My sister-in-law just had her birthday, so I thought i’d whip up some earrings for her. I spent 15 minutes making two pairs of earrings, and then the girls spent about half an hour quietly playing at the table with the beads – stringing them for a while, then acting out little scenes with various beads as characters in their stories.Â
I love homeschooling and the freedom it provides the girls to craft and free play without the pressure to produce a finished product.Â
Tum Tum is the sweetest, easiet baby I could ever ask for. If all babies were like him, everyone would want 15 kids! Unfortunately, as of late, he seems to be developing a bad bad bad habit.Â
Now, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was a thumb sucker, and my parents had a terrible time breaking me of the habit. The girls never sucked their thumbs, their fingers, a pacifier, or had a security blanket. I’m not sure how to handle Mr. Happy Finger Sucker. Any advice?
For homeschool, we are exploring the letter “B” this week and butterfly crafts, blowing bubbles, beekeeping books, and butter making abound.  Little Hen suggested that we bake Banana Bread this morning. I thought a simple dinner of the bread served next to Black Beans with carrots and Brown rice would round out the B theme nicely. I love the nutty, rich smell of black beans cooking on the stove.Â
Simple Banana Bread by Larksong
2 large bananas, mashed
3/4 C sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 CÂ unbleached flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Directions:
Butter a 9×5 loaf pan and preheat oven to 350F
Beat bananas, sugar, butter, eggs in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine dry ingredients. Gentle stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients, being careful not to overmix. Pour into prepared pan and bake until knife inserted into the middle comes out clean (about 55 minutes). Invert and let cool on a rack. Serve with Black bean stew for dinner, or with peanut butter for a snack!
The few precious grapes from our grapevine were finally ready today (not sure of the variety, but they are very flavorful). I snapped this shot as quickly as I could – because, well, as you can see below, they didn’t last long!
Grosgrain’s offering another gorgeous girl’s frock giveaway here – this one an adorable blue and white check.
Also, I’m loving these blogs’ posts this week –
A friend is having a baby boy this winter, and I’ve been busy working on a super easy, but super cute kimono-style sweater for her little one. I’ve adapted an old pattern to use Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride in Mallard. With three little ones to chase, a sweater that used to take me a weekend is now taking 3 weeks!  I find I don’t have the time or concentration to give to something more complicated right now, but I am still deriving an immense amount of satisfaction from finishing a project, even if it’s not such a challenge.
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I am a huge fan of Penzey’s Spices, and find that their spices add so much to the simple, mostly vegetarian, dinners we cook around here. Their Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle is awesome mixed with sour cream and tossed over garden veggies.
 We had a heat wave last week that sent our potatoes over the edge a few weeks early, so two days ago we dug up the baby potatoes and tonight we’re enjoying the creamy new potatoes with the first of our fall shell peas in Brady Street sour cream sauce. So yummy and so very easy.
Here in Pacific Nortwest, our tomatoes aren’t usually ready until September. I’ve been reading other ladies’ blogs with so much envy as they enjoy salsa, tomato salad, panzanella, fresh pasta sauce. Now my beefsteaks are ready, and I’ve been enjoying fresh tomato salad almost every day. I have Better Boys and Brandywines from my own garden, and Green Zebras and Black Krim’s from a fried. Throw in a few yellow beefsteaks from my sister and some cherry tomatoes, and i’m in heaven.
Easy Tomato Salad
Handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
5 large beefsteak tomatoes, cubed
1/4 lb mozarella, cubed
Handful of kalamata olives ( pits removed)
Italian salad dressing to coat.
Toss together and enjoy immediately.
I have a weakness for worn old tea cups that no one else wants, especially those with fading designs or teensy chips in the rim. When i have a cup of tea in one of those cups, I think about what conversations they must have overheard or the comfort they brought on a chilly afternoon. There’s a special beauty in their aged state and imperfection.
 Last week i scored some great tea cups at my local thrift store. The tea cups were each 50 cents and their mix-n-match saucers were a quarter each! They’ll enjoy a nice new life at my house – they won’t be forgotten here just because they’re well-loved.
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Firecracker and Little Hen’s fascination with pioneers and prairie girls began last year when our homeschool group learned about the Oregon Trail for our Oregon History Days. But lately, their interest in the subject has really blossomed as we read the Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Firecracker wears her bonnet everywhere, and Little Hen is begging me to sew a big, twirly calico prairie skirt.Â
I forgot how wonderful the Little House books are. How much they define an important part of childhood, especially for little girls who want to step into Laura’s life. It’s even more magical reading them this time, enjoying the stories and examining the history with my girls. Thank you, Marcela from unschooling group, for recommending them!
Check out Grosgrain’s giveaway here – it’s an uber-cute cowgirl outfit. Firecracker’s “what i want to be when i grow up” of the moment is a horsefarmer/cowgirl. Her birthday is on Halloween, and she would love love love to unwrap this little goodie and wear it trick-or-treating! Fingers crossed!
Hmm…It’s a grey, dreary day, and I need a cheer up. The girls are asking for a “sparkly craft”. Solution? A 39 cent bag of sequins from my favorite thrift store down the street, some glue, colored pencils and scrap paper.
Sequin Flower Garden
I am so inspired by unschoolers, like Amanda, but find that I still need a little bit more structure to feel that my kids are learning what they’re “supposed to learn”. About two-thirds of our day is spent in free play, crafts, and books of their choosing, and I weave lessons into their interests.  However, I just can’t let go of those set lesson plans for some writing and math.
I continue to draw inspiration from mamas like Grace, Sara, Denise, Shelley. Thank you, ladies.
Sigh…we had such a beautiful summer. Today was the first day it actually felt like autumn here in the Pacific Northwest, and i’m a little sad to see days of peach picking and making raspberry jam come to an end.Â
I’ll just try to look forward to the pear butter, bread baking, and hours and hours of knitting that the short, dark, rainy days to come will allow.
In the front yard of our old house we had a very productive Italian prune plum tree. The girls would eat several every day, and I would make tarts and pies. Now we have moved back to the city, and I miss my plum tree and its bounty. So, when my husband’s coworker gave us a bowl full of Italian prune plums from her tree yesterday, I knew exactly what I’d do with them this morning – country plum galette. We glazed it with some black plum jam that Firecracker and I made in August. There were even enough left for the girls to make their own mini-pie.
Country Plum Galette
One batch one-crust pie dough, chilled (I use the old Betty Crocker – 1 cup unbleached flour, 1/3 cup lard, 1 tsp salt, 2-4 tbsp ice water. Cut lard into flour and salt, add water until dough forms)
6 tbsp brown sugar, divided
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp flour
Pinch salt
10-12 Italian prune plums, sliced into 6ths
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup homemade seedless blackberry plum jam (or storebought plum jam)
1 egg white
Granulated sugar, for sprinkling on crust
Directions
This crafty/knitting/baking/homeschooling mama blog under construction Please check back ina bit! thanks!
Hello, and welcome to my blog. i’m a knitting-obsessed homeschooling mother of 3 beautiful little children who hopes to count her blessings by using this blog to linger in the joyful, hopeful moments of each day. Thank you for stopping by.
