Virginia's Arrowhead

Virginia found this arrowhead yesterday. Here's a pic for Isaiah and Belle! Check out the cool spearhead Isaiah found a few days ago.

Homemade Dog Bed.

I had been wanting to buy a dog bed for Daisy, the family dog. We had an old blanket and pillow on the floor for her, but those kept getting moved around by her and the kids. I had been pricing them, but the cheapest one walmart had was $20, and it looked wimpy. I checked Ross and they had some for $13, but it still looked kinda crappy, so I decided to make one myself! I took the blanket and pillow Daisy had been using, and cut out the shape of the pillow on the blanket. I sewed it on the machine to make a covering for the pillow, then I cut a strip about a foot wide and long enough to wrap around the outer edge of the pillow. I sewed up the side and then stuffed it. It looked like a really long noodle pillow. I then sewed it by hand onto the outer edge of the pillow, and voila! A comfy dog bed :) It's been Daisy's favorite spot ever since, and I saved at least $13. I wish the picture was better. Had to use my webcam since we haven't replaced our digital camera yet. As you can see, Simon managed to get his cute little self in the pic.

Puppies!

Our menagerie has grown by four new puppies, who joined us in late February. Virginia took all the photos, except the one with her, which Miriam took. So, in the closing words of Madeline's Rescue, we found that "there was enough hound to go all around".

Wooden Dollhouse

My husband and I had been wanting to get or make a dollhouse for Lacey. We were given a new entertainment center, and our old one was falling apart. Jon decided to try to make a house from the old entertainment center. He made it in like 2-3 hours one Saturday afternoon! I was shocked at how quickly and efficiently he made it :) I painted it with some leftover paint from when I painted the toy room. The outside is white, and the inside walls are blue. I left the floors unpainted, so that it looks like hardwood flooring. Lacey LOVES it! I've been working on making furniture out of bits of wood. I made some beds and a kitchen counter out of an old clementine box. There's still a lot more I want to make for it, but it's an ongoing process.

Happy Birthday Polliwogs!

Today is our one year anniversary. Thanks to all our contributors and readers. We look forward to many more years of sharing our passions and discoveries.

And from the archives once more, this, I think, has been our most popular post.

Another From the Archives

This recipe for granola has been a real money saver. Who knew homemade breakfast cereal could be so cheap and easy, and healthy and yummy to boot? We have a 50# bag of organic quick oats sitting on our dryer that cost less than $1/#. While it is great cooked as a hot cereal, sometimes we like a bit of crunch in the morning, and the extra protein boost of wheat germ and coconut.

If the recipe is too sweet for your taste, just leave out the cane sugar and increase the honey slightly. I've made it with 6T of honey, omitting the sugar, and it still turns out crunchy and sweet.

Also, I have found that the granola cooks in 25 min. instead of 30 in my oven.

From the Archives

As Polliwogs' first anniversary approaches, I thought I'd link to a few favorites from the archives. I will begin with one that really under-girds our philosophy of education here, that children should be allowed to continue to learn to read, write, etc. in the same way they learned to crawl, walk and speak, with no pressure from adults to arrive at certain milestones at certain times.

As a side note, some have argued from certain theological perspectives, that this approach does not take into account the sin nature making them lazy and unmotivated to learn. We would then ask, why did this sin nature not prevent them from learning to walk or talk, etc., in the first place? The problem is that we have arbitrarily created a system without which we cannot imagine a human could function. "Do your lessons, graduate, go to college, get a job so you can pay the bills, then have a family and raise your kids the same way." Our minds are locked into this reasoning and we see no way around it. Where now is any room left for Jesus' words, "Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them."? And where is there room for the individual to follow her gifts and talents, whether or not they can turn a profit or afford insurance? Is there any hope in this God forsaken social clime?

The only hope, if any, is to allow our children to grow up free from these constraining values. To follow their passions, learn at their own pace, and be aided by every opportunity that is in our power to give them as they pursue their dreams. Then they may have the gift of imagination to think outside the box. My hope is that they will enter society, not driven by necessity, but with the power to live and preach an alternative. And if they decide to stay here with us and help "work the farm", that's fine too. This is what my parents did for me, and I could do no less for them.