Tuesday 20 October 2009

fungi, dragons, pumpkin, grim reaper and marshmallows

This is the time of year to hunt for fungi. As with most trees, plants and flowers, I have not much knowledge of fungi. My only question seems to be "Is it edible?"
I love all the shapes though






Obviously I know that this isn't a fungus :o) but I love the colours.
We went on a walk to Wantley woods with some friends.


We came across a wonderful dragon made out of a stone wall and a carved wooded head and claws. The kids loved it.
The only thing was, it was on top of a hill and Kiki is going through a "carry me" phase - not easy.
Champ also found a little hideout with a friend of his.

The day of the pumpkin carving finally came!
The kids all got stuck in.



Champ and Boo marked out the design and Hubby cut it out. I think that they did a brilliant job!

Last night Champ came to tell me an hour and a half before he had to leave for cubs that it was a Halloween party and he needed to wear fancy dress!!! We don't have any dress up clothes that fit him aaaahhh Because he is home educated and the other boys know each other from school I don't want him to stick out any more. Sooooo we had mad dash round the house trying to find something for him to wear. We managed to find a black tunic in the dressing up box (years ago a local theatre was moving premises and I rescued a few outfits out of the skip - mostly dresses). I then found some black material and quickly made this hooded cape. I think it turned out quite well considering I hadn't really a clue what I was doing. Hubby then made the scythe out of a nappy box, some tinfoil and an old mop handle. I just had to paint his face and he was all done. The whole outfit took 45 minutes to make!





Today was our autumnal fire with marshmallows. Champ nipped into the horses field and picked up a load of sticks, so along with some crumpled pieces of paper and a block of hard wood that they wanted to add, we made fire!
The weather is really starting to change and the kids got cold today and yet they still refused to wear shoes - I am only their mother, what do I know?


Although Kiki insists on having her marshmallow put on her stick she doesn't actually put it into the fire...well she actually did it once and all the ash that she picked up by ramming it to the bottom of the fire pot was enough to put her off :o)


The other guys enjoyed setting their marshmallows alight.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

stressful pumpkins and paint

This is a picture of the long awaited pumpkin. Champ has been looking forward to getting a pumpkin all year. We wanted to attempt to grow our own but we got our timing wrong - in other words when the kids first asked to plant one it was too early...and then I forgot :oP
Hubby picked this one up from the supermarket yesterday. I think he is hoping for some pumpkin pie.

I have lost count of the amount of times that I have been asked to carve it - finally I told them that it was an activity for Daddy to help with.

Instead we made these. The kids made the two small pumpkins out of beeswax and I needle felted the larger one. The toadstools are also made from beeswax.

It was a little cold today so it took us a while to warm up the wax. The kids get a little frustrated when the wax is hard to work with and loose interest quickly so I have taken to making them keep little bits of wax under their arm pits while they are working :o) and yes it still smells nice when they are finished - in another few years that may be a different story.

Oh and the candle is from Ikea. I love the colours and am really kicking myself for not picking up a couple more for the living room.


2 years ago, champ and boo dictated a little Halloween story which they then illustrated. They found the books again last year and wanted to write another story - so 2 years running means that it is a family tradition and now they don't have a choice in doing one this year :o) Actually it is something that they look forward doing..no forcing on my part.


And with all the lovely autumn colours around we decided to do some autumn paintings. Kiki and googs did a looong painting

such concentration

And the older two did a water painting

here is Kiki's masterpiece - hers was not mean to be a watercolour...

and neither was Googs

Champs...


and Boos.

I actually found today really stressful. It wasn't really the children's fault they were doing what they always do - have fun, play games, fall out, experiment, shout, laugh, scream ... its just somedays I find all the noise and running about and issuing warnings of disaster that are never heeded a little too much.
To be honest I think it was because I was a little distracted. I have set up a public speaking club and the second meeting is tomorrow night. I always get really nervous and it makes me so cross with myself. I know that it is stupid to be nervous but I just can't help myself...maybe time will sort it out :o)
So anyway, after getting cross with the children over silly little things, I thought I needed to relax so I put Kiki down for a nap, the others went off to play and I sat down with my craft box. (Boo soon joined me)
I decided what I needed was a new keyring and came up with this


you can see I needed calm because I stitched this on the back. I thought that it would be a good reminder when I am rushing around trying to get everybody in and out the car to just take a deep breath... and relax.

Monday 12 October 2009

Autumn loveliness

I love autumn! It is by far my favourite season which has surprised me a bit as I always thought that summer would be :o)
I love that there is so much for the children so discover. So many seeds, leaves, fallen branches...

and fungi! I'm talking about the rather large mushroom rather than what Googs is wiping on his hand.

I love the smells.

and colours

and all the craft activities of the season!!!
Here is a rosehip garland

Needle felted acorns made by Champ and Boo

And Autumn always gives you suprise sunny days where the ground is so cold and the air so fresh but with the warm rays there is plenty of opportunity for a quick picnic!
We had autralian themed sandwhiches :o)
And another thing about autumn is the need to bake.
Today we made flan for Champ's cub group. They are learning about foods from different countries and he was given Mexico. I wish I was going tonight I am sure it will be fun. I remember when I was in school in South Africa and we had a foreign food day - it was chinese food and only those who remembered to bring a bowl and spoon got to taste - I forgot...
:o( Lovely autumn colours

and lesson learned about hot sugar. I was fishing out lumps of sugar that weren't melting fast enough and stupidly put it in my plastic measuring scale...oooops

and finally as it is getting cold I have started a new scarf. I have four more flowers to go and I still need to tidy up the tails.