Blogging from a cell phone...

...is a learned skill. :-P

Hootie!

Hootie is doing great. After we got home she explored the house and made herself at home. She's spent lots of time sleeping in my lap or on my footstool with her head propped on my leg. She spent about an hour in her crate today and didn't seem to mind too much after a little while. To top it off, Tristan is having no allergy problems whatsoever!

The easiest useful craft I've ever done...

At the Southeast Homeschool Expo, there was a lady from JoAnn was demonstrating the Knifty Knitter 2 from Provo Craft.

This is the coolest thing. Jasmine is making a green hat. She is having no trouble whatsoever. I've already made about five or so, from scrap yarn.

If making hats isn't your "thing" you can go back & forth instead of making circles and you'll have rectangles of all sizes. Make several long strips, sew them together, and make a blanket!

Jazzie is modeling NaNa's hat, and Tristan is very unhappy about modeling a hat that doesn't meet his specifications.


Next, Jazzie models her blue, sparkly hat that I made to match a scarf that I made a few weeks ago, and Tristan models *my* giant hat. The last picture is of my hat, over the laptop, showing (but not very well) the detail of the stitches. NaNa's, Jazzie's, and mine all have a band. Tristan's has a little roll at the bottom instead of a band. It's really cute, even if he doesn't like it.


Anyway, it's good, easy fun. Pick up a set!

KwikSewFreeSewingPattern-Purse.pdf (application/pdf Object)

KwikSewFreeSewingPattern-Purse.pdf (application/pdf Object)
I want to make this. It's really cute, and may use up some scraps.

First Day of School

We started school today, and I'm sure that I'd be killed if I didn't take pictures and post them immediately :D

School went great. Jasmine is helping me teach Tristan the basics of phonics which they both think is wonderful. Tristan's school day is a lot shorter than Jasmine's (1 hour vs. 4) so most of the time Jasmine and I are still one-on-one.


















Now, everyone who knows these two understands that they get pretty furious and/or silly after about the millionth picture. That's when I snapped the last two pictures. Jazzie made faces and Tristan had a complete fit... imagine that!

WHERE'S MY CABLE???

I will be posting another blog as soon as I find my camera cable. Grrr...

Two blogs in one day!!! Yaaay!!!

This is going to have a *lot* of pictures!
Tristan's birthday... he wanted his big train set up around the living room, other toys set up inside it, and to eat hamburgers in the middle of all of it. That's *exactly* what we did!











Jasmine, with her roses after her dancing recital.



















Jazzie, with her 5.5 pound bass.


















Tristan, the dirtiest boy ever, next to a picture of the dirtiest PawPaw ever.
















Me, and my almost-6-pound bass.














PawPaw, in a really good picture taken by Tristan.













A sorta cool picture of the cemetery, but not as cool as I had hoped...

My latest finds...

Stuff from Goodwill:
Cambridge dayplanner, Mary Higgins Clark's Loves Music, Loves to Dance, old metal Swingline stapler that I intend to paint red & dare anyone to touch, cool metal 3x5 index card box, and an old bottle/can opener. Also, I got a Ty beanie baby for Jasmine but she's already made it comfy in her room :D

Stuff from the Big Flag flea market:
A whole tackle box full of stuff for $5. I think that I'll string beads on the fly line backing.

Boy... that sounds more redneck
than I wanted it to...

New addition to the family!

This weekend we got a new little parakeet for our little boy. He is soooo excited and can't wait until his bird enjoys spending time riding on his shoulder. The cockatiels are very interested in their tiny next door neighbor, and even more interested in his millet spray. He is still a baby so we can't be sure that "he" actually *is* a he, but his nose has a slight blue color to it so we suspect that he is a male.

Update: He just started to sing a little! Only a few little tweets so far, but that's a start. He's getting used to us, and is talking to the cockatiels!

Yard Sale!

Here's some of the stuff that I got today. First picture is a cute horse sweater and little outfit from Talbot Kids, for my daughter.

Next is a cool plate and bowl by Johnson Bros. The pattern is Farmhouse Chic Silky Stripe, by Johnson Bros.

Next are assorted Christmas & holiday magazines, cookbooks, a plant book, and a copy of Red Dragon.

Then, also for my daughter, is a wipe-off board with the addition tables and a little what-not shelf, and a lamp that needs some work and a new shade. The cool stuffed tyrannosaurus rex is for my son.

The santa & pumpkin things are door hangings that need to be stitched, but I'm going to do something else with them.

The 3+ yards of Roy Rogers fabric was *finally* marked down to a reasonable price at Hobby Lobby, only $1/yard.

I also picked up new Easter baskets for both kids at Hobby Lobby, and matching ribbons for the pink one.

Last but not least, a model roller coaster that will take forever to put together.

Rainbows

Two weeks ago, we participated in our homeschool science fair. Tristan did a great experiment with fingerprints and proved that everyone doesn't have the same prints. He also proved that you can create quite a mess with a permanent ink pad and an even bigger one with powdered graphite and tape.

Jasmine's experiment was on how a prism makes a rainbow. We tried for days to get the good rainbow pictures that she needed for her display board, and finally succeeded on the day before the fair. Here are some of them, with my favorite one first:










We also decided that a right isosceles triangle makes a better spectrum than an equilateral prism, but that wasn't part of the project... just another observation.

...and now I have two.

I always said that I'd never blog. Then I started a blog. Then I decided that one mainly-about-tv blog wasn't enough so I started another one here. I have no idea if anyone will ever read this blog but I'm gonna write it anyway.

Anyway, I'm jenlar. I am a Christian wife and stay at home homeschooling mom of two children. I am married to the coolest, smartest cutest guy ever, and he's also my very best friend. We met in 1994 and quickly became best friends and were married in 1997. That's 12 years of best-friendship. It doesn't get any better than this!

I spend a lot of time homeschooling my kids every day, using the Abeka curriculum. It's the best! It gives a great balance between reading and the other subjects and I don't have to make my own lesson plans, which saves a *lot* of time. We are also involved with a very busy, huge homeschool group in our area. We get together several times a week for playing, learning, celebrating, and field trips.

When I am not homeschooling, I absolutely love action movies (think: EXPLOSIONS!!!) and horror movies. I even enjoy the occasional romantic comedy if it comes highly recommended from a reliable source. I'm also a slave to some television shows, like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House MD, 24, Bones and Supernatural. I'm currently reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and rereading/listeneing to the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm not currently doing a Bible study but my favorite ones are by Beth Moore.

What have I forgotten? Probably tons. But hey... I can make as many entries as I like!!!