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Cutting: Deep Sea Stroll

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The kids watched this cutting take shape over the course of about a week, and they weren’t shy about sharing their opinions. I started on the right with his raised hand and by the time I had finished most of his helmet they had all told me they didn’t like it. I’m me said he looked scary, one said he looked mean. But opinions change and when they saw his pet fish they all reversed their position. Suddenly he was nice and sweet and liked to take his pet for walks. I guess the moral of that story is that if you’re a naturally offputting person…get a pet.

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I did hit a potentially embarrassing snag for my pet loving diver. The crotch of his (or her… #feminism) diving suit keeps drifting to the left!

This makes her right leg quite a bit bigger than the left. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if it was drifting right because that would make sense with perspective, but as it is now, her back leg looks bigger than her front.

It’s a conundrum. I don’t want to glue it on anything because I want her to end up in a floating frame. Any ideas are welcome!

As always, if you’re interested in commissioning a cutting you can email me at elizabethcoughanour@gmail.com. You can also catch me at by new business email which is bonnevilleshoredesigns@gmail.com.

Soccer

A. just started soccer. She has been talking about it for 2 months and it is finally here!

She was very please with her soccer accessories, especially the pink cleats. 

 On the first day of practice, she scored a goal! …it was for the other team… but it was a goal! She also came up with the team name. Team “Gecko” is going to be great. 

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Her coach is enthusiastic and encouraging and honestly cares more that everyone is having fun and learning to kick the ball than about winning or losing (thank goodness). I don’t think they even keep score.

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It was such a beautiful day to play

Maybe a bit more interested in the fans than the game.

D. brought a skunk because…why not?

It will be a busy season, but very fun for everyone. 

Preschool: Learning Numbers with Dice and Playdough

Our preschool set up is pretty idyllic. We meet twice a week and my friend Robbyn (pictured below) and I split the teaching responsibilities. She teaches at her house on Mondays and I teach at my house on Wednesdays. We both have two preschool aged kids and a baby so whoever isn’t teacher watches the babies. 0121151148bThis week the theme was ‘Numbers’. Robbyn did a really fun game with gummy bears that reinforced counting and introduced addition and then they did a number themed art project. One reason I love doing preschool this way is I am always kicked into high gear when I see the fun things that Robbyn plans. I usually don’t plan anything until I see what she does because I don’t want to duplicate anything but also because I know she will inspire me to try harder. She is pretty awesome.

In keeping with the theme, I found this fun game in a preschool math book:

First, I made a set of dice out of construction paper. One has colors on the sides (I picked yellow, green, and pink) and the other is just a regular die.

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Then I cut some colorful poster board into pieces. I wrote numbers 1 through 6 on some yellow, pink, and green squares. I hung them up around the living room.

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The children roll the dice and call out the color and number that shows on top. For example if the roll produced a pink die and a number 4 die, then the children had to go find and touch a pink square with a four on it. It was pretty successful, and I think it solidified their knowledge of what the numerals look like and that they represent specific amounts.

Our art project was play dough snake numbers. I used some square bucket lids for the trays. Beforehand, I used washable paint to put numbers on each tray. During the activity they put the play dough on the number to practice making the shape.

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You can see that our play dough is slowly becoming a solid color of a really beautiful muddy brown color. Oh well.

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Preschool can be fun!

Oh Come Let Us Overrun Him

I promised a few stories from our trip to Utah. My favorite moment from the trip was when the kids put on a live nativity for the Grandmas and Grandpas. I don’t have any pictures from the Coughanour nativity, but here are a couple from the Vance’s. IMG_3297[1]

D took his job as Joseph very seriously. While Luke 2 was being read he would sometimes stick his fist into the air and shout “And I’m JOSEPH!”
IMG_3294[1]L wasn’t so interested in most of her shepherd duties…except for one; when she saw the baby Jesus (which was actually a multicolored bear in swaddling clothes because we didn’t have a doll) she just adored the stuffing out of him. She ran over as fast as she could and tackled him to the ground and started sucking on his nose. We kept trying to get her to go listen to the angel but she was undeterred from her exuberant adoration. 1222141553a

A was happy to be Mary at the Vance’s house. She took great care to smooth baby Jesus’s fur and make sure he was warm. She was excited to be an Angel at the Coughanour nativity and sang Away in a Manger like a pro.

Next year we will get a baby doll for the Nativity. A fuzzy bear is probably borderline sacrilegious. But the children still got into the spirit of the season, and I was really touched.