Ok, a super fast review for a super quick read. A Barbra Annino short tale about a young man (Doug) who finds he is living with a Brownie – Leroy who is less than easy to live with. Bring in a trip to a New Age store and a young tattooed and pretty lady named Trina. Watch as he tries to rid himself of Leroy and then brings Trina into the experience. A little bit of mature language, some quick giggles and BANG more questions not answered and a definite wish to read the sequel – Gnome Wars II, though it does not seem to be released yet. I really hope the author continues to write about Doug and Trina! Be sure to check this super short and humourous read out! Gnome Wars!

Gnome Wars

Insomnia is never a good thing and on a Sunday night it certainly leads to a messed up Monday! Thankfully Ken was able to compensate and I got some sleep around 7am while the kids did their spelling, drawing and outside play. What we did accomplish was TWO crafts! I had been waiting to do these for over a week and am so glad we were finally able to assemble everything and get them done. 

Letters first

First was the Fairy Loom or Autumn Loom if you like. We used branches from back when Ken and his dad took down the trees in the backyard. They were easily cut down to make nice Y shapes. The boys did the stick hunting… And then we used some of the yarn that was laying around… this is a very thin yellow I have not found a use for… perfect for creating our woven framework.  Add in some pretty leaves and bright coloured feathers I got at Michaels with a coupon and there you are! 

Cutting down the branches

Weaving the thread

Adding feathers and leaves

Looms!

We had a lovely conversation about how many fairies are going to come and enjoy our looms, whether or not they will dance in the night time and what they would look like. I love imagination and belief in the magical world around us! Trinity especially was sure they would love to sit and play on the feathers!

Apparently Fairies love bright coloured leaves!

Our second craft was a family one for our school corner in the basement. We made a wreath of all our hands. The boys helped each other and Emanuel to trace their hands and they cut out their own. We all wrote our name on our own hands and then Ken glued them onto a circular piece of paper. I think they turned out really nice!

Tracing hands

The final product

Of course we did our usual book work and spelling etc. but really the lack of sleep didn’t work in our favour. We tried a recoup on Tuesday, BUT due to an accident on the weekend, we couldn’t pick up our school supplies until that morning. I am so appreciative! A mother who is still on an egroup I joined here in Minnesota is done schooling – her kids are in college (I like that – homeschooling kids IN COLLEGE!) so she was looking to get rid of the last of her supplies. Well, this family is in need of expanding, so we drove out to Minneapolis and collected what she no longer needed. For our 40 min drive we got to see some pretty residential areas AND get a lovely pile of new supplies, some for later years but a whole box of stuff that will work for us immediately, games… some math manipulatives… books… again I am so grateful! We really cannot afford to go out and buy buy buy so these little bits and pieces are going to supplement what we do have and help us lead on in new directions! 

Supplies!! Thank you so much!

When we got back it was time for spelling and general busy work. Trinity tried her new binder on for size and really enjoyed tracing her finger on the numbers and colouring her A page. I really like this notebooking set. Some of the pages are in sleeves for the dry erase marker and some she is colouring herself permanently. I am going to assemble the elementary version as well once I have some spare time… and another binder! She was so proud to have her own book though! We did not do all the activities but did as many as we had attention for. You can find that downloadable HERE. 

Dry erase markers with the numbers

Trinity has this little princess book she brought down when we moved that has a few crafts and such in it. There was instructions as to how to make a crown… well this is HER interpretation of what she saw. I don’t think that it is wearable as a crown but to hang up… quite possible!!! 

A crown

It just happened that Trinity and Echo were wearing coordinating dresses, so of course we took some pictures!

Girls together

Now we sent the boys outside to collect the sticks that were left under the deck… our hope is that we can get all of the branches and leaves cleaned up and either stacked for wood or in the proper receptacle before Ken’s parents return. They got pretty well all of it to the front and Ken spent some time getting pieces chopped down to manageable sizes.  All in time for our evening plans – cupcakes and supper (spaghetti) with Quinn, Bree and Scott.

