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