Such Things

Recipe for Pumpkin Soup

An annual event in our home apart from the great pumpkin carving, is the great pumpkin cooking. 

In the late fall I love to make soups.  Lots of soups.  One favourite at our house is pumpkin soup.

Mushrooms, cream and a hint of nutmeg.

We usually puree the whole soup for the kids.  Then they eat the mushrooms and onion.  The recipe's from the Best of the Bridge Series, a must-have set written by a group of Canadian women who simply started cooking and meeting for Bridge.  Each recipe is quite simple to make and always turn out delicious.  I must say, the colour of the soup is a bit more orange with canned pumpkin too, but we enjoy using the pulp from our jack-o-lanterns.  I may change the photos later.  I find it harder to photograph well on rainy days or at night, but that's when I'm usually cooking the most.  Any tips?

I'm still working away at my recipe binder and here's one more keeper to add to it.

Hope you have a fun weekend!

Spooky Fun Weekend

You know costumes are quite magical. 

The kids enjoyed trying them on, and immediately, they became what they were dressed as.  We had a doggie crawling around and picking up toys with his mouth and a meowing cat.  My oldest daughter insisted on wearing her pink ballet shoes with her black butterfly costume, instead of wearing her black jazz shoes, because "butterflies dance like ballerinas" and that's what she did in her costume.

We went to a pumpkin-carving party which was very fun.

tricks and treats,

and then that glorious extra hour on Sunday. 

I vote for everyday to have thirteen hours.  Or at least every weekend day. 

Hope you had a fun Halloween and Happy November to you too!

Christians and Halloween

I have always loved Halloween.  The costumes, the crafts, carving, decorating, trick-or-treating, and all the fun.

It's something to celebrate as the days get shorter, darker and often colder and rainier. 

One day when I was substitute teaching, I thought I'd do an activity about the history of Halloween.  I got to reading about it and I was quite surprised to find that it really does have quite dark beginnings.  Not to mention the connection to Wicca.  Many Christians have chosen not to celebrate Halloween for these reasons and others.  I was chatting with the coordinator of our Sunday School at church and she said she found the holiday confusing. 

As a Christian, I try to steer clear of the more "evil" and scary parts of the celebration and put more focus on harvest,

pumpkins, creative costumes, trick-or-treating and the whole community feel.  

We do Halloween activities with friends and as a family, like carving, baking, crafts and this year we made a pumpkin person.  

 

 

A great activity for a rainy weekend afternoon.

 

Not to mention Halloween parties with games, costumes and treats.  Would God really want to keep kids from something that excites them so much?  As long as it's done in the right spirit.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.

 

Happy getting ready for Halloween!!!

How to Make Caramel Apples

One rainy night, something exciting was happening in our kitchen.

Can't say that some samples weren't tasted.

It took awhile to unwrap all the toffees.

We got the sticks from Michael's. 

One thing to warn:  The hot caramel is very, very hot (we had a burn).

But they were oh, so fun to make,

and tremendously delicious.

There aren't many things better than homemade caramel apples.

An Apple a Day

Round, red, juicy.  We made our now annual trip to the Apple Barn again this year.  Last year we picked Fuji apples and this year we picked these huge Jonagolds. 

They were in a separate orchard here:

That's Mt. Baker in the background.

We actually got some apple education on a short wagon tour that we took.  Crabapples were planted next to the apples to help encourage the pollination.  The whole pollination process is quite fascinating.  How God designed nature to work together so intricately.

It didn't take long to fill our 25lb bag.

biting,

and baking

 

 

what else is there to do with apples?  Well I might have at least one more idea...

Lyle, Lyle Crocodile

To me, books are a great comfort and joy.  I love to surround myself with wonderful books that inspire me, magazines, craft books, novels and classical literature.  One of my favourite things is to order a book and pick it up at the post office when we visit Pt. Roberts (it's cheaper to ship to the US).  I usually order from ABE books.  An excellent resource, if you haven't heard of it before.  I was sorting through a bunch of my kids' books, some of which are actually books that belonged to me as a child,

and I decided to start ordering my kids some classic children's books. I thought it would be exciting for them to pick up some parcels from the post office too.  So last time we were down, we picked up some Lyle books, written by Bernard Waber.  Indeed they were a hit with each of the kids.  The artwork is fantastic and Lyle is so enduring.  I also appreciated the bits of dry humour tossed in here and there.

Now we're looking forward to the next delivery!

Pinecone Turkey Craft (and Happy Thanksgiving!!)

Thanksgiving is a holiday which encourages one to pause and give thanks for the abundance that we have been given: family, friends, nature, pets and nourishing food.  It is also a time when one can think quite a bit about turkeys, which are typically ugly, but not the ones in Thanksgiving stories and the very cute crafted ones.  On a sunny October afternoon, paper bag turkeys, plate turkeys and hand turkeys can be seen proudly paraded about the schoolyard.  

