First of all we visited the Aquarium with Grandma Jo for a little sting ray petting. They acted like a bunch of puppies (the rays and kids)! The boys really love rays and apparently Ollie does too!
A video of the kids and rays (subscribers may need to go to the blog to see)
On Friday we went to a homeschool maple sugaring special at Rocky River Reservation. The naturalist did a great job and really kept up the kid's interest. They experienced sugaring from the viewpoint of Native Americans and pioneers, popular current methods for sugaring and how it is done in large scale operations. Afterwards they sampled the syrup and had a piece of maple sugar candy.
We woke up this morning "springing forward" in more ways than one. First of all, it was the first morning of daylight savings time. Also, it got up to 70 degrees today, which is crazy because it was snowing just a few days ago. Then Matt and the boys started talking about old school role - playing games like dungeons and dragons. Wolfie was so inspired that he sprang forth from the bed and raced downstairs to grab some paper and a pencil and started crafting a character and an adventure map.
Right after breakfast we started playing our first RPG (role playing game), a homemade one at that, as a family. A completely nerdy family. We chose our characters : I am a rogue named Ruby that fights with a poisoned dart blow gun and a short sword. Vlad is a ninja named Diamond, but goes by Gold for short. He battles with shuriken, nunchaku and sword. He is in love with Ruby and flirts with her (oh, my little Oeddy. This has been a loooooong phase). Wolf is a warrior named Wolfie. His weapons are a sword and a hammer. He has chainmail armor. He also has a stone of rejuvenation. Dad is dungeon master, of course, and he rocks at it. He used Wolfie's map to create the story and gameplay, complete with dice. The game was named "Land of Heroes" by Wolfie.
In this game, we are 3 kids that make cereal in Millsville (named after Aldi's cereal brand). A caravan delivering cereal to Milksville is hijacked by hungry goblins and the caravan team is kidnapped, except for Grandma Tourmaline. She escapes, but is attacked by thieves in the Fantastic Forest. Luckily, she is rescued by the three would-be heroes, on the hunt for the cereal. She rewards them with 5 healing potions and it is game on! Many goblins are defeated, as are skeleton kings and rock monsters. The trio work well together, Making smart decisions and kicking major booty under the eye of the clever Dungeon Master. The caravan team (Grandpa Tourmaline and his dim-witted son, Tony Tourmaline) is rescued and Milksville has cereal once again.
Whew! We played after breakfast at a special gaming table set up by Wolfie. Then it was time to enjoy the sunshine at the park where we acted out as our characters. Back home to lunch, and more gaming until supper! It was like a religious experience for Wolfie. He seemed to be born to this, his soul clicked. It will be interesting to see if he wants to go on with this. At any rate, it made for a fun and exciting day. Plus, I was wooed by a ninja. Can't say that everyday.
The warrior goes hunting.
The stealthy ninja, Diamond.
Battling goblins at the milky river's edge.
Booty from the day's battles... River glass and a huge mussel shell.
I have been making aftershave for my husband for a year or so. He has been enjoying them and I have enjoyed the fact that these are much safer and healthier for him than his old store-bought tonics. I started with a basic recipe that can be modified with different essential oils. The nice thing is that you can create these for aroma and medicinal properties by using the essential oils. So you can have a very personalized product. My husband likes a little "sting" in his aftershave, but one could easily reduce the alcohol and replace it with more witch hazel if you have very sensitive skin. These recipes do not include water, which i prefer not to add to any of my beauty products, to decrease contamination.
I made him a Bay Rum cologne for Valentine's day that turned out really well and did not take long to make. Typically, one would use dried leaves and the mixture would have to age. My recipe does not need time to cure and can be used immediately.
I find many of the things I need at one of three places online: Amazon.com --- A good place to start looking and comparison shopping. The reviews are helpful and I often get free shipping as an Amazon prime member.
Bulkapothecary.com --- Located not far from where I live, they have great prices and good products.
Mountainroseherbs.com -- Probably one of my favorite companies right now. I can find excellent prices on hard to find products. Most everything seems to be organic. The products are chosen for being of high quality and ethically grown, the packaging is beautiful and recyclable/compostable (and made of recycled paper) and generally knocks my socks off.
