{kids} art project

It all started with a creative mommy blog...the idea of going to search for leaves and displaying them on the window...hmmm, I didn't even bother to check out the post. My mind started working like a hamster wheel of how I could do it, in my own little way. So, I have no witty name for this project....but I like to call it leaves on contact paper.
step 1. gather your kids, get a basket, and push them out the door to gather nature's daily gifts

 Step 2., 3., and 4., cut out your contact paper double the size you want your display to be. tell your kids to lay out nature's gifts. fold over your contact paper and press. 

Now display however you want! I chose to put up the kids work on the window so we could examine them further. 

Been getting inspired by different artists online that sketch from live flowers they have or have picked up so i thought i would do the same in our handmade sketchbooks from our shop: ShopWitty

ink and prismacolors

Meanwhile, my calla lilies are now closing up, so I thought I would enjoy them more if I put them inside. I can't let them go to waste, so I captured them beautifully one cloudy afternoon. 

It's been sorta boring around here...I have lots of projects I wanna do, but the day seems to just slip by. 

I have allergies and am not feeling 100% lately so I've taken care of myself and rested up. 

Homeschooling Andrew has kinda taken a backseat because the 'school's-out' feeling has kicked in. BUT, we are not quitting! One of my goals is to have Andrew begin to read by himself by the end of the summer, and we will work on that on a daily basis whether it be with bath crayons, foam letters, iPad, or just plain pencil & paper. And lots of library time. 

Anyway, we will be traveling around like the circus for the next week so pray that we all make it to our destination{s} safely and that we don't run out of clean underwear.  

birds of a feather + freebies!

Going outside is a must. Specially with little kids. 

(Yes, girls like going outside just as much as boys do...so I'm not going to play that card!)

And when we do go outside, there are several things that interest the boys.

Like sticks and rocks...

...and climbing on cars and pretending to fly....

But I found something that REALLY interested me the other day....

It was these noisy little things. 

We have two man-tall bushes outside our front door. Usually I see birds fly in and out of them and we stay clear of them because their edges are sharp.

But I peeked in on one, and found a nest. 

I peeked inside the nest, and found four tiny ugly birds.

Then I ran inside to get my fresh-back-from-the-shop camera.

And I saw them stretching their horrible looking scrawny necks at me to feed them.

Sometime later, I was able to get a shot of momma bird.

It was really neat to be able to capture that as it was my first close encounter with ugly, baby birds.

And I don't have a zoom lens, so I was up-close-and-personal with them with my stock 18-15mm lens.

(yeah, I know, I need to invest in more lenses)

Short story even shorter, the bush got trimmed, and two birdies died.

But we also managed to get this little one for my little sister this week....

She's nameless and is such a basket-case, but hopefully with love and some good-name-thinking those problems will be solved.

Have a great weekend and I'm leaving you with pretty pictures of my greens!

 Click on the image to enlarge

  Click on the image to enlarge

 Click on the image to enlarge

You can even use them for pretty desktop backgrounds!

1st Day of Fall and it couldn't be a more perfect day...

We always meet Gary for lunch, so Gary & Andrew posed at the school after eating.

Every time I get him out of the car, he will play in the driveway. Picking up a stick....

Picking up little stones

A dried up pecan....

Examining his treasure

Being a goober. He can't yet step up onto the porch yet.

I thought this was a good pose.

Twigs, leaves, anything else that might catch his eye.