Making Gifts

Austen and I decided to use up our old crayons by making molded crayons for his little cousins this Christmas.  Here is the mold we used.  It's a Wilson mold in the shape of snowflakes.

 

We unwrapped and broke up the crayons.

We sprayed the mold with a candle release spray that we got at Micheal's Craft Store. Then we filled the mold with the broken pieces and popped the tray in the oven. We left the crayons in the 180 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes.

AH with the mold before it went into the oven.

After cooling for a short time, we just flipped the pan over and out they popped!

Here's our finished product.  I think they look great!

 AH and I packaged the crayons in cellophane bags and tied them with ribbon

 It was a fun, quick and easy project to do on a dreary day!

A Picture A Day: December 6, 2011

Okay, so it isn't homeschooling, but it was a great part of our day!!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

A Picture A Day: December 4, 2011

Happy birthday!

A Picture A Day: December 2, 2011

AH turns 14 on Sunday.  Tonight he will celebrate with his old public school friends.  He made the dessert pizza for his party.  Happy birthday to a wonderful son!

A Picture A Day: October 2, 2011

Our dear friend and Godmother to my husband turned 90 this year.  Our family threw her a party at my Father-in-law's home.  The birthday girl is the one with the cake! AH was a sharp dressed man in his white suit!

My Last Teenager

On December 4th, 2010, AH became a teenager!

AH celebrated with friends by hosting a sleep-over

The next day we celebrated as a family with a dinner chosen by the birthday boy.

Big brother made the trip home to celebrate!

Big Sis and MB watch as AH tries to blow out his candles.

Happy 13th Birthday, AH!

Happy 24th Anniversary, Douglas!

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.

~Anne Bradstreet

International Bird Day

We are celebrating International Bird Day today! Look what we did:

Sketched:

Hung treats for our feathered friends:

Bought and hung a hummingbird feeder right outside AH's bedroom window, made our own nectar and filled it(sorry it's so fuzzy, I couldn't get it to clear up):

Put some egg candles around our Easter snow globe. Maybe we'll add some Easter grass to make it look more like a centerpiece!We read about birds in our Science Encyclopedia and looked through our favorite birding book: Wild About Birds: the DNR Bird Feeding Guide, by Carrol L. Henderson. Today we read about raptors moving in to urban areas because there are plenty of song birds (food) near feeders. There is always something interesting to read or to do in this book!

Hope you are all having a good day!

Happy Cuddle-Up Day!

In honor of Cuddle-Up Day AH and I did school work while we cuddled in bed. What a treat! The Qin Dynasty of China, math review and practice, and reading about the history of the celebration of Epiphany have never been so engrossing! It's silly things like this that make our homeschool experience special.

Our 3 Kings!

We are also celebrating the season of Epiphany today. We read the biblical story of the Magi visiting Jesus in Bethlehem and I am baking a Kings Cake to be served after dinner. AH and I hid a gumdrop in the cake (in lieu of a baby Jesus). Researching Epiphany on the 'net lead to a lovely home blessing ritual that I am going to lead tonight after dinner. Even with a 3 kids and 23 years of marriage, I still find it fun to try new things!

Birthday Wrap Up

Well, the weekend of celebrating came to a quiet end last night. It all began on Thursday night when we celebrated AH's birthday with a family dinner. AN and MB joined us for the carbo-load that AH planned for us! They were brave souls!!

On Friday night, AH had his buddies over for the night.

Six energetic 10 and 11 year olds, pizza, cake, snacks and pop! I'm sure you get the picture!! They claim they were up until 4 am, but when I woke up around 3 am, there was no sound coming from downstairs. They say they were just being quiet! Anyway you look at it, AH had a fabulous time with his friends. What a great bunch they are! Saturday was a quiet day at home for all of us. I think we needed some time to decompress. AH spent the day putting his new Lego sets together and having a nerf tag war with his older brother! On Sunday, I took my mother to an Icelandic language Christmas service. The liturgy and most prayers were in Icelandic, but the sermon and 2 songs were in English. It was a nice quiet late afternoon service. Afterwards she and I stopped in to our favorite coffee shope (the Dunn Bros. Coffee shop on Fairview Avenue) for a cup of coffee and a treat! Their roaster is great!!! I've never had a bad cup of coffee there! When we got home, I pulled out our Christmas decorations and put up our tree while listening to Christmas music. AH and I decorated while AD did homework nearby, Doug made dinner, and my mom watched, supervised, chatted, and ate with us.

Happy 11th Birthday, AH!!

Today my baby turns 11 so he gets to plan our dinner:

Tortellinni with Pesto

Crescent Rolls

Malts

DQ ice cream cake

Big Sis is coming to dinner for the celebration too! Our family will truly be together tonight!

Our Halloween

What with election day and homeschooling, I've been remiss in posting about our little Halloween party. Of course, it wouldn't be Halloween without carving and pumpkin seeds! But this year was tough for us. This was the first year AH and I were the only ones carving. AD, our 17 year old, didn't join us for the first time ever. I think it was a little sad for AH, but he seemed to go with the flow. Our finished products:

Notice the bat? We got this idea from the recent issue of FamilyFun magazine.

Every Halloween we put the firepit in our front yard and welcome anyone and everyone to sit with us for a spell. Inside the house we have mulled cider, some kind of stew or soup, and munchies.

We play halloween themed music and give out candy and talk with our neighbors. Oct. 31st is my father's birthday, so my mom and dad join us later for a birthday celebration. This year our daughter, AN, and her significant other, MB and two of her high school friends joined us. MB's birthday is November 1st, so we had a double celebration. Here are the birthday boys:

Of course you can't have Halloween without costumes!

AH before he went trick or treating with a neighbor:

AD was off to a party in this costume:

It is interesting to note that my husband is a high school football ref. Hmmm, is this a dig at his dad?!

Our Election Day Party Pictures

As promised, here are some pictures of our election night dinner.

AH prepares his red/white and blue/white rolled cookies for the oven:

The finished product:

Our Red, White and Blue Sundaes:

Our coffee table downstairs:

Our Flag Pizza before cooking: