finding some old flour...

we found a bag on flour that had itty buggies in it...so after playing with those for a while =)
we mixed the flour with salt and water and made ornaments!

museum!

we found a free museum in columbus on a veeeery cold day...and it was wonderful!
dress up, building with huge blocks, drawing with negative prints..chalks...just fun!

coffee filters

we used these a lot =)
for flowers, for butterfly wings, for painting all sorts of watercolory things...the texture really is perfect!

keeping busy

when the kids and i weren't looking for land/house we kept wonderfully busy with watercolors and taking walks on the property
the sunlight through the back windows is perfect in the morning hours....so warming and inspiring =)

first day at cabin

we left the recital and drove straight to columbus...
to the wonderful cabin our friend's jenny's family is letting us stay in for a while...
we woke up to see the beautiful lake and even though it was freezing cold, went outside to explore
afterwards we came in to give the house a good cleaning...even though it was super clean already! we just did a dusting as noone had been there in a while...
we found a bat and a scorpion which were wonderful entertainment for the kids (not alive was the bat but still)
and jack really got into cleaning up pretty much everything with warm soapy water in the kitchen =)
we turned up some kid music nice and loud and danced all around...
it was so lovely!

jack's recital

last sunday, jack did his solo recital ...just him and the piano...
i was so proud i could have burst!
he was the very first to go on and didn't seem at all nervous...unlike me who was trying very hard to show i wasn't either...but my heart was pounding for him!
i think i was the most proud of when he goofed up a bit...
in the middle of the song he played a wrong note and then just really quickly replaced it and kept going....
even though the piano was playing behind him the harmony/accompanyment (sp?)!!
i don't think i could have ever done that!
the first pic is right before he walked on stage
afterwards the kids dashed madly through the halls =)

jack's recital at 2 pm tomorrow!

at the end of each semester, the suzuki kids have 2 recitals, a group class and a solo with piano
and tomorrow is jack's day to do his solo!
and bless his heart he isn't worried at all about it...
i wonder when that anticipation/fear sets in to be anxious to get on stage infront of folks
i think i would totally clam up!
actually i always have done...
i used to play piano and i was never very good at recitals...my fingers just didn't want to work!
anywho...
if any are interested in coming to jack's 3 minutes in the spotlight =)
it is at the uga music school edge hall at 2 pm
(from college station exit off loop, turn towards campus, take first right which is across from the intramural fields, go a little little ways and veer right at first real right (there is one before it that leads to the dorms..not that one) and then the music school will be on your left, go past the school and turn left up the big hill...park and enter the double glass doors...go to 3rd floor, walk to end of hall and you'll see edge hall!)

greening the kitchen

today was a neat day...
first off, there was a cat under our house...
and harry was worrying it...so i called all the neighbors so they could come and get their kitty
the strange thing is that we haven't seen a cat here in 6 years and we've had all these chickens to entice them
and now that the chickens are gone, a cat shows up!

so we had a string of neighbors coming to check out the kitty under the house
and most of them stayed for a while...which was great bc then i could catch up with them and the kids played with them so i could build this cabinet for the kitchen
=)
i know the green is a little crazy...it is very kermit
but i love it!

this morning's craft

we cut out Christmas trees and the jack had to identify all the "p" words and cut them out and put them under the tree...
then we read all the words...
and i notice that he does fine sounding out the letters and putting them together into words...
but if you show him the same word a moment later, he doesn't recognize it..usually
he sounds it out again...
and i marvel bc watching jack learn to read or watching them learn anything really...
i see how they are just clean slates...
so much of our "knowledge" about letters and the words they make is not just knowing which sounds a letter makes but remembering whole words just off the bat...
and that practicing reading the same word over and over and over is probably not a bad way to learn how to read

i have heard people talk about learning to read by cite recognition and i guess this is what that means...
that makes sense to me!
hmmm...does site have an "s" and not a "c" ?
ironic =)

finalizing the walking stick

the kids and i had so many little errands to do today...
dropping off this and that....picking up this and that...
we took a break around lunchtime with a loaf of bread, pnut butter and raspberry jam...
at memorial park...
we made sandwiches, swung "super" high on the swings, jack rode his bike around and around the pond...visited the animals (though the bears were asleep...and the possums...) the bobcat was wide awake and prowling!
the weather was absolutely beautiful....we kept on sweaters and enjoyed the sunny sunshine!

if i was choosing...

this years best boy's Christmas gift,,,,it would be this: a draw knife!
i first had one in early college...i came home almost everyweekend from school...i LOVED college i just loved being home with my family on the weekends...
anywho...i would come home and make things...or try to anyway =)
this one time i decided to put up a branch in my mum's kitchen where she could hang her flowers ....
she loved to dry herbs and roses and things...
i found a pecan that had recently fallen and used a kitchen knife...the huge sharp kind to peel off all the bark
it took forever ...and i creased my hand where i was pulling on the thin knife blade (the dull side) with one hand the the handle in the other
anywho....i remember dreaming up this perfect knife for such an occasion...when you want to pull a knife across a surface to almost plane it down...

i was explaining this to someone..can't remember who...when they smirked and told me that was of course already invented and would make my life enormously easier =)
hello draw knife!

so, it is more like a chisel with 2 handles so it isn't too dangerous unless you fall on it or something...
and jack de barked his stick for over an hour...he loved it!

kelley came over near the end when i'd given jack the dremel took to make designs in his stick...
and she added his name and some more designs...and then jack painted it with markers =)
i need to have the final product in photo! he did such a nice job!

new green

so i decided to paint the kitchen cabinets green =)
and i love it!
buuuut i have some descenting views =) i am posting this so josh can see it actually...
i think this with red accented is wonderful...but is it too "joy to the world/silent night" if you know what i mean? =)

wow!!

i was sent this by a few people and decided to open it and watch it!
it is amazing!!!!
a ballet where the ballerina is daintily dancing on a fellow's arms...while those arms are in the air!!!!

pretty spectacular
http://www.nzwide.com/swanlake.htm

enjoying every moment!

i know our days here are numbered...
and i know too that moving will be soooo wonderful so i am not begrudging it...only trying to enjoy each moment we have here before we go...
today we had such a lovely string of company...
first the boggs in search of a tree
then kory...the kids just raced over to hug him...i think they are positive that kory is more their playmate than coming to visit daddy =)
and then kelley...painted a bit (painted a loooot when we were away!) hung out and played with the kids too
and i got to visit and chat...it was so nice!

dear friends who i know we'll know no matter where we are...