Born to Play

Another violinist in the family...

He has asked to play the violin for so long "just like Mama", and a few weeks ago we tried it out...

Turns out, he's a natural. I really should have listened to him when he first started saying that he wanted to play the violin instead of piano. After just a few weeks he's positioning and playing like this instrument is his long-lost love.

Blue II

So in last week's edition of Ginny's yarn along I told you about how off-kilter I've been with knitting lately. Busy schedule, no particular project grabbing at my attention, casting on, ripping out...

And I think I've found a cure.

Meet two little skeins of Baby Alpaca Lace.

Soooo soft.

Soooo pretty.

Now I just have to make the final decision on how to use it. I'm down to just three shawls...

What would you make with 850 yards of this laceweight?

And this is March's sock. I haven't even turned the heel yet. I'm going to put a hustle on it and see what comes of it before Friday, but I also need to finish up mitts for my sweet sister-in-law Abby who has been patiently waiting during my brief season of discontent with knitting. Any bets on when I might finish this sock? Do you think I have a chance to finish them by Monday?

Part of the lack of progress on this month's sock is due to all the school planning that has filled our evenings lately. Our local homeschool conference is just a few weeks off and I've been trying to make sure that I know exactly what I'm interested in before I head to the conference. This stack of files and books has followed me all over the place over the last few weeks!

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America

Perhaps this is the last snow for this year? Or maybe it's just wishful thinking...

We picked up a few books about North America at the library last week as part of our continent studies and we've been reading about The United States first.


So You Want to Be President? is a cute book that includes lots of little facts about the presidents (who was musical and who wasn't, how many presidents were named James, the pets presidents have had, etc.) and it's been a great introduction to the names of our former presidents. Next year we will study more about the presidents (specifically the first three or four) as we learn more about early American history.


We also read America as an introduction to some important concepts and symbols in America. We learned the words "constitution" and "democracy" and learned about the American flag.

Of course, we had to make our own:

We used oil pastels for these projects, which are fast becoming the boys' favorite drawing medium. They are still learning to keep their fingers/hands/arms off their drawing unless they *want* it to smudge, but the bold colors are so much more exciting than regular crayons! We also invested in some 9 x 12 paper a few months ago and we're loving the larger size! I'm considering ordering even larger sizes for next year since this bigger size has provided an opportunity for bigger and better art work. Maybe some 18 x 24?

Where are your studies taking you lately?

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Spring Birds

Ender has been fascinated with birds over the last few months, so when I saw this project on Deep Space Sparkle I knew it was perfect for us.

We're planning to try this project with various materials, so for our first version we used crayons and marker before cutting out our birds.

Then came the difficult decision of what kind of background to draw...

Ezra's bird

Ender's bird

Next up, trying the bird project with pastels and watercolors!

Tips to Occupy Your Toddler

{Ezra at 18 months}

I'm sharing toddler tips at Simple Homeschool today.

Come on over and join in the conversation!

Blue

I cast on last night for a new nephew expected in early May. You can't tell yet, but this is the Pembroke Vest [rav link] in the 6 month size.


I'm not terribly happy with it. Not because of the pattern, but because I'm generally unhappy with knitting lately. I've seriously cast on four different things in the past week and ripped them all back out after about 2 hours of work, because I wasn't crazy about the project. I can't seem to find that one project I really want to work on.


Do you ever get that feeling? I haven't lost the knitting love- I *want* to knit, I'm just not finding a project to be super excited about.


Perhaps the problem has been the renewed focus on sewing- this week has brought new shorts and pajamas for the boys and hemming a gazillion work pants for Brian- I'm on the 5th and last pair this week, and then back to my petticoat!


And since Ginny also invites us to write about our reading, I'm almost done with Redwall this week for fiction, and I have the Red Pyramid waiting. For non-fiction I've been looking through booklists and working on all kinds of things for next year in our homeschool. I'm still waffling on a math curriculum, but I have the basics down for our 6 terms of science and history, and I'm just about ready to start setting booklists.


What are you reading?

100

Ezra asked, "Am I big enough for the number board yet?"


