My Father’s Dragon

This summer I wanted to focus on read alouds with Big Ladybug.  We just completed reading the Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon series by Ruth Stiles Gannett.  I would have to say we both enjoyed them.  The first book was our favorite, followed by the third book. 

It’s about a boy’s travels to rescue a dragon, the animals they encounter on their way, and their return journey back home.

I found a free lapbook on Homeschool Share that goes with the first book.  It was rather large, so I downsized it and we added a few of our own items.

Any suggestions on what we should read next?

Supergirl!

The theme this year at Vacation Bible School was……….

Jesus is my superhero!

Some of the crafts throughout the week were making pieces and parts of a superhero costume.  On the last day they dressed up in their outfits. 

Here is our “Supergirl!”

Sketch Tuesday: Something Spicy

 

Assignment:  Sketch a spice or spice bottle.

“Two Spice Bottles”

Big Ladybug has not been introduced to drawing still-life art yet, so this was a great assignment for her.

A VERY LONG time ago I used to have time to sketch, paint, create, and I loved it.  So I decided to put everything else aside and join her this time.  I pulled out the graphite pencils and kneaded eraser I picked up for her several months ago, and we had a little art lesson.  I am a little rusty, but I was able to show her how to create depth and shade.  She practiced shading, but enjoyed kneading the eraser more than anything.  She was also surprised that her mom could draw a little.

 

 

Check out the other spicy sketches at Harmony Art Mom.

Sketch Tuesday: At the Beach

 

Assignment this week:

Something that lives at the beach

“A Day at the Beach”

Check out more Sketch Tuesday at Harmony Art Mom.

Sketch Tuesday: Playground

 

Assignment: 

Sketch something at the playground.

 

“Little Girl at the Park”

Check out all Sketch Tuesday entries at Harmony Art Mom.

Sketch Tuesday: Tails

 

Assignment:  Something with a tail.

“Beautiful Day”

 

Need a little art in your homeschool?

Check out Harmony Art Mom.

Hop on over to Discover Their Gifts to check out their great Sketch Tuesday.

Sketch Tuesday: Fruit

 

Assignment:  Sketch something you see in fruit salad….yum!

 

Check out more Sketch Tuesday here.

Sketch Tuesday: Watch Out for the Claws!

Harmony Art Mom’s Sketch Tuesday assignment this week was:

“Something with Claws”

“Miss Bear, With A Flower in Her Hair”

This is Big Ladybug’s girly bear coming out of her cave.

Hop on over to Discover Their Gifts to check out their claw drawings :)

And for more claw sketches stop by Harmony Art Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Cows

My friend Katy helps her family raise cows and right now their herd is having a bunch of babies.  She said so far hey have about 30 calves, and there have been 2 sets of twins!  The momma cow of each set has decided to only care for one of her babies, so they are bottle feeding the two little ones left behind. 

Katy invited the kids to come out and help her with the morning feed.  So right when we woke up this morning we jumped in the van and headed out.  The girls were very excited!

They watched Katy make some bottles and off we went.

Katy said they didn’t have names, so Big Ladybug was SOOOO excited to have the honor.  She named this little guy Bailey.  He is around 1-month-old and had no problem chugging his bottle.

 

This little guy was so cute!  He loved licking.

(Maybe that’s why they got along so well, Little Lizard loves licking everything too!)

 

 

 

 

This is baby calf, Ava.  She was born yesterday.  She was adorable, and the kids were excited to get in there and help to feed her.

 

 

 

Little Lizard really liked her, too :)

 

 

 

 

Thanks Katy for letting us come and get in your way help you feed the baby calves this morning.  We had a great time!

(Oh and I feel bad I didn’t get many pictures of Little Ladybug enjoying herself.  I was very busy chasing this little guy around!)

Sketch Tuesday: Sparkle, Sparkle Jewelry

 

Assignment:  Sketch a piece of jewelry.

 

“Pretty Jewels”

Check out more jewelry sketches at: Harmony Art Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Walk in the Woods

Sketch Tuesday: 3 Ring Circus

Do you need to add a little art to your homeschool?

If so check out Sketch Tuesday hosted by Barb at Harmony Art Mom!  She introduces a new sketch topic every week, and you only participate when you can :)

Big Ladybug’s assignment this week: 

“something you see at the circus”“

“Circus Puppy”

Check back next week for………..

“Sparkle, Sparkle Jewelry”.

