Defeated by the dragon

K's class throwing their stars in the Michaelmas play





























I know we are meant to reflect on how we can defeat our inner dragons on Michaelmas but alas, this time the dragon defeated me. It was right after we finished our dinner. I was  happily cleaning the kitchen (well, as happy as one can be cleaning) and then the dragon snuck up on me slowly entering my thoughts, reminding me of the impossible list of things I had to do in the short time I had before bedtime. He taunted me and my mood quickly turned sour. I allowed the irrational panic to consume me, making me short, and impatient with my family and just completely overwhelmed. I looked at the mess of a kitchen I had to tackle alone and just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry... and I almost did. But then Kevin must have seen the look of despair on my face and he offered to get Little L down for me. That was enough to make me push forward and move on. It's funny how I let myself get stuck in a moment. I am like a deer in headlights unable to make myself run. But this was just a small battle. I may be down but I'm not out. I'll pick myself up and defeat that dragon yet!

Overall we had a wonderful Michaelmas weekend. For the first time K was able to see the Michaelmas play and even be in it. Her class made falling stars for the event. (St. Michael sends falling stars to earth to give us strength and light) It was such a joy to see her participate in the play. I wish I had better pictures of the play itself, but the farmers were blocking my view and I was a bit too far away for my lens. The drumming was pretty intense so I could see why they like to have the early childhood children watch from far away. As in previous years, we were all given apples from our school's orchard at the end of the play. They were exceptionally good this year.

You can see our past celebrations and learn more about Michaelmas here.

Defeated by the dragon

Waldorf first grade handwork (wool clouds!) & a cake recipe

Before the new first graders learn how to knit with knitting needles (that they make on their own, I might add!) their handwork teachers teach them about wool and the many stages it goes through to become yarn as well as other forms it is used in. The first week of school K brought home some wool she had drafted (and informed me that the process made her hands sticky because the lanolin was still in the wool), and then on her birthday she proudly showed me the wool cloud she made that was hanging in her classroom window. I had noticed them from outside of school before but didn't realize they were made by the children. The clouds are quite aesthetically pleasing hanging up in the window, in my opinion. They would be such a great project to make at home, too. I think C and I may even make some for their bedroom window. They used uncarded wool in class but if you couldn't find that I bet carded wool would look just as fluffy and soft as a cloud. It's as simple as grabbing a handful, shaping and fluffing it up in your hands and then carefully sewing a strand of thread though the cloud to hang it up.



I wanted to share a family favorite recipe with you, as well. K and I both love anything lemon so of course lemon cake is a must when it comes time for birthdays around here. This recipe is not Forks Over Knives approved because of the oil but I may play with this recipe some more to find a good way to substitute that.

Vegan Sugar-Free Lemon Cake

ingredients:

1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vinegar
1/3 cup oil
5 tablespoons unsweetened rice drink
juice and zest from one lemon

method:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients minus the vinegar.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and whisk together until smooth. Add vinegar and mix again until evenly distributed. Pour into a 9" baking pan (we use glass) and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes.
Let it cool completely before removing from the pan.

Top with fresh fruit and enjoy!

We enjoy eating this as a layer cake with fresh fruit as the filling between the layers. Just double the recipe above for two layers. I forgot to double the ingredients when I went grocery shopping for K's cake so we ended up with a small single layer cake instead. Still delicious though!

Waldorf first grade handwork (wool clouds!) & a cake recipe

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.















It's been one of those days - you know the kind, right? I lost track of time and had to rush through homeschooling, then Little L managed to turn the oven to self clean and got it stuck in that mode so the oven door locked while our pumpkin scones were baking. (whoever designed this oven of ours did NOT have children. The buttons are right at toddler level) Smoke started appearing and I frantically had to look up the owner's manual online (the oven came with the house) to figure out how to fix it. Of course all of this made us late to school to pickup K... But things are fine now and we can laugh over the silliness of it all.  Anyways, with all of this craziness going on I was not in the mood to take pictures and it shows. So I apologize!! I'll get some better ones soon. These sweaters look better on, anyways. But there you have it - birthday sweater one (rainbows for rainy days) and birthday sweater two (blues). I have to add that birthday sweater two almost ended up being mine instead of K's. When I first modified it I cast on 10 stitches under each armhole and it fit me. Seriously! I tried it on out of curiosity. I thought about continuing on and making it a much needed top for myself but instead ripped it back so it could fit it's rightful owner. If any of you ever want to make one of these for yourselves just use aran or bulky weight yarn and cast on 10 stitches under each arm!

