Dawn K Homeschool

of the stamp set --    Michele's Scrapy Creations ! Thanks for playing.

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Zero-Waste Family News Report http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/21/zerowaste-family-maintain_n_823477.html Her blog: http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com/

Yes, you have to work for it by going from blog to blog -- it's called a Blog Hop.  But, it is soooo worth it! Just start  here . And, here's  another for you to follow.

I don't normally get very personal on my blog, but I wanted to say a few things. I have been feeling so very fortunate lately.  Feeling -- keep that word in mind.  Trust me, there are times when things seem so dark that I honestly don't think I can see my way through.  There are times when I feel like everything is falling apart.  Feel -- did you catch that?  Right now, I cannot understand how I can ever think things are so bad. I'm guessing we all go through these highs and lows.  Perhaps I, being such a passionate person, a person who feels very deeply, experience this more.  I don't know.  My husband and younger boys are similar to me, so you can imagine what things are like around here when everyone is feeling low or negative. The other night, I lay in my bed thinking how fortunate I was to have a bed, and a room, and a house.  You may be thinking it's only because I adore the way our room looks now.  Nope.  I've had this wellin...

A layout I made about Aaron tonight. Journaling reads: "Aaron, I cannot help it. Whenever I look at these handsome photos of you, I am reminded of the farewell we've had and those yet to come. I'll always love you. Love, Mom" S upplies: patterned paper (Chatterbox Den Collection "Small Circles" and "Tie Plaid"); fabric alphabet stickers (Making Memories); title sticker (Chatterbox Descriptives item # 22205); tag (October Afternoon Hometown Collection); button, twine, pen (American Crafts Precision #01)

Supplies: All patterned paper is Die Cuts with a View [striped (Flower Shower Spring Stack); grid ( Dots, Stripes & Plaid Stack ); blue dot , banner and happy birthday sentiment ( The Celebration Stack ).  Chipboard alphabet stickers (American Crafts Thickers); punch (Stampin' Up); gift tags (Hallmark Expressions # 3J0B52R -- 25 cents for pack of 4 at Big Lots); font (LuzSans - Book); orange trim (Joanns dollar spot); jute (Walmart) I found the cute orange and blue gift cards at Big Lots -- 25 cents for a pack of four! :) The journaling for this was easy because I just copied my blog entry into MS Word and tweaked it.

I made this layout tonight, but it documents Valentine's Day 2010. Supplies:  chipboard alphabet stickers (American Crafts Thickers); chipboard hearts (Making Memories); tag (Studio Calico kit); scallop circle (Making Memories Noteworthy Spiral Journaling Book); border punch (Martha Stewart Doily Lace); crocheted flowers (my Aunt Lorraine and Etsy shop Sweet Vintage 78 ) patterned paper, trim, baker's twine (unknown)

John made the card with the hear punches (isn't it great?), and he bought balloons, the flowers and the Ghirardelli chocolates.  Nathan gave me the heart-shaped box of chocolates while Ben gave me the other.  They are all delicious!

We read  Sea Clocks: The Story of Longitude   by Louise Borden yesterday.  It is simply a must-read for science and history. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, Longitude , so I looked forward to reading this book to the boys.   I would like to caution you that there is a scene during a party of full front female nudity, so you may want to preview it.   I thought the book was just perfect for their ages -- 9 and 11.  I really enjoyed reading it aloud, and I have to admit that I got teary at the end (like I do when concluding most biographies).  I am always just in awe of persevering, intelligent, passionate people. There is a longish picture book on the same subject that I checked out from the library --  The Man Who Made Time Travel (Orbis Pictus Honor for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children (Awards))  -- but I found the Sea Clocks book to be so fabulous that I couldn't imagine needing it.  The illustrations are lovely, and just thumbing thr...

