Mushrooms...mushrooms...

What an amazing harvest of mushrooms Daddy and Leona brought home today! It has been raining since morning and we were debating if all of us should go mushroom picking. We decided to let the baby take a nap and then go together. The rain seemed to have stopped, but then by the time Milana woke up it was raining again. I didn't want the little one to get wet and Ivana stayed at home with us to bake cookies and practice her violin.
Leona, on the other hand felt adventurous and joined Mirek for the mushroom picking. Rain coats and rain boots, and off they went to the woods.

A little over an hour later they are coming back all excited and ready to show the harvest and tell all the wonderful stories of going between the trees looking for the mushrooms and seeing tones of salamanders feeding on the worms. Apparently, it was not difficult at all, the mushrooms were so abundant that Mirek was saying it was pretty heavy for him to carry those two bags full of mushrooms back to the car.
And just look at he sizes of them! I grew up picking up mushrooms and so did Mirek, but neither he nor me had seen such huge ones! We measured the largest head in diameter, and it was 20cm. We put the biggest one on the scale, and the weight of that giant was 430 grams, which is so close to a pound! Just phenomenal!
Well...with all that produce we had to get busy and process it! The girls were cutting excitedly, and Mirek and myself were working on preparing the mushrooms for jarring and dehydrating.
Too bad you can't smell the awesome aroma of the dehydrating mushrooms in the house right now!
We are getting ready for the winter like in the old times! To do it together is a lot of fun!I think we'll be going back to the woods on Tuesday after Mirek comes home from work. This time Ivana doesn't want to stay at home and she'll eagerly give up baking cookies for mushroom picking!

Hiking in the woods.

We live in such a beautiful area and on Sunday we decided to go for a hike. The days are getting noticeably shorter, the crispness of the air at night almost requires turning heat on in the house, we are almost done with our summer clothes...all that means that winter will be here before we know it and we just wanted to enjoy the last warm days outdoors.
The girls got their backpacks with some snacks. Ivana took our nature guides and Leona took some paper and pen "to make notes", as she said.
It has not been raining recently, but surprisingly we found 3 beautiful big mushrooms, that we just couldn't leave behind, and I used them in the evening to make cream of mushrooms with chicken for dinner. Yummmm....
The trail was nice and easy in the beginning and I especially was enjoying the peaceful and non stressful hike. Mirek had a 27lbs baby on his back, I carried a camera, of course. Then a bit further it became more challenging on the trail, with some ups and downs, and rock climbing and all that "give me a hand" kind of thing. It took us about an hour to walk 3 miles to the falls, Milana fell asleep on the way and slept through almost all the hike and woke up on the way back.
We had some really exciting finding during the hike. Mirek spotted a trout in the stream by the water falls, the girls saw a frog and a toad, Ivana found a snake skin about 4 feet long (apparently the snake was pretty big!), and we also saw alive baby snake that I almost stepped on. Unfortunately, the battery on my camera died out, so we couldn't snap a picture, but we remembered reading about the snakes in PA and we are almost certain it was a a venomous Northern Copperhead that are common in the area. We'll just have to look it up one more time to confirm it, since we tried to remember the markings on the head and the body of the snake.
Ivana was so happy with her finding that she carried the snake skin all 3 miles back to the car, and now we are thinking what to do with it to preserve it.

So, we successfully completed 6 miles hike and Mirek was giving out "Hi-5s" to the girls by the car and praising them for being such great hikers and all. I felt like I deserved a praise myself!
"Hi-5" to a eight months pregnant hiker!

A day at the Co-op.

At the homeschooling co-op Ivana is taking an Art class this year that is more like a real art class, rather than just crafts, as it was last year. So, the first project they are working on is a fall landscape using oil pastels. Here is her rough draft of the picture and today they were working on fine details to make the painting look more real. I can't wait for her to have a nice collection of new art work by the end of the year so we can frame it and put it up on a wall.
I was a substitute teacher in the Shakespeare class today and we continued learning about the Bubonic Plague and had a hands on activity by making Pomander Balls.
Because of a strong aroma, Pomander Balls were used by the Elizabethans and generations of people before them to ward off the plague and other diseases that they believed were caused by bad-smelling air. It was a traditional practice for people to carry these aromatic balls in their hands, in boxes, or in pockets for protection. Or people could attach them to chains and wear them around their necks or waists. Today, we know that diseases are not caused by smelly air. Nevertheless, we can still enjoy the Pomander Ball's sweet aroma!
Just in case you are wondering how to make them, here is the way:

Materials:

• Thick-skinned orange (or a lemon, grapefruit, lime)
• Fork
• 1 box of whole cloves
• Bowl
• Allspice, pumpkin pie spice, or 1 tablespoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger
• Ribbon, lace, or netting
  

Choose a thick-skinned fruit. With a fork, randomly poke holes into the fruit. The holes should not be so deep that the cloves fall in-you wan the cloves to show!
Fill the holes with cloves.
Put the fruit into a bowl and sprinkle the spices over it.
Keep the Pomander Ball in the bowl and let it dry and shrink for 2 weeks. The Pomander Ball should be kept in an open, sunny spot in your home throughout this period.
When the Pomander Ball has finished drying, it is time to decorate it with ribbons, lace, or netting and hang it anywhere in the house to make it smell absolutely delicious!
Now tell me, who needs Glade scented candles?

Summer went too fast!

I can't believe it's Fall! I had so many plans for the summer, but it seemed to have flown right by me. On the other hand it was pretty relaxing and calm, which was good in a sense (read along, you'll find out soon!).
But now it is Fall, and we are back to our new homeschooling year of learning and fun again!

I have decide to simplify it a bit this year, not to take too much upon myself, and have dropped one homeschooling co-op where we were going every other week last year.
For this school year we have decided to still attend the other co-op which we have been a part of for two years already. The girls love going there, and Ivi often says that she wants to go to the co-op forever. Leona started going to the preK classes last year, and enjoyed every minute of it. This year both of them have some new and exciting classes. For example, Ivi has "Shakespeare", and after the first class she kept on talking about the Bubonic Plague, she made notes during the class and shared the new info with Daddy in the evening. Shakespeare is not a new name for her, and that's why I feel that it is a kind of reinforcement for her of what she had already know from last year when we studied Shakespeare at home.
She will also have a very nice Art program, and during the first class they were using oil pastels to create a autumn landscape. A new subject at the co-op is Science, with some homework to do. And, she will be taking violin lessons finally, she has been asking about it since she was like 3 years old. And besides that, she will have Music/chorus with learning to play a recorder, and Gym, where the teacher is a Mom who coaches soccer. So, I am very excited about the prospect of the full year for both of the girls, as I see how much they enjoy going there and how much they learn.

We also are doing the dance class for both of them, a weekly trip to the local library, a theater program with the local Shawnee Playhouse and Gymnastics in the winter.

Did I say that I had simplified the year for us? Well, now that I have put it in writing, it doesn't seem like the case. But, the classes are back to back for both girls, so I don't have to be driving like a mad woman from place to place dragging 18 months old along, plus another sweet little bundle of joy coming to our family very soon. Yep, haven't you heard yet?

Three sisters.

Growing up together, our three beauties!

I am back!

It has been a while! I have abandoned my blog, and it seemed to me that I would never want to write again. I have lost my spark for a while...
But today a long lost friend called me up and reminded me about my blog! Oh, yes, that's right, I used to write there a lot!!!
So, my"spark" is back, thanks to my dearest friend for a little encouragement to keep on updating the world about our family adventures.