Laura Week: Weather!

It's the last day of "Laura Week," and considering what's about to hit us later today here in the Northeast, I'd say it's a good day to crack open this Laura Ingalls Wilder book:

It's perfect reading for a blizzard! I think I'm going to re-read my ancient copy today. It's one of my favorites.

It's also a good day to check out the blog Wilder Weather. It's a blog devoted to the weather of the "Little House" books (and a few other things). There's a Facebook page for the blog as well. They are worth checking out.

I should also mention that "Little House" made the news this week! There was an article in national newspapers on how doctors researched Mary's blindness -- and Mary is Laura's sister, for you non-Laura fans -- and believe that it was not scarlet fever which caused her blindess. You can see the article here.

Today, when you have cabin fever, you can also spend some time sprucing up your little house. Whether you live in a log cabin or not, you can still feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder with some simple touches around your home.

Photo from an article on how to decorate like
"Little House in the Big Woods."

Source: tlc.howstuffworks.com via Kellie on Pinterest

Break out the red-checked table cloth, rag rug, quilt and tin lanterns. Bake some bread and make some butter! Or try Laura's Gingerbread recipe. It was delicious.

And if you have not already, read my Yahoo! Voices story on my love for Laura here. Or browse my Laura and Little House Pinterest board here.

If you missed "Laura Week," you can find all posts related to Mrs. Wilder on this link.

Enjoy the blizzard, dear readers. Stay safe, and warm. 

See you on Monday!

Laura Week: "Birthday" Cake!

Happy Birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder!!

And since today is her birthday, how about we celebrate with some cake?

On Sunday, I gathered up the little ones to make a very special recipe: Laura's Gingerbread.

The recipe is a popular recipe from the writer and historian; It is a gingerbread cake, not a gingerbread cookie. It has been baked many times by her fans, and chronicled on many blogs, but I had never tried it myself. Since Laura's birthday is Thursday, I thought that this week was the best time to try it out. And on Sunday, Big Girl was home, and it was fun to explore a historical recipe.

The ingredients are rather simple. Here, look at the first part of the recipe in Laura's handwriting:

Source: flickr.com via Kellie on Pinterest

At one point, I thought I screwed up the recipe, and crossed my fingers while it baked. But sure enough, it came out great! Here is the recipe I followed:

Laura's Gingerbread Cake

Mix together:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup molasses

1 cup shortening

Add:

2 tsp. baking soda dissolved in 1 cup boiling water 

Mix ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. all spice

1/2 tsp salt

Add the flour mix and mix.

Then add in 2 eggs, well beaten.

Pour into a well-greased pan 9x13 pan. (I used a glass pan; some other versions use a 9x9 pan but mine came out just fine.) Bake at 350 degrees, for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

It came out much better than I thought it would. Some reviews stated that there was not enough spice to it, but I thought it was delicious. And so did all three kids. They all wanted seconds! (And Big Girl requested some in her lunch box tomorrow.) I will definitely be making this again.

You can also add raisins, candied fruit or nuts, and some recipes suggest a chocolate frosting. I think a dollop of whipped cream would be lovely, or a sprinkling of powdered sugar. It's a perfect "coffee cake," so if you need to bring something to a winter brunch, try it out!

When we were mixing everything up, I let the kids smell each spice, which was fun to watch the expressions on their faces. They also loved watching the molasses go into the bowl. And when it was baking, they could not wait to see it come out of the oven, because it smelled devine. I make gingerbread cookies every Christmas, and this was as fragrant as that time of the year.

So make a birthday cake for Laura tomorrow. Bake some gingerbread!

Laura Week: Celebrate!

Laura's birthday is tomorrow! Party!

I want a pioneer party for my birthday. Big Girl has not requested one yet, nor have I been able to convince her. Her Laura reading is usually in the winter, which means by the time her summer birthday rolls around she wants something different.

But nonetheless, I keep pinning pioneer parties. So I will share my links, which are plentiful on my Laura and Little House Pinterest board. (This is just a "linky" post, so I apologize... But everyone else has such great ideas!)

