Author: Audrey

New Equipment

HelmetI got a helmet and knee pads and elbow pads from Super Store.  Super Store is a place where we can spend the tickets we earn on Wednesday nights.  We earn the tickets by bringing our Bibles, being good, doing sermon notes, doing quiet times and listening.

equipmentMy helmet has a lady bug on it with big googly eyes.  I have been using them a lot.  I really really really like them.

I also “bought” some sparkly lipstick, pencils and erasures, and fun colored pens and a scooter key chain.

I really like Super Store.

Scarey Crows

Adrian calls scarecrows, Scarey Crows.  We were pretending to be scarey crows.

This is how you make them.  Rake some leaves.  Rake more leaves.  Then stuff the leaves up your shirt and up your arms.  A trick is to use overalls or two shirts.  That way they don’t scratch you. Stuff the leaves some more and some more.

Different color clothes are the best kind.  For scarecrows hats, stuff them.  You can use buckets or hats or dress up clothes hats or you can make one.

If you smile, it is the best thing! If you want a funny scarecrow face, get a BIG leaf, poke two holes (for eyes) and then poke a nose and no mouth.  Use it as a mask.

Which is your favorite Scarey Crow?

Bonneyville Mill

millWalking with DaddyIt's fallOn Saturday, we went to the mill.  We took a walk. I found a really pretty leaf.  I asked for part of some corn.  We are going to put it under the microscope.  We bought some flour.  A dragonfly landed on Mark’s shoulder.

We learned this in school today, and it is a trivia question for you.  What is pericarp?corn coatsPretty fall leaf

The Best Pumpkin Bread

KneadI am learning how to make bread.  The bread is good!  Here is how to make it.

Pumpkin Pilgrim BreadGrease both sides

Mix in a large bowl,

  • 1/2 c cornmeal (white is best, but yellow is okay)
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 Tablespoon salt
  • 1/4 cup rye pieces (like for cereal, or use 1/2 cup rye flour with the other flours)
  • 1 cup quick oats
  • 2 1/2 c boiling water (we used the water we cooked the pumpkin in)Roll the dough
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 Tablespoon butter (or oil)
  • 1/2 cup cooked pumpkin (or canned)

Pinch the ends

Let cool until you can put your finger in it and not burn your finger.

Add the remaining ingredients.

  • 2 teaspoon dry yeast
  • 2 cup whole wheat flour (hard white or hard red tastes good)
  • 1/2 cup soy flour (if you want)
  • 3 to 4 cups white flour (more hard white wheat tastes good)  You may need more!

breadStir in enough flour to make the dough not sticky.

Knead it until it feels right.  Let it rise until you poke your two fingers in.  If they don’t come up (the indentations) they are ready.  Divide the dough in half.  Form into rolls and put them in greased pans.  Let rise again.  Bake at 375 degrees until the loaf is browned nicely and sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of the loaf.  It takes a long time.  (About 45 minutes)

FinishedI had fun making the bread!

Pumpkin Fun

Our pumpkinsToday at Nature Nuts, I made a book about pumpkins.  They first start out as a seed.  Then a sprout, then a plant, then they flower, then a little green pumpkin starts to grow.  Then it gets yellowish, then it gets orange. Then you can pick it when it is all orange and make jack o lanterns!Cleaning

I got to pick a pie pumpkin. Do you know why they are called pie pumpkins? Because they have a lot of seeds to plant and lots of flesh for making pies!  Or you can cook the Carvingseeds and eat the seeds after they are cooked.

To make a jack o lantern, first wash your hands.  Because your hands may be dirty and get in your seeds.  Then you carve off the top and then take the seeds out.  Momma says “Save the seeds for Finishedlater!”  Then I carved out a mouth, then a nose, and then an eye, then another eye.  Then you wash your hands again because they are all gooey!

We got to eat pumpkin seeds and cookies, yummy cookies.

P.S.  Watch out for the pumpkin poop! 🙂Pumpkin poop

Butterflies Flying to Mexico

Making my butterflyWe have been learning about butterflies while we raise them.  Monarchs start out as eggs and then hatch into caterpillars.  They eat a lot and start making their web.  They go into a “J” and they make their chrysalis.  Then they turn black, black, black, black and then they will start pulling away from their chrysalis and then they will emerge! ButterfliesIn the fall Monarch butterflies start leaving for Mexico.