Supper with the kids

With her US god daddy Scott

We had a mini celebration of belated birthday for Echo. I baked a dozen cupcakes and a little cake with a cherry chip mix and then with a coupon got a container of icing for around 50 cents!! So we could let the kids help with the icing and sprinkles when it was time to eat. Bree made us cheese bread (yum!) and brought some more adult cupcakes (decadent). So we had dinner, desert and visiting. It was so much fun!

Decorating cupcakes

And then… we got to keep Quinn! Sleepover!!!

Ready for bed

So a great day!!! I am not sure how much schooling we will get done tomorrow but time with a friend and playing and sharing is legitimate learning too – sharing, caring, cooperation… all GREAT skills!!!   I will leave you with my two completed projects to date! TWO scarves… I am pleased with these!!!

Completed

Education.com is a favourite resource of mine for print outs and crafting activities. Well, recently they came up with something called Wonder Box for the preschool/Kindergarten age. Sadly I was unable to test the product when they were first setting it up as it could not be shipped up to Canada. I figured it would be a wonderful thing to get for Trinity. I was especially lucky and won a box in a draw on The Adventures of Supermom site! So here goes!

Wonder Box

The boxes come with a theme and our theme was Mad Scientist with some crafty bits, magnets AND a baking activity! 

I love the packaging, even cloth bags

We started with what quickly became Trinity AND Echo’s favourite project. The I Spy Bottle. I love the little blurb that came along with it: Shake up some science with this twist on the classic game. Kids make a portable treasure hunt using two liquids  that don’t like to mix. Challenge your child to find a letter or a sound as you show density in action, then shake it up and start again. 

This activity came with a bottle around half full of corn syrup, some colourful letter beads and some sequins. First we went through the letters and spelled out Trinity’s name and then picked a few of her favourite letters to drop in. Then some of the sequins… top it off with water and shake (with the lid on). I am hoping to find some more bottles and make a few more of these as Echo absolutely LOVES it. Though we did find the beads float right up to the top rather quickly. Someone else linked me something called a time out bottle that totally reminded me of this craft. That is my next project… once I get my hands on glitter glue and clear tacky glue! 

Checking out those letters

Dropping them in

Thus entertaining the baby sister very well

Our next activity was Magnet Magic. You have a “magic wand”, some magnetic chips and a couple bingo sheets with a colour dice. First we scouted out all the magnetic things we could find in the kitchen. Echo was right down there for that. 

Magnetic??

And then we played colour bingo using the wand to clean up our sheets after. Trinity was quick to catch on that we needed metal items to have them stick to the wand.

Collecting the chips

Our third activity was a mosaic one. Three cards with different shape outlines in varying colours on the image with a corresponding sticker sheet. Each of the three cards had some neat scientific fact. Trinity was more than willing to allow a very enthusiastic Emanuel to help! 

Mosaic

The final activity in our Wonder Box was a baking one! Bubble Bread!!! Very hands on and lots of fun! I will share the recipe:

What  you need:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• raisins or other mix-ins (optional)
• mixing bowl
• large cup
• mixing spoon
• round greased baking pan

What to do:

1. preheat your oven to 400 degrees
2. mix milk and vinegar in a cup and set aside for about 10 min. The acid in the milk will react with the baking soda. Don’t worry, the bread will still taste delicious!
3. Add the flour, salt, baking soda and raisins (if desired) to the bowl
4. Stir in the milk and vinegar mixture into the dry ingredients and mix them until smooth. As the dough stiffens, little hands may need some help with the kneading
5. scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a floured surface
6. Shape the dough into a disk about 1 inch thick, and place it into the greased pan
7. Bake about 15 min, and keep an eye on the bread as it rises. Science in action!

Since we couldn’t see through the window in the stove well enough to really see the growth we opened the oven door a few times so that the kids could marvel in the rising! And then when we cut it open – BUBBLES in the bread! They were very impressed and it didn’t taste half bad! 

Working with Mommy

Maybe a little more flour on the counter??

Bubbles

We really enjoyed our time with the Wonder Box.  I am hoping I can get one right after Christmas for Trinity again. So if you are looking for a fun activity box for the little ones in your life AND live in the USA… Wonder Box is a TERRIFIC option!! I am so thankful we received this one. 

Three children thoroughly entertained!!!