Global Village

We took a field-trip to the Habitat for Humanity Global Village in Americus Georgia.  Everyone was given a passport book to take around and stamp at each house throughout the village.  I think there were around 20 different houses representing Habitat houses around the world.

Go team Okie!

One of the poverty houses which inspired the kids to make better forts in the backyard (not sure this is the reaction they're going for).  

Open-aired school-room where the children are pretending to be students.  Notice Little Miss Raindrop taking it very seriously in the back-row.

Taken from the roof of one of the houses

Lots of Family

Clarkson Grandkid Christmas Photo. Takes 1-9

November (Yeah, I know it's already December)

Ha!  And now it's January.... but I don't want to let November go unnoticed :)

The kids and I made our own growth chart.  I worked on the numbers, and Songbird had the idea to paint a lovely flowering vine up it.  It worked out perfectly because she painted the vine and then everyone could paint flowers here and there.

Thanks to a gift of starter from my friend Rachel, making sourdough bread has become my new hobby.  We are enjoying having delicious and fresh sourdough bread whenever we want!

I love Songbird's Fall pictures.  She had a series of houses with outdoor tables and trees with falling leaves.  She is such a creative little artist - always drawing such intricate stories.

We had fun doing leaf rubbings.  We took it a step further and after we rubbed the outline on the paper we colored it in with crayons or painted them in with watercolors.  It was such an easy project to do, but everyone's always turned out so lovely looking.

Got these wintry treescapes from Claire's blog.  We put washi tape down, painted the background, then took the tape off.  Afterwards we etched the bark with pencil.

Paperwhites!  We actually planted so many paperwhite bulbs in so many different rooms of the house that once they were in full bloom the aroma was almost overpowering. :) But they were so beautiful, and now the flowers are being pressed and preserved.

We also did a lot of leaf hunts and leaf waxing.  

And of course pumpkin pie... 

We enjoyed a sweet visit from my Grandmother thanks to my Aunt and Uncle.

These two were battling a cold together and fell asleep on the couch.  I know they weren't feeling well, but they looked soooo sweet all cuddled up!

First date since we moved to Georgia

Kennesaw wood

It has been 5 months since we have been out in public sans children, so Friday night we happily left the kids with Emily (whose little brother is in Songbird's class at Monday school), and drove two miles up the road to quiet downtown Kennesaw. We found a place to park, and walked the streets, taking note of the shops and businesses scattered along Main Street. I was surprised by a thrift store I've never noticed before, so we went inside, looking for treasures. We happened upon two 1967, beautifully bound George MacDonald fantasies, The Light Princess and The Golden Key, both of which we do not own and have never read to the children. They are illustrated by Maurice Sendak, in great condition, and cost $1 each.

Happy with our find, we tucked the books away snug in the car, and continued by foot through the town. We came upon a park which we have visited with the children on another occasion, but being alone we decided to venture inland, discovering several small grassy fields, and a few wooded trails. The most remarkable things about the park were the enormous oak trees sheltered within. I am sure they have seen such changing terrain in their lifetime. We even saw a big whitish bird swoop down in front of us, but we were both so surprised we didn't get a good enough look to determine owl or hawk. Either way, it was no doubt a magical bird, perching and swooping amidst old, magical oak trees, in the interior of a magical wood. In fact, I am not entirely sure that if I were to return with the kids the fields and paths would exist at all.

As it was growing darker, we turned back to the town and headed to one of a few local restaurants, the Trackside Grill. Together we had corn muffins, coffee, salad, catfish, meat, and remembered and dreamed until the clock struck 6:30. Then it was back home to tuck the little ones away for the night... 

The next day Hubry read both books to the kids - and they could not get enough.

Trunk or Treat

On Halloween we dressed up and went to a nearby church to participate in their Trunk or Treat festival.  Since Hubry was out-of-town, I decided it would be simpler than trying to go to the free day at the Atlanta aquarium with three littles (though I was definitely tempted).  Since the kids play dress-up almost every day, getting dressed up for a festival wasn't much of a novelty (though the candy was).  The funny thing was that Raindrop took her dress-up clothes off and would only wear a white sweater and white bycicle shorts.  The kids pleaded and pleaded with her, but she had such a specific idea of what she wanted to be....

Fall Festival

The kids and I thought it would be fun to have a little Fall festival in our backyard.  We went out into the world in search of suitable carving pumpkins, marshmallows, candy corn and fire wood.  Then we set to work planning our designs.  It turns out I was the only one who was really able to actually carve into the pumpkins, and the swirly designs the kids drew were virtually impossible for me to cut out with my basic kitchen knife.  So instead we went with triangles....  After we were done carving we lit a candle inside each pumpkin, and then Hubry arrived home just in time to help light to fire.  He even let the kids have roasted marshmallows with candy corn on top:). I love how kids get so excited about things as simple as last-minute homemade Fall festivals.