Friday, November 9, 2018

Holy Land of Kentucky and a Trampoline

There is no school in Kentucky on election days, so Malachi and I went on his confirmation field trip to the Holy Land of Kentucky, Bardstown.

Here Malachi is in the old log cabin that belonged to some of the first Catholics (and first settlers) in the area.


We also visited the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, two early churches, and the Abbey of Gethsemane.  


Back on the home front, Nathaniel put together our gift to the kids:

They are all very excited about it!

Sunday, November 4, 2018

October Harvest Totals & Etc

I made this rack to hold my sweet potatoes, but unfortunately, I've got lots of room for more.  I only harvested 8 lbs of sweet potatoes.  I'm pretty sure they needed more sun.  The good news is that I planted them from slips I grew myself, so at least it was free.  The rack, of course, is not, and I still need to finish the last 3 or 4 trays to go into it, but it can hold winter squash, onions, or potatoes, too, so it will still be used.  When I get it totally done and sanded, I will move it upstairs.  I may paint or stain the rack (but not the trays that the food sits on).

October Harvest Totals:
arugula - 2c
cucumbers -1
eggs - 165
peppers (Bulgarian) - 2
radishes - 3
sweet potatoes (purple) 8 lbs
tomatillos - 4.3 lbs
tomatoes - 3


The boys were playing a video game together.  Both Malachi and Gyunay jump up and down while they play, while Elijah holds the gamepad entirely too close to his face.  Meanwhile, Lydia was thrilled that the shop roof was full of leaves again.  After sweeping it, she hung around up there for at least half an hour.


Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Happy Halloween!

As you can see, Lydia traded in the penguin costume for the owl costume.  At the last minute, she decided to be Hedwig (the snowy owl from Harry Potter) because her friend was dressed as Hermione.  Nevermind that the two girls were not trick or treating together!  But that is the benefit of keeping a box of costumes; the kids have free reign to choose from whatever we've got.  Malachi had us buy him a shark costume a few weeks back, when he got to play the tuba in costume.  Gyunay requested the eagle, which I made.  Elijah waffled for a while, but settled on the Batman jacket that turned out to be a really good costume for him.

I realize that it's weird that we went trick-or-treating last night.  Our county and most surrounding areas changed trick-or-treating to October 30 this year due to impending storms on Halloween night.  This was a huge disappointment to our family, because Nathaniel wasn't here yet.  He was hoping to get home in time to take the kids trick-or-treating tonight, especially since it's really his favorite night of the whole year.  But he was still in China Tuesday night, and so he missed it.  

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Book Review - Hidden Peril by Irene Hannon



Hidden Peril by Irene Hannon has suspense and international intrigue.  I really enjoyed the opening, which did a good job of hooking the reader.  The main characters, Detective Luke Carter and former Peace Corp volunteer and current shop owner Kristin Dane, are both likable with realistic flaws.  Both have backstory issues adding to the complexity of the story, and their characters both show growth and depth.  The details on the police work and terror cells rang pretty true.  The story overall leans more on the romantic side, with the romance keeping a prominent role throughout the book, but there is also suspense and a good, solid plot.  The Christian aspects of the book are woven into the story without being preachy, which I prefer. This book is the second in a series, and I didn't read the first, but it is a stand-alone novel.  It did seem to go on a bit in places, but maybe that's just me.  I enjoyed this book, and I do recommend it.

I received this book from the publisher, Revel, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

CVC words

We have been working hard in homeschool.  Gyunay can recognize his letters (although b,d,p, and q are interchangeable, as are u and n, and f and t), and he knows all of the letter sounds.  We've been working on a phonics program called I Can Read, but it was getting discouraging.  Since hands-on works best for us, I made up some CVC cards (consonant-vowel-consonant).  He has been working with word puzzles and other things, so these words are not unknown, but he has never seemed to be able to sound out a word, or to recognize the words.
Here is one of the cards I made:

Gyunay successfully spelled "pig" when I helped him sound it out.  We then progressed through the other cards, some of which (cow, dog) he needed more help with than others.  Then we got to fox, and he spelled it completely on his own!!!  

Meanwhile, Lydia was working on her Latin.  As you can tell, my kids prefer to work on the floor.  Disregard the stacks of books in the background.  :)

Gyunay is also showing some progress with writing, but that is much slower.  We are still working on pre-writing skills like shapes more than actual letters (although we work on those, too, particularly the ones in his name).  The slant board (pictured above, black) has been very helpful.

Monday, October 29, 2018

Eagle Costume

This year, Gyunay wanted to be a bald eagle with "2 big wings".  So, I set to work making him a costume.  He also wanted a big head with a really big beak. 
After consulting pinterest and making a trip to JoAnn's for the felt, I got started.

I put some tubing that is used to insulate pipes in the right wing, so Gyunay can flap it with his little arm.  He is so happy and proud to be an eagle!

And here is Lydia, in the penguin costume that Nathaniel's Aunt Sherri made years ago for Elijah.  


Several kids have worn this costume through the years, and it is a great dress-up item when it's not Halloween.  Animal costumes have always been very popular around here.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Fall Break

We had a good fall break, although Nathaniel was very much missed as he was in China.  We did go to visit my parents.

The younger two enjoyed playing on the front porch of Mom and Dad's new house.  It's currently a fixer-upper, so while they played, the big boys helped work.

Malachi enjoyed sweeping off the garage roof, while Elijah power washed the house.

And we made it back home in time for our parish trunk or treat.  My little penguin and bald eagle had a great time!