Tales From The Bonny Blue House

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Hosted by the, always inspiring, Amanda Soule.

Years in the making

I am posting this for those people who might read this blog and think I have it all together. Or even a little bit together. I have nothing together.

My children made this cute fish project. Five years ago. FIVE. YEARS. AGO.  

At the time I put them carefully in a folder because my  idea was to hang them in the bathroom. At the time we had this ugly little upstairs bathroom that the kids used. 

I came across the folder while cleaning off my desk last week.

I never blogged the craft but there is a complete explanation here at Our Domestic Church. 

So when I found the pictures I remembered that Elizabeth Foss had hung them up in her bathroom. She even had a cute fish shower curtain. I didn't actually remember the shower curtain but I was wondering if I was channeling Elizabeth when I picked the color for the new bathroom.  

So I ordered some new frames from Amazon. The cheapest ones I could find. I have to say they really are very nice and came packaged so well I could have dropped them off the roof and they would not have broken.

This morning I hung the fish. FIVE YEARS LATER

The kids were happy to revisit this little bit of their artwork. They were particularly happy because the little dark fish at the top of the second picture was Ryan's.  How nice to have another bit of him in the house.

So now you all know. I am currently somewhere about 4.5 years behind in project completion.

Art Projects

We have not been idle here at the Bonny Blue House, although we have been quiet.  January and February always seem to be a good time to hunker down and create here. 

First, before I share some of our projects may I ask a prayer for Dave. Poor man had emergency spinal surgery last Thursday. He had a badly herniated disk pressing on nerves in his spinal column which resulted in the loss of the use of his left leg.  Having a great need for his left leg we opted for the surgery. He is recovering but it is a painful process. 

Thank you.

Now for some art..

Our first project of the year was a penguin print project that I found on That Artist Woman, and what a treasure that site is! The instructions were very clear but it needed a bit of prep on my part, cutting up potatoes and sponges. 

First I taped some heavy weight paper down and let the kids mix some blues and white together to come up with a sky. We used a big foam brush for this (Dollar Tree sells them by the package) and we let that dry (ten minutes maybe). Then I gave them cut up kitchen sponges (6 for a dollar ) and they stamped snow. As That Artis Woman said, "give the penguins a place to stand".  

Then using the directions I cut a flat place on a largish potato which they used to stamp a black spot, then a smaller potato stamped a white spot on top.  Sorry, I neglected picture taking at this point in order to help. Once the penguin bodies were dry they added an orange nose and feet using triangle shaped sponge cut outs and eyes using a round foam stamp brush.  When the whole thing dried I carefully peeled off the tape revealing a white boarder and I glued the paintings to large black paper to "frame them" I find that this makes the children's work a little more "important" looking,

The snowflakes were made on copy paper with a puncher. We just glue sticked them on.

 

Another project we worked on was a small brush stroke Monet type painting which I found in the book Playful Learning by Mariah Bruehl. 

While I read to them from the book What Makes a Monet a Monet? they set to work.

This also required some prep work for me, the night before.  I selected a landscape photo from a previous vacation in Maine. This one...

In retrospect I would have chosen a photo with more variation in color but this worked out ok.  After everone went to bed I took the photos, which I just printed on regular paper, and I mod podged it to large watercolor paper. It dried overnight.

When it came time to work, as I read about Monet's style of using very small brush strokes, often just dots, the children mixed paints and using tiny strokes painted over the picture recreating it in paint. 

It took a bit of time but they were pleased with the results, as was I.

This was one of those projects that seems easier in the book than it turns out to be, still very worthwhile. I was glad I waited until the little people were out of the house before we tried it though.

Lastly, I'll leave this monster post with a quick little Saint Agnes craft I did with the littles (and some big ones).  It's pretty self explanatory.

I bought those little snowflake frames in Michaels after Christmas. I think they were thirty cents each or something.  All I did was print off a picture of Saint Agnes and cut it to fit in the frame. Then I let them loose with white paint and some silvery blue glitter. I kept the red ribbon to symbolize the martydom of Saint Agnes. Again, while they worked I read the story of Saint Agnes to them (does anyone have a nice picture book about her?) and we discussed purity, and the various symbols of the saint.

This is a hardly a new craft but having kinderpeople makes old things new again. I am enjoying doing the crafty thing with little people again. I am also a lot more relaxe about glitter. I don't think Ryan, Katie and Erin even knew it existed until they were well into double digits :).

Three!

Seems like yesterday

Now it is hard to get him to stand still long enough for a picture.

 

He is curious, funny, energetic, loving, loud, and now he is three. Happy birthday Brendan, we love you so much.

 

Downton Abbey and a thank you

(it's worth watching for the clothes alone)

 

I am completely obessed with this show. Are you familiar with it?  The first season is set in pre-World War I Yorkshire, England at the ancestral home of Lord Grantham and his family.  I had heard mention of the show here and there but it never really crossed my path until I was cruising around the free Amazon Prime Videos on my new Kindle Fire (thank you Dave!) and I saw it as an offering there. SO the day before New Years Eve, yes the day before I host a party with 50-60 people, I decided to take a short break and watch the first episode of season one.  I proceeded to watch the entire season in a row, carrying the device around with me when I absolutely had to get up.

