B is for Butter (Siobhan)

Homemade Butter

 Filia wanted me to share these pictures with you of her homemade butter. She was very proud!

Click here to see our last 'B is for Butter' post. Filia and Tert are so little in the pictures! 

Charmingfare Farm Field Trip

Hi. I am Rus. I had so much fun going to the the Charmingfare farm! I went with Connor Shaila Brandan and Dad. On the way we played SCI or FIC. It was really fun! When we were driving to the entrance of the farm we saw two big horses. We came into the entrance where we met the Wilsons. We met some other people and then we got signed in in a building that had a few big shelves. There were quite a few things on the shelf. One was a bottle of maple syrup that was very very old. On the top of the shelf was a big jumble of antlers. When we left we first went on to a big stage almost that had the animated front of a truck in front of a big wagon making the truck look like it had a trailer! We got a few pictures on it. After we got down we went to see the llamas. They were white and brown spotted. Then we saw alpacas. The little one could really run and jump. Then we went into a building which had sheep and donkeys. Then we went into a building with pigs and turkeys. The turkeys were huge! In the back there were peacocks. We went to see sheep in a field and miniature horses. It was cool seeing the miniature horses. We also went to a place where we had sack races and pumpkin rolling races! Then we went to a place where a tractor was parked. It was a whole train of trailers. We went into the woods on the edge of the farm. We saw reindeer, Canadian lynx (which could jump very high), bobcats, and bears! Then we cut in between two fields and then went back to the place we started. We looked at some goats and then we went on a horse drawn wagon ride. We did the same thing we did in the tractor ride until, we got to the turning place and we turned right instead of left. We went around the outskirts of the farm. We went for probably almost a hour. When we came back we fed goats in a pen. Then we saw a camel, a bear, coyotes, foxes, skunks, bobcats, a mountain lion, even a racoon. When we were going back to the car we saw the fox burying its meat. We all got pumpkins on the way out too! On the way home we got hot chocolate! This field trip was the best ever!      

School Quotes (collected by Mom)

After an especially stressful school day, I told the kids that I was going to unwind with some 100 Proof Limoncello.  Connor's puzzled response was, "Mom, HOW do you PROVE it isn't Jello?"

The other day Connor was humming El Shaddai.  He stopped suddenly and said, "Wow!  Someone really wants Elsha to DIE!"

The other day Aidan was bemoaning the fact that he had 2 more years of classifying sentences ahead of him.  I told him that, when all was said and done, I would have gone through the Shurley English program 42 times, so I wasn't feeling much sympathy for him.  He agreed that the prospect sounded like a life sentence.  :) 


Shaila has made great strides with her reading.  The other day she exuberantly proclaimed that she had sounded out the word A-S-S!  I'm thinking I'll blame the King James Bible for that success.

The other day, I asked her to pray for our church's missionaries, Abe and Rachel, as they learn a new language in China.  Her heartfelt plea on their behalf went like this, "Dear God, PLEEASE help Babe, and help his teacher not to be mean and cruel to him."  I'm not sure if she was picturing "Babe the Pig" or "Babe the Blue Ox."  :)

Shaila asked me discreetly, "Mom, I don't want to discourage Brandan, but he's always going to be younger than me, right?"

On a sentimental note, it just warms my heart to observe Siobhan and Shaila's friendship.  Even though there is a 10-year age difference, they are the best of friends and do everything together.  Last Saturday, I saw them snuggled up with their notebooks, studying Advanced math.  Shaila meticulously copied every letter, number, and symbol, just like her big sis.  When they were done, they settled in to color a Frozen picture together.  :)   Shaila often reminds Siobhan that she was an answer to all of her years of prayer for a little sister.

When we found out that we're expecting twin boys, instead of girls, Shaila was temporarily devastated.  She found comfort in Siobhan's accounts of the times she learned she was having a little brother, rather than a sister.  When they were lying in bed, Shaila asked,"Siobhan did the same thing happen to you when you prayed for a sister and got a little brother instead?  Well...I prayed for a sister and got TWO brothers!" 

