We left Monument Valley on Thursday, and arrived at Uncle Eddie’s house early in the morning of Apple Pie’s birthday.
After catching some sleep, we visited friends around the farm and went to the Robertson’s Family Christmas Concert (not to be missed!)
I almost forgot about the birthday 😬. But Apple Pie is a great reminder of things she wants. So after the concert, we bought a strawberry cheesecake and candles and sang Happy Birthday.
Apple Pie is now 10 years old.
She is interested in all things about the ocean, especially the creatures who live there. She writes poetry and draws pictures and creates stop motion videos.
Apple Pie making tiny pancakes with a tiny skillet and a tiny spatula.
She likes to crochet and bake. She can make Chocolate Wacky Cake all by herself.
Banana Cream Pie refuses to wear pants because she hates sitting on seams. So I used some fabric that I kept when we moved to make her a skirt. I used an old skirt that she liked as the “pattern.”
Skirt Success
One of the days for Homecoming Spirit week was “Wear your Bluebird Flour gear.” Apple Pie really wanted something to wear, and she pestered me until I figured something out. And then continued to pester me until it was done.
Here is an example of traditional flour sack clothing.
I used the Feliz Apron Dress pattern from the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love by Nancy S Langdon and Sabine Pollen. I’ve made this dress before. It is one of my favorite patterns.
Apple Pie was thrilled, and I really enjoyed making it!
Key Lime Pie was terrified the few days before school started. What a hard thing to start high school in a strange place and where you know none of the other students! I never had to do that.
She has settled in really well, however and quickly found friends. I was so worried that she was “behind” in math, because she did not finish Algebra 1 in eighth grade. She barely began Algebra the last few weeks of school last spring. We had been working on algebraic thinking all year as part of morning time using a fantastic program called “Hands on Equations.”
Now, 3 weeks into the school year here in Utah, I am hearing from the Math teacher that I should consider putting Key Lime Pie in Math 1 and 2 concurrently, or she will be bored.
Last Monday, Banana Cream Pie decided she hated public school and wanted to go back to home school, because public school makes her write too much, and because she is lonely at school. We had a long talk, with lots of tears and hugs, and I finally convinced her that I couldn’t make a decision like that on a Monday morning, that I would have to consult with her father over a few days, and that in the mean time, she would have to continue going to school.
I pointed out that not wanting to do the work at school is a bad reason to choose home school because she is in 6th grade now, and I would require her to write just as much at home as the school is.
Also one and a half weeks is too short a time to make friends, it needs more time, and switching to home school would not fix that lack of friends problem either.
Hopefully, she starts to feel more like she belongs in school soon.
We made plans to save up some of my substitute teaching money to get either a gerbil or a Guinea Pig, so that Banana Cream Pie has something furry to look forward to playing with after school. She thinks this will make life bearable.
Banana Cream Pie makes chickens
In the mean time, she has been knitting chickens for company.
“The rooster is named Hei Hei. The hens are named Jeremy, Jeff, Nugget, and Bartholomew.” **giggling**Apple Pie makes a hat
Apple Pie is not to be left out of yarn crafts and is crocheting a Jelly fish hat for her planned Halloween costume.
Apple Pie
She is still struggling with reading (I was looking into getting her tested for Dyslexia when we moved) and has shed some tears over the embarrassment of having to read out-loud in class and not being able to get the words right.
But yesterday, she came home jubilant over getting all the math problems on the test correct (and thus earning 3 pieces of candy.) Hopefully this reinforces what I’ve been telling her, that different people learn skills at different paces, and being slow to learn one skill does not take away how gifted she is in other areas.
Zeek/Roo
Also on Wednesday, Zeek cried because Skeeter always gets to have homework and he (Zeek) never gets homework even though they are both in third grade.
Skeeter/Ant
Skeeter sobbed great tears yesterday because I would not let him ride a bike without wearing a helmet.
Each of us have our crosses to bear in this life.
Hike near Gouldings Arch, the Mittens in the background
In the middle of an elimination diet to figure out why Apple Pie’s tummy hurts all the time.
So far it seems like gluten, dairy, and eggs could be the problems.
I wanted to make sourdough pancakes this morning, but Nina was up first, so I figured I had better make her pancakes first (Gluten-free, Egg-free, dairy-free).
But we were out of gluten-free flour. So first I had to grind brown and white rice to make the GF flour so I could make GF pancake mix so I could make GF pancakes.
And then I was tired so I thought I might stop, but there weren’t enough pancakes, so I made the sourdough pancakes too. And now my back hurts! Time for yoga and a rest.
