beyond Black Oak...

Letter E Update

2012-09-30T21:32:00.001-04:00

A little late, but here are pictures from e week in our homeschool. I'll edit soon with info! :)

Wrapping up "Letter A"

2012-09-12T00:12:00.003-04:00

Wrapping up "A" Week

I gave Jonas strips of red paper to cut into squares. Some were big, some were little, and very few were actually "square" but he did great, and loved cutting. Then I put glue all over the apple and he put the red squares on top, then the stem, leaf, and finally an "A."

Proud of his project! :)

Stamp painting with apples...

Pre-Writing Practice Pages from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com These are laminated, for re-use, and completed with a dry-erase marker. :)

He really enjoyed this dot page. He used a bingo marker from Dollar Tree. Paper from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

Size sorting cards - small to large

Matching Capital A's and Lowercase a's...

My mom sent Jonas a package with "A" items inside that she cut out on her cricut, or stamped. Apple, Aa, ants, "Adam", alligator, airplane, and and anchor... so sweet of her!

A on our palm tree...we read Chica Chica Boom Boom together and when we finished our "A" study he put an A on the tree. We will add a letter each week. :)

"A" Alligator he assembled and I cut out... :)

He did this independently (I told him what color to do capitals, and he did all of those, then he did all the "little" a's.

Page from his "Comprehensive Curriculum" Book from Sam's club.

Jonas added Apple stickers on the tree...He was supposed to cut out apples and glue, but mommy was a tad LAZY...

Jonas looked for A's in this poem from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com with the dot marker from Dollar Tree. He did awesome! :)

More Airport Field Trip Pictures:

Jonas and Luke watching planes take off and land. ;)

Jonas and Emma greeting each other...

and holding hands. :) They sure are sweet little love birds! He also LOVES his zebra...takes it all over the place! :) (and apparently his play "drinking glass" from IKEA)

Jonas and Luke! :) Hard to believe they are only four months apart in age...

All the guys!

My sweet dimple man! :) He is so sweet! Had to give him a little shout out since Jonas got most of the attention this week on the blog! :)

More Letter A Fun!

2012-09-05T17:05:00.001-04:00

Today was really fun! We started the day with a field trip to the airport. We watched planes take off and land. Then, when we got too hot we went inside the airport (mommy visited Starbucks) and went to see Luke's great grandpa who works there. He had special prizes for all the kids. Airplanes for Luke and Jonas, a car that lights up for Jax, and a zebra stuffed animal for Miss Emma. It was so nice of him to do that! More photos will come later. The kids even got up on the scales and weighed themselves. :)

Jonas on the scale...51 lbs! Luke on the scale...34 lbs (I think...)

Luke and Jonas watching the planes from the inside windows...much cooler than the hour we watched outside! :)

Their cute little US Airways planes from Luke's great grandpa! :)

When we got home we did a few more letter of the week activities and some that I made up.

This is a pre-writing practice sheet from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com that I laminated so he can reuse it. He completed it with a dry erase marker. There is a back to it (and on her site, there are three pages, I only printed two), which he also did. He will be trying again throughout the week.

I had Jonas work on separating the green apples from the red, then we worked on making a simple pattern. This is his mean face. He wasn't really mad, he just thinks it is funny to do that face, then a happy, then back to mean, over and over and over and over and over...lol.

This is a playdough mat I found online. You are supposed to add apples to the tree and petals to the flower. It was found on pinterest...not sure the original site, sorry! And sorry to the source, if anyone knows where it is from, let me know and I'll give credit! I basically printed, laminated and let him play. I rolled balls of playdough for him and he squished them in place, then he just played with the playdough. :) He liked it. I am kind of picky about playdough. I bought a brand new set for school since he mixed his last set, so for now he gets only one color at a time. There is a crocodile picture on the back of this one. He gave him teeth (and covered his body) with playdough, then we cleaned up....and he cried because he wanted to keep playing with playdough.

You can't really tell what this is, but it is a lacing game I made. I got a length of rope cut at Lowe's then I cut some pool noodles into beads (from Dollar Tree). He usually just laces all the giant beads in any order, but today I told him to only use the red ones. Then we counted them.

We also played a hopscotch game with numbers. He jumped on top of the numbers (large 9x12 construction paper laminated numbers I made) as we counted, then we tried the "calling out a number and he go to it" game, but we are still working on recognizing numbers. :) He did okay, and thought it was great fun to jump on my paper numbers. He will catch on soon I think.

