Origami Dogs from Around the World

Yay! The powers of the internet! Magnolia was very excited to have friends and family sent in pictures of their origami dogs after her instructional video.

Sent in by our friend Jemma in New Zealand

 Sent in by Maggie's Nana in Washington

Sisters...build a car together.

Spring break and some new furniture inspire a joint car-making effort.

Tinkering under the hood

Click below to see more pictures and to watch the girls tell you about their car.

A Cozy Cage for Tiger

Kaleia has grown especially fond of this key chain tiger, perhaps because he is small enough for her to take to school with her each day. This afternoon, she spent much of her free time building him a cage in the garage. She and Maggie worked together to saw the pieces using the vice and clamps. Maggie grew tired of the project and left Kaleia to put it together on her own. Several times her frustrated sighs or exclamations of "Drats!" drew me to her workbench to lend a hand. I helped remove a bent nail, then with a sighed "Thank you" she got back to work...until the next one. Lacking hinges for a lid/door, she added a hook to attach his keyring to so he wouldn't escape. Finally, Kaleia added the necessary comforts and decor.

Geome-Try This on for Size...

Today, Kaleia discovered that two triangles can be put together to stand in for square tiles when you run out. 

She also methodically tried various angled shapes until she found just the right ones to complete this interesting design. 

Her Geometry teacher Mama is proud!

Our Little Mermaid

"Mama, can you help me make a bra?" - Magnolia (4.5)

These are words I did not expect to hear from my four-year-old daughter, or really from my daughter at any age. But when a girl wants to be a mermaid and her cupcake papers are not cooperating...