I think this one is my favorite:

Source: faithfamilyhomefriends.blogspot.com via Kellie on Pinterest

This one is also a big favorite:

Source: thehomespunheart.blogspot.com via Kellie on Pinterest

(The Homespun Heart is a favorite blog of mine -- I read it every morning. Monica is so inspiring!! And she is a Little House fan.)

This is an adorable party that used a lot of Holly Hobbie elements -- remember her?

Source: thedecorologist.com via Kellie on Pinterest

Here's a cute party with a really adorable covered wagon cake:

Source: ohamanda.com via Kellie on Pinterest

This one had a ton of "faux" things that made it real:

Source: only-smallthings.blogspot.com via Kellie on Pinterest

And if you need a gift for a Laura fan, how about this:

Source: etsy.com via Kellie on Pinterest

Or this:

Source: cherylharness.com via Kellie on Pinterest

I know, so cute.

Pioneer parties are adorable. I still have hope that Bunny Twin will want one in the future! If not, I may just have one for all the little girls in my life with no special occasion to celebrate, other than loving Laura.

Tomorrow is Laura's birthday! Look for a post on some special cake to celebrate.

Laura Week: The Music of Little House

Source: oregonlive.com via Brenna on Pinterest

There are 127 songs in Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books. For anyone who has read them, it's not hard to imagine. Laura's Pa played his fiddle all the time, and we are given snippets of lyrics to songs that were spiritual and folksy and ethnic and a slice of Americana.

There have been a handful of albums dedicated to the music of the books, primarily because it plays such a major role in the stories. It's amazing, but listening to the tunes actually does enhance reading the series even more. When you are just reading lyrics and do not know the melody, it is purely poetry. But put a tune behind it, and the emotion is intensified. Some of the albums focusing on "Little House" music are:

• 2005's "Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder"
• 2006's "The Arkansas Traveler: Music From Little House on the Praire"
• 2010's "Pa's Fiddler: Charles Ingalls, American Fiddler"

Last year, Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder on the "Little House" television series, produced a PBS special with numerous country stars performing the music. "Pa's Fiddle Project" brings all the classic songs to life:

I just love this clip. The soundtrack was also released as "Pa's Fiddle: The Music of America," and is available on Amazon via download.

Pa's actual fiddle is on display at the museum at Laura's Missouri home. Some day I hope to travel to see it in person!

It's Laura Week!

Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday is Feb. 7, so all week long I will be paying to homage to one my favorite women in history and the books she wrote. My real love for Laura and her books can be summed up with this quote:

Source: homegrownhospitality.typepad.com via Kellie on Pinterest

The simple life. Laura lived the pioneer life, and wrote about the pioneer life. She was a farm wife, and she wrote about living on a farm. To her, it was a simple life, but she celebrated it. Today, many of us yearn for the simple life, which is why her books still persevere.

These lessons of the "simple life" can be passed on to the next generation. I truly believe that modern children can still find valuable lessons in Wilder's writings, especially if you make them exciting to young readers. Every time I get asked to read to my daughter's class, and I am allowed to bring in something to read, I choose something from her books. A chapter that can stand alone as a story. And you know what? By the time I am done, all the kids -- even the boys -- have paid attention and have laughed and marveled at how different life was at the end of the 19th century.

So where do you start? It helps to start at the beginning, with "Little House in the Big Woods." It's an easy read and perfect to read aloud at bedtime. If you have a son, and want to interest them as well, try "Farmer Boy," about the childhood of Laura's husband, Almanzo. It has many funny tales perfect for young boy. (As a little girl, I wanted nothing to do with "Farmer Boy," but when I read it as an adult, I was so disappointed that I didn't enjoy it as a child! It was as good as the other books.)

I love reading Laura's books in the winter. There is something wonderful about revisiting her stories when it is cold outside. Since many of her stories deal with surviving winter, it just seems appropriate.

There are so many great resources for learning about Laura and her life. Of course, there are museums at all the places she lived, each with a website and many with a gift shop filled with pioneer-related goods. Many homeschooling families do units on her books, which means there are dozens of resources available on the Internet with links, projects, lapbooks and more. Dozens of books have been written about her life and about her books, and many are still available in print.

