A Tribute to David

 A sad thing happened last night when we went to lock up the chickens. Every night we feed them, count them and lock them up. Over the past few months we've lost a few due to a fox that hangs around during the day. And every day I hoped that no more would be missing, but I especially hoped that the favorites- Helen, Ping and David- would be there. And last night, David didn't come home.

David came to us last year as a replacement for Cohen's hen, Prunella, that got nabbed when she got left outside overnight. He was supposed to be a hen. But as he grew, the size of his feet alone told us that he was a rooster instead.

But Cohen loved that bird. He held him all the time and David turned out the be one of the tamest roosters I've ever seen. If you picked him up, he would sit with you until you put him down. He didn't mind being held and never showed once ounce of aggression towards us.

He was also one of the best roosters I have ever seen. Before we got rid of a couple of our not-so-nice roosters, he would stand guard over the hens and chase off any offenders. He would call the hens to him when he found treats to eat. And every afternoon he took a walk around the pasture with a group of his hens and a duck.  He walked along the road, while the hens stayed in the ditch pecking around. He was everything you would want in a rooster.

He was a good rooster. And Cohen, who takes any chicken death hard, was pretty upset. And even though losses like this are part of farm life, it was a very sad loss for all of us.

And he will be missed.

This post is linked to the HomeAcre Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop,

School. Home. Holidays.

 School 

We've been very relaxed lately with schoolish stuff. But here is a little of what they have been working on. Rylan has continued his tree list (of every tree he has seen). He's up to about 200 or so. Cale and Lakin spent some time creating with clay. I handed them a box of toothpicks and they went to town making creations like the one pictured. Cohen has spent a lot of time with the How to Draw Whales and Sharks book. He's getting pretty good at them too.

 Home

 

 I rearranged the school/play room. I moved a couple of desks in and a shelf out. I wanted to give Rylan and Cale their own space. Which Annika promptly took over.

Annika's room also got rearranged- you know the whole big girl room thing. The crib was taken apart, a full size mattress brought in. A tall shelf out and a shorter and wider one moved in.  She loves her knew room- rug, bed and the fact that she can almost reach the dolls she's not supposed to get down.

 

 Holidays

 

We went low key this year for Halloween. I really hate all the [junk] candy they get. I don't like how it makes them act or the increase in stomach complaints. Usually I give in, but this year the kids pulled together their own costumes using clothes and supplies already on hand and a trip to the thrift store. The little community center down the street held a trunk or treat last Saturday. It was small, very small. But it gave them the experience they wanted from Halloween.

Yesterday we attended a Halloween Festival for the local homeschoolers put on by our co-op. I made cupcakes for the cupcake walk, there were games, crafts, pizza, a bonce house. The kids had a great time. And when we got home Rylan made pumpkin cookies for their Halloween treat- which I much prefer to the junk they would have received anywhere else!

The Mountain State Fair: Winning Ribbons

Today was the day the boys got to pick up their fair entries and see the results up close! They were really excited! So here are a bunch of pictures of them with their ribbons. They were so, so proud of their achievement and so am I!

Cohen won 3rd place for his Christmas ornament, 2nd for his yeast bread, and first for his pie, cupcakes and cookies. His chocolate chip cookies also received a large Judge's choice ribbon (he was really proud of that big rosette!)

Cale won 2nd for his peacock, tempra painting, and his decorated cupcakes. He placed first with his soft pretzels, fudge and metal craft. His panda bear cupcakes also received a Judge's Choice rosette!

Rylan placed 3rd with his dried basil and his cheesecake. He got 2nd place for his banana peppers, oil pastel drawing and garlic bread sticks. His black and white flower photograph and decorated cupcakes came in first. Last year he made flower cupcakes and they placed first and received Best of Show. He made the same design this year and came in first and Best of Show again. He was really excited to see that ribbon again!

 This year Lakin was finally able to take part in the fair in the participation section. He received 3 ribbons (and $3) for his great projects. He worked hard right along with everyone else and I am happy he was finally able to take part.

