Holiday Revelries

A few days before Christmas we checked out the light show at our local State Park. It was 3.5 miles of animated lights. Our backseat reviewers "oohed and aahed" over it. It included a water feature, with an animated bear fishing, fish jumping, swans etc - very impressive.

 Baby S made sure that the new Little People Nativity was thoroughly broken in.

On Christmas morning the kiddos enjoyed opening all the presents from the little stocking stuffers...

to the french wooden shoes (sabots)...

to the biggies - - new real estate!

The castle's waste removal service was prompt and frequent -- new garbage truck

And of course everyone enjoyed trying out each other's toys

Home Schooling Summary for the Last Week

Some books that the kids have been enjoying reading this week:

Big sister A is interested in all things related to Natural Disasters and we are still talking about the Revolutionary War in history class. Brother M is all about cars and trains.
We have continued to unwrap a Christmas book every night for our advent activity. The kiddos love counting down the days this way and of course having a surprise to open every night.

We are down to only 2 books now!

The kids met Santa at our church Christmas Party. Baby S met him with interest, but no tears. I think that is a first for our family.

We made Christmas cookies this week and the kids went with daddy to deliver them to our friends from church. Baby S is a stinker. Here he is caught in the act - trying to climb on the table for the zillionth time - and all floury from me trying to make cookies and pick him up off the table at the same time.

The kids favorite part of the cookie making process - adding the candies and sprinkles:

The neighborhood goodie that we gave out this year - bags of toffee and peppermint bark. I think white chocolate is yucky - does not deserve to be called chocolate in my opinion - and so instead of the traditional white chocolate layer I made milk and dark chocolate peppermint bark. It was delicious (to me at least).  This "elving" tradition is so fun. We have wonderful neighbors and it is lovely to bring a goodie and have a little visit with each one. 

Even though I dream of living in the country (or to be more precise, being able to afford a large piece of farmland), their are so many wonderful things about the big city. The free exhibits, nature centers, and museums are a big bonus. This year we went to the annual Christmas Electric Train exhibit at inside the Conservatory of our local nature center. It was fantastic and the kids loved it. They were captivated for about an hour. 

And we also celebrated 2 birthdays -- big brother and big sister turned 3 and 5!

 The cake was "Cars" theme since big sister A got to pick the cake theme for her friend birthday party in October.

The morning of brother M's birthday we celebrated with waffles:

Recommended Reading: Gail Carson Levine

Sometimes the simplest thing triggers a craving for a certain type of story and then a gluttony of reading when I find a new (to me) author offering that type of story.  It all started with reading aloud the Princess Tales to the kiddos last week. We giggled and smiled. I noticed the same author wrote Ella Enchanted. And then I realized that I'd never actually read Ella Enchanted - only saw the movie. I went to my local library's webpage to put Ella Enchanted on hold and maybe another volume of the Princess Tales and I saw all these other similar books written by this author with her quirky takes on princesses and now here I am a week later having read 5 or 6 of her books. I enjoyed them all -- Ella Enchanted and Fairest were my favorites, though they are all lovely. They are all so fun to read -- perfect for kids of all ages.
1. Princess Tales Volumes 1 & 2
2. Ella Enchanted
3. Fairest
4. Ever
5. A Tale of Two Castles

Garden Progress: The Best Deal on Food

Over the last 5 years I have had almost zero success growing anything in the squash family - gourds  being the exception. The reason is very simply - squash bugs. I've asked some farmers about it and they all admitted to using pesticides. Organic websites suggest companion planting - nasturtiums and the like, but that did not work for me either.     This year I finally figured out how to load up on pumpkins, hubbard squash, butternut squash and the most beautiful - jarrahdale squash.  They sell them at the farmer's market around Halloween for about 50 cents a pound, which is not bad. But between Halloween and Thanksgiving they go on sale for 25 cents a pound!
I bought about 20 dollars of squash --  that's 80 POUNDS of squash for only 20$. That is such a boost for my winter food storage and my vegetarian leanings.

Also, try to make sure that you buy dessert pumpkins for your halloween decorations - that way you can eat them up after the festivities are over - Another Re-Use idea!

Halloween Pumpkin -- soon to be pie and roasted pumpkin seeds

Of course then the question becomes - What can I make with all this squash?

A few Lessons Learned for Preserving and Using Winter Squash:

1. It is sooo hard to peel fresh squash. I found that if I cut it up and baked it at 350F for just a few minutes (maybe 10-15) it was much easier to peel/cut the skin off, but still remained firm enough to pan fry (per recipes below).  One exception - that large green hubbard squash in the far left of the photo above was impossible to chop up before it was cooked. I tried everything and finally just lowered the oven rack and cooked it WHOLE until I could get a knife through the outer skin. It was delicious btw, dense and smooth. 

2. Some recipes call for pureed squash others for pan frying - so I chose to preserve equal amounts of pureed soft squash and cubed firm squash in my ziploc freezer bags. 