To start small, here are some great little printables to encourage kids to read Laura's books.

Source: cherylharness.com via Kellie on Pinterest

Artist Cheryl Harness offers some great coloring pages featuring Laura on her website. They are perfect for older children, as you can see from the picture above.

Here's another great printable:

Source: practicalpages.wordpress.com via Kellie on Pinterest

It's a 3D model of the Little House in the Big Woods. You can layer the printables and make flaps to see inside. This is a great project for new readers to the series!

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum has a wealth of printable activities for kids.

The HarperCollins' official Little House site has many activities, as well as information on all the books.

There's also another great coloring page available online:

Source: activity-sheets.com via Kellie on Pinterest

It's a coloring page of the postage stamp issued a few years ago in honor of the books.

This week, we'll be covering many Laura activities. Stay tuned!

Be Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it's a hard concept to grasp. I have been so busy with work assignments and life in general that I haven't had much extra time on my hands lately. Today I have to finish work, clean up the clutter in my house -- which is raging out of control right now! -- as well as bake, tidy and prepare for an overnight guest on Friday.

My husband is currently working on fixing up our upstairs bath. It's not a "gut" renovation -- our budget cannot afford that right now -- but a major spruce up: New fan, paint, floor, toilet and light. He is also adding some shelves. The bathroom is a teeny tiny bathroom. Very, very small. But it is our only upstairs bath and we all share it. Luckily we have a full bath in our basement with a shower, and a half-bath/laundry off the kitchen. We have plenty of places to wash up and primp while the work is in progress. But there is stuff all over this house where it doesn't belong right now, and today I'm hoping to deal with a little of that mess today.

And then there is the upcoming holiday season, the decorating, the shopping, etc. I do love the holidays, but I don't love the madness. I am feeling slightly cranky about all that needs to be accomplished. I have a good chunk of my shopping done, but not all of it. I am constantly looking at my list and seeing what can fit in the budget this week.

It is helpful at times like this, to put all of these feelings in check with a little reminder. You all know I love my Laura Ingalls Wilder, and I came across this little essay she wrote for a newspaper back in 1916. 

I suppose I should be thankful for what we have, but I can't feel very thankful when I have to pay $2.60 for a little flour and the price still going up," writes a friend, and in the same letter she says, "we are in our usual health." The family are so used to good health that it is not even taken into consideration as a cause of thanksgiving. We are so inclined to take for granted the blessings we possess and to look for something peculiar, some special good luck for which to be thankful.

I read a Thanksgiving story, the other day, in which a woman sent her little boy out to walk around the block and look for something for which to be thankful.

One would think that the fact of his being able to walk around the block and that he had a mother to send him would have been sufficient cause for thankfulness. We are nearly all afflicted with mental farsightedness and so easily overlook the thing which is so obvious and near. There are our hands and feet, - who ever thanks of giving thanks for them, until indeed they, or the use of them, are lost. We usually accept them as a matter of course, without a thought, but a year of being crippled has taught me the value of my feet and two perfectly good feet are now among my dearest possessions. Why! There is greater occasion for thankfulness just in the unimpaired possession of one of the five senses that there would be if some one left us a fortune. Indeed how could the value of one be reckoned? When we have all five in good working condition we surely need not make a search for anything else in order to feel that we should give thanks to Whom thanks are due.

It's always good to be reminded to count your blessings, especially when one is feeling that one does not have any.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! I'll be back posting regularly next week!

Lincoln Logs

Every now and then I try and pull out a different toy. Something to keep the twins busy for --oh, I don't know -- five minutes? (Just kidding.)

They do seem to need constant stimulation, and switching out toys can switch things up a bit. The other day I started thinking about some toys I had put away and remembered Lincoln Logs. The twins are possibly a little young for them, but I figured that if I built something with them, they might get intrigued by them. Buddy Twin is a LEGO/Thomas train builder-kind-of-kid, so I knew it might appeal to him especially.

