Here are the kids sculpting in art class...taught be ME, of course, because Nathan is busy sculpting!! I might be a natural born sculptor-who knew! Ha ha!
Here's Nathan working on Spock-to be installed in April in Vulcan, Alberta-the arms coming out the side of his head are from Acacia in the background
Caleb's party-notice the mohawks Nathan gave the boys while I was out shopping one day! Actually, he was going to shave them right off, but I thought they were pretty cute so they stayed for a couple of weeks. Now their hair is 2 mm all over, growing in for Nathan's next idea-lightning bolts.
Here it is the last week of January and I have to say, I'm even worse at posting on a blog then I thought I'd be! It's busy around here! I must say something about all we've been doing though. Let me think of what we've all been up to. Nathan is busy getting his foundry running again-did another pouring day last week where he poured some of other people's pieces. It went quite well but he's still working out the kinks. He's got the Navy's Homecoming sculpture in various stages-some in clay, some moulded, some even to the wax stage. He has a couple of guys helping him these days, who take turns doing work for him. He's just finishing up sculpting Spock-he's officially the first guy to sculpt Spock! It looks great and we might have a chance to meet Leonard Nimoy when he installs it in the town of Vulcan, Alberta in April-never mind that we had no idea who Leonard Nimoy was when they approached us about the project and we asked them to send us some photos of Mr. Nemoy! Now we're officially Trikkies...I mean Trekkies!! Ha ha-I just don't think we'll fool them, but it was kind of exciting to hear that CBS checked him out without us even knowing about it.
Caleb turned 8 this month and is working hard at grade 2. His reading is really coming along, so that's exciting for all of us! He had a dinosaur birthday party, which was a lot of fun-painting pteredon milk cartons, making volcanoes...lots of fun with friends. Nathan just fixed up an old bike for him that used to be a girl's bike and is now very much a boy's camoflague mountain bike. He looks like a small boy for such a big bike, but he's having fun. One funny thing that happened recently is that Uncle Jeff gave the kids a video on a home renovation and shortly after that, I went out to see them sawing up the grass under their tree fort in attempts to open a sod business! They're entrepreneurial-what can I say?!
Acacia has just learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, so she is very pleased to keep up to her brothers finally! She's out there practicing and riding all over. She is also a money maker-she sells pictures to anyone who comes over-so beware! She has a whole portfolio! She and Caleb have been sewing dolls lately out of fabric. Of course, Caleb doesn't call it a doll-it's simply "Johnny", but they both have been snipping and sewing these little felt dolls and little clothes for them. Levi is enthusiastic, but needs me to do most of the sewing, so his guy is really still in pieces.
Levi is racing up to 5 years old before I can hardly imagine. He just entertains himself and plays and bikes and explores and gets dirty and has a pretty good life, if you ask me! He's still my clown and can entertain anyone and is very good to his little sisters especially. I'll have to think of a funny story but I can't at the moment. He's still a cowboy and is busy watching the Roy Rogers 20 movie pack he bought with his own money!
Eden is a 'big gew' she tells me. She is talking up a storm, but is still sometimes difficult to understand. Last week she was insisting on something about "wo-er" which I figured out to be "a drink of water", but it turned out she meant "Roy Rogers". She may not be a clear talker-though she is getting more and more understandable-but she makes up for it in volume! She is also incredibly brave, which worries me a bit! She drags her little bike up to the top of the hill-not the very top since I told her she CANNOT ride down the concrete part by the house-so she has to stop at the sandbox, and then she races down the hill over the bridge with her hair sticking out behind her and a slightly terrified, slightly nonchalant look on her face. Then she calmly gets off her bike and says "You can't do that, can you, Mom?" "I can do dat. Charis can't. She's a baby. I big gew." She had a nervous little girl over last week who is just a couple of months older and is # 3 out of 4-but they're all girls. They both went on the tire swing and her little friend insisted on her Mom pushing them, and not any turning, and not too high as she sat holding tightly onto the chains. Eden stood up on the tire, held on with just one hand-which she pointed out to us that she was doing, stuck her back foot out and said "Wook at me-I can do dis. Charis can't. Higher, higher!" I guess that's what comes of being the girl who's trying to keep up with Levi!