 Now I have 10 framed art pieces to hang up in the stairwell and shelf space to find for all of their other pieces. They immediately decorated their walls with their prize ribbons, Rylan added his current ones to last years. They already are making plans for what to enter next year!

Have your kids ever entered projects into the county or state fair? I highly recommend the experience!

The Mountain State Fair Round-Up

 The kids look forward to entering the fair every year. Last year when we finalized our plans to relocate that was one of the things they asked about- is there a fair? So we searched online and found it- the Mountain State Fair. Close by, tons of categories and pretty similar to the TN Valley Fair they had entered in the previous 2 years. When it came time to submit entries, they went big- Rylan entered close to 20 categories. Cale and Cohen entered around 13. And Lakin qualified to entered the participation group so he entered 3 things.

Drop off day was last Tuesday and Wednesday, so they had been working hard on their entries everyday. Here is what they entered:

Cohen:
      Art: Colored pencil, oil pastel, water color and tempera paint
      Crafts: Christmas Decoration, recycled craft, any other craft, pottery
      Baking: Decorated cupcakes, drop cookies, pie, yeast bread

Cale:
     Art: Colored pencil, tempera paint, crayon
     Crafts: Christmas decoration, sculpture, recycled, metal craft, pottery and any other
     Baking: Decorated cupcakes, rolled cookies, old fashion fudge, any other baked item

Rylan:
    Art: Crayon, oil pastel
    Photography: Color animal. color plants/flower, B&W plant/flower, B&W animal
    Agriculture: Banana peppers (he did sign up for more, but our garden didn't cooperate this year)
    Crafts: Christmas ornaments, paper craft
    Baking: Decorated cupcakes, yeast rolls, cupcakes, muffins, pie and any other baked item

Lakin had 6 categories to choose from and he entered art, jewelry and crafts.

 I must say that the baking portion is the most stressful. With 14 items and one kitchen it got a little hectic. But because of the location, later drop off times and the items the kids chose to make we were able to stretch the baking from Monday afternoon-Wednesday morning and still make the deadline. But there were 3 batches of cupcakes, Rylan's cheesecake and garlic bread sticks, a pumpkin pie, a peanut butter pie, pumpkin muffins, spice cookies, chocolate chip cookies, honey oatmeal bread, 1 batch of botched fudge and another that set, and soft pretzels! And that is a lot. Plus bagging, tagging and printing recipes for each one. And next year Lakin gets to join in on the baking fun!

We did take a trip on Friday to check out the fair- so they did get to see if their entries won. But we didn't see all of them so I will wait to unveil the winning entries until next Monday when we go to pick up their stuff!

Seven

We spent the day in Greenville, South Carolina at the children's museum celebrating all 3 of my August birthday boys.

But seven years ago today this little boy came into this world. He is growing up so fast. He's my clown and always has a smile on his face. He loves to dance and play and generally make people laugh. He has big ideas and tells big stories.

Happy Birthday, Cohen!

Art and the School Room

 A couple years ago I got each of the boys a canvas to paint on. Since artistic interest and ability have changed so much since they first painted on them, I decided to start over. I repainted them all white- using wall paint since it is what I had on hand...

Cale and Cohen picked their subjects and got right to work. Cohen chose a warm and cool color pattern with his handprints all over. Cale chose to do a melted crayon picture. 

 Lakin also wanted to do his right away. He splatter painted on his canvas using tempera paint cakes. I also traced his silhouette onto contact paper before he started.

Here is Cohen's finished project! I love how it turned out.

And here is Lakin's. The contact paper didn't hold up to the wet paint, but I think it looks kind of neat the way the silhouette turned out.

The main reason I wanted to redo these now was to fill empty wall space in our school room. The new room is almost wall to wall shelves with a lot of wall space up high, but not large enough for our big wall maps.

 Our Friends painting went above one shelf, but I had a couple other spots I wanted to fill in with the kids art work.

Here are Cohen and Lakin's hung up above our science and math items. 

Cale's will take a few weeks to finish first and Rylan is still narrowing down his subject. 

Annika got to do a canvas of her own too. This is the first time she's used paint. 

She only tasted it once...

 

And this is the face she gave the brother to told her she wasn't supposed to do that.