Here is my basic adaptable recipe:
DIY AFTERSHAVE
Yield: ⅔ cup (FYI--will fit into cholula hot sauce bottle perfectly)
Ingredients:
⅛ cup rum (use white for a clear look, dark for an amber look)
witch hazel
¼ cup alcohol (I use 91% for zing)
essential oils
⅛ cup glycerin
Preparation:add rum and glycerin to the ¼ line on measuring cup. Add alcohol to the ½ cup line. add witch hazel to almost the ⅔ cup line. Add oils.
I like to use lemongrass, lime and lemon for an Asian-citrus blend. I like our invigorating blend, "Wake up!", with spearmint, peppermint, eucalyptus and camphor. It is a nice muscle rub as well or to cool off in the heat. You are only limited by your imagination and essential oil budget! Please note that this will need to be shaken at each use, as the ingredients will separate.
Bay Rum Aftershave
1/4 cup Kraken spiced rum (left over from the holidays :) 1/8 cup glycerin 1/4 cup 91% isopropyl alcohol 1/8-1/4 cup witch hazel 12 drops of bay (west indies) essential oil, be sure it is pimenta racemosa 5 drops of allspice essential oil
Just mix the ingredients in a glass measuring cup and decant into a bottle. I keep an old glass measuring cup just for making my DIY beauty products. As for bottles, get creative. I enjoy finding new uses for old items such as vinegar and oil cruets, old glass syrup bottles, Cholula hot sauce bottles and anything else that catches my eye! I generally label them with a tag including which oils were used and advise to shake before using. These seem to age well without problems, even after a few months.
I would love to hear of any scent combinations you have tried and enjoyed! I am looking forward to making a black peppery/vanilla/clove combo. We will see how it turns out!
I thought I would post what we have been reading lately. The boys have been really enjoying our reading times lately. We had been in a slump for awhile, not finding books that held their interest. Then Lemony Snickett came to our rescue. We had tried his Series of Unfortunate Events back about a year ago, but it just didn't catch on. We just finished up the 5th book in the series last night and will be starting the next one. Dad has been reading these at bed time and has great voices for all the characters.
A current favorite, despite how unfortunate it all is.
Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett has been another fun read, this one being a picture book. The illustrations are wonderful, done by Jon Klassen. Of course, I really enjoyed reading this because, well, I have a thing for yarn in a big way.
This was a treat for President's Day. This is written as a humorous poem that focuses on all of the many problems GW had with his teeth. It has a wonderful time line at the end which is historically accurate. You will feel for our founding father after this read.
Wolfie by Janet Chenery was a book that my husband brought back from the friends of the library sale. It is about a little boy that finds a wolf spider and keeps it as a pet. Since my son is named Wolfie, we were instantly interested. This is one of those books that uses a fictional story to teach real science facts. we used this to help us with a science project earlier today, so it has been fun and useful for us.
One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo is a great book with a surprise ending. We had a lot of fun reading this while it was snowing out and dreaming about having our own penguin.
This is not my Hat by Jon Klassen is another gem By Mr. Klassen. Once again, a thieving animal gets it in the end. Why won't these animals learn to just get their own hat? Crime does not pay.
When You Were Small by Sara O'Leary is not what it seems when the main character asks for stories about when he was small. He receives stories not of his youth, but of the time when he was teeny tiny in size. A lot of fun to read aloud.
I adore Jan Brett's books. They have magical stories with illustrations that make you want to read them while wrapped in a quilt in a bed of hay in Grandpa's mountain cabin. Check out any book by this author. Hedgehogs are ALWAYS good.
Kaspar, the Titanic Cat by Michael Morpurgo was another chapter book that I lucked upon while trying to download an ebook from the library. The kids never wanted me to stop reading this. I think we could have finished it in one sitting if I had the stamina to keep reading out loud. A fictional story about a boy and a cat that end up on the Titanic, this is an exciting read. At the end, the author lets the reader into how he came up with the story by being a detective looking for story clues This opens up discussion on writing other stories based on things you see and find around you. The kids really hated to see this one end.
I have read a few good craft books lately and will list them here:
A little Valentine's Day spelling fun with the Hoffbros!
We decided it would be fun to "dress up" for dinner. I made a dinner that I knew no one would complain about (which adds to the romanticism) and we had candlelight. What you can't see is that their ties match their sweatpants :-)
Doesn't Vladdie look like one of the Weasley kids?
Serious and handsome. Seriously handsome .
We had a really lovely Valentine's day and hope you did too!
