Tag Archive | CrunchyRoll

2000 and 1 Posts

Well, that snuck up on me! Quite the number! And here I am, starting the next thousand posts with crafting and creativity. Appropriate, no?IMG_20160219_195739

This week is a rainbow week (well, week plus a few days), but with a difference. I decided, being the multi tasker I am, to have my secondary activity vary along with my colour changes. So I started with Monday and that beautiful bright red. What better to pair with that then catching up on some excellent murder mysteries in ANIME form. I had two full mysteries to enjoy with one being two double length episodes from the new year. Case Closed is one of my favourites (though I am still confused as to the reasoning behind the de-aging of the main character’s body as a long term plot twist). It is on its 20th year! And while I have only watched what has been posted on Crunchyroll (seriously worth the monthly subscription for an anime addict like me) I would love to get my hands on the beginning of this series… or the manga it was based on (in English of course) and dig in!IMAG2548

Tuesday brought on orange, with it being the focal colour of this piece I figured I would sit back and enjoy some music while I did my three rows. Spotify is an app I newly loaded to the iPad when I wanted to listen to music while I read in the tub. I use the free portion of the app and go with Evening Chill. Suitably relaxing which seemed to go well with the brightness of the orange.IMG_20160217_001949

For yellow I paired it up with a newer family favourite movie – Home, and my very best cuddly movie watcher Miss Echo. We can’t help but smile our way through this movie. Echo has her favourite parts when she simply cannot help but narrate along. Sitting together on the bed while I added this bright colour was so lovely.IMG_20160217_201122

Green is, of course, a special colour. In honour of the Kelly our Kelly green represents I went with a hefty dose of nostalgia with a continuation of my Murder She Wrote marathon. Something familiar and comforting with a bit of excitement and humour. Perfect…IMG_20160219_192720

And then… we got hit with the plague! For goodness sake, we homeschool so are not constantly surrounded by kids, but apparently the combination of basically living at the YMCA on three different occasions a week and Sunday School was enough to put us over. And I refuse to work on such a special project when I am under the weather… that is when mistakes are made! So instead I puttered… recuperated and lost a prep week for schooling. Oh, well! So I figure, it has been too long between posts and I need to share some colour now that our snow seems to be FINALLY melting… so I am going to post this as it is. Red through Green!

I promise a colourful rest of March. I need to kick it up a notch as I certainly do not want to be working away on this way into June if I plan to make the fair! I hope enjoyed my 2001 post! In the meantime here are some of the completions from the past couple weeks! 

A no roll flower I tested out! So awesome, Sick Lil Monkeys!

A no roll flower I tested out! So awesome, Sick Lil Monkeys!

Awesome how the back works out.

Awesome how the back works out.

Double Ruffle Blanket!

Double Ruffle Blanket!

Baby booties from a book sent by a friend

Baby booties from a book sent by a friend

Cupcake blanket!!! My first new classroom only completion!

Cupcake blanket!!! My first new classroom only completion!

A Hunting We Will Go… LOTS

May 18-23

We spent a large chunk of our Sunday out on the hunt for treasure… and for a good park! The girls decided to go matching on their excursion. We actually found a special geocaching coin that travels and is tracked. It has been all over the US an now it is our turn to pass it along!!101_7506

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Chipmunk!

Chipmunk!

Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park

So swampy everywhere!

So swampy everywhere!

We have continued our watching of Veggie Tales when we can get our hands on them. So on a cloudy Monday it was a great filler between the rest of our ongoing learning of Texas, reading, writing and math. Sadly we are running out of shows that include a set of Sunday School worksheets to use. So instead we drew our own fun pictures.101_7522

That evening Ken worked on teaching the boys Agricola (HERE) another strategy game that I honestly am not a huge fan of. The additional reading, challenging game play all seems to be helping them stretch their skills more and more.101_7521

Tuesday was a nature walk in our very own neighbourhood. Keeping our eyes wide open for some more signs of spring… discussing road safety and the difference between planned plants and weeds. I think in June or July we will do a walk through the neighbourhood and see if we can get a bunch of different leaves and try and identify what trees are actually local to us. Which gives the little guys the chance to do a favourite activity – leaf rubbings!101_7542

101_7546Of course around lunch time we had to head back outside to enjoy the backyard. Really we were stuck indoors way too long this winter!101_7548

101_7549Art for Kids has put tons of wonderful how to’s out for us to enjoy. (link on right) Even Trinity is gaining confidence with the use of these.101_7552

101_7554101_7555Miss Echo was quite adamant that it was an ipad anime day for her. I really do love my Crunchyroll membership. Affordable and fun for me too. Granted she doesn’t understand anything being said and can’t read the translation but she bops to the music and enjoys the animation.101_7556

