Owls, Bears and Bunnies (oh my!)

So, I’d been gabbing about the little owl from Think Geek that' I’d been eyeing. I finally got one. I’m trying to upload the video of it on Facebook, but Facebook is being silly so we’ll see.

I love hooking it up to my laptop. It’s the cutest little thing, and it keeps me company as I work on the computer. :-)

 
(I got the white one. *smiles*)

I’ve been working on crocheting Brooke’s pink bear from the Planet June pattern I told you about recently. It’s turning out really well. I’ve been brushing the pieces as I make them, and having ‘real’ stuffed animal eyes and noses makes it so much more fun to make it! :-)

 
I can’t wait to work on Jaycen’s. His will be yellow.

As for homeschooling, it’s going better and better. Brooke is paying attention, she still gets distracted sometimes depending on what we’re reading about, but she was able to recount two stories we read last week just as well as she did right after reading them. She also sat down and taught Jaycen some math this morning…and picked out a Beethoven song on the Classical Music station this morning, comparing it to ‘Eroica’.

(Brooke’s last pencil study of ‘A Young Hare’ by Albrecht Durer) 

In case you’re wondering, we went without the schedule today. I’m getting a sore throat and have been really ‘heady’ today. It’s hard to teach, or have patience to teach, when your head feels like it’s under water. I hope I feel better tomorrow! :-)

I hope you’re all doing well with fall in full swing. It’s starting to feel nippy here…winter is on its way! I hope it snows this year. :-)

(hugs to you)

Some Crafty Fun :-)

I sat down and made some ‘Nice Cards’ that I printed off from Operation Nice. I wrote some little messages on them. I haven’t put them in my purse yet…I’m not sure where I’m going to leave them, but we’ll see! I hope to use them soon. :-)

 
Speaking of Operation Nice, she has an assignment to give thanks to someone this week! Check out her post, she has a printable Gratitude card if you don’t have one to send. :-)

A little update in homeschooling…it has been going really well. Brooke’s handwriting is improving and so is her reading. Her narration is improving, too!

Along with reading and writing, some of our favorite activities are art and music. Here is Brooke’s and my art study from Friday…Albrecht Durer’s ‘A Young Hare’.

Brooke’s drawing:

 
She got a bit distracted, but had fun. She’s been waiting to draw the bunny ever since she saw me print the picture out!

Here’s my drawing:

 
I went a little nuts, I love drawing animals. :-)

Talk to you all again soon!

Teddy Bears, Art & Playmobil

Okay, I just can’t resist teddy bears. I really love the plush, soft, floppy ones that say ‘hug me’!

Yesterday at Blockbuster, Brooke and I spotted a sweet little movie-star bear with eyelashes, a dress, a beauty mark and sunglasses. I got it for her – it was just too adorable. Brooke hasn’t set her down since!

(Of course Jaycen loves his puppy as much as Brooke loves her new bear!)

Today I hope to start crocheting a teddy bear pattern I bought the other day from Planet June. I ordered some eyes and noses from her store too, and I can’t WAIT for those to come in the mail.

(Here’s a picture from her site of the pattern I purchased…)

 
It’s amazing how such simple things can make me smile! Yarn, stuffing and bits of plastic can make the CUTEST things.

The kids have been doing lots of art lately. I got them some fun Crayola kits a week or so ago, and they taped a bunch of their Halloween crafts on the door!

 
(A Vampire bear with a bat friend!)

…and of course, with my stamp designing I do every day, Brooke loves sitting down and using one of mommy’s older Micron pens to do her own designs. :-)

(Little witchy cat with a spider on her hat)

…but some of the most fun we’ve had so far this week is a re-enactment of the story of Julius Caesar and his ventures against the Britons. I pulled out the kids’ Roman & barbarian Playmobil toys and built the white cliffs and beaches.

Check out this little army of Britons…Rome doesn’t stand a chance!

   
(Brooke had to throw in the lion and tiger, lol)

That’s it for now…I hope you’re all having a lovely mid-week!

(hugs)

Time flies!

There aren’t enough hours in the day! My mother used to say that and now I believe her. I’ve been doing so many things…I am trying to set up a few places on the web to further share my stamp designs, I have been getting into crocheting/knitting again, and homeschool is in full swing.

 
I feel homeschool is sort of so-so. Maybe it’s fine, but it’s hard to tell. We all tend to watch movies and stuff in free-time, but Brooke is improving in Narration (depending on the theme of the story) and copywork. I am determined…I’m not going to give up!

Back to the crochet thing, I have this big itch to make cute teddy bears and scarves and sell them on Etsy (check out PlanetJune to see what critters I’m thinking of making!). I just love the idea of having my own shop again there. I’ve never tried to sell stuff that I crochet, so I don’t know how well it will do. I also focus so intently on my artwork in every venue, that I am not sure where I would talk about my crochet! But I suppose I could share some here as I make things. We’ll see. :-)

Anyway, here are some cute pictures…

I taught the kids how to sew a week or so ago. I think Brooke is pulling the box of supplies out again as I type this!

