God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Whenever You Dismay...

...remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day!

Merry Christmas from us to you!

My herd and I :)

Decorating Christmas cookies with nuts, goji berries, kale juice, etc

Christmas Cookies, they didn't last long!

Our family gifts this year. We made peppermint bath salts for the ladies and garlic and rosemary olive oil for the men

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

 

 

A Celtic version on St. Nicholas I drew for this special evening :)

Meanwhile around the house...

 

Our advent lights on the first Sunday of Advent 

 

Our 6 month old Christmas elf 

A Christmas/Winter display in our home school area

 

Homemade Halloween

Two Curious Georges, Hunca Munca (from the Tale of Two Bad Mice) and a Pirate!

Nykki made his own costume this year from some of my old clothes. I made the mouse and monkey hoods from a few old shirts and a wash cloth.

 

All set for carving

 

Papa helps cut the perfect face

 

Our Day of the Dead altar

 

Apple bobbing

 

Papa gives it a try

 

Success! 

 

 The view outside our house on Halloween

Hope you and your family had a wonderfully spooky Halloween!

 

 

 

 

Along Our Autumn Path...

 Our wood burning stove working hard. Cooking up soup, custard, baked apples and rising bread.

 

 

 

 

 

Michaelmas dragon hunt

Anya playing with the pillow her brother sewed her, lying on a blanket my Granny sewed for me

 

Avi shows off Papa's 20lb zucchini

 

 

Ronan bakes dragon bread and soup for lunch

 

I reached over 1,000 blessings in my journal. I've been writing my blessings down since March.

Ayla Stewart's Paleo Bread Recipe

Whether you're gluten-free, grain free or just counting carbs, Paleo bread is a SUPER easy way to keep your kitchen rolling. During the week while we're doing our home school we either have leftovers or I make sandwiches for lunch. The kids get homemade sourdough, and I use my Paleo bread. Now, I'll say upfront that using ground almonds for flour is tastier but coconut flour is cheaper, hence I do the coconut loaf ;)

Here's my recipe...

 Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups coconut flour
  1cup oil or butter, melted
  12 eggs
  1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  2 teaspoons baking powder

Blend together eggs, butter, and salt. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk thoroughly into batter until there are no lumps. Pour into greased bread loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Store in the fridge.

Optional

Add a tablespoon of ground flax for a "grainer" taste and look

Add two heping tablespoons of tomato paste and a teaspoon of Italian herbs for a rich flavor (bake for 10 minutes longer)

Add a tablespoon of honey for a sweeter bread

Fry slices of this bread in butter or bacon grease for a tastier sandwich. 

Add 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese for a cheesy version

Enjoy!

Our 3rd Annual Fall Equinox and Michaelmas Family Festival!

 Dressed up to tell the kids a tale.

It's time for our annual Fall Equinox and Michaelmas celebration! Please Join us!

A chilly wind makes my toes curl, my heart skips a beat at an amber colored leaf - in short, I’m an Autumn addict. Every year I try and find new and improved ways to celebrate this time of year. This year I have a great plan!

Fall Equinox falls one week prior to the Waldorf celebration of Michaelmas. These two holidays are often celebrated in similar fashions, with harvest feasts and various fall merriment.

Michaelmas adds the exciting adventures of Sir George slaying the dragon through the spirit/guidance/help of the angel Michael. Michaelmas is a fun way to look toward our inner selves for bravery and guidance as the days grow shorter and winter descends.

Every year hold a week long Fall Equinox and Michaelmas bash! The first ingredient in the fun is the story. Told in eight parts the story brings to life the changing of the seasons and weaves these changes into an empowering narrative of one boy’s defeat of a mighty dragon.

To join our celebration simply read the eight parts of the story guide and then expand the story line as long or short as you like. Add places, names, descriptions and details. Be sure to tell the story to your children without reading it from a page, look at them, really engage them.