Ender has been using the 100 board to review counting lately, and true to this frequent theme, Ezra insisted that he was ready to use it too. I was fairly certain that he would lose interest after placing a few tiles, but he kept at it through completion!

I started him out the same way I started Ender - with the tiles stacked in groups of tens (1-10, 11-20, etc.) with the numbers in order and a mat underneath that marks where each tile goes.


After he completes the board a few times I'll give him those same stacks of ten but with the numbers out of order, then progress to completing the board without the mat, and eventually with all the tiles mixed. Ender is using the work in that way right now (all 100 tiles mixed) as well as placing tiles counting by 2s,5s, and 10s. I still have a hard time thinking of Ezra as a 3-6 Montessorian- wasn't it just yesterday that he was so small?

Playing Catch Up

I had fully intended to participate in Project Simplify when it was announced a few weeks ago, but I realized on the first morning of the project that I just can't. This week and the next 3 are full to the brim with studio work during the week and family life on the weekends, and I just don't have spare time. And a bit of me felt really guilty over that because it's the season of spring cleaning and I'm ... not. I usually do, but the studio recital is early this year and I'm on a maxed out student load, the gray and cold of winter still isn't gone (I know it's only March, but still!) and my mind is buzzing with the next 18 months of studio planning.


A teenaged student showed up for her lesson a little early and caught me with the next 3 years spread out over my desk with highlights and scribbles and post-its and said, "You have to plan that far ahead???"


Yep. Because there are facilities to rent and I have to be able to seat a LOT of people. And there are Christmas recitals and composition recitals and composition books to have printed in time for people to purchase- and it's just me running the whole show.


And somehow I forget that this period of 6 weeks knocks me flat, even though it has every year for the last 9 years. I was totally surprised by it this past week, but I think fires have been put out and we're ready to get back to normal minus the guilt I'm choosing not to have over the boys not really having school for awhile.This is why we school year-round, right? So we can take time off when we actually need the break! So we'll consider this an extrended spring break. We will still read every day, Ender is still reading to me each day, and I'm sure a few schooly things will creep in, but mostly we're going to do whatever keeps them busy, happy, and me a little less stressed. Nothing really planned, no units or projects (unless they are completely independent).


**And to answer a few questions, yes- I'm going to post the rest of our continent units soon. I posted Asia and Australia last fall and we've since covered Antarctica and Europe and a bit of South America (though that's on hold temporarily.) I will try to post those in the next few weeks since I know you guys are either started planning or going to be soon! I'm planning to put up South America and North America after we finish the units and make adjustments to the plans. I only want to put up material we actually use!

** Yes, I'm still participating in MMM, but I'm pretty much cycling through the first week's worth of self-made clothes. Pics to come sometime soon...

Yarn Along

Today I'm knitting along with Ginny at Small Things and posting a current read. I picked up Respect the Spindle at the library for what I thought would be a casual flip through.... and now I want to learn to spin. Maybe for my birthday this sumer there might be a drop spindle and a bit of wool to play with?


Current knitting? After all the busy-ness of last weekend and the beginning of this week I've only really gotten through another row or two, but it *is* a few more rows on my second lace and cable sock and I'm determined to finish it by the end of the month to keep my sock goal going.


I don't know why March always surprises me like this- March and early April are the heaviest weeks in the studio work wise each year, although I always seem to forget until these weeks arrive on my doorstep. I have to be even more intentional about crafting so that I don't feel overrun with work.


In other knitting news I finally got up the courage to unravel a sweater that was mostly done but in completely the wrong size and with some mistakes that were bugging me. I actually feel much better that it's washed and back to center pull balls ready to knit again, this time in the correct size! I never wanted to work on it because it seemed like those mistakes were yelling at me every time I picked it up. I'm glad I finally went for it and ripped the silly thing back.

10 years

I remembered a few days ago that I need to renew my driver's license soon. I was pregnant with Ender in that photo and the lady was *really* insistent that I tell her my actual weight for the license- as in the weight I was at six months pregnant. Did she realize the license would last for 6 years and that I wouldn't be pregnant for most of it?


I remember thinking "I'll have a Kindergartener when I have to renew this."


I totally didn't think about it being an important anniversary for us.


