7 Quick Takes: August 10, 2012 (Vol. 126)

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In order to find out the volume number of my 7 Quick Takes this week, I had to go all the way back to June 30th!  I don’t think I’ve ever skipped that many 7 Quick Takes since I began doing them.

However, since I took the month of July off by writing all of my posts ahead of time, I skipped 7 Quick Takes throughout that time, since I like to write them about things that are going on right now (or recently).

Speaking of taking July off…

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So, I (theoretically) took July off of the blogs.  I didn’t really, as I still found myself working on them, just less.

Here is what I said in that post that I wanted to do:

• Planning our schooling for next school year
• Painting (which I haven’t done in months and months, which makes me sad)
• Helping with 4-H projects (and taking them to judging with the kids)
• Consider actually grabbing out the guitar that Eric bought me and see if I can manage to learn a chord or two
• Probably writing because I don’t think I could go that long without doing it
• Reading, because I don’t do it enough
• Playing with the kids
• Picking vegetables from the garden (I hope!)
• Taking time to breathe

So, let’s see.  I planned out 14 weeks of the new school year, which we have already started.  We worked through 4H projects (and even ended up with one kiddo having a project go to the state fair!).  I did a little bit of reading.  I played with the kids a lot.  My tomatoes are finally really coming in and not rotting at the bottom (now that I know it was from too little water).  I managed to breathe every single day.

What I didn’t do was apparently just about every creative endeavor that I thought I should do.  The paint tubes remained capped, the guitar sat in the case, and I didn’t write once I had all of the posts scheduled for July.  I feel bad that none of those things got touched, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

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Do you know what we did get to try on the musical realm during July though?

The kids and I each got to try out a cello (which is an instrument I’ve wanted to play since I was  kid), a mandolin, and a dulcimer.  As Jack strummed along on the dulcimer and I on the mandolin, Jack said we should be in a band.  I said, “Yeah, the kind of band where we don’t really know how to play our instruments.”

After our afternoon at some new friends’ house where we got to try out all these wonders (plus the boys played on a baby grand piano), I had to add a couple of things to my Amazon wishlist:

A Mandolin (Which I Thought was Ridiculously Fun to Strum on)

A Dulcimer (Jack’s favorite of the instruments we tried)

A Melody (Lap) Harp (Not that we tried one, but we had so much fun with the other string instruments, it sounded like fun)

Um, wait.  That’s not an instrument.  I put it on my wishlist around the same time though.  I don’t know why, I just have a hankering to make some ice cream here at home (it also makes frozen yogurt and sorbet).

So, why add instruments to my wishlist that we may never learn to play?

Well, as far as I was concerned, they were reasonably priced and I loved watching the way the kids explored music with some of these instruments.  We have not, however, actually bought any of them…yet.

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While I was taking a break in July, every male in our house had their birthdays.

This also means that I am now officially the mother of a teenager!  And, really – not just any teenager.  A teenager who, at his annual checkup, topped the height chart at an inch and a half taller than me.

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We were late in getting Eric a birthday present, but finally picked up a beginning book to drawing manga (Japanese anime) and a set of Prismacolor colored pencils of his own that are typical manga colors (I have this larger set).  The whole family loved the book, so that was exciting and I’m hoping it means that multiple people will attempt to draw manga at our house.

However, so far, just Eric has tried it.  I was both impressed and jealous that these were his first two attempts (seriously – that’s just not right):

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Speaking of birthday presents, we got Noah two presents for his birthday – a game and a book.  Oh my goodness – I now love the game that we got for him and could probably play it a couple of times a week and be thrilled.

Ticket to Ride is crazy fun.  We’ve now played it as a family several times, and then took it with us on a trip to Wisconsin and played it with extended family.  My 18 year old nephew found it too stressful, he declared.

But, everyone else has loved this unique board game.  I’m so glad that we happened upon it at the store and read more about it (which is what made Noah ask for it for his birthday).

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Do you like to do art projects with your kids?  Make sure to check out the Ultimate List of Inexpensive Art Projects that I just posted this week.  39 links of fabulous projects.

And, if you’re a homeschooler (or are thinking about it), you can check out the other Ultimate Guide that I posted (but this time at The Homeschool Classroom).  It’s the Ultimate Guide to Homeschool Scheduling.

If you like the lists, go check out all of the Ultimate Guide links on iHomeschool Network.  It’s overwhelming, but awesome.

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes and Weekly Wrap Up.  (Also linking up with Friday Favorite Things today, since I ended up talking about so many things that I’m crazy about lately.)

This post contains affiliate links.  They don’t change how much you pay, but they do help support this site.  Thanks!  (Disclosure Policy)

Related posts:

7 Quick Takes: June 22, 2012 (Vol. 124) 7 Quick Takes: June 9, 2012 (Vol. 122) 7 Quick Takes: June 30, 2012 (Vol. 125) 7 Quick Takes: June 1, 2012 (Vol. 121)