Officially a pet!

Congratulations to us! We officially now have a new pet (besides the 5 fish)!
Mirek thinks our Yertle, the Turtle was a late summer hatchling and would not survive the winter, we decided to keep it for the cold months. That meant a trip to the pet store!

How ready are the sales people sell you all wonderful things! I asked for some advice, and a few minutes later ended up with a full cart of things absolutely crucial (according to the sales man) to raise an aquatic turtle at home. As I was pushing the cart along the isle, he kept on putting more and more things into my cart while explaining things and giving hints. I felt like in a trance under some kind of spell. I could hardly keep up with noticing the prices on those things and feeling that my blood pressure was rising rapidly. "Maybe Yertle should go back to where it came from!", was all I thinking at that moment after estimating the bill for over a hundred dollars.

The sales man politely escorted me to the cash register and assured me that we were all set!
Not so fast, mister! The girls did want to try to have Yertle as a pet, so I decided to see what could be eliminated from the cart that was not so crucial for Yertle's survival! All the plastic stones, decor, and a divider went back to their shelves. We live in the woods, for God's sake! We'll get a real rock and a piece of wood for it's tank habitat!The air thermometer and a lamp were switched for much cheaper ones, a bag of gravel went back as well, since I remember to have half a bag leftover from when we were setting up the fish tank just recently.

Now it was more doable, money wise, I mean! I managed to cut the expenses almost in half! Our Tata works too hard for us, so we don't want to spend the money unwisely.

It had been three days Yertle didn't eat. But when we put it into it's new home and let it get used to the surroundings a bit, the little guy got quite an appetite! Mirek is having a lot of fun feeding the turtle with live worms, and the girls also feed it with dried mini krill and shrimp. Yertle is a carnivore, so no salads or carrots for him! Give him the flesh...

Lantern making.

I always get excited if I come across something new to do with the girls, as I, too, like to have a good time creating. We haven't tried making lanterns yet, so we decided to give it a try. It took us two days to complete the project, which was OK , since the first part took a pretty long time to do, so they were running low on patience.
They picked up a few leaves outside, traced them on a water color paper and filled in the designs with water colors. I love to work with water colors, since you can see how the colors blend and you never know what the outcome would be. And both Ivana and Leona were ready to explore and try out different ways to come up with new colors of their leaves. They had a blast, and so did I, watching them.
The second part involved rubbing vegetable oil on both sides of the paper, once the paint dried up. And the trick here is, the more oil you use, the more translucent the lantern would be. A bit messy, to be honest, but definitely worth it!
After that we had to wait for the oil to set in and let dry completely. On the second day we finished the lanterns, by punching holes, going with a needle to outline the designs and I helped them out a little by making more carved lines to let the light shine through a bit more.
We didn't hang them, but used mini tea lights and let them stand on the table. And we decided to have a candle lit dinner today. It was so cozy and beautiful, and we'll be doing it more often, that's for sure. Christmas is around the corner... That gives me more ideas!

Millbrook Village.

Today it was a day to grab a good book and stay under a blanket, or pick a nice recipe and bake a cake, or watch a funny movie cuddled warm under covers. But, I promised the girls to take them to this Historic Fall Celebration, which happens in the Millbrook Village, preserved and run by the Historical Society of NJ. They were looking forward to it, and I didn't want to disappoint them. So, we went...
Due to the weather, I guess, it was not crowded at all, which made the event so pleasant since we didn't have to worry about loosing the kids in the rooms, it was held indoors, so the rain was not an issue at all.
The fun part I thought was their idea to let the kids dress up in the clothes from 18oo's and then have a little contest. Well, the volunteers at the event were all dressed up appropriately. But, it seemed to me that only I remembered the dress up part for the kids. Anyway, the girls got a lot of compliments and attention from people at the event, and what's more, we got all three places, the first, the second and the third! Besides bringing home all their crafts , we got three new sets of Crayola color pencils!
We did potato stamping last year at home with fabric paints, but they had fun decorating paper bags, book marks and envelopes this year as well.
Paper plate masks... they wanted to be pussy cats. Meow, meow... Leona made hers and I did one for Mimi. They also painted pumpkins, made mini ghosts from cheese cloth and starch water, created leaf rubbings masterpieces on the color paper.
One new things we were able to do was the apple carving. We took home two apples with faces carved on them. We'll have to wait for at least two weeks to let them get dry and then we'll make dolls.
We had a nice time at the Village and we'll try to make it for their Christmas celebration in December.

Surprise!

I got such a surprise today!
Yesterday evening I was checking my email and found our that I would not have even one free period at the coop. I usually teach the first period, then aid during the second, now on top of everything I would have to substitute for the third period due to the teacher absence. Then comes lunch and after that I again aid in the art class and the final period is Ivana's violin lesson that I have to be present at. So, no breaks for me! Oh, yes, and the cleaning duty! I was OK with that since I don't like to be treated as handicapped when pregnant and like the feeling of being involved.
And apparently, my third period substitution had been arranged on purpose and I later found out why! Ta-da! I thought nobody throws a surprise baby shower when you are having your forth one! And I got one!
I was so touched by all the effort, attention, warm wishes, gifts and support that there are no words to express myself!
I am so glad I'll have a few photos to remember all that special time that was meant only for me! Thank you all!

