The little girl has been playing around with her inner art photographer...

What is the difference between boys and girls?

I think this shot says it all, no?

BBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRR!

The view from our patio doors....

Pretty, right?

It's currently a toasty 15 degrees outside...

I confess, I am OVER IT!

This photo is my garden - you can see the sad pot that never made it into the storage area...and I am looking forward to spring with a deep sort of aching feeling. Seed & garden catalogs are arriving in the mail weekly - one of my favorites is Seeds of Change . Seed catalogs and spring training are always two of my real spring fever triggers - and they've both arrived! So - for todays lessons we'll be reading the story of Persephone ,

and planning out our seed order! We usually plant seedlings purchased from the garden supply store, but this year we plan to plant our own indoors & see how that goes! And when we've finished todays lessons?

BASEBALL!!!!

PAT AND RON are back on the air with the Spring Training opener from Scottsdale! Cubs at Giants - GO CUBS GO!!!

Here is todays poem:

THE OLD CRICKETER

All winter long, in the slush and the mud and the darkness,

Treading the lonely round of the yards and the pastures,

Working the ploughland and tending the cattle,

He would remember the sun and the summer,

And long for the flowering of blackthorn,

The ripple and sheen of young barley.

Then when April was come he would go to his kitchen

And take down a bat that was slung by the fireplace,

Caressing the willow of strange antique pattern,

Tortuous of grain and darkened by wood-smoke,

More precious to him than elm, oak or beechwood,

Dearer than cedars of Lebanon.

And would call up his friends in the villages,

In the hamlets, the farms and the homesteads,

For the April annointing of cider and linseed,

Linseed oil for the bat and the cider for friendship.

And the old men would come to stand by the barrel,

Mighty men of the past, red-faced with weather

And many a glass of the plum and the parsnip;

Recalling the glory they knew in their prime,

All batsmen and bowlers of note, who terrified parishes.

-Frank Mansell

The Girl is officially NINE!

At 10:43am Tuesday, it is now official! NINE!

She must've been excited, because the usual sleeper-inner of the family was up before 7am for her nine kisses!
We had chocolate-chip-buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, followed by a cupcake with 9 candles. MMMMM...breakfast of champions!
She opened up her gifts from her brother (a Barbie & an MP3 speaker/pillow), and two books from Dad & me (Caroline Kennedy's Poetry for Children -which is beautiful & highly recommended by our family- and a United States Atlas) The rest of the loot will, sadly, wait until Daddy's arrival home for opening.
We nixed the Millenium Park idea, very sadly, because my old left foot decided to start having apparent tendonitis issues during my run on the treadmill Monday...ACK! Anyhow, thanks to the foot, we decided (the B-Day girl's idea) to see a movie instead, and she selected THE PIRATES WHO DON'T DO ANYTHING . It was absolutely hilarious, and we were the only people in the $2 theatre - so we laughed our heads off with

wild abandon, repeating all of our favorite character quotes loudly! Afterward we went home to pick up Daddy & then out to dinner for burgers & the obligatory waitstaff-sing-thing. After dinner we raced home to watch American Idol (this is our first season doing so - I confess, the kids are at an age where it is really fun to watch - so I refuse to feel guilty about this current TV addiction), followed by an hour or so on the sofa just talking & hanging out. Hazel said her favorite thing about the day was too difficult to select, so she listed about 10, which pretty much included everything we did ))smile(( !

The little girl is turning nine...

Look who is turning NINE!!!
This is my favorite photo from our girl's babyhood...
sigh...
She was about 3 months in this photo - and had just awakened from a nap.
She was always a happy and peaceful little soul -
I think this shot captured her essence perfectly.
Tuesday is her 9th Birhtday, and we can hardly believe we're starting out her last year in the single digits!
Tomorrow morn' she shall wake to lots of pretty decorations, a few lovely wrapped gifts, and berry-filled buckwheat pancakes!
Then the kids & I are HOPING to go downtown to Millenium Park to see the Museum of Modern Ice and do a little ice skating...but we're in the midst of another snow storm - so we'll have to make a judgement about the weather in the morning...
We may need to scratch the city plans & just hit the local sled hill instead.
I'm usually not one to let the weather stop me (you'd never leave the house from November through May here in the Midwest!) but we don't want to spend the little girl's birthday
stuck in hours and hours of bumper to bumper Chicago traffic...

