A Trip to the Art Museum ~

Buck has been asking begging me for weeks to take him back to the art museum.  He just had to go and see the display of Japanese weaponry.  So, Friday afternoon we loaded up, popped in a Switchfoot CD and took a drive downtown. 

First stop: Japanese Art Gallery ~

Buck and Honeybee took along notebooks and drew a few of their favorite things.

This is one of my favorite pieces.  It's too bad it came out blurry :(

SB learned the sensors are extra sensitive and you can't point too closely to your favorite parts :)

2nd Stop: Scavenger Hunt in the Indian Gallery

Learned a bit about the importance of animals in the Hindu religion.

3rd Stop:  New Family Hands On Art Center

I love the new picture collage I now have hanging in our library!

It was a fun trip enjoyed by all!

Honeybee's St. Joseph Art ~

This morning as I was flipping through my Liturgical Year Binder looking for a coloring picture of St. Joseph for Buck to color, I came across this craft I had filed from my Seton Art 1 book.  Honeybee and I decided we would give it a try.  It's a  pretty stained glass picture of St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church. 

She colored, cut out and glued St. Joseph and Jesus to black construction paper.  I showed her how to cut out the inside circles and we taped small pieces of colored tissue paper behind the openings.  She then happily taped it to the window.

Beautiful!

Tonight we are going to celebrate St. Joseph with Mass and a St. Joseph's Altar.  I'm planning on making St. Joseph's Sawdust to take to share.  It should be lots of fun!

Valentine's Day Crafts ~

Homemade Valentines 2012 ~

This year we made simple Valentine Bookmarks to share with our homeschool group after First Friday Mass.  The House Cat made the bookmarks and Buck and Honeybee taped heart shaped suckers to the back.

The House Cat made these little bookmarks to share.

In years past we enjoyed making these heart crafts ~

Beatitude Hearts

Love Is

Have a blessed day!

Homemade Christmas Cards

We spent the day making homemade Christmas cards.  The little ones were excited to walk into the kitchen and see the island ready for this art extravaganza!

I found the cutest hand print Christmas cards.

~Honeybee's Angel ~

~ Buck's Reindeer ~

I'm sure these will make loved ones smile when they open them!

I also wrote out the words 

 Christian and Christmas

showing them how both have the name

Christ in them. 

I had told them this before but,

Buck had a "light bulb" moment when he saw them actually written out.

I was wiped out by the end of the day but, I think it was well worth the effort :)

Our Thankful Tree

Today we made a Thankful Tree.  Each person had their hand traced and cut out.  These became our leaves.   I asked each person something they were thankful for and wrote it on their leaf.  It turned out really cute!  We all have so much to be thankful for!

 

Rechenka's Eggs ~ Book and Activity

Rechenka's Eggs is such a wonderful book!

Honeybee wanted me to read it to her yesterday.  So, I asked her and Buck to join me on the couch to read.  As usual, Buck gave me lip about it.  "Do I have to?"

Yes, I told him.  Poutingly, he sat down beside us girls.

About half way through the book, he leaned over and rested his head on my shoulder, looking as I read.  When I was finished, I asked him to choose a book for me to read.

Guess what he said???  "Let's read this one again."

Of course, I opened it right up and began to read again.  This time I stopped when we got to the page where Babushka is blowing the inside of the egg out and asked if they would like to try this.  "Really?"  Yes, really :)

You'll want to wash the egg first

Then poke a tiny hole in each end.  I used a small pocket knife and a needle.

Then blow, blow, and blow so more....

I've since learned they make hand tools for this :)

Once the eggs were empty inside, I washed them with cool water and put them in an empty egg carton to drip dry.  The empty egg shells are so light!  Everyone thought that was really cool.

We watched this video of a real Babushka painting the eggs in a special way called psyanky.  This is an amazing form of art!

I knew this was more than I could do at home, so I broke out the "special - permanent" paint that the kids had been begging to use for some time.

Here are their creations and the meanings of the symbols they chose.

Honeybee

Brown Cross for Strength in Jesus

Blue Swirl for protection inside a triangle which represents the Holy Trinity

White represents purity

Buck

Blue Swirl for good health and defense

Green Saw for spring, new growth, and loyalty

Brown Net for endurance as a fisher of men

Snuggle Bug

Red Rose for happiness, love and caring

Ribbons for everlasting life

Brown Ladder for strength and endurance in prayer

Yellow Cross for Christ's light

Red swirls for Hope in God's protection

Purple nets for denying yourself and searching out the lost



This was definitely a fun activity.  We are all hoping to make more for Easter Sunday.  I think they will really add to the Easter dinner table both in beauty and conversation.

You can also visit Homeschool Share for a ton of activities that go along with this book.

On Saint David's Day

Check out DLTK's website for lots of Saint David's Day fun!

Enchanted Learning also has great info on Wales.

Visit Catholic Cuisine for fun in the kitchen!

It's also the perfect day to pick daffodils and tell Jesus we trust in Him!

Have a blessed day!

Love Is...

Love Is...

Spending time with friends...

Helping one another along the way...

Dying to self...

Guiding small hands...

Living for God!