Noticing that Brandan was wiggling uncomfortably and announcing, "MY BUM IS DIRTY!" 
I absently asked him, "Brandan, what's under your bum?"  
He pulled out a ruler and said, "Daddy spanks you HARD!"  :)

I told Connor, "It's okay that you need help with math.  That's what I'm here for."  He melted my heart by responding, "Mom, you're here for WAAY more than math, and we love you more than you know!"

Connor - "Wow, Mom!  Siobhan's recovery from back surgery took the same amount of time as crossing the Oregon trail!"  

Shaila asked Siobhan, "Was I even alive when you were in your first play?"  
Connor's answer was, "Yes, Shaila, but you were just a cell."

The other day I was packing a half dozen sandwiches for a field trip.  I turned around to find that a piece of my flat bread was missing, and I heard Brandan exclaiming, "That's AMAAAAZING, Mom!  I'll take two!"


Stephen gave me the most wonderful break on Friday.  He brought the 4 youngest kids on a field trip, and I enjoyed a house with self-sufficient teens.  I went on a long run, and no one missed me.  I took a shower, and no one banged down the door.  I sat down to correct Advanced Math and Biology tests, and no one interrupted me.  I drove Siobhan and Ethan to DI, and no one needed me to buckle them!  I came home to organize about a hundred shoes and mittens and finished the job in record time.  It's hard to believe that all of our kids will be grown up someday.  I'm not ready for that and plan to hold on to each crazy and sweet memory we are making in the meantime... 

Happy 5th Birthday Filia! (Siobhan)

 

Happy Birthday Filia! 

Filia's birthday is the second in our trio of fall birthdays...

 

She'll always be our fairy princess!

 Filia has always wanted to be in dance class. Mom and Dad enrolled her in a ballet/tap class through the Concord Rec. Department. One of her birthday presents was a ballerina bag full of dance clothes and shoes. 

She was ecstatic, as you can tell from the pictures!

Our Favorite Ballerina

Shaila made a family tree with Mom for her birthday. 

 Mom surprised Filia by inviting her best friend Ava and her family to come over on her birthday. 

 Everyone had lots of fun painting pumpkins and doing apple prints.

 Filia requested a butterfly cake this year! She helped me make the butterflies out of fondant.

 I decorated the cake with leaf and grass borders and different flowers and hearts on the sides.

Inside the cake I did a checkerboard pattern with the Wilton Checkerboard Cake Pan Set.

~Ava and Shaila~

Thank you to everyone who made Shaila's birthday so special! 

Happy 10th Birthday Rus/Dry Ice Volcano Cake! (Siobhan)

Rus' 10th Birthday and Dry Ice Volcano Cake

Here is Rus's account of his fantastic birthday:

I ate doughnuts for breakfast and opened a present. After a light school day I went out to Smoke Shack with Dad and got root beer, burgers and fries. We then drove to a sports center where I met my friend Caleb. They had a huge obstacle course where one thing I did was jump through tires. Then I pulled myself up over a wall that was probably over 5 feet tall. Another thing we did was jump on uneven vertical logs. Then we climbed sideways on a wall that had little squares that were tilted in different directions. Another thing we did was climb on really high monkey bars. We also climbed up a ladder into a raised tunnel. Then we dropped around 4 feet to another plank then down to the floor. Then we climbed under low logs then over high logs. After that I went up a very steep ramp then down using a ladder made up of long planks of wood almost a foot apart. Then we had a relay race with the other people there. We did a bear walk for about forty feet and came back to the start. Then we did 30 jumping jacks and 15 burpies. Then we did the crab walk for about forty feet and then came back to the start. Then we did 30 jumping jacks and 15 burpies. Then we climbed under low logs and over high logs and under wire and up the ramp with the rope then down the rope web to the starting line.  Then we went around the whole gym running backwards. All five of us did this in 20 minutes. Dad and I then went down stairs and played football and soccer. Then we stopped to get a drink on the way home. When we got home we brought the volcano cake Siobhan made and put dry ice in a water bottle inside the cake ( dry ice is  -190 Fahrenheit)! We poured water in it so the dry ice would evaporate and make "smoke." Then we hit a piñata full of candy. Then we went inside ate tetrazzini and cake. Then we opened presents. I had a really fun birthday!