I dress up as Sir George with a knitted knight hat and red silk cape when I tell the tale. Be sure and tell the story early on in the day so you have time for the craft or activity I have suggested to accompany the narrative.

If you’re artistic use paper and crayons, paint, chalk or whatever to create a picture to go along with each day’s story. Encourage your children to create impromptu artwork about the story as well.

I’ve also created a list of things you will need for your week long celebration, don’t worry, it’s all very simple!

Supplies for the Week:

Local vegetables (to bake or steam)
Local, grass fed meat
Candles and candle holders
Leaves (don’t worry if they haven’t turned yet, that’s OK)
Paper and crayon for leaf rubbings
Clay Ingredients - Baking soda, corn starch
Silks, scarves or blankets for a cape
Cardboard, scissors, tape
Cookie ingredients - 2 cups spelt flour, 2 tsp baking powder,.5 cup turbinado sugar, 2 eggs, 1 TB vanilla extract, 1 tsp lemon extract, .25 cup oil, .5 cup applesauce

 

 

Saturday, September 22nd, Fall Equinox

Story guide: All the people in the land (Mother Nature’s Realm, Avalon, Zion, or ?) are harvesting their crops and hold a big feast.

Activity: Simple Harvest Dinner using your local veggies and grass fed meats. Talk about where the food came from, who grew it and who harvested it.


Sunday

Story Guide: Father Sun says he’s tired of shinning all day when the people no longer need him to grow their food. He asks the Angels to make the days shorter.

Activity: Set out candles in your home in anticipation of Father Sun’s long naps or carve gourd lanterns.


Monday

Story Guide: Sister Wind grows chilly without the sun around all day. She blows and blows and makes the leaves cold. The cold leaves try to warm up by turning the color of fire.

Activity: Leaf rubbings


Tuesday

Story Guide: But it does no good, they are still cold so slowly they drop one by one to the ground. Some fall upon a huge mound of earth and they become the scales on the back of a mighty dragon.

Activity: Rake up some leaves into a pile, pretend it’s a dragon. Give him a scary name. If you don’t have leaves work with what you have; straw, a mound of dirt, a tree stump or a pile of laundry. To get even more creative make a head or tail.


Wednesday

Story Guide: The dragon frightens Mother Night and she is too scared to let the moon come out. The people know that without the fall moon there will be no winter and without a long winter nap the animals and seeds will not have energy to grow next spring. So the people ask their angels to help them.

Activity: Make clay angels using this recipe. Bake them with ribbon inside and a loop at the top. Hang your angels on the trees outside to protect you from the dragon (or inside if your dragon is a pile of laundry).


Thursday

Story Guide: The Angels agree that something must be done. They send a magic cape and sword to a young boy named George and knight him, Sir George, the brave knight of Mother Nature. He is afraid but he accepts the challenge to fight the dragon.

Activity: Make a cardboard sword


Friday

Story Guide: George chases the dragon all around the earth, up into heaven and back. George prays and asks for strength.

Activity: Make a cape. You can get fancy and use silks that you dye naturally or simply use a cut up sheet, blanket or scarf.


Saturday, Michaelmas!

Story Guide: God sends Michael and Michael tells George about the war in heaven and how he cast out Lucifer. George gains new strength to slay the mighty dragon. All the people are happy and bake good things to eat and give them to the brave George.

*Don’t be tempted to think this tale as too violent for young ones. Children view the world and death differently than we do as adults. The simple triumph of slaying the dragon will not translate into violent animal murdering adults, I promise. Fairy tales speak to the soul and part of that magic is the death of the evil in the story. This empowers children to believe they can conquer their own woes, putting them to “death.”

Activity: Dress the family up and act out the whole story, Bake sugar cookies cut them out to look like dragons, swords, angels, etc.

Hint: If you’re Christian you may want to read Revelations Chapter 12 at some point in the week.

Happy Michaelmas!

This Year's Home Schooling!