Ten years later...


Two little boys...


A few jobs removed from those we held ten years ago...


I'm sewing with tulle again, but not for a veil this time around...


10 year later I'm packing my little boys so they can see grandparents and we can take off to ponder the 10 years we've spent together...

Geek

Geek is an oft used word at our house, always in a positive way. We are geeks about Joss Whedon and would attend Comicon every year if we could. We are both movie geeks (though Brian's geekdom goes back way farther than mine), I'm a knitting geek, he's a baseball geek, I'm a music geek, he's a serious scifi geek.


For us being a geek involves being deeply involved long-term with a topic and constantly learning and exploring more about it. We know that people don't get it or they only get part of it (some people understand the knitting but not the comicon geekdom but some people *really* don't get knitting or baseball...)


Ender is really heavily into dinosaurs right now and is becoming quite knowledgeable. After he explained the difference between a few dinosaurs to Brian over the weeekend Brian told Ender it looked like he was becoming a dinosaur geek.


Ender: What's a geek?


Brian: It's our tribe, son.


We seek to raise geeks- kids on the exciting journey to find their strengths and build expertise on topics they love. We don't really care what kind of geek the boys turn out to be as long as they find a subject that engages them. Maybe it will be dinosaurs long term for Ender, maybe not- but these smaller experiments with long term projects are preparing him for the day when he meets the topic that will engage his mind for years.

Me-Made-March Days 1-6

March 1: a re-fashioned shirt that I made last summer, with jeans and a black tee underneath.

March 2: A red linen skirt I made summer of  2009. I used the pattern piece from the Yard-Sale Wrap Skirt by Heather Ross (from Weekend Sewing) but added a waistband since I'm not a big fan of the wrap style.

March 3: These are Mitt Envy [Rav link]. Such a fast and easy knit, and my first cables on an actual project rather than a swatch. I wear these frequently when I practice or teach since my hands tend to be cold.

March 4: These are the first socks I ever made- cuff down, dk weight yarn. If I were to do them over again I'd adjust the cuff (a little too wide), but otherwise the fit is good and they are great for around the house.

March 5: a repeat of the black re-fashioned shirt from day 1. I was surprised with a blurry photo when I uploaded, so no pic- sorry!


March 6: a refashioned black skirt. This skirt was re-fashioned from a knit dress I used for performance before I had my boys. The top didn't fit after pregnancy but I really loved the dress, so it languished in my closet unused until I got up the guts to chop it up and make it into a skirt- I wear it all the time now! I really dislike the shirt though- I'm not really sure why I still wear it- probably because I don't want to wear all black all the time and I'm a chicken about matching things up.

And my fashion problem is? Too much black.

Inspiration

On my mind this weekend:


:: Writing a Family Purpose Statement


:: Muffin Tin Printing


:: First Grade possibilities


:: Rhythm of the Home's Spring issue


:: Looking for inspiration for accent colors when we paint the living room gray. I think I'm going to be rocking an electric blue, but maybe yellows? Ender votes yellow (his favorite color), Brian votes blue, and Ezra votes for nothing- all gray, all the time. I just can't do that! Maybe a crisp apple green? hmmmm...

Substitution

When you don't have another "e" to finish making your name, I suppose you use the next best thing!

I don't know why I'm always surprised by how busy the middle of the week is, but it kicked me hard this time around. In protest I'm refusing to think about work and instead focusing on trying to figure out the best (but still reasonably priced) way to finish the petticoat, and trying to decide whether I like this fabric with this pattern (most likely view A). Thoughts?

 

Go!

Are you ready?


Me-Made-March starts today!


I'm almost finished with the first petticoat:

And tonight I'll be able to finish the waistband on another skirt I think.


I had plans for last night to be spent on quickly finishing necessary hemming on two skirts and then getting through much of the gusset on sock #2, but instead I ended up with an endless parade of little boys needing another drink, another trip to the bathroom, extra cuddles... so I was able to finish just 1 little pattern repeat on the sock and that's it. I teach late tonight, but I don't think it will take long to get the waistband sewn on the one skirt- it's pinned and everything- and finish the hem. Again- already pinned, ready to go...