Our story for last week was St George and the Dragon as it was time to celebrate Michaelmas, or "Dragonmas" as my boys decided to start calling it ala Mama Roots. This works very well for us since we don't celebrate the festival in a religious way but rather as just a reminder to have courage in facing both the darker months ahead and in facing our inner dragons. I had two special helpers for our new chalkboard:
Our handwork day last week was very special as we dyed golden "capes of courage" using goldenrod from our yard. First the boys helped me harvest some:
Short Pants very cleverly used two sticks to become the Red Cross Knight:
The boys helped soak our silks in alum water:
Then added our goldenrod to another pot:
Once we'd heated the goldenrod and strained the flower out the silks simmered:
Until they were ready to be rinsed:
We had a special little ceremony that night during which the boys were presented with their beautiful golden capes. They were so excited!
On our painting day last week Short Pants asked to do something other than wet-on-wet watercoloring, so we decided to make apple print placemats instead:
Short Pants became frustrated with the printing process so he chose to just paint apples on his paper:
Pita Pocket loved painted the apples themselves!
For our baking day we baked (of course!) Dragon Bread, which was served at a Dragonmas bonfire we hosted. A few friends came over to enjoy the evening with us:
Imagine my surprise the next day when I opened these photos only to discover that a dragon had visited us during the celebration. Can you see him in the flames?
