This prop sword is immense and incredible. I love seeing all the work that goes into each cosplay, even if I don’t know what the cosplay is!
Jen Desmarais
Week 29 – Mulan Results
Pegasus was glued to the screen yet again, and nearly squeezed my arm off a few times when it got scary. (Specifically the point when they had only one cannon left, and then the massive hun army showed up.)
Dance
As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.
Music
His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book. He’s only 4 ish pages away from finishing the first book.
Crochet
We haven’t started this yet.
Basic Information
We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.
Printing words
We’re working on spacing and keeping the words on the bottom line. He really doesn’t care about spacing lol
Counting objects/math-type activities
He did very well with his numbers this week.
Math worksheets. He REALLY likes these. He did them both on Tuesday morning because he was so excited to do them once again. He didn’t need my help, and only made one mistake, which he corrected when I pointed it out (on page two, he subtracted instead of added 9+4). He doesn’t care very much about drawing the shapes, which is fine.
Storytime
We read 2 of the French library books this week.
Activity
Learn about makeup – Pegasus decided he didn’t want to wear it (totally fine, obviously!) but since we had special guest Aunt Lindsay over, she put it on herself and talked about what she was doing and the two main rules of makeup: 1. Makeup is for fun and for yourself, and 2. Never share makeup brushes!
Fireworks with paint – I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. Dragon had a major meltdown over it. But Pegasus had a lot of fun, I think partly because I used regular forks instead of plastic ones, so they worked really well. He insisted that I make fireworks with him, and I had fun with it as well. He chose both of our colours and I think it turned out very well.
Make a puzzle – Instead of gluing the paper to foam, which didn’t really work last time and we didn’t have any foam this time, I just let Pegasus have fun cutting shapes into the paper. Wait, let me begin at the beginning. He had fun choosing pictures to put on the background he had chosen, and then when I explained that he was going to cut it up, he decided that he didn’t want pictures, he just wanted the background. Okay, now we’re caught up. He proceeded to cut literal shapes into the paper, which I found hilarious. And for the leftover paper, he cut it into tiny pieces because, and I quote, “I want it to be harder than Dragon’s.” Then he put it “together”. He said it was too hard and that he probably should have made the pieces bigger (no kidding, buddy). But he was very happy with the resulting “image”, which was not the original shape of the paper, I might add. He cleaned it up before I had the chance to take a picture of his creation.
Aurora Awards Nominations End Tomorrow!
Hello once again!!
The Aurora Awards, which are for Canadian science fiction and fantasy writers and artists, are open for nominations for the 2023 works! (Nominations are open March 2 – April 6) This means the LONG lists of eligible works are being narrowed down to 5-6 per category.
Once they have a list of nominated works, every single person who signed up and paid the $10 membership fee gets ALL the nominated works as downloads. That’s all the adult novels, YA novels, novellas, short stories, graphic novels, and related works (usually anthologies), so about 36 works, for just $10 CAD, which is a great deal.
Getting nominated for an Aurora Award is a BIG DEAL in the speculative fiction writing community. You get a nomination pin (only once, so I’m terrified I’ll lose mine!), and you’re part of an elite group of people. This would be Pegasus’s first nomination, so my fingers are crossed! Our category is stacked with popular works.
Not only do Éric and I have quite the list of eligible works, but Pegasus (for his work this year in his kindergarten homeschooling) are eligible as well! By the way, nomination forms are not ranked.
How do you nominate?
