A New Room

I finally got the boot out of my office space!  It's time to give ZB her very own room.  Eventually B will wall off a section of our large bedroom to make a new office for me, but for now he is in full-on "New Bedroom Mode".
First, we had to clean out the office - for now all my sewing supplies and ebay inventory are piled in our bedroom.

Next, the carpet was pulled up and B repainted the trim and ceiling:

The new shade of "Sassy Lilac" is started.  As much as I love new paint, I can't stand to pick out a color!  B and the boys were happy to take this on, and I think it looks so sweet!

Even Reed lent a hand.  Actually, he *begged* to be able to help paint, and ended up painting an entire wall!

As I sit here typing, I can hear B sawing off the bottoms of the door jams, preparing to install the new hardwood floors he bought today.  This is a really fun project, and I'm also excited for it to be done so we can start getting the house organized again :)  Staying busy as always!

Busy days

Reed's Odyssey of the Mind (OM) team has started meeting at our house for the weekly 4-hr meetings.  Already my sewing/ebay room has the additions of a walker, a wheelchair, a tricycle, huge sheets of cardboard, rolls of paper and a big tub filled with miscellaneous - hot glue guns, fake greenery, drinking straws and the like.  And this is only the first week - yikes!  Hopefully before the New Year, B will be putting hardwood floors down in this room and it will eventually become ZB's bedroom:

Here the boys are gearing up for a homeschool craft day this week.  They each set up tables with their handmade goods.  Reed made snowglobes and dog treats.  Clay made PVC marshmallow shooters and little hackysack balls (balloons filled with sand).  They did really well selling items and had a great time putting them together.

ZB, of course kept busy all week - this girl is into EVERYTHING!  Reed left his iPod unattended while he left the room and this is the scene he returned to:

Here she is tonight, trying to "help" me take photos of a baby chair I am selling.  Everytime she would get off of it, I'd try to sneak the camera back out and snap a photo and she would come running to sit down and have her picture taken... well, I finally did get a shot of it, and about 10 of  ZB in it :)

 We are also holding the Connecticut families in the light tonight, that are trying to come to terms with losing their children in such a horrific way.  So sad for so many.  I hope they find some peace in their community over time.  I'm certainly giving my kids some extra hugs and kisses and I hope you'll do the same to all the sweet kids in your life!
Love
Julie

Little Helper

Even the normal chores are taking longer as little ZB insists on helping.  But she's so darn happy to do it (literally, throwing her head back and laughing!) I just can't stop her.  And thanks to Sissa for ZB's new favorite slippers and matching PJ's - she loves them!

More Stop Motion!

Reed made his second stop-motion animation lego film - this one is a breakdancer.  Check it out!  And if you have a you tube account please leave a comment or 'like' it - it will put a big ole' smile on his face!

Chico Bags for the holidays

We are selling Chico Bags to raise money for our Odyssey of the Mind team. Please take a look at their online catalog, and follow the directions for purchasing. ChicoBags donates 50% of the sale to our team, which helps us pay for renting space, materials, registration, etc.

Also, come visit us at The Hop on Merrimon this Wednesday from 6-8. We will be doing spontaneous problems, answering questions about OM, and taking orders for our fundraisers!

Asheville Homeschool Co-op OM is fundraising with ChicoBag! Support Asheville Homeschool Co-op OM by purchasing items at www.chicobag.com using the code: AHCOM12

 50% of each sale will be donated to our cause. Get orders in by 12/17/2012.  These make great and useful presents for holidays and for yourself - and there's even a 'Blossom' collection (how could anyone resist? ;)

Thank you!!

- Julie

Stop Motion Animation

Check out Reed's first Stop Motion Animation film, he made all by himself.  Extra points for having to ward off a curious toddler during the making of the project.

Harvesting the Sweet Potatoes

The cold nights and chilly days have signaled the definite end to Summer.  For the gardens it means to get Summer goodies all out of the ground and get Fall plants started.  Due to my general laziness this year and pre-occupation keeping up with a toddler, we only put in garlic and kale.  B did get in about 200 garlic plants, and I added about 50 more of a couple different varieties - yum!

Remember those sweet potato slips I started in my kitchen last Spring?  They went nuts when I planted them in the garden.  I had to prune them back out of the walkways weekly!  The leaves finally started to get brittle from the cold, so time to pull them up!

The harvest needs to cure for a minute in the shade before they are brought indoors for storage.

ZB wasn't quite ready to finish working, though...

When I finished the harvest and went in to make lunch, B surprised me with the very last garden-ripe tomato of the season - we savored it!  Oh, I'm going to miss those!  The wimpy greenhouse ones in the grocery store lack nearly any flavor, so I pretty much go without buying fresh tomatoes all Winter... boo.

I thought I'd add some other photos that were on my camera today.  This is one of the best ways I know to keep the girl still (at least long enough to change a diaper).  If I've got my camera handy, she'll grab it and turn it on, so I make sure to snap some photos of her so she'll have something to look at, and get excited saying, "Baby! Baby! Ma!"  Here ya go - cute baby very patiently waiting for me to hand the camera over to her :)