Playsilks, Puppies & Soap, Oh my!

So what on earth have we been up to?? So much!
Making homemade toys, soap and getting our little pug Pinky re-adjusted to being home. (See previous posts below for details on each)

In an effort to rid our home of plastic-blinky-blinky-blinky-non-imaginative toys, we are on a quest to make new, fun, natural material toys to replace the ones we're just gotten rid of. One of which are these lovely playsilks! What is a playsilk -- hmm.. here's a good definition. We had so much fun dying them with koool aid yesterday, and dd and son began having fun with them almost immediately.


In addition to the playsilks, we've been playing around with wool roving, making felted balls and fairies. What fun that was! Click below to flip through the pics to see the felt ball making fun!

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The kids had a ball! And it was a most impressive science project!


Many of our toys are typical Waldorf inspired toys ~ very simple toys, faceless dolls (to make way for imagination) and natural materials. DD has also been on a very big Fairy kick and added fairies to our list toys to make. Here is her first Waldorf inspired fairy, named Angelica. We plan to make more very soon, and with each go, we plan on getting better at it! ;-)

All of the wool roving for this project and the felted balls, was given to us by some dear fellow ravelers, who read about our interest in natural wool toys, and donated some wool to experiment with! From color dyed, to natural combed wool to raw wool straight from the sheep! This little play has provoked some kind of a desire to play with wool (oh no! Could the spinning bug be hitting home!), and as such we have 2 LB of roving on order from The Sheep Shed Studio. Maybe I won't spin it.. {clearing her throat}, I simply DON'T have time...
...TO BE CONTINUED.

So, I decided to show my gratitude to these generous wool-giving ladies, by sending them some handmade soap we recently made. That was another fun venture. Click through the stack below to see the process (you can also click to enlarge and see a description.:

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In more news ~~ Pinky is home and settling in just wonderfully!


She did have a vet appointment yesterday for a small imperfection we spotted in her eye. All is well, however, and we left with some eye drops to administer 3 times a day.... oh joy! But hopefully, this will mean clear, beautiful eyes for a long time to come.




Until later..

n

I turn my back for 10 seconds....

So, here's why I should NEVER turn my back on the kids to ask the sales person a quick question, right?

I turn my back for just a quick question, and I turn back to my baby boy dressed like the missing princess from YMCA! Oye Vey! My poor baby.. do you see the eveil fairy godmother back there? Yes, she's the culprit!

Needless to say the people around me thought this was hilarious, Daddy? ~ not so much.. LOL


We are very close to starting our new school year, our Sonlight curriculum is here and looks VERY interesting! We're really excited to get started. DD had such a great time putting together the castle box that the books came in! All we need to get now is our handwriting from Abeka and Math U See and we're all set!

Listen In:
Birds? chirping? Yes! Early morning bird songs are so pretty.

View from the front window:
Kids at play, must be spring break?

Supper Plans:
Fish

In the garden:
Gardening Plans: We will begin out Square Foot porch garden any day now! Hubby bought the wood, now I wait!

Beauty in the common things:
We are so blessed to have a home, our health and so much of everything we take for granted!

On the Needles:
Silk Sleeves, Koolhaas hat, and finally, my Shetland Triangle! (Thank YOU Trudi!), Socks and Chevron Scarf.

Something New:
Baby boy is walking! (he's actually been walking for about a month, but I forgot to tell you.. hehe) and Video Podcasts!!! LOVE Vcasts, and this one --> Lets Knit2gether, in particular!

n

Hats, Scarves Bags, and Boxes

Boy, what a bunch of updates I have! I have been so bad at keeping everything updated, but I will truly try much harder to stay up to date here. Our horrible HughesNet connection is partly to blame, and the rest is simply time. I think if my connection as faster, my time issue would probably resolve itself. But, until then.. we carry on.. :-)

First, a FO:
My dear sons new hat, scarf and mitts set! Isn't he a cutey pie!

And a WIP:


Chevron Scarf
Pattern: Scarf Style by Interweave Press
Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky

I've wanted to try this pattern, and being a new knitter, decided I would do this in a solid color first time around, not expecting much.. I L-O-V-E it! The pattern is really very, very simple, and produces such lovely results ~ even in a solid color. Can't wait to see it some to life in color!


