Time Out

I’m giving myself a time out, taking an indefinite break from posting.  I love writing here, recapping our homeschool moments and sharing tidbits of my life.  But I’m finding that it takes away from being present with my children; I’m constantly worried about when I’ll have time to update, when I’ll get a chance to work on pictures and make collages and write up everything we’ve been doing during the week.  Sometimes I get caught up with documenting the moments that I’m not fully enjoying the moment.  And since welcoming Adeline into our family I’m even more aware of needing to cherish those fleeting moments.

We will be continuing with our Five in a Row curriculum and hopefully the nicer weather will get us learning and exploring outdoors.  And we eagerly await the start of our camping season!  I have my six-week postpartum check-up this week and I’m scared to step on the scale; I really need to get down to the business of getting back into shape. *major sigh*  Wish me luck!

I leave you with some pictures of our wonderful Easter yesterday…

Can you believe it’s already April?  I keep telling Phil that Christmas is just around the corner.  Time’s a-flyin’.

Scrambling to Get Ready for Easter

I like to plan ahead, but these days I’m lucky if I remember to write out my to-do list, nevermind start crossing things off.  I feel like I just conquered Valentine’s Day and… oh crap, Easter is just around the corner!  It is my second favorite holiday after Christmas and I want to impart the meaning to my children, making it both fun and memorable for them.  We’ll definitely be doing our Benjamin’s Box activities in the week leading up to Easter Sunday.

With all the holidays and special occasions one after another –  many of them belabored as we celebrate them at different times and with different people – I really want to get away from all the candy. Yes, I know there are Peeps and Cadbury eggs and all those traditional sweets, but just because they line the shelves – and we see yummy things to create with them – doesn’t mean we have to buy them!

Anyhoo, here are some ideas I’m hoping to put together this year:

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Last year I made these bunny treat bags for the kiddos so I’m going to re-use them.  They’re pretty small, so we’ll see what I’ll be able to fit inside.

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During school last year we had these butterfly snack bags.  I still have the clothespins and will use them again, filling the bags with trail mix.

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The kiddos love Goldfish crackers and the carrot-shaped packaging is cute.

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Along the same lines, these crepe paper carrots are so cute!  The Easter version of a surprise ball.

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For warm-weather play or bathtime fun, these sponge balls would be a hit.

credit: yummyearth.com

And since Easter wouldn’t be Easter without jelly beans, Yum Earth Naturals makes a healthier alternative.

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It was fun putting together an Easter egg hunt lunch for the kiddos last year and I’ll probably do it again… if only to re-use our plastic eggs!

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Almost every year we do some sort of deviled eggs and birds’ nest cookies, so I’d like to make them again this time around.  We’ll probably be having Easter at my sister’s house and we’re not sure yet on the menu, but we’re thinking something brunch-y.  Perhaps I’ll make hash brown cups, French toast casserole, baked oatmeal or NY style crumb cake.

What will you be making and doing for Easter this year?

*See my Easter Pinterest board for more inspiration.

FIAR – A New Coat for Anna

I have been putting off… er, taking a “vacation” from… homeschooling.  Since I expected Adeline to make her appearance mid-February (or earlier!), I didn’t bother planning anything after the first week.  Since she arrived, however, I’ve felt the need to start up again and be consistent with something.  I haven’t really wanted to, mind you – I could sit all day and stare at her tiny features! – but the longer I wait the harder it will be.  This week we’re doing Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, an easy little poem to get us back into the swing of things, but we ended February with A New Coat for Anna.

credit: Amazon

Geography/History/Social Studies
The story takes place post-WWII .  We looked through some children’s books about the war and did a few simple activities, like looking up Germany (and other countries) on the globe, making a little booklet with soldiers and types of military transportation, matching up allied and enemy countries.  I tried not to make it too technical for the kiddos but explained why – in the beginning of the story – the shops were empty and the economy was poor.

Since we capitalized on Germany, the kiddos colored the German flag, a traditional dress coloring page and a paper doll worksheet.  Gwen goes goo-goo ga-ga over the paper dolls, taking a while to color them with colorful patterns,  and I’ve been laminating them for her.

Language Arts
Since Anna’s mother doesn’t have any money, she barters for materials for a new coat – sheeps’ wool, getting it spun into yarn, having it woven into fabric, then having it tailored into a coat.  We talked about bartering/trading and read a bunch of go-along books.  Since it takes a whole year for the process, we discussed having patience; easier said than done!

We did a little activity to see if Gwen could remember the story from the day before, deciding which items Anna’s mother bartered at different stages.  She guessed ‘em all!