What ever we do, it's sure to be a special day!

Here is our Birthday Eve poem - I don't know who the author is...but I just love it!

When I have said my evening prayer,
And my clothes are folded on the chair,
And mother switches off the light,
I'll still be 8 years old tonight.
But, from the very break of day,
Before the children rise and play,

Before the darkness turns to gold
Tomorrow, I'll be 9 years old.
Nine kisses when I wake,
Nine candles on my cake!

Mothering Sunday

Back in the times before Hallmark Holidays, this middle Sunday in Lent was a day when young people working away from their homes were given the day off to visit their mothers and their "mother-parish". This was often the only day of the year when the whole family would be together...Girls would often bake to show their mothers the new skills they were learning in the form of a gift. The traditional baked gift was a Simnel Cake - which is a fruit cake with marzipan in the middle and another on top (not a big fan of fruit cake or marzipan here - so we won't be making a Simnel cake in honor of the day). Here is a link if you are interested in making one for your dear mother!

It is the day of all the year
Of all the year the one day,
And here come I, my Mother dear,
To bring you cheer,
A-mothering on Sunday



-anon

Shameless plug...

I'm hooked...

I admit it...

It's been a difficult thing to come to terms with...

But I have...

I've got the kids hooked, too...

My method of treatment, well it may seem a bit unorthodox...

But I've decided to start selling the stuff...

It'll help me get my fix at a discount, and hopefully you, my friends, will have some fun with the stuff too!

Please let me know if you need have the need, I'll be glad to assist.

http://www.books4usborne.org/ is where you will go (as soon as the domain is active ) if you need my stuff...

In the mean time you can score some at www.ubah.com/U2291

Inspiration: Abe

Our trip to Ottawa yesterday has put us on a bit of a "Lincoln-track"...
I found this great timeline for Lincoln's life at the website for the Lincoln Museum (which we are planning a trip to see this spring!) in our State Capital, Springfield IL.

They also have a link to teacher resources - including lesson plans in conjunction with a trip to the museum...There is a nice lesson plan on Illinois African American History Makers which I plan to use to wrap up some of our February studies...

We're also using this poem, which was Lincoln's favorite (he memorized it and recited it so often that it was often mistaken as his own), written by a Scotsman named William Knox.

Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
He passes from life to his rest in the grave.

The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
Be scattered around, and together be laid;
And the young and the old, the low and the high,
Shall molder to dust, and together shall lie.

The infant a mother attended and loved;
The mother that infant's affection who proved;
The husband, that mother and infant who blessed;
Each, all, are away to their dwelling of rest.

The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,
Shone beauty and pleasure - her triumphs are by;
And the memory of those who loved her and praised,
Are alike from the minds of the living erased.

The hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne,
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn,
The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave,
Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.

The peasant, whose lot was to sow and to reap,
The herdsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep,
The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread,
Have faded away like the grass that we tread.

The saint, who enjoyed the communion of Heaven,
The sinner, who dared to remain unforgiven,
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.

So the multitude goes - like the flower or the weed
That withers away to let others succeed;
So the multitude comes - even those we behold,
To repeat every tale that has often been told.

For we are the same that our fathers have been;
We see the same sights that our fathers have seen;
We drink the same stream, we feel the same sun,
And run the same course that our fathers have run.

The thoughts we are thinking, our fathers would think;
From the death we are shrinking, our fathers would shrink;
To the life we are clinging, they also would cling -
But it speeds from us all like a bird on the wing.

They loved - but the story we cannot unfold;
They scorned - but the heart of the haughty is cold;
They grieved - but no wail from their slumber will come;
They joyed - but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.

They died - aye, they died - we things that are now,
That walk on the turf that lies over their brow,
And make in their dwellings a transient abode,
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.

Yea, hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
Are mingled together in sunshine and rain;
And the smile and the tear, the song and the dirge,
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.

'Tis the wink of an eye - 'tis the draught of a breath -
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?

Melancholy, isn't it? Depressed now? Go here to learn more about Abraham Lincoln's melancholy moods & writings...

Standing where Lincoln stood!