- Go to this website: https://www.csffa.ca/members-home/
- Join, pay membership fee
- Nominate up to 5 works per category https://www.csffa.ca/members-home/nomination/
It would mean a lot to all of us if you’re willing to nominate us! (Categories are in alphabetical order by work)
- Eligibility Category 2 – Best YA Novel
- The Mystery of the Dancing Lights by Éric Desmarais
- Eligibility Category 3 – Best Novelette/Novella
- Knight of Everdome (novelette at the end of Crushing It) by Jen Desmarais
- The Suns of War by Éric Desmarais
- Eligibility Category 4 – Best Short Story
- ‘Twas the Snatching Before Christmas by Éric Desmarais
- Eligibility Category 8 – Best Cover Art/Interior Illustration
- The Mystery of the Dancing Lights by Nathan Frechette
- Eligibility Category 9 – Best Fan Writing/Publication
- JenEric Movie Reviews by Éric Desmarais
- The Travelling TARDIS by Jen Desmarais
- Eligibility Category 10 – Best Fan Related Work
- Pegasus Flight School: Kindergarten education through genre media by Jen and Adrien (age 4) Desmarais
In case you’re wondering why Crushing It is not included in the best cover art category, it’s because our cover artist is Vietnamese! Only Canadian creators are eligible, unfortunately. It is also not included in the YA Novel category because, although it takes place in a world of magic, the main POV character for 90% of the book has no idea it exists. Fortunately, the POV character for the novelette at the end is aware of the hidden magical world, so that is eligible in category 3.
Thank you so much for your time, attention, and support. If any of the above does make it through the nomination round, I’ll be making another post for the voting round, which will take place June 8 – July 13, 2023.
Week 30 – My Neighbour Totoro
I love the storytelling in Miyazaki movies. This one is my favourite.
Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (I hope this works…please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| make soot sprite | Watch movie | write script | Flex | make props |
Summary of the week
Daily details:
Dance
Ballet and martial arts on alternate days
Music
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
On break
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – (in download material)
Addition and pattern – worksheet
Storytime
Activity
Make a movie – write script, storyboard script, write out text (if any)
Make a soot sprite – link to activity
Next week: Boxtrolls
Tintin and Milou/Snowy
I was introduced to Tintin in French, so his dog was named Milou. I loved all the adventures he went on. Great cosplay idea.
Week 28 – Rise of the Guardians Results
Pegasus was glued to the screen. He whimpered in fear a couple times, and curled into me when I offered each time. He also laughed multiple times when funny things happened.
Dance
As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.
Music
His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book.
Crochet
We haven’t started this yet.
Basic Information
We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.
Printing words
We’re working on spacing and keeping the words on the bottom line. He really doesn’t care about spacing lol
Counting objects/math-type activities
He wrote some numbers backward, but changed them when I pointed that out to him.
Math worksheets. He REALLY likes these. He did them both on Monday because he was so excited to do them once again.
Storytime
We read 2 of the French library books this week.
Activity
Draw Dreamland – we did this the same way as drawing an island a few weeks ago, because he really loved doing it that way. The Nightmares have their own island off to the southwest (see sad face). He has a lot of hills and lakes, and a lot of houses because he likes drawing them.
Make ice cream – This went really well! As a warning, I suggest that you have mitts handy, because the bags got really cold REALLY fast! We followed this recipe and it worked super well. I’d maybe shake it for a little longer than 7 minutes, or store it in the freezer for a little while after making it, just so that it solidifies a bit more. I’m actually kinda disappointed that this wasn’t something we discovered during the lockdown, because this was so fun to do with the kids and would have been perfect to brag about on social media! Pegasus gave his ice cream 4 thumbs up, but he said he could only show me 2. Maybe add in his toes, he says!
Learn about the moon – we watched some videos and talked about tides (specifically the Bay of Fundy) and why there are phases of the moon. No pictures.
Introducing Secondary Characters – Family
In case you weren’t aware, Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests is a wedding book, which means lots of family. This book has a humungous cast of characters, and we actually included a list at the back of the book because there are just so many people.
Zoe Johnson
Age: 24
Date of Birth: Sep 19, 1978
Appearance: dark brown hair, hazel eyes, tall, golden brown skin
Job: city planner consultant for urban infrastructure planning, co-head of the Oldtown Council, and part-time teacher for the kid’s classes at Judy’s dojo
Parents: Hammond and Monique Johnson, both deceased.