That's all we did today...well that, plus "group time" (calendar, name, address, phone number, bible verse, etc) and him coloring with dry erase markers on the easel. He insisted. :)

Jonas's First Day of Homeschool

2012-09-04T16:15:00.000-04:00

Jonas's first day of school was great! :) He didn't really want to get out of bed, but once he got moving, we got a lot accomplished before little brother got out of bed.

This is Jonas on his way up stairs this morning for school.

He was so excited, this was his idea of a school pose! :)

Putting Dot magnets on the A page and apple tree...we ended up moving this to a metal cookie sheet so he could sit down. The magnets weren't really strong enough for the fabric covered board.

Working hard to cover all the dots! (Printable from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com)

Number sponge game I made up using a chart from Dollar Tree (it also came with an ABC chart, 2 for a $1!). I wrote with sharpie on the sponges (also from Dollar Tree, $1 for a 10 pack), and he had to match the numerals with the chart.

A better photo of the built-in-bookcases my talented husband built! Craft supplies are on the left, homeschool stuff is on the right!

Close up of my "Letter of the Week" Curriculum binders (full of printables from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com and other places too) and manipulatives bin. So far all it has are bingo markers (they make dots when you press them on paper), pom poms with magnets, and clothespins. There are other manipulatives on the shelves as well!

This is all the paperwork Jonas did today! We still have a long way to go in the handwriting department, but not bad for day one! There is also an app on the iPad we played today that I think will help in this department, it is called ABC's of God. Check it out! Really cool, and worth $2! The top row of pages are from a book from Sam's...preschool comprehensive curriculum. Bottom color sheet from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com (many of her printables are free!). The bottom right paper is just a piece of a note pad from Carson Dellosa. I gave him apple stickers for cooperating and doing papers. You can't tell, but he actually stacked a lot of his stickers instead of spreading them out.

Pretty proud of all his papers. :) He made sure daddy came upstairs to check it all out. :)

Left: Close up of manipulatives (need to fix the labels... :( ) Right: A view of the "classroom"

Left: The palm tree I made to go with "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", he adds a letter to the tree as he masters it. Right: "New" Pottery Barn table from Yard Sale! : ) And some apple decor for the week of "A".

This is how I clean up each night: During class, I move is stuff around so his desk faces the wall and the easel is out of the way...but it fits nicely to tuck it away like that so we don't trip all over it walking through. The "classroom" has to triple as an office and guest room, so there is alot up there!

While you can see the main classroom wall, I will explain what we did first. We went over the date, he added the "4" card for September 4th. We went over how to say the date (Month, day, year) and then he repeated the days of the week. I started teaching him the days of the week song. We discussed yesterday, today, tomorrow, and added a card based on what he thought the weather was like... he chose sunny, which was right! :) We then talked about his name, address and phone number. Then we worked on his new bible verse. They go along with the letter of the week. He already learned Romans 3:23, so this week we just started Proverbs 15:1 since it went with A too. And we need to work on it... ;) We said phrases back and forth while throwing a beanie baby back and forth. He was distracted by that so he didn't realize how many times we did it. Without doing the beanie baby toss game he would have quit cooperating really quickly I think. Then we went over A says "ah", the phrase and the song. *I think that's all we did for group time today*

Close up of the number chart and sponge game I made up...Jonas is really good at it!

I had one set of apple cards (with numbers) in this pocket chart stand, and one extra set. Jonas took the second set and matched it with the first (he put the apples behind the one in the chart).

Concentrating! :)

Working on his magnet sheet (www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com)

Shape matching game (printable at www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com). He could pretty much do this alone. I just reinforced by asking him the names, then calling out a shape and having him point to it...

Ant number matchup from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com (printable) - he had to match the number with the number of dots on the ant's body. He needed lots of help with this.

He did this sponge game over and over... :)

Coloring his RED page... he insisted on markers. ;)

Lacing card from www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com. I had him line up blocks on top of the shape instead of lacing it. Eventually we will make patterns instead of just a random row of blocks, but it is the first day.

I put random letters on our magnet board and had him search for the "A's" He did great.

After he found the A's, I had him look for any other red magnets. Again, success! :)

Proud of his papers! :)

Mommy made a mess... No really, I dumped out his square block manipulatives (they are foam, from Dollar Tree, this is two sets, so 100 pieces). I had him search for the red (he has trouble with colors). He did great....

