Christmas/War Crafting

I must be feeling better, because I have been crafting again.

And so has Tre.

One of the things I am loving about homeschool is that we just do whatever he's interested in each day, mixed with his letters and math and such. So for the past few months we've been learning about World War II (or as he says it WarWar II). Now our focus has changed. From the aircraft, aircraft carriers, Pearl Harbor, submarines, the guns, etc. But we have to do some crafting. So first he made this, its a torpedo for a giant submarine that he built in the basement.

We sewed this together with some scraps from one of the WWII swiss army blankets we had. He stuffed it. He wants to make ten more.

Then he made this. In case you can't tell... it's a P14, a gun commonly used by the British, but he added a more recent scope onto his.

You know, you can't make that stuff in school!

And I have made a few things of my own. I saw the idea to plant saplings of pine trees last year in a Christmas magazine and couldn't forget it! So this year I did a little of that, mixed with another project I saw, how to make your own mercury glass! So fun, and so easy. Laila and I did all of this together, and she was a great helper! (It is so different, and so much more fun, crafting with girls than with boys!) For now, it is our center piece. But we will handing them out to teachers and friends soon!

And lastly, I forgot i needed a lot more stockings this year... and a lot more money!

So instead of buying stocking I just used stuff I had lying around and made these. They are made from an old coffee grain sack, some ribbon, and some red and white ticking fabric I had. All of them (plus the additional one that is not hanging for baby girl... next year) took me a total of one hour to make! So easy!

I also decided that since we have so many kids now, there is no money

in the budget for adult stockings, it's expensive to fill these suckers!

Now we do not have a fire place, so ours are hanging on our bed. This way, we will not miss out on the stocking fun on Christmas morning. (Tre wants to know if we are going to sleep with our eyes open and try and see Santa... of COURSE!)

I also have different letters, some wooden, one on chalk board, one metal, etc. to hang on each stocking so the kids know whose is whose on Christmas morning.

Christmas is so fun!