schickHouse

Easter Egging

Yesterday we seized the empty schedule and decorated our Easter eggs. Each child had a different style for their dozen and a half.

Shelby was her natural artistic self, very deliberate, being careful not to use her eggs up too fast.

Cyrus' style involved drawing with crayon, dip dying (sometimes because of mama's urging), then drying the eggs to prevent too much pigmenting. (Actually, I'm not sure why he liked to dry them.)

   

I especially enjoyed Elle Mae's "lava on top" method and her "pile up" dip dying.

   

Angela was the kamikaze painter: throw it in, mix it up, pull it out (while dip dying hands), bang 'em together.

   

Mama prepared the area well, secured with trash bags to repel water and paint, and many layers of newspaper. So the couple mishaps we had were minor.

I love Angela's palette at this point. Of course it changed as she continued working.

Attack of the tiny hands!

The drama. The passion.

Nearing the end. (You would've thought we tried to dye Shelby's fingers to match the egg cartons!)

I always love the aftermath pictures.

After our artistic explosion, the children settled in to watch Wall-E while Mama got her chance at a dozen. I had fun with my hour, but I forgot to take any pictures of my work. I like the children's better anyway.

Valentine Creations

we took the time to make handmade valentine's this year. i was surprised by how long we worked on them. once mama got into it, i was on a roll. everyone helped. even angela made some scribbles. it was definitely worth the extra effort when shelby said, "this is fun. remember when we made valentines at home? that wasn't much fun." she was referring to last year (or the year before?) when i bought the "normal" valentines from the store and all we did was choose who they were for so mama could write the names on. yea. that's not much fun like glue and scissors and colored papers.

   

         

Picture Time: Blue Ribbon for Shelby

our first time actually involved with the fair. we are hooked, i'm sure. shelby's already been working on her art for next year's fair!

Blue Ribbon

shelby entered a drawing in the fair this year. we went to the art building tonite and were browsing the entries. we saw a section that looked like framed 2-D art, and i told her that hers might be in that section. she scooted ahead of slowpoke me, and came excitedly tiptoeing back, telling us she got a prize! she won the blue ribbon for the "kindergarten and younger" category. she is so proud. so are we. steve thanked God tonite in our prayer time for giving shelby her creative and artistic abilities. way to go, shelby!

ABC by Shelby

shelby & i sometimes play a little drawing game. one is the artist, one is the guesser. the artist draws things, usually going down the alphabet list. the guesser, well, guesses what it is. last nite shelby wanted to play, so while i picked chicken and washed dishes, we played. she seemed to be thinking of especially creative words, and i had a blast, so i thought i'd share. you can click on any of the images to see them bigger. usually their letter (A, B, C...) will be written there, and often times shelby wrote "M" for mommy, if i got them right. :o) she was very generous on the clues, so i got a lot right. enjoy.

 A is for Anteater

 B is for Boat

 C is for Coke

 D is for Day (yellow by Elle Mae; notice the "D" window)

 E is for Elevator

 F is for Fall ("like off the table?" "no, like off the deck.")

 G is for Green Light Means Go

  H is for High, as in High Temperature on the thermometer (i guessed "hot" but that was incorrect.)

 I is for Igloo (that's a penguin in there)

 J is for Jack-in-the-Box (cy gave shelb that word)

 K is for koin (coin; coloring by cyrus; "that's just right, cy! cuz a penny is brown!")

 L is for Lean (mama loves that one!)

 M is for Moses (complete with beard and "walking stick" as shelby calls it)

 N is for No (ok, this one is incredible. it is a hand doing the sign language for the word "no." ...that's the thumb & the first two fingers coming together... and here's the even crazier part - cyrus guessed it! that's why there's a "C" by this one, instead of a "M.")

 O is for Octopus

 P is for Poop (LOL. he's on the potty.)

 Q is for Quail

 R is for Rose

 S is for Snake (at this point, shelby is hurrying a bit because i warned that it was soon bedtime.)

 T is for Tie

 U is for Utility Truck (pretty good for a 5-year-old, eh? actually once upon a time, we couldn't think of a unique word for "U," so we went through our ABC books and found this. she remembered the picture. she had to show me the original so we could figure out the name.)

 V is for (ready for this?) Vinca Vine

 W is for Why (that little guy is shrugging his shoulders in question; shelb wrote down how she sounded out the word)

 W is also for Wii Remote (she got a little confused trying to draw a "Y" word. when you SAY "Y" it starts with "W"... /wie/... thus the confusion.) i told her it was ok to have two W's cuz i liked the wiimote, too.

 X is for X-ray (nice bone)

 Y is for Yo-Yo

 Z is for Zebra

ABC by Shelby

Boys and Girls Are Not the Same

once upon a time there was a sister and a brother who found fascination with a white board. the sister drew a quaint house complete with bunk beds. the brother drew a squiggly line that was dear to his heart. "this," he explained to the audience, "is the line for the sound when daddy works at church." boys and girls are not the same.

Inspired

shelby really wanted to paint with this feather she found. i pictured using the soft end as a brush, but she started out writing like santa. she made about four pictures, including one for torance's birthday. and she did end up using it like a brush as well.

Art

shelby & cy both made some art for a local-ish homeschool art show. i don't think it's a big thing (didn't have the artists' reception yet, so i don't really know). it was fun to frame their work. cy's is tempera, untitled. shelby's is crayon, "me eating food." the two crosses shelby made for Easter. she pointed out the moon in the one (because the sun went dark). ~bec.

Our New Tats

shelby is pretty self-sufficient in the bathtub when i need her to be. the other day she had some extra fun after bathtime. surprise mommy!

and of course, now that big sissie is a pro...

Took A Tumble

a couple weeks ago i purged the project room. there was just too much piling up. some needed chucked, others needed stored. it is so very difficult for me to part with something the children have made. but sometimes i realize storage just doesn't work well for all mediums. here are some that will live in my heart and foto album, even if not in my storage bin. (all works below by shelby) really, i apologize for the flow. i still have not figured out a good way. the captions go with the fotos, top to bottom. i am so embarrassed at my lack of geek skills.

packing peanut art

self-portrait, flat

self-portrait, testing the microphone at church (with some help from daddy)

self-portrait, "saying 'oooOOOOoooo!' because i love butterflies"

portrait of a hurt mama

i took a tumble down the icy outside steps today, almost the whole way from the top step. !ouch! i came into the house in pain, with a bloody fingertip and a sore bum. this has got to be one of my most favorite pieces ever by the shelb. i noticed right away that her style had changed, but it took me several hours to figure out exactly what the change was. then i got it - in the past month or two, she has been making "puffy" letters. today, she began making "puffy" people, i.e. not just sticks. i love how this manifested itself in the head and the hand. and i totally LOVE my owie finger! ~bec