Finding Our Thrill...

A few days ago we made our third annual trip to the Dexter Blueberry Farm. It's one of our favorite summer activities; and, as always, we picked enough blueberries to feed a small country. My parents were visiting for the week so they came along to help with the picking. Last year, we picked about thirty pounds of berries and I made several batches of blueberry jam and blueberry butter. Since I still had a good supply of jam, we downsized to twenty-one pounds.

The farm provides big buckets and long ropes for picking. You can either tie your bucket around your waist like a belt or wear it as a super-blingy blueberry necklace. Since I was already wearing Annalise in the carrier, I opted for the blueberry belt. The picking was a little slower this trip than it has been in the past. Last year, we went later in August; and, you could literally pull off handfuls of berries. We still managed a pretty good haul with everyone picking. We lasted a little over an hour before Addie decided she had DEFINITELY had enough blueberry picking. She was, in no particular order, "tired, hungry, thirsty, hot, dirty, muddy, scared, bored and mosquito-bitten", or so she claimed.

We chilled out in the shade for a few minutes and then took our berries over for a weigh-in. At $1.60 a pound, the berries were well worth the effort. Aidan was VERY proud of his bucket of blueberries and insisted that it be placed in it's own bag and not mixed in with the rest of our crappy berries.

My mom made an awesome blueberry pie that evening that we enjoyed after a night of house-hunting. The next day, we made a few batches of blueberry muffins, some blueberry ice cream and a pitcher of sangria (recipe coming soon) with the berries. I froze six big ziplocs of berries to use later in muffins and smoothies. They freeze really nicely if you spread them out on lined cookie sheets to freeze individually before you dump them into the bag. We shared more with friends and are still working our way through two more giant bags. If you have any good blueberry recipes, please share them!

Lake Erie ROCKS!

I mentioned in my last posting that our family brought home LOTS of rocks from our recent trip to Lake Erie. They are currently living in random buckets, jars and boxes all around the garage and back yard. I find them sorted by size, soaking in tubs of water and even stacked in little towers that I imagine some passing druids have left on my patio.

All of the rock-collecting blame can't rest on the kids alone, though. I did my fair share of rock gathering on vacation. Aidan is really interested in spelling words lately so I decided to make the kids a set of alphabet rocks based on a tutorial I saw that used rub-on letters. I gathered a big bucket of small smooth stones of various shapes and sizes. We had lots of leftover paint from a rock-painting project so I just decided to paint my letters. (Also, there was not a Joann's in site.)

I made a set for each of them and they turned out pretty cute. The kids seemed to like them and played with them a good bit during the last few days of vacation. They are currently living in a bowl on the dining room table. They are a great reminder of our recent vacation and awesome pre-dinner entertainment for everyone!

A Week at the Lake

We just returned home from a fun-filled week at Lake Erie with some great memories and enough beach rocks to last a lifetime. My parents rented an awesome cottage just a few doors down from my aunt and uncle's cottage. It was a perfect, low-key vacation and just what everyone needed.

Addie was a total beach bum and spent her days collecting teeny tiny seashells, riding her tricycle and working on her chalk art.

Aidan was obsessed with collecting "beach glass" and had us on the beach three times a day looking for more. He also got to try some go-carts and bumper boats with Matt and my dad.

Annalise did what she does best...

Matt and I visited Debonne Vineyards, one of our favorite wineries, and stocked up for the year. We also got in some great evening bike rides and a dinner date at our new favorite restaurant, Hil-Mak's.

Everyone had a great time hanging out in Geneva on the Lake. We did some mini-golfing at the oldest mini golf course in continuous operation in America and got in a few rounds of Fascination. Matt took the kids on their first ferris wheel ride and we ate LOTS and LOTS of ice cream.

And Then There Were FIVE!

Our family has traded in crafting, cooking and blogging for feeding, changing and snuggling. Our sweet Annalise Elizabeth arrived almost three weeks early on May 10 at 7:17 AM, weighing in at eight pounds, two ounces and twenty inches long. Big brother Aidan and big sister Adelaide are so excited to welcome her to our new family of FIVE!

Annalise has been keeping us very busy. I can't believe we have already celebrated her one month birthday! We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who have brought us so many awesome dinners and helped out in countless ways!

Ferdinand & Miss Rumphius

Our FIAR book this week was The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. It's an older book and a very sweet story about a good-natured bull in Spain that just wants to sit under a cork tree and smell the flowers. I remembered the book from when I was younger and Aidan really enjoyed it. It was another age-appropriate selection for us.

On Monday, for social studies, we visited the library and checked out a book about Spain to study. We also listened to some fun Spanish music and watched some flamenco dancing videos. For language arts, on Tuesday, we learned about interjections. We printed some drama cards for art on Wednesday and Aidan acted out some events in the story. Thursday, for math, we learned about measuring in feet and inches.

Yesterday, for science, we learned about cork oak trees. We made a cool cork trivet with some old wine corks I saved when Matt and I were just dating. I'll admit, when I started saving wine corks from special occasions, I never thought they would be used for homeschool science projects!

Last week, we studied Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. A young girl narrates the story of her great-aunt's life and the remarkable things she has accomplished. It was a great springtime selection and we had nice weather for some great outdoor activities. We discussed the importance of finding and doing special work and made a little booklet detailing the special work that Aidan could do. We did some painting for art and practiced counting for math. For science, we made a seed book and scattered some wildflower seeds around the edges of our yard. We didn't plan quite as many activities as it was a busy week for us. Matt took Aidan to work for a few hours for Take Your Child to Work Day and that was BIG FUN for both of them!

April Showers...

This week's Iron Craft Challenge (#18) was "April Showers..." and the flowers they bring. So far, around here, April showers have mostly brought May showers (and mud). Still, I decided to make something fun and flowery for Adelaide. I know spring just HAS to be coming soon!

I found some pretty little flowers at Joann's that I decided to turn into hair clips. I just covered some alligator clips with pink ribbon and glued on the flowers. They were simple and quick. I think they'll make a fun springtime accessory.

Mr. Gumpy and Some Ducklings

I'm a little behind in our weekly school wrap-ups. My mom came for a visit and then we travelled to Ohio for Easter. We managed to fit in most of our school work; but, my blog was definitely neglected. We've had some great story selections over the past few weeks. I honestly think that Volume II of FIAR has more age-appropriate books for us than Volume I.

The week of April 11, we used the book Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car by John Burningham. The book tells the story of Mr. Gumpy's outing and the many friends that come along for the ride. Aidan really enjoyed the book and we found some great activities to go along with it. For social studies, we discussed being social. This is definitely not an area where Aidan needs any more encouragement! Our language arts lesson focused on making preparations for an outing. For art, we studied and practiced drawing different textures. Simple multiplication for math and some science experiments with friction and traction rounded out the week.

For Easter week, we studied Robery McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings. Our social studies lesson focused on family relationships and "nesting". We talked about all the ways we have been preparing for the new baby that will arrive in a few weeks. For language arts, we practiced rhyming. For art, we made brown pencil sketches like those used to illustrate the book. More multiplying and grouping work was our focus in math. We also filled our week with lots of egg decorating and quite a few egg hunts!