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Thursday, September 20, 2012

Moon Landing

We are in our 2nd unit of our My Father's World curriculum and are really enjoying it. The lessons are great and the activity ideas are wonderful. We talked about the moon today and learned all about gravity and space! We looked at moon pictures and watched astronauts float in space, Hurray youtube! One of the activities suggested was a moon surface made of flour and using various balls to create craters.




 
Creating mountains and valleys in our moon surface
Our fabulous craters!

 
As you know moon landing are fraught with danger from passing herds of dinosaurs

 Lillian joining in the fun ;)

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Halloween Pinterest Bonanza

I get so excited when the weather starts to change! I love the holidays! Christmas, Thanksgiving, and spooky Halloween! Here are a few pins to get you in the Halloween spirit!

Simply crape paper (birthday streamers) and paper eyes!
Love this pumpkin!
Source: bhg.com via Tiffany on Pinterest
Put some glow stick in your balloons for some spooky decorations
Boo-nana pops! Bananas on a stick dipped in white chocolate, yummm!
Witches broom snacks
Jello worms! So gross and fun :)
Source: via Tiffany on Pinterest
Friday, September 7, 2012

Oka Kapassa Festival

The kids and I got to go to the Oka Kapassa Native American Festival. We had lots of fun seeing all the presenters and hearing about native American arts and life.

One interesting thing I learned about he festival itself is the name Oka Kapassa. It means "give water". Apparently when the Indians came through on the Trail of Tears the settlers here in Tuscumbia gave them water. The festival is to honor that gift.

I have been to several Native American gatherings when I lived in New Mexico and Arizona and the all leave me a little sad and always in awe of their culture. When we lived in New Mexico we went to a true traditional festival on a Reservation. We were invited by a lady that works with my mother and there were very few "white" people there, mostly the tribe. They did there feast dancing in the make-up and garb in the same Square where they had done it for 100 yrs. The ground was eroded at least 3ft from all the years and years of dancing. It was amazing and not at all like in the movies. Seeing the fierce make-up, the war calls and the drums really makes you appreciate the fear that the early settlers had. It also gave me a great respect for Native Americans.

I also have to say, even though people always laugh because I am so pale, I am part Indian! I am part Cherokee and Comanche. My family has a wonderful photo of my Comanche ancestor and her husband standing in front of the home they had build out in the wild west!

Here are some pictures I took of the kids and the presentations!

This man showed use how to make a canoe, you burn and scrap and burn and scrap! I loved his hat with the metal, it made me think of the old westerns I used to watch as a kid.

This gentleman showed us the traditional flutes that he makes and the horse hair head piece that the warriors wore.
I wish I could have gotten more pictures of the dancers and a video of my kids trying to do the dances, but alas the kids were getting a bit rambunctious by this time and I only managed the one shot!
 
Look at that boy sitting so still and at least looking like he is listening ;)
 
Lunch over at the pond and in the shade, it was hot!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Picture in a Picture

Four generation of Gail!

This summer I took these photos and created this four genterations picture for my grandmother's birthday. It got a lot of likes and comments so I thought I would create a quick how to for those that were interested in trying it out!


First you have to find an empty frame and get all your models to cooperate! I picked a silver frame and blue shirts. The photo that I originally saw used a wooden teal frame and white shirts, so use your imagination and use the colors and textures that speak to your family.

Now that you have your family and frame all set, take the pictures. Make sure you are consistent in the time of day and background. Trust me, even an hour makes a difference in the colors! The picture of my mother was taken only and hour later and her frame is much bluer than the others!

Once all your pictures are taken of each person holding the frame, except the last one, then it is all about photo editing! I used  Photo.net and Picasa 3, but any editing software that will allow you to cut and paste between photos should work.

Step One: Open the photo that you want to be the biggest (photo A), the open the one that will be inside of that one (photo B) in your chosen photo program.

Step Two: Use the free from cut feature and crop out the desired portion in photo B and copy. Keep it tight as they will get smaller and smaller and you want as much face as you can get.

Step Three: Flip over to photo A and copy your cropped picture. You will probably have to make it smaller and then move it into the frame. This may take a couple of tries to get the right shape. Do not worry if it is not perfect you can use the cloning tool to straighten any wayward edges!

Step Four: Repeat! Keep it up until you have all your picture cut and placed! or until you get a hand cramp and have to quite for the day! haha!