The kids & I decided we HAD to get out of the house, continuing pneumonia recovery be darned! So we took a drive west to Ottawa Illinois, in search of Bald Eagles and Lincoln's footsteps. No eagles, but we did see a whole lot of hawks, a red-headed woodpecker, a raccoon, three sets of deer, a dead deer (the kids insisted I include the dead one), two cardinals AND we stood on the exact spot where Lincoln debated Douglas in August of 1858's senatorial debates! The little girl was quite taken aback with the fact that she was standing RIGHT where Lincoln stood almost 150 years ago. You can see more photos here

Here are the kids (left) standing at the exact spot where Lincoln stood for the debate

and (below) a silly close up of the little girl

The kids in front of the Monument

The little girl took this cool shot of the country sky

Starved Rock State Park - visitor center's entrance was closed due to the flooding...
We saw tons of underwater trees like these...
And this very cool building - it appears to be a farm house - but looks quite old & I thought it resembled a hotel or borading house? Way out in the country, though...so?????

Click here to read Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

St. Valentine was here?

We attended a lovely homeschool-bowling & valentine exchange yesterday - on St. Valentine's day...Upon entering our driveway on the return home -look at what our Harry spotted! "LOOK MOM!!!!! UP THERE!!!! LOOK!!!"

It appears as if a special valentine was left for us by...hmmmm?

Perhaps St. Valentine himself?

Here are the kids (with cousin M) under the special Valentine...
Haven't checked today to see if it remains...
What a fun Valentine Surprise!

Heart Shaped Biscuits

Here is an easy recipe for today!

6oz butter
6oz sugar
8oz flour
a pinch of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1 lemon

Cream the butter with the sugar, add the eggs then the flour sifted with the salt & 1 tablespoon of lemon juice plus some grated lemon rind.
Roll out thinly, cut into heart shapes & bake in a moderate oven (355 degrees) for about 10 minutes. When they have cooled, decorate with some pink icing if you wish!

The little girl has been bitten by the cake decorating bug! Look at her gorgeous Valentine cake - with NO HELP from mom, I might add!

By the way, if you want to see her mom's cakes you can click here

Pennies for Peace

We're saving PENNIES FOR PEACE!

Read all about it at http://www.penniesforpeace.org/home.html

If you'd like to save pennies & send them to us, please convert them to a money order (or hand deliver them to our house) before March 27th.

More Valentine stuff...

Valentine Traditions

Hundreds of years ago in England, many children dressed up as adults on Valentine's Day. They went singing from home to home. One verse they sang was:

Good morning to you, valentine;
Curl your locks as I do mine ---
Two before and three behind.
Good morning to you, valentine.

In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favourite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!"

In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a young man. If she keeps the gift, it means she will marry him.

Some people used to believe that if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine's Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a millionaire.

A love seat is a wide chair. It was first made to seat one woman and her wide dress. Later, the love seat or courting seat had two sections, often in an S-shape. In this way, a couple could sit together -- but not too closely!

Think of five or six names of boys or girls you might marry, As you twist the stem of an apple, recite the names until the stem comes off. You will marry the person whose name you were saying when the stem fell off.

Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of children you will have.
If you cut an apple in half and count how many seeds are inside, you will also know how many children you will have.

St. Valentine Tells all...

St. Valentine's Story
Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!
Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.
One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.
I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."
I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!

Wasn't that fun? I found it here http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm

Longing for spring...

We read & recite poetry every morning during our "circle time" - which is how we start each day. We have a wide variety of sources for our selected poems - but one of our favorites is a collection called A JOURNEY IN TIME THROUGH VERSE AND RHYME - Poems Collected by Heather Thomas. Here is one of today's selections:

The Magic Piper

There piped a piper in the wood
Strange music - soft and sweet -
And all the little wild things
Came hurrying to his feet.

They sat around him on the grass,
Enchanted, unafraid,
And listened, as with shining eyes
Sweet melodies he made.

The wood grew green, and flowers sprang up,
The birds began to sing;
For the music it was magic,
And the piper's name was - Spring!