Well, it went over... OK. We have a giant Lincoln Log set that has all the traditional wooden pieces, as well as a newer set that has some plastic pieces and is intended to build a schoolhouse. The schoolhouse has a plastic slide, and that was the coveted piece by both children. And then Buddy Twin tried to build a track for his Matchbox cars out of the logs and roof pieces, which is fine with me, since he was hard at work on a project, even if it wasn't a log cabin.

Later that day, as I was putting the twins in bed, I could hear wooden pieces being sorted through downstairs, click clack click... (And Bunny Twin heard it above the bedtime stories: "Lincoln blocks, Lincoln blocks!" she said with one ear in the air.)

When I finally got the tots tucked in, I came downstairs and I found this:

Ah, Big Girl. "I knew exactly what I going to do when they went to bed!" she said.

Lincoln Logs are such a classic, classic toy. They have been around since 1916, and interestingly, were invented by architect Frank Lloyd Wright's son, John Lloyd Wright. The idea came to him when he was watching the building of Tokyo's Imperial Palace Hotel, which was created with "earthquake proof" interlocking pieces. He named the toy after Abraham Lincoln, who began his life in a log cabin. Apparently they reached the height of popularity during the 1950s during the Davy Crockett era.

The package says they are for ages 3 years and up, and clearly we know that the process of building with blocks is a great activity for little minds. It's about creating, problem solving, thinking things through -- that sort of thing. All positive exercises for toddlers.

I'd like to add to our "log" collection. If I had my wish, Santa will bring this for Christmas:

I love this one because of its Laura Ingalls Wilder cuteness. It's even called the "Little Prairie Farmhouse!" I swear they pick these names on purpose to match Laura Ingalls Wilder: The schoolhouse set we have its called the "Walnut Woods Schoolhouse." Um, Walnut Woods? How about "Walnut Grove," right people?

Speaking of girls playing with Lincoln logs, they don't have to be pink for little girls to love them. The plain old logs clearly inspired my oldest, and yesterday I was looking at this 1926 advertisement:

The ad says that girls like to play with them too, to build houses as well as furniture for their dolls. I loved the thought of log picnic tables and stump stools for dolls tea parties.

I'm hoping the Lincoln Logs continue to get a workout in our house, along with the LEGOs and trains, and American Girl dolls.

And in case you are feeling inspired (like I am!) here's a great party idea based on Lincoln Logs:

Source: naughtysecretaryclub.blogspot.com via Kellie on Pinterest

This party was so cute and original. I even love the food ideas -- lumberjack breakfast, anyone? Future birthday party for twins? Possibly!

Checking In

I've been busy, busy, without time to write some blog posts but I promise I have lots of things to write about in the near future!

Not sure if I'll be back posting this week, but I wanted to share that my article on loving Laura Ingalls Wilder on Yahoo! Voices was just featured on the front of  their History page. This piece is very special to me, so I'm thrilled that it's the first thing I've written that Yahoo! Voices felt compelled to "highlight" on their site.

(And I wondered why suddenly the hits to that article started spiking up?)

If you haven't read it yet, check it out!

Stepping Into the Past

We've been busy trying to make the most of the waning days of summer. One of Big Girl's wishes was to visit our local historical society museum. It's only open two hours a week, so it's definitely been hard to find time in that window most weeks.

Last week, we were able to find an hour to leave the twins with my parents and head over to the tiny, second floor museum and the one-room schoolhouse at the other end of the parking lot. It was well worth the trip! (And did I mention that is has free admission? Yay!)

The museum displays change because the historical society has far more items than fit in their current museum. Eventually, they hope to have a bigger home.

I hadn't been to the museum recently, and it is completely different since my last visit. It was so fascinating to learn about products made here, or see antique items donated to the museum and inspect old photographs of notable places around town, like old schools, churches and businesses.

The best part, however, was this:

Going inside the one-room schoolhouse! Isn't it so-very-Laura-Ingalls? I just loved it. I could only imagine what school was like in this building.

We had a lovely little time exploring our town's past and chatting with the historical society president. I'm very motivated to become a member, as history is a subject near and dear to my heart.

