Just hanging out on this beautiful day painting pretty flowers.
Stress Therapy
We have a lot going on at the Simmons house these days. We’re still trying to settle into the new house, homeschool, work through our Alternative Certifications and find jobs for the fall. Needless to say, I’ve been stressed.
What do you do to relieve stress? One of my favorite stress relieving activities is pen and ink drawing. I don’t know why inking a drawing is so relaxing to me but it takes me to a place of calm.
This is a drawing that I’ve been working on for some time now. I pulled it out again to do a little more inking today.
Thank You Cookies
Someone got a sweet box of hand delivered thank you cookies today. And I got to make my first batch of cookies in the new house. 🙂 Seriously folks, my kitchen is amazing. I have counter space for miles and I am LOVING it!
Take a look at these beauties. They may be my favorite hand-painted cookies so far that I’ve ever created. I watercolored all of the floral images and patterns onto the white royal icing then piped the words in a rich deep blue.
Doodle Art
I pulled out an old sketchbook to start working on again. How is it that I never quite have time to get a sketchbook finished? Oh if only there were more hours in the day to just doodle.
I observed at a middle school last week that was working on doodle art which, of course, is my absolute favorite kind of art to make. I can remember as a child loving pen & ink when I took art classes. I still love the feel of a great black pen making thick and thin lines.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Today we’re learning about Georgia O’Keeffe and her beautiful flowers. Any day that we use watercolors is a good day in Layla’s book. To learn about O’Keeffe we read “My Name is Georgia” which is an excellent picture book for kids. Then, we used black oil pastels to make a flower and watercolors to paint them.
How to Make Hand Painted Cookies
I’m gearing up for the holiday cookie rush and thought I would post a quick tutorial on how to make beautiful hand painted cookies. These cookies are some of my absolute favorites to make. You can get so creative with them. 
WHAT SUPPLIES YOU NEED:
Cutout cookies cooled and iced with white royal icing
Gel paste food colors (I use these from Americolor)
Vodka or other clear liquor
Paintbrushes & Palate
Bake your favorite cookies and cut them out in any shape you like. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe in these photos with 2 different sizes of heart cookie cutters. Next, flood the cookie with white royal icing. I personally use the Wilton recipe for royal icing. They have a fantastic video on how to make the icing. It’s easy and always turns out fantastic.
Once your cookies have completely hardened, decide on the design that you will paint. If you’ve ever painted with watercolors this should be fairly simple. I use a palette and use the vodka just like I would use water when painting with watercolors. The basic idea is the alcohol will evaporate rather quickly and leave the gel color on the cookies. You will not taste the alcohol at all. It gives absolutely no taste to the cookies. My set up looks like a bit of a muddled mess because the gel colors are very dark until you mix with a little water and paint. Now, start painting your design! And remember, these are cookies! They are going to be eat! So enjoy the process. They don’t have to be perfect. 
 Here is a quick look at how I painted these hearts. Oh if my hands would only paint that fast! I could really get a lot of cookies done!
If you would like to see some more great hand painted cookies take a look at my Pinterest board. My cookies pale in comparison to most on this board. There are some really amazing cookie artist on pinterest.
https://www.pinterest.com/sugargiggles/hand-painted-cookies/
YouTubing through the Alphabet {H-N}
Continuing on, we’ve made it to the letters H-N in our Youtubing Through the Alphabet series. Hope your preschoolers are enjoying learning their letters and letter sounds.
The Letter H
The Letter I
The Letter J
The Letter K
The Letter L
The Letter M
The Letter N**
Note: These videos are not mine. They are videos that I found on YouTube and put into play list for our personal preschool learning experience. If you have problems with the videos please contact the provider on Youtube directly.
YouTubing through the Alphabet {A-G}
I didn’t purchase any curriculum for Ridley’s first year of homeschooling. He is somewhere between preschool and kindergarten so it was a little hard to nail down a specific curriculum that I thought would really be beneficial to his learning. There are so many free resources online and at the library that I didn’t think it was necessary to buy a boxed set. YouTube is one of the many excellent resources for educational videos.
