Creativity

Presentation Points

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My family is not known for being particularly artistic. I don’t believe there is one of us that can wield any of the usual tools of creativity, such as colored pencils, paint, or clay. Occasionally though, one individual displays a small glimpse of normally dormant talent. This caught me off guard when I came upon into this sight:

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 Landon sewed this Gandalf costume for Halloween two years ago, but it rarely emerges from its protected hiding place. So I was a little confused to find Landon staring at me calmly in full wizard garb.

“Care for something to drink?”

I gave him a blank look, then thought I knew his plan. “Oh, you made coffee?” I asked hopefully.

“Just tea, thank you,” he replied, (I realized he was quoting the Lord of the Rings), and held out this:IMG_5993

The Tolkein-esque lettering on the front explain the Gandalf costume. The day before I had hinted to Landon that he should try to make a second tea bag organizer. He made the first a while ago, when he was more of a beginner at wood work, and it was unfinished and risked being ruined by any moisture.  I knew he had been practicing his carpentry skills lately, but didn’t realize he was quite this handy in the shop. 

2015’s Best Unposted

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Maria as Queen of France in the January 2015 homeschool one act play competition:

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Landon in his last one act play competition-his performance won a ‘best actor’ medal.

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I think he’d fail the marshmallow test:

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Apparently we invited a dwarf to Daniel’s birthday party:

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Claire slipped smoothly into her role as big sister. Benjamin is only one week old here!
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Landon assists Maria in making a Galadriel costume.

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Little brothers. Love.IMG_4576

Musician in training:

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Landon’s Graduation

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Congratulations Landon! You made it to the end of your homeschooling years.IMG_4644

We celebrated his graduation at the end of May in a group party with five other homeschool graduates.

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 A favorite lego creation was displayed on his table, combining two of his hobbies: building and music. I love the little details in the piece, like the lined ‘sheet music’ in front of the pianist.
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Here are several pictures from when he and I went out for his senior photo shoot:

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I snapped this adorable picture of my Grandpa and Claire at the graduation party. So cute!
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Return to Winter

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We were fortunate enough to have a very mild last half of January, so winter has been easier to take this year. I was even starting to worry that the spring bulbs would get a little confused after temperatures in the 40’s and  50’s had melted away almost all the snow. I didn’t need to worry, though, since it is now cold enough, and we have eight new inches of snow. Yesterday as I walked to class in the early morning the wind whipped my cheeks till they were red and numb. It was quite a sudden reminder that there are still at least two months of winter left.

There are a few things that make even the coldest days of winter pleasant. Landon has been working on mastering the preparation of frothed milk cappuccinos. He also likes to make his drinks into works of art which are wonderful to sip on a cold afternoon.

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We also brought a puppy home in October of last year. He’s a cairn terrier, the only breed of dog we’ve found that doesn’t give me allergies.  He’s very friendly with the little kids, and Claire is one of his favorite people, since she loves to give treats to him. We named him Watson, after Sherlock Holme’s faithful companion. The detective themed name suits him, for he always has his nose to the ground.

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Here Mom is holding him on her birthday in November, when he was so little!

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Cuddly is not the first word I would use to describe his bouncing personality, but as he is getting older he is starting to appreciate sitting with us on the couch. If you can catch him around one of his favorite nap times, he will stay on your lap for quite a while. He makes the perfect winter lap warmer.
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Jewelry Making

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For Christmas, Maria and I both were given kits that taught us how to make jewelry. We have both really enjoyed stringing  wire with beads and using needle nosed pliers to attach all the necessary metal to make it into real, wearable jewelry. We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that it didn’t take us long to go to Hobby Lobby and stock up on beads. We spent several afternoons designing and putting together an array of bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. This one was made from the kit:

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And this one I designed myself:

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Wedding Family Tree

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For Mom and Dad’s eighteenth wedding anniversary last week, Landon, Maria, and I put together this family tree as a present. Maria cut the ribbon, Landon did the calligraphy, (Boy, did Landon improve his calligraphy skills. He ended up rewriting the first names at the end, he was so much better) and I drove to Hobby Lobby for the materials (oh, how I lu-uuuve my drivers license).

 

A big thank you to my Grandparents who went through thick photo albums to find all of the photographs!

From Alexander

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Straight from his six year old heart!

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(Explaination: the figure on the right is me, and the one on the left is himself, and the hearts above his head is his love for me. How sweet!)

Daniel’s New Hobby

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Daniel has just figured out how to click duplos together, and now he will sit for an hour straight all by himself, taking these blocks apart and putting them back together. I”m sure he feels really special and grown-up, as the older boys love to play with them and guard their creations from Daniel, who would love to take them apart. I snapped these pictures when the baby was intent on his work of art.

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Pysanky

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J+M+J

A few weeks ago, Maria, Landon, and I had the privilege of going to a class were a woman gave a lesson in decorating pysanky. (pi-san-kee) Pysanky is a Ukrainian method of decorating eggs by dipping them in dye, covering the areas you want to be that color with wax, and then dipping it in another color and repeating the process. The finished result is gorgeous. Here are some photos of eggs not done by me to show you how elaborate these can become.

Pysanky is also very symbolic. This egg features designs of three lines meeting and three ovals meeting, and represents the Holy Trinity

Pysanky is also very symbolic. This lovely egg features designs of three lines meeting and three ovals meeting, and represents the Holy Trinity

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This egg has fish, a symbol of Jesus and Christianity since the Roman times.

This egg has fish, a symbol of Jesus and Christianity since the Roman times.

Now, for pictures of my egg. On our eggs, we did two different designs. On the first side, we did a design that was taught to us by the woman who was doing the class, and on the second side we did what ever we wanted. Here is the first side of my egg.

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The other side.

The other side.

 

A+M+D+G

Painting Class

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J+M+J

Maria and I went to a painting class this morning, and I found it a very fun experience. My painting turned out pretty well, but I have to admit, I feel a little like a cheater because the horse outline was traced on. If it hadn’t been, the horse would have been terribly misshapen. However, I learned a lot of useful painting techniques like highlighting and shadowing. Here are pictures of out paintings

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Mine.

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Maria and her painting.

A+M+D+G

Pocket Pillow

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J+M+J

My friend and I made two cute pillows together out of an old pair of jeans. This is mine. The ends of the pillow were hand sewn, the butterfly was fabric paint and micro-glitter, and the rest of the things were glued on.

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A+M+D+G