Meanwhile, Back on the Windswept Plains...

Downtown Denver- Convention Week

Abby's Handwork

Abby laid out her quilt squares (after a long time of them wallowing in a dark corner of her room...) and has decided to start stitching them together. However, she realized that she will need to sew more yellow and blue squares to be able to complete the next five lines in the quilt.

She has been knitting a skirt from yarns Grandma gave her earlier this summer. However, she also needs to get more of this yarn to finish it. It seems that this is (almost) always the case- running short of materials for a project. Grandma bought the yarn in Alabama- hurray for on-line shopping!

A close up of the skirt. All those different textured yarns make it so interesting. I'm glad leggings are in style again because that would be perfect under the skirt which should come just to the knee.

Hannah's Drawings

Here are three (of several) drawings Hannah has done these past weeks during our group reading time. I think some of these ladies look mad or very concerned. I'll have to ask Hannah what they are thinking!

This week I am attempting to work on quilting this quilt top I bought on ebay about seven years ago. It is impossible to understate how much I *greatly dislike* machine quilting on my machine, so this task is being done because I really, really want another quilt for the family room this winter. We always scramble for the quilts on cold days and we need a few more so everyone will be warm.

My memory quilt top is finished and it turned out bigger than I thought it would. It is a good queen-sized (none of the beds in our house is queen sized, but we'll make it work...). It will probably be years before it is quilted, but in the meantime I will hang it over the upstairs railing and be happy looking at it.

We are into our second week of school. We decided that "A Day No Pigs Would Die" was not a good choice of a book for our family, so we didn't finish it and returned it to the library.

We are enjoying "The World in Ancient Times" history series as a group read-aloud. Jacob is reading "The Mystery of History" and I have checked out another popular homeschooling history book, but for now, "The Ancient Roman World" (and next, "The Ancient Egyptian World") has been great for our history studies.

Finally- wow- what an exciting Olympics! We look forward to evening when we can turn on the tv and cheer for our gymnasics teams and of course, Michael Phelps and the men's (swimming) relay teams. It's always incredible to watch the talent of these athletes from around the world.

School Days

We started school this week even though not all of our curriculum has arrived yet (we are hoping it will come by tomorrow- the company we order from ships its packages by turtle express).

We are enjoying the book "The World in Ancient Times- The Ancient Roman World". It's a very well written history book for elementary/middle school (depending on the child). We are reading it as a group each morning before our other history books come, although we may continue with this series for awhile.

We are also reading "A Day No Pigs Would Die" by Robert Newton Peck. So far it has been good (although needing an edit of a few swear words). Since I haven't read it before, I skimmed over the last few chapters and found them to be on the intense side. I'm not sure how I want to handle those chapters- they deal with death and of course that is a part of life, but this book is pretty blunt in an old-fashioned farmer type way that we are not used to. I need to think about how we'll finish this book. I already know of one chapter we'll be skipping...

We are continuing our math program from last year and it is still going well (Math-U-See).

Looking forward to watching the Olympic Games starting tomorrow...

Place the State

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states_experiment_drag-drop_Intermed_State15s_500.html

If you cut and paste the above link in your browser, it will take you to the Sheppard Software site where there is a nifty USA "Place the State" game. There is a blank outline of the US and they give you the shape of each state, one by one, for you to drag over its location.

I admit that geography is one of my worst subjects (there are others... geometry being even worse) but playing this game has helped me learn the location of each state more than anything else I've tried thus far. My children also enjoy it and we have had competitions to see who can get the best score in the fastest time.

And best of all- it's free!

Muppet Show- I've Never Harmed An Onion

We like to sing this song while chopping onions! I especially needed to sing it today while I cut into the world's most eye stinging onion ever!

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

3 Tablespoons cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons honey
6 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon onion, finely minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (we used dried parsley because we're not THAT fancy)
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup salad oil (we used canola)

Heat vinegar and honey in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until honey dissolves. Pour into bowl. Cool. Whisk in all other ingredients except oil. Mix well. Gradually whisk in oil. May be prepared 3 days ahead, covered and refrigerated.


