Toys - The Marble Chute

This is the marble chute, which lives at Grandpa's farm. An older version existed, that we played with when we were kids, but it has disappeared. Thankfully, my older brother constructed a new marble chute a few years ago, so that generations of Roth kids could continue to roll marbles for hours at a time.

I know there are probably snazzy plastic chutes that are similar on the market, but I've got it in my mind to make my own wooden one, down the line.

Photography - Photos of the Day

My mini-assignment for today was to try to capture mood and action, without showing faces. Sam and Ella were working on building an amazing fort on the lanai - I wasn't allowed to help, so taking photos was a good second option! Painting was also a big hit today, which led to talking about abstract art, and viewing a you-tube clip of Jackson Pollock painting. We love having Ella over to visit!

Toys - The Littlest Birds

I've started making these birds from scrap fabric and old sweaters, after seeing the cool ones at Spool Sewing and Sew Liberated. So far I've made three little guys. And Sam and I chose a branch from the back forty that the birds are going to sit on. But before I got to glueing them, Sam had so much fun playing with them and making them talk to each other. So they might not ever make it to the branch.

The big fuzzy purple one is the dad, while the other two take turns being the mom or the child. My husband tried to convince him that the fuzzy one should be the mom, since I'm the one with crazy curly hair in the family, but he's not having it. The big fuzzy purple one is, and always will be, Dad.

Toys - Some ideas work better than others...

The 'snow globe' we tried to make using a peanut butter jar and crunched up egg shells :) Back to the drawing board...


The coffee filter flower bouquet Sam gave me for Mother's Day, co-created with Auntie Cheryl. So beautiful!

Sewing - Pillow case from baby t-shirts

The title says it all :) Oh, except there are two 'secret' pockets incorporated in, cut from a pair of Sam's little shorts. And I was going to make it as a quilt/blanket, but before I stitched up the fourth side, I realized that he might enjoy it more as a pillow case and bag. I was right!

Photography - 3 Goals, Completed!

I had three really simple goals for photography today.

1. Take photos using Michael's SLR camera, instead of the little digital.
2. Use the tripod.
3. Experiment with using a slow shutter speed to capture movement and action.

Here are a few of the results...


The power ranger suit was a gift from a 4-year-old friend at a party we went to last night...


I really like the saturated colors in this shot.


Here's an example using the tripod and slow shutter speed. I like the action, but now I need to work on keeping rich colors at the same time...


Like this!


And this one, that just captures the spirit of my guy.