Leather bracelets and Body Maps

Have you noticed the cuff bracelets on Eliza's wrists in the photos from the last few days? I managed to pry them off of her for her bath this evening, but she's had them on since she and her best friend E made them on Friday.  (Ani made some too but I haven't taken any photos)

My dear friend E has been saving some pieces of soft leather, from a thrifted jacket or pair of pants, for years, thinking of doing something like this with them, so we got down to it at their house last week.  She and I cut strips with scissors to the width and length that worked for the girls, and they painted them with acrylic paint or used a sharpie marker to make their design.

When they had dried we sewed on buttons of their choosing (the leather was difficult for them to get a needle through - partway through the project we located her husband's leather awl and after making a couple tiny holes it was a breeze), measured, on their wrists, where the slit for the buttonhole should go, and used an exacto knife for the cutting. 

 It was such an easy and satisfying project and the girls love their new adornments...

:: :: :: ::

We spent some time this morning before choir adding some bones to our body maps.  

 Please excuse my amateur bone-making skills!! They were sufficient for the job at hand - the girls were so excited about figuring out where they went, finding them on their own bodies...Dan and I had a good chuckle over the skulls in particular - I had a flashback to being in school, drawing maps and imagining that as I traced the coastline of Spain the real-life coastline changed to match my drawing! It was a bit disconcerting considering it was my daughters' jawlines in question, but my magical powers don't seem to have affected any change.

 ...and of course Nestor Jolly got involved, which is always fun...

Inspired by these videos of a yoga class/anatomy lesson for high school aged kids, we are also doing a little yoga while talking about the functions of our bones in our bodies.

Yes, we'll add more vertebrae and some ribs...but I'm not making any promises on the bones of the hands and feet...While Ani was riding her bike today she yelled to me - "I can feel those bones in my butt! Those sitting bones!!"  Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones...