My Little Artist (i.e. Mama Brag Post!)

Charlie (4.5) loves art. He will sit for hours if you give him unlimited access to printer paper and crayons and markers! His drawing are getting pretty good, if I do say so myself. I'm going to start doing some structured art projects with him that I think he will really enjoy.
On one of our hike's this summer I gave Charlie an older digital camera and told him he could take pictures on our hike. He was so excited!

At first we got this gem.

Then some very pretty shots straight up

Then he started taking pictures of his sister. This is my favorite one:

And some others:

Today, at his cousins birthday party he was watching everyone. When I asked him what was wrong he said, "I wish I had my camera so I could take some pictures too" I smiled and told him I actually had his camera in the car. That got a very excited "let's go get it!" Here's some he got:

He told Camber to say "cheese!" and this was her response:

He said he wanted a picture of me and my mom

I hope that he will continue to take his camera on outings! I think photography is something that we will work on too.
I love my little budding artist!!!

Welcome 2015!

The end of 2014 left our family recovering from illness and loss.
The little one contracted pertussis in November. Luckily we conquered it quickly and she is finally back to normal. The whole family then ended up with the flu and I am the last to get over it. With any luck I'll be back to 100% by this weekend.
We also lost a family friend to the horrible event of suicide. That's another post, for another day, on another blog. For this blog however, I will add that I finished a quilt top last night that I am very happy I was able to create. After the memorial service I went to our friend's house and collected t-shirts of his to make a quilt for his mom. I hope to get it finished and shipped out this weekend.

 Isn't my assistant just the cutest?!
A few days after he passed I went to his house and got his beloved cat, Cheyenne. She now lives with us. She is about 13 years old and somewhere between 16-18 pounds. She is NOT a fan of the children but she has never seen a kid before. She's a night owl like me so she comes and cuddles with me late at night when it's quiet. I'm enjoying having her here.

I am participating in the Project of Doom Quilt Along this year hosted by Fandom in Stitches! This is a 30 week project that will result in a beautiful Harry Potter inspired bookcase quilt.
We'll be getting back into the swing of school next week. Charlie has been begging to "do school" so hopefully everyone is feeling healthy enough to jump back in. Be looking for new homeschool posts next week!
I hope 2015 will be an amazing year full of joy, peace, and learning!

Our School Room

This post is very overdue! Its been a busy busy week. I wanted to get the school room pictures up on Sunday but had a lot of last minute things to do.
Our learning space is shared with our dining room. While not ideal, it seems to work so far.
So here's a little tour of our space!

It's actually nice to have the dining table as a work space for me. Plus, it makes doing larger art projects so much easier! 

This is Camber's area with her tot bins and trays. Plus my paper supply shelf that makes me happy. I love an organized shelf.

Our morning circle time wall. The bulletin board will change as our themes change.

I try to keep the clutter to a minimum but this surface gets cluttered quickly. im in love with my elements poster though!

The kids desks that are gorgeously vintage. I'm way too paranoid about falls after Camber's concussion to let her sit in hers yet! Charlie switches between them throughout the day for now. 

I really do love our learning space! 

I will post all about our first week this weekend! 

Sewvivor Sew Along: Quilted Bag!

Another sewvivor sew along post for y'all! Challenge #2 in the round was to make a quilted bag. I haven't made many bags so I was slightly concerned about this one. I was so glad to find Jodi's Hushabye Tote tutorial on Moda bake shop. I made some alterations to it but it's a really great pattern.
This will be a Christmas gift for my grandmother. I have been reassured that even at 81 years old the bling factor will still be perfect!
The bag has six outer pockets and one interior zipper pocket. I love pockets!

 

 

 

The R was hand embroidered and hand beaded. That little element took the longest to complete. I do love the result though! The added sparkle makes me smile.

 

I really love zipper pockets. It's just nice to have someplace a little more secure to stick things. This one has added interfacing to make it super durable for heavier items like a cell phone. Seriously, when I call my grandmother usually she calls me back an hour later with "sorry, my phone was in my purse and I couldn't dig it out in time". Well, no excuse now!