His breakfast that he ate for snack (not much of a breakfast kid...)...Alphabits cereal to go along with our "Letter of the Week" Curriculum from (C)www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com After snack, he watched a Bible DVD... :)

After lunch, he played some iPad games, ABC's of God, Tozzle, and Shape Builders. All three are great! Then he and I did an apple craft (he had to cut squares/shapes out of red strips and practice cutting), and then we did some apple print painting. More pictures to come, but those were just some highlights of our day! :) Anyone care?

Rice

2012-08-31T01:03:00.001-04:00

I've been working on getting some sensory play things ready for our homeschool. Tactile things for them to play with and experience (but their purpose is hard to explain without sounding weird), and today I dyed rice and noodles. They will be good for learning colors, art projects, and sensory play. I will post more info in this later, with pics of the kids in action. I am quite proud of the rice. It was so easy! Recipe to come...

Getting Ready for school!

2012-08-29T02:47:00.001-04:00

My awesome husband built me some great new built in bookshelves in our bonus room. They are slap full of homeschool supplies and more crafting junk than anyone needs. :) I love them! Didn't take me long to fi them up. Jon says that he could build me a warehouse and I'd still need more space. But here's to trying to weed out! Enjoy the sneak peek. More school previews coming soon!

OCD Strikes Again...

2012-07-19T12:46:00.001-04:00

This time it hit the linen closet. Featuring nice new homemade labels and dollar store plastic bins (and a few old ones I already had).

The blue and green baskets are new. If I had a bigger linen closer they'd be straight across, but they work as is. Not hard to find what I need and not stuff I get into all the time. I clipped laminated labels on all my sheets, indicating size. Nothing more annoying than unfolding the wrong size. Baggie of extras is clipped to the bigger basket of sheets.

The medicine was already organized for the most part. Just cleaned out old stuff and relabeled. Got rid of expired sunscreen and scents I didn't like. :)

Hope you like the after, too bad I forgot the before photos! Take my word for it, the sheets and small towels were a mess!

Birthday Party Prep...

2012-05-08T00:49:00.000-04:00

Before the actual party we did a "cake smash" session with Jaxon. I wanted to incorporate an aqua and lime green color scheme with the "owls" that showed up at his party. Above is the "green" layer of the cake batter. :) Looks like slime!

Aqua cakes baking in the oven...

Final cake smash cake...before the smash of course! ;)

After the cake smash session, we cut out the smashed up part and this is what was left of the cake. It really was beautiful how each sliced was layered in bright colors! We ate a few thin slivers, then so as not to waste so much cake, we took the leftovers to our Connec+een Sunday School class.

This is the actual party cake. It was the same concept with layered colors in the layers. I did to a two tiered cake with fondant (first try for that = success!) accents and a fondant/cake owl topper. There was a mini-smash version for his actual birthday too, with matching owl topper, but he wouldn't smash it! :(

Party cake insides...

Some other party planning details that were done for Jaxon's party were

WATER BOTTLES:

I made the labels in "Pages" and hot glued them on water bottles. They weren't waterproof so we didn't immerse them in water/ice, but chilled them pre-party and set them down in a bucket of ice. Easy and cheap. I bought the owl clip art and rights to print it off Etsy.com.

GOODIE BAGS:

These are some pieces I put together to make the owl bags.

I cut out hearts on my cricut machine and crimped them with a fiskars crimper for beaks. I just put the "eye" layer on top of the "humps" so that they looked like beaks.

Final owl bags...the pupils were done all different. Some googly, some looking left/right, some regular, etc. Girl owl bags got bows.

PRIZES:
Inside the "treat bags" I decided to put something useful. So I cut out labels out of vinyl and attached them to bottles and cups for the kids. :) I also included cake pops for the kids.

Older kids got water bottles, younger ones got sippies. More useful than trinkets and candy. :) And I got the cups on sale.

BANNER:
I made this (with help from Naomi) to hang on Jaxon's high chair for his cake smash/party.

More to come later....hat, cake pops, how I made the cake topper, etc. ;)

Up-cycled...

2012-04-30T15:31:00.001-04:00

The littles birthday is officially over, so the balloon birthday wreath had to come down. I wanted something new and "fresh" (kind of ironic that I used silk flowers...) without spending any money. Good thing I'm a pack rat! I had some silk flowers that I had in an arrangement at one point on top of a tv armoire. I saved the florals and greenery because I remember my dad spending bookoos on it. :) Not to mention it was in great shape. I found some leftover foam and stuffed it in a door hanger basket from southern living at home (bought it on special for my birthday three or so years ago and never used it). Put it all together in about fifteen minutes. I like it for now...I'll need something brighter for summer but hey, this new "wreath" cost me no "new" money! Yay!

