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Adventure Challenge: Week 1! Pirate Nature Hunt

Well, this past week was week one of my Adventure a Week Challenge, and I think we are off to a great start!  I made an illustrated free printable, and its available at the end of the post, for anyone else who would like to do this scavenger hunt adventure, so be sure not to miss it:

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When I first mentioned to my four year old daughter that we were going to have an adventure a week, she was thrilled. I told her we might do a nature scavenger hunt, and she said, “Ooooh, how about a pirate nature hunt?” A pirate hunt? I wasn’t sure how we could do that, so I told her that it would probably wouldn’t be about pirates, and that was fine with her.

But the idea of a nature scavenger hunt with a pirate theme stuck with me. So I put my pen to work and illustrated this “treasure map” with various items we could find in the woods that look like (and we could pretend are) pirate gear or pirate treasure.  She was so excited!  The whole time we were getting ready to go, she kept saying “Arrrrrgh!” to everything.

The “pirate gear” items to find are:
– a sword (a stick with a “handle”)
– an eye patch (a round leaf which you attach to ribbon – just make sure its not poison ivy!)
-a pirate’s hook (a curved stick)

And the “pirate treasure” items are:
-jewels (rocks and pebbles)
-gold doubloons (acorn caps)
-pearls (berries – make sure they don’t eat them!)

And then, at the end you keep the pirate gear, but find a good place to “bury” the treasures – in a log, a hollow tree stump, etc. Of course, X marks the spot, so you use two sticks to make an X over the place they are buried.
I’ve attached the printable at the end of the post.  For the adventure, I recommend taking the following items…

– A basket or something to carry the things your kids find on the scavenger hunt
– A camera to catch their expressions when they find their treasures
-The treasure map printed out
-A pen or marker so they can check off the “Aye!” boxes next to each item they find – and I would recommend something to write down funny things the kids say.  I wish I had done this – I ended up scribbling down some precious quotes afterwards on a napkin, but I know there are some that I missed.
-Pieces of ribbons to tie onto the leaf and make an eye patch

One other option in getting ready to go is a costume.  My little one want to be dressed as a pirate to go find her pirate treasures, naturally. :)  Simple pirate costume: adult white button up shirt, a scarf around the waist, and a scarf around the head.  It was a gorgeous day, and there were quite a few people out and about at the state park we went to, and she definitely got lots of smiles as she went traipsing through the forest paths in her pirate get up.

I wasn’t sure how long it would take to find different items – the hook I thought might be one of the hardest items to find, but it was actually what she found first. (She’s being a “scary pirate” there with her hook on the left). The sword was a little harder to find, but not too difficult.  Once she had those, she didn’t want to part with them!

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This is the path we started up. And where she found many of the acorn cap “coins” … later she was describing this path and said “Oh, I found lots of gold moneys here!”

Being outside and roaming around through the woods can give lots of opportunities for learning and teaching.  From just learning how to handle yourself in the woods, to talking about practical things like recognizing poison ivy (and not using it to the eye patch), to more thoughtful remarks about how well God designed the trees, and plenty more.  Kids are sponges, and I love how their eyes widen with amazement when they experience or learn something new.

Finding the eye patch was one of the most difficult things on the list, because since it is February, there aren’t any green leaves left, and most of the leaves and down, crumpled and just not good eye-patch material.  But when she found this leaf she was SO excited to get to wear it! It was a fun little “mini-craft” to make it.  Poke two little holes in the leaf, not too close to the edge of the leaf, and preferably the cut should be parallel to the edge of the leaf, not perpendicular (these two things will help prevent the ribbon just ripping out through the edge of the leaf).  Then simply thread a ribbon through each hole, loop back the doubled ribbon and tie at the back of the head.  Simple, but a pretty effective eye patch!

This was one of my favorite quotes of the day – she really got in the spirit of the hunt, and as she stepped on some gravel she exclaimed, “Oh no! I think I stepped on some jewels!”  Simple things can be so precious in the eyes of a child.

