Conference Days

Don is in California selling art again this weekend (and hopefully making LOTS of money that we can use to keep the wolves from the door) and the weather is reminding me that we are in Arizona by maintaining 100*+ temperatures.  We have been going a little bit stir-crazy, but we are enjoying Conference as much as our lap top and its hearty efforts at maintaining a live stream.  We lost it a couple of times today, and spent a good five minutes figuring out how to get audio when the Church team forgot to turn on the speaker's microphones for their stream (finally ran radio.lds.org with the video from new.lds.org until they realized and turned on the volume).  Aurora had fun with her Conference packet (I downloaded every possible packet and printed my favorite) and even sneaked into her daddy's office and watched the last session wrapped up in a blanket in Daddy's chair, alone with his large-screened computer.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Stake Center to watch on the BIG screen (and get out of the house...and feel a bit more Sabbath-like).  I'm excited.  Conference packets for the twins all ready to go and Rora has her scripture tote ready to go.  (Bought her a new set of scriptures (her first) and a nice scripture tote (looks like a lunchbox) for school.  She's excited about it.  I love it when my children get excited about anything religious!

The Memory Box

I read last year about someone who had a good system for memorizing, but it involved a box.  Boxes for 4x6 index cards can be really pricey!  I hunted for months for one that I could afford (basically, next to nothing), but couldn't find anything.  Finally, I asked my husband if he could make me a memory box and showed him what I needed.  It was the best present I've received in a long time when he finished it for me!  A couple of pictures and explanation about how I use it.

This is the box.  It looks and feels heavy-duty with the wood and large brass, doesn't it?

The inside of the box has three compartments (next time I would probably go with four compartments; my only change).  The first compartment holds the memory items we go over every day.  The second compartment (right now holding our continent and planet flashcards) will hold items that we have mastered to the point that we feel once a week is enough.  I will put dividers in there when we are ready which each have a day of the week on them.  The last compartment right now holds pieces that we have yet to work on.  Later it will hold items that we only need to go over once a month (dividers for each day of the month).  My ideal fourth compartment would be used for what I am using the third compartment for now.  In the corner of each card, I put a letter to represent what that item represents: S for scripture, K for knowledge (general), M for music, P for poem.  Thinking about it now, I might change that around a bit...it's just something to help me quickly pull out a card from a certain subject.

The twins wanted to do school this morning, so they pulled out the letter flashcards and we went through them, covering the letters and all their sounds.  Then we pulled out the math manipulatives and counted circles, then guessed how many pieces would fill a circle (in fourths, twelfths, fifths, etc).  They can't get enough of learning, and it's exciting to watch!  Now if I can just rekindle that excitement in my somewhat lazy six year-old....

Turning Four!

Yesterday the twins turned the ripe old age of four.  This is a big step for my girls, which didn't go unnoticed by them.  As Aria informed me, "When you're four, you don't take naps; when you're four you don't suck your thumb".  A bit of nice self-motivation there!

To begin the day, I asked Daddy to make them some crowns to wear.  They kept them on the entire day (and even have been wearing them today).

After lunch we headed out, venturing into the heat to find some amusement for the afternoon.  I had printed off coupons from Chuck E Cheese (they have some great promotions if you check out their website and sign up for the birthday list), so we headed there for their twenty free birthday tokens.  They shared some with their older sister and played and played, even getting to "meet" the overgrown mouse in person!

(One great thing about homeschooling is that places like this are ALL yours during school hours!)

After the fun time at Chuck E Cheese, we drove on over to the mall and played in their playplace for a little bit, looked at the puppies, and got samples from the chocolate store.

We had one more place to stop at before going home: Walgreens.  It was there that I let them each pick out their birthday present.  The one and only thing that they have wanted and craved and begged for many months now: A Pillow Pet.  The mall had them, but at a much higher price.  So, $20 a girl and dreams came true.  Happiness for a four year-old!

I was a bit worried about what I would do for a "cake" since our oven is broken, but finally struck gold (after a suggestion from my  mother; thanks,  Mum!) at the infamous Waldemart when I happened upon a couple of loaf size angel food cakes.  Sliced in half, slathered in strawberry jam and covered in cool-whip and flower sprinkles and stabbed with curly candles, they each got a cake, making their day absolutely complete in their eyes.  (The cakes were strawberry flavored, so they were pink, and we served them with strawberries and strawberry ice cream.  See a theme yet?)

Aurora gave them each a princess puzzle and a birthday card, then gave them each a headband that she had decorated with barrettes and pieces of paper (there is no stopping that girl!) and our birthday celebrations were completed.  All in all, a good day (even if the drive was super hot, darn the broken air-conditioning)!

Sinful Pleasure

We made the most perfect recipe for a Godiva-like dark chocolate ice cream the other night and I just have to share it.

7 oz bittersweet chocolate, broken
1 1/2 c heavy cream
3 egg yolks
1/3 c water
1/4 c sugar

1- Whip the cream in a chilled bowl until soft - not stiff.  Set aside.

