Animal sewing cards...

I saw these great animal sewing cards at Chez Beeper Bebe.  So I quickly printed the pdf and created a few of them for Sam to use!  I made these two just by sticking them on to cardboard to make them stronger, but I think I will make the others by laminating the animals before hole punching the holes!  That will make them last longer for sure!!!

These cards are GREAT for hand - eye co-ordination!!!

Free fun at the Celebration of Lights....

Yesterday we headed to the Celebration of Lights in our town - Christmas music, crafts, S'mores making, petting zoo, and plenty of treats to enjoy!!!  It was a fun afternoon supporting the local food bank :)

Christmas tree ornaments.....

Today we made Christmas tree ornaments by drawing round the children's hands - then they decorated each one and I laminated them before punching a hole and tying ribbon through each.  The children wrote their names on each one and stamped the date on - so we will have a record of the size of their hands this Christmas :)

Edmonton Reuse Centre

Today we were downtown for a while, and while we were close by, we decided to head to the Reuse Centre.  If you haven't been there before then I TOTALLY recommend it!  It's like a thrift store without the clothes and you can fill up your cart for $4 for EVERYTHING!!!!

We picked up jigsaw puzzles, games, Christmas decorations (I got a TON of artificial holly), gift boxes and tins, ribbon (as new - still wrapped), big fir cones, fabric, craft supplies, craft sets....

They have books, vases, sports equipment (Sam came home with a big pack of bats and balls and things)  They have endless medals and trophies.....sooooo much fabric and sewing/ knitting supplies.  paper, pens folders and files etc etc.....baskets....gift bags

You can basically go and stock up your craft cupboards for $4 for your entire purchase!!

The building is in front of the CN tower and the address is:

 10004 - 103A Ave, Edmonton

Opening times are 12 - 6pm weekdays and until 8 on Thursdays.  10 until 4 on Saturdays!!

The staff were so helpful and friendly - you fill bags or boxes or carts with whatever you want - as much as you want!!  Then they weigh it before you leave JUST because they weigh everything on delivery and on the way out so they know how much stock is moving...but the weight makes no difference to the price - it's just $4 :)

Enjoy!!

MMmmmmm - dinner at Swiss Chalet.

After the zoo we stopped in at Swiss Chalet for supper - it was decorated for Christmas and was very festive :)

Day at the zoo....

Last week we spent the afternoon at the local zoo.  The weather was lovely for a walk round, and it was nice to see some of the animals there who stay outside for our colder months...we were there when they were feeding the sea lions and getting them to play soccer etc in the hallway....it was lovely to see them training the baby sea lions too!!

Waffles!!

One day this week we had waffles for lunch - the children helped me make them and they also loaded them up with their choice of fixings afterwards!!  Apple slices, mini marshmallows, cream, chocolate chips, syrup....nothing too healthy but BOY were they good ;)

Potato printing...

I was making dinner one evening this week and kept Sam and Abby quiet at the island with some potato printing!  They only had a few basic shapes and three colours, but they both got creative with ideas for them.

Art classes continue - with Leonardo De Vinci....

This week in art class, Abby studied the work of Leonardo De Vinci.  They were taught a little about the artist,  (she liked that he designed a helicopter and that he used notebooks to keep records of all his ideas and inventions!!  All those years ago!!  She also told me how he wrote all his writing back to front (mirror image) to try and stop people copying his ideas)!!!  Amazing for someone born in the 15th century!!

They then studied portraits and how to drawer the face using cross-hatching for shading and using lines for placement of the mouth and eyes etc.

Coyote..

While playing outside one day this week, Abby and Sam heard the coyotes from the den in my neighbours yard.  They stayed on the climbing frame and started making coyote noises.  When the coyotes replied, Sam and Abby came inside and went up to their bedroom - they spent an hour or so 'talking' to the coyotes and enjoying them replying!!!  :)  They then spent the rest of the evening playing at being coyotes themselves - and then made brown bag hand puppets of coyotes.  It was a noisy afternoon, but they had great fun!  Abigail read a book all about coyotes and kept coming in to tell me various facts about them.

A picture for Santa....

Getting crafty for Christmas!! :)

Abigail picked up a ton of Christmas themed books at the library last week, and has been busy making festive things ever since!!  Here she is working on an advent calendar!!  We went to the scrapbook store on Tuesday for supplies :)

Friendship hearts...

Abby made a whole series of these and wrote her phone number on the back - she gave them out to her friends yesterday at art class and gymnastics class.  One of her friends said "How did you know that was my favourite colour?"

You should have seen Abby beam!!!  :)

Where The Wild Things Are....the movie!!

