"Where is Jamie?"

Before we moved the girls and I did crafts in the morning before we packed. One week we were supposed to do farm crafts...but a horse craft we did totally flopped, but this one worked.

Here's a pop up book we made.



First we folded 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock in half.
Second, drew farm scenes on one side of each page. (Garden, Henhouse, barn, pond, orchard, doghouse and pig pen)
Third, cut out a door from each one, using an exacto knife.



Next we folded the paper under, and drew an animal where the door opens.

We colored the hiding animal, and folded over the paper and glued together.

After it dried, I added text and a cardboard cover, then bound it using my bind it all.

The girls LOVED giving me ideas for the different scenes, and deciding what the story was. And coloring it in. We chose "Where is Jamie?" (Jamie is my parent's golden retriever). The whole book is text asking "Where is Jamie" with the tabs showing different animals in their habitats. Then the last page has Jamie in his dog house.

Making a flap book like this would be great for a group of children, having each one draw or color a scene or page.

It's so rewarding writing your own story, try it sometime!

Still Alive

Hello Faithful Readers- all half dozen of you!

I am still alive. Worried, weren't you?

We've spent the last three weeks setting up our house, playing with our family, making new friends and laughing at rambling sob stories connected to furniture listins on craigs list. And let me tell you, there's no shortage of those.

We're unpacked for the most part, but we're still in need of furniture for our living room. And a decision about window covers. It's exhausting. Talk to me in 6 months and I might have a house that's kind of put together.

I've discovered a house really affects the way you live. This is probably a no brainer to most of you.

For example...

I now have space to dance in my kitchen. Now I wanna listen to music instead of boring npr.

I also can see most of my backyard from my kitchen. So the kids can play while I make dinner. Life changing.

I now have a bathroom I can see a computer from. Yes. I can watch youtube while I go. (Jealous?)

Our computer is also very far away from the playroom (unlike in Va, where it was around the corner). So I'm on it less. Which is good.

The distance from our parked car in the garage to my fridge is about 10 feet. No more punishment for humongous shopping trips.

My tv is also very close to our kids rooms, so I have to watch it at night with closed captioning. I think the close captioning edits out profanity. I'm even more sheltered than before.

And last but not least, big house equals better games of hide and seek.

So now you know. And the more you know, the less you don't know.