two days

roller skating

baseball with sticks and rocks

new big bouncy balls

video tapes

mario.

peep.

music
lots of music.
imaginary games with Daddy

online ordering

brand new sheets (a gift).

prehistoric park

sharing ideas

a neighborhood walk

building
more building
window art
plans

books

a garden inspection
or two

tidying up

messing up

firm mud.

life's good.

thursday twenty-fifth: over the rainbow

somewhere

-over the rainbow-

way up high

there's a life

that I heard of

once in a lullaby. *

(*Adapted from E.Y. Harburg)

The Science Fair

The 2010 Science Fair ends in a few days (February 28) -

if you haven't listed your experiment(s) yet, please do so! There will be a drawing for entrants for a year's subscription to National Geograhic Kids magazine.

a wednesday's dream

Maddie and I began our day by making a fence for her farm and animals.
She loves creating little scenes and situations, and was bemoaning the fact that she didn't have enough fence the other day.
So while we were downstairs picking up the barn, I spied the popsicle sticks, and got an idea....




Love it.

Raindrops on windows....


Painting
and painting
and painting.
Today?- all about watercolors.


Watercolors on watercolor paper.
Watercolors on wet paper.


Watercolor relief - using white crayons.


Watercolor and salt.
Watercolor and finger painting.
Don't you just love paints?

Kneading.
...and then a little while later....

and


And, oh, goodness, are those pretzels yummy...
(and gone.)

And there was a long, sleepy nap in there for Maddie today.
(Yesterday was not so good for her, illness wise, and today a bit better, but I believe she'll be feeling quite Fine tomorrow. She appears to be about two days behind Trev, who felt great yesterday and today.)

We've been having "together time" lately - the last few weeks.
Just to make sure that we engage ourselves and eachother (and don't slip into a coma without ourselves or the others taking notice), we turn off the tellie and computers for a while (Mama's too!) every day, and just do stuff for a couple or few or several hours.
Whatever kind of stuff.
'Til we're filled up.
There's nothing rigid about it, and it doesn't have to happen at a particular time, though it seems it's usually a bit after lunchtime that we come together.
Sometimes we want to go for a nature walk, sometimes it's math bingo, games, reading, building, whatever. I don't much care what it is, as long as our minds are busy.
Today Trev said,
"Qwirkle!"


and "Checkers!"


and "Blokus!" (Though Daddy came home when we were just beginning Blokus, so you know that flew out the window! :) )
and Maddie said "The Diego game!"


So that's the way it was.

And now they're back there having and loving Daddy time, and I get to settle in with my book...

We're good.
And happy.
And loved.

See you tomorrow.

tuesday twenty-three: love and light

Just a little while back I was having a very hard time with the practically-dark-at-four-thirty thing. I didn't mention it here terribly often, but my call-on-the-phone friends (all two of them) heard about it often enough. :)

Thank goodness that's overwith. It "Happened" for me somewhere around sticking my toes in the damned cold mud.

But now it's even better. Light makes a big, beautiful difference, doesn't it?
Especially streaming light.
sigh.
Such have been my thoughts today.

The Doings haven't shouted out much, today.
The Seeings, however....

the kitchen floor.

Reading.
"Wait. Is this"organic" the same as this "organic"?"

aah. Haven't tired of it, yet!

More Washi Eggs.

Maddie's Window-Art-In-The-Making.

All is well, then.
And fine.
And beautiful.

Washi Eggs

This is a traditional Japanese craft that has been around for hundreds of years.

First, you’ll need washi paper – origami paper. I wouldn’t bother with anything else. Washi paper is sturdy and flexible, and able to hold up to this craft.

The paper is expensive. I paid $5 for per packet of 20 and 24 sheets – four designs each.

Commonly, these eggs are done with blown-out eggs. You can certainly do that if you want to (and if you’re feeling very, very brave), but I wouldn’t bother. Working with these eggs takes some pressure and rearranging, and I know that I’d break a shell every few seconds. I used paper mache’ eggs, and wooden eggs both.

You’ll also need glue – I used mod podge (watered down when it got too thick) – use something that doesn’t dry super fast, as you’ll need time.

The only tools you’ll need are something to lay them to dry (a piece of paper), a paint brush, and scissors.

The first thing to do is measure the length, t0p tip to bottom tip of your egg - a leave a little bit to spare. Better to trim your ends as your working then have it go a tiny bit crooked and not cover your egg completely.

When I had the length right, I just used the trimmed off portion as a guide for the length of the rest of the eggs. (Another benefit of paper mache and wooden eggs – they’re all the same size.)

You can measure the width, too, but my paper was close to the correct width (5 7/8), so I just trimmed at the end if I needed to.

Fold your paper in half (I didn’t firmly crease it, as I didn’t want the crease to show) and then fringe your open edges – to about a 1/2 inch away from the fold.

I found that a centimeter (roughly) was a workable size, as smaller made the print choppy and too difficult to match up.

Trim the edges of your fringe, to make them pointed, picket-fence style.

Brush a bit of glue onto one end of your paper,

and move it around until it’s straight, and either end will reach the points of your egg. This takes some doing, and you’ll have to watch your progress, because it’s easy to get off-track, as you’re working with something round.

Put glue all the way out to the end of your first tab (I placed glue on three or so at a time), and smooth it down.

You’ll work all the way around the first side (top of the egg or bottom) before you start on the second side. For this reason, I found it was better to keep the glue onto one side of the crease, so as not to accidentally glue something down on the other half of the egg, causing a crease which dried before I was ready to work on that half.

Another note about technique (I’ve learned the hard way) is that to keep creases to a minumum (where the joint of the tabs connect), place the tab you’re placing down firmly and smoothly, but sort of take the connecting side of the next tab with you.

This makes for a more smooth lay.

Trim your points as you need, if they’re too long.

When the first side is done, do the same thing for the other side.

Rub the egg with the back of a spoon to blend in the paper well.

I finished them with another layer of mod podge, you can use any kind of sealer.

A final note - this takes practice. I did about six before I even stopped shuddering at my work. :/ That’s expensive! :)

I would say that if you want to practice – and I would suggest doing this at least once! – then take the part that you’ve trimmed off for your first egg, fringe it, and on an egg (a boiled one?) get a feel for how it works.

For a children’s version, do the same thing, but allow for wrinkles (like crinkled tissue paper),

and then press down with the wrinkles.

You’ll need to allow extra length for the crinkles, so cut your paper a little longer.

When Maddie was done, I put on a thick coat of mod podge, and pressed down firmly around her egg. Older children could do this themselves, certainly.

You could also use cheerful tissue paper for a wrinkly alternative for pretty eggs.

I would also be willing to bet that this same technique could be done with any hand-made paper that you’ve crafted (or purchased). I’m sure it would make beautiful eggs.

Happy Spring.