2012-03-26T14:07:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter!

I know it is a few weeks early, but I wanted to share a few of our sweet little Easter pictures. A friend/client of mine had a sweet white bunny named "Ace" and she brought him to share with us for our photoshoot (right after her little cutie!). She also picked up some baby chicks for us! They were so adorable. Apparently, Jaxon thought they were edible. :)

I loved the little chicks. However, I did not realize how hard it was to keep them alive. It makes me a little bit sad to look at these pictures now, since three of our sweet baby chickens are no longer with us. :( I've been super paranoid since starting to "lose" chicks about kids holding them for photos. So far it has worked okay to let them gently hold them or just "be" in the photos unheld. I seriously feel like I have five children now...ha ha! They are definitely spoiled little things! They will be going to live on a farm really soon--since they are starting to get bigger and grow feathers. They won't manage well in our neighborhood, even though they are having fun in the backyard today. :)

2012-03-15T14:00:00.000-04:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Jonas Andrew! 02/25/09 changed my life in the most wonderful way! God gave me and Jon a bouncing, constantly in motion, hilarious, hard-headed, stubborn first-born {like his mama}, wonderful, perfect, crafty, super smart, but still not potty-trained all the way daddy's boy! :)

Jonas isn't really much of a picture taker....it takes some prodding and bribing, but he did pretty good this day. Maybe he really is growing up! :) I always say it was God's sense of humor, giving a child who hates being photographed/refuses to give natural/normal looking smiles to a photographer mommy. ;)

Jonas is 42 inches tall and 47 lbs...as of his 3 year old checkup! Right at the 100th percentile...maybe a little above. ;) Very solid. Strangers constantly say, "He's only three?", which is a little frustrating since he says he's four and sometimes we want him to eat free....ha ha! :)

Holding tight to his balloons! He loved them!

It was very hot, so bless his little red faced heart....lol. Jonathan and I were discussing how we always looked sweaty and red-faced in photos as a kid. {add sweaty messed up bangs in my case} I guess he got it honestly from both sides. He is still a little stud though! :) You can see his fingers still clinched around his balloons.

I can't believe my first born son is already three years old! Time sure does fly. He wishes it would fly a little faster...he tells everyone he's four (almost to the point that I believe him!). ;)

A soft answer...

2012-03-15T10:25:00.001-04:00

I struggle with my response sometimes. Usually this is aimed toward my husband or Jonas. I'm not proud of it, but I realize there are others out there like me. That have a shorter fuse toward those we care for the most. Well, Jonas is much like I am in his personality. Strong natured first born. Sometimes loud and stubborn. I find more often than I'd like to admit that I am getting on to him. And not always in the kindest way possible. I've been specifically praying this week that God would help me respond to him in the right ways. Especially when he is being repeatedly disobedient (reminding me of the children of Israel). Well it has really been a burden. I don't want to "snap" or yell or nag or fuss. I want to have effective soft discipline. You know, those quiet, discreet moms you see that softly almost inaudibly tell their kids something and their kids obey? I want that. I want a peaceful demeanor. Especially in public. I don't want to be one of those ladies you hear screeching across Walmart uelling at their kids (or hubby) I don't want eyes of pity directed toward my kids because their mom embarrasses them in public. Unfortunately I am loud and gaudy and shorter fused than I'd like. So this is a huge prayer request.

Anyways. The reason I am sharing all this is because I seriously just started "praying the verse" about having a soft answer that turns away wrath. I didn't know the reference or anything. Then after I finished my John study for the day and prayed I decided to read the Proverbs for today (chapter 15). First verse, "A soft answer turners away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." How cool is that?!?!?

Who says God doesn't guide us in even the little things? Like showing us just what to turn to in our Bibles!

:) just thought I'd share one of my more personal struggles and how awesome my God is! Have a great "soft answer" kind of day!

The Wilds

2012-03-15T09:42:00.001-04:00

Jon and I spent a refreshing time at a youth workers conference in Brevard, NC last week. There were lots of great sessions that gave us ideas and spiritual encouragement. We met some new friends and had some great time together. Might have had a twinge too much coffee. :)

Here I go being CHEAP again...Laundry Detergent

2012-03-15T00:40:00.001-04:00

People do it all the time.

I was first introduced to it when I saw the Duggar's do it on TLC.

I planned on doing it for a long time.

What am I blogging about? Making homemade laundry detergent!

