1st Grade Art Appreciation

I have had the pleasure to teach an art class to E and Kaela this last year. We've dabbled in many areas but none so satisfying as our slow intro into the world of drawing. My guide: Drawing With Children by Mona Brookes.

This has been my teaching bible and given me the confidence to have the ability to impart these foundational skills to these two girls that love to draw. After weeks of drawing duplication and mirror imaging warm-ups, and then abstract designs we were ready to attempt our first lesson. The gals did fabulous, and I felt so inspired to have imparted some grain of knowlege to them, however small.

The girls were instructed to listen silently to each step, complete, and then wait for the next instruction; i.e. draw a dot anywhere on your paper, make a small angled line in front of the eye, etc.

Here is what we got!

by Kaela

by E

Walk Like an Egyptian

E and Kaela have been working tirelessly over the last few months with Jen creating and practicing for this evening's Egyptian Feast! The girls learned how to write actual hieroglyphics, they discovered many Ancient Egyptian customs and part of their presentation was a choreographed dance (view at bottom of post) . They did so great! Among many other delicious treats for our feast they served us hand pressed hummus, antelope, and alligator! After our meal they included their dad's in a mummification presentation. Yet another tick on the side of homeschooling, E would never have had such an in depth look at Ancient Egypt in a traditional 1st grade classroom.

Bodkins are a Girls Best Friend

Don't worry, I didn't know what a 'bodkin' was until today either. My family has this accumulating stack of gym pants/shorts and hoodies, where the drawstring has been pulled out. Some drawstrings have gone missing so I made a trip over to the fabric store to buy a few yards or cording and offhandedly asked the woman at the cutting counter if she has any magic tricks for reinserting the buggers.  Her eyes lit up and she said "Follow me!" A Bodkin! This little miracle worker costs less than $2, and I had all of our clothes restrung in less than 5 minutes! This little metal needle has pincher's on one end instead of an eye, and a ring that clamps it shut; it's genius.

Less Tree = More Sun

Remember a few short monthes ago when I posted this? Well my garden is even happier today. My dad came over again armed with a 50 foot lift and a chainsaw on a pole.

Hello sun.

Thank you Dad.

Anyone need free firewood?

Leaving the Livingroom; Bye Bye Carpet :: Part 4

Well, our scheduled day to remove the remaining carpet in our living room was quickly shoved forward a few days due to an unforeseen...shall we say ingestive/digestive problem with Molly and my son's diaper?

Yup.

The kids hiding under the displaced coffee table

If I never see another strip of carpet tack...

Anyhow, the offensive bits had to be removed as soon a possible so armed with my trusty pry bar off to work I set at 1pm, a quick break at 3 to pick E up from Summer Camp, then back at it until supper. After D arrived home from work we successfully removed everything (living room and kid's room) by midnight. The bare floors look and feel great. We are tired, but happy.

inch by inch

Due to the terribly disgusting nature of what I witnessed you, dear reader will not be subject to any beforehand photo's, you just get to see the shiny after shots!

only hardwoods

A Cleaner Kitchen; Bye-Bye Carpet :: Part 3

Next was our dinning room which adjoins our tiny kitchen and, as of late it has also doubled as a preschool style play room. We really cannot believe that we waited as long as we did for this part. The stains were so numerous from 6 years of daily spills that in the end I just threw up my hands and stopped my monthly steam cleanings.  Yes, the linoleum waiting for us underneath was way dated, but in fair shape. From beginning (pulling up the carpet) to end (prying up the ominous carpet tack) it took just 2 hours.

See previous editions:
Part 1
Part 2

Starting in on the Main Floor; Bye-Bye Carpet :: Part 2

I get the 'pull-the-carpet-up' bug just about every Tuesday evening after supper. The trash is collected on Wednesday morning, and I just cannot stand to see a half empty trash barrel (like my Massachusetts lingo Tan?) go to the curb. So on go my work gloves (that also double as my garden gloves) and out come the pry bars and pliers.  Last week it was the majority of our second staircase, and we started on the main floor this week.  I have to be strategic tho because I don't want to pull up more than will reasonably fit in the container at the street, and I don't want our house to look any more crazy than it already does.

