Castle building 101

Life has been ridiculously busy and yesterday was the worst yet (of this week anyway) so even though I have a ridiculous amount of work to do (like say, get the house undone from yesterday's adventure~to be revealed, btw~ and prepare for our upcoming week long house guest), I am TIRED and it is ridiculously hot out so I can only muster the energy to sit in front of the fan and write a ridiculously long post about a recent project the childer have been working on and to see how many times I can fit the word "ridiculous" (in any form) into one ridiculously redundant paragraph.

Yes~this heat IS getting to me. Why do you ask?!

Andrew found this book at the library and, as is often the case with books, was spurred on to creating one himself. Of course, being the crafty gal that she is, Corynn jumped right on that bandwagon.


So the castle project began and I tried very.very.very hard to let the kiddos do their thing without taking over the project (being the crafty girl that I am can sometimes create a problem when Mama starts making things "just so").

So the children gathered the supplies. Glued. Colored. Painted. Taped. Folded. Drew bricks. Cut brick slits for the castle top. Strung the drawbridge. Cut and made flags. Made water. Grew grass. And generally took over. (I never knew my children could grow grass and make water~the things you learn!)

I wielded an Xacto knife and glue gun for the small bit of "tough stuff" and then sat back and let them have at it.


We haven't done every project in the book. We may NEVER do the people and horses, since Playmobile people work so lovely with it. (THANK YOU PLAYMOBILE!) But I don't doubt that there will be a church and battle tent in our very near future.

They DID make the stable, though.

What is a castle without a place to put the horses? Andrew took over the stable project...

while Corynn made the flags.

And Papa took over the popsicle stick catapult project (his own design, not the one in the book). The kids didn't help with the catapult but have sure made USE of it! Cheerios are great ammunition by the way, especially for catapults with this much....power.

It can take people out across the room.


So you boys had better watch out.


Andrew painted the grass and Corynn made water from aluminum foil painted blue and plastic wrap.

They both did an awesome job brick-laying. The key to good brick laying is two on one and one on two, by the way.

Andrew says we need some alligators for the moat.


And since I am a homeschool Mama, and since ANYTHING fun can also be educational~ I went searching for some books on the subject. Maybe the children will find a few MORE projects to do for their castle. ;-)

Ms. Frizzle's Adventures: Medieval Castle

Days of the Knights

Living in Castle Times

The Knights Handbook

Living in a Castle

Knights and Castles

Castles

Corynn has been busy

While I was working on a project in the craft room one day, my followers found me and settled in to work also. Andrew, in the making of a rhinocerous picture on the floor out of scrap fabrics and string. But CORYNN, she was determined to work on a REAL project.

I wish I could say I happily obliged and set my work aside with a smile. I smiled and set my work aside, of course, but inwardly I groaned "UGH! The MOMENT I want to work on a project...I have to help THEM with THEIR projects. THIS is why I can never get anything done!" There. Never say this blog just shows the beautiful and good. Because my attitude was not beautiful or good at the time.

But I shoved those feelings aside while mustering a cheerful countenance (on the outside) and set Corynn to work making a bib from the same pattern I was using.

This project was start to finish-hers. Of course, it involved embroidery. And choosing her own fabrics. But this time, she traced the pattern herself.

And cut herself.

And sewed herself (on her Janome Hello Kitty Machine).

And even installed snaps herself.

I was there to guide and direct, encourage and teach. That's it.

Funny. Though I sacrificed my small window of opportunity to work on my own project, I was later given a larger window (during rest time) that allowed me to start and FINISH my own project. I still haven't figured out how that worked...

So what was she making?? And for whom???