I did it once before, and failed...here's that quick story:
The first time I decided to make my own detergent, I was looking for a cloth diaper friendly version. I got the recipe from diaperswappers.com. It was basically the same recipe I used this time, only I had been convinced that I needed lye soap (so I paid a fortune for some off etsy, it does smell nice and came already grated = score!). So that was one downer...the $$$ I spend on homemade, natural, organic, lye soap. Second downer - someone incorrectly told me that I could use baking soda interchangeably with washing soda. Since I couldn't find washing soda, I used the baking counterpart. So I had a huge batch of lye soap + borax + baking soda. Never worked right, nor dissolved right, so it sits on my laundry shelf. I have since found a recipe that adds a few other ingredients to that mixture (though I don't know what exact measurements I used...) that I might try to add and fix that wasted product.

But enough with the failure! I did it...I finally did it...I made liquid laundry detergent--enough for TEN WHOPPING GALLONS of detergent!

Here's the low down scoop -
One bar Fels Naptha
One Cup Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax
Water

I watched a YouTube video of the mom over at www.themorristribe.com make it before I did. She had a lot of quick pointers and tidbits. There are tons of recipes out there, but this one was quick, inexpensive, and it worked for that mom of ten kids, so I figured it could work for me too. I wanted to do the liquid version since the powder had a hard time dissolving in cold water, and I wash 98% of my laundry on cold.

Here's what you're supposed to do:
1. Grate your soap (Fels Napth, Dr. Bronners, Zote, Castle). You can do this by hand or with a food processor. {Mrs. Morris always had separate things for use with detergent--a reserved pot, spoon, grater, etc. I used my food processor and dishwashed, then hand washed it, so I think it would be fine to use things for more than one purpose...at least I hope it is. I did reserve a spoon and grater just because I had extras and I hated cleaning the grater.)

2. Cover the soap with water (recipe says 4 cups, but who cares??) and melt the soap. Stir pretty much constantly and just watch it until it is melted.

3. Pour into a 5 gallon bucket, and add some water.

4. Mix powders. ***Be careful not to inhale this. I had a headache the rest of the day after making this. Pretty caustic. I will probably do my mixing outside next time. Just FYI.
5. Pour half your mixture into another 5 gallon bucket and then fill both buckets to the top and stir.
6. Let sit overnight. Will gell up, just whisk. Pour into jugs or store with lid in bucket.

Use 3/4 cup per load for top loader (that is for very large, dirty loads. I use that much all the time. This is not a sudsing/bubbly detergent. Apparently that is an additive that producers of detergent add so you think it cleans better)

What my final product looked like: {pre-overnight gel stage) After this was done, I set it in the garage overnight. It got gelled and lumpy. I just put 1/2 water, 1/2 detergent in my bottles everytime I run out. :)

Some adaptations I made and some questions maybe you can answer:
1. Instead of dividing into two 5 gal buckets to make 10 gallons, I just filled up one 5 gal bucket and decided as I used it, I would then dilute it 1/2 detergent 1/2 water. Same difference, only a thicker detergent in bucket. Anyone know a reason why this should be a problem?
2. Like I wrote above, I will probably do the mixing outside next time.
3. I have heard some people say that you should use distilled water so that no mildew or bacteria grows. I am thinking soap is naturally cleansing/antibacterialish so why would that grow? It doesn't grow in my other cleaners.
4. Question for you detergent making mommas: Why even dilute my mixture? Why not make my 5 gallon bucket and instead of diluting it every time I refill my bottle at my washer, would it not work to treat it as a "concentrate" and just use 1/2 the amount? The washer will fill with water, so why dilute it? Does that help for some reason? I was thinking if I use 3/4 a cup for a load diluted, I could just leave it undiluted and use 1/2 as much. Thoughts?
5. Is 3/4 cup too much? I don't see how a few tablespoons is enough in a front loader and I need so much. But it is cheap so if this is okay, I'm fine with it. I would love to hear some thoughts. :)

Okay, so results? I am completely pleased. My clothes come out not overly scented but smelling clean and fresh. I think it cleans just as well as store bought. If I want heavy smell I just use fabric softener or dryer sheets for scent. I think it was a total success. I still have a few questions about technique but overall I am pleased...and even though I keep saying I'm going to buy one more bottle of store bought so I have a nice big recycled jug to use for my homemade detergent, I can't bring myself to spend the money when this great homemade detergent costs just pennies per load! WOW!

Thanks for reading!

Creating Fossils...

2012-03-05T00:25:00.001-05:00

I saw a post on pinterest that led me to another site with kid ideas...she has TONS of great ideas, and I love how she embraces messy ideas for kids. Inspired me to let Jonas do more crafty things!!