Last year in 4-year old preschool Ridley worked his way through the alphabet. He had excellent teachers that really worked with him. I’ll have to be honest though, I didn’t do a good job of reinforcing and working with him away from school. It was our first year homeschooling our older two children and I was struggling to keep my head above water learning how to teach and still manage the rest of our life too. So, we’ve been working through the alphabet again (at a more rapid pace) to make sure he really gets the letters and coordinating sounds. During the day when I am helping the older kids,  I let him watch these little video playlist to reinforce the letters we are learning that week.
This first playlist includes a collection of ABC songs. These aren’t the typical little ABC song that you learned in school. Ridley’s favorites are the surprise egg videos. Then there is a playlist for each letter of the alphabet.
I just discovered that I could have YouTube on my television through our Roku which is so helpful. Yes, I know, I am now old and behind the times on technology. Bless it, I’ll get there eventually.
The Letter A
The Letter B
The Letter C
The Letter D
The Letter E
The Letter F
The Letter G
I hope these videos are as helpful to you as they have been to our family.
** Note: These videos are not mine. They are videos that I found on YouTube and put into play list for our personal preschool learning experience. If you have problems with the videos please contact the provider on Youtube directly.
LEX’S BOOK REVIEW: Spirit Animals: Book 1 Wild Born
Spirit Animals: Wild Born is a fantasy adventure book written by Brandon Mull. The story begins with a nectar ceremony. Four 11-year old kids had to drink some of the nectar and then there was a flash of light after they drank it. They see a wolf, a panda, a leopard, and a falcon. They realize that they have summoned the animals from legends.
Boys and girls both would enjoy this book. Animal lovers would definitely love it. The best thing about this book is that the spirit animals and the people work together to overcome the battles they face.
I’m exited there are 6 more books in the series to read. This book was a page-turning thriller and it got my attention quickly. I didn’t want it to end.
You can also play a game at Spirit Animals. I’m ready to play the game and summon my own spirit animal.
~Alexander age 9
If you would like to check out the entire series you can find them on Amazon.
Spirit Animals: Book 1: Wild Born
Spirit Animals: Book 2: Hunted
Spirit Animals: Book 3: Blood Ties
Spirit Animals: Book 4: Fire and Ice
Spirit Animals: Book 5: Against the Tide
How to Make Marshmallow Pops
Ok friends, this is my favorite easy peasy party recipe. They are supper easy and look fantastic with any party spread.
SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED:
Large Marshmallows
Lollipop Sticks or Paper Straws
Candy Melts in your choice of colors
Sprinkles
waxed paper
First melt candy melts for 30 seconds in the microwave. Stir then microwave another 30 seconds. Continue in 30 second intervals until melted.
While candy melts are melting, put lollipop sticks or straws in marshmallows.
Now put the marshmallow in the melted chocolate and spin to cover as much as you would like. I like to just cover the bottom but you can cover the entire marshmallow if you like. Next dip the chocolate covered marshmallows in your choice of sprinkles. Get creative with this. You can use chopped nuts, sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs and an assortment of other goodies. Or dip them in dark chocolate and graham cracker crumbs to make S’mores on a Stick! YUMMY!!
Now put the finished marshmallows on waxed paper and let the chocolate harden.
There are endless possibilities for these yummy treats. How cute would it be to use the pink strawberry marshmallows for Valentines Day!
Ok, now let’s talk about how to turn making treats like this into a learning experience. First, I made these with my 4 (almost 5) year old. We counted marshmallows and sticks. We divided the sticks up and added them together to practice our addition. We talked about all of the colors of the rainbow while looking at the sprinkles.
With my 7 year old we talked about time as we melted the chocolate. We estimated how many sprinkles were left in the jar after we had used them in the recipe. We also did a little research on how cake sprinkles are made which lead us to the origins of chocolate and a long discussion about manufacturing.
Friends, you can turn anything into a learning lesson if you take the time to stop and explain things to your kids. How often are we so busy that we push them to the side in order to “get it done”. Teach your kids while you are busy with the mundane task of daily life. They often learn more in those circumstances than with any kind of prepared lesson. 🙂 Happy homeschooling!