Last night I yanked the 4.5 x 7 foot section at the top of the stairs. I carefully cut along the areas that butt up to the hall, the entrance to the family room, and also kitchen.  Then I pulled the padding, and then the painstaking job of getting each staple and nail.  As you will see, my assistant was not so thorough...see that bit of tacking with the 2 nails sticking out...D knelt on it and they completely sunk into his left knee...and then he was sent for a Tetanus shot today.

Tho she still prefers to lay down on the quickly disappearing carpet, Molly hasn't seemed too phased by this new slick surface and I just love hearing her clickity-clicking on the wood as she follows me around.

The wood underneath is not perfect, there are a few dents and scars that I will worry about when we refinish, but I say; "Imperfect wood looks better than dirty carpet, any day."

Strawberry Patch

I figured I'd give strawberries a break this year. Last year I invested in one of those terracotta pots with all the pockets for the plants, and while it was sorta productive I think that whatever vermin was nibbling on the ripe berries while my head was turned appreciated it more than I did...very frustrating! All that to say that today I ripped out a bit more of my yard to put in strawberry plants. My neighbor offered up as many Alpine Everbearing plants as I wanted, so I dug up like 20-25 (Many that I gave away to friends)! Here's to good berry eating this summer, if it ever warms up!

Before:

Ivy, supervising

::::::::::

After:

I had to put up some fencing to discourage chicken nibbling! Papa came over to remove the gi-normous rock that we unearthed just in front of that small hydrangea I'll fill in with more plants soon. You can also see some of my sunflower seedlings there along the wood fence.

One Step, Two Step; Bye-Bye Carpet :: Part 1

Yesterday morning I came home to dirty stairs. I'll be the first to admit it...they are often dirty. It's a high traffic area that leads from the outside, and stairs are the worst to vacuum! Between kids and the dog there's just no getting around it, even when I've hired professionals to come in...it lasts a month or so and then it's embarrassingly disgusting again. Anyhow, the ongoing conversation in my head got the better of me..."I don't want to vacuum these, I just wanna tear out the carpet and be done with it."

I did it.

Slow and steady though, I'm just doing one at a time. First I rip off the carpet, then the pad, next I start in with the pliers and pull all the huge staples, and then attack the strip of wood with all the tiny nails that keeps everything in place with a crowbar.

The stairs are hardwood, in fact our entire house has hardwood under the carpet, save the dinning room, kitchen and bathrooms. It's not in pristine condition, but far outweighs the condition of our carpet. The only worry is that it may make things a little trickier for Molly, but we can work on that when need be. So this will be the summer of bare floors! Step by step.

Lil Helper

D's been expanding our coop to my specifications, and a Little Mister is eager to help.

My Urban Homestead

I've really been into this book for about, well, a year I guess. I've checked it out from the library a handful of times and it was just time to buy it. I have grandiose dreams of my yard turning into the diagram below:

So orderly, so logical. Grow what you eat. It makes sense. What are you inspired to do this growing season?

Cookie Time!

Yup, E's troop is selling them, talk to me if you'd like some!

4-H

E joined 4-H today! A new group has just formed and we're taking advantage of it! E will be working on showing poultry. It was a crack up to see all these city-farm girlies with their hens and rabbits today. We all me at the leaders home in the Wallingford District, received instructions on how to show chickens, what judges will look for, and what judging is like. It was so fun!

Here is E with our Blue Laced Wyandotte, Petunia (iPhone pic's sorry).

Build it and He WIll...Play

I got N this super terrific build your own wooden trash truck for Christmas, and decided to put it together last night, with his help of course.  The thing was so much fun to assemble, he loves loading and dumping it over and over.

* I love Melissa and Doug toys, they may not be made in the US, but there is something to be said about 'no-batteries required.'  And I have never been treated so well by their staff in customer service.

It's a Kind of Addiciton

We have been snipping, cutting, shaping and trimming nonstop for the last week.  My house is covered in tiny bits and scraps of white paper.  I've vacuumed no fewer than twice daily.  When we round the corner to our cozy home those paper perfections pasted to our living room window make me so happy.

* Thanks for the idea Eileen!

Turkeys in the Hen House

 Papa's been workin' on our coop!  Hip hip!

*this is just the run, we will be attaching it to the hen house...