Picture Honorable Mentions

Jolie was officially introduced to ice cream this week, courtesy of her dad. It was hilarious to watch her hovering around him on the bed with her mouth wide open, like a baby bird waiting for a worm.
Sometimes my kids have moments when they are all contently engaged in an activity and happy to hang out with each other. No complaining about someone stealing crayons or drawing on someone else's picture, just the happy hum of busy-ness. These moments are sooo nice.

Austin and Nyah had a great time being out in the fog and sloshing around in the mud. The fog was so bad this day the airport ended up closed.

P is for Pockets

I love it when kids discover their pockets. Pudgy little hands suddenly with the dexterity to squish themselves into such a small space. Seeing Olivia with her hands in her pockets, watching the rain, makes her look contemplative, just that bit more grown up. And no one would even have to know about the typical toddler tantrum that followed when I wouldn't let her go out and play in the rain and mud.

G is for Growing Up

ABSee Photo Meme: Week 2

Letter G: Growing Up

My baby, who is 8 months, old is growing up. I see evidence of this every day. One minute she is laying near me, contently playing with her toys, and the next minute she's trying to master the stairs. Or get into the cupboards, or chase the dog, or climb into the washer, or keep up with her siblings, and so on. I relish the moments when she snuggles close to nurse or fusses to tell me she wants to be picked up.

W is for Wild

Letter W: Wild, Wide-open spaces, Walking in a Window of time, Watching kids and dog, Whistling Wind, Wonderful feelings of happiness and freedom, time Way too short, Weary at journeys end, Wet too.

Crunching snow, swish-swishing pants and jackets, running and laughing children, rattling dog tags, snow up to my knees, beautiful view, and only the distant rumblings from the highway to remind us that civilization is just behind us.

Here are the rules…

1. Post a photo for each letter of the alphabet of anything that starts with that letter.
2. Write a few short explanatory, quirky, or witty sentences about each photo you post.
3. Only post one photo at a time (the meme can take as long as you want - a month, three months, whatever… you aren’t being graded). You can link them later in a blog post so they are listed in order if you are the list-making type.
4. If you want to join the meme, sign the Mr. Linky and use the “A B See Photo-Meme” graphic in your sidebar. Link your graphic to this post and announce that you will be joining us.
5. When you post a photo, come by and add it to the weekly A B See linky that we’ll be posting on Foto Fridays for those who have some alphabetical photo to share. You can sign it each week as many times as you have posted photos - one time for each photo linked post. Make sure you link back to the HSBA on your posts, too - so others can come and join the linky.

Forward!!

School in the New Year

This year we are going to be participating in some new activities. You may have noticed some new things on my sidebar. We are doing an Artist Study, currently of Jackson Pollock. We will have a new painting each month and spend a little time discussing biographical information, but the main goal is for the kids to be able to recognize the artist's work, which is why each painting will be featured for a two week period. We have always been doing poetry, but I've decided to include it on the blog. The kids spend the week writing the poem in their english journals, and then draw a picture to go with them when they are done. At the end of each week I'll post their illustrations.

We are also going to participate in some weekly activities hosted by other blogs. We are doing Sketch Tuesday from Harmony Art Mom-- basically a drawing assignment that I wasn't sure how my kids would react to, but they loved the first one so we will continue.

We will also be doing Winter Wednesdays and Outdoor Hour Challange from Handbook of Nature Study. Any encouragement to spend time in the great outdoors is welcome to us all.

I'm toying with the idea of doing the A B See Photo Meme/Foto Fridays, but haven't decided for sure yet. This is a year long photo assignment of finding pictures for each letter of the alphabet and posting them on Fridays. Wait--yes I have, I've decided, I'm doing it, and I've told you all so now I have to.