Check her out here: http://www.playcreateexplore.com/2010/09/make-your-own-dinosaur-egg-or-treasure.html, you can click the post title as well to get there!! Awesome resource for moms and teachers!

The basic directions included used coffee grounds, salt, sand, flour and water.

What you Need:

She mentioned doing this recipe x4, so that is what I did. Here's what my "mudpies" looked like:

The pan ready for baking...I was rushing it a bit...too excited! :)

The mini dinos that I put inside the fossils...

What they looked like post baked...I let them dry the rest of the week in the air, so they ended up all the lighter gray/brown color. Not wet in the center. :) My brother asked if they were cookies (gross!), I on the other hand thought they resembled dark rocks, or maybe cow patties...lol. Who'd want to eat that?

For a smaller batch, use:

•1 cup flour

•1 cup used coffee grinds (got mine from starbucks!)

•1/2 cup salt

•1/4 cup sand

•3/4 cup water

•mixing bowl

•small plastic toy dinosaurs or other treasures

She suggested letting the coffee grounds dry out. That might make it work better, or smell less like coffee, but I did not do this. I figured if you're adding water to the mix, why set it out to dry? So I didn't. In fact, my sand was from our sandbox, that was wet from the lid not being replaced, so wet coffee grounds + wet sand = I didn't add much water...

Directions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

2. Slowly add the water and knead with your hands until the mixture is like bread dough.

(I did not dry anything out, so I just mixed it all and added more water slowly.)

3. Once you have moldable dough, press it around your dinosaur or whatever treasure you are putting inside. I used mini dinosaurs.

4. You can air dry these for several days OR bake them on a cookie sheet at 150 degrees for about 15-20 or until you poke them and they arent soft anymore.

(My dino eggs were fairly large, so I baked them for about 45 minutes, AND my oven did not go as low as her directions said, so I baked them at 170, the lowest setting I had. I think mine baked for over an hour. Surprisingly the toys were fine. I worried they'd melt.)

I pretty much just put these down the center of my tables where people ate. Once the games started, the kids were able to open a few and keep their prizes. It was a hit! :)

Life Cycle of a Pinata

2012-03-04T22:39:00.003-05:00

For Jonas's third birthday, he requested a "Dinosaur Party". He talked about it for weeks...maybe months. Upon searching for birthday supplies, I found that I was not crazy about what I could find. Not a big fan of the "scary looking" dinosaurs. Most plates had big t-rex's with huge gnarling teeth flashing. Not very 3 year old friendly.

So, I decided one thing I could make myself is a pinata.

This is how I started...a "punching" balloon (you know, the kind with the rubber band hooked to it so you can make it go --bam bam bam bam bam!). I covered the "Belly button" where the rubber band was with a styrofoam cup...the beginning of the tail skeleton.

Next, I cut our spikes out of cereal box cardboard and taped them on. Next time, I will use duct tape.

Then I used a paper towel roll and more cardboard to make feet. I wasn't thrilled with the feet in the end. They needed to be "beefier" but this was my first try... :)

I added a smaller balloon for a head, and used more cardboard to attach it and make a "neck". I then used newspaper and wrapped them around the cup and twisted them into the end of the tail and secured with tape. I don't have a picture of all that though. :(

One thing I learned is that, if your skeleton is fragile, the end resulting pinata will be fragile. I ended up stapling with a staple gun the tail back on pre-party because it fell off. So I will use more duct tape. I also popped on balloon and had to transfer the tail and spikes over to a new balloon. I was trying to recycle a plastic container for the neck. I was cutting it to make a better curve, and the sharp plastic edge popped him. So no plastic...and more duct tape. :)

After I did the paper mache (One part flour to five parts water...the first time I "cooked" it like I read online, after talking to some friends, I just used flour and water, and it worked fine.)

My box of strips...

My paste: The non-cooked kind. The cooked kind was much thicker, and worked too. :)

Here's what the final skeleton looked like:

Pretty cute, huh?

I was going to paint him, but decided to use a tissue paper technique instead...layer upon layer of fringed tissue. Here's the final product...

As you can see I added construction paper polka dots and some paper eyes. All in all I was happy. He was a little more "lizard-like" than I wanted, but he was a friendly dinosaur. :) Jonas loved him. And he thought it was great breaking him open with a stick...I could have cried after the hours it took to make him, but as long as Jonas had fun, it was worth it. Oh, and it cost me about $5 to make, so that is awesome!! :) Store bought ones are way smaller and more expensive.