This picture depicts the calm serenity that our home schooling experience is...in my day dreams! LOL

It's that time of year again! Take down the kiddie pool, hang up the swim pants,dust off your lesson planner and get ready to dive into home school!

Yesterday I took the kids to our local super market. I bought them beach balls, soft balls, bouncy balls, ring toss, etc. All "outside" toys which were slashed down on super, end-of-summer sale. Some as cheap as 25 cents! 

I told the boys they could open up and play with their new new outside-inside toys as soon as they helped me straighten and organize the play/home school room.

Yes, yes, in the words of Ralphy from A Christmas Story.....A little bribe never hurts :)

Plus we are well stocked on fun toys to play with when the impending rainy days if Autumn have us stuck in the house!

So we washed down chalk boards, dusted off books, put puzzles back together, organized our beeswax collection, and threw away broken crayons.

 

 

 

An "home school" basket for Little Sprite Boy, cuurently 2 1/2 years old. It has building blocks, put-together pieces, board books and a knitted bunny family. This helps keep him busy while I instruct the older children.

On to our schedule......

Mondays- Circle Time, Main Lesson, and Art

Tuesdays - Circle Time, Science and Work Sheets

Fridays - Circle Time, Main Lesson and Rotating Speciality

This year some of the subjects we'll be covering.....

Kinder

Main Lesson - Bible Stories, Folk Tales, Nature Tales, Piano

Art - Coloring, water color painting, braiding, beeswax molding

Science - Cooking and Housekeeping Skills

Rotating Specialty - Puzzles and Mazes

4th Grade

Main Lesson - Math (concentration on fractions), Norse Mythology using the Kalevala, Grammar, Composition Writing

Art - Cross Stitching, Celtic Knot Drawing, Piano, Learning the Lap Harp

Science - Local Geography, Comparative Study of Man and Animal, Cooking, and Hands on Experiments

Rotating Specialty - Local History (including our Ward history and some family history) and Creating a Hero Binder*

* A Hero Binder is a simple notebook with clear insert sheets. Every month Nykki will choose a man (starting with Jesus and then Papa for the first two months, then Nykki can choose the rest). He will create a page or two profile for each man including pictures, a biography, quotes and information on what makes the man a hero. (Girls can do this too by creating a Titus 2 Mentor Binder of the women they emulate)

Circle Time

Morning Verse:

The sun with loving light

makes bright for me each day

my sole with spirit-power

gives strength unto my limbs 

in sunlight shining clear

I revere 

Oh Heavenly Parents

the strength of human kind

which thou so graciously hath planted in my soul

that I with all my might 

may love to work and learn

from Thee stream strength and light

to Thee rise love and thanks

After our verse we will act out a nature poem based on the season. We will then work on Bible study and scripture memorization using this program and finally end by singing a hymn and working on memorizing it.

We're looking forward to another amazing home school year!

Braveheart's Birth Story

 Braveheart is 9 today! Oh my! Here's his birth story!

Braveheart's Birth Story!

It was Friday the 13th, 2003. I was hoping for the baby to be born on this day but something told me I had to wait just a little while longer. I was nearly 4 weeks overdue at this point.

At 11 pm that evening I began having some rushes but since I had cramping and rushes for over a month I decided not to get too excited about it. The rushes were no longer then 10 minutes apart and so intense that I couldn’t sleep. I decided to wait until 2 am to make a decision as to whether or not I was in labor. At 1:37 am I had a rush so intense that I felt hot and light headed. I woke my husband up and told him that I thought the baby was coming.

He was skeptical, I could tell, we had waited so long it was hard to believe it was happening. Something felt different though and I knew this was it. I called Kaye, the midwife, and told her what was going on. She told me to take a long soak in the tub and call her back in 45 minutes. After the soak the rushes were coming every 3-7 minutes but because they weren’t lasting long we were all reluctant to believe that it was going to come anytime soon.