Charis is 14 months now and she is not a baby anymore-even if Eden tells her she is. She is still not walking-my slowest walker, I think-but she could if she wanted to. She has taken the odd step here and there, and she can balance perfectly, standing up and sitting back down from the ground with no trouble. She just doesn't want to take the risk-which is just fine with us, especially given her older sister's example! Charis just doesn't seem to want to risk falling-but she doesn't really like crawling anymore either, so it won't be long. She's going to be a funny kid I think. She likes to clap and cover her eyes-but she's not too good at getting her eyes covered-it's pretty cute.
I am just along for the ride, keeping up with everyone the best I can! We bought a piano with some Christmas money, so we'll attempt to add that in. It turns out it's from around the 1870s the tuner thinks. I love that it's a beautiful antique, but it might not be so practical for the kids to learn on so I may have to look for something more tunable!
Caleb turned 8 this month and is working hard at grade 2. His reading is really coming along, so that's exciting for all of us! He had a dinosaur birthday party, which was a lot of fun-painting pteredon milk cartons, making volcanoes...lots of fun with friends. Nathan just fixed up an old bike for him that used to be a girl's bike and is now very much a boy's camoflague mountain bike. He looks like a small boy for such a big bike, but he's having fun. One funny thing that happened recently is that Uncle Jeff gave the kids a video on a home renovation and shortly after that, I went out to see them sawing up the grass under their tree fort in attempts to open a sod business! They're entrepreneurial-what can I say?!
Acacia has just learned how to ride her bike without training wheels, so she is very pleased to keep up to her brothers finally! She's out there practicing and riding all over. She is also a money maker-she sells pictures to anyone who comes over-so beware! She has a whole portfolio! She and Caleb have been sewing dolls lately out of fabric. Of course, Caleb doesn't call it a doll-it's simply "Johnny", but they both have been snipping and sewing these little felt dolls and little clothes for them. Levi is enthusiastic, but needs me to do most of the sewing, so his guy is really still in pieces.
Levi is racing up to 5 years old before I can hardly imagine. He just entertains himself and plays and bikes and explores and gets dirty and has a pretty good life, if you ask me! He's still my clown and can entertain anyone and is very good to his little sisters especially. I'll have to think of a funny story but I can't at the moment. He's still a cowboy and is busy watching the Roy Rogers 20 movie pack he bought with his own money!
Eden is a 'big gew' she tells me. She is talking up a storm, but is still sometimes difficult to understand. Last week she was insisting on something about "wo-er" which I figured out to be "a drink of water", but it turned out she meant "Roy Rogers". She may not be a clear talker-though she is getting more and more understandable-but she makes up for it in volume! She is also incredibly brave, which worries me a bit! She drags her little bike up to the top of the hill-not the very top since I told her she CANNOT ride down the concrete part by the house-so she has to stop at the sandbox, and then she races down the hill over the bridge with her hair sticking out behind her and a slightly terrified, slightly nonchalant look on her face. Then she calmly gets off her bike and says "You can't do that, can you, Mom?" "I can do dat. Charis can't. She's a baby. I big gew." She had a nervous little girl over last week who is just a couple of months older and is # 3 out of 4-but they're all girls. They both went on the tire swing and her little friend insisted on her Mom pushing them, and not any turning, and not too high as she sat holding tightly onto the chains. Eden stood up on the tire, held on with just one hand-which she pointed out to us that she was doing, stuck her back foot out and said "Wook at me-I can do dis. Charis can't. Higher, higher!" I guess that's what comes of being the girl who's trying to keep up with Levi!
Charis is 14 months now and she is not a baby anymore-even if Eden tells her she is. She is still not walking-my slowest walker, I think-but she could if she wanted to. She has taken the odd step here and there, and she can balance perfectly, standing up and sitting back down from the ground with no trouble. She just doesn't want to take the risk-which is just fine with us, especially given her older sister's example! Charis just doesn't seem to want to risk falling-but she doesn't really like crawling anymore either, so it won't be long. She's going to be a funny kid I think. She likes to clap and cover her eyes-but she's not too good at getting her eyes covered-it's pretty cute.
I am just along for the ride, keeping up with everyone the best I can! We bought a piano with some Christmas money, so we'll attempt to add that in. It turns out it's from around the 1870s the tuner thinks. I love that it's a beautiful antique, but it might not be so practical for the kids to learn on so I may have to look for something more tunable!