The one thing from the list we couldn’t really find was berries for pearls, because none were growing this time of year.  But she found some of these Sweetgum seed pods, and used those instead.  Here she is holding all her treasures right before “burying” them.

After scouting out some options, she finally found a place she wanted to hide her treasures. It was in a concrete drainage pipe – you can see it a little bit behind her in the photo.  She has her two sticks which she made into an X and placed on top – she loved having this secret hiding place for her treasures with the secret symbol on top.

I had a “bad mama” moment, though.  I was taking some pictures afterwards and accidentally snapped off one of the handle pieces from her sword.  She tried to be tough and keep a stiff upper lip, but I could tell she was broken hearted. (Which goes to show how precious something little like a stick can be!)  So I fixed it up after we got home, with washi tape, and it looked so neat, we ended up decorating the handles of both her sword and hook with washi tape.  This can be an easy way to dress up the finds a little bit after you home, and is a fun and easy craft to do with kids.

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The whole afternoon was a ton of fun, and my little girl had a blast.  She told me she loved the adventure “one hundred”.  As we have some warmer days approaching soon, I thought this might be a fun activity for other families of small kids, so here is the printable to print out and go on a swashbuckling nature adventure of your own.  Just click the image below to open the PDF file, and you can print it from there:

treasure map printable from TheFlourishingAbodePin It

So what do you think of our first week’s adventure? Did anyone else go on an adventure?
Any ideas for what next week’s adventure should be?
Leave you thoughts in the comments below, I really love to hear from you!

(For a list of all the Adventure-a-Week Challenge posts so far, just click here.)

Challenge: An Adventure a Week

Yep, it’s cabin fever season! And so I’m starting a new challenge – an adventure a week.

My four year old daughter drew an adorable valentine card for me with a picture on it of us driving in the car. I asked her what it was a picture of, and she said “You and me going on adventures!” She often talks about how much she loves our “adventures”, and I realized that we haven’t been have enough of those lately. And especially this time of year we are itching to be getting back outside again!

So I told her today we’re going to start going on an adventure every week. Wow, she was thrilled! And I thought it would be fun to share the idea with all of you here. :)

I think that in our society, when people think of having special memories-in-the-making time with their kids, it often involves buying gifts, spending money on expensive vacations, or purchases at restaurants … but, unfortunately, while those expensive occasions might make the kids excited at the time, those special bonding moments seem to elude us. Personally, going to an expensive hotel where we all go our separate ways or watch the tv just doesn’t cut it for special family time. I’d rather go hiking in the woods, and see my kids eyes light up as I explain how the spider wove that delicate web. Or visit a museum that encourages life-long learning. Or all sing really loud in the car. Or sit and watch a sunset and talk about how good our God is. These types of activities don’t take much money … but they do take time, lack of distraction and being available to pick up the special moment whenever it may be. And lately I feel like I’ve been too busy with a lot of stuff that just doesn’t matter as much, and missing out on those times.

And so, my challenge. We are going to go on an adventure every week for the next two months!

What constitutes an adventure, you ask? Here are my rules for myself during this challenge:

A few examples of ideas … going geocaching, visiting an art museum, a nature hike to a waterfall, a scavenger hunt, getting a behind-the-scenes tour of a pizzeria, etc.

So, we will begin next week and for the next two months (through April 21st) we are going to go on a little adventure every week, Lord willing. I think it will be a little harder in the new area we moved to because it is a small town with fewer of the types of “adventure” activities I would typically look for, so I’ll have to think outside the box a little more. But I’m excited! And each week I will blog about our adventure. They won’t be elaborate or expensive, but they will be wonderful because my four year old will definitely consider them to be adventures. :)

For a list of all the Adventure-a-Week Challenge posts so far, just click here.

What kinds of adventures do you like? Please post your thoughts and ideas in the comments, below!
(And anyone is welcome to join the challenge, as well! Be sure to send me your blog links if you do!)