Yertle, the Turtle.

What a coincidence that just this past Monday we went to the library and picked up a book by Dr. Seuss, "Yertle, the Turtle". It is a funny story and the girls really enjoyed reading it.

So, today we are going for our walk, enjoying the beautiful fall colors and fresh air after morning showers, chatting away, and then suddenly, Ivana spotted a little guy trying to cross the road. It was a turtle! It was almost immobile, hardly moving, and we thought that it was not going to make it to the lake. Of course, here it goes, right away, "Mom, look, here is Yertle, the turtle!".
The girls decided to take it home and try to have it as a pet. Since having a dog is not an option right now, the bunny that was promised in the summer has to wait, too, I decided to settle for a turtle.
It is a snapping baby turtle, and when we came home Ivana did a research and found out fascinating things about that creature. She made notes, printed out the important info, ran outside to dig out some worms, set up the temporary habitat and everybody is so excited! Milana kept on climbing on the chair to peek at the turtle, the girls were trying to feed it, but without success.
Hopefully, by tomorrow it will get hungry and we'll manage to attract his attention with a worm on a tooth pick. Just don't die on us, little Yertle!

Corn people.

There is always an abundance of natural materials in our neck of the woods, but fall always brings extra exciting possibilities to get creative!
It all started with Mirek bringing a bag full of chestnuts from the city. He said he wanted to make animals with the girls using those chestnuts, just like he remembered from his childhood.
Since they didn't get to do it right away, the chestnuts dried up and it was already impossible to stick the toothpicks into them. So, I had to take charge and get the glue gun out!

After a nature walk we had some corn, the girls picked up acorns, moss and sticks in the backyard, I saved the shells from hazelnuts eaten like a few days before. And then we needed some things to jazz it up a bit, so the buttons, beads and pipe cleaners were a great idea.
They were busy making their corn people, and all I had to do was to help them with the gluing part of it. They came up with a few animals, there was a mouse, a squirrel, a caterpillar. But the most fun they had was to make those corn people. They got so carried on, that both of them decided to make those "creatures"for their friends at the coop. And what's more, the next day Leona brought the whole basket full of their creations for her "show and tell" time at the coop.
I know they'll be playing with these new toys for a while. We hardly ever get bored in this house, can't you tell?

Fall is here...

They say that when one is about to have a baby, one gets to experience the bust of energy and starts getting ready to kind of settle into a new routine by vigorously cleaning the house, preparing the nursery, organizing the little one's wardrobe, etc... I am , too, currently experiencing the fire of energy, but it is geared towards being outside, not in the house.
I know what is ahead of me... Long and cold winter days when we'll be forced to stay more indoors because of the little one, sleepless nights and countless hours spend on the sofa nursing the baby. You get the picture.
Well, the days are just keep on surprising us and we are taking advantage of the beautiful fall days. Today's hike was a bit more of a challenge for me than the previous ones. I guess the extra weight is pulling me down, and today I did need a push from Mirek to help me get up the hill.
But the extra effort was so much worth it! The view from the top of a hill was breathtaking, even though my breath was already taken and I HAD to catch it, panting like an old dog! The foliage colors were not in there peak yet, but the sensation of watching the landscape from the bird's point of view was awesome! The Delaware river, the corn fields, the mountain ridge, the roads and the bridge... It is an amazing feeling to be up on the top. You feel kind of detached from the hustle and bustle of the world down below, there are no worries up where you are, everything was left down there. The richness of the moment is simply indescribable. You get to remember once more what really is important in your life and get reminded to cherish the simplest moments and appreciate what you have.
This time Milana did not sleep through the hike and got to enjoy it as well. The girls had a snack, tried to climb the trees, searched for mushrooms (and not in vein), rolled on the dry grass. And then we all got to see something amazing! It was a great bonus to spot a praying mantis laying eggs!

We have been so blessed with experiencing and learning something new every time we take our family to the great outdoors! And it is so great to hear the girls tell all what they saw in the woods to their friends, relatives, neighbours. Just as I don't really agree with the term "homeschoolers", it is more like "world learners", I guess.

Delaware River.

We came to spend a quiet afternoon by the Delaware River. Mirek was relaxing trying to catch fish, I took my folding beach chair to plunge my oversized body into and grabbed a few buckets and shovels for the girls to play with. Nobody was thinking about swimming because it was getting pretty chilly, but wading in the water was all right with me. And that how the things were progressing... They were nice and clean, wearing pretty dresses and skits, but not for too long, of course.
The as they have discovered mud is not the same as sand, I had to take some measures to save the clothes, and the layers were starting to come off.
The mud was awesome! Wet and heavy, gooey, sticky... Needless to say, they had a blast playing with it! And I just sat there and watched them, jumping off the chair every now and then to catch Milana not to let her fall down onto the mud with her face as it was pretty slippery.
And that was the final result! There was no way skipping the bath time that evening!