The airplane quilt, first day of school, and reflections on Mommy Camp...

It's true---the airplane quilt is finally complete and on Tom Thumb's bed.  
Here's the evidence:

 Yay!!!!!!  I really buckled down and machine quilted my butt off this past week.  Then, I spent the last couple of nights attaching the binding by hand.

He was so excited when I put it on his bed.  It made me so happy inside. :-)

On Monday, I took the kids to get their pictures taken in their gear for my sister's wedding in October.  Take it from me and file it away in your mind for later --- the best photography deals of the year, both in studio and on line, are over Labor Day weekend.  You're going to think I'm crazy, but I actually ordered our Christmas cards from Snapfish on Monday (FYI --50% photo cards is still on through tomorrow 9/10 using the code HURRAH50 on their website).  The Target portrait studio wouldn't let me use my 50% coupon on photo cards so I came home from their session, had the Cobbler pull the Model T out of the garage, and voila! --- Christmas card worthy photos!  

 Then, Red's first day of first grade was on Wednesday.  Awwwww....

 It was a tearful drop off.  I was surprised, considering last year for kindergarten she couldn't wait for me to leave!  When I picked her up though, she deemed her teacher "awesome" and the boy who sits next to her "nice."  


Yesterday was a rough day though.  I had two sickos --- the Cobbler and Red both had fevers and had to stay home from work and school.  And it was Tom Thumb's 4th birthday!  What a bummer!  I ended up taking Tom Thumb out of the house to Toys R Us to spend some of his birthday money and visit his grandparents since we had to cancel his party. :-(   He picked out a toy that we brought home, I spent an hour assembling and then it didn't work.  We went back to return it and because they were having a ridiculously good sale, he ended up with a roundhouse for his train table instead.  Here he is with his chocolate banana cake that I finished baking at 8 o'clock last night (like I said, long rough day) and the roundhouse.

I finally got everyone into bed by 9.  When I went upstairs to go to bed at 11, Tom Thumb's light was on.  That little stinker was still up playing with that roundhouse!


I'm still working out what "afterschooling" will mean in our family this year.  Over the summer, we did what I referred to as "Mommy Camp."  Red would do a little bit of math practice, some language arts and spelling, Story of the World Ancients reading and activities (which she LOVED!), some R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life here and there (I think this was too difficult for her age), and reading and read alouds at bedtime.  I'd like to maintain Red's momentum and start working with Tom Thumb some more since he's not going to preschool, but I have to figure out what's going on with school first.  It didn't help very much that she missed her second day.  My friend Maureen and I were having a laugh about the supply list this morning.  The list includes 3 boxes of tissue and 5 red pens.  There are 22 kids in the class.  Where is the teacher planning on storing 66 boxes of tissue!?!?!  And five red pens?  Are they correcting their own papers?  Does she really need 110 red pens for her own personal stash?  Here's a sample of what Red was working on math wise this summer using Singapore 1A Standards:

I guess it's time to put my thinking cap on and start planning out the year.  What are your educational goals for your family for the 2011-2012 school year?

Snails and Karate

Over the past few days, we've been trying to do some work from the R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life curriculum I bought at the beginning of the summer.  I feel very mixed about it.  On one hand, it's nice having a curriculum where what you need to do is all laid out.  I like the extra reading suggestions list and the fact that they have a page listing everything you need for each lab (which is mostly household items).  On the other hand, the worksheets included are very writing intensive, and writing is not Red's strength (i.e. she can write well when she feels like it, but is quickly fatigued).  Even though the publisher says it's designed for 1st through 5th grade, I think if you intend to have the child do most of the writing it is definitely geared toward the older grades in that range.


A couple of days ago we went for a hike on a trail close to our house.  We didn't last very long because there were mosquitoes out the size of pterodactyls, but we did collect some snails for observation for the unit on mollusks.  We're planning on returning them to their home on the trail tomorrow, but in the meantime we've had fun checking out the little creatures and their slime.

