Sunday, January 24, 2010

Photos from January 2010

Guacamole

Planting Avocado pits

Snuggles with Molly



Girls in a Pajama Party puppet show

Freezing Fog this month...see photos HERE


Freezing Fog









Saturday, January 23, 2010

Our day of doing nothing

Today I woke up with a migraine that just continued to grow throughout the day. It is also a freezing rain sorta day, so no playing outside. I felt bad about not getting much done, and I felt bad for the girls that I didn't feel like doing to much with them today. Then Mark came home from work and I started rattling off the things we did...then I realized, huh, we did do things today!

Georgia watched a documentary on the Travel Channel called Earth's Natural Wonders, like Niagara Falls, Mt Everest, and the Grand Canyon. She also watched a show about extreme bathrooms around the world! Olivia typed on the word processor and I showed her how to change font, letter size, color. She had fun typing words and changing how they looked, then deleting them and starting over. Both girls got interested in reading though some of our travel guides. (we have a collection from every state) Georgia wanted to make a travel journal to pretend she traveled to the places she read about, so we made one from a large piece of construction paper and stapled in some lined paper. Olivia wanted a journal too, so she made one also. She said she would use it for whatever she wanted. Both girls got their NWF magazines in the mail. Georgia got Ranger Rick and Olivia got Your Big Backyard. Olivia and I sat down and read hers cover to cover. Georgia read hers, too. Olivia had fun on Club Penguin. She also had her dinosaurs out and played with them. I'm sure I could remember more of what they did today. It just proved a point for me. Even if I think we are not doing much, when the weather is icky, and my head feels like it will explode...we ARE doing things. This I need to remember for days like today...when I feel like I am not doing enough, when I feel like I could be a better mom...I need to remember today and realize we are just fine. I need to relax and trust in our lifestyle. I need to stop worrying!

After supper we ended up going to a pajama party at the library. The girls had a lot of fun making crafts, putting on a puppet show, reading stories and having hot chocolate and cookies. We picked out a few books. (about 20) When we got home, Olivia and I snuggled up on my bed and read, giggled, snuggled...and Georgia came in and shared things from the book she was reading. Even Molly the dog snuggled with us. It was a perfect ending to our day of doing nothing.

Saturday, Jan 23

Today I tried making the chocolate chip banana bread mix I received as a gift this Christmas. It came out horrible! The mix was too runny to begin with so that should have been a clue. It dripped all on the bottom of my oven as it rose! All the chocolate chips ended up on the bottom of the loaf pan. I haven't sampled it yet...hopefully it at least tastes good!

This morning we identified a spider for my father, who e-mailed us the photos from Maine. He found an Argiope aurantia.


Mark has been outside clearing vines off the barn and burning some brush. The girls were outside having fun most of the day. It's a foggy day, but not too bad temperature-wise. Mark found an orange fungus on one of the vines that we will need to identify. Our maple trees also have a green fungus or something growing on them. Since I've never had maple trees before I don't know if this is normal or not...or what to do about it. I'll have to do some investigating.

Georgia helped me make some guacamole for our layered Mexican dip. I use Alton Brown's recipe found here. After the guacamole was made, Georgia wondered aloud whether the pits could be planted for trees. Off to the computer we went...and we found our answer here. We now have two avocado pitshanging

Georgia is also voraciously consuming the North American horse breeds book from the library. She has also been sketching various breeds and her sketches are quite impressive. I'll have to scan a few to share here.

The girls have a collection of matchbox cars, including work vehicles for farm, construction, and emergency vehicles. Last night they were asking all sorts of questions about police and fire. They have gone to the fire station open house for the past two years and loved that. They got to use the hose and try to put out a pretend fire, and they learned all about fire safety. Still they had a lot of questions about the nuances of the job, and what they are allowed to do and what they cannot do. It was quite an interesting discussion.