Last week we did a field trip with a few friends from our homeschool co-op to the Asheville Art museum. Â In our co-op art segment we’ve been studying about the Impressionists and our local art museum happened to have some American impressionist art on display, so it dovetailed nicely with our studies. Â I dropped Wren off with my mom for the morning knowing that it would probably not be fun for her to be quiet, listen, and not be able to touch all of the art displays. Â The snow was falling heavily all day, which meant a lot of the roads were quiet as people stayed home. Â It also made for a really cozy time to visit the museum. Â We did an hour guided tour focused on the impressionists, then the children had an hour of studio time. Â The guide taught us how to do block printing, and the kids really enjoyed designing a cityscape much like we were seeing out of the museum windows. Â Each child designed a building and then made prints of it onto their paper. Â They also had the option to switch buildings with someone else and it was really fun to see everyone’s various creations. Â After our fun morning, the kids were eager to get out in the accumulating snow once back home, building snow men and sledding. Â I’m thankful for every bit of snow we’ve had this winter! Â Although it makes for a lot of muddy drippy mess at my door, it is usually short-lived and makes a new playground out of our yard.
Meanwhile, we’ve still been at it with the puzzles. Â Yes, I am completely inspired by (copying?) Ginny of Small Things with the puzzle craze. Â The first one pictured I mainly worked on myself as the pieces were quite small and it was very challenging. Â It was really fun but I think frustrating for the kids who couldn’t really help much with it. Â So I got this set of 12 mini puzzles and put each puzzle in a little bag as a fun thing to pull out for the younger children while the older two are busy with school. Â Philippa and Noah have been especially into them. Â I also got the 300-piece puzzle of the sea planes with the kiddos in mind and we put it together super quickly. Â It is one they can do on their own which they love. Â I think I’m enjoying these puzzles so much because the scenes in them are so beautiful. Â I want to visit and live in each one.
Nothing clears my head like escaping into the mountains, even in the smaller capacities that we are able to manage in this season of raising little ones.  A friend and I got together last week for a day trip to Mt. Mitchell, which is now a pretty decent drive away from where I live (versus college days when I was in this area all the time).  We took the day off of formal schooling and enjoyed getting out and away without much agenda.  My children so enjoy playing with hers, and they were busy drawing in their notebooks, hiking, climbing around, picnicking, and gathering scattered down trees to build a fort.  It gave my friend and I some time to catch up and just be away from our normal routines.  Breathing that fresh mountain air and connecting with friends did wonders for all of us, but probably especially me.  I was needing the cool air and the break away from As I was loading the stroller back into the van I forgot that my DSLR camera was tucked in the bottom of the stroller with all the coats and it fell out and clattered on the pavement.  It no longer takes pictures and I’m hoping to get over to the other side of town sometime next week to drop it off at a repair shop for a diagnosis.  I’m sure it will be okay, one way or another.  At first I felt panicky because as I’m sure you would guess after years of blogging here, I kinda sorta can’t live without my camera now.  (I mean, that’s an exaggeration.  I really could if I had to, but it’s a pretty big priority.)  I do also use it on the side for some very part time work.  I’m sure we will find a way to have a functioning camera soon.  If the blog goes quiet for a bit (or at least less picture-heavy) you’ll know why. 🙂
everything He gives 