Painting

Before I begin talking about the day, I must first say . . . I am caught up!!! I just spent the last 6 hours writing three weeks worth of blog entries, and this is the last one!!!

Okay, now for the day . . . . I unfurled quite a lot of butcher paper and took out the big paint cups and large brushes.

Lucas (a sweet pose, eh? . . . I think the scowling is over--until he reads this, that is)

Holger

Josephine

Jack and Iain digging in the dirt

And Sven took the day off work and started the base coat of the playhouse. No, it won't be Frankenstein green. Eventually it will be faluröd, the traditional color of Swedish houses (and American barns)--sort of a deep red.

Papermaking and a Play

More fun with hot glue guns . . .

Ryan

Eden (and Orianna)

Holger shows off his latest sculpture, a house:

After Ria's nap, the girls treat her to extra attention.

I know this picture is blurry, but it was just so cute that I had to include it anyway.

Later in the afternoon we tried out papermaking for the first time. We ripped up scrap paper, blended it up with water, and made a pulp bath in a big bin. Josephine and Eden made the first piece(after me, of course--I made the screens and deckles over 10 years ago and never tried them out!).

Here is Orianna making her piece of paper.

She wrote the name Bella (her best friend) in the pulp.

Then Eden wrote a play. Here is the first page of the three-page script:

The audience was very excited to watch.

Here Ryan reads the screenplay as he narrates:

Eden acts out the part of a shark.

What a thespian!

A Birthday and a Wedding All in One Day

Before school this morning Dylan and Josephine worked on refreshing the window box planters.

Today was Jacob's 6th birthday, so he got a candle in his banana bread. Happy birthday, Jacob!

And then there was a wedding as well.
Flower Girl: Orianna
Wedding Coordinator: Eden
Bride: Josephine
Somewhat Reluctant Groom: Ryan (with much arm-twisting by his big sister)
Musician: Katie

Puppets, Oobleck, Kisses

Before school this morning the kids took turns giving each other puppet shows. Here is Josephine during her production . . .

. . . as the audience (Monica, Meredith, and Iain) excitedly watches.

Afterwards the girls had some fun on the swingset.

After school Holger draws a very very long limousine-style jumbo jet. He says its headed for America.

Oobleck!!! Fantastic stuff, cornstarch and water, but completely irresistable to touch. Holger, Katie, Lucas, and Josephine all gather around and dig in.

Katie

Josephine

Later on the kids had a hopping ball race.

The other day Josephine decided that because Lucas had the word "kiss" in his name (loo-kiss), she would definitely have to kiss him. This has led to many a chase, and kissing Lucas seems to be a very fun game, which Lucas quickly tired of. So he created this sign:

Holger followed the sign and decided Katie would be a much better target. Here is one very unwilling kissing recipient . . .

. . . and here is the little kissing monster himself.

No School . . . But Plenty of Fun

In observance of Veterans' Day, school was closed today, so we had children here all day. Here is Holger concentrating on building with notched popsicle sticks.

Then Josephine (still in her pajamas with unbrushed hair) and Holger went outside for a little water fun.

They tried to make a river in the backyard. They first lined up all the wood (from a recently cut-down tree), and then poured water one container at a time.

After Jacob arrived, the kids sat down to make shrinky dinks. The weird expression on Jo's face is due to the fact that it was impossible to take a photo in which she was not talking.

Shrinky dinks before shrinking:

Jacob, Josephine, and Holger watch the plastic curl up and shrink.

Magic!

Later in the afternoon Josephine and Holger experiment with warm crayon drawing . . .

. . . and then they try out fuse beads.

Holger and Lucas on the swings

During Ria's snack Josephine tried her hand as a hairdresser. Ria enjoyed the attention.

What a gorgeous hairdo!!!

Holger saw me taking pictures and couldn't resist posing.