First Week of Fall

Last Sunday we celebrated the Autumn Equinox (a little early) with some great end-of-summer activities. We made tons of pesto using Kelcey's new birthday food processor. We also took all the neighborhood kids to our neighbor Hal's house to pick apples from a old tree that has been all but forgotten about.We had David and Brandon on the ladders, the older kids in the trees filling bags, Kelcey and I on the ground dumping the full bags into the containers and sorting the apples into "save for eating," "press for cider," and "feed to goats" categories, and Gita and Willow in the back of the truck keeping the apples and the press safe.

After we felt sufficiently laden with apples, we packed up the bounty and the kids, and headed over to Brandon's to make cider and play some music. Kelcey and I took the apples we has set aside for the goats and walked down to the barnyard. We quickly realized that we really should have brought the camara with us! The goats were crazy about the apples and would get one in their mouth and tilt their head back to be able to chew it with their back teeth. Kelcey and I, both being mothers, were ready to rescue choking goats, should the need arise.
When we got to the pressing party, we were greeted with apple juice to drink and a 5 gallon jug of hard apple cider being made. Here is Brandon giving the press a crank.

And neighbors Soliel and Mullein getting in on the action.

So this is the very crazy busy time of year for me. The big conference that I start organizing in November the year before is coming up this next weekend October 3-5th. About 6 weeks prior my friends say goodbye to me and know they may see me at social events again in late October. This year has not been as bad as the last few, in that I am able to manage the work load a bit more and keep my family time, homeschooling hours, and such mostly unaffected. As we were beginning to make dinner last night, David asked if I wanted to invite Meredith, Kevin and kids over to join us. Seeing as they live right next door and I have not been pulled away from my computer long enough to pay them a visit for the past few weeks, that sounded like a great idea. So I got out of my jammies (yes, at dinner time) and tidied up the house while David and Gita made their famous guiche. Gita loves to crack the eggs.
Later, as we were preparing plates for the kids, we came to the realization once again that together, we have 6 kids! Amazing!

Mullein (7), Nimuae (7), Salome (or Lomi)(20 months), Gita (3), Noah (11), Banyan (9)

Thursday Morning Watercolor

Fairy Houses

Last Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa John gave Nimuae and book and dvd about Fairy Houses. We were suprised when we read it for for the first time that the book was about some of the same fairy houses that we visited in Maine that summer. Since then, building fairy houses has been a favorite past time of the family, especially Nimuae.

On Saturday, Nimuae asked if she could take me on a tour of her recent buildings. She lead me into the "wild" area of our homestead. I was given special access to the "fort zone," (that is what the sign below states) a private area to be entered by invitation only.

We crossed over the spring, which is flowing again after the hurricane driven rains, and into a rhododendron cove. Nimuae pointed out some funny poop (fox?) and asked me to please be careful to not step on any of the mushrooms. After climbing over a fallen ash tree, we came upon the newest house.

One of the neighbors cats joined us as we sat, quietly observing her handicraft and the magical lighting filtering through the rhododendron. She then took me to the fairy cave. She had added some beds and floor covering to keep the fairies comfortable.

I'd Love to be a Fairy's Child
by Robert Graves

Children born of fairy stock
Never need for shirt or frock,
Never want for food or fire,
Always get their hearts desire:
Jingle pockets full of gold,
Marry when they're seven years old.
Every fairy child may keep
Two strong ponies and ten sheep;
All have houses, each his own,
Built of brick or granite stone;
They live on cherries, they run wild
I'd love to be a fairy child.

Noah

Here is great photo of Noah that his Uncle Mikey took on his last visit. I often feel bad that the 3 kids are not equally represented in this blog...Noah is on his own so often that I don't get as many pictures of him. So I was very glad to get this photo from Mikey and create a post that is just the oldest son, biggest brother, Noah.

