And then we moved again...

Ugh sorry about that giant picture at the top of the blog. I need to install a photo editing program to get it to the right size and that means finding where I put it when we moved. Yes, we moved again! Hopefully, this time, we are staying put. We have been on one end of the country to another. I like it out here in Cali though. Beach is close by, lots going on. Of course that means there are a lot of people and its ridiculously expensive but its ok.

Our days now consist of 3 big kids going to school, me and little guy at home watching lots of tv. Haha! I'm trying to get some sort of something going on for his learning. He is a pretty smart little guy. I took him to story time at the library for the first time on Wednesday. Today we were driving by and he threw up his hand and then started clapping and said, "yay! storytime!". Guess he liked it! I couldn't believe he recognized it. It was the other side of the building too.

Our pet situation has changed a lot too. Sparkles disappeared, Token died (horrible), we now have a new little dog. He is a little Chihuahua named Poncho. He is very sweet but he is young and taking care of him and the 2 year old can be a challenge. They both are always into trouble and always wanting on my lap.

We have had a lot of change and I think we're still adjusting. I hope to get back into all the things I used to enjoy now that we are settling in.

The barn

Cole and I did a farm unit for our homeschool and I realized we had no play barn. At first I though I might build one out of wood but all my attempts of woodworking in the past have been big failures.  So taking inspiration from www.ikatbag.com I figured I'd build one out of  a cardboard box! It just so happened I had a perfect box for it and inspiration struck as we tried to figure out how to make it look like a barn. Why red duct tape of course! A perfect medium for a 6 year-old. Then we used sticky foam for the trim. It turned out really cute. The baby likes it more than Cole but he doesn't  like much if it isn't a video game. We've also make some cute animals to go with that I'll have to share in a later post.

Pretend

Lets pretend that it hasn't been years since I've written and I'll pretend that someone reads this. Ok? Great!

It reminds me of my childhood journals. I can never quite get over the fact that I'm basically talking to myself and then I wouldn't write for months.  Its really worse in a blog. Blogs are suppose to be read. I guess that I can sort of force my family to read but the things I want to post about aren't really that interesting to them. So I don't know, I guess the best I can do is pretend. I've always been good at that anyway.

Wonder

There is nothing more fulfilling to me than experiencing the wonder of my children. The other day one of the kids spotted a hot air balloon at the park and we all took off running to catch it taking off. I think the look on Cole's face says it all.

Our week... in pictures (and a few words)

Made a shirt...

Seriously, I think this kid is going to be a model. I don't know how he learned to strike a pose but he is a pro.

Cute, sweet, wonderful brothers bonding over video games.
Strawberry picking and jam making. (Forgot my camera for the actual picking)


Playing in the basement with mom. Cole learned how to use stencils and insisted on wearing his favorite piece of mom's fabric wrapped around him. Sagan discovered the record player and mom's extensive collection of Beatles, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan albums.

What I do when I don't have tv

We got rid of cable last week. This may now seem a big deal for some but for me its monumental. Since birth I have been a tv on at all times kinda girl. So its been quite an adjustment but in the end, I know its for everyone's good. Anyway, to answer the question of how I've been filling my time, I make things. Right now, I've been making dolls! The first picture is a set I made for a trade. I'm getting some yummy yarn and I made her some little (4 inch) boyish dolls: a knight, a jedi, and Robin Hood.
Then, I crafted myself into a frenzy making things for my soon-to-be born niece. Not only did I make her a diaper bag and booties but I just had to make her a doll. I bought these dolls already partially made. The heads and bodies were made I just had to put them together and make their faces and hair.
I think she turned out so cute! I love her! I later decided I must also make her a hat and since it was getting a bit crazy I think I will save the doll for her first birthday. I had to box her up because Cole couldn't keep his hands off of her even though he has 3 mama-made dolls of his own.

My next project is scrappy placemats. Stay tuned...

What can bring out the little girl in my teenager

Tadpoles!


Jason took the kids on a wood gathering expedition on the little patch of woods next to our neighborhood. 15 minutes later my 13 year old daughter came bouncing through the door saying, "mom! guess what we found? tadpoles!" She was just oozing youthful exuberance. Its been a long time since I've seen that kind of excitement in her. I loved to see it again. I walked back there with her and sure enough 100's of freshly hatched tadpoles in puddle in the road. I'm guessing leopard frog but we'll see when the ones we brought home grow up.


Of course, I didn't actually get any pictures of her and the tadpoles. Such a bummer.

Cole and I decided to study frogs this week. So far we've done a lot of frog crafts and we were lucky enough to get a pretty cool learning kit from the library on metamorphosis. This worked out perfectly because we just got done learning about butterflies and we watched them grow from an egg to a butterfly. So there is lots of metamorphosing in our household lately. Seems like the kids grow as fast as the butterflies did. Today a neighbor told me Cole looks like a little boy and not a baby anymore. sigh.