out with the littles & their rudolphs...

ok, so here is the teaser picture that i left you with yesterday...

they were being so silly before we left (all the more reason for a walk, as their papa works nights & sleeps during the day ;)

 ehren & evyn with their strollers & their rudolphs...my sweet peas!

 the puddles are calling, the puddles are calling!

 (i love the reflections that you can see in the puddles)

 this one though is my fav...

  

 what a good little mama...;)

 these spider webs looked so cool in the morning dew.  well, they all do, but these were shaped differenlty than most that i have seen on our 'route'...they were almost shaped like little stork pouches..

 the flowering moss...

 this is another of my favs...

 **love**

(that is what these two posts leaning on each other makes me think of)

and a mantis egg, to close out our morning...

xo

skytop apple orchard...

first off, i would like to thank my friend jenny for taking all of the upcoming photos, as i left our camera @ home. THANK YOU!!

last thursday, our homeschool co-op suited up & headed off to a local u-pick farm, skytop apple orchard to be exact. 

the weather @ 8am, was not promising.  the skies were dark & ominous, the wind was blowing & there was more that a bit of nip in the air,  BUT we said that if it wasn't raining, we would give it a go & boy, were we glad we did!!

halfway there, the clouds parted & it was nothing but gorgeous blue skies!

 here's a photos of our crew, 35 folks in all make the hour trek to skytop (~ 2/3 of the total co-op)

 me & ev...& her rainbow pants!  (she got sooooo many compliments on these ;)

 we apparently came @ the end of the pickin' season & so had to walk a bit further to fill our bags...

 a giant pumpkin slide on their playground...

ehren lukas feeding the bunnies...;)

 the bridge leading into the bamboo forest, which was AWESOME & definitely a hit w/the older boys!

 aydin, monkeying around...

we had signed up for the fall harvest tour, which included an education rundown on the orchard & how it operates, a hay ride, a 1/4 peck of apples & a pie-sized pumpkin.  not bad for $8, right??

and on friday...??

well, we made apple pie, of course!!

this was my first EVER apple pie, if you can believe it.  i was always a bit weary of the crust part,  which i now know was just silly!

autumn blessings! xo

michaelmas week...

for the week of september 27th - october 1st we take a bit of break & celebrated both fall & michaelmas...

we more or less followed our plan from last year, adding & tweaking it a bit here & there...



my parents had given us a gift card for borders bookstore last christmas, we used it to stock up on some really cool books on dragons & st. george...



*st george & the dragon, margaret hodges
*the serpent slayer: and other stories of strong women, katrin tchana
*a practical guide to dragons, lisa trumbauer
*behold...the dragons!, gail gibbons



we experimented with more natural dyes...


for which, we first gathered our baskets, our scissors & our jackets (as it was a bit chilly here) & went foraging!



wild clematis...i love these!

with our baskets now full, we returned home...stopping along the way to play in the puddles!

this year we used goldenrod, carrots, sassafras leaves, & poke weed berries..the poke berry bath...as these are poisonous, i DID NOT let the children help with this one...

while the dye pots were stewing, aydin worked on winding the yarn for dyeing...

here are some silks & come cotton yarn we dyed...

the magenta yarn in front was dyed with poke berries. the brownish-orange silk in back was dyed with sassafras leaves...

the golden lovelies were, or course, dyed with goldenrod...

the carrot dye bath brewing...

a freshly dyed silk & some very orange cotton yarn!

while gathering our dyeing materials, we also gathered loads of chestnuts to roast!

(following directions from our dear friend christina's post @ moment to moment)

they were DELICIOUS!

be sure to make the cuts a bit deep, but not too deep...this is for two reasons,

1) so they don't explode while baking (really!)

2) to make them a bit easier to peel in the end...:)

bake @ 425 for about 30

we added a wee bit of butter & some sea salt to ours & snacked on them while we read story...

we, of course, made dragon bread...i love the story version in all year round, for the harvest loaf. a lovely tradition for the parent to tell the story as we all help to make the loaf.

it begins with the dry ingredients being shaped into the landscape, so set the scene for the story...

we add salt/sugar to represent the ice & snow that arrived with the dragon...

sun gold (the egg yolk) was a gift of hope from the archangel michael, along with the star iron (raisins) which was given to replenish the soils nutrients & minerals & help the harvest grow strong...

after the first rising, we shape our dragons...using slivered almonds for teeth & talons & sliced almonds for the dragon's scales...

(sorry about the angle, but his picture was being totally UN-cooperative today!)

thursday, we did a bit of dyeing with food coloring...these colors are a bit more vibrant & a lot less time consuming. a fun project after a hard week's work!

on friday, we went for our traditional walk/hike...this year, the boys chose lake louise (click on the link to view that post, loads of great photos there :)

on saturday, we closed out our week with a trip to our local heritage festival.

it was a gorgeous day..we tabled to raise money for our homeschool co-op. we bought the most delicious kettle corn i have ever tasted! and we admired the various local crafters & their creations. the boys each made a pot with a local potter who sets up shop each year & helps children make various little plates, bowls, vases, etc for FREE.

these have all become heirlooms in our house & tend to be used most often on our nature table.

as an extra special bonus, aydin's picture even made it into our local paper!