Last week, during Fall Break, we finally made it to the movie theatre to see 'Where The Wild 

Things Are'. Obviously the movie is very different to 

the book - being such a SHORT book, but there were recognisable parts in the movie and the main story idea was there. Max isn't getting along with his Mom, (or Sister in the movie) and 

gets told off for being a 'Wild Thing' - he runs off and then (in his imagination) he travels

across the sea 

to an island where he meets the other 'Wild Things'. One represents his Sister and one 

represents him, and by getting to know these 'Wild Things' and understanding their 

relationships, 

he learns about his relationship with his Mom and Sister. He learns to appreciate having a 

Mom and understands himself a little better before he leaves to head home again.

It was an ok movie - it was very slow in places - I think they dragged it on a little to make it

more movie-length - certain parts didn't add to the movie at all.

On the whole though, I loved the music and quite liked the style the movie was shot in (it seemed quite 70's/ 80's style to me). It was a nice

evening out. I'm glad we didn't take Sam (4) with us as he would have been very bored.  

Abigail enjoyed it although I don't think it will be a favourite movie of ours ;)

Worth watching yes, but it isn't fabulous imo ;)

(sorry I have NO idea what is up with blogger publisher tonight - it is messing up my typing and words are being split between two lines etc etc. It won't let me change it :( Gggrrrrr!!

Golfing fun at Hackers....

Yesterday Abigail and I went to Hackers to play glow golf :)  It was great fun and a lesson in math for her as she added up our scores :)

We also had breakfast at McD's together and lunch at Subway - with some shopping thrown in too - had a lovely chat with a guy in Save On Foods who was explaining about the working of the store AND about homeschooling :)  Such a nice guy!!  :)

We stocked up on a LOT of craft supplies and a fabby new craft book and there has been endless cutting, sticking and creating ever since!

I bought Susannah a cross stitch kit too and she has started working on that and seems to be really enjoying it!

Oh and yes, Abigail is picking Neptunes nose ;)  and eating his boogers!!!  Hahaha ;)

Festival of Trees...

We had a great time at our local Festival of Trees yesterday.  Cookie decorating, card making, bracelet making, face painting, decoration making....and plenty of beautiful trees and decorations to admire :)

We then headed down tot he library for a while and chose some more books to add to the millions we already have at home that we haven't taken back yet!!  Abigail was feeling festive and picked up a lot of Christmas craft and music books to enjoy.

Am I doing enough????

 I think this is one of the fears many homeschoolers have at one time or other.  Today I read this article:       'Am I doing Enough'??? and it is full of useful questions to ask yourself about your homeschooled child.  It is for parents who want to evaluate whether they are teaching their child enough, if they are heading in the right direction....if they have the balance right ;)

After reading through the questions, I'd say we are doing just right.  Our facilitator will call in January to ask how our year is going - just a phonecall appointment, as the only times we actually see her are once in the Fall to discuss our plans for the year, and once in May to show our progress.  I think we are doing good though as Abigail has a balance of activities she takes part in, and is quite independent regarding life skills - as well as loving to read, craft, write, draw etc etc....

You will find endless links to other useful pages at this fantastic website too :)

Hiking the trails...

We took a walk at a local National Park today - we saw a lot of signs of animal activity - bushes gnawed at by moose, trees chewed up by beaver, droppings form coyotes and skunks...

We even had an inquisitive squirrel come right up to us to say hello until Sam moved and scared the little fella away :)

We had ventured there to try geocaching again, but we couldn't find the cache.  It was starting to get dark so we gave up looking and headed back to the car.  We will go back there and hunt for the geocache again!!!  We refuse to give up :)

Remembrance Day....2009

A few pictures of some of the activities we have done this week to commemorate Remembrance Day.  The children also wore their poppies and we talked a lot about the reason for Remembrance Day.  We watched the ceremonies on television this morning.  Some of the crosswords and wordsearch words lead to interesting discussions too about courage and bravery, soldiers and peace.

I continue to read 'The Book Thief'  as my chosen book for the month.  I am really enjoying it and very much recommend this book for Young Adults and adults alike!

Fairies, fairies everywhere!!!

Abigail is just loving the fairy craft book we got at the library on Saturday!!  She has made a fairy house,  complete with furniture and an upstairs!!  She has made the flower fairies as seen below, and this morning she attacked a pair of tights and the plastic food wrap and created this fairy head band and belt.....she seems to have helped herself to a lot of my scrapbooking supplies...sigh.....but she is enjoying herself so much and is so inspired that I'm not going to stop her ;)

Flower fairy :)

After a library trip this morning, Abigail set to work this afternoon making things form the 'Fairy Crafts' book - I just love this fairy she made this afternoon :)

Remembrance Day activities!!

www.dltk-holidays.com/remembrance/printables.htm

www.dltk-holidays.com/remembrance/index.html

www.vac-acc.gc.ca/youth/sub.cfm?source=activities/kidszone

I am preparing work and craft ideas to help us focus on Remembrance Day this week. Sam and Abigail have shown a lot of interest in everyones Poppies, and I want to take this opportunity to look at the Poppy and the reason behind them in more detail....

We will be reading stories, making crafts, and learning about War, peace and Remembrance. I will post pictures and links to anything we use this week. If you have any great links or ideas please do share them!!