Nesting Instinct
Last year, a bird built her nest inside my bike helmet.
I had to get a new helmet.
This year I’ve been storing my (new) bike helmet upside down in my basket.
She started a nest under my helmet instead.
I emptied it out since it wasn’t finished. That’s a terrible place to keep your babies.
I can’t win.
Happy Earth Day!
Bespoke Kitty
For art and crafts this week, Ellie wanted to sew something with the machine. Really she wanted to sew a dress for herself, but I convinced her that was a big project and we should wait for summer when there was more time. We made this instead.
Mimi the Kitty.
She embroidered the face and pinned everything up on her own. There was a fair amount of scaffolding for the sewing parts (I really made the pattern too small for her to sew independently I’ll know better next time) but she pressed the pedal and guided the fabric as much as possible. The cat parts are craft felt and Mimi’s body is fabric left over from some of Tiny Ellie’s homemade PJ pants.
We should make PJ pants!
There’s only one curved seam!
Ooh.
I stumbled on the cat doll idea looking for beginner sewing projects, and of course I can’t find it now. My web history doesn’t go back to last weekend apparently. Thank you, anonymous stranger!
Admitting Defeat
Sometimes it’s OK to admit defeat and let things go.
There were four in the bed and the little one said…
You win today, kitties. At least until you get up for lunch.
Monkey’s Paw
It’s 7:30am and everyone else is still asleep. In the case of the cats, they are back asleep.
I’m going to have another cup of coffee and keep working on this little blue monkey.
Still Life with Blue Paw, Cat Bag, and Keyboard
Edited to add: That lasted all of 10 minutes.
More on Making the Bed
Some days have more obstructions than others.
Happy National Pet Day!
Making the Bed
Sometimes it’s easier to work around an obstruction than to try and remove it.
Animal Classification
I love these little things.
For the purposes of Grade 2 science, animals are classified as: mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and arthropods.
I also mentioned cephalopods because octopuses are amazing.
I deeply regret not having any plastic protozoa. No one seems to make them.
Little Birdies, Little Birdies
All done and on their way to the hospital Gala.
Candy Birds
I haven’t made birdies in ages. Their little legs are still big fun.
Next up: a fox for a customer (special request).
Reading
I don’t know where I saw this one mentioned, but I hope the rest of it is as good as the introduction.
My Family and Other Animals
Ellie just finished Junonia (Kevin Henkes). Her current reader is the first of the Down Girl and Sit series. It’s short but really funny – the cat calls himself “Here Kitty Kitty” and the names on the dog houses are “Dot” and “Happy” – we’ll be finished with it by the end of the week. We’re reading The Last of the Really Great Wangdoodles (Julie Andrews Edwards) at bedtime. Michael is reading through The Dark Tower series. He never finished it which I can hardly believe. Everything but The Gunslinger was checked out from the library. We check out an embarrassment of books each week.
My upgraded library card didn’t stop me from signing up for Scholastic’s Readers Club as a homeschool teacher. Did you know about this? You can get the same benefits, points, and rewards as classroom teachers! They also send you those paper flyers like kids bring home from school.
Scholastic boxes smell good inside.
We have a little bit of a book problem. It can easily be fixed with more bookcases…