Crafts, Projects and Everything Else

The kids attended an Encanto party and have had the fever for sure.  It's died down a bit, but they still break out costume pieces every now and again. Here Emily is representing 9 characters!

My mom has been sending art to the kids.  When Grace colored the picture, Juliet wanted to give her bunny ears.  I told them it kind of looked like Juliet was holding the picture and Grace was giving herself bunny ears, so they wanted to pose that way too. = )

Grae wanted a rainbow of scrunchies in her hair.  We had to use a bamboo skewer, and some anchor hair ties, but we got it to stand without her having to hold it!

In the mornings, when I turn around, I'm sometimes surprised to see Emily already "awake." It's just her mask most mornings though. = )

Grace and Juliet sewed some slime ranch characters.  Juliet sewed the baby.

And Grace sewed the mommy.

Grace bought some balloons from one thrift store or another and made a kitty head. 

Speaking of kitty heads, we found a kitty head cookie cutter for 50 cents!!! I was so excited, because Alice wanted one for a project (and I wasn't willing to spend the $7 on amazon.)

Homemade ice cream sandwiches.  You have to bake a cake, thaw the ice cream and refreeze it, cut it and then freeze it all together.

I had an inspiration to embroider and sew some gifts for an upcoming birthday party, but when I went to turn on my old computer (which had been Billy's old computer) it would not start. = (  I fought it for a day, and then asked Billy to look at it.  When he made no progress, it went to Sarah.  She's my final stop and when she said she couldn't get it working, I had to give it up.  

The reason the computer was so important was because of how old the software is.  When I tried installing it and running it on Billy's old computer it gave me all sorts of errors. = (

Sarah was able to locate an update for me, and after a couple of hours of uninstalling and reinstalling the software and updates, I was finally met with success!!  

I didn't turn anything off until I finished all of the embroidery I wanted to do, just in case something broke upon restart.  Beautiful, beautiful pieces ready to assemble and sew.

I was so happy to complete this project.  = )

A Few days later, I was looking at some of the strap that I had cut to shorten the shoulder bags, and was struck with inspiration to transform them into cord organizers!  They came out super cute, and I even sent one to Erin Elise when I finished hand sewing the buttons. 

Grace lost her front tooth on St. Patick's Day!

Grace, Juliet and Emily have all shown quite an interest in sewing, so I let them use my machine whenever I'm not in the midst of a project.

I've also started braiding some old clothes into the beginnings of a rag rug.  It's going to take a long time to collect enough rags at our current rate, but I am liking how it looks so far. = )

When Russia attacked Ukraine the only thing I "panic bought" was cocoa.  Giant ones, just in case, I really don't want to be out of chocolate. 

Grace and Juliet spent one evening making BFF necklaces for each other and smaller ones for their dolls.  It was very sweet. = )

I think that catches up my poor neglected blog, at least for the time being.

later days

Spring Is In The Air

The days had been trending warmer (we even hit 80 one day!) but now we have sunk back down, hopefully very temporarily.

School is flying by, we only have 5 weeks left until our summer break!

Once the temperature warmed up a bit, we were able to find an earthworm to observe!

Grace loved wearing her gift from Zoey to school last week.

We are going camping later this year, and since we will be staying in a rustic (no electricity) cabin, I thought that everyone should have their own light source.  William is getting a pocket knife (maybe) but his didn't ship with the other items.  I personalized them, mostly to cut down on fights, but I also just really love putting vinyl on everything.

For our nature study, it wanted us to go out for a picnic.  The week we went was much too cold, so we did the "extension" activities instead.  The next week was almost 40 degrees warmer (and in the high 70s) so it was a very pleasant trip!  Alice is not a fan of our nature study trips and only came out of the car long enough to complete the assignment, and grab something to eat.

Here's hoping for some warmer weather soon!

later days

First week of September

176th Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 77F.

I slept in this morning and it was lovely.

For lunch, Billy picked up Arby's.  

Billy and I started burning the basement door, but even at 3 hours of fire and heat, we just got it started before the rain moved in.

