But we've been up to quite a lot cooped up in this little house...
What we've been doing...
Holiday Stuff
This year we spent Thanksgiving away at a friends house. It was fun! It was the first Thanksgiving in years that I did not cook the whole shebang. We did however, make a big chocolate trifle with homemade cake and pudding, and crumbled up organic cookies. We even made out own whipped cream. Audrey helped with all of the baking.
We then had our own Thanksgiving dinner a couple days later at our house. I just have to have those leftovers! And Audrey loves to learn about cooking. So we made a stuffing from some of our left over homemade bread ends. We made butternut squash and mashed potatoes and even a pumpkin pie.
Christmas was a quiet one spent here at home. In the weeks before Christmas we made homemade ornaments, and set up the tree. We made homemade gifts for friends and family.
Christmas Eve we had some friends over for some homemade baked beans and pulled pork. And spent Christmas morning opening gifts and eating leftovers. It was fantastic! We spent the day by the wood fire playing games and just being together.
Winter, Cooped Up Fun
We are big time home bodies. So the snow and frigid weather wasn't too bad for us!
Audrey has a lot of interests in which she persue's daily. Here's what she's been doing over the last couple of months.
Art
Audrey's favorite subject/activity. She create's different little works of art on paper quite often but lately it's been digital art. She's been at it for months but is progressing quite a lot. She uses Adobe Photoshop (The full professional addition) and is learning more and more about the tools it possesses every day.- Digital painting with Photoshop
- Photo Manipulation with Photoshop
- Creating Paintings, drawings, and other hands on media
She also works a lot at creatiung new clothes and accessories for her ponies and LPS. She creates tiny books for them to read, constructs tiny beds, and even makes tiny food. She has made cotton candy, hard candy, donuts out of clay, and more.
Scuplture and Remodeling. (baking and painting clay)
Cooking and Math
A lot of our math problems consist of cooking and baking these days. We have been halfing and doubling recipes!
Some of the things we have baked:
Bread! - we make a couple of loaves of bread about every 2-3 days. All of our breads are baked at home.
Banana bread and chocolate muffins
Breakfast! eggs, pop-overs, pancakes, french toast and bacon
Cookies - chocolate chip, M&M, and even made heart shaped sugar cookies and frosted them on Valentines day.
Pies! A favorite around here. And we make all of the crusts from scratch. Apples, banana cream, quiche, and even chicken pot pie.
- Math in fractions adding and subtracting by cooking
- Addition, subtraction and problems on paper when needed
- Counting money
- Saving money for items she would like to buy on Ebay
Audrey is also very keen on business planning.
She recently had a new idea which we've been planning out but yet to execute - a new Etsy shop idea. She wants to make cat toys and sew cat beds to sell. We've been planning out what is needed to start, what kind of items to sell, and names for her store.
Reading
Reading is a constant as she is constantly doing online research, emailing friends, talking with friends on her favorite games (Roblox, Club Penguin, and Animal Jam).
But she discovered a new series that is really piqued her interest. It's called Warriors and features some cats who are warriors. She has only just begun the series but plans to read all of the books.
- Online research
- Warrior Cats books
- Photoshop books and digital art textbooks
- Online email (penpals?)
- Messaging with friends online in games
Writing
creating her own tiny books, making lists for groceries, writing and taking notes on her games and online research into topics she is interested in (pages and pages of notes she is taking floating aorund the house)
Fun in the Snow
This year the plow piles in our driveway reached epic proportion. So we used them to go sledding! So much fun. We sled, made snow angels, dug snow forts, and "painted" the snow with spray bottles full of food coloring and water. We experimented in layering colors on the snow as well. Pretty!Garden and Farm Planning
A lot happening on the farm. We bred our goats, had our first goat kidding of the season of which Audrey was present for half of. We then sold a lot of our goats which was also a learning experience in itself. Audrey really impressed me by even coming and helping with farm chores in the snow sometimes.
We are moving away from goats currently and moving more into poultry which Audrey will help with tremendously. She is quite comfortable with chickens and their care taking. We are planning on lots more chicks in the spring, building a new brooder, and moving into turkeys and geese. I would like to get an incubator and even hatch some of our own.
Audrey has decided to get more involved with the garden than ever before this year. I will have her helping to pick out some of what we grow. We'll be adding some fruit trees and bushes this year as well.
Maine Wildlife
We're gearing up for whale watches in the spring and summer, but in the meantime doing reasearch in what kind of species can be found in the wild in Maine.
We are also looking at maps and websites to find new places to explore when the mild weather comes.
And Lots More Of The Usual...
Skyping and emailingBooks (of all kinds whenever we can)
Library
Livestock and pet care
Discussions on everything and anything.
movies and documentaries
minecraft, terraria, and games galore
Youtube videos for how to's and more
cooking everything from scratch, following recipes and sometimes winging it.
play dates and get togethers
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