Taking One for the Team

 Today we stopped by the clinic so Jay could look at my thumb and I ended up being the donor for a science lesson.  I let them draw blood so Jack could see the different parts.

 Waiting on the centrifuge.  (They like getting suckers a Dad's office!)

 

 After it was done spinning!

Now I can literally tell my children that I have given my blood, sweat, and tears to their education!

World Nutella Day

 Today is World Nutella Day.  We actually refer to it here as Tella, because that is what Alice has always called it and she is the primary Tella consumer in the household.

 Last night we made this Chocolate Strawberry Nutella Cake from the Pioneer Woman.  It is crazy.

 Today we kept it simple and made these Nutella Crescents.  You just spread it on pie crust triangles...

 ...roll it up...

 ...and put a little butter and sugar on top.  Bake them at 400* for around 10 minutes.

Yummy!

I have lots more Nutella recipes pinned, but since I have to fit into a party dress this weekend I am not making any more of them right now!

Artist Study: Alexander Calder

 In January we learned about Alexander Calder.  That's not what I had originally planned, but a field trip opportunity came up, so we went with it!

 This biography is out of print but I was able to get a copy of it from the library.

 We started with Sandy's Circus, which tells about the circus Calder made from wire, cloth, and all kinds of found objects.  It is now housed at the Whitney Museum of American Art, which has a lot of neat information about the circus on their website.

 Roarr has lots of pictures of the circus objects.

 This is a photo of Calder operating the circus.  I've also got a video of him pinned on my Artists board.

 We tried making some things with wire and found out it's harder than it sounds!  This is Jack with his sun.

 We took a field trip to The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art to see some of Calder's lithographs.

 It was a very small exhibit, but they had some great booklets that told a lot about Calder and the prints.

 Alice made this painting based on the one on the booklet cover.

 When we visited Crystal Bridges in November we saw some more of Calder's work!

We're also finishing up The Calder Game.  This is actually the third book in a series so it seems like we're missing a bit of information, but it's pretty good!

This was one of my favorite Artist Studies we've done.  There are so many different things you can do, even with younger kids!

Valentine's Day Kickoff

 Last night I got the kids' first Valentine Mail ready.  I know this is a really commercialized holiday, but I'm so sick of winter by the time February rolls around that I'll take any reason I can find to enjoy it.

 Today they got window clings that you can color in (under a buck in the WalMart Valentine's Day section) and some new crayons.

 They also got some new Valentine's Day cups.

And we had heart shaped pancakes!

I only have two or three days planned out, so I've got a bit of work ahead of me, but I'm sure we'll have a good time over the next two weeks!

National Puzzle Day

 Today was National Puzzle Day, so I surprised the kids with some puzzles.  I think Alice might like the box more than the puzzles!

Jack got a 3D puzzle.  The box said "beginner" but we still had quite a time figuring it out--it would have been a huge help if anything other than the front was shown on the box!  We've got it all done now except for the roof.

If you want to find out about fun days, check out the calendar on the Homeschool Share Blog!  I am going to have to come up with something good for Nutella Day next week!

Date Nights

 Since we're homeschoolers I obviously spend a lot of time with my kids, but I don't always get to spend a lot of one on one time with them.  Last week Chili's had a Daddy-Daughter dinner night similar to the Mom and Son one Jack and I had gone to last month, so while Jay and Alice were at that, Jack and I went out.  He chose to go to Coney I-Lander because he loves the arcade.  I'll have you know that I can still beat him at air hockey, though--but it's not as easy as it used to be!

 When Jack had a sleepover with his cousin last weekend, Alice and I went out for some girl time.  We took her bear back to Build a Bear to get her back re-stitched and stopped for some Dippin Dots while we were at the mall.

Then she wanted to go back to Chili's to eat.  Can you tell that we also picked up some clothing at Build a Bear?

It was so nice to get some time alone with each of them and I even got in a date night with Jay last week, too!

The Seamstress

 Alice kept telling me she wanted her own little sewing machine for Christmas, so when I saw this one, I knew I had to get it.  I also got her a basket with her own fabric, scissors, measuring tape, and pins.  She was so excited!

 She was so excited that she couldn't actually wait to use the sewing machine!  I heard a cutting noise the other day and turned around to see her "making a blanket" with some of her material.

 Yesterday we set up the machine and planned to make a little sleeping bag for her baby doll.  Unfortunately, you don't get a lot of sewing power for $20 and the fabric was too thick for the machine.

 We made a small pillow instead.

 Alice did part of it by hand.

 The finished product!

 This morning she was back at work!

 Making another blanket.

She even made some napkins for us!

I'm going to have to round up some hand sewing projects for her to work on until my machine is fixed.  She is full of ideas!