I thought I'd join in with these festivities by making pinecone turkeys with my class at school and with my children at home as well.

They need a lot of white glue, or a glue gun works well, too, with a smaller group.

The stands are made from sawed off "wood cookies", which my husband kindly provided.

The bodies are pine cones and the heads are made from acorns. Then add on the googly eyes, a felt beak, feathers and puffy orange pipe-cleaners for the feet and waddle, which Miranda differentiated from the "snood".

Sometimes a small part of the pine cone has to be removed for the acorn to sit right. 

And there's one cute Thanksgiving turkey.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!!

Here's to October

September is a lovely month, but it is such a busy one for teachers and parents alike.  On Friday I sat down, or rather partly collapsed next to another mom at the dance school after delivering the kids to their classes.  She asked me how I was and I said, "Well, I survived September."  She said, "I know what you mean.  It just went by so fast, and next thing you know it's going to be Christmas!"  That idea baffled me quite a bit, and at that very moment, I vowed that I was not going to just let the days slip by with busyness until Christmas.   

This was a great reminder to me to slow down and enjoy each passing moment. 

Or as Richard Dawson from Titanic said, "Make every day count."

This weekend we decided to make an escape to our place in Pt. Roberts.

Nothing but family time, fun, exploring and enjoying October goodness.

The girls made an "animal rescue center" in their tree house.

lots of relaxed playtime (hence the spreading of toys) and painting the livingroom white (hence the out-of -place furniture).  I added this photo as a request from friends to show some of the more chaotic moments...


Feeding fresh apples to the donkeys.

We decided to skip bedtime routine to drive to the beach and see this sunset:

I'm so looking forward to this next month. 

Here's to October and here's to making each moment count.

Thoughtful Parenting

Thank you so much for your comments on my last post.  I feel especially touched to receive kind words from my own friends on Facebook.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to say a few words about parenting.  One morning when I pulled the van up to the curb and let the kids out at their school, one of the other moms called out to me: "How's it going?"  I responded, "Well, I've been pulling out the parenting books again!"

I don't often find parenting an easy thing, but I do believe that it's perhaps the most valuable thing I will do in my lifetime.  Raising great kids is the dream of any parent, I imagine.  I can't remember where I first got the idea of "thoughtful" parenting, but to me, it is the opposite of "reactive" parenting.  So often when I parent, I am parenting in reaction to the moment, to my own childhood experiences, to what I think is right at the time, to what my friend would agree with, and to my initial response at slamming doors, shouting, pushing, whining, ignoring, arguing, mess, running late, and toothpaste smeared on the edge of the sink (and a bit on the bathroom mirror).  In fact, even as I am typing this post a Build-a Bear is flying over my head and then on top of the keyboard, and a child has talked to me, strutted around the table, sat cross-legged on the table, whined, stuck out her tongue at me, and done the hula.  That's just an everyday moment in parenthood for me. 

For each of these moments is my reaction as a parent, but to be a thoughtful parent, I am careful about my words and what I do even if it's contrary to how I am feeling inside.  Only parenting could have brought out such a huge range of emotions in me:  fear, guilt, helplessness, great joy, delight, wonder, anger, confusion and so many more.  I have reacted in all the wrong ways as well, repeating "love is patient, love is patient" over and over to myself.  The reason why I wanted to create these family beliefs is to keep myself focused on the kind of parent I want to be and the kind of family values my husband and I want to hold.  When discipline is happening, those beliefs can be the focus:  "Do you believe in respect?  Then what are you going to do?"  Discipline should be empowering, not punitive and humiliating.  But there are also guidelines and boundaries to be defined by a parent. 

So often Christians refer to "the rod of discipline": "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." (Proverbs 13:24)  Punishment is actually a misreading of that verse.  To discipline means to "disciple", to teach, to guide, and a rod was used to guide the sheep, not to hit them.  So to me, thoughtful parenting, is parenting not out of the past, but in the present, and to the individual child in loving discernment: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." (Proverbs 22:6)  So easy to say, not always as easy to live out.  Parenting is definitely a journey.  Well, having said that, I'm off to read my parenting books now and to attend to a boy who is feeling a bit distraught about his bedtime. 

Our Family Beliefs

In September the class and I brainstorm "class beliefs" which replace the old concept of class rules.

Our values and beliefs have so much influence on our outlook and actions.

We came up with a list of beliefs for our own family too.

These are our family beliefs,

featured on our new gallery wall as an aesthetic reminder of what we want to value the most.

What are your family beliefs?