Another new development in the last week is that we started Tom Thumb in karate class.  Red has been taking dance since she was two and took two years of figure skating when she was 3 and 4.  Unlike Red who is super outgoing and always wants to try something new, Tom Thumb has been a little bit more cautious.  He tried a couple of dance classes last year because there was another boy in the class for his age group.  He would last about 10 minutes in class and then would want to come sit on my lap with his blankie in the hall.  Since he's not going to preschool, I wanted to give him some more opportunities to hang out with some other kids. We decided to try a local martial arts studio that offered a deal on one month of classes including the uniform to try it out.  So far, he's gone to three classes and has loved every single one.  He spends most of the class smiling and the instructors are very encouraging and enthusiastic.  This might be a winner.  Fingers crossed...

Making a Sumerian Seal

We finished up reading about The First Sumerian Dictator in Story of the World this past week.  The art project in the activity book for this chapter was making a Sumerian seal.  Back then, most Sumerians did not know how to write so they each had their own unique seal that they used to identify themselves when writing in clay. We decided to make ours out of Roseart modeling clay, but didn't realize until it was too late that we didn't buy the air-drying variety.  No matter--- Red stamped with it anyway.

We also read a couple of the recommended books --- The Three Princes and The Golden Sandal.  Red and I especially enjoyed The Golden Sandal because it was a Middle Eastern version of the Cinderella story.  It had cute illustrations to boot!  One more thing to add about this lesson --- I let the kids watch Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Red asked me, "Is Darth Vader the leader of a military dictatorship?"  I guess these Story of the World lessons are really sinking in. :-)


We had a snafu with our plan to see which one held up better --- the hieroglyphic scroll vs. the cuneiform tablet.  When we checked on them a week after putting them in the yard, the scroll was still there but the tablet was nowhere to be found!  Perhaps some wild animal likes the taste of Play Doh tablet?  Since it is the tablet I made that is missing in action, Red is debating whether or not she'd like to do some of the other experiments about seeing which one lasts longer using her tablet.  We've already decided not to leave it outside though.


On an entirely separate note, I finished the long process of removing the wallpaper border from Tom Thumb's room.  It was a bittersweet moment for me.  Before Red was born, I spent hours poring over wallpaper books at a small paint and wallpaper store in the downtown area of our city trying to find the perfect border.  I fell in love with this one.  Even after she attempted to rip it off the wall a few times during her 2 year old destructive phase, I pasted it back up.  When she and Tom Thumb swapped bedrooms in the spring we left it up.  He has been begging me since then to paint his room yellow (his favorite color) so it was time to say adios to the baby border.  Here are some photos before I took it all the way down.  Sniff, sniff...

It was so difficult to remove (I scraped at the adhesive for HOURS) I told Red that no matter how many years pass that if Mommy ever says she wants to put up wallpaper again she is to tell me NO!  I think we finally have a shade of yellow selected that matches what is already going on in Tom Thumb's room without burning our eyes out.  I had to immediately talk him out of the neon yellow he really wanted.  T.G.I.F.!

Building Lego Pyramids

After reading the section on Egyptian pyramids yesterday in Story of the World and then reading a bit more about them in Pyramids and Mummies (great easy reader on the subject!), we dumped out the Legos and built two small pyramids according to the instructions in the Story of the World activity book.  The block options are to make your own blocks out of sand or use sugar cubes or Legos.  Although I'm sure making the sand blocks would have produced a more realistic looking facsimile, I'm all about projects that are easily dismantled because my kids are pack rats.  If we had built a pyramid out of sand cubes, it would still be in my house when they were 20 and off at college. :-)

Then, in the end, we built the behemoth "Great Pyramid" in the photo above.  Currently, Red has erected it on top of her headboard in her room.

Yesterday, we put the hieroglyphic scroll and cuneiform tablet in our backyard to see which one lasts the longest.  Updates coming soon!