We tried something different for mid week. Of course we continued reading Treasure Island together.101_7557

But I had Ken make me up a nice set of charts for us to go onto the ipad and use my weather app to chart the week coming up weather local to us and for Austen Texas. Using this comparison we opened the table for a discussion about how activities and such would differ for the days there than here. Then for each day recorded the twins settled in with a sibling and wrote basically a daily diary for what they would do in Texas according to the weather. Zander was super creative and one day played out in the rain only to have to stay in the next sick with a cold!101_7558

We dug out our box of fraction magnets just to enjoy the manipulation of the pieces and to see how they look as actual objects. The boys were discussing and quizzing each other and explaining to the littles so I just sat back and let them go at it (as long as the information was CORRECT!).101_7560

We rounded off our outside experience on scooters, bikes and fancy skateboards. Sunshine sunshine SUNSHINE!101_7562

101_7563101_7564101_7565101_7568Trust me we really ARE doing sitting down book work interspersed with LOTS of outside running and burning of energy. Gavin has been taking charge of the camera occasionally and taking pictures too! Mommy in front of the camera instead of behind!!101_7577

101_7579Emanuel and I stole some afternoon creativity time on Wednesday and made a car ramp out of stuff in the livingroom while the other kids went on a walk with Nana and Baba. It is nice to have some quiet one on one time with the kids.101_7581

We ended our school week with ANOTHER Geocache adventure to a small park with a terrific tree shaded walking path. The boys are definitely the ones to jump up and go into the woods. We girls tend to wander the paths closer too and enjoy the more tick and branch free portion of the experience. That is not to say that Trinity does not jump on in from time to time though!

101_7584101_7585We are certainly seeing portions of Minnesota that Ken hasn’t even seen. There are some absolutely amazing out of the way tiny lakes and pretty shaded places. And we are seeing all of this together which is absolutely another plus. One thing we have learned from all the sessions Ken is now doing with his counselor is that going out as a family and enjoying an activity is absolutely crucial for all of us! That time together getting out, exercise coupled with the ability to spend POSITIVE time as a family. Amazing!101_7561

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And a touch of Texas facts

And a touch of Texas facts

Some Rainy Day Video Suggestions…

It has been rainy lately and I figured I would share some of my favourites… first some that I personally enjoy and then the kids and their movies… all foreign based but hey… oh and I am going to make you all do the work yourselves. If you put in the names of these in search you can find them on your own! Just remember all the first section are ones I found on CRUNCHYROLL!!! Love them! 

First off… get yourself a Crunchyroll subscription… I have an anime one, you CAN get a drama (I am tempted every week) but without it you can still watch the bulk of the videos. There are minimal commercials. I watch mine on the iPad.

Now for the comedies….

  • Bug Me Not
  • Dry Wood Fierce Fire
  • Magic Kitchen
  • My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
  • Women from Mars

Animes… Keep in mind these are MY preferred… NOT the kids

  • Rozen Maiden and Rozen Maiden Zuruckspulen
  • Gatchaman Crowds (the only mech I have ever watched through! Though there IS violence)
  • Silver Spoon (agricultural and educational with fun)
  • Moyashimon(another educational one)
  • Servant X Service (based in a ward office)
  • Folktales from Japan (awesome)
  • The Eccentric Family (I love this one with Tanuki and Tengu and all that stuff)
  • Ginatama (not for kids but hilarious)
  • Un-Go (a mystery series)
  • Wagnaria!! (based in a restaurant)
  • Natsume Yujin-cho (demons and names… seriously check it out!)
  • My Little Monster (awkward romance)
  • Say “I Love You” (another romance… this is an ongoing for manga as is My Little Monster)
  • Cuticle Detective Inaba (hilarious and irreverent)

Oh and for the kids!

  • Poyopoyo
  • Chi’s Sweet Home (both of these are about adorable cats!!!)

If you don’t want to READ your tv… Studio Ghibli has some amazing movies…

  • Spirited Away
  • Castles in the Sky
  • Kiki’s Delivery Service
  • Howl’s Moving Castle
  • Porco Rosso
  • Ponyo
  • The Cat Returns
  • There is a story before The Cat Returns called Whisper of the Heart. Definitely more of a romance with some bittersweet moments. The Cat Returns is a semi-spin off.
  • Ok so more mature but definitely worth a watch if you want to be amazed! Princess Mononoke

    An a screen shot from one of my all time favourites... Spirited Away

    An a screen shot from one of my all time favourites… Spirited Away