Graduation Laura

 We held Laura's graduation/baccalaureate ceremony with 3 other kids from our home school co-op.

Jacob W., L, Samuel F., and Matthew J.

Grandma and Grandpa G. 

Christopher, Bret, L., Austin, Caitilin

 We had an open house at a later date at our place.

Shakespeare has been a big part of her school life. 

Ann, Bill, Jo, Ron, Chris, Betty, Gaylin, David, Dave, Chad, Karen

 Bekah, Ivy

Anna, Abby, Nate, LeeAnna, Sarah, Les

Maren, Del, Stewart, Lorna, Al, Bekah, Roz

Left: Lisa, Margie, Ann, Linda Right: Janel, Ed, Lee, Jon, Larry

Les, Jim, Paula, Aldon, Brittney, Alex, Lyndsay

Caitilin, Ana, Margie, Teresa, Sandy and Rebekah

Mike, Curt, Dorian, Geoff, John, Blair

Gus, Nicholas, Harris, Jesse, Lissa

Bible School

We squeezed in Bible School last week, between Drama Camp (Musical!) and then Shakespeare Camp and swim lessons this week. Oh, and there was a wedding in the two days between!

 This was my little class-1st-3rd graders. We made these "find it" jars one day.

Fill clear jars with do-dads and beads and glitter. We also made a series of shrinky dink animals that fit into our theme and after baking them, added them to the mix in the bottle. We added a little Karo syrup (to make things stay suspended in the water better) and sealed the top.Then the kids could play I Spy.

Here is our little group this year. We had a few less than usual. Two of the kids in our younger classes had dads who these teachers taught in years past. Oy vey! Below is the oldest class with our two big girls who were music leaders for a few days.

80th and Father's Day

We had a little family supper for Mom's 80th birthday and Father's Day. Pretty good turn out of the kids and their families from around here.

Peter Rabbit Details

Here he is with his garden. More peg dolls I have made are here and here.

Peter Rabbit Swap

Not too long ago I joined a peg doll swap on We Bloom Here blog. This blog author is also a book author. She makes wooden peg dolls. Once in awhile she hosts swaps. I have seen them in the past and finally joined one.

I wanted to have a theme for the doll I was going to make, and decided to look into children's book illustrators. After Googling and listing my favorites and considering whose style would translate well to a peg doll, I decided on Beatrix Potter. My exchange was with a lady in Australia and one in Wales. I hoped they would both be familiar with Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit.

It didn't take long to make a little Peter Rabbit doll using a fine black sharpie and watercolor paint. I drilled a couple of small holes in the head and inserted some tiny ears cut from an old felted wool sweater. I didn't want to send just one tiny doll, so I tried to figure out an accessory to go with him. I wondered if I should make Mother Rabbit, or maybe the sibling rabbits? After paging through some children's books for ideas, I settled on making him a little garden.

I dug through my felted wool sweaters from my thrifting, and hand sewed a brown garden with green cabbage and orange carrots. I made the carrots so you can pick them and then put them back in and harvest them over and over again. I should have put some Velcro on the cabbages so they could be picked too, but I did not think of it until they were already sewn on.The version above also has a row of beets. I had to make two of everything to send and misjudged my rows on one. I added another row to even things out. Thus the beets. I kept this three row garden to go with my prototype Peter Rabbit.

I also sent along the first in an adult mystery book series based on the real life of Beatrix Potter, and a Peter Rabbit children's book. I ordered the books from paperbackswap.com. A great way to recycle and acquire books. This first peg doll swap was a fun exercise in creativity.

Drama Camp

June is a crazy month! We started off with Drama Camp for all three girls. W's play was a wacky reworking of the Beauty and the Beast story called Beauty and the Pirate Beast.

W. played one of two wicked, lippy step-sisters.

From left: John S., Jonathan F., Gabe E., Hannah N., Mrs. N., Abby B., Gemma S., Anna S, W.

Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat-Musical!!!

It's drama camp week again. We have been doing this for 14 years with our homeschool friends. This year grades 8-12 are doing their second musical. Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat is an ambitious and fun musical. It's a joy to watch the kids work, interact and enjoy their time together. Most of them have been doing drama camp since first grade and Shakespeare camp since they were in 8th grade. They do an amazing job together.

Poppies

Beautiful, happy poppies. Lovely in our yard every year.

The Actual Dinner and Dance

Supper is ordered from a mystery menu. Usually there is a theme and descriptions are made up for each individual item on the menu. This year's theme was "The 60's." Food, drink and utensils are described in vague, camouflaged terms and served in several courses. You make your choices from bewildering descriptions of food, so you may find you have ordered a dessert, a napkin, a salad and French fries, and so on for each course.

This year we had supper entertainment from a group of dads who played 60's music in keeping with the theme. The kids named them The 360's.

Ann (The Establishment) and Rainbow Dawn.

 

After supper, there are always some quirky group games to play as mixers. This year they had 6 teams that competed in elimination rounds passing a hula hoop down the line and back while holding hands. The winning team of the kids "played" against the adults at the end of the competition.

 The evening ends with a couple of hours of dancing. (L. and Charles)

 This was the first year M. was old enough to attend.

 Beautiful cherished buddies.

 Thomas and M.