For dinner we had teriyaki chicken with rice.

Enisi took Alice to pick up a 'birthday' cake so that she could celebrate with her too.

She picked a peanut butter ice cream cake. = )

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175th Day of Quarantine.

73F was the exceptionally cool high for the day.

This morning before we started school Emily, Grace and Juliet all matched up their outfits.  I had them get dressed today since I knew that the Crockers were on their way.

They actually arrived just as we finished our morning routine.  Since it was Friday, we had a lot of one on one activities (dictation and narration.)  So, Brenda got to spend some time with those who were not 'testing.'

As soon as we finished our day, Brenda took the kids for ice cream, and I went out to run some errands.  My first stop was dollar tree, then I failed an attempt at buying some ten dollar roblox gift cards at game stop, then we went to 5 below, my next stop was Target, I collected lots of goodies for the kids' Halloween morning.  My final shopping stop was Menards to get a second hinge for the basement door, but sadly they were out of the one we needed.  On my way home I found 2 garage sales and picked up a few treasures. = )

We had pizza for dinner, because we need a pizza box for science next week.

Enisi, Grace and Juliet snuggled up and watches some videos, since they wore Enisi out pretty quickly after her long, straight trip up here.

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174th Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today was 85F.

We started the day on time, and enjoyed a typical start to the day.  As soon as they finished handwriting practice, it was time to rush.

William and I loaded up and were on the road by 9:15.  We didn't hit any traffic slow downs, except for the 5 or 6 vehicles that were pulled over by the state police along our route.  I guess extra patrols are out with the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend.

We arrived with a scant 10 minutes to spare, and I had William chow down on a lunchable since he wouldn't be eating anything solid for several hours.

I remembered to bring William's reading practice with us while we waited for him to be called back, but totally forgot my book.  Thankfully they do have guest wifi in the building, since I get little to no reception and there are no magazines or books to be found.

He was more emotionally prepared this go round, and went back bravely and came out one tooth fewer and another tooth covered.

William watched An American Tail on our trip home, so I've had "There are no cats in America" stuck in my head for the afternoon.  Billy placed a pick up order for us at Wendy's since I promised William a milkshake, but he couldn't use a straw.

We were home just after one.  Once everyone had eaten, we completed our scant afternoon list.  We finished our afternoon reading of Alice in Wonderland 10 minutes before the 4pm electronic ban lifts!  I was so excited, considering we spent a 4 hour chunk of our day on the dentist expidenture!

For dinner, Alice made us tortellini alfredo.  And cleaned the kitchen.  5th grade and up my children plan one meal and cook it once a month.  I am very excited to have 5 fewer meals to create. = )

After dinner, Billy placed and started to install our new basement door!  It looks so much better than it did and I am so impressed that he made it from scratch.

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173rd Day of Quarantine.

The expected high today is 81F.  The day started out rainy, but it turned into a pretty afternoon.

For Form I geography today, the little ones made a Lego model of our "classroom."  They did a great job.  The big girls were a little jealous, because the still had to do their map drills.

The rain ended just early enough that they were able to have outdoor recess.  I told them I wanted a picture of all 5, since I hadn't gotten one at all this school year. = )

In our lessons today, we ended up doubling up on Ancient History and Science.  Thankfully, we had a cool experiment, that the big girls enjoyed, and it kind of made up for missing out on the Legos.  Here is Alice showing off her marshmallow and toothpick rhombicuboctahedron.

And, three weeks in, we finally had our first Poetry Tea Time.  We had apple cider tea with a variety of biscuits and some nice poems.

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172nd Day of Quarantine.

The high today was 80F.  A thunderstorm blew in late in the afternoon, and cooled everything down. = (

I punched holes on the other side of the paper for my poor little leftie.  So she turns her pages "backwards," but doesn't have the binder rings in the way! ; )

Today, Grace finished her Kindergarten review, so she earned her stuffie!

Adding in the extra subject (in order to make Thursday a shorter day) hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought.  The kids haven't complained, and today we even finished earlier than 'normal!'