We tried this new salad dressing recipe this week and it was good. It would be especially good on a raw spinach salad- we often eat salads with half leaf lettuce and half spinach, so I think we'll be making this again.

Summer Vacation

On the way back home

Lots of hay, corn and soybeans in our nation's mid section...

The cabin where we stayed

All the lush vegetation - such a contrast to the drought this year in Colorado! (Silver lining: drought conditions= no mosquitoes.)

Below: video of Brian (wiping out) on the water slide.

Pictures of the Wedding!

The happy couple after the ceremony.

Brian played the role of "backup photographer" and took many (over 1,000) pictures of the weekend. He enjoyed putting the concepts he's been reading about into practice.

The bride and groom had several unique elements to their wedding day. In the morning, the families of the couple met to witness the "transfer of authority" of the bride's parents to the groom. This was the time that the bride was "given" to the groom. Before the wedding, the groom, his father and his groomsmen walked to the house where the bride was waiting and they walked together to the church and down the aisle to be married.

Leaving the house

Walking to the church

Good thing the church was just down the road!

Exchanging vows

Jacob and the groom- his new uncle! Don't they look alike?

The couple and the bride's family

Goofing around

It was a lovely day.

Taking a Blogging Break- Have a Great July!

Projects this week:

 This is the cross-stitch that Abby is working on for a wedding gift. This is her first counted cross stitch and I think she's doing a lovely job.

I' m starting to work on my "memory quilt", which has been stepped on numerous times as it lays on the entry way floor! But that is the biggest space for laying it out... Guess I'd better sew faster...


Summer Days and Daddy playing with his camera, getting ready for the wedding:

She's getting better and more daring all the time!

In other news, Hannah had her wisdom teeth removed yesterday. She's been sipping shakes made with frozen bananas, cautiously eating cottage cheese and applesauce, and watching stacks of Shakespeare movies. I don't think Shakespeare would be MY choice while holding ice packs to my cheeks, but I don't think the first thing I would do after arriving home from surgery would be posting to an online costume forum, either!

See you in August!

In The Sewing Room -or lately- In The Dining Room That Is Currently Being Used As A Sewing Room

This past weekend I sewed some new curtains for the hallway from some fabric I've had for years. Yes, the curtain rod is bent - not sure why- so the curtains are hanging funny. But since we never pay attention to the curtains as we zip down the hall, that might be o.k.

The fabric reminds me of a late 1980's sofa or a Laura Ashley dress (also 1980's).

I also sewed new curtains for Hannah's room. We found this fabric during our trip last week.

I didn't have enough lace for the sides and bottoms of the curtains, so just the sides got the lace.

Hannah likes her new curtains a lot and they go nicely with the quilt she made for her bed a few years ago.

I had extra fabric from the Heather Bailey quilt top so I made up a little doll quilt for Hope's birthday. Since the bigger quilt needs to have a border added to make it the right size, I wanted to play with the little quilt to see how my ideas for the border would look.

On the little quilt the ruffle looks huge, but on the big quilt I hope it will look more proportional.

While I doubt this quilt will get finished before fall as I had originally planned, hope springs eternal and perhaps next week while Hannah is laid up in bed from wisdom teeth surgery, the sewing machine might be free long enough for me to work...

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

Psalm 91: 1-2

Hiking in the Park (rated PG-13)

At the park where we like to hike, there are ruins of a dam that was built during the Great Depression.

The dam burst in the 1930's, leading to the second worst flood in Denver history.

Although the ruins have been stabilized, they are mostly as they were after the flood many years ago.



This speaks loudly of my apparently juvenile sense of humor in that I never fail to giggle over all the "dam" signs all over the park. It's not just a trail- it's the "dam trail". They couldn't write "ruins"- it has to be "dam ruins".

By the end of the hike you feel like you've been in the company of a few salty sailors!

Hiking all over those "dam trails".

We now return to our regular family friendly blogging.