Watercolor Sunsets

We are starting to have a long list of skills that we have learned "on Youtube".  From pulling teeth without pain to repairing major appliances, you can learn just about anything there.  We found the channel for Mr. Otter Art Studio and have used their tutorials several times.  They are usually short - under 5 minutes - which is encouraging for kids.

This is from their video for a watercolor sunset.   (We also used their tutorial to do the shaving cream hearts.)

Caleb

This one was mine.

Annalise

7 Months

Gettin' trendy with some chalkboard art...

Doesn't she look like she's posing for a school picture!

"Looks like everything is spelled correctly."

Annalise wanted to make a sign for her too.

Irene has two teeth - they are super sharp!  She can get up on her hands and knees.  She likes to lie on her tummy and hold up her arms and legs out superman style.  She likes to eat and to laugh at her older siblings.

Preschool Project: Thing Alphabet

I took down Natalie's Thing Alphabet today in preparation for starting school soon.  She really enjoyed making it and is suddenly very interested in writing letters.  She wrote the names of all her friends' names on her valentines, which is way beyond what I expected of her!  Valentines Day was so much fun for her this year.  She loves flowers and hearts and all things pink and lacy. 

Another thing she is excelling in is being a big sister. :) 

Homemade Valentines

These are some of our homemade valentines from this year.  They look complicated, but they were easy to make.  We used shaving cream and food coloring to make a design and pressed the paper on top.  When you removed the paper, you use a ruler to scrape all the shaving cream away.  The design is stained on the paper.  It really is that simple!

To make the design, squirt a bunch of shaving cream onto a cookie tray and spread it out smooth.  Drop dots of food coloring on top - an inch or two apart all over.  Swirl the coloring with a toothpick until you like the design.  You can repress the same design and it will look different, or you can smooth it out and drop food coloring again - in that case the background will be tinted.

We used watercolor paper (98lb).  Lighter paper works, but is more likely to rip when you scrape it.  After it was completely dry, we cut it into hearts.  The girls taped candy to theirs and Caleb added googly eyes and a mouth.

Lost at Long Last

wind tousled...

That tooth had been loose for so long I can't even remember when it started.  But loose teeth do finally fall out - and so did this one!  17 to go!

So Miami : Discarded Furniture

There is something about Miami that makes people abandon perfectly usable furniture.  A few months ago - before Irene was born, we needed some extra chairs, but lacked the extra space and I happened to find 3 wooden folding chairs when I took a short cut through a neighborhood.  People do this - particularly with chairs - they leave them on the side of the street.  Why they don't donate them to thrift stores, I do not know, but I see a lot of chairs, end tables, dressers, and TV stands on the side of the road.

Another time, I found an Ethan Allen end table on the side of the road.  It was really heavy!  We used it for a little while, but eventually took it to Goodwill with some other discards.  We also have a nice, small wooden bookshelf Rob found next to a dumpster.

Most recently however, I began searching for a sturdy chair to serve as Irene's highchair.  I had been at a garage sale and saw that the next door neighbors had set out two chairs - they had a sign on them that said "FREE" (although this is very uncommon).  I got out and gave each of them a rough shake.  One was pretty wobbly and I left it behind.  But the other seemed solid.  Its seat was stained and I decided to see what I could make of it.  I removed the cover, and thoroughly washed the cushion.  I recovered the cushion with a piece of scrap fabric and a piece of clear vinyl from the remnant bin and JoAnn's.  The finish doesn't match anything in the house, but is in good shape, so I left it.

"Let's eat!"

Once my neighbor left out a nice upholstered chair.  We didn't need it or have room for it, but I felt kind of a pang of regret at how it ended up going to waste because no one came and picked it up.  (There are people who drive around in pick ups looking for these sorts of things.)  It rained and eventually the city came and hauled it away.

Why do people do this?  Is it just too much frustration to haul it away?  Find a truck, load it up, get stuck in traffic when you take it somewhere...  And do people do this other places?

A Catch Up Post

One of these days I will get back to blogging frequently.  I often think of things I'd like to write about, but time is just so short these days.  So here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks:

We went to the UF/IFAS Extension open house again this year.  Last year Annalise won a bucket full of fishing supplies - Caleb was unspeakably jealous.  This year Caleb won the main door prize - an Amazon Fire HD6!  He has told every person he's seen - even if the previous conversation topic was 180 degrees away from such things.  Most people have said something about how it will help with reading, but all he can think of is Temple Run and Minecraft.  Technically, Annalise had to share her bucket and Caleb has to share this too.  Still, after he found $20 at the zoo and now this - he is feeling pretty lucky.

Water Bottle Lava Lamp at the UF/IFAS Open House

Rob had a birthday last week ...

I could not rotate this picture:

The jalapenos are marshmallow fondant (melted marshmallow + powdered sugar).  I happened to have powdered sugar left over from making a candy mold for homemade cinnamon disks.  I used LorAnn cinnamon oil for the flavoring and it smells potent enough to melt your eyebrows off!  The sugar had been used several times as a form and had enough infused flavor to make the jalapenos pleasantly cinnamon-y, but not spicy.

Rob's cake by Annalise

This pretty little lady has TWO teeth!  She has started rolling over again and this time it looks like it will stick! 

Looking ahead, we are going to start school again in about 4 weeks.  I have had enough break to start feeling enthusiastic about learning again.  We will probably do 3 days of school each week for the first month - at least until the PEP semester ends.  Rob is going back to Haiti on the day that I'd like to start, so I don't know if that day will work out or not.

N and A playing with the "Stone Dolls", which are not made of stone, but that is what they have always been called around here.