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Let’s play a game! Next year’s WinterFest theme

 

WinterFest has a different theme each year.  This year it was Russia. We loved the theme ideas many of you posted – and for next year, we were inspired by the suggestion of Lori B from IMK,IML to think outside the box of theme by country.  We’ve already decided for next year, and I thought it would be fun to play a little game here to see if you can guess the theme!

I’ve posted 8 pictures below, all tied into next year’s theme – and then the 9th image has the answer!  So, scroll down slowly and see how many picture clues it takes you to figure out the theme! Post in the comments how quickly you got the answer – did you figure it out after 2 photos? 5? 8?  Not till you saw the answer? I’ll be curious to see! :)

(The first eight photos are all lovely items from Etsy, just click on the photo to check them out!)

jahnavashtiangelikasswissbakeryniklomissquitecontrarysewnnaturalisabellasartlauraleeburchboxlotSo have you figured it out? Next year’s WinterFest theme is:

grimm's fairy tales

I’m very excited about a Grimm’s Fairy Tale WinterFest!  There are so many fun possibilities with this theme … and plenty of food options, even though it’s not a country: porridge from Goldilocks and the three bears, a basket of goodies from Little Red Riding Hood, and so forth.  Plus, I just love the folklore woodland feel!

So how quickly did you get the theme? Let me know in the comments!
If you have any ideas about what we could do with a Grimm’s fairy tale theme, too, I’d love to hear them too! :)

It was a lovely day: WinterFest 2012

Happy Winterfest
Yes, snow! This is my little girl playing in the snow the day before WinterFest.
snowflakes and twinkle lights
We decorated the walls with twinkle lights and snowflakes we made.
winterfest decor
Why not combine storage and decor? I kept bows in a big bowl on the book shelf. :)
cooking winterfesteve
My little one love to help stir while I am cooking, she's my little helper!
winterfest eve dinner
For dinner on WinterFest-Eve, I made Curried Butternut Squash Soup and little poppyseed ham and swiss sandwiches. Soup and sandwiches make great winter meals!

 

Tim cooking

My husband, Tim, makes breakfast on WinterFest … this year he made blini, a thin Russian pancake
(you can see his recipe is taped up on the microwave)…

Tim makes blini
... and they were sooooooooo delicious!

 

blini

 Apparently, they are eaten both savory (with sour cream and fish) or sweet (with fruit spreads).
My favorite was with a little sour cream and blackberry jam … ahh, it was SO good.

eating blini
Our daughter loved the blini too. :)
april cooking
Then, after breakfast, I got to work on cooking the Russian dinner.

 

clues
In the meantime, my little one was hunting down the clues we had hidden for her to find throughout the day.
dinner
Finally it was time for dinner! First there was a spread of Russian zakuski (kind of like appetizers you eat throughout the whole meal).

zakuski

pickles

It turns out various pickles are an essential part of a big Russian meal – my daughter put them into pretty little bowls, and enjoyed them very much. :)

zakuski

soup
First we had Pomegranate Broth Soup, from a Russian cookbook. It was ... interesting...

 

tart soup
... maybe a little tart for my daughter. :) She was a good sport though!

pork and potatoes

The main course was roast pork paprikash with garlic smashed potatoes, and a delicious sauce made from the vegetables cooked with the meat. We loved it! Not very photogenic, though.

pie
Dessert was a cheese and blueberry pie. I totally cheated and used the wrong kind of crust as opposed to authentic Russian crust, but it tasted good, so just don't tell anyone. ;)

clues

After supper, she found the last of a set of five clues about Russian nesting dolls I had hidden for her;
she was very excited because now she could put them all together…

clues 2

She had to put the nesting doll clues in order of size;
each one had a letter inside, and once they were in order….

clues 3
... she could read the word they made: SNOW!
clue 4
Yep, she knew where she needed to go to find the last clue - out in the snow!

bundled up

Time to get bundled up! She and Daddy went outside;
I lagged inside a minute behind to get everything set up while they went out to hunt for the last clue!

last clue
Found it!