-E.L. Marsh

Ash Wednesday

Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday - at home...H & H are still contagious, so I'll spare our parish the germs...We're creating "Ash Wednesday Keepsake Boxes" today, and alms jars - H & H each want to create their own jar, Hazel has decided to donate her alms to the Humane Society, and Harry will give his to the Greater Chicagoland Food Depository.
As a family, we are giving up fast food. Last year we abstained from fast food AND television, but H&H are feeling less ambitious this year, so we'll have TV in the evenings only (no morning cartoons while mom's getting her act together over coffee -eek!) and avoid the temptation of drive-thrus!
I am going to give up sugar, which is always a challenge, particularly with Valentine's Day & Hazel's birthday right around the corner...
Will post photos of our boxes & alms jars when we've completed them...

Build A Drum Workshop

Back in late fall/early winter - we hosted a build-a-drum workshop!







...here is Hazel sanding her drum...


and here she is painting her drum...
Harry pondering the design ideas...
Almost painted masterpiece!



This workshop was an amazing experience! Check out Stan the Drum Man's website & set up a workshop in your area!
http://buildadrum.com/
ps(we're hoping to host an adult drum-making workshop in Illinois some time in the not-so-distant-future)

Hazel and Harry with the finished products!

Hacking and Wheezing and Rashes - OH MY!

Pneumonia in the house!!! Harry was diagnosed last week, and Hazel had been coughing, too...I guess we could've seen the writing on the wall, eh? Hazel's cough worsened on Friday evening (very little sleep was had) so I called the pediatrician to get her in to be seen on Saturday...After much lung-listening & a couple of breathing treatments at the office, the doc. asked Hazel "So...how do you feel about checking into the hospital tonight?" Poor kid had a momentary look of terror in her eyes, but as soon as Dr. K. started talking about the room service, it seemed more like an adventure/hotel stay & the little girl was fine. Luckily, Harry was home with the grandparents (thank goodness they were in town!)...SO...we drove across the street to Rush Copley Hospital, and were admitted...
SO...the main reason for the hospital stay, was to get the antibiotics into Hazel before the pneumonia had a chance to progress...Her oxygen levels were right on the line between ok & not ok... The antibiotics were administered - two different types - and about an hour later, Hazel developed this LOVELY rash, which soon began morphing into full-on hives!!! Benadryl to the rescue!




Here's a gnarly close-up of the legs!
And a little bit developing on the pretty face :(







Hazel is going to post in her own words later on...so you can get the report straight from the source! Life learning lessons for the weekend:
Pneumonia is no fun; Hazel is allergic to antibiotics; Benadryl is a quick acting miracle-drug; Rush Copley is a fine facility; pneumonic lungs sound like rice crispies when listened to through a stethoscope; hospital beds are comfortable, hospital cots (where mom slept) are not; kids always get really sick when one parent is out of town; hospital room service is FUN...
more later...

Candlemas and Puxatawney Phil...

Today the eastern groundhog proclaimed we've got six more weeks of winter...and since we haven't left the house (save for doctors appointments ) in a week due to our bronchial ailments, I guess that's ok...

We got a gorgeous 9 inches of snow a couple of days ago, and we are frequently finding ourselves looking out the windows wistfully wishing for sleds & snowboards...but the cough keeps us in...Hopefully it will not all melt before we are healthy - if the g-hog is right we should get a chance to play in it yet!

I found an interesting site explaining Candlemas from both pagan and Christian angles...although the tone of the article is decidedly pagan, it was still an interesting reference point to start with http://www.schooloftheseasons.com/candlemas.html

Since we're stuck in, I think we will talk a bit about spring-renewal stuff...I feel like since we've been holed up I've given up on some of my good intentions for the new year - haven't been for a run in almost two weeks - so Candlemas may help us get back on track!

Also found a Catholic link regarding Candlemas - www.newadvent.org/cathen/03245b.htm I am frequently amazed that my 12 years of Catholic school left out so much! I honestly had never heard of Candlemas until we started exploring Waldorf ideas for our homeschooling...

Hazel showing her Gingerbread Creation

Our latest Watercolor Paintings

These watercolors were done using the "wet on wet" technique (painting on wet paper) We added kosher salt to play with color & expirament with the chemical reaction of the paint & the salt...

Our Art Display Door

This is our "Peace Wreath" which we made in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. The hands have some of Dr. King's quotes on them (the children selected their favorites - and Hazel wrote two of her own).