I hope you all find time to visit your local historical societies. Many are staffed by volunteers who spend hours trying to preserve the past. I think it is so important for children to learn about where they live; it gives them pride in their hometowns as they grow up and they feel connected and develop "a sense of place."

Finding a Treasure!

I took Big Girl to the library this week for a free program, and on the way out we stopped in its used bookstore. I love this little place because you can always find something for practically nothing, and the stock changes all the time because library patrons are always dropping off used books.

On this visit, we actually found a treasure: Big Girl stoops down and grabs a book out of a bin and says "Mom, look!"

There is was, The Little House Coookbook, in all its glory! And at the bargain price of only $2. This book has been on my wishlist for a while, but I wasn't willing to pay full price for it just yet. Now I don't have to because of my bargain-hunting ways.

After browsing through the pages, I am definitely glad to have this in my Little House library. The book is more than just a cookbook; it goes into great detail about food in the era, how they cooked it, and the recipes are true to the time, with substitutions for modern cooks -- I don't exactly have lard on hand, but I do have butter!

It has recipes for most dishes and meals mentioned in the books. There's Fried Salt Pork with Gravy -- remember how the Ingalls family seemed to eat salt pork constantly? I always wondered how they never died of heart attacks at 25 years old, but I guess they didn't eat all the other fat we do today. Big Girl and I were grocery shopping once and I came across a package of salt pork. The two of us stood in the meat aisle for a long time marveling at it. Weird, I know, but it was the first time I ever recalled seeing it anywhere.

The book even has a recipe for "Long Winter Bread," the bread that the family ate so they wouldn't starve. It even includes instructions on how to grind your wheat in a coffee grinder.

You can also find how to make Ma's green pumpkin pie, which Pa though was apple pie. And Vanity Cakes, which Ma made for the girl's country party with Nellie Oleson. There are dozens of recipes, and it would make a great companion while reading through the series -- you could cook and bake chapter by chapter. The cookbook also borrows Garth Williams charming illustrations and features excerpts from the book throughout its pages. I am so looking forward to reading through this one.

We also found this book:

I've actually had this book on my Amazon wishlist because I thought about getting it for Big Girl after reading the Little House books. It has a story about a pioneer family, and is interspersed with snippets about pioneer life. There are a lot of little things in this book that overlap with Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories. Big Girl didn't as excited about this one -- she's more into Greek mythology and Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books right now -- but I'm holding on to it for myself. Who knows? Maybe in my old age, I'll be a Laura scholar and run Little House programs at schools and libraries. Or write a book.

 

This book was also $2, so I didn't mind splurging $4 on both books even though the budget is very, very tight for our family this month. I had four dollar bills in my pocket so it must have been a sign.

The moral of the story is this: Always take a minute to browse in a used book store. You never know what you will find!

The Pioneer Girl Project

Source: pioneergirlproject.org via Kellie on Pinterest

Prairie Heads are getting excited for 2013, when Laura Ingalls Wilder's original autobiographical manuscript, "Pioneer Girl," is set for publication for the first time. The manuscript was the beginning of Wilder's writing of the "Little House" books and contains the real story of her life instead of the fictionalized one with which we are familiar.

Laura fans can follow news on this special project at a blog called The Pioneer Girl Project. It's worth checking out!

I'm a Prairie Head

A few books from my "Laura" collection.

I have a major love for Laura Ingalls Wilder. My obsession is so great that my friends poke fun at me. Of course, they are "Twi-Moms," so their vampire love and obsession with futuristic "Hunger Games" is hard to transfer to the adventures of a 19th-century pioneer girl. But I swear, give me an hour, and I will have you (or your daughters) convinced to try out a bit of my Laura.

My love of Laura Ingalls Wilder began in the '70s, when I started receiving the Little House books as gifts from my aunt and uncle. The yellow-edged paperback covers had those charming Garth Williams illustrations of Laura, her big sister Mary and her little sister Carrie. One by one, I read them all. I was just in the single digits then, so when Laura started courting future husband Almanzo, I was not as thrilled as I was with her adventures on the banks of Plum Creek scaring Nellie Oleson with leeches on her legs. But I did read Laura's grown-up adventures anyway. And started back at the beginning again. And read them again. And again. Many times. Over and over.