More dino details to come!

Then on to planning my Jaxon's owl party!!

I love photography!

2011-09-09T23:35:00.000-04:00

So, it has once again, been a while since I updated my blog! Life with two little ones, a youth pastor for a husband, and a growing photography business keeps me super busy. In fact, I do most of my "work" at night after the little ones are asleep. I'm usually hitting the pillow as little Jaxon man wakes for his first nighttime feeding. :)

God has been very good to our family. The youth group is thriving and growing, and I meet new people from Savannah all the time who want photos taken. My goal is to get so busy in Savannah, that when I come to Monroe I won't "have" to work but can if I want to. I have so many friends in NC that are so good to use me for their photography needs! It keeps me busy when I come visit, and most importantly, pays for my gas to bring my babies to see their JoMa and Poppy! :) Jonas loves to come visit. :) Jaxon does too, he just doesn't know it yet. We had a great night last night all snuggled up in bed together. We sure missed daddy though!

So, the house here in NC is just a little weird without Philip here. I can see why mom is sad about her "empty nest". It's weird. :( Even if he was always shut up in his room, you still saw him, said hello, and liked knowing he was around (and you were well protected...ha ha ha!) I am so happy for him though. He has a cute little house and he's working hard to make it a home. Hopefully soon I can take applications for a sister in law. (just kidding...no really, I'm kidding! :))

Please check my facebook album for my current September specials, they are themed around my husbands birthday. Speaking of birthdays, my great husband surprised me with a great birthday lunch at Vito's Pizzaria in Savannah. Our friends Janet, Mady, Kaylee, Patrick, Kathryn, Luke, Emma, and Melissa were in on the surprise and they all came to celebrate with me. Then Mrs. Pat babysat while Jon, MoMo and I went to movie and an unhealthy snack at Applebees afterwards. It was a great birthday! :) Now this month we have Jon and Dad to celebrate! Jon turns 28, and dad the big 5-0! What a milestone! Thankful for both of these dad's in my life and their birthdays are pretty special days for me!

Upcoming blog posts I have planned:
My first attempt at making yeast rolls
Cling & Erin's Wedding
My "Very Hungry" Caterpillar Jaxon (though the pictures are already on my facebook page!)
The Cookie Jar Photo Story
Attempting to sew for my guest room/office

and more! So check back... :)

God Bless!

August Specials

2011-08-01T23:29:00.000-04:00

Kash Is One!

2011-07-14T01:07:00.000-04:00

I sure do love being a photographer!! :)

The Pittman Family

2011-06-28T15:52:00.000-04:00

Just a few favorites from the Pittman's family photoshoot! :)

Introducing Liam

2011-06-23T17:47:00.000-04:00

Liam August Wargin

Some favorites from Liam's photoshoot! :) What a sweetheart!

Black Oak Photography - July Specials

2011-06-23T00:23:00.000-04:00

July Specials

(good starting now, for the remainder of June too...) -

1. New sessions booked in July - 10 percent off the cost of your sitting fee ($90 after discount for regular sessions)

2. Print Special - Get one 8x10, one 5x7, two 4x6, and 4 wallets for $20! (all of the same pose!)

3. BIG SALE: Order $100 in prints, get $20 more free! (Excludes press printed items)

He's Here!

2011-06-22T01:19:00.000-04:00

Jaxon Quinn Black

April 28, 2011

12:14 PM

7 pounds 14 ounces

20 inches

God blessed our little family with a healthy baby boy! He has been such a precious addition to our family! He has brought us more joy in his short weeks with us than we ever thought possible. Jaxon was a bit of a "surprise" baby, but I am so thankful that God knows so much better than we do, what we need, and desire, even before we do! I love this little "brudder" to Jonas so much!

Well, time has flown, and this blog has once again been neglected!! Needless to say, newborns take a great deal of time and energy but I intend on keeping up with this blog much better now that things have settled down! Sometimes I feel like life is so busy that it is passing me by...so this blog is a small way at slowing time down a little for all to see what is going on!

This Saturday my mom turns 50! I am so thankful for her, she means more to me than she even knows! When Jaxon was born, she was a lifesaver to me! Even though I know half the time she doesn't feel like it, she is always there for me, helping me out, and loving my kids! She is the greatest Jo-Ma ever! :) Jonas loves her so much and I know Jaxon will too. I pray God gives mom better health in the coming year and that we are blessed with many more milestones with our Jo-Ma!!! Happy 50th Birthday mom!! I love you! As a birthday gift to her (ha ha!!), we are letting her (ha ha again!) keep Jonas for a whole week (how will I cope without my funny little guy?!??!) while we take our teens to the Wilds! Praying she has a great week, and that Jonas isn't too spoiled when I get back! :)

So I skipped February...

