Shrinky Dinks and Hot Glue Guns

This morning before school Josephine exhibits her newly developed reading skills by reading a book to Monica.

After school, Marie and Jacob make shrinky dinks outside . . .

. . . while Eden and Josephine create sculptures inside using hot glue guns.

Shrinky dinks never lose their ability to entertain.

Iain tries out the hot glue gun for the first time. Very exciting!

Tea Party and Paper Making

We had lunch outside today. I was going to serve them in the playhouse, but they chose to sit out in the sun instead.

Katie and Eden planned an elegant teaparty in the afternoon. They set up and decorated in the kitchen, and then helped Orianna and Josephine to dress up for the event.

Here Katie brings everyone in for the teaparty.

Each place setting was labeled, and Cheerios were served on pretty ceramic plates while tea (water) was poured into tiny little teacups.

While the older kids enjoyed their teaparty in the kitchen . . .

. . . Ria enjoyed free reign in the rest of the house. She pulled up using this chair and used it as a walker to make her way across the room.

Later on, Ryan set up the clothesline and built himself a little one-man fort.

We had our second ever paper making event today. Last time we made white paper, but this time the kids chose pink, so they ripped up all the white, red, and pink scraps we had. It turned out beautiful. Later, Eden and Katie decided to change the color and added more white and yellow, making a pretty salmon color.

Here Katie adds a finishing touch of gold glitter onto her newly formed and still wet paper.

Pumpkin Morning and Crafting Afternoon

This morning before school, Dylan came over. Dylan happens to be one of the world's greatest pumpkin experts. Because fall is now coming to a close, I figured it's time to cut up and puree our pumpkins so they can become soup later on . . . yum!

I cut the pumpkin in half, and Jo and Dylan scooped out the seeds.

The kids then asked for knives to do some slicing of their own. They had a blast chopping into the pumpkin's flesh.

The aftermath:

The afternoon was filled with lots of crafting. Here Orianna glues, paints, and glitters wood leftovers from the playhouse.

Jacob and Eden work with their wood as well.

Check out Jacob's tongue . . . such concentration!

Play Dough and Plastic Animals

While Orianna painted with colored glue . . .

Holger and Lucas played with play dough and plastic animals.

Holger is not camera shy.

In fact, when the camera comes out, they all stop what they're doing and pose.

Ah, at last . . . a candid moment of concentration.

Lucas' cat mountain:

Apple Art and Lucas' Cat

Today there was no school . . . yet again! We had a very small group--Lucas and Holger most of the day, and then Ria and Iain for part of the day (and, as always, Josephine the whole day!).

After Ria arrived, knowing that she loves stuffed toy animals, the kids piled them up in front of her, much to her delight.

For a snack, we had apples, but to literally add a twist, we used my grandmother's apple peeler and this time, instead of just peeling, we sliced as well. Lucas referred to this as apple art, and it certainly turned out fun . . . and yummy!

Jo slices her apple . . .

Holger's apple . . .


For weeks Lucas has been asking me if we can make stuffed toy animals. There has never been a good time for this, but with a very LONG day and only a few kids, today was perfect. I showed Lucas a pattern to a stuffed frog I'd made years ago and explained how he'd have to create a pattern where all the parts are separate. He did so, and then we scanned and resized the parts on the computer. Here is his cat in pattern form:


Each color represented a different fabric, which the chart below explained.

The next step then was to cut out all the pieces, sew them together, and then Lucas stuffed them with fiberfill.

The various pieces were then all sewn together. Here is the creator with his finished cat:

It turned out really cute. Lucas definitely had a vision and gave me many instructions along the way as to where the legs should be sewn, how the head should be attached, etc.

The tail was fantastic, made up of many different fabrics. It sort of looks like that of a ring-tailed lemur.

Such a sweet face!

No School Again . . .

Today we had a small group . . . Josephine, of course, as well as Katie and Ryan . . .

. . . and Holger. The kids worked with their hot glue guns and made some fun and inventive sculptures. Josephine, who is sitting on my lap as I write this, wants me to add, "and no one got burned!"

After Katie and Ryan left, Josephine and Holger had some fun on the swingset.

The Art Lesson

Today art lessons were given in the studio by Mademoiselle Georgia, artiste extraordinaire.

A child is to water . . .

. . . like a moth to a flame.

Here are a couple photos so Marie's mother can see why she was in a completely different outfit at the end of the day.

Sheer joy, eh?

Faluröd!

This weekend the playhouse underwent a fantastic transformation, from the scary green basecoat to the glorious faluröd, the traditional red of Swedish cottages. Josephine was awesome at helping Sven out with the painting.

Very focused on her task . . .

And once the crevices between the boards were painted, Sven rolled on the rest of the paint.