The kids have made friends with the diagonal-backyard neighbor children. They have been warned, repeatedly, not to try to climb on or over the wooden privacy fence or the scraggly little trees. They are free to talk to each other over the fence and to pass stuff over, though, and they've had one play date at the neighbors' house so far (with more ( Read more... )

The boy won a blue ribbon in the regional science fair!

Using a fleece fabric with a print of large pink and red hearts,  I just made Red a long wrap-around skirt (it falls just below the knee; I'll try it on her in the morning to position the final button and buttonhole) and a brimless hat. I'l probably make her a scarf too, since there's fabric left. Maybe mittens as well? She doesn't like her hands ( Read more... )

Side note - does anyone know how the heck to pronounce “bliaut”?
( I want all the details and a bunch of photos, please. )

Today I cut and sewed the Powerpuff dress. Yay! It's really a very simple dress, but I'm proud of myself for going from whole cloth to wearable in a single night. The bottom edge is serged but not yet hemmed, and the arm and neck holes are staystitched but not finished, so there's work left to do on it. But... its main purpose is to be a costume on ( Read more... )

Yellow's class, in honor of Columbus Day (yes we know that was a while back), is having a "Boat Float" tomorrow morning. the kids and their families were supposed to work together to build little boats, and we'll put them in kiddie pools and see if they float. Our boat is made in the general outline of a speedboat, with a Playmobil pirate, and a ( Read more... )

I'll share, and it can be stuck in your head too.
:)

They Might Be Giants "Why Does the Sun Shine?"

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Does anybody know of good resources for teaching critical thinking skills to the 1st grade set? I've mined Google and found a few articles, most of which were really unhelpful, but one which seemed interesting was this one, though it didn't speak specifically about little kids. The local elementary school is really great (one of the best in the ( Read more... )

Nearly done with Red's new dress. It's a simple jumper with matching bloomers (because that's pretty much required in any dress I make her ( Read more... )

Yesterday I made some progress on the laundry, though I didn't finish, so now there's a mountain of clean laundry on the couch, which I need to put away before the cat decides it's too nice a bed to pass up (well... any more than she already has). I also have to clean up from my yard project yesterday - I cut back several bushes and some trees in ( Read more... )