Ivory & Ebony

One of the crafts we did last year related to learning about bas-relief...I think in the context of Assyrian temples, or something. And so I bought Ivory soap for us to make our own bas relief sculptures.

I wonder where those are? I must have taken pictures of them.

Anyway, the point is that I had Ivory soap in the pantry.

And then one day recently, J found this:


And who might the culprit be? I don't know...you get three guesses. Or one.

Plein Air

Most of the time, I love homeschooling. Sometimes I worry about what my kids are missing out on from the public schools....then on other days, I'm thankful for what they're missing. I'm not concerned about their academic progress.

Unless you count yesterday, with Bud. I was showing him online the phonics books I was ordering. I showed him how you could look at pages inside. It randomly opened to a lesson that falls around where I'd scheduled to be around Christmastime. He gleefully did the activcity aloud for me on the spot. I'm so proud. And so bummed that I have to start my phonics planning all over again.

Anyway. That's MY problem.

This year I am hoping to have a little more fun with school be a little more flexible, take advantage of the benefits of having them at home--you know, things like flexibility and pursuing interests and working one-on-one at their individual paces & not wasting time jumping through hoops.

Oh, how I love those hoops.

At least, the ones set suitably low for me to jump through. I pretend the other ones aren't there.

I also would like to branch out a bit more and, since I'm not stressed about how they are coming along in reading or math, diversify a bit. This should keep my friend M. from turning me in to the authorities for not having a proper P.E. curriculum. I'm pretty sure she's kidding.

Hey, I bought a tee and some balls yesterday. And soccer cleats. I'm on a roll!

Another area where I think we've not been up to scratch is the art department. This is probably due in large part to my aversion to making messes on purpose--our house gets messy enough as it is. Seriously, introducing PAINT into a room with three children? Actually, maybe if I initiated art time more often the boys wouldn't feel the need to sneak paint from the office closet, and then it wouldn't wind up all over the office carpet. Just a thought.

Hey, I bought several sets of watercolors yesterday! And many markers! And an unconscionable number of crayons and colored pencils and construction paper and glue sticks! I LOVE back-to-school time at Target! I've been looking forward to it for months. The optimism! The possibilities! The boxes of 24 crayolas for a quarter!

So, art is high on the agenda...both appreciation and skills. And online I even found a possible solution for my mess-phobia:

Plein Air

As PW explains, Plein Air is just French for "Open Air," and refers to the practice of painting outdoors. Hmmmm.

I tried it a few weeks ago.



It was a hit. I loved how Pixie sat out in the sun, and how she wanted to mix some of her colors together to match the subject she was painting. Usually her representational art comes from inside her head, not a subject, so this was new and fun.


Besides the gladiolas and zinnias, Pixie painted the ground--complete with gopher hole.

I know not everyone can paint outdoors year-round, but unless it's raining it's something we're able to do. I'm hoping for more Plein Air in the future!

And maybe we'll play Tee ball this afternoon. You never know.

Obsessed

I can't help it. They make me crazy. And this was the biggest one we've had yet, I think. J used his high-tech Black Widow hunting skills and found her--right on the front porch next to the door. Under a cat.

And here she is, covered with poison. Ick. I have no idea why I subject you to our updates on BW's. We're having a banner year--8 or 10 terminated so far? One was in the kids' Cozy Coupe.


At least I'm not showing pictures of trapped gophers. Over which there is also much rejoicing.

"They'll Know Normal When They See It"

The title of this post is a transmogrification of one of our favorite quotes from Calvin and Hobbes. We usually use it to refer to our poor children, forced to grow up in the strange environment we inflict upon them (Plain oatmeal and the wild hedonism of weekends, anyone?). However, this time I'm thinking of our neighbors. Who, come to think of it, probably know normal already. Which means they have a different word for us.

You know, standard play-in-the-yard wear.

Any guesses what these outfits are for?

That's right. Whiffleball.

What could be more natural?

It's Been a Quiet Week

Not here, but "in my hometown." Can you name it?


What a great show, and we got introduced to Sara Watkins and Nickel Creek. Hooray!

What I do all Day

You know why I don't have much time to blog? Because this is what I do all day:


Seriously, I think you have no idea how fabulous that chair is. We had friends who found some in the classifieds, but the guy was selling four and they only wanted two. they stopped J on his way home from work and asked whether we might be interested. So we got the two others--sturdy, comfortable loungers. I they were double-sized I would probably move our bed out there. YUM!

Thank you, J, for the fabulous chairs!!

Scrapbooking

When the whole scrapbooking "craze" began (or took off as an economic force) I could really see the appeal. As someone who is both nostalgic and sentimental, I loved the idea of recording everything so that I could somehow relive it later.

But even as a young twentysomething, I was aware of this: I would never have time to both live life and record the living of it.

That is more true than ever.

I leave you to make the life application (insofar as life applications apply to my blog).

We have had a lot of fun this summer. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE summer. Back in June, Pixie and Bud went to Sports Skills camp. They went and had fun from 9-1 while Wombles got to celebrate what it felt like to be an only child. I'm not sure who was the most excited by the week (me included)!

Here are Pixie and Bud all ready to go on their first morning:


Bud was the King of the slip-n-slide. Check it out:

Next week, the two of them are off for another fabulous week of camp--this time, soccer. The camps are hosted by J's college (oh, thank you for faculty discounts!!).




Soccer camp appears especially promising for Bud since the World Cup, during which he began putting on his cleats and shin guards to go run around the yard kicking the ball. I think he'll have a blast. So will Pixie, who has several friends signed up. We'll see how Wombles and I do on our own! :)