Papa J working on our coat rack!

Brother Zach cut & stained the wood, and Josie & Zach screwed on the hooks :0)  Thanks, guys!

Week 5 (1st day of Session 2)

Last week we continued talking about keeping warm - especially as the air continues to grow colder!  We read The Hat by Jan Brett & talked about pulling out our winter clothing.  Wool carding continues, and we also had a birthday& some watercolor painting :0)  Josie had a cough & Ben was very tired so they stayed home with Papa Jarvis - and Mandolin was at home enjoying her new baby brother!  Smaller group this week but still very wonderfully busy....

Ezra comes a bit early since we pick him up on our way to preschool - I think he likes having the place mostly to himself!

What a wonderful corner to snuggle up & read! Thank you Love family for letting us borrow the book shelf and 'fairy bower'!

I have mixed feelings about having that big desk in our room; I love that the children can look outside, but I feel like it is too high up w/out rails.  So far they have been great about being careful & not jumping off  though :0)

Isaac & Rachel are helping to take the seeds out of the sunflower so we can feed them to the birds this winter...did some come home in their pockets, too?

Silas is preparing a nutritious snack :0)

Ezra is getting this wool really soft & fuzzy....

Happy 7th birthday, Ella!  Yes, we fit 7 candles on a rice krispie treat!

Ella thought the candles would glow better if we turned off the lights :0)

Everyone still loves our playground, despite it's age ;0)  But guess what??  The church is putting in a new playground soon!  How exciting!

Peek-a-boo Ezra!

Built in balance beams

Gigi getting a friendly push from Isaac

Strong Silas almost to the top!

Love that smile!

Jump Rachel!

Several of us were really into partner painting last week :0)

We started sewing our own mittens!

Watch out for the hunters, Gigi!

Another doe!

Yes, we're having fun with the camera on my new phone ;0)

A bit of watercolor on a cloudy day

Loving this!!

Can you tell deer season is getting close??

Ella the doe

Ella giving me a heart-attack....ahhh!

Week 4!

Week 4 was an interesting week....I had such great plans for our new outdoor mud kitchen and making quiche & scones for lunch!  But - as soon as we went outside, first thing in the morning, I slipped and fell VERY hard.  I was out of commission for about an hour, but fortunately Gigi's awesome sister Jamie came to the rescue!  She is Abbie's age & has quite a few little brothers & sisters (7 to be exact, plus 2 little nephews) so has tons of experience with children :0)  Everyone was still able to play in the mud, crack a dozen eggs for our quiche, and measure & mix for scones!  It was a great morning and I even felt well enough to do a short circle time before snack - although I did need to sit much of the morning as I was feeling dizzy.  Hopefully we are done with freak accidents - here are a few pictures we managed to take during our busy morning!

We read "Pelle's New Suit" - Pelle shears his sheep & dyes the wool, then trades work for carding, spinning, weaving & finally having it made into a new suit.  Here Isaac & Josie are weaving on miniature looms.

Ella is learning to card real lamb's wool!

They really caught on - time to get out the hot pad making set!

Gigi, Jamie & Silas getting the eggs cracked

Ezra's version of cracking an egg was to just chuck it into the bowl ;0)  Jamie fished it out & helped him tap it on the side instead....funny!

I'm pretty sure Rachel & Isaac have done this before...

Everyone wanted to add a bit of salt & a few spices

Ah, some quiet time - there's our storytime book & a wee felted lamb I made over the summer

Abbie & Gigi are working on the scones

Our yummy quiche!