Fine Arts
I often have glorious plans for learning the elements from a story – like creating a sewing basket or learning how to finger knit – but thankfully there are times when I know my limits.  Still I was able to find some fun, simple activities for the week.

I found a neat idea for construction paper weaving, and while Gwen got a little impatient with it, she seemed to get excited once she saw it coming together.  She used the finished piece as a placemat for a while, until it got too dirty. :)

We all got in on the act for yarn block prints.  I have a whole bunch of scrap wood blocks Phil cut for me; we randomly wrapped them in yarn, painted the yarn then stamped it onto construction paper.  Gwen noted that my pattern looked like horses.  This was so much fun!  We ended up using a couple finished pieces as colorful wrapping paper.

The kiddos also enjoyed making their own coats by gluing red yarn to a picture.

Math
I bought some beets for the science part of the week and decided to make a beet bundt cake, since Anna and her mother celebrate over the holidays with a bundt cake.  The kiddos helped me each step of the way, measuring and mixing.  They got excited when they saw the bright pink of the beet puree!

Science
I was really excited about our experiment with yarn dyeing, but since we didn’t use  wool yarn the color washed right out.  Oh well – the process was fun and the kiddos enjoyed it!  We used the beet peels and stems, which turned the water a rich burgundy and elicited oohs and aahs from Gwen and Josiah.

We read some stories on sheep and harvesting their wool and the kiddos made their own little sheep craft.

Extras
We had a little Valentine’s craft party with some nearby friends to end the week – what fun!  We gave away our suncatchers and made peanut butter pretzels as Valentine gifts.

On Valentine’s Day I gave the kiddos their gifts, dropped them off at Meme and Pepe’s then spent the day with my honey.  We had dinner at Our Place – Arturo Joe’s.  I kept pointing out that Valentine’s Day would make a nice birthday for Adeline, but she didn’t make her appearance till the following week.

Go-Along Books
World War II
America in World War II
World War II for Kids
The Carrot Seed
Arthur Loses His Patience
When Will It Be Spring?
The Great Tulip Trade
Fleas!
Market Day
Noodle’s Knitting
The Weaver
Weaving the Rainbow
Extra Yarn
Charlie Needs a Cloak
Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep: a yarn about wool
Hooray for Sheep Farming!
Red Berry Wool
Berry Smudges and Leaf Prints: finding and making colors from nature

Resources
Education.com’s German Traditional Clothing Coloring Page Worksheet
Education.com’s German Paper Doll Worksheet
Whip Up’s yarn printing
construction paper weaving inspiration
The Healthy Foodie’s  Truly Healthy Beet Chocolate Bundt Cake
Pioneer Thinking’s making  natural dyes from plants
Homeschool Share (they have since removed their FIAR resources)

*See my FIAR Pinterest board for more ideas & inspiration.

Gwen’s Doll Carrier

I was so excited about how Josiah’s doll carrier turned out and curious about how my changes to the pattern would come together that I sewed up Gwen’s carrier yesterday.

I gave her a choice between two fabrics and she chose this floral bird fabric, a favorite of mine from JoAnn’s that  I get whenever it’s on sale or I have a coupon.  In fact, I used the same fabric for my first zippered pouch.  The other fabric she didn’t choose is another favorite of mine; I used it on her crayon roll and tooth pillow, among other things.

I had debated using a contrasting fabric for both the pocket and the straps, but in the end I used the same brown and white polka dot.  I think it goes nicely with the overall color scheme, especially since it matches the birds.

This time around I traced the pattern onto the back of my main fabric and cut around outside the lines.  Next, sewed the pocket on front of the main fabric  piece.  Then I stacked all three body pieces (interfacing, linen muslin for the reverse lining and patterned fabric), sewing right along the pattern line, leaving an opening in the bottom to attach the straps and an opening in the top for turning.  After making the straps I sewed those into the bottom, closing that hole.  Turned the whole thing right side out, ironed it flat, then topstitched.  I liked this method much better but still had some puckering with which to contend (I’m seriously considering squaring off some of those curves if I make it again!).  Also, since I sewed on top of the pattern line, rather than inside a seam allowance, the carrier itself ended up a bit bigger – which is just fine with me.  Oh… and not only do the pearl snaps look pretty, they work better than the velcro, and after making Gwen close her eyes so I could try Josiah’s carrier on her, decided they should be placed on the same side of the straps as the buttons.

