Snapshot Saturday

the score card

Because sometimes
-most times-
I really miss Snapshot Sundays.

later gator.

Valentine Plaques

I really, really enjoy making seasonal plaques with my babies. I came up with this idea originally in autumn a year ago. This is the fourth time we’ve made them– autumn and winter ones, then my beloved hand prints – all Mama’s love handprints, don’t they? – and now these hearts. Since we have an official place to hang our seasonal plaques, now – we’ll just keep making them, and change them out with the holidays or seasons. :)

For this one you’ll need

• Plaster of Paris (two cups makes two plaques)
• water (one cup)
• a mixing bowl for your plaster (I always use the last plaster of paris container – any large and soft plastic container is ideal)
• pretty bits from nature (birch cones, glittered rosehips and dried cranberries, winter’s flowers, acorns – whatever your world offers you.
• ribbon, raffia, or something pretty to hang them with
• a drinking straw
• and a frame – small plastic (disposable but re-usable) plates are perfect for this project. You can also use whatever you like – a box lined with a plastic grocery sack will also work.

Note on working with plaster of paris: Do not wash any remnants down the sink! It will clog your pipes! Use a napkin if you have a problem.
Also remember that it’s much easier to clean up when it’s dry – it comes up easily off a smooth surface if you scratch at it with your fingernail, and if you just leave the bucket or soft bowl that you mixed it in until it dries, simply squeeze the container, and the plaster will crack and break – then you can easily just dump the plaster bits into the garbage. So the disposable bowl or bucket can be used for this again and again.

When all of your supplies are ready, and you have an idea of the shape of your design and what materials you’d like to use in front of you, make the plaster: two cups of plaster to one cup of cold water will make two plaques perfectly.

In the first minute after it’s poured, get ready to work quickly. If you begin too soon, your materials will sink too deeply into your plaster, so wait about one minute before beginning to work. If the plaster is not flat, shake your plate back and forth to flatten your working area.

Start laying – not pressing, unless your plaster has hardened already – in your design.

When it starts to set, but is not yet hard, press in the bits of straw so that you’ll have two holes from which to hang your plaque.

Finish your design, and let it set. It doesn’t take long – five minutes or so.

After a couple of minutes, twist and lift out your pieces of straw.

When it’s all the way set – at least ten minutes or so, you may pull the plate away from the plaster – the plaster will release easily and immediately.

When you’re certain the plaque is dry throughout, thread in and tie your ribbon.

If you’d like a stamped edge, like we have here,

just press a stamp pad all around the curved edge of your plaque – it’s a lovely effect, I think.

If any of your pieces fall off (we usually have a little something fall off), just use a bit of craft glue to put it back in place.

There. ‘Tis done.

Isn’t that lovely?

And wouldn’t Grandma love one? Or two? Or a collection? :)

two days. again.

I haven't told you that that my friend Codename: HRMJ sent me an email the other day, saying "This is coming to you." That "This" was the film "Race To Nowhere". Julie and I went. All about the education system (homeschooling mentioned nor implied once), and the asinine pressures put upon children of all ages to Succeed and Do More and Live To Please Others. Ick. I cried in the first few minutes, and then I got really pissed, and then it was sad again, and then I just wanted to shout to the families on the screen "Why the hell don't you just take them out of school!?!" sigh.
If it comes to you, go see it. The lady that made the film was there presenting it to us, and so there was some audience participation at the end. Go check it out. Do what you can. Love your babies. See if you can get a "no homework" policy in your district, if your children are in school in the U.S.

Yesterday there was music.
and more music.

and funky art. :)
and magnetic experiments.

and an almost-thawing

and the pleasure of this



-which is still, of course, right next to this-



and there was cuteness

and dinner
(and the film)

and games of running tag with Dad outside at 10pm.
Can't wait 'til it's warm and we can do that.

and then, there's today, which looks like:

research. Medusa.
Gorgons.
Pandora's box.
all on his own. yup.

discussions of shane mcconky, ski designs, and avalanches

errands
anderrandsanderrands.

such as to our neighborhood library. have you noticed that we haven't gone lately? that's because I had an astronomical fine. I was pretty sure that they had my face posted on the glass door, with the words WANTED underneath it. I finally got brave today and went in there. They knocked off $40. Oh, yes. I said forty dollars. I still owed them $46!! Don't ask. It's stupid. (It's paid. We can go in there again.)

shopping.
games. apples to apples (love that, always play it with eric's family at holidays), twister, apples to apples junior, and cadoo. another little loom (a different kind), a little gumball machine, magnifying glasses, and scientific stoppers.
shirts for Mama.
underwear for Mama. which is, of course, the Very Best Thing of all. well-- besides that we can now go to our library again. don't you just love new underwear??? I always think, "Thank God!"
lol.

I'm not sure what else has been going on - been in my own head a lot the last couple of days, thinking about and making plans for olm (too.). Thinking about care packages, OLM style. :) brain-storming about that.

tonight has been about Twister (Trevy is loving that) and we played Cadoo for a few minutes (til the babies wandered off for a snack). I've never played it before tonight - it seems like something our family will really love! I look forward to it.

We're good.
Life's good.Trev's on his computer, Maddie is sleeping on Annabelle, while Annabelle runs and woofs in her sleep. I see my book at my feet, so I'm just gonna reach for that....

goodnight.

january twenty-seven

Yesterday we had plans to go to the zoo with friends, so of course the day began at like six:something with "Whenarewegoingtothezoo?"

First up we had to make cleaners. Mmmmmm. Love that.


One of my favorite chores, to be sure.

