Homestead Happenings - Jan 2017

January forced us to slow down as the weather turned bitterly cold and we had snow most of the month. My step-mom, Diana, made me an apron matching the girls'. I'm one happy apron-wearing mama!

My new deck served as a snow collection point and a good place to measure how much snow we received. 

Front deck just after one of our snow storms. Good thing we could still see the outline of the sled we use to hall wood in!

Lots of time for playing dress up during January. Rina is wearing Hailey's sun hat in this pic. 

Now she's in one of Hailey's winter hats. 

Play veil 

One of Hailey's medieval Narnian dresses. 

My poncho from Mexico that my Grandma and Grandpa Puffball brought me when I was a kid. Can't believe I still have it!

Dad and Diana got her this adorable dress. Can't wait to see her in it this spring. In the meantime she couldn't wait to wear it, and just put it over her winter clothes. 

Back to the homestead. Who says sheep are dumb? It was super cold out and Angel's hooves were cold, but she didn't want to go into the shed because the sun was finally shining. She decided to stand in her feeder to keep her hooves warm!

Speaking of Angel, do I detect a lamb bump?

Dixie, our "let me MAKE you love me" ewe, keeps knocking down the sheep shed walls. She's a stinker but we love her!

Another snowstorm means more snowball fights. These kids are serious!

We use these crocks for toy bins in the living room. Sometimes, Rina likes to take all her toys out and sit in them. She absolutely loves her cleaning set and helps us "clean" the house regularly.

Some friends gave Rina her first Radio Flyer tricycle. Her feet don't touch yet, but that's what having older siblings is for. It's cute to see them sitting behind her and pedaling her all over the house. 

Michael got bored this winter and challenged himself to making wooden mugs by hand. He did all the welding on this himself. He wants to make 12 of them. It's pretty impressive how this thing fits together so tightly! The guy never ceases to amaze me. 

Well that's about it for January. Just tried to stay warm with our too tiny stove. But we did it, despite subzero temps. Only lost one hen in Dec, but all the other animals did great through the cold snaps. Managed to keep our pipes from freezing and thaw out our pump before something broke. 

It was nice to slow down since so many events and activities were cancelled. I'm learning to look at it as a gift instead of an inconvenience. God kept Michael safe as he traveled over the mountain pass twice a day for work and provided a place for him to stay with friends when it was too dangerous to make the trek. So very thankful for His provision and protection. 

Blessings, Jackie

Narnia Unit Study 2016-17: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

WEEK ONE:

 All of us waiting for High Tea to be served in place of luncheon. Do we know how to have fun homeschooling or what? What a privilege to have an excuse to have high tea with friends.

Hailey taught us all about the history of taking tea and proper tea etiquette of both low and high tea.  

Josiah taught us about the controversial race to the North Pole and how Arctic explorer, Peary, got the credit of being first to arrive. Very interesting story. 

Naomi taught us how we get different seasons. 

Gracia explained what happened in the London Blitz. What a scary time for the British people!

Alli's presentation was on the evacuation of women and children from London during WWII. 

 Since Lucy was invited to tea at Mr. Tumnus's house, we decided to do a high tea for our lunch.

We had finger sandwiches, egg and cheese quiche bites, deviled eggs, scones with homemade lemon curd and Devonshire cream with two different teas to choose from. 

Delicious!

Of course proper tea etiquette was encouraged. 

Amanda and Rina enjoying high tea together.

WEEK TWO:

The White Which rode in a sledge. Josiah taught us the differences between cutters, sleighs, sleds, sledges, etc. 

Gracia taught us about Beavers. Josiah happened to have a beaver pelt that he and his father had recently naturally tanned, so she was able to use it as part of her presentation. 

Naomi taught us about the fascinating art of ice fishing. 

Alli's presentation was on bird migration. 

Hailey's presentation was on bird watching, in particular the history and hobby thereof. As an activity, we all went outside with binoculars and bird identification books and tried watching for birds on our property. We chose the worst part of the day to do this, so we didn't have a lot of luck. 

We had a lunch similar to what the children had at Mr and Mrs Beaver's den. Fried fish, bread, mashed potatoes and a sausage pumpkin dish I had left over. For desert - marmalade roll! Delicious. This was a first for all of us, but is was a hit. We ended the meal with a nice cup of tea. Then the kids when out and played a WWII era children's game, called the "Statue Game". 

WEEK THREE:

Gracia taught us about Chinese characters. 

Hailey's presentation was on Norse mythology. She was able to use one of her favorite Usborne books as a visual aide. 

Alli did her presentation on hieroglyphics. 

Josiah taught us about animal tracking.

Naomi explained to us the science of fog and then gave us a great demonstration. 

Mrs. Beaver even joined us for a Christmas dinner. 

What a fun spread as usual. This time our theme was a traditional English Christmas dinner. We had salmon pate' with toasted bread rounds, boiled potatoes, pigs in a blanket and plum pudding, made the traditional way. I steamed it for hours. Everyone liked it though. What a feast! Fun to have an excuse to try cooking different things.  

WEEK FOUR:

 With families being out of town, we all decided to finish up the last week of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe on our own. But we did get together one last time for a Christmas/sledding party. We bought each of the kids a pre-assembled gingerbread house kit and to let them each decorate. They had a ball doing it!

 Here they all are with their completed works of gingerbread art. Sometimes ya' just gotta party!

After another traditional English dinner that involved turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce and roasted parsnips and potatoes plus pumpkin muffins, the kids all went outside and took advantage of the little bit of snow we had left and had a sledding party. 

We all really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next book in the series. See you when we're done with The Horse and His Boy!