getting our craft on

Last week Madison was given an assignment to research Jane Long, write a short biography, and create a biography bottle. 

(I am going to go ahead and not rant and rave about how school projects=parent projects. I'm not even going to mention how annoying it is to have to teach my child how to do a research paper because the only instruction she got was a paper that listed requirements, including a works cited page, which my daughter has never heard of.) 

Madison sat in front of the computer for a few afternoons and wrote a three-page paper in a 24-point loopy font. I helped her format it correctly (much to her dismay; I am so boring) and then read through it while trying to decide just how tough to be on a fourth grader who ends her paper with a sentence that says something like, "...this brave and mysterious woman who was the mother of Texas." (Brave, possibly; mysterious--I think not.) 

Let's move on to the bottle. It is no secret that I detest crafting. Most likely because I am horrible at it. But I love Madi, so we studied some pictures and got to work on her biography bottle. 

This is Jane Long. 

We covered a ball with some fabric and hot-glue gunned everything to the pop bottle. Madison penciled a face onto the head. At this point I left her to give the boys baths. 

15ish minutes later I call downstairs to ask her if she has cleaned up. No response. I travel down the stairs and see her bottle on the TV stand. The bonnet/veil thing we made was covering its face. It was sitting on a note (which unfortunately I threw away). It said something like, "I can't even look at it. She looks like an ax murderer. Why didn't Jane Long smile in any of her pictures? I am going to get an F--, and all of my friends are going to laugh at me. I am not taking it to school. Why did you let me do this?" 

I lift the veil and see this. 

Ok, my day had been long and busy. I was tired. So I saw this and I could NOT stop laughing. I laughed and I laughed. Madison comes in, sees me laughing, and starts sobbing. The boys, hearing the chaos, rush down the stairs, see the bottle, and then they start laughing. Madison cries louder and stomps away. 

Not my finest moment. Actually, I like to think of it as proof that I actually do have a sense of humor. It's due tomorrow, and I think she's going to have to take it just like it is. 

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Quick house update. 

House is bricked and almost done. I asked Madi to take a few pictures (we are on good terms again). We now have tiles in the wet areas and lights and doorknobs (no electricity). 

The view from our backyard. For now. 

Stairs

Here's where I would show a picture of the kitchen, except that I'm not happy with it right now. We paid for pendant lighting over our island, but I don't love the lights. Also, they are spaced weirdly and almost touching the countertop. I guess I'm like Madi; I don't even want to look at the picture because it's not how I pictured it in my head! There are a few other items that were not exactly right as well.... I wrote a nice email to our builder; hopefully that will be enough to make some changes.