A new plate for everyone

Every year for Christmas Uncle Dave gives the kids a coupon to paint pottery at his store.  It is so much fun to paint something unique and get to use it everyday.  

I wish I could say we have a collection of them from past years but they get so much use and don't usually survive more than two years.  A few of the children have saved little pieces from their dishes in their sentimental box.

This year I remembered to take a photo of each piece before first use.  May they enjoy many full plates of yummy food!

    

                         

DIY-ing

Lately our family has been immersed in DIY projects.  It seems thereis no end to the ideas.  Here are some of the recent ones:

 "The sheet castle"  

"The castle jail"

 Peter's field goal post

A book Maryanna wrote for Henry's birthday

A cherry bowl Paul turned at a friend's house with William and Peter

Clara made this small ball out of scraps and tape and Peter knitted these animals.  They were presented to Henry on his birthday.

In addition to the gifts above Paul and the older boys made this see saw for Henry's birthday.  The plans are from Ana White

We all painted it the day of his birthday

Here is our garden starting project with the newspaper cups the kids rolled

 And here is George (again, absolutely no clothes) planting his bush beans in the front yard.  He's been carrying those seeds around with him since Paul's parents gave them to him on Monday.  Kind of like Johnny Apple seed he's been scattering them all over. 

I don't have much to show for myself.  I did have a project planned for Henry's birthday but never got around to finishing it.  Too busy cleaning up everyone else's DIY's!

Food Storage to Furniture

I've been searching for a couple of months for the perfect stool for the desk Paul's mom gave me.  Originally the desk was Paul's grandma's vanity but no one knows what happened to the original stool. I've searched thrift stores, ebay, etsy and antique stores but have not been able to find one that would fit perfectly, I came close but they all were at least 1/2" too wide.

When I came across this tutorial I was interested but very skeptical.  The food bucket actually fit the perfect dimensions I was looking for and since I already had almost everything on hand I gave it a try.  The only thing I had to buy was the foam and was very surprised how expensive it was, luckily it was on sale.

Now for the work of it.  In the tutorial it tells you to draft a pattern and use some "finessing" to pull the cover over the bucket.  My finessing was more like a full body wrestle with the stool and still cannot figure out how they got such a perfect fit.  I ended up folding over a piece to cover the very messy seam that split as I tried to pull it over.

It is not perfect but it works and no one would ever imagine it once was a bucket of oats.  I did weigh down the bucket with a bit of water softner salt but I suppose if the sandbox was not covered in snow I would have dug up some sand for that purpose.  

Here it is again at my desk, it has proved to be the perfect solution and combined with the right fabric looks just right where it rests.  Now the girls are waiting for me to make one for their room.    

  

Homeschool News

What I love most about homeschool is the opportunity for spontaneous learning.  Paul was recently sent a rack of Dreamland ribs packed in dry ice.  Before we could even enjoy the ribs the kids begged to experiment with the dry ice, so we did.  James is the science guy around here so I let him lead the demonstration and discussion on frozen carbon dioxide, I even let him clean up the mess.  It is always fun to have an activity that engages everyone. 

On another afternoon I took a few kids to a gem show and they enjoyed soap stone carving demonstrations, talking to vendors about how stones are polished, painting their own fossil like creation a piece of slate and cracking open a geo.  They came home with their very own rock collection.

We also recently discovered diy.org and have been hooked to making all sorts of creative (and messy) projects.  I love the way it integrates right into our homeschool process, this site has supported my trust in child lead learning.  The children select a project, I provide the materials and they are responsible for both the completion and recording of it.  In the end they are rewarded with a virtual badge and are able to share and connect with other children working on similar projects.  

And the reality of our homeschool is we are still struggling in many areas.  The younger half are on the opposite extreme as the older boys, they are still struggling with basics.  I've tried drilling them but honestly that is no fun for any of us.  Instead I've created a visual reminder, just like our alphabet board, the number banner is in constant view and if they flip one or get one mixed up I simply tell them to check the banner and see if they are able to correct the mistake on their own.

My craft and sewing projects are limited to what is needed most and happy that I was able to squeeze the time in to cut out the freezer paper stencils for this project.  It is proving to be very helpful.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend my days surrounded by my children.  It is not easy, I'm not sure the responsibility of it meets my capacity, it stretches me, and perhaps that is the most valuable lesson for my children to learn, how to grow into their fullest selves.  The truth is, they will pick up on the things they see me holding, it doesn't require too much planning, it just happens.

Meet Emma

This is Emma, Maryanna's new 29" doll.

We started making her at the beginning of winter after visiting a friend who had a large collection of handmade dolls.  She gave us some fabric and let us borrow a stack of her doll making books from Germany so we could get started on this very special doll.

The time spent at the sewing machine for making this type of doll is minimal, it is mostly a lot of hand sewing and sculpting and I was happy to do that by the fire.

She is stuffed with wool and Maryanna selected a carved stone and placed it in her body for her heart.

The kids all thought it was kind of creepy as she started to come to life.  When it was time to finish her Maryanna gave her some anesthetic so she would not feel the pain of me stitching her eyes and sewing on her hair.

"When she was finished we woke her up and she was refreshed and happy to see the sky".

