Friday 30 January 2009

The Lilting Painter



Well I at least contemplated cutting off the end of this video, where he turns around and scowls at me and demands that I immediately erase the recording. I desperately want to respect his wishes… but some of this stuff is just too golden. For those without a pre-teen girl in the family, find the Hannah version of "Best of Both Worlds" here.

I’m making it up to him, I think, by doing everything in my power not to dispose of my latest gift from The Roadside Scavenger:

Thursday 29 January 2009

Two heads and a lego car

Look at us! We be making Valentine's and it isn't even February 13th yet (or Februrary 20th more like it)...


Don't expect them to actually ever leave the house however.


We found our table! Turns out its brown:


And looky what's sittin' on the table - new artwork from Fergus. He seems to have made this huge leap recently in his drawings - here he's got a sun, a comet, himself with a large beating heart (he continues to be big into organs and suchlike) and some guy fighting him:


An Effie creation:


Two heads and a lego car:

Sunday 25 January 2009

Sedentary Fergus

Other than watching Avatar (highest recommendation by the way!), the only other thing that Fergus does in a still fashion these days is the legos. And as a bonus, most things he creates are given away as nifty looking presents!

A baby came to visit today

...and Effie didn't let her leave her sight the entire time.

Lazy trampy day




(as with all pics of ferg these days, in both of these he's pleading with me not to take his picture. bad dad)

Effie and her homework



Thursday 22 January 2009

A day with fam-damily

Up at 6 am - yikes!


On the Goose (yes, our trail shares a name with Fergus)



Ferg is hugely into Patch, like he is with most pets. Uh oh.


Coats


Cocktails. Too many cocktails.


Have I mentioned that I'm Gini's hero??


Sisters (I think)


Phi wanted a party/ Gini baked a cake. I like Gini.


Bounce (and pose)


Mini playing some Hannah Montana

Wednesday 21 January 2009

Tuesday 20 January 2009

Jiffy Pop

Ferg was feeling nostalgic for summer late this afternoon so we brought out Rachel, Max and Otto's summertime jiffy pop and fired er up. Yee ha...


Saturday 17 January 2009

Wednesday 14 January 2009

Question

Tough question-of-the-week courtesy Effie:
What does it mean, “luck be a lady”?

Unschoolers playing school

It is when the kiddos manage to create opportunities for themselves to be off in their own little world that they then function amazingly together. The two of them have this symbiotic relationship that feeds off each other. That’s a given I suppose, since they are siblings who hang out with each other all day (and night) long, every day - but it is a joy to watch nonetheless. Especially since, believe it or not, it’s not all sweetness and light here at the home of wonderful happenings! Shocking, I know. A parallel blog might be called “The Screaming Happens” and there would be no problem documenting on a daily basis (though the photos would be a bit blurry and hard to look at).

One of the setups they continue to return to is “playing school”, or at least playing their own beautifully warped perception of school. Sometimes Effie takes on the dual role of pupil and teacher, assigning random marks to things and praising Fergus’ every move. Last night’s school session included participating in geology, reading, writing and gym classes and, at times, all of these “subjects” mashed into one. As well, Fergus appeared to invent some sort of assignment in-tray out of the dump truck. But the most unusual thing about all of this was that it did not immediately follow some message-driven television program involving school the way, for example, English accents and great quantities of tea follow viewings of period dramas. The only program that was watched last night was The Hardy Boys, in deference to Gillian reclaiming her youth (apparently, and I did not know this, Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson were once viewed as dreamy!).








I imagine whenever schoolers play “unschool”, a detention is in order. Or a dunce cap, or suspension? Or maybe I got that all wrong. Maybe that is what recess is all about? No that’s got whistles, buzzers and bells attached to it too. My memories of elementary school recess, though I’m certain I enjoyed it for the most part, are of hiding from girls in a corner of the schoolyard. At lunchtime I got to play and go across the street to my house and eat - woot hoot!!!

Sunday 11 January 2009

Characters

Twins chilin' at the Buck or Two:



'Arry


Helmet Head


Ready for battle:


Infiltrator