2- Beat the egg yolks until they appear to be the color of a lemon.

3- Dissolve the sugar in the water in a medium saucepan over high heat.  Let boil about 2 minutes, not letting the water evaporate.  Turn off heat and stir in chocolate until completely melted. (Will be thick.)

4- Add the hot chocolate mixture to the egg yolks; beat until smooth and thick.  Continue stirring until the mixture comes to room temperature.

5- Stir about 2 Tbs of the cream into the chocolate mixture.  Continue adding 2 Tbs of cream at a time until the mixture is the same consistency as the cream.  Then fold the chocolate into the rest of the cream.

6- At this point you can add to an ice cream maker and let freeze.  If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can pour into ice cube trays, cover with foil, and freeze for about 2-4 hours.

Absolutely lovely with a raspberry coulis.  Very rich and perfect in small doses.  We girls really liked it!

What We Did on our Summer 'Vacation'...

Alright, it was a working vacation, first to California and then to Utah to sell art.  Work for Don, play for the rest of us, most of the time....

Aurora churning butter.  Isn't her hat adorable?  I spent hours on it, saving it from its near-death state and turning it into a period correct piece of attire.  Wouldn't you know she promptly lost it between California and Utah?

Rora working at her lemonade stand.  Her repeated cries of "Lemonade and water - only one dollar!" helped her sell out...twice...in less than thirty minutes.

The wonderful couple who own and run The Yankee Reb mercantile got themselves a dog, part dalmation and part chihuahua, and named her Belle.  Of course Belle thought the dog was her own dog - wouldn't you at three?

Forgot the camera when we went to the beach, but our next stop in the journey was the bridge over the Grand Canyon on 89A.

Spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at Temple Square.  Aurora was disappointed that we couldn't go inside and get sealed, or at least touch the temple.  One day....

A couple of pictures from This Is The Place...

In Orderville (finally - we got to stop in Orderville, yay!), riding into Bedrock.

And finally, a couple of other milestones from the summer:

Don't knock it - this is a MAJOR milestone with the twins!  (She'll kill me in ten years, but it's worth it!)

How was your summer?

New Dresses!

Here are some photos of the latest dresses I made my daughters.  I bought the fabric a year or two ago and have been waiting for the perfect pattern to present itsself.  I love it when everything comes together perfectly!The girls are pleased with their new outfits, and I must say that I love the thought of 1870's fashion that is in the dresses.  Happy mama, happy girls....

Our Fun Educational Parties

Last fall we began hosting a history party once a month for our Ancient World studies.  (Loosely) following the outline of the Story of the World - Volume One we decided to celebrate and learn about different periods of ancient history and their locations by joining with some other families and playing games of the place/period, making crafts or doing activities, and eating food.  It's been monstrous fun.  A lot of work, mind you, but a lot of fun, too.  So far we have done:

Archeology - Our introductory party, to help introduce the children to the history of the ancient world the way archeologists learn about it.  For this party we set up a dig for the kids, gridding the sand at the park with string and burying bones, dinosaur eggs, and pottery shards for them to find.  One lucky kid even found a coin!  Then we made our own aboriginal hand print paintings by spitting kool-aid over our hands.  We ate food that we had to 'dig', like 7 layer dip.  It was a favorite party: mine still talk about it sometimes.

Ancient Egypt - Aurora dressed like an Egyptian princess and we made Egyptian necklaces out of paper plates, painting them in jewel colors.  We made our own little mummies using egg cartons as the sarcophogus and little cardboard people as our base to wrap in strips of white cloth.  The food wasn't as much of a hit, you can imagine, with figs and dates for the kids to try. 

Ancient China - The children learned how to play the game Go and they each tried their hand at Chinese calligraphy.  I served them quinoa with molasses, rice and stir fried vegetables and rice sticks.  There weren't any leftovers.  :-P

The First Thanksgiving - To break it up (and also to fill in enough months) and go along with our overview of American history (it's first grade; overviews are great!) we celebrated the First Thanksgiving in part by eating succotash and learning Five Men's Morris. 

Ancient America - We didn't want to overlook the ancient Americans!  We deciphered Native heirogyphs, made our own totem poles, and even ran the gauntlet (whilst being pelted with mini marshmallows)!  By this time I couldn't find any more authentic native recipes from the time period so we celebrated with a feast of Navajo Tacos (the kids weren't complaining!), everyone bringing a part to share.

Ancient Greece - Our last party was about ancient Greece so I decided it would be fun to have an authentic Olympic Games for the children to compete in, minus the naked wrestling, of course.  We had two distance races, standing jump, long jump, javelin toss and discus throw.  Then we made laurel wreaths for our heads.  The athletes feasted this time on some great Greek food: spanakopita, baklava, rice pilaf, pita & hummus and olives with grape juice to wash it all down.

Monday is our celebration of the Revolutionary War time period and I need to do some hurried research to fill in enough appropriate games, crafts and food for the eager children. 

Like I said: fun, but a lot of work!