Notes

Late last night I came into the dining room to find four girls bent over a pile of papers, pencils in hand, scribbling furiously. I asked what they were doing and was told 'Writing and passing notes.' It's not often that they all 'play' so well together, so I snapped some shots. I said I was off to bed and the big girls said they'd put the little ones to bed when they'd finished, awww, sisters are awesome sometimes.

Meet Spotty Dotty

 Looking for something 'arty' to do this afternoon, Sienna and I got to work making a new friend (Yep, still dog crazy!). She drew a plan of how she wanted it to look, found the various fabric colors and buttons, and drew on some spots, while I cut the shapes and sewed it. She filled it with white stuffing, chatted happily and practiced using the needle and thread while she waited for me to finish it. In the end she was very pleased with her new toy, and is planning our next creation already.

Fingerprint Art

Sienna is doing a unit study titled 'my body' which begins with a worksheet of sorts where you draw and write in all about yourself and what you like. One of the activities was to do a fingerprint. We talked about how every print is different. Later, she went off and told Kyla. She looked at Kyla's finger, and her own, and seeing the similar patterns, declared me mistaken, and that the prints were the same. So funny. But I digress. I remembered seeing some fingerprint art, and showed Sienna how to do some things, she had great fun. I got online and ordered 'Ed Emberley's Fingerprint Drawing Book'. When I got it and brought it home, it seemed that the moment had passed, and she gave it nothing more than a cursory glance. Today however the mood took her once again, and she got down to some serious printing, by days end we had four pages.

Even dolls have bad hair days.

Kyla came in and asked me the other day if they could take their dolls in the pool. I said sure, but their hair would probably go all icky, as it does when it gets wet. Not happy with that she decided we'd better design something to keep the water out. A little duct tape, some glad wrap and a hair tie, and they were ready to see if it would work....

The answer? For the most part. Denver and Sienna got a little rough, which let the water leak in. Kyla was more sedate with hers, and as a result, the hair remained mostly dry :-)

Kids in the Kitchen

Whenever one of the chickens gets close to exemption age (Sienna is six in April), it seems to ignite a flurry of 'homeschool' like behavior in everyone. Text books and stationary has been purchased and we've pilfered the library of all it's readers. I know well enough to realise it won't last long, so bear it with quiet amusement. Madi and Kyla, well, Madi really, but she is hauling Kyla on the bandwagon, have developed a sudden interest in food preparation and got a number of recipe books out of the library. Madi and I tried out a noodle omelet type recipe on Roger, which he has become obsessed with and has almost everyday. The girls also cooked up some very yummy looking corn fritters, always a fave in this house. Apparently next they are whipping up some falafels for moi, can't wait!

On the first day of December

Well the first day of December was finally upon us today, and the girls couldn't have been happier. After ripping into their chocolate advent calendars, Sienna had the honor of opening our first advent fish. She netted $2 and a Santa chocolate, and was able to reveal our first activity for the month, an old favourite, chocolate spoons! We made these last Christmas, and the girls loved stirring them into their hot chocolates. 

We even got Miss Madi to take part.

There was some chocolate leftover, so while the spoons set, I dipped some strawberries for the hard at work husband to enjoy when he got home.

These ones are Kyla's

These ones are Sienna's (digging the cute lil' face, yes?)

These ones are Madi's.

These ones are Denver's.

And once set, they had to do a test run of course....

Feeling Advent-urous

I saw this adorable advent calendar idea at the Crafty Crow blog, and decided it was perfect for this years big advent calendar. The fish were a little fiddly to begin with, but once I figured it out I was an origami fish making machine. Sienna helped with the eyes. The kids still have those chocolate store brought ones, but I like to have one of these too. Each of them will take turns opening one of the little origami fish, starting from youngest to oldest.  In each little fish is a chocolate heart or Santa, a joke or activity for the day, and a $2 coin. Needless to say, the girls cannot wait until December 1!