Within an hour the rushes felt back to back. I could sometimes not manage to get my breath. Kaye was at another birth so she sent another midwife named Jill over to check on me. Jill proclaimed me to be 3 cm dilated which depressed me a little. The most important thing for me to do was get some sleep but I couldn’t because the rushes were so close together. Kaye agreed with Jill that I needed to relax as much as possible, letting my body go limp during the rushes so that my natural instincts could take over and let the labor even out a bit.

Kaye suggested to Jill that I have a glass of wine to calm myself and try to sleep. We didn’t have any wine in the house so I had a little beer. It didn’t work however because by this point the rushes were causing me to throw up (Word of Wisdom at work I now believe). Jill told me to settle in and rest as much as possible, and then she left.

As the sun came up I had my husband call Kaye again because the rushes were increasingly intense and closer and closer, I knew something was going to happen soon but still the rushes weren’t lasting very long so everyone else thought I had some waiting to do and that I would probably have the baby in the late afternoon or early evening.

Kaye told my husband to have me come to her office. She said it would be good for me to get up and out. I knew I couldn’t do it. I could barely stand, so I called Kaye back and told her myself exactly how I was feeling. She told me she would come over after her first prenatal that morning. She checked me when she arrived and I was about 5 cm. I felt terrible because I knew I still had a long way to go. I was so tired and all I wanted to do was get a little sleep.

Soon after Kaye’s arrival however I began to feel the urge to push with the contractions, then it went from an urge to an involuntary action of pushing. I told Kaye and she set up the birthing chair. I was only in the chair a short while when things really started to rip. I felt like a puppet, some unknown force was pulling the strings, I had no control. My body was pushing and pushing, it was all happening so fast. The quickness of it began to stress the baby and Kaye became concerned (but I knew he was fine).

She had me lay on the floor so she could closely monitor the baby’s heartbeat (wrong! wrong! wrong! I wish I had the guts to tell her to leave). Nykki's heartrate was dropping during the intensity of the rushes but it was rebounding fine so I was not concerned. Kaye, as the midwife, had a judgment call to make. She knew me, and she knew my body. She knew that the best thing I could do was to push out the baby and quick. Pushing felt a lot better but I couldn’t feel myself making any progress so it was a little discouraging. I pushed hard as Kaye couched me and my husband held my hand.

I had never worked so hard in my life and I was so tired. The baby was coming and coming quickly and soon I could feel the head at the end of the birth canal. This was the hardest part. As the head pushed against me to come out I was terrified of tearing. I didn’t want to rip myself apart and it felt like that’s what would happen if I pushed any harder. The water still hadn’t broken so in an effort to speed things up Kaye broke my water at this point. Kaye told me I had to get the baby out and fast and that I had to push through it.

I reached down deep to a place inside myself that I didn’t know existed. I found the strength somewhere and I pushed. It felt like a really intense Indian burn and then “pop” out the head came. I took a brief break and some deep breaths. I could no longer feel the baby as he rested half in and half out of my body. Kaye suctioned him out and told me she wanted me to get the body out in one push. The body wasn’t actually hard to get out. I pushed and then “slip, slip, bump” He was here. I felt so selfishly great at that moment. It was over, the labor had ended and I felt like I could get up and dance.

Kaye checked the baby. She kept saying he was fine he just needed a little help. I couldn’t see him yet; in fact I didn’t know it was a him.

Soon enough Kaye placed him on my chest. He didn’t look at all like I had pictured. He had big brown eyes but his hair was so light it was almost blond! Blond hair, where on earth did he get that? He wasn’t quite as chubby as we expected but boy was he long. I knew he had to be from the way he had laid in my womb.

He had large feet and hands and we knew we had a future tall, skinny man. I was so glad he was here. I felt this sudden rush of energy. Again I felt as though I could get up and dance. Compared to labor the minor discomforts of the present moment seemed like nothing. I couldn’t believe how great I felt.