We are gearing up for our new Homeschool year (yes, we start just about anytime during the year!). Our Sonlight curriculum just arrived in the mail and it looks like so much fun! Now, we await our Math U See Beta and Abeka Cursive Handwriting and we're off the the races! It's also time to get our reading list in for the six flags 6 hour reading program and time to sign up for the Pizza Hut Book It! program.

On the home front:

Listen In:
Momma's sweet baby crying sleepily as he learns to fall asleep on his own..

View from the front window:
Nippy, nippy.. wait! Is that snow?!

Supper Plans:
Cabbage and Ground turkey (Yum!)

In the garden:
Gardening Plans: We will begin out Square Foot porch garden any day now!

Beauty in the common things:
The peace of sweet baby boy finally falling asleep (yes, that quickly!) and the quiet time between then and the moment I lay my head down (The ONLY few tranquil minutes I have all day!)

On the Needles & Hooks:
hmm, lets see: 2 hooded scarves that are just draaaging on.. , socks, sleeves & a Chevron scarf. In the next week: Another diaper soaker for the baby, Tiramisu Baby Blanket (gift), Koolhaas hat and the Hemlock! (Yes! Can't wait!)

Something New:
My beautiful new Lexie Barnes Lady B knitting bag! Love it! All the room I need, I can get a few small project, a couple of large projects, all my needles and all my every day stuff (including a diaper!) in this bag! It's water proof, has sturdy, non-slip shoulder straps, double zipper, matching needle cases, TONS of pockets, and is absolutely gorgeous to boot! (see pics below!)

n

History ~ Time Travelers Unit Studies

DD and I are really, really enjoying the Time Travelers New World Explorer Unit Study, by Homeschooling in The Woods. Amy was wonderful to do business with, and is a homeschooling mom herself. She and her family did a tremendous job on these unit studies! We absolutely cannot wait to move on to the other units. In this pic, dd is holding her "Old Ships Log," her "Ptolemaic Map" and the anatomy of a ship (just one of the very many mini projects included, to be compiled into a lapbook at the end of the unit!). The amount of projects you end up with at the end of this unit is amazing! You can see a picture of them here. In our picture, on dd's lap is her Notebook. So during the process of going through this unit, your child is also lapbooking and notebooking and ends up with a complete one of each at the end of the unit. { TTLapbook outside/inside & TTNotebook} Every day is laid out for you with lesson text, projects and all the project pages and instructions you will need. With one day being a project day to finish up any in-complete projects for that week. These units are really well done! I HIGHLY recommend! Stay tuned for more fun projects!

updated to add: I just discovered that this Old Testament Lapbook that I have been searching for, for quite sometime, is ALSO done by Homeschool In The Woods! It's their Old Testament Hands-On Activity Pak. I should have know! Have I already said that you MUST check this company out? Because you must.. :-)

Botanical Garden Field Trip

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Originally uploaded by Ngabriel

Our field trip to the Botanical Gardens was absolutely beautiful! If earthly beauty, touched by sin, can be this breathtaking ~ Can you imagine heavenly beauty, in all it's perfection? I surely cannot! But I can't wait to see it!

n

HomeschoolBoutique.com/ Our OTHER uniform!

Our favorite, online, homeschool attire shop is giving away FREE T-shirts! Check them out at HomeSchool Boutique

Our absolute favorite shirt (and the one we get THE most feedback from) is my DD's field-trip "Uniform" shirt.

We get SO many comments on this great shirt everytime we go out! The store has a ton of other awesome stuff, (VERY reasonable priced to boot!) so make sure you check them out!

ps: Tell her Nichole from Atlanta sent you! :-D

(Home)School Uniform is here!

DD's uniform is here! She is very excited, and I am too (less laundry for me at the end of each week!) I think it will also help to instill a sense of discipline about her schooling, and teach her to take care of her clothing. I got this one from Cookies Kids . It's extremely durable, stain repellant with permanent pleats, so it will be an easy peice to learn "care of clothing" on.

n