Thursday, June 4, 2009

Blah!

Just following on from yesterdays post, I remembered what Blah! was



An art lesson with Kookaburra.

Our art curriculum is Artistic Pursuits: An Introduction to the Visual Arts and the above is Lesson 5: Artists Paint Landscapes in Oil Pastels.

Please, please notice that there are no vehicles of any sort in this picture which is something of a miracle for transportation obsessed boys :)

As for French, well we've embraced the car obsession.



La Voiture

I wanted to teach our boys the fundamentals of Drawing, perspective, contour, shadows etc etc and for that we are using Mark Kistler's Draw Squad and so far both Kookaburra and I have benefited from Mr Kistler's wisdom.

Wish I could add more, but I haven't packed myself or cleaned the house, and I'm to leave for the Goldie in the next hour. Somewhere in there I also need to sew a button back on my dress for the wedding, but first I need to find that said button!!!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

a day in the life

Today is so typical of my life.

All I wanted to do today was pack for the Goldie and this wedding on Friday, get a little bookwork and reading done. Let me see how well I recall the day went according to MY plans ;)

5.45am Mr E's alarm goes off, piercing the peacefulness (yes, I achieved it, just needed everyone to be asleep to get it :) of our abode. Even though I've been awake for what feels like ages, I still want to fight Mr E's nudges to get my backside out of bed and walk puppy Thor. Bed is so much nicer.

5.50am Climb over Kangaroo to get out of bed (when did he come in???) who I console and reassure that Mummy will be back soon. He tells me that I can go for my 'night walk' (that's what he's named it, appropriate seeing it's dark and smart people sleep) around the house and then come back to bed for snuggle buggles. After months of giving in to my tyrant and watching my thighs gradually take on an not so attractive inflated look, I've managed to stand firm and not cave to the sweet, plaintive pleas.

6.00am Dressed and out the door. Armed with pooper bag and no ipod, I'm determined to enjoy the serenity of sunrise and train Thor to just poop once in the three k's (not much but enough). Last week he pooped SIX!!!!!! times!!!! in the one 3k walk - turd of a dog!!! and I ran out of bags and he did his grand finale on the pavement at a set of very busy lights and with no bag on hand and being very embarrassed, I improvised and used a stick/bark/sturdy looking tool to remove the turd from the footpath, except as I tried to flick it off the path, I aimed too high and... well... shit went everywhere... horrible %$#@ dog!!! So yes, I wanted peace this morning with just one poop please

6.15am It's raining

6.20am Thor is doing his ONE poop whilst I'm standing in the rain congratulating him in that idiot voice people have when they talk to their animals "good boy, Thor!!! Toilet, yes that's right, Toilet" and yay for me I clean up the poop and show the damn dog and continue to congratulate him

6.21am where are the bins?????

6.30am have carried the dog poop alllll the way home

6.31am Mr E kisses me and I just really want to wash my hands

get to wash my hands and continue with the whole domestic bliss thing which goes a little like this

"Kookaburra can you stop acting like a twit and getting your brother all stirred up and make your bed, get dressed and have breakfast"

right, child one taken care of.

Kangaroo is a little more demanding, so I get changed and put the kettle on to fortify myself for breakfast with Kangaroo.

"What would you like for breakfast?" He names lots of impossible dishes and through much negotiation an apple, toast and a milo is decided upon.

This being take care of, Kookaburra now needs me,

Me "What should you do now?"

Kookaburra "Teeth... Piano..."

Me "and.."

Well, this could go on and on. Some days are great and everything is very pleasant and nice but today wasn't going to be compliant. Fast forward to

10am Boys have played outside. Washings done. Kookaburra is doing bookwork and Kangaroo is watching playschool and I have pulled everything out from under my bed and dumped the contents of most of the bags that were under out onto my bed to look for my dress for the wedding. Except after doing that I now realize it's not under there, but on the window seat. I survey the damage and figure I'll fix it later. Ha!! It's still a mess!

10.10am Try dress on and am so pleased at still having a waist, that I then burn the next fifteen minutes trying on pretty dresses and looking in the mirror. Aaaah! Vanity will bite you on the arse because my boys are now being wild, not fighting ,just wild and I remember I invited my Aunt and Uncle around for morning tea.

10.30am Hurriedly make biscuits from My mother hubbard cupboard and begin to make two loaves of bread.

11am Biscuits are on, bread is rising and back to bookwork for Kookaburra and time for snuggles and tickles with Kangaroo.

11.10am My Aunts here. I offer a coffee, she accepts and I make it a few hours later :) seriously! She's come to teach me how to sew. Looking forward to it but I need to clean the car. Huh? Why now? Well, swish hotels make me want a respectable looking car and I NEED mine clean. Can't help it, it's just the way I like it :)

11.30am The heavens have opened and I'm washing the car in the rain. I don't mind too much because my dress is the same one I wore when I feel into a wading pool earlier this year and have discovered it dries very quickly.

11.40am Have finished the car and take five to growl at my boys

11.45am clean the gross stuff out of the bucket that belongs to puppy Thor's water. Try to resolve not to throw his scraps out the kitchen window, which is above the water bucket, the scraps kinda of get blown into it... yuk, I know, but there it is.

About now, I remember I need to degas the bread loaves and put them in their tin to rise again but instead I spot a huskie wandering out in the street and run out to save it from being hit by a car.

12pm Have an extra dog in the yard, puppy Thor is inside, so are my children and Aunt, all is well whilst I'm looking for the animal control number in the phone book. Upon hearing a bit of fuss at the back door I see Merlin our cat fluffed up and looking like a white porcupine, arching his back and spitting at our visitor. How rude :) I rescue the cat.

