Allergy Testing

Today Chamberlin had to go to get retested for his allergies since he seems to be having reactions to more things than he did before. So here was a educational opportunity that wasn't to be missed and both Arowyn & Teagan love watching and learning about things like this. So he decided to take Arowyn along to let her see what all is involved in being tested for allergies. She was completely fascinated by the whole thing and never put down Cham's phone which she used to take pictures of the whole thing. She thought it was so cool that they put a bunch of things on Daddy's back and wrote all over it to tell what each thing was. And how the things that he was allergic to turned red.

 Before the test

Chamberlin's back after the test with all 

kinds of dots and numbers all over it

Homeschool P.E. In A Coat

The kids are back at Truman on Friday mornings for the Homeschool P.E. Class that they provide. The kids always enjoy it so much. Lately though it's been to cold outside for Arowyn's liking and for how tiny she is she gets cold so easily. So coaxing her out of her coat once we get inside of the gym doesn't always happen. Watching her run around all bundled up is just so funny to watch. But usually about halfway through the class all the running around will warm her up enough that she will finally take it off. Then when their all done she says she's too hot to put it back on but once we step outside she quickly changes her mind.

Arowyn bundled up in her coat

Teagan's Violin Lesson

One of Teagan's stronger personality traits is that of being a perfectionist, it is one that has long been a part of my family. It in and of itself is neither good nor bad but often manifests itself in a negative way. It can allow him to be really good at what he does. But it also drives him to spend too much time on a project trying to get it just right. But also experiencing utter frustration when it doesn't come out exactly the way it was expected to, and for his age and experience this is what happens more often than not. For many years we've been working on not allowing to let this get the better of him. There have been many a violin lesson when he touches bow to string and the lovely sound he's expecting to come forth never does at which point he shuts down and doesn't even want to try anymore because he feels like such a failure. It's absolutely heartbreaking to watch him go through this and yet such an achingly familiar feeling. All I can do is tell him that he did great, everyone makes mistakes, and he can only get better. Usually this just falls on deaf ears because he has such a hard time seeing his own progress. When his lesson starts to go this direction it is always very hard to then snap him out of, although he has one of the most kind and patient violin teachers in the world who usually manages to get him back on course and finish his lesson. Needless to say this makes it all the harder to make progress when there's not enough time in a lesson when he's not in a mood to go over what he needs to work on much less learn something new. Today Chamberlin took the kids to their violin lesson and he said Teagan did great today. I'm hoping that Teagan will start to feel more sure in his abilities playing the violin and we can start having more violin lessons like this!

Teagan at his lesson today

Arowyn Drawing Master Yoda

Arowyn wanted to make a present to give to Teagan tomorrow. It's funny how when he goes to bed or is otherwise out of her hair she misses him and wants to do nice things for him. If only that love and kindness would carry on into our daily life when their together would be awesome. So after Teagan went to bed she borrowed his master Yoda and Giraffe from his room. She then posed them together on the couch and began to draw. Her drawing skills have came so far. I love that most of the time now I can actually tell what her drawings are of and not have to resort to random guessing that usually earns me a scowl when I guess wrong.

 Arowyn drawing Yoda

Arowyn's finished work

Violin Group Lesson

Today in group lesson their teacher had them partner up and work together to play through Twinkle Variation A.  One person held the violin and fingered the strings while the other one did all of the bowing. When she told them what they were going to do I had no idea how they would manage it but after a few hesitant notes they all just played. Now I'm not saying it was the best they've ever played but they made it all the way through the song without any real problem and without any harm coming to any violins. With Arowyn & Teagan being partnered up with each other there's never really any way of knowing how that will turn out much less with a delicate instrument in the balance. So I sat and watched with baited breath until it was over when I could smile and at how well they'd done, and breathe again.

Arowyn holding the notes
& Teagan bowing

The Baby Bobble Head Bad Guy Consortium: The Stolen Missile

I don't think any explanation I could give of his video would quite do it justice so here it is.

Behind the Scenes: The Making of The Baby Bobble Head Bad Guy Consortium: The Stolen Missile

After Arowyn got to make her puppy movie the other day Teagan started begging to get to do one himself. It had taken so long to get Arowyn's done though that I told him he'd have to wait until tomorrow to do it. So first thing this morning he had gathered together his babies and announced that he was ready so I let him have at it. His took even longer because he had quite the artistic vision that he wanted to accomplish and he kept asking me to write word bubbles for his video which also took some time. Unfortunately the writing on the word bubbles was not thick enough to be seen in the video so I had to digital redo them in post production so they are readable. His video was pretty demanding so at times he needed both Arowyn's and my help to move things around while he directed and took the pictures.

Teagan shooting a frame

Puppies at Play

We open on a dog with her two puppies out in a field on a sunny day.  After the mommy dog says goodbye to her babies the two puppies discuss with each other what they want to do today. Then some flowers grow out of the ground and the puppies blow all their petals away. Then the flowers stems shrink back into the ground and as the sun starts to set their mommy returns.  Then the little puppy runs over to her and gives her a puppy hug.

