Domestic Adventures

The only thing I like about mornings is reading to Emmaline as she eats breakfast. Raggedy Ann and Andy stories are some of our favorites, detailing Raggedy’s mishaps with blackberry jam and rescues of the neighborhood dogs. The early 1900’s language is romantic and verbose. I enjoy the flow of the words on and on down the page. Trent, however, (out of site but not out of range as he gets ready in the morning) nearly gags on the long-windedness of it.
Last night I was recounting to him how I was about to scold Emmaline for splashing the bath water out when she remarked, “Mommy, there is a great puddle of water about your feet and you are standing in it.”
“You know where she gets that from?” Trent answered. “Raggedy Stinkin-Death!” Apparently it drives him nuts to listen to page after page of the dolls worrying their little cotton heads about what will happen to the penny dolls who fell down the rain spout. He can’t stand the entire page it takes to describe Marcella’s routine of dressing each of the dolls in a clean white nightie and tucking them each into their beds. “Oh, drown me in clean white nighties!” Trent wailed. Meanwhile, I was laughing too hard at Trent’s colorful language to even speak.

A word from Trent:

Whatever. I could summarize this post by saying, “Oh, please don’t drown me in clean white nighties!” But sure enough, Raggedy-Stinkin-Death is right there, about to be read in the morning. They’ll probably make it through 2-3 pages. Of course nothing will happen in such a few amount of words (~30 min. of reading time) — because the movement in these so-called “stories” is so incredibly slow that it takes pages and pages and chapter upon chapter to ever say anything of any consequence. Not that it is of any consequence, for all it really contains is endless gibberish about little dolls worrying their little cotton heads about nonsense.

Ha! Emmaline and I still love our Raggedy Ann.

Sometimes when I’ve been staring at the computer a little too long, Micah wiggles his way under my arm and climbs onto my lap. “Can I see somefing?” Ah, yes, it’s time for a short break and some good ol’ excavator movies.

You-Tube to the rescue.

Up Close and Personal with a Great Big Excavator

Amazing Unloading Excavator

Stunt Excavator

The Dangerous Book for Boys has provided much entertainment around here, so when I saw the girly version, The Daring Book for Girls, I was intrigued. The cover is all pretty and sparkly; I couldn’t resist picking it up and paging through it. How to play hopscotch, how to press flowers, somewhat interesting. Oh, wait, how to read palms? How to use a ouija board? I quickly put the book back on the shelf. What some consider “what every little girl does” is just what I was wisely taught to steer clear of. Not the book I want around my home.
Some time later though, I stumbled across this book. The Prairie Girl’s Guide to Life appears to be the wholesome answer to the girl’s how-to. I loved looking through the articles on crafts and sewing, baking cakes, and winning spelling bees. Many old-time skills are given a modern update to include technology, and each section also includes an idea for a party - such as how to give a proper tea. How fun! I know many would probably choke on the wholesomness of it all, but to me this is the kind of little girl fun to savor.

T: What did you do in school today?

E; We learned about George Lincoln.

T: George Lincoln? Never heard of him. Maybe Abraham Lincoln?

E: Oh, yeah. He used to be a mailman and he put letters in his hat.

T: Oh… did he ever have any other jobs?

E: I don’t know.

T: He was the president of our country.

E: Oh yeah. He was our first president.

T: You mean sixteenth?

E: Yeah, and then someone shot him. I think that was rude!

Once when Emmie was very small we were in a store looking at gardening supplies. We came upon a display of gloves and after studying them long and hard Emmie dubbed them “hand socks”. She has since forgotten the term, but Trent and I still use it on occasion, as in “Do you think it’s cold enough for hand socks today?”
This background made it all the more funny when last night Micah declared, “My toes are cold! I need foot gloves!”

This is so Emmaline.

Katie sent these pictures from her wedding. Emmie was truly having the time of her life, thrilled to be in on the party. It was such a fun day and isn’t Katie just gorgeous?!

Thursday the kids and I were invited to sit in on a Time Travelers class. Time Travelers is a homeschool co-op that meets weekly to learn about history. Today’s topic: Byzantine architecture. Quite a big subject for little kids, but the class was very well done. After a discussion on arches and domes, complete with beautiful drawings done by an architect friend, the kids made mosaic art projects and put together mini-books on Byzantine architecture. Emmaline had a great time, and of course it helped that there was a Valentine’s Day party following the lesson. As you can see, Micah enjoyed himself so much that he fell right to sleep in the car clutching a handful of Valentine loot.
Many of the women involved in the co-op are good friends. I feel like I’ve learned so much from all of them just watching them homeschool, and each of them has been a huge encouragement to me. I think Time Travelers will be a great fit for us and look forward to the work and the fun of it next year.

We made these little Hershey kiss gnomes to give as Valentines. I made the hats (a quarter circle of felt folded in half and glued) then let Micah and Emmaline assemble them. The self adhesive eyes were a big hit - almost as much fun as a cardboard box! On the bottom of each kiss is a 3/4 inch dot sticker, where, if you can write really small, you can put the to and from names. Emmaline wrote about 10 of these herself before I relieved her from the torturous duty.
Lots of fun, and I think sticky eyes have become a must have for our craft box.

Have a wonderful day with all those you love!