12.15pm Wow! Animal Control have come and gone and the bread has been sorted

I don't now what happened from then until finally having lunch at 1.30 so I'll just call it Blah!

1.30pm Lunch.

2.00pm Everybodys fed and cuppas are out. It's now time to play with the sewing machine. Kangaroo asks a million questions and buzzes like a hoverfly when he sees that its a MACHINE. I get to play with the sewing machine, lucky for me my Aunt is kind and patient. Yay! for lesson one. Patchwork is in my future, I can see it :)

3.15pm Hurry my Aunt and Uncle out the door (feel so mean) because as usual I've left things to the last mo and need suits etc for the wedding. I was so excited to see my husband all spruced up that the very kind sales lady offered us the changing room whilst she watched our kids!!! Ha ha, should have taken her up on it and ran for the hills :) I was just pleased, but she thought that all my admiring of his rear end was meant to go places.

4.45pm Dance class, woohoo!!!! This fat goose wants to dance.

7pm rush out the door thinking I was late for piano. Even run part of the way home because Mr E has the car and will be picking me up. Mr E picks me up and I now realize that its actually only 6pm, yay! thighs had a workout :)

bashed on the piano, sent emails and cuddle children. Mr E will feed them.

7pm the real version, piano lesson. I'm getting there but I wish I could record my teacher Star Wars style (holograph) so I could replay her at my leisure.

7.40pm Home, Mr E has gone out for State of Origin and I have to face the shampoo and my unruly mane

Nothing much of interest after that so I won't bore you or me with the details but I can tell you that Kangaroo is out of bed and in my arms and having his 'snuggle buggles' and telling me all about his mortal woes.

Well, good night and sleep well ;)

Sunday, May 31, 2009

furry friends

Part of Kangaroo's curriculum was a week recently featuring 'Caring for our Pets' and we made pet biscuits for Merlin the Cat and Thor the Dog.

The gifts were quickly devoured.


Mix it


Squish it


Cut it


Bake it

Thursday, May 28, 2009

eight is enough, I can't do another year

Sixteen. Or is it Sixteen and half? Kookaburra has just turned eight and I think its sixteen and half they are allowed to get their learners. The community may be safe until then.... maybe....


It's become a tradition, in our home, to rev it up at the GoCart tracks for our birthdays. This year, I was the unfortunate copilot on Kookaburras recent turn to celebrate and I had bruises and pounded kidneys to prove it. Our boy was on a mission. He had moved himself up on the steering wheel and was hugging the thing tightly in order to out steer me! Have you ever seen a kid steer? There is no gentle in the equation. The gocart was being torn from either side of the track as Kookaburra put his full weight behind each rip.



Kangaroo looks hilarious here, he he! The helmet barely fitted him and he was a cruisy passenger for Mr E compared to mine. For the whole twenty minutes, TWENTY MINUTES!! I alternated between screaming and laughing while beside me the most serious pint size driver was urging us to go faster, except, there was NO faster!!! And, (this is really cool :) as our tyres slid out around a hairpin and smoked up with the brakes we performed a very cool 180 with smooth recovery.



Do I look scared? Hell yeah!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"Creation Station"

Recently we had the luck and pleasure of visiting a very creative lady's home. She had on offer for the children collage, clay work and painting, but what was really special about our visit were the amazing sculptures that resided in her yard. Below is a dragonfly that Kangaroo thought was fantastic.



How clever is this lady!!!

I'm saving my pocket money to do a two weekend course in sculpture with paper mache and wire. Life size paper macheing (I think that's the wrong spelling, oops, never mind) and I'm definitely thinking a giraffe would be great fun to create.

Fingers crossed I count my pennies carefully between now and then, I don't want to miss out :)

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

book magic

If your a 'Charlotte Mason' mum, turn away now, because I guarantee you, that the following recommendation is definitely 'twaddle'. No excuses, it just is.

Occasionally I want to share whats working for us, curriculum wise in our little homeschool. Whilst the following isn't a curriculum, for us it has acted as a spark for further interests.

Months ago I bought a series of books second hand (thanks Aussie Homeschool Classifieds ;) called 'The Magic Treehouse' in the hopes to get Kookaburra reading happily independent. Well that didn't work, but the old Frog and Toad series by Lobel has done the trick. But what I wanted to share was this great series by Mary Pope Osborne, which wonderfully introduces history in a fun manner.

The gist is that two kids, Jack and Annie, 8 and 7, discover a magical treehouse in the woods behind their house filled to the brim with books and the mysterious owner is nowhere to be found. Jack and Annie discover that through these books, a wish and the Treehouse, that they are magically transported to places throughout history and then go off and have adventures.


As far, we have read the first two books in the series, 'Dinosaurs before Dark' and 'The Knights at Dawn' and have dived into 'Mummies in the Morning' today and my boys can't get enough!!! They are rapped by these books and beg to be read them :)

There are companion guides that you can buy but we do so much already on the schooling front, that these books will currently be pure fun. I am eyeing off those companions for the future though.

With a current 43 books in the series I think they will be a long time staple in our home.

Just a side note, if you are uncomfortable with magic obviously this may be a series to stay away from but, IMHO, the magic is extremely light and is merely a tool to get the characters to the point of their adventure.

Happy reading

Monday, May 25, 2009

more scribbles


Do you remember Enid Blyton? I honestly hope so, she should be staple for all childhood :)

I've been feeling uninspired so being the little counterfeiter I am I had a go of copying a lovely picture from an EB book. Not bad if I say so myself ;)