Ready for a Hike

On the Edge

Road Trip: Pike's Peak on the Mississippi

Camping Out: in the Backyard Between Road Trips

Pallisades Park

More Precarious than it Looks

Pooch Along

Pike's Peak, Iowa

Happy Trails

Birth Order and Middle Children

 Alienor said to me yesterday morning; "Aragorn and I are a lot alike. It's like two pairs, because Lily and Arthur are alike too." She then went on to explain all the ways that she and her brother were alike, as well as something she couldn't quite put her finger on. The amazing thing is: her father and I both agree on this, we don't talk about it in front of the children, but there is a certain truth in it. This is not the first insightful thing this child has said. She would set up mini-fights with her dolls when she was little, that ended in "too much yelling" and people being thrown out of the doll house. Ouch. Or dolls being lovingly soothed back to a peaceful state on other days.

I once attended a talk on birth order as connected to careers and personalities of children. I found it fascinating, but took it with a grain of salt. Each of my children is precious and loved, for their very own self, without qualifications.

American History

Our new block for my 8th and 9th graders is United States History. Over the years we have studied different epochs in history, through mythology, legends and then history resources, but this will be our first concentrated effort on US history as a whole. We've studied European history, Asian history, African history and our local and state history. It's a funny thing, what kids learn that you don't realize they are learning, and what they don't know that you  are sure you've been over a number of times...or they should have read somewhere...or you had pounded into your head for so many years that you assume they know too. 

History is an excellent example of this. Aragorn and Lily DO know a lot, but the sources of when and why they learned are so odd and interesting. They remember who made the first American flag, because we saw the house of Betsy Ross in Baltimore.

Waldorf Publicity

My techie husband sent me this link; thank you honey! Waldorf advocates will love it, the rest of you, well...leave comments!

Children of IT guys and Waldorf

Fishscale Girl; a book review and a celebration!

Fishscale Girl is not a new Halloween costume,  she is a real doll made by a real live little girl in the Amazon Valley. The book by the same name tells the tale of this doll who now lives in US, in Iowa to be exact, in beautiful photography and simple story line. We learn about her native people, the Yagua, and her first home; the Amazon River in Peru. The story includes themes of adoption, homesickness, adventures in new places and learning of new things. It is insightful, yet simple. The photography is gorgeous; vibrant colors, fun and artistic at the same time.

from the book; "  Her body is a scale from an Amazon fish, 
                           Her heart is as big as the river itself."

Our whole family has had the extreme fortune to have been included in the production of this lovely book and in the many projects surrounding it. We first became involved when the author, Ann Hailey, called to see if she could include my daughter, Alienor and our backyard sandbox, in a photo session.

We had heard of Ann's travels to Peru; her stay at a traditional Yagua village and trip down the Amazon River. We were quite fascinated (and a little jealous, but in a good way), and asked lots of questions. We were very happy to be a part of what began as a series of photos of Fishscale Girl's new life to send to Rosita, the girl who made her, with words in both English and Spanish, for this is the language the Yagua now learn in school.

A part of the proceeds from the Fishscale Girl books (no.2 will be out soon) and from the lesson plans is donated to the Adopt-a-School program, you can read more about this here: http://www.cochiypress.com/supporting-children/. Lesson plans? Ah-ha, that's where the next step in our participation came about. I think Ann mentioned or I mentioned that this would be a wonderful tool to further explore many themes. The next thing I knew, I was drafting lesson plans that would become the focus of my life for a couple of months. Maps, we needed maps, ones that we could legally reproduce. It was a problem, but I happen to have a son who is very talented in the drawing department. He whipped out all of the maps I needed in a couple of days, free-hand. Problem solved and one more family member involved! A blog...ooo, cool and modern idea. Lily was asked if she would like to write it, she accepted, and voila, the three oldest have become part of the project. Ann is very very good at including children in age-appropriate and meaningful activities. The last two got their turn at a book signing, when they were in charge of helping out other children present with the picture search in a botanical garden while the others served lemonade and cookies.

To order your own copy, you can go here: http://www.cochiypress.com/fishscale-girl/.  Here is a link to the Fishscale Girl's own blog, it's a lot of fun, Lily has been writing a lot of the entries, as Cate: http://www.fishscalegirl.com/, this is a commercial-free space for parents and children alike.

Mornings at our House

Breakfast is sort of a hit and miss affair chez nous. The other two meals usually merit our full attention, but for the French, it is literally a breaking of the fast; dejeuner- undo the fast, not important except as a little something to go with one's coffee, tea or hot chocolate. 

We are an exception; I was born in the US and I love breakfast. I dislike bacon, eggs, sausage, toast and orange juice with floaties in it. I still remember clearly in the hospital after I'd fractured my skull when I was 3 years old.

Recipe: Caramel Cinnamon Bread

I make the dough in my bread machine, put in the following ingredients in order:(ingredients are in red)

Whisk together:

1 1/2 c warm water with:

1 T yeast

3/4 T salt

2 T butter or olive oil

1 egg (optional, unless you are making it gluten-free)

pour into machine

Add:

1/4 c honey or sugar 

 3 1/2 c flour (I used white, you can use a mix of whole wheat and white or even a gluten-free mix, if you add 1t xantham gum and 1/4 t vinegar)

Set machine to dough setting,