a number of things

geocaching

We started geocaching as a family a little over 3 years ago, along with letterboxing.  We all love the thrill of a real life treasure hunt!

Geocaching brought us to places in our general area that we would probably never have visited if it were not for the hidden cache.  I also just love the way so many of the caches have a mini history or geography lesson tied in with them.

But, with another baby in the family once again (and a baby who is not fond of her car seat, at that), the trusty GPS was gathering more than a bit of dust. 

Then a few weeks ago, my dad began to take an interest in geocaching and started bringing Noah (and then Anna) along with him. This is the perfect arrangement for right now; the big kids get to go and I don't have to get the little ones out into those sometimes hard-to-get-to places. :-) This is going to fit in perfectly with our Summer Unschooling.

(The above photos are from the kids' & grampaw's most recent excursion... their first multi-cache!)

    

sketchbook: Mother's Day time

Ahh... It felt so good to pick up a pencil and brush again.  To mix the paints and watch the colors blend.  I haven't done any of this sort of thing since before Lilly's birth and I was, frankly, having withdrawals.

When Chip and the kids asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I told them that all I needed was time to doodle.

And doodle I did!  For inspiration, I kept going back to this beautiful book.  As I told a friend recently, just looking at it makes me want to break out the watercolors and forget all about the laundry. One of the first things I did was research a few of our common local birds and paint their eggs.

Since I cannot paint near as much as I would like right now, I am really enjoying these Cathy Johnson videos as well as her ideas for travel watercolor sets.  So inspiring!  

"My View"

I know one day, I'll be able to do this more often...  As my sweet friend Dodi reminds me, this is but a season.  And what a beautiful one it is.

(P.S. ~ And yes, if you are wondering, Lilly has nursed herself to sleep in the sketch above. :-))    

   

wordless wednesday :: sisters

  

Lilly sewing

 

I actually squeezed in a tiny bit of sewing last week!  It was total therapy for me and new pants for Lilly. 

Inspired by this soulemama post a bit back, I dug into my stash and whipped up a few pairs of cute girly pants for Miss Lilly.  Ah, so much fun.  Now if I could just figure out how to manage a good dose of drawing or painting...