Little handmade wooly mittens

Tweeters loves to sew!  And I found the perfect wool sweater to felt & tear apart for her to work on :0)  It was patchwork with plenty of colors, so she helped me take the seams apart & proceeded to sew up her own mittens!  We also started on these at playschool this week as an on-going project in preparation for winter....

This one is from a sleeve, so she only had to sew up one side

All the lovely bits!

Melting crayon art & peanuts

HB did this project w/ the family she nanny's for - now it's Tweeter's turn!

Select your crayons

break them off & hot glue them to the top of a small canvas...

melt with a blowdryer!

Very cool art!  You can also prop your canvas against a glass on a cookie sheet covered w/ foil in your oven - either way it is a fun & easy project :0)

This is just a random fun thing Tweeters & Jam love to do: crack peanuts & eat them, sorting the shells & nuts as they go!

Free Swap & truffles!

Our homeschool group's free swap is wildly popular and we always are happy to clear out unneeded items & come home w/ a few new things - for FREE!  We had it outside at a park this year, and the weather was absolutely perfect.  The chilldren got to play on the playground (Tweeters learned to do the monkey bars!) & the grown ups dug for treasures :0)

Climbing trees before we set everything up

A large, happy crowd - toys, furniture, housewares, books, curriculum, and tons of clothing

Yep, I think the tongue helps!

Flash has been making truffles with a chef for about a year & half now - and now he is treating us to these homemade yummies!

Measuring out the chocolate

making cinnamon gannoche (sp?)

Gma J testing them - they didn't last long!

Countryside Week 4, mud kitchen, quiche & Auntie Linda's scones!

cracking eggs to make quiche

This week we started putting together our mud kitchen & made lunch at preschool....I had a freak accident & fell down really hard so a great friend came to help.  So!  No pictures of the mud kitchen - but we did manage to get a few of our morning :0)

We read "Pelle's New Suit" & learned how to weave on small looms

carding wool

mixing up some scones

building with wood blocks

yummy!

I love our real linen tablecloth, real dishes, and sitting all together :0)

Ohio visitors - archery, henna & a feast!

Now this was so fun!  Some friends from HHC that came to camp here in the spring came to visit us for the Feast of Tabernacles!  3 of their 4 children came along & we had a 4 day sleep over :0) 

HB was glad to have her bow out again

SS (oldest boy Ohio friend), Flash & cousin MJ doing some archery

Papa S bought a ton of yummy gourmet cheese - Tweeters all too happy to help him slice it up & taste it!

Mama S snuggled with MS (youngest Ohio girl) - she had lots of late late nights - they visited our Kentucky friends before us & she was worn out from playing with their 6 girls!

Even SS had a little siesta ;0)

Everyone loves Rumplestiltskin & Bob

AS & Bob were fast friends

Trying not to look too posed....

The whole bunch together!  Can't wait to see them all again - and we hope to meet their oldest daughter soon, too!  Great family & great friends :0)

HB pulled out her bow - SS (oldest boy of Ohio friends) brought his as well

AS (youngest Ohio friend) loved the cats AND the light sabers!

Oh yeah - they filled up ballons w/ paint & were shooting arrows at them to make art on a big sheet of canvas!

Flash honed his knife throwing skills

filling the ballons with paint

MS (youngest girl friend from Ohio) got a feather for her henna

SS & cousin MJ getting goofy while waiting for their henna

all done - so cool!

SS & Jam boxing

An award and a check!

Remember last fall when Honey Bunches took 2 college art classes?  A few weeks ago she received another award for one of the pictures, and a check for $150!  Her art teacher bought the piece that won the award - and it is hanging in the office of the President of the college :0)

And of course her room is an ongoing art project - here is the latest addition:

Yep, those are branches!  It does look like a nest...and with the big window on the northeast wall it brings in the outdoors that much more - very inspiring!

Countryside Week 3

We had a visitor this week:

Hedgie!  One of our friends has a pet hedgehog so she brought him for the day!  He was so cuddly and CUTE!  He feels more like a hairbrush when  you're holding him, but when you try to take him out of his box he pricks you!

This inspired some hedgehog making - here we are with playdough and spaghetti hedgehogs

and rock, pine needle & pine cone (ears) hedgehogs

Our outdoor table & some leaf rubbings

One of HB's friends came to stay w/ us & helped at prek this week - great to have another set of hands!