Thanksgiving 2010

The day before we spent with my Great Nephew, Baby X-man.
He loves the kitties, especially Alley. Princess has been crafting up a storm.

We decided to make name tags for Thanksgiving dinner at my God Daughter's house.Princess traced Baby X-man's little hands to use as a template.

We traced it onto scrapbooking paper and wrote all the guests names on them.

We also made a keepsake for his Mom.Princess made the feet and beak and waddle.but X-man colored his own "feathers" in.He was so proud to give this to his Mommy!

Cousin love.

X-man being "mr. ray"

"Now, Zia...take my picture..I'm Mr Ray!!"

We hope your Thanksgiving was filled with a bit of crafting, a bit of cooking and lots of love!!

Just a bunch of unsocialzed homeschoolers

The "younger brother" in our homeschool play group just turned 4.

What happens when you fill a firehouse with homeschoolers?

A lot of fun!! Seriously one of the most fun kid's birthday parties EVER!!

Cutest fireman of the day????

Our little Finn of course !!

Talk about melting a heart!!

We love Finn and hope his life is as happy as his 4th Birthday party!

Team in Training

My good friend Rebecca recently joined
the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training
raising money to put a stop to leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma
and myeloma. This became quite personal
this past year when her brother Billy lost his battle against leukemia.
If you would like to know more about Team in Training, please follow the links
to Rebecca's page. If you have ever lost a loved one to one of these diseases,
or feel really lucky not to have lost a loved one to one of these diseases, please consider
donating. Yes..there is a link for that too.:-) This the season to be thankful, and we can all be thankful that people like Rebecca are willing to do something to make the world a better place for us all. What are you going to do? Here's that link again...
((BIG HUGS)) Katein NJ

Camp Katie Day Nov 2010

It has been a while since we had a Camp Katie Day here in our corner of the Garden State. Yesterday, Princess and Peanut were happily surprised when Bella and Jules
arrived for a full on Thanksgiving themed Camp Katie Day. Seriously happy.
Hugging for 15 minutes happy. We have all seen each other at birthday parties and play dates,
but an official Camp Katie Day is different apparently.

The girls made "plates of food" and such.

discussed holiday plans..

played outside, ate lunch, watched part of a movie (Ponyo), went back outside to act it out..

Princess came in cold, put a sweater over her long sleeve shirt (odd for her), sat on a chair outside

for a while and came in shivering and pale. I put her on the couch with a blanket and she fell asleep. The girls all came in and sat near her watching the rest of Ponyo while having snacks.

She woke up to say goodbye to Bella and Jules, had a bowl of soup with Peanut, fell back asleep.

Peanut woke her up to say goodbye, when her protests to stay were ignored by the adults

(loyal..she is), she had soup, fell asleep woke up when Farmer Dad got home, threw up,

slept...it went on until 11pm when we all went to bed. She was up at 6:30am and feeling better,

although still not 100%. Due to her surprise illness, I didn't get a photo of the craft,

but they had fun making it. I'm pretty sure that was the point.lol

Mama made a fresh pot of chicken soup..time to feed my sick little Princess.

((Big Hugs)) KateinNJ

Art in the afternoon

The girls like to spend the afternoons painting or drawing in

a similar style to whatever artist we are learning about.

Frida Kahlo is our artist of choice right now.

The book is Frida by Jonah Winter with illusrations by Ana JuanWe started reading about her to prepare for Dios de los muertos,

and Princess has become a bit obsessed with her art.

You might notice we have made a couple of changes in our schoolroom

to accommodate a side board from my Grandmother's house.

It is working much better.The lights on the chair have been hung finally..

makes it brighter as the days get shorter. How are you making the shorter days

a bit brighter.((Big Hugs)) Kate in NJ

Hope you had fun

We had a busy weekend filled with fun here in our corner of the Garden State.

The Sugar Loaf Crafts Festival was a blast.

Princess loved seeing all the craftsman and women and artists.

The various potters and sculptors. She wants to learn to weld.

If this information doesn't scare any of you...you haven't been paying attention!

We spent hours there, and she could have stayed longer, plying the man making batik prints

with questions about why he doesn't use local trees for his inks (they make different colors

than the trees from his homeland) why his frames have no glass (the fabric needs to breath).

Discussing watercolor techniques with a painter who asked her to come back the next day and bring some of her work for him to see (it was Halloween..we did not). He was delighted to talk

about his art. Having the discussion with such a young and opinionated art lover appeared to double the delight.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Perhaps my ticket giveaway winner, Samantha,

will forward me her pictures. If so, I will post them. If you missed the craft show this time around,

check out the web site here, to find out when they will be back. If you don't live in our area, check out hen they might be near you. Sunday we celebrated Halloween

with our favorite nurse and her family..more fun!(that post is coming..I promise)

Whatever you all did....I hope you had fun too.

((BIG HUGS)) KateinNJ