Our Summer Rhythm

Sprite Boy and Papa having a swim :)

Summer time is officially here!

I like to keep our summer open and light, but having a home rhythm is still crucial to family harmony and momma and child sanity! 

I thought I would share the rhythm that we are falling into this summer...

Daily Rhythm

Breakfast

Clean Up and Chores

Story Time or Short Video

Daily Activity (see Weekly Rhythm below)

Lunch

Outside Play, Park or Hike

Quiet Time / Nap Time

Dinner

Story Time

Bed

Weekly Rhythm of Daily Activities 

Mon - Virtue Study based on Christ-like Attributes

Tue- Bible Study

Wed- Grocery Shopping, Errands and Boy Scouts

Thur- Bible Study 

Fri- Field Trip (swimming hole, pool, museum etc)

Sat- Reading a chapter of Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends

Sun- Church

Ice Cream Cake!

This is another Duggar recipe I have reworked into a healthier version. I am making this for Seth for his birthday next Tuesday. I thought I would share the recipe here. 

Ingredients

2 Boxes of organic Ice Cream Sandwiches

3 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

1 pack of crushed peanut brittle (or mix 1 cup of chunky peanut butter with about 1/2 cup of coconut sugar or stevia powder and one cup crushed nuts- adding a little bit of sugar to the peanut butter and nut mix at a time and stirring until crumbly)

1 freezer safe cake pan

Place one box of ice cream sandwiches along the bottom of the pan. Top with one half of the whipping cream. Add the second box of ice cream sandwiches, top with the remaining whipped cream and then sprinkle the top with crushed peanut brittle or peanut butter crumble.

Place the whole pan in the freezer and freeze.

Serves 6-12 people depending on how much they eat :)

**As another option you can use coconut cream instead of whipped cream. Take 4-5 cans of full fat coconut milk and place them in the fridge the day before you want to make your cake. When you begin making your cake simply open the cans and the rich coconut cream will be setting at the top of the can. Scoop it out and spread as you would whipped cream.  

**Another option instead of using ice cream sandwiches is to place one layer of cookies (gluten free if you like, grain free or homemade) in the bottom of the pan, then add a layer of chocolate coconut water sorbet (slightly thawed) or homemade ice cream, add another layer of cookies, a layer of whipped cream, a layer of cookies, another layer of sorbet, another layer of cookies, and another layer of whipped cream and then top with crushed peanut brittle or peanut butter crumble.

It's a really flexible recipe. It can be gluten free, sugar free, vegan, low carb, low fat- whatever you like!

Waldorf Style Verse for Lent

Photo Credit

Yet even now, says the Lord,
Return to me with all your heart, (place hands over heart)
With fasting, (hold belly)  

with weeping, (mimic tears on your cheek with finger) 

and with mourning; (wipe the side of your face, mimicking a veil)
Rend your hearts (make a ripping motion on your chest)

and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God, (sweep hands upward)
for he is gracious and merciful, (swoop hands out above head)
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, (place hands at heart)
and relents from punishing.(shake finger "no")
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, (shrug shoulders)
and leave a blessing behind him,(turn and blow a kiss behind you)
a grain-offering (scoop hands outward from belly)

and a drink-offering (cup hands and extend out from mouth)
for the Lord, your God?(make a cross over your heart with your finger)

Joel 2: 12-14

Our Lent Observence

Our Lenten Garden

Our faith community doesn't celebrate Lent, instead we have Fast Sunday the first Sunday of every month when we fast for two meals and donate the money we would have spent on food to those in our community who are hungry.

I still love the idea of Lent though and being Waldorfers, we choose to celebrate it. 

Above is our Lenten Garden. A box of soil, a twig for a tree, a stone, some pine cones, one large white candle and six small candles. Everyday we water the soil, keeping it moist. Six days before Easter we will light one candle each night, from the large candle and let it burn all the way down. A few days before Easter we will sprinkle the dirt with grass seed and on Easter morning (or there abouts) we should see green sprouts shooting up from the earth and we will decorate the twig tree with tissue paper butterflies, representing transformation.

