Sew Focused

Clearly, there are some things I cannot do in multi-tasking mode. One of them is sewing. While I sometimes upbraid myself for doing too many things at once, this is one time when I wish I was capable of it. I blame the machine. When the sewing machine has taken over my dining room table and the kids think this is a great reason to eat in front of the tv, or my father might be stopping by and spot the disaster of a workshop my dining space has become, I am absolutely incapable of putting it away until I've finished the project I've begun. Luckily, I do not often sew. There are many reasons for this.

Lily and Aragorn; not screen-free in France, but not too unhappy either!

 

 

 

Screen-Free Week 2012

We are beginning our post-screen-free week, as my seven-year-old is happy to remind me. What does this mean? It's a little different from last year. In years before that, the kids were too young for it to make a big difference, they were not allowed on the computer anyway. Last year, the relief for the older children, then 12 and 14, felt like the walls of the house had been sucked in and were being let out. This year, we created such a peaceful and lively enjoyment of the whole experience that it was not quite the same source of stress. The expectation was that the tv would not be turned on, so it wasn't.

Screen-Free Week 2012 in Photos

 After a kids chemistry day at a local college; home chemistry became all the rage for a day or two. Here: writing with radishes on baking soda-painted index cards.

 

 The First May Pole of the week; and of our lives, thank you for sharing this with us!

 The second May Pole and Beltane celebration of the week...and of our lives!

 The beautiful, wild Lake Michigan

 

 

More pics from Sunday's May Pole dance; thank you, we had such a good time!

 

 Visiting the French Consulate in Chicago to vote; great reception area!

 A mobile Alienor discovered at the Consulat Francais

 My favorite work of art at the Consulat

 The Museum of Science and Industry; Chicago

 The Idea Factory in the M.of Science and Industry

 The most fun in stand-behind bodies I've seen yet.

 The railroad exhibit: M.of Science and Industry

 With Daddy in the Idea Factory; just before I returned to the Fairy Castle, where I fell in love all over again. The last time I saw it was as a child. Photos are forbidden, as it is in fairy realm and kept in a semi-darkened room, but look it up here: http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/fairycastle/history-of-the-fairy-castle/

It's National Screen-Free Week; What are you up to?

We are very excited about the challenge of our annual screen-free week. It is happening all over the country. Are you ready to try? Just turn off the screen and turn up the life experiences. Here we go, and here are a few ideas from the past months of things that happen when the little noise boxes are turned off all around the house. Enjoy your week!

More Screen-Free Ideas

Paint the playhouse in the back yard

 

 

Try our hand at Pysanky egg-dying

Give hair cuts in the kitchen

Draw tatoos on our brother

Build a skate ramp and a theatre stage in the basement

 

Make a perfect "buche de Noel"

 

Or pot of gumbo

Try out new ways to wrap a pretty present

Make candles in muffin tins

Build a plant shelf (thank you, mon amour!)

Screen-Free Things We Like to Do

 Lego Palooza

 Do a Puzzle

 Have fun with Grama

S Knit a blanket

 Hang out with uncles

 Dance to great Irish music

 Paddy O Furniture Band

 Celebrate and Decorate

 

 Hold a warm puppy

 

 Make homemade pizza

 Try on hundreds of bracelets

 Make some music

 

 Give a concert