I Am An Artist

Alice recently rowed I Am An Artist by Pat Lowery Collins.

 

This book is all about using your senses to see what's around you in nature, so we read Me and My Senses and made a picture.

 

We also made cloud dough!  Yes, I made them play with it in the garage.

 

It is a mess!  They loved it, though, and it smells and feels so good!

 

Last week we went on a nature walk at the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.

 

Alice thought these sticks made a good bird talon.

 

She also noticed lots of maple seeds--just like in the book!

 

Of course, you have to find the star in the apple when you read this!

 

She got to take an art class at the museum.

 

Alice used the chalk pastel tutorial from Hodgepodge to make this picture inspired by the end of the book.  I think she did a great job!

Weekly Wrap Up (12/13/14)

 This week just about ate my lunch, but it started off pretty well.  Sunday Jay and I went to see Interstellar, which is really great.  We got there early and practiced taking some selfies.   I hope our kids enjoy these awkward photos of us, because this is what 90% of pictures of the two of us look like.  Hopefully they remember us as a little less awkward in real life.

Monday we got to stay home most of the day.  We made cloud dough--I will try to post more on that soon!

 

 Monday evening Alice had a dance performance.

 They danced to Do You Want to Build a Snowman from Frozen.

 Tuesday we went to see Santa.

 Carousel rides!

 Wednesday morning we went on a trip to the Sallisaw area.

 We left crazy early, but it was pretty out!

 Our first stop was the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge.

 It was only in the 30s, so we just did the mile trail.

 It's hard to see in the pictures, but there was a branch that had fallen and gotten caught in another tree so it was just hanging in the air and the kids thought it was funny to make it look like they could hold it up with a finger.

 Next we went to Sequoyah's Cabin.

 This is his cabin in its original position.  They built another building around it to preserve it.

 Our last stop was the 14 Flags Museum.

I was so tired Wednesday evening from getting up so early and I was looking forward to going to bed early, but at 9:30 we got a call that someone wanted to see the house the next morning.  I got a little over three hours of sleep, but we made it look great!

 Thursday after PE we went to the historical society museum to look at the Christmas trees.

 Friday was Jack's favorite: skating!  Most of my pictures of him are blurry because he doesn't stop moving.

 Alice won the limbo contest!

 Friday night the kids' swimming lessons also resumed.

 They were both happy about this, and I am, too!

By 8:00 last night, Alice had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor where we were reading by the heater.  It was just that kind of a week!

Weekly Wrap Up (12/6)

 This post is a little late because last week was very full--right up to the very end!  We started Monday morning with new Lego Advent calendars.

 We also worked on our FIAR ornaments--I'll have to post a picture soon, but this will give you a hint!

 Tuesday we painted Christmas decorations for my grandma.

 We also made some hardtack since Jack is learning about explorers.  The point was to show them what plain, boring food you would have to eat on ship, but they both loved it!

 Wednesday we went to the Festival of Trees at Philbrook.

 Jack's favorite tree had shrinky-dinks--including one of his favorite art pieces!

 Alice liked the dog tree the best.

 Alice also got to go to her first art class on her own.  For years she has begged to go to a class like Jack, and it was finally her turn!  I was a little worried because the class was fairly large and the teacher had laryngitis and I could imagine Alice wandering off, but it all went well.

 In fact, when we went to pick her up, she was chatting with a new friend!

 Jack with Acer, one of the museum cats.

 Hanging out in the gardens!

 After class we went to see the Nutcracker scenes at Utica Square.

 Thursday was busy with appointments and errands and then Friday we were up bright (actually, it never got bright!) and early to head to OKC for Jack's zoo class.

 We spent some time in the zoo after his class was over.

 Cool days are usually the best times to see the animals!

 We got to see the new baby rhino, too.

 We also spent some time at the science museum.

 Saturday night my friend Rachel and I got to go out!

We got to hear Ann Voskamp speak and hear Ellie Holcomb sing.  It was great!

I think this week is going to be pretty crazy, too, but if we can make it through Saturday we should finally get some down time!

Native American Festival

 Last month as we were finishing up learning about different tribes, I saw a notice about the Native American Festival at Rogers State University, so we decided to check it out.

 I wasn't sure what there would be for the kids to do, but it ended up being really neat!  There were all kinds of things for them to make, like these flutes.

 Learning to make a dreamcatcher

 Making necklaces

 They also got to make baskets!

 Alice with her finished basket!

They had Indian Tacos for lunch.  There was also music and storytelling, too.  We ended up being there for close to five hours and it wasn't over when we left!