And here is a beautiful quote from a letter Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote to his daughter:
“Finish every day and be done with it. For manners and for wise living it is a vice to remember. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day for all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the rotten yesterdays.”
Source: Letter to his daughter Ellen, reprinted in The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson
When he says “it is a vice to remember,” I think he is saying it is bad manners to remember other peoples’ mistakes and especially to bring them up in conversation. We have to allow others to be human, to repent and grow. It is also wisdom to apply that to ourselves as well. Forgive yourself and allow yourself to grow.
Corrie Ten Boom said, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
Corrie Ten Boom advised us not to let tomorrow rob today of its strength. Ralph Waldo Emerson is advising us not to let yesterday rob today of joy. Both are such good advice.
Apple Pie learned about apple stars this week. Her delight brought joy to my heart.
It is in our homes that we can create the peace we yearn for. From our homes it can flow to heal the world.
Today I am thankful for children’s hearts, for apple stars, and books that bring truth to us:
From A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeline L’engle:
“Her father said, “You know, my dears, the world has been abnormal for so long that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to live in a peaceful and reasonable climate. If there is to be any peace or reason, we have to create it in our own hearts and homes.”
“Even at a time like this?” Meg asked….
“Especially at a time like this,” her mother said gently. “We don’t know what the next twenty-four hours are going to bring, and if it should be what we fear, then the peace and quiet within us will come to our aid.””
First week back to home school after break went very well. I’ve begun teaching the Scooter Pies to read because they were barging into Apple Pie’s reading lessons and giving the answers before she could. They are reading pretty well, and for the first time ever, every child in the house can read a verse during family scripture reading. The Scooter Pies’ enthusiasm is good for Banana Cream and Apple Pie, my reluctant children.
For Art, we have been learning brush technique and using watercolors from tubes, but Tuesday’s lesson was free painting. Peach Pie experimented with our new watercolors, but the younger girls begged for a “fun art lesson like we used to do last year,” so we looked through the videos on Deep Space Sparkle Art’s YouTube channel, and they were inspired by a Cozy Cat . They drew and painted their own versions of cozy cats, and I didn’t even have to walk them through any steps. They know what to do with sharpies and watercolor now. I am in love with these cutie cats.
For geography, we read about island archipelagos. We found several on our globe, and then made our own archipelagos with air dry clay.
Skeeter
We built them on some cardboard from the recycling bin.
Key Lime Pie’s ArchipelagoBanana Cream Pie “These are the Hampster Wheel islands”!Apple Pie’s Island
For Composition, we watched a Writers On Writing webinar from Read-Aloud-Revial done by Jonathan Auxier (author of Sweep:The Story of A Girl and Her Monster, one of Key Lime Pie and my favorite books.) Jonathan Auxier showed many sketches and writing from his own journals and explained how his books have grown from those sketches and ideas. He talked about the hero’s journey motif, common in many books, and taught how to keep a journal that will grow into inspiration for writing. The girls began their own “Hero’s Journals,” and I was thrilled by the ideas laid before them.
I made the mistake of setting up the writing lesson by saying we were going to do something really fun. Banana Cream Pie was so upset by how un-fun she perceived her hero journal assignment to be, that she curled up in a ball and cried and refused to do anything I asked for over an hour. I’m considering prefacing lessons by saying they will be hard and boring. Maybe I’ll be more successful?
Current bedtime Read-a-loud: The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dagliesh
Random funny boy quote:
Skeeter’s Tree Pose
“Mom! Look at me while I do a tree pose. It took me awhile to master it.”
Banana Cream Pie
Random funny girl quote:
Banana Cream Pie: “Can I have one of these cupcakes?”
Me: “Do you mean the cornmeal mufins?”
Banana Cream Pie: “Oh, Never mind.”
Pretty Thing:
Blueberry Pie painted these flowers on rice paper for me for Mother’s Day this year. They’ve just been propped against the wall in my room. One day, I was at the thrift store and saw this frame and just knew it was right for something. I brought it home, ruthlessly removed the Degas print from it, and put the flowers in it. Maybe I should have ironed the rice paper, but I’m scared to ruin it. I’ve hung it in the hallway upstairs, and it is just right. I see it and feel happy multiple times a day.
The Endless Merry-Go-Round of Meals
Usually on a Saturday, I grocery shop and meal plan and a little bit of preparing to make the week’s meals go smoothly. Since I teach piano until 6pm, dinner is pretty late if I don’t begin it before or have the girls make it. Last weekend, I did none of that, and this week’s dinners were late and no fun to figure out when I was already tired from a long day. I was determined not to have that problem this week.
So I planned and shopped, and then enlisted the girls to help me. I couldn’t have accomplished all this without them.