Making a Hieroglyphic Scroll and the Maker Faire

Last Friday we made a hieroglyphic scroll as we continue our early writing study in The Story of the World Ancients.  The instructions in the activity book called for using ink, paint, or purple berry juice to write with.  We decided to make our own.  We started out with some blueberries.  

 When that was too faint, we added some cherries and SQUISHED.

And in the midst of our squishing, this happened:

Then, when I tried to clean it up I dropped even more on the floor.  Sigh...not my best performance.  We finally caved and added a wee bit of red and purple paint to the berry paste so you could see the writing.

Red used the hieroglyphic decoder from the activity book to write her message on some resume paper I had taped together (which is slightly more papyrus like than regular printer paper).  She wanted me to write too so I wrote on the top sheet and she wrote on the bottom. Here's our finished hieroglyphic writing.

The next step was to attach some dowel rods and roll it up, but she just wanted to roll it up and tie it with some blue curling ribbon instead which was just fine with me.  Next, we're on to seeing which will last longer --- our cuneiform tablet or our hieroglyphic scroll!

Speaking of making things --- we attended the Maker Faire over the weekend.  The Cobbler was very interested in going in the hopes that he would find some more inspiration and ideas for the electric car he's building.  I was just hoping that the kids would last long enough for him to get his fill.  It ended up being a lot more interesting and fun than I expected.  While we missed out on the fire breathing pony and I was too hot and tired to enjoy the life size Mousetrap game, we did have a lot of fun! 

Here's the front end of the fire breathing dragon (not to be confused with the pony :-).

 Red on the trapeze

 Tom Thumb making a paddleboat using recycled items.

 Me, the Cobbler and Red with some members of the Dark Side (Tom Thumb is in the stroller out of frame because he was too afraid!)

 Red weaving.

 Tom Thumb swinging on the waterfall swing.  I did this too with Red and it was awesome.  Water would fall on you based on your rhythm created on the swing.  We got very wet which was very welcome in the heat!

 And of course, where there are balloon hats, my children will come.

Hope your week's off to a great start!

Making a Cuneiform Tablet

Yesterday Red and I did the "Make Cuneiform Tablets" activity that goes along with The First Writing chapter from The Story of the World Ancients activity book.  She had been pleading with me to do it for several weeks, but we didn't have clay on hand.  Finally, I caved and we used Play Doh (which we do have) instead.  First, we checked out the key in the activity book for the symbols we wanted to use and wrote them out on a piece of paper to make copying them easier.

Then, we rolled out our Play Doh and used a straw to poke a hole so we can hang it up later when it's dry.

Pumpkin decided to get in on the action by lying on the activity book.  Good thing we had already copied down our characters.

Next, we carved our tablets using a paper clip.

Here's Red with our finished products.  Mine is the dark brown one and hers is tan.  

We're going to use mine for an upcoming project called "Why Do Clay Tablets Last Longer Than Paper"?, but first we have to make hieroglyphic scrolls.  With all the rain we've been getting, we might make those today.  Happy Friday everyone!

Making a Model of the Nile River

 Whenever we're not away from home on vacation, Red and I have been doing a Mommy Camp project nearly every afternoon while Tom Thumb is napping.  She is obsessed with Egypt!  Yesterday she asked if we could make a model of the Nile River, a project from chapter 2 (Egyptians Lived on the Nile River) from the Story of the World Ancients activity book.  This was an easy project.  All you need is an aluminum baking pan, aluminum foil, dirt, pebbles, and grass seed.

First, Red dug up some dirt from under our pine tree and put it in a tin baking pan.  Then she tried to shape the river bed similar to the Nile.

 The right end in the picture below is shaped more like a triangle because it's supposed to be the delta.  We lined it with two layers of tin foil so the river wouldn't wash out the banks made of dirt.

 Next, Red lined the river bed with pebbles to hold it down.

 Then, she sprinkled grass seed on the banks to represent the Egyptians' crops.

