A Very Belated Birthday

The Crafter turned 10 last month, right in the middle of the Historian's 19 day work-a-thon.  There was no way to get a party together for her close to her actual birthday.  The Crafter also wanted to have a BIG party since she didn't have one last year. 

Soon, October came upon us and still, there was no party.  We searched the calendar for a date that wouldn't conflict with other activities.  We settled on October 17.  The Crafter made lovely invitations to coordinate with a panda theme.  She got the idea for a panda cake from the Betty Crocker web site.   We searched the internet for Chinese inspired crafts that were fun.  We shopped the local craft stores for fancy origami paper.

The cake was an adventure.  The Betty Crocker web site provided good instructions, but they didn't warn me about the pitfalls.  I will never again attempt to decorate a cake with store-bought icing.  It was like the icing was tape that pulled off outer layer of cake.  It turned out OK.   I did utter some words not fit for children to hear in the process though.



Eleven girls and one boy (the little boy I keep a few afternoons a week) were invited.  Two girls came, and they had a ball.  They ended up playing badminton most of the allotted party time.  They called home to ask to stay longer (YES!).  The Crafter received craft supplies and a lava lamp as gifts.

 

Why Yes, I am Aware That My Son's Pants are Backwards.

Wild Thing has a habit of wearing his pants backwards.  It doesn't bother me.  In fact it makes a lot of sense.  He explained it to me.  You see, Wild Thing is built like a stick.  He has no hips to hold up his pants.  If he wears them the right way, then his pants go down when he uses his pockets.  If he wears them backwards, then he can use the back pockets without making his pants come down.  If his pants stay up, I don't make him wear a belt.  See, it's perfectly logical.

Front View

 
Rear view

If You Tell the Historian About Homeschool Days at Colonial Williamsburg...

If you tell the Historian about homeschool days at Colonial Williamsburg,
He'll get really excited and start planning a trip.

He'll want the Crafter to look the part,
so she'll get out her longest dress and mob cap.

Princess Pink will feel left out, so the Chemist will go up into the hot attic and bring down bins of the Crafter's outgrown clothes.   We'll find something that works.

When the girls have their costumes, Wild Thing will feel left out.  There's no time to make a costume, so we'll just roll his pants legs up and buy him a pistol.

 

Then the Historian will suggest that his wife dress up,
so the Chemist will dig out ye olde big skirt and colonialish blouse and borrow an apron.

Then realizing that she has no suitable head covering, she'll buy one of the overpriced souvenir caps from Market Square.

Once the Historian's family is dressed as the gentry class of colonial times, he will need his costume.  He will notice that he has no stockings.  He will need to go out to buy some.

He'll go to the store, but will be too embarrassed to purchase them.  He'll make the Chemist buy them.  When she picks out some lovely black queen sized knee-highs, he'll decide that they are too sheer and make Wild Thing wear them.

He'll want to back the next day to get white ones.  The Chemist will have a horrible headache and be unable to go, so he'll take the Crafter.

They won't have any in his size so he'll go to another store and another and another.
He'll finally end up with some white opaque tights with a reinforced toe. 

Everyone will spend 3 days discussing history and having fun in Colonial Williamsburg.

 

We will get back really late.  While lying in bed, the Historian will start reading through the stack of brochures he picked up one the trip.  And chances are, if the Historian sees the dates for the next set of homeschool days, he'll get really excited and start planning a trip.

Wordless Wednesday

Meet Wild Thing's new pet.

Happy 10th Birthday!

 The Crafter age 10

A Song for Dog Lovers

Beware!!!!

It's the Blueberry Monster!

A Conversation

Princess Pink:  Where's that picture?

Me:  It's at Aunt X and Uncle Y's wedding.

Princess Pink:  Who's the baby?

Me:  Wild Thing.

Princess Pink:  Where am I?

Me:  That was before you were born.

Wild Thing:  Yeah, you hadn't been knit yet.

Psalm 139:13-14  For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Lookie What I Found at the Thrift Store

I love a bargain, but I am pretty lazy about bargain shopping.  I am not a much of a coupon shopper because there really aren't that many coupons for things that I use.  I don't live close enough to a CVS to make it worth my time.  I don't go to yard sales because I don't want to get up that early.  I do however enjoy thrift stores, and I consider myself somewhat of an expert.

My usual thrift store route starts in a larger town with the GoodWill.  I consider Good Will a rookie's thrift store because many of the items are overpriced and can be bought new for slightly more.  Sometimes I will get lucky.  I got a Little Tykes play kitchen for $8 when the Crafter was two.  The next stop is at the Habitat for Humanity Store in my neighboring town.  I found a corner cabinet once for $75.  It now holds our TV in the living room.  I'm still looking for the elusive perfect couch, so I had to stop. 

My last stop is the PTA Thrift Shop.  It is the best thrift store ever.  Almost all of our clothing (except for socks and underwear of course) comes from this shop.  I could spend many a paragraph recounting finds like the Eddie Baur jeans for 75 cents, the set of 10 Avent bottles for $2, or the full set of A Beka readers for $3. 

But this is my greatest thrift store triumph.  I am confident that this will never be topped.  This is what I got for $10.

 Undampened Spirits by Jack Terry

I just thought it was a nice picture for the living room.  The frame was nice and the price was right.  Out of curiosity, I looked up the artist on the internet.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that the canvas print was worth $495 without the frame!  I am still in shock.  I was figuring that the picture was worth around $150 considering the quality of the framing.  I would have never guessed that it was worth so much. 

Trip to Horne Creek Farm

Horne Creek Farm

This is one of the most fun historical sites we have ever visited.   It is a living history farm that was in operation around 1900.  Nothing that appears in history books happened here.  There were no very famous visitors.  Why do we love this place?  You can touch almost everything and nothing is roped off.  We spent the entire day there and played farm.  The Crafter made out a chore list for the whole family except for Princess Pink.  She was visiting Grandma.

Front of the Farm House


Dinner Bell


Wild Thing in His Room


Making Bread and Butter


Cooking and Hauling Wood


Grinding Corn


The Sheep 


The Mule
This is an older picture.  The mule has since died.


Time to Eat


Relaxing with a Game of Chinese Checkers