it isn't him. Then again, maybe it has been several times and other squirrels are taking his place in our tree.
Fall
This fall has been much prettier this year. I was very disappointed last year! Alaska's fall is so vibrant, short, but beautiful. Last year, here, it felt like summer lasted forever, some trees turned, then all leaves fell off and they were barren for months. This year, the trees are still turning slower than I'm used to (I guess that's what they mean by four seasons), but we have lots of gold, yellow, red, and purples.
Rilie and Jackson learning how to throw leaves at others
(not in the face like a baseball from 2 inches away).
Jackson balanced a leaf on his head. He was very proud.
Another School Project:
We were studying the Renaissance period. I had great ambitions this week, but sanity took a higher priority and we only got to some of our planned projects. One of the people the boys learned about, Michelangelo. I had them carve soap into Greek or Roman columns.
Rilie loved this activity!
Fall
Alvin has enjoyed finding different types of leaves.
He loved this one the most, because it looks like a tree inside.
An insect that landed on Alvin.
Their leaf pile.
Alvin has enjoyed taking picture of shadows lately.
Jackson loves eating rice.
Our friends came over for the evening. This is Cole. His family will start homeschooling soon.
We are thrilled to have more friends to hang out with during the day.
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