For Lent I am again giving up yelling, but not just at the kids or dog, I am giving up yelling period. No yelling across the house, no yelling down the hall, no yelling when I'm mad. 

I'm also giving up the "W"s. You know;

"Why are your clothes on the floor!?"

"Who left the door open!?"

"What on earth are you doing!?"

It's one day in and it's hard. LOL I yelled at the dog to get off the couch before I caught myself first thing this morning.

I look forward to seeing the progress God helps me make these 40 days, the good example of struggling toward eternal progression that my children will see, and real change that I hope to make. 

My eldest is giving up dessert (a tough one he's already asked to back out of) and my middle child has given up using what he calls "face words." He often will reply "In your face!" when he is mad. We'll see how we all do.

We are also going to join Ann Voskamp and her children in memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. More on that later :)

What are you doing for Lent? How does Lent make you feel?

Shrovetide Blessings and Pancake Recipes!

Mix and pancake

Stir and pancake

Pop it in the pan

Pour a pancake

Flip a pancake

Catch it if you can!

Today is Shrove Tuesday or Shrovetide. You may know it as "Fat Tuesday" or "Mardi Gras." Shrovetide falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the forty day fast of Lent leading up to Easter. Traditionally people fasted from products like eggs and butter at this time so they used up all the eggs and butter in a frenzy of pancake making.

Having pancakes for dinner is a fun family activity to bring you out of the "everyday" and have a simple reason to come together and celebrate. Pancakes are so easily made that even very young children can participate in this activity and this is one simple meal that mom need not stress out about either.

Tonight my family will be making a variety of pancakes to eat, topped with ingredients like; organic maple syrup, yogurt and coconut sugar, lemon juice and powdered stevia, blueberries, etc. I encourage you to have a pancake feast of your own tonight is you weren't planning one already and join us here at Wise Glorious Purpose as we enter the Lenten season!

Sourdough Pancakes

Egg Only Pancakes 

Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes

Once, 

Twice, 

Three times I give thee warning,

to make pancakes 'gain tomorrow mornin'!

Sew a Pillow Case Apron!

Want a fun craft for this weekend? How about a homemade bridal shower gift that only takes a few hours? I've got what you need! A pillow case apron!

What You'll Need:

Four pillow cases, matching colors preferred

Sewing machine or needle and thread.

A large strip of wide ribbon or lace

An idea of how big you would like it (I based mine on my favorite apron)


Step One:

Cut out one side of one pillow case to match the size you want the apron to be. Cut four strips from the other pillow cases about 6 inches longer than the apron size (so you can ruffle them)

Step Two:

Sew the strips from your four pillow cases on the apron back, over lapping them slightly and ruffling them using a running stitch.

Step Three:

Sew the wide ribbon to the top and you're done! It's that easy! These also make great mother's day gifts for friends and family or go ahead and sell them at your local Farmers Market :) Cute, feminine, practical and recycled! 

5 Candy Free Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day

 

Photo Credit

"Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself. " - Matthew 22: 37-39

Valentines' day is soon upon us and like many holidays it seems to really be centered around candy. Let's think outside the heart shaped box and brain storm on some candy free ways to spend the day...

1. Go to a coffee shop. Enjoy a decaf, tea or a smootie with your sweetie.

2. Take a hike and look for heart shaped things, such as leaves, twisted branches, forks in the path, etc.

3. Bake up some nice banana bread and take it to your neighbors.

4. Take a walk down town or to your local park and using side walk chalk spread some loving hearts and messages of peace and love on the sidewalks in your community (be sure to double check that this does not violate your local graffiti laws first ;))

5. Have the kids make cards and use the day as an excuse to stop by and see a friend or relative you've fallen out of touch with or someone who is lonely or recovering from illness.

Whatever you do, do it with love! :)