 

go inside
... it said to go inside for a WinterFest surprise ...

 

presents!
Presents! In ice blue and cranberry red, of course. :)
legos
We exchanged gifts - one of the biggest hits was the box of legos ... I think my husband was almost as excited about them as she was!

clues and gifts

On the left are all the WinterFest clues from throughout day!
We also really liked the Russian dolls my Mom let us use, and the cards my younger siblings made.

I love being a momma!
It was definitely a day of special memories that we enjoyed spending together. Happy WinterFest!

Happy WinterFest!

Tomorrow is WinterFest, so everything is bustling with cozy-winter happiness around the Starr home!

Winter Lights by ElleMoss

WinterFest is our family’s celebration of all the things that make winter a special, beautiful and cozy time of year.  The holiday colors are ice blue, cranberry red, black and white (one of the reasons I love ElleMoss’s photo, above, is because it has three of the four colors!).

Each year has a different theme, usually a country, and we celebrate in the style of that culture.  This year’s theme is Russia, so our kitchen will be filled with the aromas of Russian cooking and baking.  I have never been to Russia, but I did live in Eastern Europe for a while growing up, and in researching Russia for WinterFest, I found many similarities between the two cultures.  And that makes this year’s theme even more fun and nostalgic!

Vintage Russian Nesting Dolls from ArtRachel

The morning of WinterFest starts off with hidden clues … the first one will be hidden on the child’s bed.  This clue will lead to other clues throughout the day, which eventually will lead to presents at the end of the day! Yay! (WinterFest is when we do our family’s gift exchange). Right now, with just a four year old, the clues are pretty simple, but as our kids increase in number and get older, the clues will get trickier, and will probably involve the theme … like part of the message being in the country’s language, etc.  Our little daughter loves this part of the day!

Russia Photo by HappeeMonkee

My husband, Tim, is in charge of breakfast on WinterFest.  Last year the theme was Spain, and he made a delicious Spanish potato omelette .  This year, I believe he is planning to make blini, which are thin, buttery Russian pancakes. I can’t wait! Plus, it’s a treat for me to not have to cook that morning, since I will have been cooking and baking up a storm in the days leading up to WinterFest in preparation for the official feast!

Vintage Russian Village Tray from Kejeara

The main meal on WinterFest usually is a middle of the day feast, kind of like Thanksgiving, but with food from the theme country. I’ve been reading up on Russian food, both on traditional dishes, and how the courses are served.  I love this part … its a fun way to get into the spirit of things leading up to WinterFest!  I love to learn, so discovering how people all over the world eat and celebrate is just my cup of tea.  Here is what this year’s menu looks like:

Zakuski: (a small buffet of Russian hors d’oeuvres)
– Eggplant Caviar (which is not really caviar!)
– Assorted pickles
– Salad Olivier in tartlets
– Aromatic meatballs with pine nuts and raisins

Soup Course:
Pomegranate Broth, served with bread

Main Course:
Roast Pork Paprikash, served with garlic potatoes

Dessert:
Tea and Cheese and Blueberry Pie

I can’t wait! Most of these came out of a Russian cookbook I found at the library, but several I came across online, too.

Vintage Russian Book from RussianTale

That menu means that today, on WinterFest-eve (say that outloud, its very fun to say … fest-eve sounds like festive with a funny accent), is a cooking marathon.  My Etsy shop is on vacation, we have fun winter music like Frank Sinatra’s “Marshmallow World” playing in the background, and my little 4-year old helper and I are having fun in the kitchen preparing all these festive Russian dishes. And don’t worry, I’m not taking time out of this special day to blog … I wrote this a few days ago and scheduled it to post today.  Technology, for the win!

Snowflake Tags by ForeverYoursTruly

I’ll look forward to posting pictures of tomorrow’s festives here on my blog, hopefully next week.
But until then, Happy WinterFest to all of you!

