Nathaniel is literal...

I'm searching through all of our hand-me-down boxes for summer clothes today. I said "here, Nathaniel, try this one on, I think it's going to swallow you whole, but try it anyway." He said "do you mean this has teeth?"

Because

I want to update, but I want to share photos and my camera cord is AWOL. Last week we completly ditched school work in favor of outdoor play and gardening. The kids and I have planted 38 strawberries, 12 potato hills, mustard greens, collards, cabbage, bok choy, brussel sprouts and broccoli (in honor of Nathaniel and his father), chives, onions, shallots, garlic, kale, lettuce, spinach, and sweet peas! We have no idea how much we'll get out of this garden, but it's fun to try. I'm determined to use the garden produce first in my menu planning this year, and the garden is sooooo pretty with all the cool weather veggies there. I'm praying that the peas sprout because we all love them ;) Almost every herb from our herb plot last year overwintered, and we may add to it this year. That's exciting for me.

We are trying to still read daily in spite of the beautiful weather. Yesterday, I read a book to the boys about Little Red Riding Hood- their choice. It had a recipe in the back for Grandma's favorite Wheatberry Muffins. We made them for breakfast in the little car and truck pan that Memere gave them. They were soooo YUM! Gabriel says I can make muffins for breakfast every day if I like ;)

Yesterday the kids, my mom, and I went down the mountain to a little fruit stand in our small town. It was our first visit. They truck their produce up from Florida, but it we a lot fresher than the store, and waaaay cheaper than even Walmart and Sams- i.e. 8lbs of pineapple oranges for 3.00, 4 clean, fresh heads of garlic for a 1.00, and about 10lbs of spotty tomatos (on clearance) for 2.00. I spent 18.00 and probably won't have to go shopping this week. I used the tomatos today in soup, and I had to throw away about 2 cups worth of tomato yucks, but I filled my whole stock pot full of soup. I'm soooo excited :)

Tonight, we're all going over to my mom's so that Ian can work on her yard. He'll be tilling up new planters, arating (sp?) her lawn, and building her two raised beds. He won't finish tonight so we'll go back Saturday. Poor Ian, he's got a honeydo list and a sonnydo list.

Well, my beautiful nearly 1 year old daughter is calling for help, so I'll run!

Nathaniel the Gardener

The sun is rising and everyone's asleep, except for Nathaniel who is sitting on the couch next to me, turning the pages of a garden book, and explaining to me how they (the author of the book) say to garden.

For brussell sprouts- they put up a gate and then they keep the bad plants outside the gate and they won't come in and eat the sprout plants.

For carrots- they get lumps of dirt and then they take the lumps of dirt and put the carrot in it and it grows with water.

For cauliflower- they flatten the dirt and then they start putting the seeds in the dirt then they spread the dirt around every where, I think, and then they water the dirt, and the plants start growing.

We should plant some fennel. First they grow where there's lot of dirt and grass and hay aaaaaand they put the seeds in there and then they start growing, growing-

MOM, we should grow these (garlic on the facing page) We used to grow garlic and now we don't, and I want to plant some garlic. The plants are very flat, and a little crunchy dirt and the seeds go there and you water them and the start growing.

The kohlrabi grows in hay that's broken. (that's the author's mulch)

Leek grows beside lots of rocks stacked up (the background was a house foundation), and they digged some holes and put the seeds in, and then they cut the seed, and then they watered the seeds and then the seeds start growing to a long carrot that's yummy with chicken.

I'm not ever growing mushrooms because they grow in the dark, and you might be scared and fall over them in the dark and make you dead, so I'm not ever going to grow them.

The parsnip carrot is too big. I wonder why the parsnip carrots grow big like a giant elephant. They get crunchy dirt that has big crunches and little crunches. Then they dig holes and the put the seed in the hole and then they start watering and THEN the seed starts growing. It's kinda the same as the other ones.

This year I wanted to grow potatoes and pumpkin. I think some day we growed a pumpkin. Dirt is flat with sticks on it and a gate around it, and the next chapter: dig a hole and then they put the seeds in and then they start watering the seeds and then the seeds start growing, that is the title, mom.

Would you like to grow squash (winter squash)? I do, I like any kind of squash.

Well, now the battery is going out so, I'll have to stop- but I wanted to remember Nathaniel's enthusiasm for gardening :)

A Generous Heart

Today I noticed Micaela place a handfull of change in the offering plate. I asked her if she took that from her jar (thinking it was bicycle money). No, she giggled and pointed at me- I took it from your jar. Although I think it's pretty funny, we had a talk about taking things that aren't yours, and giving things to God that don't really belong to you. I told her about King David and Ornan's threshing floor, and she was a little embarrased. It's good to give, I said, and I'm not mad- I just want you to give what's yours. Ian wasn't much help in this situation. He just grinned and laughed. So, that's a little story to remember; although, it has lost some of it's humor and sweetness in the writing :)

Nothing really new- except that I know now that Genghis Khan was capturing Peking in China and pushing his empire from the Yellow Sea to the Mediterranean at the same time that King John of England (like the Robin Hood Prince John ;) was signing the Magna Charta in England and the Crusades were finally wrapping up in the Near East. Fascinating, huh?
Anyway, we haven't done most of our crafts or projects yet, but we have been reading, reading, reading. We'll be putting Japan on our salt dough map today. Yesterday we painted the ocean and drew the outline. She'll probably work on three botany projects this weekend and next week because I didn't thoroughly read the lesson this week. That's ok because she likes science and they're all easy and one's short term, one's long term, and one will take about a week or two. We're still working on our costumes little by little, and even the boys are having fun. They all listened to the stories of Marco Polo and Genghis Khan, the conquering Mongols, Kublai Khan, Japenese damyos and samurai, the Yamato dynasty in Japan, the Tang in China, and then the Ming and the Forbidden City. Boys love battles, weapons, and warriors. Surprisingly they also love gardens, poems, mountains, and deserts. Those have also all been part of our schooling this week.
The new bathroom hasn't advanced at all, but today is grocery day and I'm sooo glad. I had four cups of oatmeal left for breakfast and after the kids ate there wasn't any left. So I though I'd have an avocado (the last). While I was changing Lizzy's diaper Asher squeezed it. It was ruined. I am hungry still, and I'm trying to think of how to sneak the last tortilla and the last bit of beans without anyone seeing. Since it's 10:30, I may as well just wait for lunch ;) I suppose I can afford to skip a meal now and then.

I love creative, constructive kids!

Today we made castles with towers, crenalations (sp?), walls, moats, and even a drawbridge (on Gabe's) and skeleton key (on Nathaniel's- his own idea and drawing, of course!) Their castles are so cute and really reflect their personalities. We've also been making woven placemats out of construction paper, a weaving loom out of cardboard and a yarn tapestry is in the works, an embroidered felt pocket, a viking longhouse, paper bag cottages, and candles. It has really been fun- and incredibly messy! Housework is really suffering around here as much as the budget ;P I promise to put up some pictures when we wrap up some loose ends on the projects. We'll be making a coat of arms, a compass, a sundial (if it's ever sunny), and medieval dolls and dollhouse this week. We're going to be learning about Marco Polo, Genghis and Kublai Khan, Tamerlane, the Mongols, China and Japan this week as well. We're supposed to be making medieval costumes and a salt dough map of Japan. I suspect the house will remain a mess. I'm learning that somethings are more important than others, and a clean countertop is not everything it's cracked up to be.
Why am I blogging so late you ask? I haven't figured that one out yet.