 

This bag is fun and functual just as a bag should be. I hope she loves it when I finally give it to her Christmas morning! Not to mention, I'm feeling pretty good about starting on Christmas in August. Maybe this year I'll get everything on my list completed! (yeah, probably not)

Sewvivor Sew Along!

I was extremely bummed to learn I'd missed auditions for Sewvivor hosted by Family Ever After. Round 3 is a Quilting challenge and that is my jam! Fortunately, they are gracious enough to allow us little bloggers to play along on instagram using #sewvivorsewalong. The rules are simple: it must be quilted and it must be nautical related.
I had a blast creating this mini! All three blocks are paper pieced, which is my new obsession. I am so excited to share this project!
I present to you my nautical mini quilt:

I hope to do many more challenges like this in the future!

Welcome August!

It is officially August! That's ridiculous isn't it? I mean, we have already welcomed and said farewell to seven months this year!
August is a big month for my little caterpillars. The new school year starts on August 25th! I am a ball of excitement and nervousness as the date approaches.
 I am excited for the fun and new experiences. Charlie loves school. He asks all the time if we can "do school". It makes me so happy that he has a love for learning. I have so many ideas for this school year and I am so excited to get them all done!
Of course, as excited as I am, I am also extremely nervous. Adding Camber this year has got me a little concerned, honestly. She is in the wonderful into everything toddler stage! While I think it's wonderful, it is also a problem sometimes. I am starting her in tot school this year with a lot of sensory play. But sensory play usually translates to messy play. While I'm sure she'll love dumping dry rice all over the floor; cleaning that mess is not on my list of fun ways to spend the afternoon. But, before long she'll be sitting in her little desk next to her brother and these tot school times will be fond memories of the past.
 The other thing that makes me nervous is splitting the attention between the two. I'm sure my training in teaching preschool will come flooding back on day one but right now I worry about covering all material for both of them. Lucky for me Mr. Butterfly is off work on Mondays so we'll be teaming up in the school room on Mondays!
I hope to get a post up soon with a school room tour. I don't have an empty room in the house to dedicate for a school room so it's a combination dining/ school room. I actually love having the dining table to utilize for larger projects though!
I'm still working on lesson planning. I've got the first few weeks done. I think I'll stop there for now to test everything out. If the way I've planned things is working for us then I'll continue on. If not, I'll change things up. That's the beautiful thing about homeschooling! You get to teach based on your individual child, not broad guidelines that may not work for every child.
Overall the excitement far outweighs the nervousness. I know all the planning and work that goes into homeschooling is beyond worth it. It's definitely not for everyone, but it's for us. Helping my little caterpillars learn and grow into beautiful butterflies is what this parenting journey is all about!

Lesson Planning

I am getting so excited for August! We've starting our homeschool Pre-kindergarten 2014-2015 school year on August 25, 2014! I am using a lot of material from Carisa over at 1+1+1=1. I'm am loving her Raising Rockstars Preschool program.
Pinterest has also be an amazing resource! I get on pinterest while I'm nursing to help pass the time. That site will definitely suck you in! There is a result for anything you could ever want to find!
I will be documenting our homeschool journey along the way. I hope that it will be a wonderful digital scrapbook of the school year.
I see a trip to ikea in my future for sure to get the dining room/ school room in class room shape!
I have a love/ hate relationship with the lesson planning stage right now. I have 1/36 done right now in terms of weekly lessons for Charlie.
I was going to plan our school week for Tuesday- Saturday since Daddy is off Sundays and Mondays but then I had a beautiful thought. I will absolutely have school on Mondays so that Daddy can teach too! I think it will be a great way to start off the school week if we are both involved. Also, not going to lie, it will be nice to share the responsibilities with someone else for that one day a week.
I have been doing tot school with Charlie since he was around 18 months. He asks to "do school". I've always done his school when Camber is sleeping. I don't know why, I have just used it as a way to keep him quiet I guess. This year I am including Camber! While Charlie works on Pre-k she will have her own tot school area! Her activites will coincide with Charlie's themes. I've also tried to choose things each day that they can both do together.
I'm going to work hard to keep up this blog throughout the school year.