Better Than Mr. Potato Head!

Buy an orange or small clementine and a couple small containers of "whole cloves."  You'll find them in the spice aisle and ours were 99 cents for a small package.  Pop the cloves stem-in into your orange during craft time.  They're actually easy for little hands to pop in once they're shown how.

And after your craft is done, it makes the kitchen smell lovely.   Here are Woodjie and Rose's creations sitting on my windowsill.

Sticky Tile Mosaics

We're just on a re-decorating spree, aren't we?  Emperor and Elf LOVED making these.  I have to tell you, it's wayyyy easier than the old-fashioned but more permanent method of making mosaics.  Don't they look fun?  I googled a bit and found a link at amazon... for $3 cheaper than I bought it at the curriculum fair.  Oh, well.  Certainly I need to consider getting a few sets for some children at Christmas.  In case you are wondering, the kit DOES have enough sticky tiles to get through the projects.  We have a good plenty extra still in the box.

Making a Hello Kitty Doll

Did I mention Emperor has a thing for Hello Kitty? He sewed this doll from a kit we got at Jo-Ann fabric store. He takes this little dolly about everywhere with him, puts it with some of his other dollies, and builds houses for them. He also has an extensive tinkertoy gun collection for Hello Kitty. Apparently Kitty is VERY BIG into the whole idea of defending fortresses and testing launching weapons. (I guess she is in the red jumper militia.)

Making a Tile Mosaic

This is Elf's art project. He designed what he wanted to do with his tiles and made a detailed drawing. Then, we broke the tiles and glued them down to the base. He picked just the right tiles for the edges and then "filled" the other spaces with smaller broken pieces. After this dried, we mixed the grout and filled it in. We let it dry 15 minutes and wiped the top. Then, after it was completely dry, we wiped it until it was completely free of grout on the tile surfaces. Here it is, finished! Elf says that it took a long time, but it was worth it. It's a volcano at sunset.

All About China

Patrick will be going to China in June, as he has raised enough money for his trip. So I thought our next Social Studies unit would be "stuff I pieced together all about China." Emperor and Elf used the stencils of Chinese symbols to design their very own Happy Elf Homeschool t-shirts. (Our school slogan is, "Happy Elf Homeschool: The Home of the Happy Elf," because I'm original like that).

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D, G and I went to the Chinatown market in downtown Kansas City to search for things to share with the family. I bought lychees in a can. Patrick informs me that these are exactly the same consistency as a dissecting frog. Eeew, and they smell bad, too. D is scared that the can's contents could be poisonous, or need to be cooked first, and that sort of thing. SO I had to look it up on wikipedia. It's fine. We just didn't eat it.

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I also bought some chili-ginger candies that... well, now that I have 'em out of the wrappers, look like sugar-coated cat poo. And have nuts in them. I also bought some sort of peach/ginger candy that no one could eat because the plastic is melted onto the candy and peels off in tiny strips. You will *never* get the candy free; one would have to eat a half-plastic, half-candy concoction. Needless to say, it's becoming obvious that Patrick will be mighty hungry by the end of his trip to China if this is the sort of food he'll be eating. But I did also buy Chinese pears. Apparently these taste just like apples, but they are about five times as expensive. (Oh, well.)

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Another thing I bought at the market was a New Year's hanging of some kind. And I bought some cute paper money called joss paper. Welllll... you're supposed to BURN this money to help your ancestor ghosts. There was a lot of this stuff at the market, so I assumed it was a big part of Chinese culture, since it's important enough to have several brand names. The younger boys are enjoying it anyway. Patrick refuses to touch it now, even though he was very eager to play with the pretend money before he found out its usual purpose.

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We are working on a BJU Booklink titled, "These Are My People," the story of Gladys Aylward. We also watched an old movie about Aylward titled "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness." Elf and Emperor found several inconsistencies between the book and the movie, but I think they very much enjoyed the movie now that they have read most of the book. We've done tear-paper pictures and shadow puppets as well as our t-shirt art and regular worksheets and reading. I'm reading the Chinese Stencils book with the children as, in addition to some really neat paper stencils, it gives the history of each design and a pretty nifty overview of the nation itself, its art, major religions, and what homes looked like in ancient times.

Quilt Craft

I got this sweet idea for a paper quilt craft from crayola.com. Emperor was a little reluctant to do the craft. He knows cutting things and stringing things are not his strong points. As it is, it took him over two hours to do this project with much help. He worked very hard on it but was motivated to finish as he is a HUGE, HUGE Hello Kitty fan and Mom let him have some of her stationery to decorate the squares. Now, it's hanging in his room and he's very proud of his work.

