This Weekend

It has been cold and icy and we stayed in most of the weekend. It was so cold the kids didn't really want to play out much. So, basically we just did more of the same stuff we do all the time lately. The kids did a little baking, sewing and just goofed off most of the time - for instance, Bethany decided to try to write with her toes. I guess you think of all kinds of things to do if you are bored. 

We did start a new book and are enjoying it - Spiderweb For Two - A Melendy Maze by Elizabeth Enright. I had pretty much decided not to read this until someone suggested it and I decided to give it a try. We loved the other books in the series, but I had read that in this one most of the kids had gone away to school and it just seemed sad that only two of the kids were at home. But, we are liking it very much and it isn't as sad as I thought it would be. Basically, the book starts out with Randy and Oliver feeling rather sad and gloomy since both their brothers and their sister have gone away to school. They can't imagine the year without them. Nobody can seem to cheer them up until they find a surprise message which starts a trail of messages and some exciting adventures for them. One message leads to another and they find they are excited each day to figure out what the next message means. We are enjoying this very much and I'm glad we started reading it. We really like the Melendy family and will be very sad when this book is finished and we will no longer read and talk about them each day. This book did perk up our weekend quite a bit and we have almost finished it now. 

This last picture is my beautiful granddaughter, Kennedy. The only time I see Kennedy is through the car window or door. She was born during COVID and we could not even go to the hospital to see her. It's kind of sad as she barely knows us. Hoping this spring and summer we can get together again. 

What We Are Reading

We have read several really good books lately. We finished The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright and we all loved it. It was the second book about the Melendy family. They moved from the city to a big old house in the country and love their new and unusual home. They very soon become involved in country life and learn a secret about the old house they are living in. It is a heartwarming story and we all liked it better than the first book of the series. 

We are now finishing the next book about the Melendy family - Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright. This book is wonderful. It takes place in the summer and the kids have many adventures and try new things like canning and making jelly. My girls really enjoyed reading about the canning and jelly making and decided they want to make jelly this summer and maybe even try to can. We absolutely loved this book. I think it is the best so far in this series. The Melendy kids spend a beautiful summer just being kids and having fun, but also discovering that not everyone has as happy a life as they do. Everyone voted this book as wonderful. We only have one chapter left which we will  finish tomorrow and we all hate for this book to end.  This would make a wonderful book to read this summer. 

We are also reading The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson. It is a fairly interesting book and we like it, but it is not one of those books we love. We are mainly reading this as it goes along with the time period we are studying in history. 

The girls continue to make troll clothes. Since our new felt arrived they have made all kinds of stuff. Tess was working on pants and a shirt for one of the trolls today. She said she was thinking of making an entire box of clothes for them. They are having a lot of fun doing this. Bethany also made a dress for Piper's doll that she got for Christmas. It turned out very nice. This is a great winter project. 

So, today after school they made troll clothes and baked cookies. They were going to make a cherry pie, but realized they did not have time as it was getting late and it takes them quite awhile to make a pie. So, that is what they plan to do tomorrow. 

The Weekend

We had a nice weekend. The kids played outside a lot - swinging, on the see-saw, jumping rope and all the other things they think of to do. 

The new fabric came on Saturday and Bethany and Tess were really happy as they were ready to make some doll clothes. The felt was kind of a disappointment as it was different from any felt I have bought before. It was rather stiff and thin and not very soft. It wasn't really that great to make troll clothes with but they did manage to make one outfit with it. I'm not sure how I ordered this felt, but I obviously wasn't paying attention and reading the description. I have ordered more and this time, hopefully, it will be nice and soft. The fabric I ordered was nice and both Bethany and Tess used it. Bethany actually ended up working on a dress for Bella after she made some troll clothes. It is turning out really cute. 

We woke up to snow today and it was so beautiful and so peaceful to watch as Bill and I had our morning coffee.  I do love to watch it snow - don't like to go out in it much, though. It didn't last long and it rained and washed most of it away, but it was so pretty for a few hours. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend - ours was really nice. 

