Costumes on the street and in the book

This year I had a cowgirl, phantom, soldier, and little skeleton (who glowed in the dark, which was very handy!) Papaw went with us on our first round through town, and even caught me in some pictures.

Then Fred went with us on our second round to the churches and on a quick stroll through the neighborhood. We even saw dogs dressed up...

...and one of the cutest pumpkins I've ever seen!

I've been trying to do more art for the kids lately. Meaning, things they request that I draw, or pictures I know they'd enjoy. My Oldest and Middle Boys requested "monsters." I decided to do some monsters, some aliens, and some funny folks in costume. Just a little whimsy art for boys. ;)

They liked it.

I'm finding that taking requests from the kids is much better than journaling prompts! They are full of ideas, and are completely confident that I can pull off whatever they request.
They amaze me. Plus, they *always* sit down to draw by me. :D

Artist Pages: Line and Variety

I recently found some fun little art pages for the kids, over on Pinterest. (Leave me a comment if you need an invite over there.)

So, naturally, I decided to make my own little pages for the kids' art notebooks. Feel free to download and print some for your own use. If you re-post, just credit my site please.

I plan to work on more fun illustrations for the kids. (This is a goal, and I'm saying it out loud to hold myself accountable!)

We made some little books this week and they LOVED having personalized pictures. In fact, I started it as a fun little project with the two little boys, but the older kids decided they wanted their own mini-books, too. :D Made me happy.

My inspiration came from ABCs of Art. I'll make more of our own, little by little, personalized to what my kids like. I'm open to your suggestions, too!

Paint Splotch Creatures

The brief tutorial for these pieces of art:
1) Splatter some paint, any kind, in any way. Let dry.
2) Use your imagination and a black pen.
The older three kiddos did this project yesterday afternoon, while my littlest guy painted happy faces. I particularly liked the elephant that my Oldest Boy did.

A green drippy blob...or an adorable long-beaked bird? It doesn't take much to transform the simplest shapes into cute creatures.

We spent some time painting this afternoon, too, but with no "direction." It was "free paint" time and they just went with whatever inspired them.

It's a great morning activity for my Little Guy, too, while the older kids do their seat work and computer work.

I also moved our green desk into the living room, behind the couch, so a kid can work there when he wants. It's close enough for help, but far enough for more quiet and less distraction. My Middlest Boy chose the spot today. That's all for now! Have a beautiful weekend.

Blog Purpose (and a post about spiders!)

Hey y'all, you're still with me, right? I've been commentless, but I skip and jump on because, after all, I'm doing this primarily for ME. You know my memory, right? I need to record these things. And I feel compelled to ...encourage? Inspire? Prompt you to enjoy things and have fun. Yeah, all of those things. So I'm hoping someone somewhere can take a little away from here with a smile or an idea.
Which brings me to the purpose of this here blog. It's always been kind-of an online journal/scrapbook...and occasionally a bit of a diary. My time is even busier these days, though, and I'm trying to use my minutes purposefully. I spend a lot of time on the computer in the evening as it is, getting ideas and plans, writing things up for the school week. And I've decided that I'm going to use this space for more of a craft/art sharing spot than anything else. I know, I know, that's pretty much what I do already. And I blog field trip ideas, etc, but my personal writing has become less commonplace. I have things to say, but feel more compelled to share what we DO. The irony is not lost on me. I'm writing paragraphs about how I'll be writing less. Yeah. {ahem} So. Welcome to our hands-on learning, art, craft, activity homeschool site.
If you want to keep up, feel free to follow on facebook (still under the former name of Sun-Kissed Scholars) using the tab on the right. Or follow our ideas and activities on Pinterest (again, on the right hand side.) There are a lot of art/activity/homeschool blogs out there. I'm just one person, doing what works for us, trying to balance life, spend time on the most important things, hoping it might help or inspire another!

Now, on to the spiders....!


The kids had an impromptu science lesson the other day on how spiders make webs. These pictures were taken in our front yard, of an argiope, or yellow and black garden spider.

Did you know...
"Spiders produce silk from their spinneret glands located at the tip of their abdomen. Each gland produces a thread for a special purpose – for example a trailed safety line, sticky silk for trapping prey or fine silk for wrapping it. Spiders use different gland types to produce different silks, and some spiders are capable of producing up to 8 different silks during their lifetime."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_web

This spider fought another one to the death. The boys were enthralled.

Even if you don't care for spiders, you have to admit, the colors are beautiful!

Sophie girl

What a beautiful, happy little pumpkin!!

I loved photographing Baby Sophie earlier this month.

Can stilts

Empty cans, poke holes through, thread shoe laces and tie around and VOILA can stilts!


Hey Bird-Legs!

Frozen Treasures

((**The photos were taken last week BEFORE the big weather chill.

It was 80+ degrees when we did this.**)) I'm not sure why, really, but ice is apparently very fun for kids. The texture and temperature? Something to break apart? At any rate, we froze some little "treasures" the other day for the kids to whack at.

My Little Lad is 4-years old now, so there are no worries of him sticking dice in his mouth. Of course, for ittier bittier kids, you'd want to give them a wooden spoon rather than a fork, and watch them closely as they retrieve their treasures.

Popsicle stick puzzle

Talk about an easy activity to put together for the little guy. Fine motor skills, color matching, and fun busy time while the older kids work on math. Win, win.

Ignore the floor. Why bother sweeping in the middle of the day, right? ;)

Family Camping Trip

Another one of my 35 Things marked off! We took all the kids camping this weekend (#26).


The weather was absolutely gorgeous, we had a site right by the water, and the kids found several little creatures.
For awhile the little ones just sat. Rested. Enjoyed nature. Spoke to each other every now and then. It was precious to see them just enjoying the beauty around them. I sketched the mushrooms that my Oldest Boy brought to me.

Peek-A-Boo, Honey! We also played a family game of freeze-tag. I'll admit that Fred is much faster than I am. Of course, I'm sure it's partially due to his abnormally long legs!!

The only real "incident" was a half hour of crying when bedtime rolled around. Little Lad wanted to sleep in his "real house." When he finally fell asleep, though, he slept fine all night.

We had a wonderful time. I love being outside. Love the beauty that surrounds us. Love taking a break from the world, technology, phone calls.

Love the simple.