Or, Huzzah WinterFest!, as we like to say.

Or this year, we could say Khleb da sol!, a Russian well-wish that translated as “bread and salt”.

But however we say it, you get the idea. :)

The day after WinterFest, we decide what the next year’s theme is going to be – any suggestions or ideas?
Post them in the comments below! :)

Winter Typography by FlourishCafe

Don’t forget to leave your suggestions for WinterFest themes! So far we have done Italy, Japan, Spain and Russia.  But it doesn’t have to be country … it could be a time period, a literary theme, or so on! Some time I want to have a “High Seas” WinterFest … or perhaps a Agatha Christie mystery WinterFest.  If you have any ideas, let me know in the comments!

This year I will conquer you, pumpkin!

Every year I tell my husband I want to carve a pumpkin.  Then I go and get a pumpkin.  Last year, we even went to a farm, took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch and picked out the perfect pumpkins to carve.

Then I set the pumpkin on the front porch.  There is sits.  Uncarved. Until it rots.

I so want to carve a pumpkin.
But I never get around to it.
Aaaaaaaaargh! This year I will conquer you, pumpkin carving!

*waves fist around in the air wildly*

Ahem. Well, anyway, as I was saying, I just never seem to get around it. Autumn is probably my favorite season.  But sometimes it just seems to fly by before you really enjoy it.  That’s why I made a list – those lovely little things that just ooze autumn.  Ok, maybe not “ooze” … that’s what my rotten pumpkins did, and I’ll admit that is a less pleasant side to autumn.  Let’s say these things are just very autumnal and stay away from all that oozing business.

So here it is: my autumn list typography print with little illustrations along the side of fun autumn things to do which I just listed in my Flourish Cafe shop.

Autumn Typography
Autumn Typography List and Illustration

What are your favorite autumn activities?
(Probably not dealing with rotten pumpkins. Just a guess.)

It’s true! We’re moving!

We are moving out of state – and pretty suddenly! Here’s the quick story: about a week ago we had no idea this would all be happening, and now in less than two weeks we will be living in Kentucky, Lord willing! So for a few weeks my shops and blog are going to be “on vacation” while I stuff cardboard boxes and probably generally run around like a chicken with its head cut off. A happy chicken with its head cut off, that is!


For now, I will leave you with some photos of the area we are moving to!

Get Inspired: Look Through the Eyes of a Child

A Quarter to Fly by sunshineartdesign

 
Remember when you were a kid, and dandelions were begging to be blown, butterflies were fairies, and backyards were secret gardens? We were driving home today through a small stretch of road with tangled trees and underbrush, and my three year old exclaimed, “This is a jungle!”

Everything is amazing when you’re a kid.

Wonder Embroidery Art by Merriweather Council

And really, I think its good to not lose that sense of wonder.  We live in an increasingly apathetic society where people are unimpressed and bored. No thank you!

Wonderland by Raceytay

Go for a walk.  Try to see things in the same way you would have when you were small.

We live in a city, and our neighborhood probably doesn’t look very inspiring.  However, my daughter and I went for a “nature exploration walk” the other day just around our neighborhood, and even the smallest things impressed her. We had fun exploring, and when we came home, we brought home a collection of all sorts of natural found objects. And then we had fun photographing them together! The results:

Don’t lose your sense of wonder! We live in a beautiful Creation, and I am thankful to God for it!
Go outside and look around the way a child would.
Lose yourself in a book the way a child would.
Care. Give someone you love a bear hug.
Catch a firefly, let it go. 
Draw a picture without worrying if its perfect
Play with your food, run in the rain, blow some bubbles, pick some wild flowers.
Have some wholesome wonderful fun! Remember what it was like to be a kid and you will be inspired!

Little Miss Mia Journal by Mayi Carles

What are some things you remember being amazed by as a kid?
Do they still amaze you?
Tell me what you think in the comments!

