Mama's birthday

Poetry, hiking, reading books, pizza, pumpkin candles.....it was fun!

You teach us how to read and write

Whenever we eat you take a bite

You make lots of smoothies for us to drink 

You drill us hard you make us think

You cook our food and it is so great

 Except for broccoli which we really hate

You drive us to tons of places 

So that we get to see a lot of faces

You are mom and we love you most

We also love your great pot roast

- Caleb

Roses are red and violets are blue 

You are my mom and I love you

I love your kisses and your hugs 

It's good they don't come with bugs

- Abby Jane

You are a mom who is so cool 

You also love to teach us school

You make an awesome chocolate cake 

 I also love to help you bake

You do not like our stinky shoes 

But are there for us when our game we lose

You do not like it when we forget our stuff

And sometimes you just huff and puff

I love you most when you read me books

And make sure I have good looks

- Ethan

I really really like your chilli

Even better than meatloaf with Uncle Billy

You don't like to wash our dishes

But you listen to our wishes

You take us to our baseball  games 

You cheer us on and say "Good game"

You take us out on lots of hike 

And we really like to our bikes

I love you and you are the best 

And I love your hugs before I rest

- Adam

Horses

I went on a horse and rode it. We learned that a horse can gallop, trot, walk and canter. The horse that I rode  on was Puff. There are horses and ponies. Some horses are hot which means that they are race horses. A cold horse is meant to be a worker horse. Puff is a warm horse because she is just right.     By Abigail

*Mom's note- Abigail means that some horses are considered hot-blooded, warm-blooded or cold-blooded depending on the nature of the work that they do. It's just an expression not an actual indication of body temperature. Puff is a Quarter horse which is considered a "warm blooded" horse.

Girls Day

This is Aliyah and Kiersen. They are my friends and they are making gingerbread men cookies with me.

 This is us with the gingerbread men- decorating them.

 This is us painting.

 This is Aliyah with my fancy dress on that I wore for Halloween.

It was a fun day!

Holiday Fun

Favorite Holiday Stories

The Nutcracker

A Christmas Carol

Gift of the Magi

Favorite Holiday Projects

-making snow flakes (we use coffee filters or cupcake liners)

-make Buckeyes 

-make a salt dough ornament

-decorate Christmas cookies

-make paper chains
-make gingerbread men

-make granola to give as gifts

-decorate the tree and house

-make presents (this year, Abigail has her own space in the basement... a workshop)
-this year, we want to try peppermint bark

Favorite Holiday Music

My current favorite is the Christmas Canon station on Pandora!

Of course, we love listening to the Nutcracker music as well.

Abigail the biker

Autumn Prairie and the Nature Gill

We are very blessed to have a really wonderful nature preserve right in the middle of our community. We were there a few weeks ago. Abigail is fascinated by all things related to nature and is often collecting as we hike. She said to me, "Mama, look how many nature things I have. I'm a super good nature gill!" Of course, she was trying to say, "girl" but anyone who has heard her talk knows that her r's need some work. :)

Mama and the nature gill

A panoramic view

Adam caught grasshoppers- they were leaping away with every footstep!

Milkweed

Beautiful!

A praying mantis

As Summer into Autumn slips by Emily Dickinson

As Summer into Autumn slips
And yet we sooner say
"The Summer" than "the Autumn," lest
We turn the sun away,

And almost count it an Affront
The presence to concede
Of one however lovely, not
The one that we have loved --

So we evade the charge of Years
On one attempting shy
The Circumvention of the Shaft
Of Life's Declivity.

Abigail's Birthday

I made cards for my friends that were coming to my party.

This is my birthday cake. We had chocolate cake.

I like my jean jacket.

I like my new prairie dress from Mama.

I like my Tea Party, too.

I like my baby stroller from Mimi.

By Abigail

Safety Town

Safety Town is where we learn how to be safe when we are on the street. We learned how to be careful. We learned a song about stoplights. "Red on the top means stop, stop, stop. Yellow in the middle means careful when you are little. Green on the bottom means Go!" We rode on big wheels and we also got on a bus. A fireman came and told how to be careful with fire. You cross the street in the white lines and you look left first, then right over your shoulder. Then if there are no cars, you can cross the street.

Abigail's Big Summer Events!

Thank you, Daddy, for letting me go on a date with you.

Daddy took me to La Piazza and I got to lasagna. After dinner we went to Night Sky for ice cream. Then we went to the levy and found a baseball field. Then we went home and went to bed.

This is when I got my dress on with Mommy for my Annie's wedding. My mimi picked me up and we went to the wedding. We had a fun time there. There were songs and a party. I was the flower girl. We got chickie nuggets at the party.

Greatest Anthology Ever!

