Lego pirate fail

I mentioned in an earlier post my deep, dark descent into Jenn-ville with a pirate report for Demi-Sky's composition class. I've had requests for the dark tale- so here are the details in all its Jenn-glory richness... So, Demi had to do a report on a famous pirate, and then dress up as a pirate and present his oral report to his Biola Star class.  His class this year seems to be mostly boys, so I knew they were going to have fun with this.

A day or two after we had discussed a plan of attack for this, I saw this on pinterest:

And I knew that we had to do this.  Imagine the delight of a room-full of homeschool boys when one of their own shows up in a lego pirate costume to deliver a report.  It would be epic, in homeschool-world.

I had a little niggling of doubt about tackling this project...just a little, which I ignored.

and ignored

in typical Jenn fashion as I procrastinated the week away.  We discussed methods to achieve this look.  A bucket seemed easiest, but we couldn't find a yellow bucket at Target.

I nonchalantly assured Demi that we could just whip up a paper-mache head, easy.

I used a bucket for my shape and then used thin wire to make the form for the pirate head.  I took lots of photos so I could share my step by step instructions here on the blog....

and then, two days before due date, I commenced with the glue/water/paper routine....

don't panic.

there is always plan B:

quickly spray paint my only bucket and drill holes into it for eyes.

...into my only bucket for household stuff...

and then the morning of the class, we abandoned the lego pirate idea and dressed Demi up as a traditional pirate.

The End.

(it's just a Jenn-thing...)

my rustic farmhouse table

I requested a rustic, re-claimed wood farmhouse table, long enough to seat many Bible college boys around.  Sky happened, by luck, upon some spalted maple that was left unloved and forgotten, in someone's backyard.  It had been rained upon, Summered upon, hailed upon, etc.

Sky purchased the wood, thinking he could salvage bits and pieces here and there for fashioning small projects.

For me, it was love at first sight!  I knew my time had come for the table of my dreams :)

We discussed just how rustic, uneven or not it should be.  Would the lines of the separate boards be left as they were, or would Sky sand and finish them into almost one smooth piece?  Would he fill in all the wonderful termite holes and nooks and crannies?

Could Sky convincingly fake a "live edge" on the boards?  The answer to all of these concerns was yes- as long as we could keep the natural charm intact.  The live edge came out beautiful.

love, love, love my table.

Sky said, "Hey girl, whatever you dream up, I will build for you."  And he did.

love that man <3

7 Quick things Sunday edition

~1~

The kids had their piano recital last Sunday.  Amie's skirt and top were bright pink.  I went to target and bought a package of socks so she would have a pair to wear with her silver flats.  There were 3 pairs in the pack, they were all glittery- I intended for her to wear the silver glittery socks with her silver flats. [ahem]  In the rush of getting ready and out the door, simply handed her the package, figuring that she'd know what to do. Um, no.  As usual, I didn't do a feet check until we were actually at the recital.  This is what I saw.  Many of my most embarrassing moments as a mom involve musical recitals.

~2~

Demi-Sky played a song from the Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack.  He played it entirely from memory.  I was so proud of him!

His socks were okay, whew!

~3~

Meg and Josie played a song from Tangled.  They did a really nice job.  It is wonderful to listen to the girls play together. It's like the sacrifice of music lessons has started to pay off in enjoyment now.

Their shoes/socks were fine.  I don't have to worry about checking them anymore.

~4~

We have a lot of saber fencing practice happening.  There is going to be a big national fencing tournament in Anaheim this Summer. This will be Josie's first national event, she is getting in all the practice that she can.

~5~

Meg and Josie had standardized testing last week. Actually, it was supposed to be this week, but I read the memo wrong, apparently.  We'll never really know, since I lost the memo.  I think I am A.D.D. mom.  So, I sent them off, solo- because Meg has her license!  (cue angels singing) and it all worked out okay.  They were having testing for kids with modified schedules/requirements and they went ahead and let my girls test, too.  It was really  nice to have the girls drive to and fro on their own.  My days sure have become less hectic.

~6~

Sky finished the rustic farm house table.  We brought it inside just in time to host a bunch of Bible school girls.  I love my table!  More photos coming soon!

~7~

I've decided to do the p90x fitness program.  I found an online coach and started an account over at the beachbody club website.  The account thing is really neat, I can schedule my workouts and then be kept accountable to actually doing them.  I've gained some pounds and frankly, something needed to be done.  I am going to be doing more walking/running  (by more I mean at all, I have hardly walked the past month) and do the 30day shred for a week before jumping into p90x, it looks pretty intense! I am hoping to blog my journey, but frankly the idea scares me a little. That, and my follow through is usually nil on many things.  I'm toying with the idea of just going for it and blogging it straight-up, or maybe blogging it but not publishing them until a few weeks go by and it becomes apparent that I will actually keep it up.  Not sure what I will do yet...

Any recommends for favorite at-home workouts?  Please share :)

7 quick takes is hosted over at Conversion Diary. Hop over to join up!

Nile River Delta model, homeschool history

Wednesday we worked on our Nile River Delta model, a project found in the Story of the World vol. 1 activity book. This project is for chapter 2; Egyptians lived on the Nile River.

Photo #1 is of the supplies needed. Photo #2 shows the soil with the foil placed as the river. Photo #3 shows the blue rocks added to the river area. Photo #4 shows the kids adding the grass seeds to the soil.
We then had the fun of "flooding' the Nile. We will continue to flood the Nile once a day, as an example of the yearly flooding the Egyptian farmers needed for their crops.

To round out this chapter, we also worked on a map of the delta, identifying the river, delta, lower and upper Egypt and unified kingdom areas. I also read and explored The Usborne Book of World History and the Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia sections on Egypt with Demi-Sky. I assigned the same reading to the older girls independently.

It was a fun, simple project. The roasting pans I found at Big lots very inexpensively. Not a sophisticated project for the older girls, but I know that Demi will always remember the Nile Delta and it's importance to that kingdom. -The girls took off with the extra roasting pans and planted mini container gardens inspired by The Dk Gardening book by Jane Bull.