 

You can look at all of this weeks entries at Harmony Art Mom.

Sketch Tuesday: The Letter H

 

Assignment:  Something that begins with the letter H.

“Happy Hippo”

Next week’s assignment:  3 Ring Circus

Check out all the entries for this week at Harmony Art Mom.

Sketch Tuesday: Feed the Birds

 

Here is Big Ladybug’s art assignment for the week:

“a bird feeder with or without the birds.”

 

“Momma and Baby Bird”

Check back next week for:

“something that begins with the letter H.”

You can jump over to Harmony Art Mom to see all of this weeks entries!

 

Sketch Tuesday: Disney

 

The topic this week was:  “something Disney.”

Grandma came over and taught Big Ladybug how to use soft pastels.  She had a great time and loved working with them. 

 

“Ariel Swimming in the Sea”

Check back next week for a ‘sketch of a bird feeder, with or without birds.’

Big Ladybug and I have really enjoyed participating in Harmony Art Mom’s Sketch Tuesday.  Check it out here.

Sketch Tuesday: Down on the Farm

Big Ladybug’s art assignment was…

                            “something that grows on a farm.” 

“Happy Horse”

She really enjoyed making this watercolor.  You can also check out all the other entries for this week here.

Her assignment for next week is…..

“something Disney.”

Sketch Tuesday: Anchors Away!

Big Ladybug’s assignment this week was to……

“sketch something on a ship or boat.”

She chose to draw two drawings.

Here is her ‘something on a boat drawing.’

“Fishing Fun”

And here is her ‘something on a ship’ drawing.

“The Pirate Captain”

Check out all the other Sketch Tuesday drawings here.

Check back next week for “something that grows on a farm.”

Sketch Tuesday: Science Study

The assignment this week was…….

“something we studied in science.”

We brainstormed what we have studied so far this year, and Big Ladybug wanted to draw so many things. 

She narrowed it down and put her own little spin on it, a volcano with an ant farm in it.

 

“Volcano Ant Farm”

Check out all the entries at Harmony Art Mom.

Big Ladybug’s Birthday

Well Big Ladybug is now 7 years old!!!  It is hard to believe, time sure does fly by!  The cake is always the focus of the big day, so she gets to pick the kind of cake that she wants.  She has always loved dogs, acting like a dog, and playing with her stuffed dogs, so I was not surprise when this was the theme she chose.  We were browsing the internet for dog cake ideas and we stumbled upon this. She ran around the house so excited she found the perfect birthday cake, which was also in her new favorite color, blue!

(In this pic she is sporting her new fancy dress and sparkly tennis shoes, so why take off your bowling socks first?)

I have dabbled into cakes a little, only on the kid’s birthdays I might add, so I am by no means a great cake maker.  I have only used fondant once or twice and it takes me FOREVER to make my cakes.

So as her birthday approached, our family was recovering from respiratory infections so our lives were “out of sorts.” Little Lizard had just started meds for his double ear infections, and he was very mommy-fied, I couldn’t do anything without holding him.  The plans for the cake were turning into ordering one from the local grocery store, until I thought to call Aunt Geri to come and save me.

Aunt Geri is AWESOME at making cakes!  Not to mention, she is crazy and thinks it is fun!  She was happy (or at least seemed to be :) to come and save the day.  She also has a bunch of great handy cake making tools to make it a little easier.

So I had everything baked and ready to go, and she went to work.  I learned so much from her, not sure I could reproduce it, but learned a lot! 

We put all the kids to work, Big Ladybug, my nephew, and even a couple neighbor kids that stopped by, coloring the fondant.

 

I drew some dog stencils and we cut them out of the fondant.  Geri made some buttons and the number 7 and whaalaa! …. 6 hours later, we had a completed cake and cupcakes.  It took a long time, but we all enjoyed ourselves.  It turned out pretty good too!

       

Big Ladybug LOVED it!

We invited our family and friends to join the birthday celebration at the roller rink.  We had a great time!  It was fun to see everyone out there skating, or at least trying to!  Here are some photos of the party.

The birthday girl!

Little Ladybug LOVED roller skating!

Hubby, me, and our Little Lizard.

My sisters and I.

My brother and his great kids.

  

  

Thank you Aunt Monica and Aunt Geri for all of your help!!

Thanks Aunt Nicole for taking tons of pictures for me!

Thanks to everyone else for coming to support Big Ladybug!