Oct 23: Decorating Pumpkins

With little kids, I thought the idea of coloring pumpkins sounded much better than carving pumpkins. But precautions still needed to be taken as these were permant markers we were talking about. I put a protective layer over the table, and craft shirts on the girls. I tried to explain orange marker on orange pumpkin wouldn't show - to no avail. (Calli still thinks white crayons are "broken" because they won't color on white paper.)

I drew a face on Mari's - so she would have something to start with. By the time she finished, it was almost completely covered over.

About halfway through the art project, Mari decided it was more fun to cap and uncap the markers than to color. But her aim isn't so great and she ended up with colorful hands. (She also drew two large lines on her face, but I didn't waste time taking pictures and immediately tried to get those off as best as I could with a baby wipe.)



Mari's finished pumpkin



Calli's finished pumpkin

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Sorry to go so video crazy - but for those of you who wish you could have been there in person - this is for you:

August 30: Last Playdate with Ashleigh

As I said, Ashleigh and her family moved to Western Springs on August 31st. So, we played with Ashleigh while her mom packed up. We went downtown to Millenium Park for the kids concert in the morning.


Then we played in the fountain.


After lunch, we went back to the Target Kids tent where we got to paint our faces.


We miss you already Ashleigh!

Sept 24: Our Art Gallery

After we painted with water colors the other day - I hung up all the pictures on a ribbon so they could dry, out of the way. But it has proved a great way to display art work. Our fridge is cluttered enough, and this feels like a banner for a party that is about to happen.

(Artist from left to right: Mari, Calli, Mari, Calli, Me)

Dragon Attack

This summer we have enjoyed some really good programs through our local library. Calli has made:

• a outerspace bookmark
  
• a "dirt cup" (with oreo crumbs, pudding, and gummy worms)
  
• a butterfly (remember the one out of waxed paper and melted crayon shavings from when you were a kid?)
  
• and now this dragon

After all the kids finished decorating their dragons, they had a little dragon parade through the library and down the sidewalk. It was really cute. Lets hope I can find such great programs this fall!

Craft Time at Millennium Park

After Wiggleworms, we were sooo hot. We all splashed around in the fountain for a while to cool off. At the fountain, we met up with our friends Ruth, Lauren and Lydia who were visiting from St. Louis.

After the fountain, we went to check out the craft tent. The older girls had a great time making hats, and Mari (amazingly) just hung out in the stroller.


Ruth and Lydia


Lauren and Calli


Smiley Mari!


She was so hot and sweaty, but Calli wanted to wear the cool hat she made!


Lauren modeling her hat.

Monday

Not a whole lot going on today: we colored, we went to the gym/kids klub, we all took naps (Yay!), we played with Lucas. A good day :)

Color me happy!

Thanks to some cool birthday stickers from Jake's party yesterday, and my willingness to do one more thing before we went to the gym, it was the perfect time to do some coloring!

This is one of Mari's first coloring opportunities, and she still seems to prefer eating the crayons to coloring with them.

Their artwork. (I'm thinking that taking pictures might be much less space-consuming than saving every precious drawing.)

Later we did more "coloring" outside on the sidewalk with chalk. (And yes, Mari tried to eat the chalk too.)