A few things that have been said lately, that I will record here so I will remember them: ***Vladdie has really been increasing his vocabulary, and he has been using words like auspicious lately (plus many other words that were even better, but I can't recall because I have become incompetent) . Ollie was hitting him and he knew he shouldn't hit her back, so he called out for help by saying, "help! I'm perishing! I am perishing!"
***I am not sure why, but Wolfie is suddenly very polite. But in true Wolfie style, he takes it too far by saying thank you a million times about 4 inches from your eyeballs or says,"thank you" for you saying, "you're welcome" and it goes on and on. Still, I admit it is nice. Today I tried a new pizza dough recipe, which was a flop (we had grilled cheese instead) but he stops me and says, "although I don't like pizza and won't eat it, I want to take the time to compliment you on your pizza. Don't you think that is nice?" The development of empathy is always so much fun to watch.
Wolfie and Vladdie are our resident artists. Vladdie is constantly creating drawings, buildings, creatures, heroes, sculptures...ahem, messes. :) But today I want to talk about Wolfie. Wolfie creates with words. And words, words, words. One thing I want to remember is how he is always creating imaginary books, movies, tv shows and video games about his life, but all in his mind. There have been a few drawings, but mostly these fantastic adventures are fleetingly enjoyed as he shouts them out with every hop of his hoppy ball. Although this is sort of a lame version of his normal telling (ruined by the presence of a camera, probably) I wanted to snatch a little of it up to remember it. Here he is talking about the show of his life, Wolfie's Adventures: season 1, episopde 2. In this episode he is abducted by aliens. But don't worry, every episode in his life has a happy ending. And that little thought warms this Mama's heart.
Subscribers click here for video
If you know my family, then you know we are always making something. Christmas really puts this in overdrive. Here is a sample of some of what we made. I made a few pairs of fingerless gloves (knitted) but didn't snag any pics. Boo, I came up with the pattern myself, so I will try to write it up and make another pair (maybe for me?!) and post it.
Boy were these fun to make! I hope some of my crafty friends will share what they made this Christmas.
A knitted hat to Vlad from Mommy
A gnome home with mushroom rattle for my niece, Mae. The gnomes are knit, but the rest is crocheted.
A big, beautiful Christmas doily made by my Mom. Gorgeous!
A dollhouse for Ollie Bean. My mom made it for me when I was little. Then I painted it for Jas. Now Matt fixed it for Ollie in the same colors as our house! He made a little furniture for it too. There is more we want to add, then more pics will follow! Can you believe my Mom made this from scratch? She is a d. i. y. beast!
Old school bomb with fuse for the bros, knitted.
Crocheted pincushion
My favorite gift wrapping this Christmas, done with upcycled packing paper from a delivery.
Had to make Ollie a gnome home too!
Matt took a wooden, thrifted salad bowl and carved it into a yarn bowl. I love it! Now my yarn doesn't roll across the room while I knit.
Some ankle socks, knitted for myself! Claus is vacationing inside for the winter, so I had to put him to work hauling my socks.
Gift bags made from old t-shirts
A time bomb with removable sticks of dynamite. Matt recorded a sound button in the clock! You must check out the video of it here
A stocking made out of t-shirts. The inside is red. Of course this was for the tractor loving Brandon.
Here are some t-shirts that Matt made by creating a stencil from freezer paper and painting the shirt. I think he outdid himself!
Link for Wolfie
Megaman for Vlad
A thumbdog for his Mama
And for his Dad, Dennis Kucinich!
I didn't take a pic of the grenade stuffie I made, but I did take a video. (click here) Matt recorded another sound button and it has already seen a lot of action!
Last, but not least, the boys did their first embroidery as a gift to their talented Grandma Kathy. Subscribers, Click for video
I hope you fit a little handmade into your Christmas! I would love to hear what some of you made too!
P. S. Must give props...
The gnomes were from this pattern:
http://plainandjoyfulliving.blogspot.com/2009/02/fun-knitting-gnome.html
Gnome home was based on this pattern:
http://yarrrn.blogspot.com/2008/02/gnome-home.html
The grenade:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mills-bomb-grenade
The old school bomb :
http://shoshanaknits.blogspot.com/2012/06/happy-bomb-knitting-pattern.html
The mushroom rattle was based on :
http://tomacreations.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/amigurumi-super-mario-mushroom/
The pincushion:
http://www.hookedonneedles.com/2009/08/crocheted-pin-cushion-pattern-english.html
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