Pick'm and Press'm

David has been dreaming about an apple press. We still have a cooler full of apples from Mrs. Dailey's trees and now another neighbor, Hal, has offered his apples to us, if we come and pick them. So David called around to our community in search of an apple press to turn the abundance of apples into cider. This week he hit the jackpot! Our dear neighbors Nick and Fran, our "adopted grandparents" who play the role for those of us living far away from our real beloved grandparents, had a press sitting around and they were ready for it to find a new home. So David and Alex picked it up and offered some window cleaning in exchange. And here she is...

1. A little helper fills the chamber with apples (yes, if the little helper is wearing only panties the apple juice tastes sweeter)

2. The cranker cranks

3. Our juice cups runneth over

Multiplication is fun

While blog-browsing the other day on other "Waldorf Inspired Homeschool" sites, I came across directions for a Multiplication Clock. Noah is re-visiting long division (who doesn't love a good visit to long division?) and has been struggling a bit with times tables. I have wondered whether or not we should go back to flashcards, but then I remember that we really don't like to do them. Well, RobinSunne, a fellow home schooler and blogger, presented one of the most genius ideas I have heard of in a long while (some other fravorites include baby leg warmers, the home espresso machine, and high efficiency washing machines)...the multiplication clock.
It may be hard to see here, but each line represents a times table (3's or 7's or whatever). But then the coolest part is that for each times table, you can either read up the line, or around one of the colors. So for the 5's, you can either find 5 in the yellow circle and read up for all the 5's times tables from 1 to 12, OR you can just read around the teal circle for the same table. Seriously cool. And will hopefully do some magic on long division.

http://www.robinsunne.com/robinsunnes_multiplication_clock

Creative Kids

Nimuae started crocheting as part of her daily school work this week. We are working on the ever exciting chain stitch. Nim is really getting the hang of it and is working towards a scarf. I tried my hand at crocheting too...I can't believe I have made it into my 30's without learning how to knit or crochet or embroider, especially since my mom is quite a whiz with a needle and thread. Maybe Nim will take after Grandma....This week Noah is focusing on the Sumarians and Babylonians. He chose to work with clay for his project today (he really has a knack for the whole clay thing) and he created a ziggurat. If you do not know what a ziggurat is, ask Noah...he is the expert.And here is some confirmation that the kids are really learning all the time...even during lunch!

A busy week

This first week of September proved to be a busy busy week in the life of the Carmonas. Here is a quick recap...and an apology for the delay in posting...

1. Apple picking
Gita, Lilikoi, Kelcey, David, and Karen spend a sunny afternoon at Mrs. Dailey's house picking apples from her trees. Gita loves "Missy Dailey's" house, her little doggie, and her extensive doll collection. Her three trees were heavy with apples just waiting to be picked.

2. Apple processing
What do 2 families do with 100 pounds of apples? We don't have an apple press for making cider and it was far too hot for a canning mission. So we turned baskets of apples into apple sauce, apple butter, frozen apple slices, and apple struedel. 6 hours in the kitchen took a toll on our energy levels, and all of that apple stuff took up a fair portion of our fridge, but it was fun and we will enjoy the fruits of our labor in the winter months.

3. The Stone Mountain Homeschool (our "official" homeschool name) begins
Another year of homeschooling. Noah is working on 6th Grade currriculum and Nimuae is starting 2nd Grade. We use a wonderful Waldorf based curriculum called Oak Meadow for both kids. We all did a section on the Stone Age this week ...one project was making clay figures based on some cave paintings we looked at on-line. Nim's horse met her end soon after her creation, Noah made an awesome bull and a snowman (?). We took them outside to photograph them next to these amazing mushrooms that popped up next to our door. And the next day, we observed the mushrooms to see if they died or grew..and just look at them...they are huge!

4. Visit friends in Mill Springs
David and the girls spent the day at Chris and Rebecca's house, with their kids Sunny (10) and twins Maggie and Lucy (3) while I was in meetings in town and Noah was hanging out with this buddies. Here are the girls are on the "green machine."

5. Kelcey's Birthday Brunch
I did not get any photos of the brunch itself or the wonderful group of celebrators, but I did catch a few shots of 1) Nimmy with the cool lanterns, and 2) Gita looking through a lantern.