Spider Studies

Continuing our spider study, we decided to make a spider egg sac. We used beads for spider eggs. We put the "eggs" into a balloon and blew it up.

We wrapped the balloon with yarn as our spider silk.

We mixed a glue wash.

covered the sac with glue wash

and waited days for it to dry

When it was finally dry, Princess popped the balloon with a pin.

It worked!

If you look closely, you can see one of the "spider eggs" inside the "egg sac".

Pretty cool project, huh? I love homeschooling!

A Princess for the Princess

We started with a pile of hair...

a bin of markers...

some felt, a wood ball and wood candlestick.

We drew details...

and dressed her with all the accessories.

Now we have a princess for the Princess!

The maid? Really?

After a frustrating morning yesterday, I emailed the Lizard King to vent.

Our daughter is going to send me over the edge. We have been arguing constantly. She is playing on the drum table by the slider. The dog wanted to go out. I was in the kitchen cleaning up. She asked me to let the dog out. I was about to take all the recyclables to the garage. I told her that if she took care of the recyclables, I'd let the dog out. She actually agreed. I let the dog out. She then complained that she felt like the maid. There was too much stuff. I told her that perhaps next time she can simply let the dog out. Then she left the stuff on the counter for me to take out and told me that the dog was already out.

His response? "My entire area of coworkers is laughing hysterically."

First I thought, I'm so glad to be here for entertainment value...then I thought, hey, maybe this would make a good blog post! ; )

Camping Weekend

This is the only photo I have of the camping trip. We spent the weekend in a yurt. LK, who knows us well, refused to camp in a tent with us. I don't blame him. Camping is fun, but I'm not very good at roughing it. Next year we plan to buy a motor home. Then I'll be ready...of course there are many who don't call that camping, but whatever!

The Lizard King, the Princess and I enjoyed our time together and our time with friends. We ended up leaving Saturday early morning rather than Sunday afternoon. We wanted to have some time alone, just the three of us.

The weekend went way too fast and we're having a bit of a challenge settling back in to our routine. We miss him. Our schedule is busy so I'm sure we'll be fine in no time.

He's Home!

The Lizard King landed late last night. It was a late night, but a good one. We're hanging out this morning and leaving for a camping trip (Princess and my first camping trip) this afternoon. It is amazing to be together again.

Ta-ta for now dear bloggy friends. I shall return on Monday.

Wardrobe Wednesday

Princess Leah. Yes, Star Wars is becoming a big part of our every day. We've made light sabers out of sticks, painted Star Wars pictures, drawn Star Wars pictures, and of course Star Wars dramatic play.

And isn't this the most beautiful smile ever?!

Head on over to Heathen Family Revival to see what's happening on their Wardrobe Wednesday!

Honest Scrap

It’s an “Honest Scrap Award,” given to bloggers who:
1) write soul-bearingly, thus exposing themselves to possible ridicule

2) have blogs that are “brilliant” in either content or design

What a cool award. I love all the awards I've received, but this one is very special to me because of what it stands for. I also love what Zayna over at Zayna's Garden wrote when honoring me with this award. "I’m passing this award along to ShadyLady @ Behind Big Shades because if I deserve it, then she does twice over for her awesome down to earth, heart on sleeve posts."

Wow...I'm truly touched. Zayna's blog is every bit as down to earth, heart on your sleeve as mine. Plus, she writes the most amazing poetry.

So, the deal is to write “Ten Honest Things About Myself” and then pass the award on to another blogger who will do the same.

1. I believe in the Law of Attraction. I see it at work every day.

2. I used to eat McDonald's at least twice a week. I considered myself the least crunchy person you'd ever meet. Now I eat a Nourishing Traditions/Weston A Price style. I haven't been to McDonald's in nearly two years. I totally thought I would gain a ton of weight eating so much fat (whole milk, full fat yoghurt, lots of butter, red meat, bacon, shall I go on?) I lost weight without even trying.

3. I had a nose job when I was 15 years old. Yes, it is the only plastic surgery I have had.

4. I saved my Nancy Drew books (54 of them) since second grade for the daughter I knew I would one day have.

5. I was in a six year relationship with an alcoholic, beginning at age 20. It was a terrible relationship and was followed by bad relationship after bad relationship, each one abusive in it's own way. I moved to Portland at age 30 and had yet another bad relationship. I was done. I was never going to have another relationship.

6. I met the Lizard King when I was 34. Both of us were done, never wanting another relationship. We were friends for about six months...just friends. In an instant everything changed. That is a story for another time.

7. I taught myself to knit last Spring and totally love it. I'm horrible at reading patterns so I frequently have to solicit help to do anything more than simple items. The fact that HerbiFaery started this Spring and has become my go to gal for knitting help blows me away. I bow down to her, the knitting goddess.

8. I eat naturally. I recycle everything. I use glass rather than plastic to store food. I make my own cleaning products. I go to the Environmental Working Group for ratings on makeup, skincare, etc. Yet, I color and highlight my hair and use a ton of product on my hair. It is the one thing I have not been willing to change.