10 Reasons Why My Mom is the BEST!

My mom is the best mom, and I love and appreciate her SO much. These are 10 of the reasons I respect and admire her so much, listed in no particular order, except most important one last. Why 10? Because if I didn’t put a number limit on it, the list would be endless. :)

10. She is an encourager.
My mom taught me (and I appreciate that I am still learning from her!) many different things. Most importantly, moral aspects of life, and to focus on God. But even in the less important things, she was always encouraging and teaching. My Mom talks about how talented her kids are artistically and how we got that from my Dad because he is artistic. And while it is true that Dad is artistic, and he passed that down to us, I know that I wouldn’t have enjoyed or developed it as much if it hadn’t been for the way Mom always encouraged us. Whether it was an art project I did as a small child, or the sewing I did as a teenager, or my creative pursuits now, the way my Mom is always saying, “Wow, that’s SO neat! I love it! You should pursue that!” means everything in terms of helping someone to be artistic.

9. She’s always ready to try new things.
Whether its a new kind of food, or going somewhere new to explore, or moving across the country, or discovering new things, my Mom is up for it! I mean, how many American mothers of small children would move to Eastern Europe right after the Berlin Wall came down and life was less than smooth over there to help their husband as he taught the gospel? My mom did! And I don’t remember her complaining about it. I do remember her joy.

When we lived in Prague.

8. She stayed home with us to raise and care for us.
When I was small, I just took it as a given that of course Mom would stay home and take care of us. But as I grew older I began to realize how blessed our family really was because she chose to do this. The day in and day out molding of our characters, the constant love and correction, all the wonderful memories, the fact that she was always there when she needed us — because after all, kids spell love T-I-M-E. And we knew we were very loved. And on top of that, she even decided to homeschool us! I went to public school for several years as well, and while it wasn’t bad, homeschooling was SO much better — both in terms of education and in the opportunities it gave me to spend time learning and growing with my family. My mom put SO much work in this, as well as into all other aspects of raising us.

7. She’s a hard worker.
Raising 6 kids, homeschooling them, making home cooked meals every night, taking care of the house, helping others – its no small feat! My mom tackles it head on and definitely doesn’t “eat the bread of idleness”.

6. She is an awesome cook.
I’m talking omnom-licious here. One of many, many things I love about going home is that I get to have my mom’s home cooking. Yes, I enjoy cooking too, but I’d say my cooking style is somewhat different than Mom’s, and there’s some kind of super-loving-magic that my Mom throws in the pot that makes everything so delicious and wonderful. :)

5. She loves and is a helpmeet my Dad.
Both of my parents are amazing. And seeing their marriage growing up- how they work through tough times and how they shine in the good times- makes a profound impact on a child. I know my parents will be together no matter what. I know that they will work together to fix a problem no matter what. I know they love each other, and even more importantly, that they love God. Seeing my Mom fill her role as helpmeet to my Dad is a wonderful example to me. And all of this is such a comfort and encouragement to me – both when I was a child, and now as an adult.

4. She’s just plain fun.
How many of you can say that one of the first times you brought your future-husband home to get to know your family your Mom said, “Hey! Let’s all go outside and do a jig around a can of baked beans?” Anyone? No, I didn’t think so. Yeah, my mom rocks. :)

3. She gives of herself to others.
I don’t think I personally know anyone who is more self-sacrificing than my Mom. From the bigger/more obvious things like staying home with us, to all the little day to day decisions I’ve seen her make that often go unnoticed but where she is constantly thinking of what would be best for others. I need to be more like her in this (and in many ways!)

2. She’s a Proverbs 31 woman.
If you’re not sure what I mean by that, read this.
I rise up and call her blessed.

1. She loves God more than anything else.
… and she worked to instill that in us as well. Its the most valuable lesson she could teach us, because when you get this down, everything else falls into its proper place.

I love you Mom!! Happy Mother’s Day!!!!!