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River loves to play dress up. I think all my children enjoyed dressing up.
She’ll ignore the dress up bin for a couple of weeks…and then go on a binge….changing into costumes all morning…..
Sometimes she’ll just put on some crazy outfit and decide to wear it for the rest of the day!
And sometimes her brother and sister get involved…but I’m not allowed to show those photos!
Who doesn’t have a pair of favorite shoes? Quinn’s favorite shoes are his Crocs. He literally wears them everyday, all year! It doesn’t matter if it is snowing, raining or hailing! We had so much snow this year and he still wore his Crocs!
Tuesday’s favorite shoes are her Adidas flip flops. She needs a new pair. We’ve ordered her a new pair. She is very picky about her shoes. Once she finds a pair of shoes she likes..she wants the same pair over and over again. This isn’t always easy. They always have to be “ordered”…thank goodness for the internet!
River’s favorite shoes are her pink Uggs. She needs new ones. Hers are disgustingly dirty! You can’t call them boots…they are Uggs..she reminds you of this. She wears them even if it is 99° outside! She loves them!
It all starts out innocent…..”Mom, can I have a popsicle?”
But it is summertime, and there is nothing innocent about popsicles…they just melt too fast…
Kids just don’t get the ratio of licks per second to counteract the melting factor! It is agonizing to watch…as a parent, you just want to take over……
You want to help your child……but you know they just have to learn…one of life’s most important lessons…..
That if they don’t figure out the licking/melting ratio factor thingie…….the inevitable is going to happen…..
the popsicle spills to the ground…..
but that’s okay….you just teach them the other rule in life…pick it up and keep on going……
So, I am still following along with the Giver’s Log Shoot Along and this weeks assignment was to do a sour face or fire ball photo shoot. So, we went out and bought some Hot Tamales, Atomic Fireballs and Cry Baby Sour gum. Everyone got in on the act and got their picture taken. The real challenge of the day was to put all three different candies in your mouth at once…but no one was up to that challenge!
River didn’t want to try the hot stuff…and I didn’t force her….she thought the sour balls were delicious and didn’t make any good faces…except cute ones!!!!! Tuesday was convinced that River is too young and didn’t know what sour was…but I assured her, that River knows what sour is…but for some reason…thought the sour balls were yummy!
It was a lot of fun to look over all the funny faces….especially my own! I think Tuesday made the best faces of all…with Quinn coming in a close second!
We have had a butterfly hanging out in our driveway for several months now. Whenever we are playing in the driveway..he (or she) is there….fluttering about.
Truthfully, I don’t know that much about butterflies. Someone asked me if it was a moth…so I had to do some research and I think he is definitely a butterfly…..butterflies have a “hook” on the end of their antennae and when they are resting, they rest with their wings together, not spread out. And this little guy seems brightly colored, not dull. Now, supposedly, there are exceptions to these rules..but in general….I think he is a butterfly.
If you sit still, he will instantly land on you. Sometimes he has a friend with him, but mostly he seems to be by himself. He seems to come out around late afternoon and he hangs out until dusk.
When he flies close to your ears, you can actually hear his wings fluttering….pretty cool.
River wants to have the butterfly land on her…….at least she thinks she does…she sits still…and just as the butterfly is about to land…she runs away…….I kept trying to get shots of the butterfly landing on her…but she kept moving away……though she made a cute pose as she waited for the butterfly!
So today we went to our local Farm Fair. The kids had a great time checking out all the cows, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks………and many more….
It was hot. Really hot. Luckily, the animals were under tents and they had lots of fans. The bunnies had frozen bottles of water in their cages to keep them cool!
We got there late, so we missed the milking contest..and the women’s skillet throwing contest! We couldn’t find the pig tent, so we missed the pig races!
There were lots of different types of pigeons and chickens and rabbits! I never knew there were so many varieties!
We also got to the chicken incubator just in time to see a baby chicken being born..literally pecking its way out of the shell! But I couldn’t get a good picture!
The animals are so gentle..they don’t mind being petted at all…..which is great for the kids!
We came up with a great gift idea for my mother-in-law, who is blind. My husband took profile shots of all the kids and then printed them out and cut out the profile. He didn’t make the to size..he made them slightly smaller.
We were going to use some nice thin wood, but then he found some really great pieces of compressed wood in our basement. It was much better than natural wood because it didn’t splinter at all and it didn’t have to be sanded.
He used our scroll saw to cut out the shapes. They turned out great! The kids loved giving them as gifts and, most of all, Gram loved them! She was able to feel each one and knew just who they were!
One of my favorite blogs is Giver’s Log. They are having a Giver’s Log Photo Shoot Along. You can read all about it at the site. I love photography and I love taking photos…so this seemed perfect for me.
The first assignment was to “think about what is part of your life right now that you’ll want to remember in a couple years? If you have kids, what is your kid doing right now that he won’t be doing six months from now that you need to remember? Does she love a special stuffed animal? Does she read a specific book while she sits on the potty? Your homework is to get out your camera, (fancy or not) set up the story, and take the shot. ”
So, I got my daughter River to play along with me…..she loves her stuffed elephants right now…so they had to be included in the shoot. Also, I love her little freckles. She has freckles, only in the summer, just like her big sister..and I love them.
So, here are my best shots from our photo shoot today…….
Today River drew a picture of one of our cats, Shadow Monster. She is in that stage where her drawing goes from scribbles..to clear and recognizable forms. I love watching children draw and seeing their progress through the years.
Going back and looking at past drawings is so fun. The drawing above is from over a year ago. It is one of her first drawings.
Some of Tuesday and Quinn’s old drawings I have framed and hung on the wall. The one above is a drawing Quinn did when he was about six years old. It makes me smile!
This is one Tuesday did when she was about six also. The smile and the big heart just crack me up!
They have both done so many great drawings and paintings over the years! To me, there is nothing like the way a child draws….
I have seen a couple of different craft sites that talk about chalk paint…it sounded interesting, so we thought we would give it a try!
It has been extremely hot around here, so I made sure we did the project early in the morning, before it got too hot!
The recipe called for 1/4 cup of cornstarch, 1/4 cup of water and some food coloring. The recipe warned to make sure you put in the cornstarch first, then the water..so that is what we did! Then we got started painting……
River had a great time..but I must say, I was a bit disappointed….it didn’t work that well….our sidewalk/driveway is very rough..so maybe that is why it didn’t work.
River painted the driveway, the sidewalk, the fence, the stones, and then she started painting the trashcans! She wanted to paint the house, but I said no…so she started painting the plants….
I think River’s favorite part was rearranging the paints and moving them all over..trying to find something new to paint.
She had a great time and didn’t complain about the paints one bit….she only complained when I said it was too hot and we had to go back inside! She did get it all over her dress…and I’m assuming it will come out in the wash….I’ll let you know!