 

 

I made homemade vegetable soup on Saturday and we had it for dinner with grilled cheese sandwiches. 

The kids loved it - they are so easy to please. Anyway, I think it was Tess that asked me to light the candles for dinner so I did. We just started doing this occasionally - actually an idea from my older son and daughter who both started lighting candles every night for dinner. The kids think it makes dinner really special even if we are only eating soup and sandwiches. 

Pizza And Trolls

This evening we got a delivery of pizza and breadsticks and brownies from my daughter, Megan. She is always sending dinner or snacks or something special to the kids and they love it - and when she sends something she goes all out. She sent so much pizza and three different kinds of breadsticks and then the brownies for dessert. It was great and the kids were thrilled. They ate dinner and then asked if we could read while they had their brownies and I, of course, said yes. It was a nice evening and the kids went to bed full of pizza and dreaming of summer at The Four Story Mistake - the book we are reading.  

This week Bethany started trying to knit clothes for all the troll dolls that the girls have - we have a bunch of trolls here the kids have gotten over the years. Bethany got this idea to start making some clothes for them when I told her that I used to make doll clothes when I was a kid - really simple and not very attractive clothes at that. It made her start wondering if she could knit some clothes so she has been trying to figure out what and how to make them. All the girls were excited and wanted to watch - though they soon realized that the clothes were not going to appear in a matter of a few minutes. We will see how this project will turn out. She will be working on them this weekend and she also asked if I could order some material so she could try sewing a few things so we have fabric arriving tomorrow. I think this weekend will be filled with making doll clothes and maybe we will finish our book. We are really enjoying it a lot and they ask me to read whenever we have any free time. I think it will be a very pleasant weekend - and they are calling for snow which has all the kids super excited.

Igloo

Bethany and Tess finished their igloo this afternoon. They were actually out till almost dark putting the finishing touches on it. They had started it yesterday, but they were cold and it was getting dark so they came in for hot chocolate and knew they would go back out today to get it done. It turned out nice and they spent a lot of hours having fun. 

Oh, and Bethany is wearing Bella's funny hat. Hers was dirty and wet from earlier. Their clothes today were kind of a hodge-podge as they kept getting clothes wet and dirty and changing into whatever they could find. That is the one thing I hate about snow - all the changes of clothing. 

Breakfast Delivery

This morning we got a delivery of biscuits for breakfast. There is something wonderful about bacon, egg and cheese, sausage and cheese and butter biscuits arriving at your door early in the morning for breakfast. A breakfast surprise. There is also almost nothing the kids like more than biscuits for breakfast. They were absolutely thrilled and the surprise of it made it even better. We thank Megan (one of my older daughters)  for a wonderful breakfast. She is spoiling us for sure. 

 

In The Kitchen

It seems lately that my girls are in the kitchen all the time. We used to have special days we would bake together and maybe make something special for dinner, but now baking is just what they do almost every single day. They have gotten good at it, too. I think in the past week they have made gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies, a chocolate cake, oatmeal cookies, pudding and a cherry pie. They are always making something. It's actually kind of nice - we have plenty of snacks.  

I had to make this picture black and white as I took it in the evening and the light was awful. The only way to save the picture at all was to convert it. Tess is not in this picture, but she is the first to ask to bake - she loves to bake and cook and make anything in the kitchen. If anyone goes in the kitchen to make something, Tess is right there watching. When she first came I realized cooking was a good way to bond with Tess as she was always ready and willing. It really worked for us. 

Christmas Dolls

After I saw how few pictures I took on Christmas I was a little sad I had not taken more. I took so few.  The thing that surprised me the most is that I didn't take any of the girls' dolls and I love having pictures of all the dolls they get. So, today I asked the girls to bring down all the dolls they got this year and we lined them all up and I got a few pictures of them. I'm glad I did this before some of the dolls get wear and tear. A few of the girls got more than one - we love dolls here and it will be a sad day when they no longer want one.