Peach Pie
We spent over 3 hours, but we put together nearly all the dinners for this week as well as peeling and chopping many vegetables for meals and snacking.
So yummy
Peach Pie made 4 loaves of wheat bread. We also made breakfasts: frozen burritos, yogurt, and granola. That way, I get time to study my scriptures in the morning instead of having to make breakfast for everyone.
I also made 8 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. My lovely neighbor shared her recipe with me. I love it because it is lower in sugar than normal, and the cookies taste better the longer they sit in the cookie jar.
What is left of the 8 dozen cookies? Maybe 3 dozen…
Dinner Menu for this week: Sunday: Pinto Bean Soup and Cornbread muffins
Monday: Green Chicken Enchilada Casserole and Creamed Corn
Tuesday: Summer Sausage & Cabbage & Onions over Rice
I was talking on the phone to a new friend, and she told me that she was her parent’s “wild Irish girl.” Such an image flashed through my mind that I had to try and draw it. I’ve always loved the illustrations of Trisha Schart Hyman, and drew inspiration from her work. I borrowed a body position from one of her illustrations from “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins” because balance and weight of figures is something I struggle with. I am so pleased with how my drawing turned out.
February 5: We got enough snow to make several snowmen! They didn’t even look very muddy at first.
Finally, some snow!Snow-blio from the land of point, where everyone has one.
At Homeschool Co-op I taught a lesson on drawing sea turtles from Deep Space Sparkle Art. The kids really loved this one, each eager to explain to me what their turtle was doing, and why they chose the colors they chose.
Banana Cream Pie’s Sea Turtles (watch out for the alligator!)Apple Pie’s turtle
February 7: We had a family dance at our church. Apple Pie was my partner for the whole dance. (The resident Captain being gone to Guard Drill.) I loved the atmosphere of fun togetherness of the whole night. I guess I got pretty carried away because I snapped the underwire in my bra while dancing…actually that probably can be blamed on my having to tote a huge four-year-old around the whole night.
Saturday, February 8: The weather was sunny and warm, so I took the little kids to the park. I won the “You must wear Shoes” battle and the “You must wear a Jacket” battle, and caved on the “You must wear long pants” battle.
Wednesday February 14:
For Homeschool art we used chalk and oil pastels to create dancers inspired by Degas.
Degas Dancers
Fancy family dinner with my true loves is my favorite way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Happy Valentine’s Day to my true loves.
Saturday February 15 we begin our new gardening attempt. This will be patterned after the “Back to Eden” gardening method using compost and wood chips. We put down cardboard, which I stole obtained without permission from various recycling dumpsters around town, to kill the lawn grass. Our plan is to turn all the lawn between our house and the road into a glorious food forest of fruit trees, berry bushes, asparagus beds, and tomatoes.
The Man of the House drove all the way to Miami, Oklahoma, to get 4 cubic yards of mushroom compost. This is our “dirt” to grow the plants.
In-between the garden beds we are mulching with wood chips to keep the weeds away.
This garden bed took 3 adults working from sunup to sundown with added help from 4 teenage girls. So much work for the “easy” gardening method.
Thursday February 20: Key Lime Pie has been studying bacteria, so today she learned to make yogurt (because it is bacteria that turn milk into yogurt.) She also learned how to read an analog thermometer…bonus!
Friday February 21: Homeschool Co-op was canceled today due to our host family having the respiratory flu, so we did a last minute field trip to the Rogers Arkansas City Museum. It was a great place for a group with a broad range of ages like ours.
Monday February 24: Mother’s Tea Party at the Scooter Pie’s Preschool. Their teachers are amazing. My boys sang “I’m a Little Tea Pot” and they had learned such careful gentlemanly manners.
Baby Bean is now 6. As such, she really deserves a Pie name. I feel like I gave her one once, but I forgot it. I’m really tempted to name her “Black-Bottomed Pie” but….it seems risque…so I think Apple Pie is a better choice. She is as sweet and wholesome as apple pie, and just as delightfully round.
Favorite color is blue
Favorite animal is a bunny
favorite song is “All is Found” from Frozen 2
her favorite candy is Almond Joy candy bars
She wants to be an artist and maybe a writer when she grows up
her favorite flower is Forget-me-Nots
She is good at drawing and picking presents. S
he likes soft fuzzy socks and hugging mom.
She dominates at playing Bean-Boozled and Sushi-Go.
For her birthday dinner, she requested nachos and a bunny cake. For presents, she got Calico Critters (the Hopscotch Rabbit family) and a squishy chicken– which she wanted “forever” (ever since she saw it at Dollar Tree last week.)
Marvelous Pigs in Satin 