We are making Monarch butterflies for Mexico.  Some friends and us are doing them together. We made them yesterday and we will mail them.  Momma says that we can watch on the computer where our butterflies are. When they get to Mexico, we should be able to see that.  In the spring, when the real Monarchs come back, we will be sent some too.   Here is a picture of all the butterflies that were made.

We won’t get the same butterflies back.  They may or may not look as nice because they flew a long way.  If you want to watch too, here is where! Our butterfliesMy butterfly

The Fun Circus!

soapy elephantToday, we went over to the Farmer’s Market.  There is a circus there.  We saw a miniature hippo (we think).  We saw elephants, they got washed, and they got decorated for the circus.Pony We saw some ponies, camels, a zebra, Llamas and some El Pacas.

My favorite was petting the pony! The pony was three months old.Petting

Momma found this poem by Red Skeleton.  I like parts of it.  He wrote it for his Daddy.

The Circus
By Red Skelton

The circus! The magical city
That appears and disappears with the bat of an eye.
A cathedral for children and adults
Made of canvas and trimmed with red wagons.
A sunburst of wheel, pink lemonade and cotton candy.
A temple housing the unity of man and beast…
All performing for the good of their fellow man
With shouts of glory.
The perfomers’ only reward is the echo of the applause
And laughter of children…

How sad it would be if my youth would pass away
And not see the beauty of the big red wagons,
And taste the rare vintage of pink lemonade!
Or become so blasé’ that I couldn’t offer a silent prayer
For the man on the flying trapeze,
Or sigh as I watch him swing to and fro.

P.S.  I got to see two boys spinning on two wheels.  They were practicing for tonight. It looked like “boy stuff”.

Car A pples

SistersToday is Andrea’s birthday!  We went to the park.  We played on a tire swing and went down the fire pool.  We played with sand. I wish we had sand at home. We had ice cream.  We saw colorful leaves.  We found a beautiful, really pretty pink leaf.

Peel wrapperWe also made Mummies and Carmel Apples.  Here’s how you make Caramel Apples.  Melt caramel candies, wash some apples. Get some wax paper on a pan and butter it. Get a stick and push it through the apple. Then take the melted caramels and get the apple and put it in the caramels. Then you take it out and put some jack-o-lantern shaped candy and put it in the sprinkles. Then you put it on the pan.Finished

There you have it.Eat

Snuffy the Snake

Audrey and SnuffyI got to hold Snuffy.  He is a Corn Snake.  He has been around kids ever since Miss Krista had him.  He is nice.  Big Baby held a snake too.

There was a Garter snake, it was smaller than the Corn snake.  We could not hold that one because it was not around kids so much and was wiggly.

I putted the big one around my neck.  It went down Mark’s vest.  It came out funny, funny, funny.Who is admiring who?

Adrian held the Corn Snake.  And Adrian had the Corn Snake like a leash with a clear (invisible) dog.Audrey

The Corn Snake eats mice.  He eats two or three mice every two or three weeks.  He does not eat any time else except mosquitoes.

I had fun.

Being thankful

We had a caterpillar. He was in a J.  That’s how you know they are getting ready to make their chrysalis.  Then they get straight, then they start getting green stuff on them if you are raising Monarchs.  Then they will wiggling, trying to get their skin off–their old skin off. Most caterpillars will be okay and will hang safely.  But sometimes they will fall.

If they land hard, they will die.  If they land softly, they may not.  We had a caterpillar who fell while making his chrysalis.  I felt sad.  Today, I feel sad because one of our caterpillars got sick and died.  He was not making his chrysalis.  We don’t know why he died.

I am thankful that “Georgie” was not in that cage.  We had moved him into the butterfly cage because he was starting to eat a lot.  Now he getting ready to make his web.  Then the next day he will be in a J.

I am thankful that he was not in with the little caterpillar.  We have a tiny tiny little caterpillar and I am glad he did not get sick.  We have three more caterpillars and they are done for this year.

They are going to go over to Mexico soon!  If you keep them in a house that you keep hot, and you feed them, that is okay.  It would be fun to keep a butterfly in the house over winter.