Bread From God Day

Today the girls got to participate in a Portuguese tradition called Pão-por-Deus (or “Bread from God”). Kids go around to all the neighborhood doors before noon and say “Pão-por-Deus” to get little breads, candy, fruit, nuts, or other goodies.  {Sound familiar to a night time activity in America?} It’s a holiday--All Saints Day--today so everyone is at home.

I’ve heard some variations on the origins and meaning of this day. The girls’ teacher said it’s a time we’re thankful for the harvest. My language teacher said traditionally it was a day to give food to the poor who came to your door. Wikipedia says the tradition started after the November 1st earthquake that devastated Lisbon in 1755.  Maybe it’s a little bit of all of that!

Our girls decorated bags for the occasion in their kindergarten last week. Pears, apples and grapes are the main agricultural products in this region.

  

The girls only made it a few feet in the door before they were organizing all their loot. We really had a great time being together, meeting new people and seeing neighbors. I’m definitely up for trading frightening costumes coming to my door and all that kind of stuff for this!

Cutting Up the Stash

With the cooler weather coming in, I was able to pull out the “new” t-shirt scarf I made last spring.  What I made it from certainly wasn’t new. You might have caught on to the fact {from my posts OR if you know me} that I don’t let go of things very easily. I’m getting better though! So, from an old mission trip T:

I actually saw one just like it at H&M for 9.99! It really IS a simple thing to make. YOU SHOULD TRY IT! I followed the tutorial at Vermillion Rules except that I didn’t pull out the basting stitches afterwards. Mine’s not quite as ruffly as theirs, but I’m not complaining.

So… off to your machines to make free scarves for everyone! I know my stash still has lots to offer—how about yours?

Free and Really Cute Costumes

Even though we really don’t celebrate Halloween in our family {or this country}, I couldn’t miss a chance to share an amazing costume idea I saw during Portugal’s dress up time earlier this year. All the different kindergartens dress up for the Carnaval parade in our town. I guess you could call these costumes Telephone Book Mary Poppins?

They had skirts, scarves, hats, canes and umbrellas all made from telephone book pages! It was amazing! {Except for the fact that they couldn’t sit down!}

I think they made the skirts and boy jackets from rolled pages attached to another then to a skinny piece of fabric covered with paper rosettes tied around their waist or neck. The rosettes look like circles cut with pinking sheets and folded in some fashion—I’d have to play around with it {sorry I wasn’t brave enough back then to try to ask in Portuguese how they made their outfits!}.

So, another idea for book pages {in addition to the amazing book page wreaths I’ve seen in blogland—here’s a new one I just saw} or a way to use up those old phone books! I’d love to see if you try it!

PS: I saw a some great ideas for incorporating the Truth into October 31st at 1+1+1=1!

Sharing this at:

Hedgehogs and More

Today is a holiday in Portugal. In fact, it’s the 100th anniversary of Portugal becoming a republic. You’d think it would be similar to the 4th of July, but a friend told us there have been many victories over the opposition in Portugal, that this is celebrating one of many. I have to remember that America is a relatively new country!  Anyway, the girls were home from their Portuguese kindergarten so we had extra time to do homeschool versus the 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon we have normally.

This week we started the letter H with Raising Rock Stars Preschool. This program has been a lot of fun and a good basis to focus our week around (great printables and songs to download too!). We love how it helps the girls learn God’s word. I even signed up for the members only portion so my youngest gets extra review from the PowerPoint presentations.

 

Every week I look at several websites for ideas to go along with our letter of the week or something with the theme. Our hand print hedgehog from No Time for Flashcards was quite a hit. They turned out really cute too! We looked at pictures of hedgehogs on the internet and to find out about their habitat (another H idea from No Time for Flashcards).

I was also encouraged with our continued gradual introduction to telling time. Last week’s letter was T, so I only introduced the clock. Today, we each had a clock with movable hands. I was reading the book Playtime (Tick Tock Book) as we all changed the hour hands to match hour of the girl’s activity in the book. Even my four year old was following along well!

Another fun thing we tried for the first time was going outside with a cute nature study page for the girls to draw what they see outside. {Thanks Mama Kenz Studio!}I like this one since it allows the girls to “document” things themselves, and then it helps me ask them questions afterwards. The girls LOVED going around outside with their nature study page on a clip board—big stuff!

So, thanks for reading about today’s successes. I’m really grateful for all the online “support” I have way over here (meaning readers and amazing bloggers who share their ideas)!

Catching the Grape Harvest

We’ve passed several trucks filled to nearly overflowing with grapes, and I’ve either not had my camera or was too slow! Friday, we were driving from the girls’ school, when we spotted a tractor and trailer parked on the side of a vineyard (so nice to not have a moving target!). This load was not as big as some I’ve seen going down the road, but it’s still amazing for me to see.

There were three workers in this vineyard. You can see it’s not easy to find them!

 

Ah ha!

The vineyards are really showing the first signs of fall in our area.

Not a bad view for your workplace, huh?! The Atlantic is just over that last set of hills in the distance.  We have rain and wind today, but I’m hoping for many more gorgeous autumn days like this ahead.

Shelving Solutions

Months ago, I shared about my new craft room desk area. That was one side of my craft area. The other sides (there are 3 since it is open to a large room) have not been so easy to control or beautify. Are you ever less motivated to organize when the opportunity to be creative or decorate seems minimal? Part of my problem is not having the time to go through all of it and moreover, keeping things picked up, as you can see!

I decided the fastest solution to the most unruly shelf on this side was to cover it, and then come back and attack the contents later. I’ve thought about ordering some cute fabric from America to cover it, but I decided I’d give this bird fabric from IKEA a try. I think it added a fun punch of life that the more organizational side of the area needed!

 

Our upstairs room still had another unsightly, catch-all, forgotten, not-really-been-touched-since-we-moved-in bookshelf:

Taking everything off of this bookshelf was a good place to start. Things that didn’t belong here had to find a new home. Then I realized many of the big books and magazine holders could not even fit between the shelves (this was a homemade bookcase left in our old house).  I took magazines out of their holders (or took them elsewhere). Stacking big books on their side actually helped visually. It is so nice to know where I can find something or where something goes. Why do I wait to do these projects? …moving on.

I’m sharing this at the We’re Organized Wednesday link party.

PS: These organizational projects were completed before the last few weeks of retreat center busyness and decorating, for those of you who know about that. I do want to share what happened there and what I’ve learned! Soon hopefully!

Pumpkin Factory

Friday we took the girls back to check out a place that had caught our eye in passing earlier that week. It looked like a pumpkin factory, but really it was pumpkin storage. And actually I think it is winter squash storage.

 

Bins and bins of the biggest squash and pumpkins we’d ever seen in one place!  We were used to a trailer full on the side of the road in Germany but never this quantity.

We didn’t know if the workers would let us take pictures (it seems businesses are funny about pictures here)—thankfully one said yes to my question in broken Portuguese. Then another fellow motioned that we should go back to the warehouses in the back.

Amazing what we saw! Rows and rows of neatly stacked squash and pumpkins! It could pass for the fall aisle at Hobby Lobby, but these were real!

I found online that you can store some winter squash for 4-6 months! We’ll have to check out what this place looks like in a few months.

We weren’t in Portugal for fall last year so I’m not sure what it looks like here (and I’ve been holding onto summer as long as I can). Yet I’m thankful for glimpses of the beauty of the season to come!