Beware Samurai Bearing Gifts

Many thanks to Sue for directing us to this neat tutorial on YouTube on how to make samurai kabuto (war helmet). Click here to see the craaazy picture she posted that inspired us to ask for help in making our own! And yes, this counts toward our Social Studies hours, mmmkay?

A Pokemon Christmas

We've already decorated the tree, and we're using some "Pokemon" themed art made with iron-together beads the boys have been making throughout the year. After Christmas, they will still want to hang these in their room or in the kitchen window.

Fixing Short-Short-Shorts.

They make shorts too stinkin' short for little girls. If I left this as-is, Rose's diaper would hang out the back end if she wore it in public next summer. Then again, I couldn't pass up paying 20 cents for the shorts... I took an old piece of a skirt that is too small for me and attached it to the bottom of the shorts. I had cut off the "legs" first, but I think next time, I'll just flip the shorts around and sew through the open waistline so that there is a modesty cover under the skirt. :]

Nooo! It's MINE! *I* Want to Wear it to Church!

Apparently this latest creation of D's makes the wearer look like "Bowser," and is very cool. This bracelet would also be ideal as homeschoolwear, except for the fact that Mom said "no." And Dad said to put it back on his leatherworking table and leave Dad's things alone, please.

Leatherworking Pic

D made this watchband himself! He also makes other bracelets and bootstraps and an occasional belt.

Girl Stuff for Winter

I took an "Elmo playing baseball blanket" I bought for Elf years ago for his toddler bed and have re-covered it with polarfleece flowers. I'm also showing you what Rose's jeans look like midway through their transformation into "girl" jeans. Sewing the little cuff at the bottom turns regular Levi's into something that will prevent D from treating Girlie like one of the boys. It is about that time to look at what I have ready for the coming winter and alter a few things to my liking. I take a very long time on each project as I get involved in other things often like changing diapers, homeschooling and blogging. :]

Woodjie's New Shirt

From Printfection.com! I spend my money on cute stuff like this instead of "proper high chairs." Don't look at the duct tape repair, ok? :]

Abe Lincoln's Hat.

Elf and Emperor are all ready for the Fourth with these Abe Lincoln hats. To make your own, glue two pieces of black construction paper together. Now make another set of two, glued together. Staple or tape these together end to end after they're dry. Fit them around your head and then staple or tape. You should now have an open-ended CAN shape. Pop this on top of another black sheet. Trace the shape of the circle. Cut outside this shape about an inch, and tuck into the hat for the hat "top." The base of the hat is made by cutting about an inch and a half around the can shape. Then the inside part where your head will go is folded back into tabs and taped inside. The result? Hardly an heirloom, but a fun way to pass the afternoon. Yes, we are making these because of our studies on the Civil War.

Pirate Ship

The Klutz Pirate Ship Kit was a lot of fun for the children to put together. It actually LOOKED a lot more complicated in the box than it turned out to be for the boys once they got it home. (Not that *I* could build this.)

Mom's Quiet Time.

Shh... it's time for Mom to eat lunch while you guys colour with your markers and watch Woodjie and Rose. "Mom?" I hear a little voice ask. "Woodjie got a marker away from me."

Well, that's ok. Just take it back. Thank youuuu...

"Mom? Woodjie coloured on his feet."

Well, that's ok. I'll just deal with that later.

"Mom? Woodjie also got a um, a little bit on the chair. And... the carpet."

Sigh. Ok, I'll be down in just a minute.

"And his clothes... and his neck and hands."

Okaaaaay...

"And on Rose. Her pants are kinda brown."

Anything else?

"You might want to get down here. Something kinda smells."

You Thought It Was Over...

... but I had to post about our new marker caddy. It held the utensils in our old dishwasher, and has a new use here at home. Now I think I'm officially done with "dishwasher" related posts for a while.

New Dishwasher.

We just got a new dishwasher today. I haven't even tried it out yet, but *had* to have the box for creative projects. Just think of all the great fine motor coordination Woodjie is getting right now. :]

Pinata!

We made a pinata out of a handled paper bag and staples. The bag was filled with candy and stuffed with paper. We had a lot of fun! Would you like to play a pinata game online, too?

Plastic Bead Art

We had some of these plastic beads kicking around for years, but not very many, and mostly in grey and green. D found a nice batch of them in many colours at the thift store for just under $2. It took me a long time to organize them all by colour so that one can easily do projects, but I think it was time well-spent. The boys have made several little projects, and after I iron the beads, they stick together nicely. Perfect muddy/snowy day thing to do in the kitchen.