Day 1 of 2

Strange Folk says hi!

Outdoor Girls

At the Hoosier Outdoor Experience, sponsored by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources  (the fishing folks), the girlies indeed had lots of new and precious outdoor experiences:

Bow Hunting



Pony Rides

Shotgun



Motorcycle (see the training wheels?)

Fishing

Bow Fishing

Handmade Instruments and Wood Chip Necklaces

New experiences. Precious memories. And a free coloring book!

How Does My Chia Garden Grow?

Very well, thank you.

Terrific Toys

A day at the children's museum is about as lovely of a mid-week outing as a homeschooling family can get. Once or twice I've made the mistake of bringing the kiddos to the museum when it's very, very crowded (you know, like on a weekend?), and therefore I can accurately evaluate that it's sooooo nice to have such a large and wonderful place nearly all to ourselves.

We described to a sketch artist what we thought the animal might look like whose skull was on display. Hint: our sketch looked NOTHING like the tapir that the animal apparently was.

We molded brown silly putty over T. Rex skull models to make our own T. Rex faces.

We sketched horns and claws:

Willow drew a dinosaur with big red claws and gave it its Latin name--pyro-onyx. Anyone?

The girls helped a docent strip a model T. Rex of its skin and muscles, right down to its plywood bones:

We ate bread and hummus brought from home, and drank chocolate soymilk and orange juice.

We attended a lecture on the workings of the giant water clock--vacuums and siphons, okay, but I still don't get it.

The girls took turns riding Sandy, using nickels from their allowance:

We did a little bit of shopping in the gift shop, an almost unheard-of treat, on account of I had a coupon (and the saga of how the cashier didn't scan my coupon, and I didn't notice until I was home, and my attempts to contact Customer Service to get my partial refund have been ignored? That saga continues, sigh).

The real purpose of our visit, however, was to attend a homeschool class--Terrific Toys. We heard a lecture and examined numerous examples of folk toys from the museum's collections, then had a chance to build several toys of our own. We made masks--

--and wind-up toys, and a pull toy, and Sydney and I made a set of nesting dolls while Willow made a galimoto!

I must tell you, however, that the best part of an uncrowded children's museum is the ability to NOT do stuff with the kiddos. When the children's museum is uncrowded, there are benches that are actually unoccupied, and the gallery space is so open that you can actually supervise your small ones without being all up in their faces, and there are fewer helicopter parents (although there are still always some) to make you feel guilty for not micro-managing your child's play.

If you ever experience a large children's museum under those conditions, and if you're a smart parent, like I am, then you bring a book, and you sit your butt down--

--and you have yourself a lovely time at the children's museum, too.

Journey through Today

Went to dance class.

Went to soccer.

 
Will started soccer VERY grumpy, then forgot that she was grumpy and played happily for almost the entire game, then fell down and remembered that she was grumpy again.

Bought the girls some winter clothes (thank gawd for Goodwill!). Leggings + long-sleeved shirts + snow boots + heavy coat = warm little girls this winter.

 
Still must sew the long-promised flannel nightgowns and long skirts.

Watered the dinosaur fairy gardens:

Found some juice glasses at the Recycling Center that will be the basis of teeny tiny little Strange Folk fairy gardens next week. Am also thinking about creating fairy garden DIY kits.

Adopted two of our four former foster kittens--Gracie and Spots. Good thing that we'd told the shelter we were coming back for them, since as we walked in we spotted a third foster kitten on her way out, with a bright new red collar on her neck and in the arms of a very happy little girl. Fortunately, I managed to muffle the children as they squealed, "Hey, it's Bitey! Hi, Bitey!". Wouldn't want the new family to be warned about that particular kitty's particular bad habit until they were all well at home, at least.

Drank coffee.

Cleaned the living room.

Rearranged furniture until I was able to realize my dream of having the living room stereo, including the record player, in reach of the babies. Was rewarded by babies' insistence on listening to the Alvin and the Chipmunks' Christmas album several times:

Played Monopoly Junior. Skunked by Will.

I've demanded a rematch for tomorrow.

Tied Tutus for My Two, Too

The plan was to tie some tutus for my tent at Strange Folk, but somehow, amongst the GeoSafari and the gumdrops and bamboo skewers and Magic Tree House and the Mythbusters, only these two tutus for my two got tied:

Gotta have your priorities, you know.

Strange Little Busy Bees

What have I been busy doing? Why, getting ready for Strange Folk! Many, many things have to be done before next weekend.

Have to put together the chia in a cup kits.
Have to water the cups o' chia already planted.
Have to water the dinosaur garden, as well:

Have to make signage.
Have to make record bowls.
Have to find the Pumpkin+Bear business card stamp.
Have to read some tongue twisters:

Have to sew colored pencil rolls.
Have to sew an I Spy quilt.
Have to tie, not sew, some tutus.
Have to tie some tutus for my two, too:

Have to put together an I Spy quilt kit.
Have to put together the clothespin doll kits.
Have to put together the color-your-own bunting kits.
Have to color an example, so everyone knows how cute they come:

Have to figure out a Barbie dress pattern.
Have to figure out a balancing butterfly pattern.
Have to get that toy fossil triceratops out of its slate prison!

Have to bake the crayon pops.

Have to go get some geodes.
Have to drill holes in colored pencils.

Have to take pictures on a sunny day.

Have to play Quirkle when it's cloudy:

At this rate, have to have a margarita tonight after the little pumpkinbears are sleeping.