~Pinata~

~Dry Ice Volcano Cake~

This year I made Rus a dry ice volcano cake, inspired by this cake tutorial. The awesome thing about this cake is that it involves both cake decorating and science. We all had so much fun with it!

I made mine a little differently; instead of making the cake more like an island, I made ours to be just the volcano.

Rus wanted to learn how to make fondant leaves, so I taught him and Tert how to roll out the fondant and cut/form leaves for the trees. We made these a couple days ahead so they would have plenty of time to harden.

I don't have lots of different sizes of cake pans, so I just used what I had. I trimmed the cakes down to different sizes and then I built them around a plastic water bottle. I just cut an opening in the middle of each layer so that I could stick the water bottle through it. Then I took leftover cake and made a cake pop mixture out of it by mixing it with frosting. I put this cake in between the gaps so that the cake was round like a volcano, and not tiered. 

Here it is! I frosted the cake while it was still frozen and then I sprinkled graham cracker crumbs around it for sand, and we attached our leaves to pretzel sticks with frosting dyed green.

The top of the cake is open, and you can see the water bottle in the cake. The water bottle provides a place to put your dry ice in, so that you can still eat your cake! 

To create this incredible dry ice effect, Dad bought dry ice from New England Dry Ice. We put a piece of dry ice inside the water bottle and poured hot water over it.

I didn't get a great video of it, but this gives you the general idea.

Dry ice is -119 degrees Fahrenheit, and it does 'evaporate' very quickly. Typically dry ice lasts about 12 hours before it is gone! It is best to get it the day you are using it. Dad bought 5 lbs. of it (it's about $1 a pound) and we had a lot of fun playing around with it. Dry ice is not dangerous, as long as you use tongs or gloves when handling it.

Happy 10th Birthday Aidan!

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Siobhan)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall is my favorite time of the year to bake. There are so many amazing fall flavors to try! My favorite combination is pumpkin and chocolate. These Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are a delicious example. There are lots of ingredients, but these cookies are not hard to make. They have lots of spices, which makes them the perfect fall treat.

Ingredients

(Yields about 20 small cookies)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

6 T pumpkin puree

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugars until the mixture is lump-free. Add in the vanilla and pumpkin.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a large bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula.

Fold in chocolate chips. It is a little tricky to get them to stick to the dough, but do your best!

The next step is very important: chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Once the dough is chilled, form it into balls. I made these cookies quite small (about 1-1.5 T dough each) using this cookie scoop. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake! The cookies will look under-baked, and they will not spread out much at all in the oven. Press them down lightly and allow them to set up on the cookie sheet.

Click here for the recipe printable.

Click here to see our recipe for pumpkin muffin cups.

North American Regional Meal (Siobhan)

~North America Regional Meal~

This year we are doing World Geography and cooking a meal for each region we study. Yesterday we cooked our first regional meal from North America. We decided to narrow down our North American meal to dishes comprised of ingredients that the Pilgrims might have used at the first Thanksgiving feast. Here is what we came up with...

 Leo harvested the last of our garden butternut squash and prepared it for an appetizer along with some cornbread with honey butter.

Filia, Tert, and Rus made an Apple Fritter Cake

~Thanksgiving Meal~

Our main course was our Sheet Pan Turkey Dinner. It was made up of roasted vegetables, turkey, and bread.

Cornbread with Honey Butter by Ethan 

Roasted Vegetables by Siobhan and Elim

Turkey and Seasoned Bread by Siobhan and Elim

Click here for the Sheet Pan Turkey Dinner recipe printable.

Next came dessert: Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie by Siobhan and Elim and Apple Fritter Cake by Rus, Tert, and Filia

Click here for the Apple Fritter Cake recipe printable.

 Click here for the Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie recipe printable.

~Dessert~

We really enjoyed our first regional meal of the school year. Next region: Mexico!

Click here to see all of our regional meal posts.