3. Whole squash will keep at room temperature for a long time. I had some of them on the counter for a month or more before I used them and they were still good - no signs of mold. In other words, you can buy in bulk when they are on sale and safely process them over time.

We have tested a bunch of recipes:
1. Butternut Squash Parmesan Dip - I enjoyed this the first night and then was tired of it when no one else really liked it and I had to finish most of it myself over the next couple days
2. Butternut Squash Pasta - I was in a hurry when I made this and the squash should have been softer, but it was pretty good and the kids ate a bunch. I will make it again, but try a different fresh herb instead - probably a blend of rosemary and thyme.
3. Lentil Salad - This does not actually call for squash, but my friend served it with squash and it was yummy. I copied her and enjoyed it again at home, especially the spicy zip. I need to cut back on the spices next time though, particularly the cayenne pepper, so that it is more palatable for the kiddos. 
4. Squash Curry - It is no secret that I am a HUGE curry fan, all varieties. It may be my all time favorite meal.  I have only tried one squash curry variation so far and their are lots more online. They all look delicious to me. I loved the variation that we tried. 
5. Butternut Squash Hash - This has been the family favorite so far. I cannot share the exact recipe because it came from one of my friend's books I think, but the one I linked with is similar. It was simple and delicious. I love the egg for added protein and nutrition instead of meat.
6. Their are tons more squash recipes that I want to try - Winter Squash Fries, Squash Lasagna, and squash chili. 

Pumpkin cranberry bread

The family favorites for using squash are (of course) the sweet variations. 
1. Pumpkin Cranberry Bread - I have made this with both frozen pumpkin and frozen squash - both were delicious and gobbled right up. I made 4 loaves for the Christmas party at church and not a morsel remained. A very good way to use squash.
2. Pumpkin Pie - Big sister A claims that this is her favorite kind of pie. It works well with winter squash or pumpkin
3. We are planning to try this pumpkin gingerbread some time soon too. 

Sew Special: Sneak Peeks

After Christmas I will write a long sewing post about all the homemade gifts that I have been working on this month, but for now to show anything off would be to ruin many surprises. Here are just a couple sneak peeks of things to come:

Lots of knitting happening

Printable Fabric Sheets!

Recommended Reading: The House of the Scorpion

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

My reading of this book just typifies what a scaredy cat I am. I almost stopped reading 50 pages in.  It includes cloning, killing babies, slavery, and mind altering implants... And yet it is a "children's book". I am glad that I kept reading and finished it. I would not recommend this for anyone under age 13 unless you are prepared to contextualize it in terms of slavery or drug cartels or ethics in science. It merits discussion and is wonderfully thought provoking. I can see why it won so many awards - the writing is fabulous.

Here is the summary from GoodReads:
Matteo Alacran was not born; he was harvested with the DNA from El Patron, lord of a country called Opium. Can a boy who was bred to guarantee another’s survival find his own purpose in life? And can he ever be free?

Home Schooling Summary for Last Week

 It's funny looking back through the pictures from the last week. Their is a clear shift in seasons. From playing outside in the leaves last Thursday and talking about the 1st American flag in history class, to picking out our Christmas tree Saturday and playing in the snow on Monday and Tuesday.

I founds some great websites with free coloring pages on American History. Here is one. And the Crayola coloring page site has some quality ones too.

I recently learned that any homeschooling parent can sign up to participate in the scholastic book club! I used to love when the teacher handed out those book order forms. I remember pouring over it trying to choose the best books and then figuring out how to convince my mom that we needed more books.
As a homeschooling "teacher" or "co-op", the bigger the order the more bonus points you get and the more books you can get for "free" with your points. I emailed the flyer around to the other ladies at church so that we could put in a big group order.  I also went to the Scholastic Warehouse Book sale (50-80% discount on all the books) this week and found some exciting history and science books there. Here is a sampling:

Playing in the leaves with one of our favorite home schooling buddies. We kept adding to this pile over the course of a week or two - playing in it and then raking it back up again.

  

 Big sister A was determined to pick out the best tree this year, not unlike her mother, she strolled way down the line and into the grove in search of it.

Daddy and brother M were not as particular about the tree and much more conscientious of the long hike that we would have dragging it back to the car.

Baby S looks uncertain as to what we are doing strolling in the cold.

And we finally found this year's perfect tree! It smells so amazing in the living room. I love this tradition. I don't even mind vacuuming up the pine needles because then the vacuum smells wonderful every time I turn it on (until I have to empty that bag).

Snow days playing and sledding around the back yard with daddy as sled dog.  It was a cold snow and not "sticky" enough for a snowman as brother M described it.

Licking the beater is an essential part of making the gingerbread house:

Daddy shows off his construction expertise once again:

 Due to the snow, most of our church meetings were cancelled on Sunday, so we spent some time decorating together. Notice our new wooden shoes - Sabots - tucked under the tree and along the mantel. Our lovely French visitors brought them for us. I told the kiddos that they are so lucky because they will get goodies from both the French Santa and the American one!

The nativity is installed on a high shelf/tall cabinet this year due to baby S's curiosity and tendency for climbing.