My original dog-eared copies of the "Little House" books.

By the time I reached adulthood, I have gotten rid of many of my childhood books. But all the Little House paperbacks still managed to remain on my bookshelf, and when I married my husband and moved to my own little house, Laura's books came with me. I didn't crack them open until my daughter was born, and one winter day I started revisiting those now-yellowed pages while my baby napped. Over several cups of coffee on winter afternoons, I was immediately sucked in again to Laura's world. How I loved these books! And what a different perspective I had now, as a wife and mother! Ma's ability to "keep house" on the dirty prairie, create meals from few ingredients at times, make holidays happy without money or stores and raise her daughter's to have a little spunk in a time when girls were not taught to have spunk. And there was Pa's endless upheaval of the family, dragging them all over frontierland, was somewhat annoying to me. I think Ma was a saint. And all those praire chores. God bless modern conveniences.

Despite this, the wisdom of these pioneer women totally shined through the drudgery of the lives. They were strong, brave role models. I knew I wanted my first daughter to know about Laura, so imagine my delight when I came across a series of books called "My First Little House," a series of picture books based on Laura's stories. I searched out every single one of them, and they soon became Big Girl's absolute favorite books. We read them over and over, and over and over, and she was hooked. We watched re-runs of the TV show. When she was a bit older, I read every book in the series to her, chapter by chapter, night after night, until we finished. I explained American history and social history, and we watched videos of places Laura lived and visited on YouTube. I re-read the biographies and researched online to explain to my daughter some of the difference between the books and Laura's real life. We made butter, just like Laura. She wore a "Laura" costume to her preschool Halloween party, much to the delight of her teachers and wore it again to school as she got older for "dress as your favorite book character" day.

I kept collecting books about Laura, including travel books and books featuring artifacts from her family's life. Big Girl could now see pictures to go with all those words. And soon she was reading the books herself. And reading them over and over.

We read The Long Winter during a particularly long, recent snowy winter. It really hit home for both of us, as we kept reading about the family starving and trying to figure it all out in our heads of what that actually would have been like, more than 100 years ago, to be hungry and cold constantly, to twist hay into "logs" to burn for heat while our hands cracked and bled, to shake snow from the bed coverings every morning, and numerous other real complications of 19th-century life.

When Wendy McClure's The Wilder Life was being released, I could hardly contain myself at idea that someone else was obsessed with Laura as much as I was. And as it turns out, there are many people like me, many people who hope to do the "Laura Tour" of all the homesite museums, or attend "Laurapalooza" in the summer. There are countless web sites, books, homeschooling blogs and many others who revisit Laura's pioneer life regularly and analyze what is true and what is fiction, and how it all fits in to our collected history.


-- one of my favorite quotes --



Source: homegrownhospitality.typepad.com via Kellie on Pinterest

Some may think my love of all-things-Laura is rather silly or old-fashioned, but I don't really care. There are so many lessons to learn from this writer, daughter, mother, pioneer. If you travel beyond the "Little House" books to her journalism work, a reader can really get a sense of who Laura really, truly was. She was a wise lady, who lived a great life, and I am so happy to have "known" her.

Whether you pick up the Little House books or not, encourage your daughter to give it a try. Or just encourage your daughter to find her own "Laura." Share something you love from your childhood with your child. It's all about how you sell it, right? If I was not as excited about Laura's life, my daughter may not have been as fascinated as she is with her. But enthusiasm goes a long way, and along the way, you and your child will share a special bond over a book, or two, or three.

Fellow Prairie Heads should note that Wendy McClure has a new e-book (Kindle & Nook) which comes out Tuesday! The book is Don't Trade the Baby for the Horse: And Other Ways to Make Your Life a Little Laura Ingalls Wilder. The book, which is affordably priced at $2.99, is actually an off-shoot of her recent book, The Wilder Life. I've already pre-ordered mine for my Nook.

And we are not done with Laura and Little House! Look for future Prairie Head posts on this blog.