Maryanna selected the color of her hair and eyes, choosing the most beautiful colors in the box.  Since she is the size of a toddler I simply pulled out some of the girls' old clothes and shoes and they proved to be a perfect fit!  This outfit was one of my favorites, it was made for Clara for Christmas several years ago.

Maryanna says she is so fun to play with because she like a real person and so soft to carry.  They will have many good times and adventures together!

Maryanna says Emma especially loves to ride her horse named "Moonie".   She also likes to play "big sister" to Clara's doll "Rosie".

I have to say the time for sewing is hard to come by these days.  I limit my projects to what is needed most or to what brings the most joy. And this doll has already brought much joy so I am grateful for the dear friend who shared her knowledge and supplies and the cozy days by the fire that allowed for Emma's completion.

Peter's Pinewood Derby

Guest Post by Peter

Last Wednesday was the pinewood derby. The week before I went over to my neighbors house and cut out my car out not knowing I was going to win.  The cut design was very simple because I wanted it to have good aerodynamics.

My dad and I bought some green spray and painted it 5 days before the race. 3 days before the race my mom and I designed a crocodile mouth with teeth and eyes and a windshield nostrils. We also added a license plate and some other details.

The next night we started grinding and polishing the axles. The next day was race day and we did a lot of work. We polished the axles, prepared the wheels and weighed it. Fortunately I noticed some gorilla glue got in the axles and wheels so replaced them.  When we got that problem fixed, we noticed the car turned left so we fixed that problem also.

Before the race we met my grandma and grandpa at Jimmy Johns.  I got an unwhich lettuce wrap it tasted good but I was felling nervous while I ate it.

At the church my car weighed 4.7 ounces so we added on a penny and a nickel which made it about 5.0 or 4.9 ounces, some glue almost got on the wheels. On the first race my nickel flew off so on the second race I almost lost.  Then I glued the nickel back on and I won the Bears group. I got pink silly putty as a reward.

After I lost what I thought was the championship.  Then I was relieved to fine out it was only a double illumination so I had a second chance.  On one round and it was a tie between me and Byron which my dad said had to be down to the last millionth of a second.  It was very close but finally after several runs I won! I got a laser pointer and I also won the award for the buffest car. It was a very memorable night and I won't forget it.  It was worth the hard work.

Up on our walls

Where so much of my fall and summer focus was spent out doors, winter has given me the chance to really "move in".  And having moved so many times in the last 15 years I have not been quick to hang pictures, in fact, most of the pictures I have put up have been in bubble wrap since we lived in Charlotte 8 years ago.  I share them here because I feel it is important to create spaces that invoke feeling, especially ones that remind us to bask in the richness of life.

This first piece is a needle point that Paul's mom completed in 1983.  She presented it to us a few months ago and said, "I feel like I made this for your home".  I feel the same way, it is as if it has always been up there, and when I see it I am amazed by her many skills and talents, and more importantly the continual love and care she offers.  

Paul's mom also created this Sesame Street Scene.  It was completed in 1980 for Paul as a child and then given back to him again shortly after James was born.  This is actually the one piece that has always been up on our walls, it has always shared the happy space where our littlest ones sleep.

These next two pieces were completed by Paul and I in 1984, we were in the same class that year and it is funny how both our mothers unwrapped them this past summer while cleaning out boxes in their basements.  They now hang together in our kitchen and I wonder of the blessing that our lives came together as well.  Can you guess who made which one?

Also new to our walls is this shirt I picked up from and an antique market in China.  While living there in 1997 I took a short break from teaching English in Guangzhou and backpacked with a few girl friends up to a remote rice terraced village in the mountains, the experience was surreal. The individuals who fed us and met with us all wore this specific dress as part of their ethnic tradition.  I cannot remember the name of the tribe or even the village or Provence we were in, but when I see this piece of clothing up on my wall I think of the adventures that were had, and more importantly, the connection I feel to a people so far away, both in distance and culture.

This next piece my mom found while we were cleaning out boxes in the barn.  Another needlework, she brought this one home from a trip to Switzerland many years ago.  I love the vibrant blue velvet background and that the wild flower bouquet reminds me of my Swiss heritage.

Sometimes it is hard to know how to fill a giant blank wall.  The presentation below was created on a very rainy day last fall when the kids were not use to spending the bulk of the day in doors.  

The original plan was to start a unit on the human body and paste cut outs of all the organs on top of our traced figures.  As I was proceeding with that idea however, someone called out, "wait, what about our spirit body? we first have to put down our spirits".  So I pulled out the watercolors and we each painted how our spirit was feeling on that day.  The lesson we came away with was that not one of them was the same, that we each are truly unique.  These figures turned out so happy that we had to have them up on the wall, we've enjoyed them for more than one season and only very recently taken down because the heat and dust from the wood stove weakened the tape. 

In its place we've created a large alphabet canvas.  It was made much like the kitchen verse from last year except instead of painted text we glued down letters cut from tissue paper.  

As much as I loved the colorful water colored figures up on the wall, this alphabet project was created with a very clear intention.  A few of the younger children who would like to write are struggling to do so, so, before anything else was layered upon this canvas I declared our intention in pencil and across its surface:  "for the joy, power and freedom of forming one's own thoughts into words".

That's it for now, I'll never be a fine art collector but I'm already dreaming up creative ways to display more useful information for our little homeschool here.  Because if it's going to be put up on the wall and something we have to look at everyday, it might as well enliven the spirit as well.