A Picture A Day: December 23, 2011

A beautiful morning at the Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul

A Picture A Day: December 15, 2011

A cold, blustery day is a good day for a morning at the theater. AH and his good friend, EW, at the history theatre to see their production of A Civil War Christmas

Making Gifts

Austen and I decided to use up our old crayons by making molded crayons for his little cousins this Christmas.  Here is the mold we used.  It's a Wilson mold in the shape of snowflakes.

 

We unwrapped and broke up the crayons.

We sprayed the mold with a candle release spray that we got at Micheal's Craft Store. Then we filled the mold with the broken pieces and popped the tray in the oven. We left the crayons in the 180 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes.

AH with the mold before it went into the oven.

After cooling for a short time, we just flipped the pan over and out they popped!

Here's our finished product.  I think they look great!

 AH and I packaged the crayons in cellophane bags and tied them with ribbon

 It was a fun, quick and easy project to do on a dreary day!

A Picture A Day: December 13, 2011

AH and I made molded crayons as gifts to the little ones in our lives.  Here he packages the crayons.
For instructions and more pictures click here

A Picture A Day: December 9, 2011

Father of Waters Statue in the rotunda of Minneapolis City Hall

A Picture A Day: December 6, 2011

Okay, so it isn't homeschooling, but it was a great part of our day!!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

A Picture A Day: December 5, 2011

AH beat his mom.

A Picture A Day: December 4, 2011

Happy birthday!

A Picture A Day: December 2, 2011

AH turns 14 on Sunday.  Tonight he will celebrate with his old public school friends.  He made the dessert pizza for his party.  Happy birthday to a wonderful son!

A Picture A Day: December 1, 2011

Hansel and Gretel, an opera by Humperdink, was performed today for the 100th Anniversary of the Minnesota Orchestra Young People's Concerts. 

Independence and Responsibility

I needed to get to the dentist because of a lost filling, but the soonest they could get me in was a morning appointment.  I don't schedule appointments in the morning since that is when we do school type work.  But pain is a great motivator.   I took the morning they offered instead of waiting a month and a half for an afternoon appointment.  When the day came, I left AH a to-do list and figured he would do some of the activities, but not all of them.  When I got home every item on the list was checked off and he was making himself an early lunch!  Apparently Mom needs a reminder now and again that AH is growing up into a responsible young man. He is obviously ready for more independence in his work and can take on more responsibility around the house and in his life. Knowing where the line between too much responsibility and too little is very hard for me...especially with my youngest. 
I guess I learned the biggest lesson that day.