  
Jaycen made ‘sleeping bags’ and pillows for his two favorite stuffed animals!

Rex being irresistibly cute…

 
He’s taken over the kitty bed that we got for Bolita. Took him some time, but this is just too darn cute for words!!

As much as Rex gives Bolita a hard time, I think they do love eachother. Cats are funny like that…

Bolita is such a lovely little girl. She’s becoming ‘plushy’!

Now for some more pictures…Halloween fun and homeschooling!

Brooke’s glittery picture of a House Sparrow!
 
 
Making some fun Halloween decorations…

 
…and of course, I’ve been working on my stamp designs.

I’m really grateful that I have this as a hobby-turned-business. It’s a huge blessing.

 
Sorry I’ve been behind on posting – I hope to get in the swing someday soon before the world ends! Lol, sheesh.

Art and Nature Study

 
Cute kitty-cat! Okay, okay. I couldn’t resist, sorry. Rex is just so fluffy and so cute. :-) We actually studied ‘cats’ last week – Rex received LOTS of attention!

The kids and I are studying Albrecht Durer this term. Here is one of his works (a wood carving, if you can believe it!), called ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’…

 
I’ve always been fascinated with themes like this (yeah I know, a little macabre, but ‘tis the truth!), so this has been by far one of my favorite pieces we’ve studied.

Last Friday, the kids and I sat down and sketched it in pencil.

Here’s Jaycen’s drawing…the dots are all of the people, and he drew a cloud at the top. I think the little design at the bottom was his version of the artist’s signature.

 
Here’s Brooke’s drawing:

 
She focused on the thin horse on the left. She also drew the angel and the clouds. She was discouraged, but I told her that it looked amazing! She spent time drawing the shadows and everything. I think that’s neat. :-)

Here’s my drawing:

 
I don’t really like drawing people. I focused on the center horse, with the horseman carrying scales.

I really love this work of art, and I can’t wait to study it again this Friday!

Here’s a leaf Brooke drew from last Friday’s nature walk:

 
She really bucked drawing this, saying that she doesn’t know how to draw a leaf (she was discouraged by her horseman drawing) – and I kept reminding her that all she needs to do is look at the leaf that we brought home, and draw what she sees. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be from the heart.

So, after a while she sat down with the leaf and drew it.

:-)

Oh…and poor Rex isn’t too fond of homeschooling. The kids went crazy with reading this morning and were laughing, and Rex thought they were laughing at him.

He didn’t like that.

 
I’ll be uploading some videos today on Facebook. If you’re on my friend list, you’ll be able to see them. :-)

Until next time! Love you all!

Waiting for Friday!

It’s one of those days. I want to put the kids in their room and close the door and leave them there. Is that terrible? They are driving me nuts, they have been fighting and whining all morning. No matter what I do, it doesn’t change. I’ve just decided that they’re both in bad moods. They’re actually screaming as I type this!

SAVE ME!

On a positive note…I can’t wait for Friday. I’m planning on getting some supplies for a new art project. I’ll probably talk more about it on my art blog, but I’m looking forward to getting some of these papers for it… I hope! :-)

They’re on Etsy…I hope to grab them before they’re gone. :-) Wish me luck!

What a Fun Week!

ALL this week, Jared was off work. So we’ve had a total of 8 days together so far, tomorrow is his last day before going back to work again. It’s been lots of fun. :-) I’ll miss it!

I got a bit of artwork done…not too much. Had to wait for my classic Mead sketchbooks to come in the mail. I just have to have my special sketchbooks! I’m so picky.

(No, this is not my special sketchbook. This was an intruder.)

The rest of the week, and most of our days, looked like this (yes, we got LOTS of 4th of July Celebrations in too! Got to use dad’s fireworks from last year):

  
We also got to go to what the kids dub ‘the duck park’. It’s a swim area off of a lake. Going early in the morning just after breakfast is perfect. Nice and cool and quiet. Perfect for family fun! I don’t have a swimsuit, so I rolled up my jeans to my knees and got in the water that way! :-)

  
This is one of the things our son did to entertain himself during the hot afternoons…

…and of course little Too Sweet is loving the heat sans air conditioner. It keeps her old little kitty paws warm! I love Too Sweet so much. She’s such a little cuddle bug. I could hold her like this all day. Literally. She would never move. :-)

That’s it for now! I’m so happy to be back into the swing of blogging. Hopefully I can do it somewhat steadily so you won’t have to sift through novel length posts and bazillions of pictures, haha! :-)

See you next time!