Dandy Day!

The day began with an announcement from Karoline:

"Mama," said she, her fist full of dandelions for me to put into a tiny pitcher, "we have so many beautiful yellow flowers and the neighbors have none. I'm going to pick them all and scatter them in everyone's yard just like Miss Rumphius. Then, there will be beautiful yellow flowers everywhere."

 

As luck would have it, Catherine shared a recipe for Dandelion Syrup on Kind Conversation. So, we suggested that Karoline and her sisters and her friends gather the flowers for syrup making purposes.

 

They spent a glorious couple of hours making their fingers a lovely shade of yellow.

They stirred some "dandelion soup."

They measured until there was enough.

They brought it in to boil and steeped.

We read Miss Rumphius and Dandelions  and The Dandelion Seed and Stars in the Grass at bedtime.

The next day, we added sugar and cooked and cooked.

Dandelion Syrup.

Brings sweet tea to a whole new place:-).

When I tucked Katie into bed that night she commented, "Some people call dandelions weeds. Don't they see the flowers? Everyone should have a girl to show her the flowers when all they see are the weeds."

Everyone should.

 

Past due Pp Post

We took our time on Pp week and now I've taken my time Posting all the Particulars. I don't always Post all we do along the Alphabet Path, but Pp was Particularly Packed and Pleased the People in my house enough to make it worth recording for Posterity.

Pp is for Packages delivered by Post.

~

We don't know who sent it, or even the Place from where it came. Perfect Present for these little girls (and some brothers, too)! They so enjoyed making Paper dolls. Thank you to the Present Person!

Pp is for Pellets.

Nicky is studying birds and, with Stephen's help (and not a little Persuasion), he dissected owl Pellets and reconstructed a mole skeleton.

Pp is for Peter!

Karoline was so taken with Peter in a Snowy Day that we read a few more Peter stories for Pp week:

Peter's Chair

Whistle for Willie

Pet Show!

and we brought a Peter doll into our home to love.

Pp is for Painted Pebbles

 

We painted stones a la Egyptian scarab stones, an activity in Global Art.

Pp is for Pope

Lolek: The boy Who Became Pope

This book truly deserves its own Post. Nicholas has read it countless times since he got if for Epiphany. And I've read it aloud to everyone several more times. I can't say enough about the sensitivity with which it's written. Clearly the author-illustrator team has a deep love for John Paul II. I find the illustrations utterly charming and Nicholas was quite taken with finding the whisper-printed "Totus Tuus" in every illustration. Just a perfect, perfect picture book! Check out the website here.

Warning: it has ignited in my children a Passion for Polish Pottery;-)

Pp is for a Pink Princess Party

 

Pretty, Pretty Pretzels. The Pink Princess book was also a present, from those Alphabet Path Pals across the country. Nothing like kindred spirits, is there girls?

Pp is for Popcorn Balls

We love to make and eat these and now, we think they might have magical Powers;-).

Pp is for Patricia Polacco

The Lemonade Club

Thank You/ Mr. Falker

Ginger and Petunia

When Lightning Comes in a Jar

The Keeping Quilt

I Can Hear the Sun

Thunder Cake

Rechenka's Eggs

For the Love of Autumn

Chicken Sunday

Pink and Say

The Trees of the Dancing Goats

Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair

Mommies Say Shh!

Luba and Wren

Nearly every Post on the Alphabet Path has its own Author Study now. We are enjoying becoming intimately acquainted with each author.

Pp is for Pedestrian

Sarah Annie, always the dramatic one with timing milestones, has a Pp Post of her own

And, of course Pp is for St. Patrick, but we're Procrastinating a bit and we'll get to that next week.

Sweet Baby Book Basket

Sarah Annie has become delightfully aware of story books. She seizes absolutely every opportunity to plop down into someone's lap with a book.  While I'm enjoying all the old favorites immensely, new to our family are these delightful board books that have utterly captured her heart. We began with If You're Happy and You Know It and moved on to Itsy Bitsy Spider, Ten Little Fingers, and I'm a Little Teapot. (I reserve the right to order just a couple more for her Easter basket.)

