Silhouette Sunday #16: Apollo’s Silhouette Journey

March 1, 2015 by 6 Comments

apollosilhouette1Apollo has always taken a strong interest in my crafts and Belinda’s Crafts for a very long time now. When I am in my craft room, he always finds an excuse to come in and check on what I am doing. I bought my Silhouette Portrait about two years ago and he took to it immediately. Before it even arrived in the mail, he downloaded the software and started poking around.  When it finally arrived, he was thrilled. He loved seeing all the cool cutfiles. He liked that it was on the computer since that is one of his favorite activities.

apollosilhouette2jpgSo when he found out I was receiving the new Silhouette Cameo for Christmas, he began his pitch for taking my Portrait.  I told him he could have it, if he promised to take special care of it.  Well we finally set it up on his computer in early January and he has been loving it. I have been teaching him how to locate free files online and to always download the weekly freebie at the Silhouette’s store.

apollosilhouette3In the beginning of February, he downloaded a free heart valentine card from Silhouette and he set to making me a Valentine. I love that he has no fear of jumping right in there.

I often think of my friend Cathy, who got me to take the leap into the world of Silhouette,  when I watch him working on his Silhouette and how she would be so thrilled to see another generation having fun with it. So I hope she will get to see these photos.

apollosilhouette5

Recently, he celebrated his 100th day at school. They had to bring in 100 of an item for some activities. So I sent him with dried beans.  But the day before he found online a website that a person made a ‘100’ card and he immediately thought he wanted to make one to take to school.  By the time I came to provide some help he had followed the persons instructions and selected the same font and size. So I took the opportunity to teach him how to use the duplicate tool and weld to create the card base and he did all the cutting.

apollosilhouette4I can’t tell you how proud I am of him and the look on his face when he took it to school to show his teacher and friends was priceless. At this rate, I might have to hire him in a few months to create some cutfiles for Belinda’s Crafts.

As Cathy would say, “They’re never to young to learn a craft.”

Happy crafting my friends and thanks for reading about my pretty amazing boy.

Belinda

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Fun Photos Friday #31: Simple things in Life

January 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Make time

to enjoy the

SIMPLE

things

in

LIFE

funphotosfriday0123_2015On Monday, I took the boys to Barnes and Noble for our usual book adventures. Nicholas immediately went to the book shelf to find a book he knew was being released to see if it had arrived. Apollo went to the opposite section of the children’s book area. I stopped to look around the vast selection of books that kids can access at this bookstore. I am always impressed by the amount of books available to children now and it makes me smile. When I looked up from the books, I peeked and immediately saw Nicholas then I started down the aisles to look for Apollo.

Then I spotted him…sitting so peacefully on the floor reading a fun picture book about crayons.  I didn’t say anything. I just watched him. He was so comfortable at this place filled with books and so engrossed in the story. I immediately put my phone on silent and took at picture. It’s the simple things like Apollo grabbing a book, plopping down and diving into the story that warmed my heart. Life is beautiful.

Have a blessed Friday friends!

Belinda

 

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“Baby It’s Cold Outside”

January 8, 2015 by 2 Comments

thetempPart of my responsibility as a parent is to use logic to make judgement calls for my family, particularly the boys.  This morning I woke to this temp on my iPhone.  Many schools cancelled school in the area and I waited for ours to follow suit but as luck would have it, it didn’t happen. So I had a decision to make – bring them to school and dismiss them early so I don’t catch frost bite at pick up or keep them home for the day and provide an educational environment at home.

studiesWell my gut said, “Baby it’s cold outside, keep them home”.  So I armed myself with a few of our many workbooks and divided up sections I wanted them to work on throughout the day. After they were dressed and ate breakfast, I explained the cold weather and that today the school is open so we are not on holiday we are just going to work at home.  Then I gave them their first assignments. Nicholas would be focusing on his writing skills in the morning and reading skills in the afternoon.  Apollo would work on a little math, test prep in the morning and reading and cursive in the afternoon.

studyingFor reading in the afternoon, I took one boy at a time into my Reading Nook. Apollo and I read “World of Birds: A Beginner’s Guide“. I love birding and I want to teach him more so it is a wonderful book with amazing illustrations. He enjoyed it and I added a fun element to keep his interest. We used SIRI to look up the bird calls of the birds as we read about them. Because I want him to learn this information, we stopped after reading about Cardinals and will revisit to continue tomorrow.

For Nicholas, we begin listening to “The Emerald Atlas” audio book and I had him take notes to help enhance his listening skills. We listened to the prologue today and will continue a little each day until we complete the book.

Despite a bit of protest, I am convinced they liked the structure. I even provided a snack and lunch break and we finished our day promptly at 3;00.

Tomorrow back to school and I feel good that it was a productive day.

Not a bad day of homeschooling at the Fernandes’ house!

Have a great day everyone!

Belinda

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Fun Photos Friday #24: Finding a Home for Totoro

May 2, 2014 by 1 Comment

funphotofriday26aOne of Apollo’s favorite movies is “My Neighbor Totoro” by Hayao Miyazaki, one of Japan’s beloved animator.  We have collected and watched many of his films.  But Apollo couldn’t stop talking about the character Totoro.  So I headed online to Amazon and of course there were several to choose from.  I let him pick out the one he wanted and ordered it.

On Monday, it arrived and I placed him on Apollo’s bed for a surprise when he arrived home from school.  I told him to go make his bed after he hung up his coat because he hadn’t made it in the morning.  Seems like after school works best for both Nicholas and Apollo so I try not to cringe when I look at it all day.  He was so thrilled when he saw Totoro sitting on his bed.

funphotofriday26bHe spent much of the afternoon making Totoro “talk” and then introduced him to his other stuffed animals.

funphotofriday26cLooks like Totoro has all of his adult teeth. Apollo has some catching up to do!

funphotofriday26dThe next day before Apollo went to school he tucked Totoro, Bee and Dino under the blanket on the couch.  I was charged with watching them while he was at school.  I know he is getting older but I still adore his relationship with his stuffed animals.

I apologize for few posts lately but I have been working on some products for a custom order for Belinda’s Crafts and trying to balance my blogging time has been a little more challenging.

Have a great weekend my friends.

Belinda

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