I spent an hour or so of my afternoon tying down the Littlest Pet Shop toys that I scored at a rummage sale to a carboard display.  They'll be going to Elizabeth for her birthday in October, but I rarely regret taking care of thing early. = )

They fit perfectly in the box that I had set aside, but I worried about part of them breaking during shipping, so I moved them to a bigger box that I could pad a little bit.  Now the twist ties are facing up, so it doesn't look nearly as good.  Luckily, I've got a few months to think on it and come up with something to make it a little fancier. = )

We are still reading Alice in Wonderland, but only have a few chapters left.  Next Friday I hope we can watch the animated film!

For dinner we had chicken fettucine alfredo.

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171st Day of Quarantine

The expected high today was 81F.

Today in school the kids did their first picture study: The Last Supper.  I was so impressed at how well the did on their memory drawings!

We squeezed in an extra subject, at the beginning of our "feast" block and it was not too bad.  Hopefully our Thursday will feel nice and light since William and I are making a third trip down to Ann Arbor.

In between morning work and science I ran to Carl's to grab the cream (and a few other things.)

I started cooking the meatloaf at 3pm, since it always takes so much longer to cook than the recipes recommend.  Hopefully it will be ready by 5:30!

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170th Day of Quarantine

The expected high today is 65F.

After online church I swung by Sarah's to add recycling to her bin.  She had a few ripe tomatoes on her vine that she let me pick to bring home.  After that, I drove down to pick up my grocery order.

Once the groceries were put away, I changed into my 'painting' clothes and burned all the assorted wood pieces that had accumulated in the fire pit.

Billy came out and finished fashioning the door for the basement, then I got to work painting it.  While I had the paint out, I also repainted the ramp and step to the shed.  Sadly, I was out of paint and couldn't paint the side door deck.

We had Chinese for dinner (sweet and sour chicken and chicken low mien) that Billy ordered while I bathed all the babes.

After baths were finished, I made meatloaf to cook for tomorrow, and fried up the rest of the hamburger meet to store in the freezer.

As I was setting up for the week, I found that we did not have the cream (a critical component) for our science project on Monday.  I checked the hours of our local grocery store, but they close at 6pm on Sundays.

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later days

Fall Projects

Since I don't like to post gifts until after they are given (ruining the surprise) I have this post set for Friday after the Halloween parties. = )

Juliet wanted to sew.  For her project she picked a wrist rest for her keyboard.  She picked the fabric and helped with every step!

Ironing:

Pinning:

Sewing:

And she was responsible for putting in most of the rice.  She had one major spill, but had it cleaned up quickly.  She was able to use her new wrist rest that night!

I knocked out all of my to do list items for fall break.  I was so excited!

And my biggest project from my summer list is finally complete!  Our front window trim was peeling and looking awful.  Billy did the sanding and replaced the bottom board.  It took almost 3 weeks to complete, thanks to a rainy fall and the wrong sandpaper.

But once it dried out, I taped and painted and  it looks so much better!  So, now, I'm almost done with my summer list. lol.

I winterize my sandals (since I really cannot wear them year round here) by treating them with leather conditioner at the end of each summer.  Shoes actually wear out up here, so I'm trying to take good care of them.  So far I've not had to send them in for a repair.

I signed up to bring cutlery to Emily's class party on Friday.  She was happy to help make them look festive.

I found three free 'fishbowls' at a thrift store in Mason.  Sarah found me a couple of more at the dollar tree.  They turned out to be the cutest little jack-o-lanterns for their teachers!

 I also found a treat jar for Seven's Christmas. = )

We found another place to display Emily's bearpaw!

Elizabeth's birthday was a the very beginning of this month, and I totally dropped the ball.  Once I finally found out what she wanted, ordered it, and received it, it was three weeks late, and I still had to send it to her.

I sewed them in place with some fishing line, and Emily decorated the box.  Hopefully she likes it!  It is supposed to arrive today or tomorrow. = )

later days