Endearing illustrations teach very simple finger plays that Sarah Annie picked up right away. Some of the books in the series have actual ASL signs in the illustrations; others are just old familiar fingerplays. These books are already well loved and I'm so very delighted to have launched into the world of books with my sweet girl.  

Other board books in Sarah Annie's basket:

Prayer for a Child

Goodnight Moon

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Brian Wildsmith's ABC

Tomie de Paola's Mother Goose

Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings

Out of Print

It is with regret that I let you know that Real Learning is out of print and I have no more books available. There are no immediate plans for another printing or a second edition. All I have left of my inventory is a stack of seven books I set aside for my children when my first box of Real Learning arrived in the spring of 2003. Funny thing that is; I don't even have enough books of my own--we've added two more little girls since then.

Please allow me to take this opportunity to thank those of you have have read the book and allowed me to spend a few moments of precious time telling you how much joy this learning lifestyle has brought to our home. And many, many thanks to those of you who shared with me what the book meant to you. Your stories have all been read, pondered, and cherished. It has been a joy and a privilege to share childhood with you, even if only for a brief time. Bless you!

[If you ordered the book from me recently, you should have received a Paypal credit. If you did not receive a credit, please let me know. If you ordered DVDs, they are on their way just as soon as the weather permits a trip to the post office:-)]

Snow Day Reading and Eating

Some of you wrote to ask about the picture in this post. You want details? Here they are:

::Computer is fully charged and always plugged in. We rarely lose power here since the lines are all buried, but I like to know I'm fully charged should it happen. Same with my cell phone. Last night was Mike's first night home. My cell phone started the "low battery" beeping about 2 AM.  I recognized that I never would have let that happen if he were gone. I'm always on alert when he's gone. When he's home, I figure he's fully charged and in charge:-)

::Half and half is gone now. We used it for snow ice cream and chai tea. I didn't restock it for Blizzard '10. But I did buy seven gallons of whole milk. Works for tea, for ice cream, for bottomless cups of hot chocolate. I am a hot chocolate snob--made from scratch with milk, cocoa, and sugar every time. This little gadget makes it frothy, too (HT: Kimberlee).

::The small tin is Daddy Van's Beeswax polish. Bored children get the polish and a rag. Kitchen cabinets, furniture, banisters--there's no end to the polishing that can be done while the snow falls and the wind howls.

::Here's the current basket of snow books. We've pretty much memorized them now.

Snow

Snowsong Whistling

The Snowy Day (Karoline's current favorite)

Owl Moon

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening (beautiful, effortless poetry memorization)

My Brother Loved Snowflakes

Snowflake Bentley

The Rag Coat (this one makes us so grateful for warmth)

Jan Brett's Snowy Treasury

::Children's Advil (Actually the medicine stockpile is a more extensive than this--my little girls are still struggling)

::And, finally the popcorn and marshmallows. This is standard snow food, but my littlest children probably don't know the whole meaning behind the tradition. When Michael was little, there was snow predicted one day. I made a big deal, stocked the snow books, talked it up in a big, big way. He was so looking forward to snowballs. No snow. So, I popped popcorn and made popcorn "snowballs." Saved the day. Now when snow is forecasted, I stockpile the ingredients for popcorn balls. That way, we have big, round, white balls no matter what.

 

Melt two sticks of butter in a very big pot.

 

While the butter is melting, pop 1 cup of popcorn. I do this in two batches.

Dump a bag of marshmallows into the melted butter.

  Stir until melted.

 

Pour the popcorn into the melted marshmallows and stir well.

 

Generously grease your hands with butter. As soon as the marshmallow-coated popcorn is just barely cool enough to handle, form into balls.

Even if you don't have snow, read the books and make the popcorn balls. Childhood should be sweet.