Meteorology Study & Christmas Sachets

This week in science we are studying meteorology. Today we made our own homemade thermometer and an anemometer (a tool used to measure wind speed).





In History we have been learning about Christmas in America in the 1700's and 1800's. Today we did a fun project from the book we have been reading and made scented sachets. We used dried scented herbs I had dried from our garden this past summer and added a little bit of scented oils to make them a little more fragrant. We cut squares of fabric using pinking shears to help prevent the edges of the fabric from fraying and then filled the center of the fabric with our scented dried herbs. We used lemonbalm, peppermint, and lilac (not altogether though lol). Then bundled and tied each one with a strip of lace ribbon. :)

Christmas Fun

Yesterday the girls decorated graham cracker gingerbread houses at a friend's house and today we took Ella (since Raven & Gwen were at a friend's spending the night) out for lunch and to go see the Christmas train display at the library. :)

Gwen's Dollhouse Sized Embroidered Blanket & Pillow

Today Gwen wanted to learn how to embroider. So we got out the embroidery hoops, needles, scissors and embroidery floss and got to work. She wanted to embroider a cat face and turn it into a tiny little blanket for her Littlest Petshop dollhouse animals and to make them a tiny smiley faced pillow. After she embroidered her fabric I helped her sew them on the sewing machine. They turned out really cute. :)

Peppermint Scented Salt Dough Ornaments & A Stocking for Ella

Inspired by the blog 3G = Growing Godly Girlz we made peppermint scented salt dough ornaments yesterday with a friend and her daughter. :) Today we painted them. :)

Scented Salt Dough Recipe:

Ingredients:

* 4 cups flour
* 1 cup salt
* 1 -1/2 cups hot water (tap water)
* 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (optional)
* few drops of scented oil (we used a food grade peppermint oil to make them smell yummy)

Instructions:

* Combine the salt and flour in a mixing bowl
* Gradually add the water until the dough becomes elastic
* Add the vegetable oil

If your dough is too sticky, add more flour, if too crumbly add more water.

Once you've got your dough at a consistency you can work with, bring on the rolling pins, straws (to cut the circle to later hang them from using a ribbon or ornament hook), and cookie cutters.

For colored dough you add food coloring, Kool-Aid, or paint into the water before adding it to the dry ingredients. Or you can paint your ornaments after they have dried (either air dried or baked at 200 degrees F). Painted ornaments will need to be sealed with clear varnish.



Tonight Ella wanted me to make her a Christmas stocking. So she picked out her favorite fabrics and helped me make it. This is what we ended up with....

Our Gingerbread House

Ella decorated the front of the gingerbread house, Gwen decorated the back, and Raven decorated the sides. :)

Advent Calendar Activities

Every Christmas season I have visions of sewing a lovely little handmade fabric Advent Calendar like this one from All Sorts and every year I never get around to attempting to actually make one. lol So I was thrilled when I saw this easy idea on Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Instead of an Advent Calendar filled with candy (although that still sounds yummy, maybe next year lol) you make a list of Advent activities. :)

I didn't have a garland and enough clothespins to make one like she did but I had a pretty little strip of vintage ribbon. So I hung that up in the doorway from our livingroom to our kitchen with a tack and then punched holes in the ribbon using a hand hole punch. Then I used some Christmas themed scrapbook paper and punched out 25 circles to represent each day up until Christmas and then made little wire ornament hangers out of thin gold jewelry wire to hang each one onto the ribbon. Then I took a larger piece of scrapbook paper and wrote out a check list of 25 fun Christmas activities that we would like to do this December and then we can just pick one from the list each day.

Here's a few examples from our list:
- make a gingerbread house
- string popcorn
- take a nature walk
- make Christmas ornaments
- take a drive to see the Christmas lights
- bake and take cookies to the neighbors
- donate to a charity for Christmas
- read a Christmas story together

Then we reused our little "Tree of Thanks" from Thanksgiving and strung tiny lights on it and then for each day in December we will take the corresponding numbered paper ornament off of the ribbon and hang it onto our little holiday nature tree and pick an activity from the list to do together as a family. :)

Decorating Christmas Trees

Polymer Clay Food

The girls have been having so much fun making pretend food stuff for their "bobble heads" (Littlest Petshop animals) and for their Madame Alexander dolls (18" dolls similar to the American Girl dolls but much more budget friendly).

Pictured below is the clay pie Raven and I made last night for her dolls. :)

Cranberry Sauce

Ella, my little chef, helped me make the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving tomorrow. The recipe is from the book we have been reading this week called A Pioneer Thanksgiving: A Story of Harvest Celebrations in 1841 Written by Barbara Greenwood and Illustrated by Heather Collins. It was a really simple recipe to make and Ella loved hearing the cranberries pop as they cooked.






Here's the recipe:

PIONEER CRANBERRY SAUCE

2 c. of fresh cranberries
1 Tbsp butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Combine the cranberries, butter, sugar, and water in a pot. Ask an adult to turn on the burner to medium. Heat the mixture to the boiling point, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

2. Boil rapidly until the berries pop, about 5 minutes.

3. Ask an adult to take the pot off the burner. Let the sauce cool for 5 minutes, then stir in the cinnamon.

4. Cover the sauce and put it in the refrigerator until firm. Store leftover sauce in fridge or freezer.

Ella's Terrarium

Today I helped Ella make a terrarium. We found the directions here at The Magic Onions. We used an old mason jar and added stones, potting soil, some moss we found on one of our nature walks, and a little red and white mushroom. Not the best photo, but you get the idea. :)

Sewing

The girl's having been taking sewing lessons. Pictured are a few of the things they have made recently. They are so proud of what they have made. :)

Raven with her stocking she sewed

Gwen's stocking

little drawstring purse Raven made

A Day at the Park

Today was such a beautiful day outside. :) The temperature was in the 70's, fallen leaves crunched beneath our feet as we walked, the smell of fall surrounded us, and the sun was actually out today shining down warm and bright.

It was just too nice a day to waste indoors, so we headed to the park to enjoy the weather. The girls played on the playground, we went for a nature walk together, they collected fall leaves, and Miss Ella filled her pockets to the brim with acorn caps. lol