Right now I am trying so hard to finish up C's surprise. I only have one sleeve (and a prayer!) left. I might just make it with the last bit of yarn I have. I also have been working on some mending here and there. Little L's beloved birthday sweater from earlier this year needs some buttons reattached so he can start wearing it again. The air is quickly becoming crisper here.

Michaelmas is very soon and I am still trying to decide on what project C and I will do to celebrate it during our homeschooling week. We could always do our traditional felted falling stars. But I am quite intrigued by many of the projects in the Autumn Equinox and Michaelmas Festival E-Book by Little Acorn Learning - especially the Archangel Michael mobile.

Last but definitely not least - My dear friend has just released one of the most beautiful girl's sweater pattern I have ever seen. She put so much work into it and it really shows. I am so happy and proud of her and just want the whole world to see her beautiful design!! Please go see it for yourself and I think you will quickly understand why it is so special. I am betting it will be in the number one spot on ravelry by morning. ETA - As of typing this post it was at number 3 and quickly rising! I have spent the past couple of weeks debating over yarn choices to make one for each of my girls but trust me, it will be on my needles very soon. Congrats Ginny!

p.s - Don't forget to enter for your chance to win some Sparkle Stories of you own here!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress (or finished works) please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know from my own experience just how much your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

In lieu of a birthday party...(glass blowing, anyone?!)

K's 7th birthday was last week. It fell on a school day so they celebrated it in class. C, Little L and I  were invited to partake in the event. It's quite a bit different in the grades than it is in kindergarten. Short and simple yet perfect - It brings tears to the eyes.

The class went outside to play afterwards and I snuck in K's classroom to place a little birthday muffin with a beeswax number 7 on top in her lunch. We also decorated K's locker as a surprise with C scrunching up her nose and whispering 'sneaky, sneaky' as we did it.

We also celebrated in our usual fashion at home (You can see how we celebrate birthdays here) and let her pick the meals - she chose pumpkin soup for dinner and a lemon cake as her birthday cake (recipe to follow soon!) She melted my heart when she asked me to relight her birthday candles after she blew them out  so that C and Little L could have a turn, too.

She received some much needed shoes and rain/winter boots from the grandparents (thank you!!), this sweet book and then her handmade gifts. Her Juan Diego medicine pouch was a hit and she has been wearing it every day since! She wore one of her birthday sweaters with her birthday skirt to school that day (no pictures of that today - maybe for KCCO) and then the other one (pictured above) when she got home. I modified the pattern I used a bit for that sweater. Notes can be found  here. That's the one that matches her doll's sweater. I actually planned on using that rainbow yarn on a sweater for C, but K fell in love with it.




















In lieu of a party this year we decided to provide a little learning experience we knew she would love.  Over the summer she became a bit obsessed with glass and asked us where it comes from. We told her and it seemed to add fuel to her fire. She was really interested in learning all about how sand can become glass. She just couldn't fathom how that could be true. I love child-led learning like this. I want to foster it and help it grow as much as I can. I asked some friends, did some investigating and came up with a glass blowing shop that was willing to teach young children. We set up a session and surprised her with it over the weekend. I think we could have knocked her over with a feather upon hearing the news.

She chose two of her favorite colors to make her very own Oregon coast glass float (check out the history on those. Pretty cool.) Her teacher was great and explained more about how glass is made without being too crazy scientific or over her head. She finished her float and then we were told to come back the following day to pick it up (so it could cool down). Afterwards we stopped at a chocolate shop for a sweet treat (not FOK at all but I figure once in a blue moon won't hurt us). K talked about glass blowing the rest of the day, even calling people and taking orders for future projects. We may have found a new passion of hers...










She could barely contain her excitement during Mass on Sunday knowing that we were picking up her float afterwards. I think you can see that she was proud of her work. We came home and promptly displayed it on the piano (what we thought was the safest place in the house from cats, dogs and little hands). Little L let us know that we need to find a new location, and fast!

Phew that was a long post! Thanks for sticking with me through it all! Happy 7th birthday to my sweet little girl!!
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Don't forget the Sparkle Stories giveaway is still going on! Check it out here.

In lieu of a birthday party...(glass blowing, anyone?!)