2011-03-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

Life has been a little crazy around the Black Homestead lately.

To catch up a bit, here's what we've been up to...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!! God has been so good, and in His timing, He led us to the cutest little house in a perfect little neighborhood. We closed at the beginning of the month, and started right away with replacing carpet, painting, changing light fixtures, unpacking, raking, adding gutters, putting in a microwave, etc. It has been quite an undertaking...especially for someone in their third trimester. I will do a post later with pictures of our new home. It isn't fully decorated or anything yet, but at least you'd get the idea. We are loving having our own privacy and space after living at church for almost a year! Jonas loves his backyard, and since his birthday he's had some fun new outdoor toys to play with.

I FAILED MY GLUCOSE TEST!!! :( While everyone was busy making renovations (three days after we closed), I got to take the dreaded glucose test, and failed. And I was so good about what I ate the day before despite the yummy SuperBowl Party treats that were tempting me. I have to say I was devastated. Mostly because a 3 hour test didn't fit nicely into my schedule, nor is it any fun! :( Thankfully, when I took it a week later, I only failed one of the hours out of 4 so they said I did well enough to not have gestational diabetes. Another answer to prayer. I've tried to cut out a lot from my diet since then just to be sure, but I'm glad sweets aren't restricted for sure! :)

VALENTINE'S BANQUET - Amidst wanting to be organizing and decorating at my house, I had to take a time out that first week of moving to buy food and decorations for our church's valentine's banquet. Thankfully my mother in law was here to help and did the majority of the cooking for me. Lots of folks helped me do the actual decorating on Thursday, and the teens did a fabulous job serving the adults on Friday night. I don't have an exact total, but I am pretty sure the teens raised over $500 for camp. It was a blessing all the positive feedback we got from everyone. The food was delicious and everyone kept going on and on about the decorations. I'm glad it was a success! It sure was a lot of work! :)

28 Weeks - we took the pictures in our new backyard, but I never uploaded them...

So there you have it...my big ole belly at 28 weeks! I'm getting pretty excited to meet little Jaxon Quinn on April 28th (they scheduled my c-section for that day).

Another big celebration (other than closing on our house) was our Jonas turned TWO! I can't believe how big he is getting! Granted, he looks like a four year old. Especially after the hack-job buzz cut I gave him on my own last night...yikes. He is such a cutie! He had his two year old checkup, and he weighed right at 40 pounds and was 37 3/4 inches tall. Well over the 95th percentile, like always. They measured his big ole head twice because the first measurement wasn't even on Dr. Wilkes' chart. It was in fact smaller than originally measured, but still on the big side. :) I love my big-headed boy. He got a Hep-A shot and blood drawn for a lead test. Didn't even whimper for the finger prick. The shot, a different story. He loves the stickers they give him though, and hates having band-aids on his finger. He kept trying to leave the room at the doctors office, I guess he thinks mommy needs more exercise. The cutest things is when he sees a tongue depressor (or nail file for that matter), he opens wide and says, "ahhhhh." He learns so much, and I hear new words/sentences almost daily. I'm amazed at how smart he is. He loves to skype with his grandparents and play with matchbox cars. His favorite movies are the Toy Story series movies. We moved him into a toddler bed and moved his crib into Jaxon's room. He's doing okay with that, and seems proud of his big boy bed. Hopefully when he gets over this cold he'll sleep all night in it! :) He loves to chew (and swallow) gum and eat "kers" (aka, Suckers) for treats. We had a birthday party for him in our backyard on Saturday. It was interesting to say the least. He lost interest in opening presents (what's wrong with him?!?! LOL!) and just took off around the house at one point! ;) Mom had pizza and cupcakes for him one night last week when I was in NC for photoshoots and had some family come over to celebrate. Here are a few pictures....

Playing on his new toy from Poppy and Jo-Ma....

Opening presents (while he was still interested)

New clothes!! He got lots of cute new clothes! :)

From Aunt LuLu and Uncle Clifton....

Blowing out his candle in NC! :)

He wanted to do it again and again and again....

sitting on the potty! :)

Giving Kash kisses! :)

JUST A PLUG FOR CONNEC+EEN STUDENTS:

2011-01-27T14:47:00.000-05:00