Our package came in the mail - science kits! woohoo! We got that out and bounced some washer-shaped magnets around on pencils for a while. :) And then chased things around on the table. Love magnet play. Particularly north-to-north and south-to-south play.

Maddie finished up her beautiful mailbox.


My friend Slim from Plot 55 showed these a week or so ago, and I just had to have some - they're going right onto the shelf in the livingroom cabinet, so that I can easily leave love notes, presents, and treats in them for my babies from time to time. So excited about that!

Time to get ready!
At last!!!

The last few times we've been to the zoo we've had really exceptional experiences. Lots of surprising things from the animals, it's like everything was especially alive.
Yesterday the agenda was just Run! and Play!-- and that's exactly what our day was mostly like. We didn't see verra many animals, as it was dang cold and many animals can't be viewed when they're inside (which is quite alright with me, I wouldn't want to witness their misery, anyway).


But there was popcorn
and wagon rides

and snowball fights (super fun, that)





and reptiles
and a baby giraffe
and walk-talky play
and the playground
and carousel rides.




Not bad.

And then, of course, three hours with friends is never enough, so more play at their house was in order.
And, as always, we stayed until they kicked us out. :) (I'm teasing. They would never do so. Well - at least, they haven't yet!)

Life is sweet, isn't it?
See you tonight.

Science Give-away

Hey there amigos.
Wanted to let you know (for US and Canada residents only - sorry, not my choice! :( ) I'm having a give-away over at olm (too.).

It's for Set #9 from The Young Scientist Series - this is a three kit set, and includes

Kit #25 - Magnetism
Kit #26 - Static Electricity
and
Kit #27 Tornadoes, Clouds, and Water Cycle

I haven't had time to dig into it, yet (it just got here today, and we took off to the zoo) but some of the experiments include shaping magnetic fields with filings, constructing a magna doodle, bending water, creating lightning sparks, making cereal jump, learning about the water cycle, forming clouds in a jar, and making a tornado with two liter bottles.
If you have young children and haven't done many of these experiments, yet, this would be a great set for you to get you started with learning more about these energies.
There is also information for each kit online for extended investigations or learning.

Read about it more here, and just leave a comment to be entered.

life: overheard

from Trevy, who is watching SpoungeBob in the livingroom:
"Hey you big jerks!! There is nothing wrong with loving and hugging your Grandma!!"

and from Maddie:
From the computer desk in the den comes the sweetest little sigh you ever did hear, and then in a sugary, Little Gril voice, "Oh, I just love this game."

Life's good.

two days

pretend play.

snake talk.

performing monologues.

reminiscing over childhood pets (however temporary) and adventures (yes, even babies can evidently reminisce with fondness and a sigh :) ).

body exploration.
tag.
and tag and tag andtagandtagandtag. with an inexhaustible Daddy.

hide-and-seek.
game after game after game. with Daddy.

more pretend play. with Daddy.

butterfly painting.

planning and practicing talents.

hopscotch.

_______________

body explorations.

Thesaurus Discovery. introduction to words like 'colonnade', 'piazza', 'stoa', 'portico', 'mosque', and 'cupola'.

trying to figure out secret codes.

drawing.

"The better it smells, the Gooder it taste- es. Right, Mom?"

practicing for a talent show.

taking care of computer business.

computer play.

Family Talent Show
which looked like:

setting the stage, gathering props, and making score cards.

and then:

a puppet show

a reading of "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll in my very best dark, Poe-ish voice.

(yes, I impressed them.)

playing musical instruments.

singing.

more puppets

singing the I, Carly theme song - in fast motionwith the microphone. for extra coolness.

tea bag rockets (twice.)
tea bag rockets for Trev's next performance, too. with explanations how hot air rises and hot air currents. Impressive.

and then tea bag rockets for Maddie's next performance, too.


balancing nails.

fascinating stories.

the first with a wolf named Larry. lol. and the second with a wicked witch named Larry.

and a grand performance demonstrating the trustworthiness of inertia with raw eggs. in the livingroom.


"Give me your best 'Gasp! What's going to happen!?!' faces!" :)

I got points for that one, too.

we took an intermission for our show, and while we were each doing whatever it is we were doing Daddy came home from skiing, so we came together again in the name of Bowling.


Trev wanted to go to a real bowling alley (I imagine one that smelled of coffee and beer and hamuburgers and bowling shoes and cigarettes and that had candy machines from the 1970's) so that was where we were going!
and we were very excited! until we got to the counter, and discovered that it would be like eight-five dollars (a slight exaggeration) for us all to bowl, and I wasn't real excited about that. I thought it shouldn't be that much money (the last time we went bowling they lost interest after throwing the ball like three times), and didn't feel happy about it. so we left. with a stop on the way out In Which Eric Once Again Impresses The Hell Out Of His Little Son.


since everyone was feeling disappointed and discouraged, we came home and Mama checked with our neighborhood (fancy, kid-friendly) bowling alley, and it was quite a bit cheaper. and more importantly, we felt welcome and excited to play.
so we were Off! again. and had a wonderful time!

I think Trevelyn is A Real Bowler. He does dances. He's very serious. He got three spares and one strike. Nevermind that he runs full force up to the line and then throws it mightily, or that it bounces off the gutter-guards a few times, it is his process, it's always the same, and it works for him. And it's very amusing.

Maddie's took a while sometimes.



what can I say? we had beer and video games and flashing lights and victory dances and mucho laughter and two full games (without getting bored) of hucking balls against pens.

We're good.
Life's good.

And now on to Today!