Silhouettes on a Hill {Photo Tutorial}

I was able to make this grandparent gift last year  by accident, but I've since realized that the process is completely reproduce-able.  And who doesn't like silhouettes of children?  Especially children playing?

Here's what you do:

Classic Childhood: The Lego Meal

Grandparent Game

Our family suffers from LDGS- that is, "Long-Distance Grandparent Syndrome"  :-) Both sets of grandparents live hundreds of miles away, and visits are only possible every once in a while.  Our kids are also the only grandchildren on either side; so of course, our parents do all they can to stay connected in between visits.

Skype and phone conversations help for sure.  My mother has also started a tradition of mailing pictures taken during her visits to the girls; so the girls have the fun of getting mail addressed to them in the mailbox, and they get to remember all the memories of their time together.

Recently,  my mother added a new twist to the pictures.  She taped an index card to the bottom of each one and wrote on it a little quiz question about the picture.  The answers were on the back and were self-checking according to the method described here.

M loved this activity- sat down and did the whole pile of them as soon as she opened the envelope.  G lost interest fairly quickly, partly, I think because she can't read yet, and so can't do it on her own.  But I think she was probably happy that my mother had made her a set of her own (she's a typical second-born in that being included in things is super important to her)

One Fun Reason to Put Little Girls in Dresses

If you should happen to come across a mulberry tree heavy with ripe berries (like the one in my parents' backyard) your girls will be tickled if you can shake them down into their skirts!



G caught a few with her dress, but mostly just enjoyed feeling them rain on her face. :-)

One Advantage/ Disadvantage of an Outdoor Easel

I came outside and found this...

Very happy campers- especially because it ended in running through the sprinkler.

Before you throw out your next old pair of nylons...

We all tried it, and we laughed and laughed.

Fun for Kids Friday

Window Spraying Fun

I never would have thought M and G would have so much fun behind a window when I was power-spraying it with a hose!

Bread Dough Fun

Do you ever accidentally let the bread dough rise a little too much so that it is no longer good for bread? Don't throw it away before you give it to the kids to enjoy! Bread dough can be lots of fun- as you can see from this picture of my brother when he was a young teenager.

(DO discourage their eating it though- unless they want a giant belly ache- I know THAT from experience!)

Plague of the Frogs and a Mother's Quandary

Suburban living doesn't necessarily mean little or no interaction with nature. We live squarely in the suburbs, and our yard is not huge, but we spent a lot of time outdoors this summer, and had some very fun creaturely encounters. I suppose some of the encounters fall more into the category of "interesting" than "fun," but I'll get to those in a minute.
Walking Stick Insect




















Elaborate spider's web with large and FAST spider. This fellow would dash up and down his web whenever we approached. We couldn't believe how quickly he moved (Does anyone know what kind he is?)



Tiny toads: After a week of heavy rains, our backyard was brimming with 2 cm toads. With just about every step, I had little toads hopping about my ankles. I thought at first they were grasshoppers, but was delighted to find that they were these cute little creatures instead.

Large toad: A week later we found a big toad in the garden. The girls wanted nothing to do with touching him, but they sure liked looking at him.
Large scorpion in the sandbox next to little G who was of course, more interested than alarmed.

And last of all... sigh...M found a dead cicada on our back patio and insisted for several days that this bug was her best friend. She carried him around with her, hugged him, and laid him down in a leafy bug "bed" for frequent naps. I bit my tongue to keep from expressing my disgust at the thing, but I was not unhappy when he eventually disappeared! (By the way, is this just too gross? Should I have intervened so that she would know that dead bugs are not really socially acceptable friends?)

Backwards!

I think kids could do a lot with variations on this general idea, don't you?

The Little House

Some Flowers Have Faces

The Most Extraordinary Thing

"The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children." -- G.K Chesterton

Young Folks at Play

If you are in any doubt as to whether or not children were more creative in their play before the advent of television take a look at this picture that my dad found me. The painting is from 1560 by the Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel. In it are depicted over 80 children's activities. Go here if you would like to learn more about some of the games in the painting. (You may also click on the picture to get a magnified view) Very fun!

Wordless Wednesday: These are pickle jars!

Go here to see a tutorial on how to make these.

Wordless Wednesday

U-Pick Farms

Isn't this a fun autumn bouquet? It's part of the big cluster of zinnias I picked- all for a dollar! My family went to a u-pick farm for my birthday yesterday where we got to pick pumpkins, and go on a hay ride, among other fun things. My favorite though was the field of zinnias. I felt like I had jumped into a painting!

U-pick farms can be an inexpensive, fun way to spend a Saturday, and right now, a lot of farms are hosting harvest festivals/ pumpkin patches. You end up with fresh produce, often cheaper than you can buy it at the stores and you have the pleasure of knowing that you are supporting a local family farm. Everybody wins!

Wedding Tea Party

Does a wedding have to be expensive to be unique and special? When my husband and I got married 2 1/2 years ago, we decided that we would try to have a special and memorable wedding without spending a lot of money. We had lots of creative ideas. Some of them turned out to be good ideas, and others could have used some work! Here is one fun idea that turned out well.

At the very beginning of our reception, we held a "Tea Party with the Bride" with all of the little girls who came to the wedding. I sent out pretty handmade invitations to each of the girls ahead of time. On the tea table, we put small vases of daisies, and set out the chrysanthemum tea set I inherited from my grandmother.



My cousin Dinah took charge of the tea table, serving each girl a cup of real Yorkshire Gold Tea (with lots of milk and sugar of course) and cookies. She brought her wonderful collection of old- fashioned hats for the girls to wear. (The entrance of the hats was made particularly dramatic by their presentation from beautiful hat boxes).

While the girls waited for the bride, they colored and cut out the paper dolls I had made for them. I had taken vintage paper doll bodies, scanned them and combined them with the faces of the bridesmaids and myself. Then I made rough drawings of our wedding attire for the girls to color and dress their dolls.

We had a very nice time together, and spent very little money!



Did you do anything fun and inexpensive at your wedding? I'd love to hear about it!

Wordless Wednesday: Olives!

What kid hasn't had fun with olive fingertips at one time or another? (and these aren't even the full olives!)

Hospitality

Isn't this a pretty little plate of fruit? My Aunt and cousin had this set out on their table for us to eat when we came for a recent visit. Don't the tiny grapes make it special? Finding something that is special and a little unique and then sharing it goes such a long way toward making someone feel welcome!