Glitter makes lunch

This afternoon Glitter volunteered to make lunch for the family. She announced that she would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As no-one else was inclined to cook, we readily agreed to her proposal.

Glitter got to work, taking out all the supplies she needed, and we left her to her own devices. A few minutes later, she had made a sandwich for each of us, carefully wiped off the knife, and then put everything way.



After surveying her work, Glitter decided that the meal needed something else: Carrots. Okay, carrots are reasonable side dish, so I returned to my book and waited for Glitter to announce when lunch was ready. When I came back, I burst out laughing. The carrots were not *beside* the sandwiches; they were *in* the sandwiches. Glitter wanted to try an "experiment," but not wanting to take things too far, her own carrots were next to her sandwich.



Wander and Sparkle removed their carrots, but I had a very crunch sandwich for lunch. A crunchy, healthy sandwich is a small price to pay for not having to cook. In my experience, criticizing the cook leads to the critic having to cook.

Draw, Draw, Draw

Sparkle is taking a drawing class this week. Here's a fuzzy webcam photo of one of her drawings. She is learning some new techniques, like shading, shadows, and drawing a horizon.



Here's the teacher, Mark Kistler. He gave Sparkle one of the pictures he drew in class.


Glitter gets to sit in on the lessons and has fun filling her paper with random blobs, some of which vaguely resemble the objects in the lesson. The hour long class is a bit long for Glitter. About 50 minutes into the lesson she starts squirming and asking when it will be over. Then on the drive home, Glitter informs me that I must sign her up as soon as she is old enough to be an official student.

I am amazed at how similar drawing and writing are. Both begin with a blank page. You fill that page with ideas. Both can be taught with copying. Both benefit from reading/observing well done works. Both take lots of practice. Both can be very rewarding. Both are useful life skills.

Christmas Showcase

Here's some pictures from our homeschool group's Christmas Showcase. Sparkle and Glitter are wearing their matching holiday dresses.










And here's some video that Wander took.

Christmas

We finally finished decorating the tree with the angel of the house, Catherine, perched precariously on top.


Presents stacked under the tree.


The dolls clustered around the tree because they discovered one of the presents is addressed to them!


The dolls with their new sister/niece/cousin (Glitter's new baby doll) at the new table with the new tea set.


Play silks! (Not really silk, but who cares when you have so many beautiful colors?)


Sparkle with some playsilks on the new trampoline.


The dry erase board technically wasn't a Christmas gift, but the kids like it anyway. Glitter threw a huge fit because she kept writing the number 2 backward. She also writes her threes and tens backwards (01 instead of 10). Her plus signs also look like times signs, when she remembers to include them. Her equals signs are usually missing too.


The kids also got the game "Wildcraft" (which is way more fun than Candyland) and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't get pictures of.

holiday happenings

Random photos from the past month.

Our homeschool group went to see a professional production of The Nutcracker. Wow. What a difference from the community versions.


Kids played in leftover snow that was trucked in for some big event. Sparkle is in the blue dress.


Glitter rehearses with her preschool group for the homeschool Christmas showcase.


Sparkle and Glitter at their dance classes. Sparkle's the girl in the middle with the short sleeves. Gliter is the one in the purple "Lilac Fairy Attendant" costume that Sparkle got two years ago.


Sparkle and Glitter on Santa's lap at "Donuts with Santa" at our church. This is the first year that Glitter has been willing to sit on Santa's lap. The other big surprise--when both girls told Santa what they wanted, they came up with totally new stuff that they had never mentioned before. Eek!

From 2010_b

Caroling with the homeschoolers. Real candles in the hands of kids walking the streets at night! It was so much fun. At one of the houses the people handed out cookies to the kids.


Dancing at the homeschool Christmas party. Photo 1: Sparkle's hair in a "crown braid." Photo 2: Sparkle and Glitter coming through the arch during a lively dance.

Renfest Pictures

Here are pictures from when we went to the Renaissance Festival Thanksgiving Weekend.

Once again, we gave each kid a budget of $15. Both kids were determined to spend all their money. At first they cared only if they had enough to buy whatever caught their eye. However, by the end of the day, they were more discriminating with their few remaining dollars.



Fire Whip! It was this show's first time at the Texas Ren Fest, and drew a huge crowd every time. I missed this show on school days, and everyone else raved about it, so I had to visit this time.


Wander got the requisite Turkey Leg. My brother was still visiting us.


The highlight of the day, and the best deal in all the faire, was the School of Art. We got to start with a blank canvas. We took turns adding sky, trees, grass, flowers, and water, under the direction of the owner of the booth.


Once again, Princess Sparkle and Princess Glitter joined the French court for a tea party. After lemonade and cookies, the kids enjoyed a rousing game of duck-duck-goose. Finally, the Dauphin (crown prince) of France proposed to each princess and gave her a ring.



We began and end the day with dancing.


Sorry for the randomness of this post.