I love, love, love this anthology! I was in the bookstore looking for a birthday gift and I wanted to give a classic. This book caught my eye. I scanned the table of contents and thought, "Wow, this book has it all!" Then I looked at the cover again and something seemed familiar about it. Sure enough, when I got home and I looked in my spot on the bookshelf for anthologies- I already had it! It is surely a hand-me down from my Aunt Eleanor and we had never read it. It is THE book of the moment for Abby Jane. I have probably read 12 stories in the last two days as she is at the stage where she will sit forever and read. What a gem- all the fairy tales, many tall tales, several Aesop's Fables, poems and some excerpts from children's classics like Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio and Peter Pan. I try to keep an anthology and a blanket in the back of the car as Abby Jane must endure many sporting events and sometimes it's nice to have a book on hand with lots of variety in case we have time for a story.

Teddy Bear Picnic

This is a Teddy Bear Picnic. We read books and had lunch together. Annabelle, Gavin, Maile and Isabel comed over to do it with us. Gavin had his big teddy bear and Maile had her little teddy bear. Isabel had her lambie which is a ralphie called mere-mere. We sang the teddy bear song. We had teddy grahams to eat. Ethan read me and Annabelle a story of the Berenstain bears.

By Abby Jane

Caleb and Gavin

Abby Jane, Ethan and Annabelle

Maile, Adam and Isabel

The Ladies' Blanket

The Gentlemen's Blanket

A Drawing for Mimi

This is a ballerina for Mimi.

By Abby Jane

Izzy Pictures

Izzy came to my house to play with me. She is my cousin. We took baths together at the same time. I had the big towel and Izzy had the little towels. Both of those were princess ones.

This is us getting a picture with Ethan, Adam, me and Izzy. Adam mostly played with Izzy because he likes her. They have the same birthday.

by Abigail

Abby Jane Thoughts....

Abigail snuggles with Grampy

So, a couple of funny stories about Abigail. This past weekend, we went to the store and the boys wanted to bring their spending money from their allowance to buy baseball cards. Well, Abigail brought her money as well and informed as we were walking in the store that she wanted to shop for clothes. Mike and I looked at each other in shock! But I took her to the little girls clothing department and we looked in her purse that she had packed for the store. Sure enough, she had her "spend" money (they also set aside money for giving and saving) which totaled about $6.00. So She picked out a pink shirt with butterflies on it and bought her first article of clothing at four years old.

Also, Abigail received an American Girl Doll for Christmas named Lanie. Lanie has been a huge hit and Abigail often talks to her and about her like she is a real person. And just when I get carried away in it all and refer to Lanie in the same manner, Abigail looks at me and says, "Mom, she's not really real, you know!"

Also, speaking of Lanie.... One of the ladies at church wanted to see Lanie and so Abigail brought her to church Wednesday evening. When it was time to go in to the service, I told her that she could not bring her doll. So she pulled up a chair in front of the monitor that plays the service for mothers and toddlers and put Lanie in it so that she could watch the service as well. Then, as we were leaving church, Abigail went up to one of the young men and said, "We have a new person in our church. It's Lanie." He looked at me and I explained, "It's her doll". He said, "Ohhhh..."

Happy Holiday for Abigail

This is a joyful day. Everyone went to the Victoria Theater. We saw a play called "A Christmas Carol."

I wore my fancy winter coat with my Christmas dress and silver shoes. And I had on white tights.

This is Caleb, Ethan and Adam at the Victoria Theater.

They are my brothers.

We had Uno's pizza for lunch and then we went to the Art Museum. You can't touch the ones that are special. My mimi takes me there.

This is me when I was walking in the painting place. It's up the stairs and in the gallery.

By Abigail Twiss

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

We made Apple Pies to go along with our story for the week, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. Some friends came over to help.

Apple Crumb Pie (adapted for our use from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 6 apples - peeled, cored and sliced
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie

Directions

1. Mix the white sugar 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon and the nutmeg together in a small bowl. Layer apples then sugar mixture. Then repeat the layering until out of apples.
2. Mix together the flour and brown sugar and cinnamon and butter. Use a fork until it becomes crumbly. Sprinkle mixture on top of apples.
3. Bake in a preheated 425 degree F (220 degree C) oven for 40-50 minutes. Cover the top for the remaining 15 minutes to avoid over browning.

FIAR: A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno

We have been reading through the Five in a Row booklist and doing some of the baking project from the FIAR Cookbook. Last week we read A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno. Abby Jane borrowed this kimono from a friend and dressed up like Mako, the main character. Note: We didn't have any red clogs but she did request two braids just like Mako's.

Abby Jane is Four!

Abby Jane received this rose plant from her friends Ezekiel and Josiah.

She invited friends over for a Tea Party.

Beautiful Girls

She got a pink scooter!!!

(Obviously, her color scheme varies a bit from her brothers- WHO DEY!)

Monster Cookies

I've been looking for a signature cookie recipe. HERE IT IS!

The ingredients

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup multi-colored M&M's
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips and peanut butter chips, each
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal(not instant)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

The Assistants

The results- YUM!