B is for BUTTER

Before the school year began, I finally made a decision about buying an actual phonics program rather than just using books like Dick and Jane, etc. to get Corynn reading. I wanted a real educational approach, not something half-hearted and harried (as I knew these would be things I would produce without some direction on my very first year of bonafide home educating.) Though pricey, I saved for the Veritas Press' Phonics museum for K and 1st grade, rationalizing that it is usable for all my future reading students (read: children), and enjoying the approach not only for its' reading and parental aides but for introducing Art appreciation and even simple stories based on history. While I HAVE found that it is a bit juvenile and I can (and need to) step up the work a bit, (namely: they work on one phonogram per week and Corynn already knows the phonograms, so she is way over the practice-the-letter-B-for-five-days-straight bit.) still I appreciate all that it DOES encompass. All the "perks" shall we say. We've done apple printing, made masks, practiced the art techinique of pointellism, and last week, it was suggested we make butter. BUTTER!

So we did.

Here's how:

For butter you will need:

1 pint heavy whipping cream
a pinch of salt
a clean glass jar
a marble
a bowl
a strainer
and a wooden spoon


You pour two cups/one pint of heavy whipping cream into a clean (and cold) canning jar. Plop a clean (and cold) marble in there too, and top it with a tight fitting lid. To make them cold, put them in the fridge for an hour or so- DUH!


Then, you just SHAKE. Shake. Shake Shake. Andrew liked the shaking for about... two minutes when suddenly, the jar shook itself right onto the floor-taking out his toe in the process. After that, he was a shaking snob and didn't lay a finger on the jar again until the butter had already been made.


Corynn, on the other hand, was a real trooper. She was a dedicated shaker through and through, which says a lot considering it takes about 20 minutes for anything really substantial to happen.

You put your right arm in...you take your right arm out. You do the hokie pokie and you shake yourself about.
Shake it up baby, now, shake it up BABY. Twist and SHouT, twist and shout. Come on, come on, my BABY now...come on Baby!

After that twenty minutes of intense and violent jarring (get it? Har har.) SOMETHING happens. Trust me- ANYTHING is better than nothing. You start to see thick cream pulling away from the jar. Oh-this is good.

But that doesn't give you opportunity to stop shaking, just motivation to keep on going. For another 30 minutes! Yeah. This WOULD count as a physical education point. If I had to keep track of PE at this point, that is. I burned approximately 12,385,763 calories during this exercise.


After what could seem like FOREVER (By the way: now would be a good time to suggest that you NOT do separate batches for toddlers. This is an awful lot of shakin' for one Mama to do if multiple kids tire out from shaking...instead, have them take turns doing the shakin'. Just trying to help) very spontaneously and very magically, the butter and buttermilk separate. Trust me, you begin to wonder if it is going to happen. Then, out of the blue- two or three shakes clean the sides and milk magically appears. It really happens!


Next comes the straining. Strain the butter from the buttermilk using just a glass bowl and strainer. Save the buttermilk and find something good to use it for. Buttermilk is expensive in stores...


This is what it will look like at this point.


Now, residual buttermilk is still in the butter, so rinsing it is an important next step. Submerge the butter in cold water and pour off milky white water. Repeat this step until the water remains clear. Then dump that water and move on to the NEXT step.


Next step: spread the butter around on the outside of the bowl with a wooden spoon, and in so doing, push excess buttermilk out of butter. It will squish out into the center of the bowl where you can pour it out. This is important because buttermilk left in the butter turns it sour... Corynn enjoys telling people this tidbit. I know not why.


This step is where the Panda comes in again, and with gusto he comes! Pardon me while I admire his adorable concentration aide- his tongue. Gotta love an out-hanging tongue.


Can't see it? Here. Let's go in for a closer looksie...


And where there are two, there are three. This boy really needs to concentrate, I guess. Squishing buttermilk is a harder job than I originally thought.


Once the excess buttermilk has been squished out and then drained, your butter is ready to refrigerate. If you want SALTED butter, mix a pinch of salt in at this point. A butter mold would be fantastic, but we don't have any. I did, however, find a small, heart shape cupcake tin which Corynn opted for. Andrew went with a bowl from their play kitchen.


Refrigerate for an hour or so until firm and then enjoy. My parents came over the following evening, so you can imagine how excited Corynn was to put out her heart butter for the meal.

She has even been overheard teaching people how to make butter on several occasions since.

I guess they enjoyed themselves...



And THAT's what it's all a-BOUT! Cha cha cha.