A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Our Week with a Spot of Sewing


My friend is home from the hospital and doing well.  Her kids are happy to have their mama home.


We got back to art this week!  The first project involved soft pastels, which are messy.  We keep diaper wipes with the art supplies for things like this.


Our first project involved creating an animal shaped stencil and then using pastels to color around it several times.


Then we put a small piece of cardboard under the stencil and glued it onto the page, creating a 3 dimensional effect.


Still loving the Can Do Cubes.  Actually, we're still enjoying the Jolly Phonics books, too.  Katie's working through book 2 now.  Here, she's using the cubes to spell out words.  I find myself reaching for these when Katie misspells a word in her spelling book so I can show her the way it should look.  Especially with 2 letter vowels and ch, sh, th, etc.


Math drill work.  Not a favorite, but a necessary evil.


When my friend's kids were here last week, I made a discovery.  We had no crib sheets.  After Luke left the first time, I decluttered down to just two of them:  the ones I made for him and Katie when I decorated the panda room.  When he came back, we used them to death.  He often slammed his face into the crib to self sooth, and I'd go in to get him in the morning and find blood (from his nose) all over him and the crib.  When he moved again, those two sheets were gross, so I threw them away.


After having to "make do" with what we had around the house while we had 6 spare kids here last week, I decided we should probably have some crib sheets.  And since I have oodles of fabric, I should make them.  Left sheet is a travel print with landmarks from around the world.  Center sheet is fabric from Alaska.


Sheet on the right is a purple calico print.  If you're curious, this is How I Make Crib Sheets.


Our second art project this week, also from the Home Art Studio 4th grade DVD, was treat bags for Halloween.  The tutorial was on how to make a monster or Frankenstein treat bag, but she mentioned you could also make them to match a costume.  I told Jack and Hannah they could choose.


Jack decided to go with a monster, and Hannah decided to match her costume.  She's going to be a tiger.  Katie was working on her math, but I made her a panda bag to go with her panda costume.


When I pulled out the pipe cleaners chenille stems, Jack played with them for a while, and ended up chained to his chair at one point.  Boys!


Our finished treat bags.


What's this?  We're at another pumpkin patch?  Yes.  I confess, I'm really, really enjoying being able to get out of the house and meet up with friends to enjoy all the special fun that only happens in the autumn.


We hung out with some other homeschoolers we don't get to see very often at our local pumpkin patch.


It was really, really good for Jack to get to run with a flock of boys his age.


Hannah and Katie had a great time, too.


We went on a hay ride.


 They posed for silly pictures.


And they got to pet animals.


It was perfect fall weather; sunny and nice, with lots to see and do.  I took new pictures of Jack, Hannah and Katie to update the blog sidebar.


My China trip is only a couple weeks away now, and I'm starting to get things ready.  We got a letter from Josiah, and we heard from his commander when graduation will be, so it looks like we'll be traveling again for that, just a short while after my return from China.  Exciting!


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14 comments:

  1. Awesome week. What a gift it is to be able to sew. I hope I learn someday.
    Blessings, Dawn

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    1. I used to sew most of the kids' clothes, once upon a time. I really should get back to sewing more, now that I have more free time. My sewing room is sort of where things get dumped, though, so it makes it hard to get inspired. I don't want to have to clear off the table to be able to cut something out.

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  2. Exciting things happening for you all! And your crib sheets are awesome! You could rake in a fortune selling custom crib sheets if you found the right market.

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    1. :) I've thought about doing an Etsy shop, but I know I wouldn't enjoy the pressure of having to sew for orders.

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  3. My mom always sewed all my skating costumes and people were always telling her she should sell them, too, but she said no for the same reason as you!

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    1. I'm pretty sure I could only sew stretchy slipper fabric like that for love, too. ;)

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  4. Do you have a describe button/ area? I'd love to get e-mail reminders and updates about your blog. I thought perhaps I missed it.

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    Replies
    1. I haven't done an email list. You can get emails by following my blog on Bloglovin' here: http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/5228027

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  5. What a great week you had. Good to see the bunny and the fun with pumpkins. :)

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    1. We haven't gone this pumpkin crazy in years. I think I'm just so happy to be able to take the kids out on field trips I'm really taking advantage of it now.

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  6. Love your art and sewing projects! Thanks for linking up at Homeschool Highlights!

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    1. Thank you, Kym, for hosting! :) Have a great weekend!

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  7. Visiting from Kym's link-up. How fun to make crib sheets! And a trip to the pumpkin patch is always great outdoor fun :)

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