I can’t wait to give these to the kiddos!  I decided to box them up with my old Popples and give them either on Valentine’s Day or Baby Sister’s birthday, whichever comes first.

Countdown to Valentine’s Day and a Doll Carrier

A while back I was trying to think of something I could make for the kids as new sibling gifts for when the baby is born.  They love pretend play things, things that mimic Mommy and Daddy, and when I saw this doll carrier from Little Things to Sew I fell in love.  I can totally picture Gwen putting one of her dolls or stuffed animals in a carrier, just like Mommy with the new baby.  I’m hoping it will help them feel included even when they won’t be able to do everything with their new sister.

I’ve had the sewing book checked out from the library for a while now and have renewed it once already; everything else took priority!  I read the instructions for putting the pattern together, and while it seemed simple enough, there were a bunch of little steps and I kept putting it off (and I had yet to brave the buttonhole).  Well, seeing as I can’t sleep these days, I decided to stay up and see how it came together.  I started with Josiah’s first – he probably won’t be as excited about it as Gwendolyn and I already knew what fabric I wanted to use, so his was the guinea pig version.

Whaddya’ think?  I used linen muslin for the front and a cute blue barnyard fabric for the lining and pocket.  The straps are a piece I’ve had laying around for a while; not sure what it is but it’s similar in feel to the muslin.  I have two big canisters of buttons that used to belong to my grandmothers and I picked through those and found four orangey ones to use on the straps.  The directions say to try it on your child to figure out velcro placement further down the straps, but I want this to be a surprise, so I looked around at what other people did and put a couple pieces at different increments; I can always add more later.  I just happened to have a tan velcro that matches the straps nicely.  I’m very pleased with how it came out but already have some ideas for how to simplify the process when making the next one.

Some tips: The pocket lining pattern piece from the book doesn’t make any sense; when I first used it to make the pocket it didn’t really go along with the directions and made for a tiny pocket.  Instead, I cut out two pieces of the same size using the main fabric pattern piece – much better!  Oh, and I used denim for the lining for a bit of extra boyishness.

I’m not horrible at sewing around corners, but since I’m nowhere near professional there’s some puckering here and there.  Ironing does help, but next time I’m going to trace the pattern onto the fabric and sew along the tracing lines, leaving enough room for sewing on the straps and turning the carrier right-side out.

I didn’t like the suggestion for basting stitches near the top; it makes the end product look messier and next time I’ll just leave the opening without the guideline stitching.  Making it less curved might make for easier edgestitching, too.

I did in fact get to use my buttonhole foot, and while it was easy enough, it seems like the needle skipped some stitches… and then it broke in the middle of it all!  Is there a neat way to cut out the actual buttonhole?  It seems messy and I’m afraid the stitches will eventually come out.  In any case, it’s good enough!  For Gwen’s I may just use pearl snaps in place of the velcro and/or buttons – like in this version of the same carrier - though the buttons definitely add charm.

There seemed to be some debate as to whether the velcro gets placed on the button-side of the straps or the reverse.  Looking at the picture in the book I can’t really tell, and some people said it goes on the same side as the buttons… but it seemed to hang more naturally doing the opposite.  Guess I’ll see when I put it on him!  One down, one to go…

*      *      *

I can’t believe it’s February already!  Since this is my due date month I’m telling myself “any day now.”  Josiah was born at 37 weeks and this weekend I’ll be at the same point.  So I wanted to have Valentine’s Day squared away just in case! I filled the kiddos mini mailboxes with jellybeans, clearance “ornaments” filled with scented bubble bath and name bracelets that I whipped up for them when I had the plastic beads out.  The kiddos will be at their grandmother’s for Valentine’s Day, but I already have the morning planned out with a paper heart trail leading the kiddos to the table where they can open their mailboxes and adopt my two Pretty Bit Popples, which I’ll have sitting on the table.  We’ve started doing the countdown to Valentine’s Day with Bible verses and acts of love for each day.

I’m always on the lookout for meaningful yet not-too-expensive gifts for Phil and went with one of The Dating Diva’s ideas: 14 Days of Love.  I’m not too crazy about how many of their ideas involve candy or dollar store crap, but I went with the idea and made it my own.  I rolled up each of the little sentiments, tied them with embroidery thread and put them in a little jar.  Each morning he has to find the one with the correct number (#1 for February 1st, #2 for February 2nd and so forth) then find the corresponding gift bag.  I just used all the bags I could find that had pink, red, purple or something similar, warning him that none of the Victoria’s Secret bags contain any actual Victoria’s Secret merchandise. *grin*

*For more ideas see my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board.