Okay..one total annoyance…Wordpress will not let me log in under my name?!? I don’t know what the deal is with that.  But it’s still me, even though it says posted by administrator.

Anyway…trying to be a good mom/homeschooler here, and I’m TOTALLY freaking out.  So I’m looking for your input…if anybody’s there

Miss A and I just started studying Spanish on a daily basis. Just general vocabulary words at this point.  And I had this flashback of being like seven and watching Sesame Street, where the kids put little cards with Spanish words all over their house to help them learn.

When I was seven, I thought this was cool, and wished I could do it.  And today when I remembered, I was thinking…”this would be a really great way to help Miss A remember the words”.

So we labeled our house.  And Miss A was jumping for joy excited about it.

And now I’m looking around my “beautiful” home marred by index cards covered in Sharpie and wondering if I can handle it.

I don’t know if I can.

I really don’t know.

Help me!  Do I get over the vanity for the sake of education, or do I sentence her to a life of having to look at “real” things on the computer instead of in her actual real world?

I need you! Tell me what to do.

You’re looking at the last of my amazing farmer’s market produce for this year (isn’t that carrot fabulous!). I meant to take a picture of the awesome gourd I picked up there for fall decor, but I forgot, and I don’t feel like it now so…

Anyway, I’ve totally had fall fever lately.  Ever since we got back from vacation I’ve been going crazy. 

The thing that makes me notice fall the most is that feeling in the air about 7:30 in the morning.  That crisp, hazy chill, that fades quickly, but is wonderful for awhile. 

Unfortunately, by the end of the day, it’s still been feeling very much like summer around here.  And I’m tired of summer.

I used to think fall was my favorite season.  But then I thought the same thing when spring came, and summer, and winter.  I’ve realized that I don’t really LOVE one season more than another.  I just love the first few weeks of each season most.  The exhilirating feeling of change, the anticipation of what fun traditions that season brings.

What got me thinking about all of this, other than the obvious, was a post I read the other day by a girl in Australia.  She was talking about her girls being on break from school…SPRING break, that is.

I know the whole “Christmas in the summer” thing that goes on on the other side of the world, but I guess I just never gave much thought to how that all plays out year round.  Spring break cannot happen in September, I’m sorry.  September is just one of those things (in my mind) that is strictly FALL.  Just like October and November. 

And if September is SPRING, then April would be FALL.

Does this boggle anyone else’s mind or am I just really dumb?

I really don’t mean to sound egocentric (one of my favorite words), but it’s just more than my poor little mind can handle that someone is experiencing spring in September.

What do you think?

And what other things do you associate with fall that you would lose on the other side of the world? 

I’m thinking…pumpkins?!?! If it’s spring they can’t possibly have pumpkins.  Or apples.  What about mums?

Tell me what you think…

I was excited to get back to particpating in the Unplugged Project this week, after last week’s failure….

But I have to admit, I did kind of have a rough time coming up with a project for fruit.  Normally at this time of year we would be doing all kinds of fabulous fall crafts themed around apples.  That’s one of my favorite things when the season starts to change.

Sadly, my parents trees did not have any fruit this year, and I don’t know anyone else locally who grows apples.  So I spent most of my week pouting over our apple drought this year.  And moping about the fact that we already did a perfectly glorious fruit project a couple months ago.

FINALLY, I got inspired.

We’ve been studying Indians all week for Miss A’s history (I know that’s not the PC term, but all of the books we’ve been reading say Indians, so that’s what I’m saying).  Anyway, I decided to totally wing it with this project, which is VERY unusual for me.  I apologize in advance if this is horrifying to any history buffs who know more than I do.  I kind of just made it up and hoped it was somewhat acurate.

We started with about a half a bag of freezer burned frozen raspberries.

I let them thaw.

Then the girls and I had a chat about how the indians didn’t have stores, and therefore did not have things like paint.  Earlier in the week we learned about teepees and they saw pictures of decorated ones, so I explained that the indians used plants, and fruit (?) to make their own paints.

I instructed them on how to smash their fruit with a rock to make the “paint”.

Then we finger painted designs onto construction paper.

It was very messy, but they had a lot of fun, and it smelled really good.

(I realized only after I had uploaded the pictures onto my computer how…um….gory they are.  Sorry about that.  Not intended, and I promise it’s all raspberries.)

So it was a fun (hopefully not too inaccurate) project, and I was really happy we were able to tie it in with school, because that seems to be the only way we accomplish anything lately.

Go check out more fruity projects here.

I’ve decided to make Saturdays my official “sharing” day.  That way you have LOTS to read ALL weekend

FIRST, and definitely most important you MUST read this article about the future of our milk!

I love this post about why we shouldn’t avoid the pressure cooker.

Here are some great thoughts about buying organic.

For all of you packrats, here’s some help regarding holding onto sentimental things.

Thoughts on the idea of having were really great for me.

Finally, here’s a little laugh for you…check out the chicken.