If You Give Some Kids A Bunch of Craft Supplies...

If you give some kids a bunch of craft supplies and say "Go on create"...
 they make look at you blankly and just decide to wait.
Until you give directions... for the craft of the day.
Because you see my children rarely get just time to play...
with stickers and sparkles and markers and glue...
they are waiting for me to tell them exactly what to do.

Eventually they make a move and start to chose some paper...
as you tell them "There's no step by step" they become the art creators.

So dabbers dab and and scissors snip... and it soon becomes clear...
This open ended art thing should be the norm... and not just once a year...

 

Olivia

Meadow has been an Olivia fan for quite some time now... so this lapbook from Homeschool Share was a perfect project for her...

And without giving away the whole story there is a part that involves splatter painting...

Which both of my children participated in gleefully...

 Hudson's splatters...

Meadow's splatters...

 

Fall Fair Fun!

This weekend our family had the opportunity to exhibit in and enjoy the Vanderhoof Fall Fair.
Hudson and Meadow each won a red second place ribbon for their fair projects.

Hudson's for his very cool cut and paste collage. I am so impressed with how much Hudson's cutting ability has improved lately.

Meadow's red ribbon was for her amazing noodle necklace.  It really is lovely.

Craig entered goats milk from our very own Annabell into the fair and won first prize.

I entered clover jelly and also won first place.  Looks like I will be giving away some prize winning jelly for Christmas this year :) *note: I will have to ban Craig from taking picture of me... they turn out with me looking tired and fat usually and I just don't love that so much.

Both children were quite drawn to the square dancing.

 What is Hudson so interested in?

 The draft horse competition!  These horses are massive, their hooves are the size of dinner plates.

Climbing at the playground was a very favorite activity.

As was watching our good friend Mr. Ventin and his band Rosewood's Diary perform.

We were quite exhausted by the end of it all, but we had a ton of fun!

Green Construction

Hudson and I built a chicken tractor using only items found around our house and yard.  Upcycling!!!

The base is some sort of metal cart frame.  Then we wrapped around scrap chicken wire and secured it with tie wraps.  The roof is made of some boards Craig secured with more tie wraps.

They were pretty excited to be exploring the world outside.

Our Garden Spot

Well the snow is gone in some spots and not so gone in others... but out chosen garden spot is bare and we began work clearing and preparing it.

Hudson did a great job helping daddy pile up the branches.

A compost bin was built out of free palates we got from the local Co-Op here.
It obviously required some chalk decorating.
*note: Hudson asked to go outside in his jammies that day.  It was a great time for me to practice saying yes.

We had some wonderful helpers to munch the plants and grass growing in our garden spot.

And well err fertilize the soil:)

It's Really Growing!!!

Our paper pot garden has gone from tiny meager beginnings...to something's  sprouting...to it's growing it's really growing!!!

 

Bean Plants

Tiny Grape Tomato Plants

Newly Planted Herbs and Pumpkin

(our origami pots did not hold up too well so the Lavender, Mint, Basil and Chives were replanted.)

It's really been quite exciting working on this with the kiddos.  They are thrilled to be the first to announce a newly sprouted seed.  Once the weather is warm enough (say June with the way the weather has been here) we will be square foot gardening outside.