Obsessed I tell you.

So imagine my excitement when I discovered that Season 2 was premiering last Sunday. I mean the Gaints were pretty exciting but nothing in comparison to this.

My friend Jessie (who happens to be Chris' daughter) invited my Katie (who watched Season 1 online as well although less obsessively than her mother) and I as well as a few other moms and daughters. Then she and Chris out out a lovely English tea for us.

Heaven isn't it?
The scones were to die for. 

 

I think we need to make this a weekly event ;).

There is a fun discussion at Dawn's blog regarding the premiere. DO be warned there are spoilers, so if you haven't seen it, don't read the post but if you have seen it the post is great and the comments are a lot of fun to read through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now the thank you. To all of the lovely people who read my article at The Long Island Catholic and sent condolence comments or emails. I am very touched by your kindness to my family and your prayers and heartfelt words are being cherished by us all.  Thank you, it's meant alot to me.

I hope to be back very soon, the children and I have been super busy with school work but we are managing to get some fun projects in here and there and I'll be posting about them soon.

 

Vigil

"A few days after I turned in my last column I boarded a plane, destined for a southern city, to visit my ailing mom and give my dad a break for a few days. Things did not go as expected.

When I arrived I was surprised at the change since I had last seen her. Dad had prepared me, but I think there is little you can do to prepare someone for the slow deterioration of one who is so dearly loved. Mom had been fighting a cold and her breathing was a little labored. As the day wore on I became concerned as her breathing became more shallow and I convinced Dad that we should take her to the emergency room and just get her checked.

I fully expected to be sent home with the news that she had a bad cold or a little bronchitis. I was not prepared to hear the words, “she is unlikely to live through the night,” delivered by a young, overworked ER doctor who, only after he uttered them, seemed to realize the effect they might have.

A staph infection and pneumonia were going to claim my mom’s life."

 

 

Read the rest here....

Of Late

A teen performance

A younger kid performance

Kindergarten 

Baking. Lots of baking



Music, lots of music

Learning to love the green smoothie.

A wonderful and informative field trip


A goal achieved

Elving

A gaggle of gigglers spent the night

Kinder-math, with a big sister's help

Fetch

St. Nicholas' generosity

A peaceful moment


Prepped for winter

Secret packages have all arrived.


Fun mail from far away friends.

 

I hope you are all being blessed in this holy season.

I'll be back soon.

~Mary Ellen~

St. Nicholas Eve

Not everyone has put out their shoes yet but the sleepy fellow guarding him is the really big news here.  You see everyone knows that Santa cannot deliver a dog on Christmas Eve due to that sleigh being so full. So he gave Dave and I a call and we picked up this new member of our family on Saturday afternoon.

His name is Axel and he is a fifteen month old black lab who is truly a rescue dog. He has lived almost his whole life at the shelter and his clock was ticking, if you know what I mean. 

They had had some trouble placing Axel because he is very active and needs a big yard (check) lots of attention (lots of people here for that) preferably a home with children (a bunch of them here) and a firm hand (I'm told Dave and I qualify).  

The trainer literally told us he had been dreaming of a family like ours for Axel.  It was one of the rare times, when out in the world, that homeschooling is considered a bonus. "You mean the kids will be home with him - all day?"  The guy was thrilled.

So home we brought him and he fit right in. I think that we are wearing him out truth be told. They thought he was energetic but these people had not met my twins or the three year old who are currently running circles around this guy. They are just so delighted to have him. 

People who know me are shocked. I am so not a dog person.  Really. But this guy, the look on his face in that pen, well, it was necessary that he be here with us. He had been a misfit for awhile not quite fitting in anywhere and misfit we do pretty well. We are Catholic homeschoolers after all. 

So in this season of love we took a chance on a misfit and like so many risks taken in the name of love, it is working out nicely. A few bumpy moments here and there (the mailman was pretty shocked by the sudden barrage of barking much to some evil children's delight  here - the hilarity in watching the poor guy jump his own height, honestly) but all in all we are all adjusting well. Even me.

Have a happy St. Nicholas Day.

If you need some inspiration for the day, check these posts at O Night Divine.

 

19 Reasons To Love Dave

1. He makes me coffee every morning.
2. He lets me steal his newspaper.
3. When I ask him if I'm moody he says no.
4. He always opens the car door for me.
5. He never says a peep about the money I spend on books.
6. He always stops at antique stores when I ask.
7. He is very supportive of my new exercise routines.
8. He eats whatever I put in front of him. Even if it is awful.
9. He takes me on dates. Often.
10. He never notices when I gain weight but always notices when I lose it.
11. He likes to take me shopping.
12. He plays in the backyard with his kids, every chance he gets.
13. He thinks it's important that I get a break.
14. He loves to cuddle sleeping babies.
15. He works really, really hard to make a beautiful life for us.
16. He lives a life of heroic virtue.
17. He prays with us everyday, without fail.
18. He thinks it's important to be protective of us all.
19. He loves me.

 

Happy Anniversary darling, may I claim your calendar for the next nineteen years?

I did it!

My first 5k.  God is good.