Behind the Scenes: The Making of Puppies at Play

Arowyn wanted to have another go at making another stop motion video today.  She wanted to use her puppies that she had made with the magnatiles in her video. This required a different camera set up though as they are not self supporting structures. So she used the photos of her puppies I had taken for her the other night and rebuilt them and modified them while I got the camera set up for her. This kind of set up for stop motion does lend to some more creative things you can do without having to worry about the effects of gravity on your subjects. Which Arowyn got to explore and had some fun with in her new video.

Arowyn setting up the older brother puppy

Arowyn deciding what to add next

Arowyn laying out the mother dog

Arowyn eyeballing me for 

taking pictures of her while she works

Field Trip to the Kirksville War Memorial

A couple of weeks ago Teagan asked me the question "What is war?" Which I have to admit took me by surprise because it's at times like that that really strike me as to how old they are getting to be. What followed was a great and lengthy discussion that I can't remember all the details of but at some point we talked about what soldiers do and how they are sometimes asked to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Which both of the kids were very awed and saddened by this thought. Which was when I mentioned that we have a memorial in our town to honor the soldiers that came from our area. Which both the kids promptly asked "Can we go see it?" Unfortunately for the past two weeks we just haven't had the time to because I didn't want to just run by and let them take a quick glance and then be off. I wanted to make sure we had the time to fully appreciate what we were looking at. But for that entire two weeks every time we were out and about driving the kids would ask if we could go see it right then and I would have to tell them not yet. So today we had the time to go and it was a really great experience. The first thing the kids noticed was all the names on both the obelisk and the wall surrounding it. So we went through which sections on the wall and obelisk represented different wars. Then the kids started pointing to names and asking me to read them as they just stood there and soaked it all in. It is a very amazing thing to watch them process what the names in front of them represent and watch it become a personal thing to them.

 Arowyn deep in thought

Teagan asking if I thought it still worked

Cub Scouts: January Pack Meeting

Tonight was Teagan's monthly Cub Scouts pack meeting. Teagan likes sitting at the table talking and being silly with the other boys in his pack while we wait for the meeting to start. When it was the Tiger Cubs turn to stand up front Teagan received some orange beads for the recent den activities he's participated in which he was very excited about.

Teagan chatting with one of the boys in his pack

The Tiger Cubs

Teagan's awards and achievments being listed

Teagan getting his beads

The Tiger Cubs doing their cheer

Winter Violin Recital

Getting to watch the kids play at their recitals is so great. It takes a lot of confidence to get on a stage in front of people and play. Teagan being the gregarious little guy that he is loves every minute of it. Arowyn can get a little worried right before she has to go up, but once she starts walking up front all just seems to melt away. It's like taking that first step towards the stage is the hardest but once she's done that she puts her mind to it nothing is going to stop her. I don't always appreciate this characteristic about my daughter because when our views diverge on what she should be doing it's no easy task to get her to listen or comply. But when it comes to things like this I think it's great that that characteristic allows her to overcome any fear or doubt she may be having of being in front of people on stage. And when she's done playing and she walks back to me she has such a big smile on her face it always makes me smile. Between all of the recitals that the kids have for violin, dance, & ballet they have plenty of opportunities to work on being in front of people both in a group and on their own. The ability to be in front of people and act, play, or speak is something I never learned to do with confidence but I hope they will continue to master this skill as it is something that will serve them in so many ways later on in life.

 Everyone lined up to get their violin tuned

 Teagan talking to the piano accompanist 

 Teagan helping me calibrate my cameras 

light settings before the performance

 Teagan in resting position and looking handsome

 Teagan bowing

 Teagan Playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 

Variation A

 Arowyn Playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Variation A

 Arowyn bowing

 Everyone playing through the 

Twinkle Variations together

 Mrs. Kubin's Violin Students

 I couldn't pick which one of these I liked better 

because Teagan was being a such a goof in both of them

Karen with her students

Winter Violin Recital Rehearsal

Tonight the kids got to practice their recital pieces on stage before their recital tomorrow. When they're not on the stage playing they're sitting with their classmates chatting and having fun. What a great group of kids they are. Part of the time Arowyn manned my camera and took some pictures of her classmates on stage as well.

Arowyn Taking Pictures

 Teagan and his teacher

 Teagan Playing

 Arowyn Playing

 Arowyn concentrating on 

her fingers while playing

 Everyone playing

 Arowyn glancing at her teacher to 

make sure she's in sync

Teagan trying to look see who's watching 

him and still play at the same time

Magnatile Puppy Dogs

Our magnatiles are the most loved and used toy in our entire house. We've had them for years and there's just a never ending amount of things you can do with them. Rather than building with them today Arowyn laid them out and made a family of dogs out of them. One of them she made with a larger body than the rest so she could use it as a flat surface for doing a puzzle on. She was sad when it was time to go to bed and had to clean them up because she said there was more that she wanted to do with them. So I took a picture of each of them so she can remember how to reconstruct them when she wants to build them again.

The Puppy

 The Puppy's Mom

 The Wolf

The Wolf Baby