Blank Canvas Day, Part 2

More shots from the blank canvas day, including building with Kapla blocks, playing dress-up, watching a horse eat the remainder of the harvest gourds, riding a horse, and horsing around outside.

A Blank Canvas Day

Paulie, Philip, Finn and I have a much appreciated do-nothing day.  The four of us are fortunate enough to have Veteran's Day off while Paul and Elizabeth have work and school respectively.  Elizabeth was not impressed, to say the least, that SHE still had school while most of us get to relax today.  I considered giving her a mental health day, but her class is practicing for their Sundiata play, which will be a coming blogpost, I am sure.

The boys painted ceramic animals this morning, Paulie and Philip with acrylics, Finn with finger paints.  Do finger paints stick to ceramic?  I have no idea, but I guess we'll find out!

Finn's monkey

Paul's frog

Philip's elephant

Hats off to our veterans!  You are much appreciated during this season of thanksgiving!

New Skirt, #2

Because every dog needs a new skirt 

to match it's owner!

Elizabeth's New Skirt

After reading a Soulemama blogpost a couple of months ago, I was inspired to make one of her "Before Dinner Skirts".  A quick and easy project, I completed the skirt in under an hour just after the kids went to bed Friday evening.  Elizabeth excitedly modeled for me and ran around in her new skirt all day yesterday.  Today, the skirt is washing so she can wear it to school tomorrow.  I'm thinking she might need a few more play skirts.

Skirt in action:

Choo-choo!

I finally got around to painting Finn's newish train the other night.  Painting the train didn't require much time or talent since I was just giving it a Waldorf finish of watercolor paint and beeswax polish, I just seemed to have difficulty finding even a little bit of time to tackle the project.  Then, of course, there was the matter of Finn stealing the train parts as I was trying to paint them.

Finn and I were quite pleased with the result despite the fact he's labeled every piece "orange train".

Last Minute Game

There's something about wet-haired children squeezing in a last minute board game before bed.  The game of choice was Camp, an outdoors-oriented game in which you answer questions about nature to move down a path toward camp.

 

Of course, I could do without the random, high-pitched screeching at each other that accompanies such games.

What Philip's Reading

We got Philip a pirate pop-up book, called The Castaway Pirates: A Pop-Up Tale of Bad Luck, Sharp Teeth, and Stinky Toes, for his birthday a couple of weeks ago.  I knew as soon as I saw it that Philip would be thrilled with the combination of pirates, 3D action, and stinky body parts.  And he was.  Since receiving it, this book has been his constant bedtime companion as he falls asleep each night.

Rock the Vote

In honor of our country,
(and my dear husband
who loves Shepard Fairey)

VOTE TODAY!

Poster by: Shepard Fairey

Love Jar

Elizabeth decided to take a large jar she found in the pantry (we'll find a use for it at some point, right?) and fill it with small packages to brighten someone's day.

Then, of course, it wasn't enough to simply fill it with packages, it needed to be decorated in a lovely way.

Quiltmaking

Finn and I made a quilt last night.  
We carefully chose the material we wanted to compose our quilt. 

 
We arranged the squares in a pattern we liked.

We took pictures of the finished layout.

Then we cleaned up all the material.

I like making quilts with Finn.