9. I may have mentioned this before, but I correct people's grammar in my head all the time. My stepson even mentioned it in his toast when LK and I got married.

10. I am afraid of being judged and labeled "cheap" because I am Jewish. Ya know, the whole stereotype thing.

Well, there you have it...my ten honest things. Now, who to pass this award on to? This is a tough one. I read quite a few soul exposing blogs. It's so hard to choose...really hard. I will pass this award on to.......Momma Bear. She has shared her cankles, her double eyebrows during Hair of the Blog and so much more. What stands out most for me is this post, a post where she let us see a very private part of her. You rock Momma Bear!

Monday Gardening Club

What the heck? First my brussel sprouts have aphids now my squash has some bizarre disease!

The whole plant looks like this. All of them look like this!

This is a leaf close up.
This is what happens over time and eventually the leaf is gone.It's happening to the pumpkins as well. Everything is still producing.

But seriously, what the heck is it?! And more importantly, how do I make it stop?

Head on over to see the woman who started it all. Aliceson at Feet Off the Table. I bet she's not having these problems in her garden.

OMSI

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is a very cool place to visit. We went specifically to see the latest OMNIMAX movie, Bugs! A Rainforest Adventure. Isn't this the perfect complement to our bug studies we've been doing lately?

It was SO COOL! But, before the movie...

Princess played in the sand... explored the forest... gathered acorns to store for the winter...
explored animal footprints... experimented with pulleys... built a castle... that is wheelchair accessible... made a friend in the play area... examined slides under a microscope... assembled a skeleton... and examined it... reported the weather... played at bears catching salmon in the river... and explored play dough. We had a fabulous time and can't wait to go back again soon...but we may just wait until school starts. We homeschoolers like it when it's less crowded.

Look inside your heart, Mommy

As you may know the Lizard King is working in South Carolina while Princess and I stay home, here in Oregon. He's been gone almost 4 weeks. He left before dawn on July 19th.

When we met and for our entire relationship up to about a month after our wedding, LK traveled for work. We would go a week at a time, sometimes two, without seeing each other. Then he would come home for 4 days or a week. It was hard, but not so bad and this was before we had Princess.

We have never been apart this long. Princess has never been away from her daddy longer than 5 days. I knew this was going to be hard. What I didn't know was that Princess was going to handle it beautifully. Yes, she misses her daddy, but she's doing great!

I, on the other hand, am not doing so well. Most days I do okay, but some days it's all I can do to keep the tears from spilling over.

The other day I told Princess how proud I was of how she was handling daddy being away. Then I told her that I wasn't doing quite as well as she was (all while trying to maintain control). This was a very emotional day for me.

Princess looked at me and said, "Just look inside your heart, Mommy, and you will see the people you miss and love."

Then the tears spilled over.

Rules

Anyone who knows us well, knows that we don't have a lot of rules in our house. The rules that we do have are more like principles.

Be kind.
Be safe.
Be respectful. ( This is a biggie!!)

We've never had limits on screen time; radical, I know! It works for us. You may be surprised to know that Princess doesn't spend all her time watching TV, playing Wii or on the computer.

I do have a point in here somewhere. ; )

A few weeks ago at our Radical Sunday School we talked about fairness and how we need rules to keep things fair. Freckle and I proceeded to have a game of tic-tac-toe without rules. It wasn't very fair. (It was very funny ;P) This must have struck a chord with Princess.

Today, on our way to soccer, she starting making up rules for being outside, inside and car rules. Ironically, the rules were simply meant to keep us safe, within the law and respectful of ourselves and others.

The way we choose to do things may not work for everyone, but it works well for us...even if we are a little radical.

Wardrobe Wednesday

This is one of two very special nightgowns. Last summer Princess outgrew her pink princess nightgown. She loved that nightgown because, well, it was pink and it had princesses. I loved it because it was cotton and chemical free. Off we went to the store to find a new nightgown. I searched everywhere, even online, but found nothing.

I turned to a friend, Queen Mum of Boyville (although she has recently added a girl to her kingdom), who is an amazing seamstress and asked her if she would please make Princess a cotton nightgown. I would happily pay for this. The other one is even cuter! Perhaps it will make an appearance in another Wardrobe Wednesday.

I almost forgot to mention the light saber. Yes, Princess is very into Star Wars at the moment.

Edit: Oops! I forgot to link to the creator of this fun mem! Check out the Heathen Family Revival to see what they're wearing.

Monday Gardening Club

What?! It's not Monday? No way! Really? Oh fine! Yes, I know it's Tuesday, but Monday just got away from me. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me.

Here it is! I've posted lots of photos, close up, of the things that are growing, but I don't think I've shared what it all really looks like. I'm pretty excited about how it's taken off. In a yard where I questioned whether I could grown anything to this:

This isn't even all of it, but it is most of it. I think it's awesome if I do say so myself. This from the gal who never had a garden before. Yippee!!