 Finally, it was time to flood the Nile!

And she flooded it good!

Now we wait and see if we get any lush crops of grass growing on our river banks. :-)

Making A Mummy!

We're really enjoying learning about ancient Egypt using the Story of the World Ancients book and activity guide.  Although we hadn't officially arrived at the chapter about mummies yet (it's in chapter 4 and we're still back in chapter 2), our Lift the Lid on the Mummies book and mummy making kit came in the mail.  Red couldn't wait to do it so we did the project during Tom Thumb's nap yesterday.  


We decided on the kit because one of Story of the World activities for chapter four is making a mummy out of a raw chicken.  While this probably would have been really cool, there are a few reasons the chicken mummy wasn't going to work for us:


1. I'm a vegetarian right now (I know saying "right now" seems funny, but I've only been eating this way for three months and don't know if I'll be able to sustain it for the long haul).
2. We have two cats that are constantly trying to eat everything edible (or sometimes inedible) in sight.
3. The idea of having a raw chicken lying around the house for six weeks grosses me out.


In the end, this kit was a great alternative to the raw chicken mummy project, especially since the book included in the kit is designed to be read as you do the project .  Here's how the mummy making went for us.  You need to allow at least two hours to complete this project.  When you open the box, this is what it looks like inside.

Red was super excited to open up the mummy and check out his little plastic organs, although she was bummed out that there was no brain for her to pull out of his nose with a hook! I think she may be reading too many Egypt books right now. :-)

Red named her mummy Happy because she said it looked like he was smiling.  What do you think?

Next, we had to make the canopic jars to store Happy's organs.  The description on Amazon says this kit is for 9-12 year olds, and I think the process to make the jars is the reason.  They are made of a heavy glossy paper.  Each jar is made of a rectangular piece and a circular piece of paper that must be cut out and glued together.  This was definitely a team effort.  I did all the cutting and gluing and Red held the bottom of the jar (the circle piece) on to the cylindrical part of the jar (the rectangle piece) while they dried.  Once all the jars were glued together it was time to put Happy's organs in them for storage.

Each jar came with a resin lid that represented the god that was supposed to protect that particular organ.  Here's Red putting Happy's intestines in their jar.  We had some issues with Imset's head (the liver god) falling off his jar.  We kept yelling "Put the lid on that liver!"

After our canopic jars were complete, it was time to wrap our mummy.  

One thing I have to say about this kit is that they should have included some more gauze.  We had to re-wrap Happy a couple of times in order to get full coverage.  If you buy this kit, plan on having some extra gauze on hand to make the wrapping part easier.  The kit included a sticker sheet with amulet stickers for you to stick on your mummy as you wrapped him up for protection.

Here's Red posing with Happy after he was all wrapped up.

Next, it was time to put him inside his sarcophagus.  

The punch out mask was included to put on Happy after he was wrapped.  When you're done you're supposed to seal the tomb with this sticker and then bury it.

Red decided against the sealing (why would you seal it?  Then you can't play with it anymore) and decided she wanted to decorate it like a real sarcophagus instead.  Since we didn't have any gold or jewels, she settled for tin foil, glitter glue, and beads.  I covered the lid for Red with tin foil and then she decorated it.

Here's the final product.

Happy even looks happy on the outside of his tomb! 

Overall, this was an excellent project.  Even though it required quite a bit of parental participation, it was great fun!  I would highly recommend this kit as a vegetarian alternative to the chicken mummy.

On a separate Egyptian note, Red just attended vacation Bible school with her friends and the theme was Joseph and Egypt.  What a perfect tie in to our studies!  I have great admiration for the coordinators of this vacation Bible school.  Check out the pyramid and the girls' costumes.  They got to wear those everyday that week.  We'll definitely be going again next year.  They had a grand time!

The kids and I are off to Chicago on Monday to visit my cousin's family so I may be on hiatus for a few days again.  Ah---gotta love summer!