Sibling: Older brother Jason
Family: married to Gabrielle, one daughter Brooke (just shy of 2 years old); grandmother Kathryn Johnson
Lilah Fairfield
Age: 57
Date of Birth: March 6, 1946
Appearance: Blonde hair that is whitening, blue eyes, medium height, white
Job: Farmer (the business side) in Parry Sound, Ontario (crops)
Family: married to Gerard, daughter of Denise Lake, mother to Phillip, who is married and has one son (just shy of 2 years old); twins Eliza and MacKenzie; Kennedy, who is marrying Jason; and Tommy
Gerard Fairfield
Age: 57
Date of Birth: March 1, 1946
Appearance: short grey hair, green eyes, tall and wirey, white
Job: Farmer in Parry Sound, Ontario (crops)
Family: married to Lilah, father to Phillip, who is married and has one son (just shy of 2 years old); twins Eliza and MacKenzie; Kennedy, who is marrying Jason; and Tommy
Denise Lake
Age: 79
Date of Birth: May 23, 1924
Appearance: Long white-blonde hair, blue eyes, statuesque, white
Job: retired; volunteers at the Baker Public Library
Family: daughter Lilah, son Arthur (the adult, not the toddler, who is named for his uncle)
Kathryn Johnson
Age: unknown (older than 80) but looks in her late 20s
Date of Birth: Feb 12, 1923
Appearance: Long black hair, Black, brown eyes, strong family resemblance to her granddaughter Zoe
Job: traveller of the realms
Family: son, Hammond, dead in 2000; grandchildren: Jason and Zoe; great-grandchild Brooke
Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests by Jen and Éric Desmarais is available now!
Week 29 – Mulan
The activities for this movie are fairly low-key, so I can recover from Anime Con on Easter weekend!
Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (I hope this works…please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| makeup | Watch movie | paint fireworks | Flex | make a puzzle |
Summary of the week
Daily details:
Dance
Ballet and martial arts on alternate days
Music
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano, learning guitar
Crochet
On break
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
Download material
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – (in download material)
Addition and pattern – worksheet
Storytime
Activity
Play with makeup
Fireworks with paint (link here)
Make a puzzle (link here)
Next week: My Neighbour Totoro
Week 27 – Inside Out Results
Pegasus says he remembered this movie while he was watching it. His body tensed at the scary parts.
Dance
As per usual, I didn’t do anything specific for this.
Music
His scales are coming along nicely and he willingly practises both his scales and the pieces in the book.
Crochet
We haven’t started this yet.
Basic Information
We are working on the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is going well. All months have proper pronounciation now, and we’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
We practised the seasons, but he still needs help remembering them in French.
Printing words
We’re working on spacing and keeping the words on the bottom line. The March break work that he did helped a little.
Counting objects/math-type activities
I feel like his numbers have improved. He didn’t need my help with writing them.
Math worksheets. He REALLY likes these. He did them both on Monday because he was so excited to do them once again.
Storytime
We read 2 of the French library books this week.
Activity
Yarn collage of emotion – I didn’t want to do papier maché. It didn’t sound like fun, especially since Pegasus doesn’t like touching squishy things. So I made the executive decision to change the activity to a collage of emotions using yarn. He describes this piece as “showing how I love and not love”, which I think is as good a description as any.
Write touch and feel book – This was still a monumental project. We started it on Monday, building the concept and starting on the first page (Joy). Tuesday, we completed Fear. Wednesday saw the completion of Disgust and Sadness, and Thursday was Anger. Friday was the cover. I explained how to measure and cut each page and guided him in that. He drew each picture for each page after designing them. Joy – playing with toys (a toy car on a play mat), Fear – ghosts (Slimer from Ghostbusters), Disgust – mushroom, Sadness – a mirror to show loneliness, Anger – not being allowed to play with his sister (a picture of himself behind a closed door). I used the xacto knife to cut out the holes in the paper to avoid cutting tiny fingers.
