Fall break

The girls had fall break over this past weekend. We didn't go out of town, but stayed in and enjoyed some Memphis activities.

Peter had school on Thursday, so I took the girls to do something we wouldn't attempt with him in tow: painting pottery. They had so much fun. Caroline painted a cross treasure box and Helen picked a piggy bank. Helen was very worried about leaving Piggy behind to go in the fire, but I'm happy to report we picked him up and he was just fine. I treated them to lunch at Cheffie's afterward.

Friday, we got up and headed to the Licterman Nature Center. We had such a good time exploring and strolling around the lake there. It was a beautiful morning. Caroline participated in a 1st and 2nd grader group project at school several weeks ago. They designed and built a scarecrow. She was so proud to see their hard work on display.

 

Monday was the last day of fall break. I was grateful for an email from my friend Brittany inviting us to join her and her boys and some other friends at the zoo. My usual Monday morning activities are the grocery store and laundry. I'm so glad I neglected those tasks for a fun time with friends at the zoo!

It was a good fall break. I'm already looking forward to the next day off of school so we can have another Memphis adventure!

Best family photo ever

We went to an artist reception for our friend David Butler and a lady at the gallery offered to take our picture. I have no hopes of ever replicating the success of this picture! You may be seeing it in your mailbox December 2012. And December 2013.

We love David and his sweet wife Hillary, who is also an artist. Our families' lives are interconnected in some pretty neat ways and we are blessed to call them friends.

Loveliness

Happy Valentine's Day!


Craft time: Valentines for classmates, family, and friends


I added an embroidery floss tail and wrote "Have a MICE day!" on the back. Then Caroline signed them herself.


Sweet treats: sugar cookies with glaze, decorated with markers


Favorite: roses


Silliness: a "pacy" found in her safe-to-play-in kitchen cabinet

December crafts

I love finding little things that Caroline can create. She really loves it too. All I have to do is say, "Caroline, do you want a project?" and she comes running to see what Mommy has planned.

This was a card-making activity. She dipped cookie cutters in glue, "stamped" the glue onto a card, and sprinkled glitter on the glue. She loved it. I supervised her for a while to make sure she had everything under control and then went to start dinner. I heard, "Uh-oh. Mommy, I got glitter on my chair." Luckily, it was not as much of a glitter disaster as I had envisioned and the vacuum took care of it pretty well. Caroline is a very neat child.




This project was making tree ornaments by stringing beads onto pipe cleaners. This kept her little hands busy off and on for a few hours.

Indian summer

Y'all, I've got so much to post and I'm so far behind in posting it!


We really, really enjoyed every moment of the warm weather two weeks ago. It was wonderful.


I let Caroline do some art projects out on the deck.


Helen is always up to something.


We took a trip to the zoo. It was perfect - warm weather, no crowds. Awesome.

We've been busy! More to come...

Craft time

Afternoons go so much more smoothly if we have some little project. I cut a door and a window into an OJ bottle with a box cutter and after some creative interior and exterior decorating by Caroline - voila! - instant fairy house. We went to Michael's and picked out some tiny wooden things to make the fairies' abode a bit more comfy. I got some peg dolls and fashioned some wings out of pipe cleaners and faces with markers.

The great thing about this project is that it has entertained her for hours. I had been looking at fairy dolls at toy stores for around $10. This entire setup probably cost me $10 and she loves it! A toy store doll would have been boring after a day, I'm certain. This homemade version has inspired a whole lot of imaginary play, flitting about, and pixie-dust sprinkling. Happy Caroline = Happy Mama!

Tink

Caroline loves coloring and Tinkerbell, so this book from Aunt Suzi was a huge hit!

Dog

Caroline and I were driving home from Mayfield last Sunday and she was happily entertaining herself in the backseat with her magna-doodle. She said, "Look, Mommy! I drew a dog!" I glanced back and had to pull the car over to take a picture. Wow...

Felt board and other stuff

We're taking a trip to the beach. The long car ride calls for some new activities for Caroline. So I made a felt board. It was very, very easy. I bought a cheap 8x10 canvas, 1/2 a yard of felt from a bolt, and tons of craft felt rectangles. I cut the felt to wrap around the canvas. Then I used my staple gun (so much fun) to attach it in the back. And the shapes are just free-handed from my imagination. This is the "summer day" set. I'm going to make a "sea scape" set and a shape set.


No new creation is perfect until the test user approves.


My sleeping beauty actually took a nap one afternoon! I thought the giant violet hippo made a perfect pillow.


And sometimes when I ask her to smile, I get this face instead. Her Aunt Emily must have taught her this one.

(Side note: Caroline's little dress is another that I made for her. It's strawberry pique with a lime green pique collar and shorts to match. I made it for picture day at school. I stayed up until midnight the night before because she just had to have something new and handmade for pictures. I know. I'm silly. I'll post her picture soon.)

I've got a couple more sewing projects to show you...

Thank you, Crayola

Crayola has so many neat products for kids these days. The Color Wonder things are fantastic for toddlers. Last week I picked up some Crayola paints for Caroline. I thought about getting the fingerpaints. But my little princess is a bit skittish about getting her hands dirty. (Wonder who she gets that from?) So I decided to pick up the washable paints instead, which will work fine for fingerpainting or stamping. At one point I looked up and noticed that she had gotten a little dramatic with the paintbrush and there was paint on the wall. Eeek! But I got a moist rag and it came off immediately. And it didn't stain her clothes, either. Impressive. These get a 5-star rating in my book!

Little Matisse