a new favorite

I've decided this is may favorite time of the day.

We all go downstairs to the basement.

We have family prayer and tuck all the kids in bed snug and warm.

Jeremy will read a chapter to us each night.

It is so relaxing to me to listen to him read.

We are all loving the book too.

What I love most is that it was Jeremy's idea.

A new family tradition that I am in love with!

our family library and learning studio

{family library}

This is becoming one of our most loved rooms in our home.  The kids do school work here, read, play games, puzzles, or anything else they need a quiet room for.  With 6 little ones running around a quiet room is hard to come by.  There is peace and serenity there.  I tried to make it beautiful and comfortable for the whole family.

{writing area}

In this area there is pencils, notebooks, envelopes, erasers, and other writing supples.  This is a favorite school work spot.

I found these wooden letters to help the little ones learn each letter and their shape.

I found this deep wooden dish and put beach sand in it with some shells.  It is a great way to help little fingers learn their letters and numbers by drawing them in the sand.  This is a family favorite for sure.  The sand to me is calming.



This is our alphabet and numbers wall.  I found on old stick down at the barn and glued the clothes pins.  I cut our the paper and drew the numbers and letter and then laminated them.  There are so many fun things you can do with this.  I got this idea from the book Growing Up Sew Liberated.  I am loving all my new books!

{the nature basket}

This was a hit this weekend.  We went camping to one of our {MOST} favorite places on earth!  We spend many hours at the lake and this was the kids top entertainment!  They went on adventures,  found bugs and looked at them under the jeweler's loupe, they drew in the Nature Notebooks and filled up the pages, we found beautiful flowers and of all different shapes, colors, and sizes and put them to dry in our flower press.  All the kids enjoyed the binoculars.  The perfect size for little hands.  It made my heart happy to see them using thier imaginations so freely.  So much happiness contained in this little wooden picnic basket!

{learning studio}

This is where we get use our {hands} to create!  Everyone {well, those who will not eat everything} love to come in here and freely paint, bead, sew, draw, craft, cut, glue, or anything else they want till there heart is content.  We work on science, history, and art projects here.  It makes me so happy to have a space that does not have to be cleaned up.  We can leave an undone project and come back!  I dearly love this room.  I love that we have 2 new spaces that anyone in the family can go and use their creativity.



two of our MOST {favorite} books

Hunter has been having so much fun with this book!  The projects are perfect for his age and years to come.  There are so many great things for boys to learn to do.  I love to see him carrying it around with him and find joy in a book! Plus it keeps his little mind busy doing good things!



{Project List}

*Making a Buckeye Bow {Archery}
*Home-Made Fishing Tackle
*Home-Made Boat

My girls are loving their book too!  Such lovely girls things to do in this book.  I love how it teaches what was done years ago.  My girls think the projects are so cool!  Can't wait to post a finish project.                                    

{Project list}

*Botany As Applied to Art (Painting using plant designs)

*Making Your Own Picture Frame

*Making Holiday decor

skunk, and a super cute project

Well, we've been having a problem with skunks lately, and the other night Jeremy stepped out on the back porch to turn off the water and came face to face with a SKUNK! So he runs in the house like a school boy, get Hunter's gun (which, by the way is HUNTER's SIZE) and goes out side like a kid and shots the skunk. Well, surprise it didn't spray. He was quiet happy with himself. Well, this morning we were not as lucky. Just picture the same scene happening again, but this time spraying. Our house filled with the smell. The girls came out of their rooms wanting the Febreeze. Jeremy said it wasn't a big deal, the smell will go away. I told him the smell wont go away for a while, but be won't be here to know!

I saw this in one of my online craft magazine www.northridgemedia.net and loved the idea, so I made one. It has been so nice in the mornings when I am getting the girls ready. I can see all the hair clips. I also made flower hair clips for school this year. I've been in a really crafty mood.