We finished  this  edition of  A Child's Garden of Verses  illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa. It contains such sweet illustrations, and of course the poems themselves are classic! I could not keep from crying through the reading aloud of "To Minnie." It was just so poignant! To Minnie   The red room with the giant bed   Where none but elders laid their head;   The little room where you and I   Did for awhile together lie   And, simple suitor, I your hand   In decent marriage did demand;   The great day nursery, best of all,   With pictures pasted on the wall   And leaves upon the blind--   A pleasant room wherein to wake   And hear the leafy garden shake   And rustle in the wind--   And pleasant there to lie in bed   And see the pictures overhead--   The wars about Sebastopol,   The grinning guns along the wall,  ...

I was inspired by Ali Edwards to make this wall art.  You can see hers  here .  And, here is mine.  I just punched various scraps of paper with  this  Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly punch.  The frame is from Michaels Arts & Crafts.

Hubby is picking up the Chinese food.  Yum.  Thanks for the night off.  :)  He took a few pictures of me because we have very few of me.

He just loves being artistic with food, so we were pleased when we stopped by the "just arrived" shelf at our local library and found  this  book. Cool Sandwich Food Art: Easy Recipes That Make Food Fun to Eat! 

I'm not sure if he'll finish it, but he wanted to borrow this tome  from the library this week.

This is out second snow of the season.

Ben cleaned the house while I was on my treadmill yesterday.  He put toys away, dusted and vacuumed.  Thanks, Ben!

The left hinge on the HP notebook computer that the boys use (John's old one) has been broken for a long time. I finally ordered a hinge from an Ebay seller with plans to fix it.  John and I made time for it yesterday, and we're so glad we did.  It was so easy thanks to  these  fabulous instructions. If you do find yourself in need of this guide, please be kind and donate a little via paypal to him.  He's worth it.

I had a lot of fun making this! All papers except the red print are Scenic Route while the red print is October Afternoon from this Schoolhouse paper pad . I used various diecuts from The Girls' Paperie by Margie "On Holiday" and alpha stickers from Making Memories and October Afternoon (Mini Market).   Plastic baseball charm is Doodlebug.  I sewed the banner on with a zig zag stitch in red.  Many of the elements are raised with foam squares.

We have also been finishing up our study of earth, and with it, caves and caverns.  We read a few books on the subject, but my favorite was  Caves and Caverns by Gail Gibbons .  I especially appreciate her explanation of how limestone caves are formed -- a topic I found a little confusing in  Caves (A True Book) , which we also read. Another favorite -- especially for the younger crowd -- will be  Caves: Mysteries Beneath Our Feet .  We started off with it. Finally, we looked at postcards from  Luray Caverns  which we have visited several times.

We have spent the last couple of months studying the artist  Vermeer . I bought a wall calendar full of twelve beautiful reproductions which I hang on my kitchen walls and refrigerator.  Here are shopping options for the 2001 calendar:  option 1 ,  option 2 ,  option 3 .  You can also buy it at discount from www.calendars.com  here .  Ooh -- Barnes and Noble as it for $3.49  here ! We've also read two book which I will compare very quickly. I must say my favorite of the two was  The Vermeer Interviews: Conversations with Seven Works of Art (Bob Raczka's Art Adventures) .  I really enjoyed the dialogue between Bob and the subjects of Vermeer's paintings.  I also thought the author did a great job of focusing our attention on the details of each painting and trends in Vermeer's technique, props and subject matter.  While only seven of his paintings are studied, I think the author did a great job of not only giving his ...

Sharing an impressive sentence Nathan wrote today. "Howard Carter pulled away the entrance to Tutankhamen's tomb with vigorous, almost delirious, delight." He had been instructed to use the word vigorous in a sentence.

Paper Crave  has done all of the work compiling these great Valentine's Day printables.

Go  here  for these cupcake wrappers and arrow toppers.  The kit also includes treat bag toppers -- all created by the Creature Comforts designer for Fossil.

These robot-themed cards are adorable!  Click  here  to download the pdf file. And. click  here  for this set of cards.

I finally printed out and put up our Valentine's Day banner.  Print your copy  here . I used my Silhouette SD to cut out the birds. birds_C00302_20509