Camping Time At Last

After much waiting, we finally had a semi dry to weekend to go camping. The girls were beyond themselves with excitement. They even purchased bug kits and butterfly nets at The Dollar Store for the occasion.

We chose Springbrook State Park in Guthrie Center Iowa as our first camping destination. There was a lake, many nice trails, and playground to keep us entertained. But the best part about camping for us, is sharing the experience with our good buddies, the Kniffens. Here we are enjoying S’Mores (the girls favorite part).

After supper and playing at the playground, it was time for the much anticipated Fire Fly catching. The girls and their friends, Colton and Wyatt, got out their nets and bug kits and started their search.

Unfortunately, because of all the campfire smoke, there weren’t many to be found.

After the bug search, it was time for bed. We woke up that morning to thunder, followed by a torrential downpour. We ended up packing everything up and heading home.

Despite the rain, we had a fabulous time and can’t wait to do it again soon (minus the rain of course).

 

Easter Fun

For Easter this year we took the girls to Grace West Church for their annual Saturday before Easter egg hunt. The girls were beside themselves when they saw how many eggs were scattered over the church’s lawn.

After a short program about the true meaning of Easter, the kids were let loose to fill their baskets. And fill them they did.

Natalie and all the other 3 and 4 year olds had a room to themselves to grab bag after bag of cheese crackers and fruit snacks. And also some candy too.

That night we came home and dyed eggs and decorated them with glitter.

 

 

 

Sing, Sing, Sing!

On April 18, Lori and Audrey had their first choir performance. Here they are dressed and ready to go perform. Natalie didn’t sing but she wanted to be dressed up just the same.

The girls started singing in the Children’s Celebration Choir last September. They practiced every Thursday at a local church, and have also sung at a few nursing homes.

Here they are getting read to sing on the stage at their Spring performance.

Lori commented afterwards that she loves to sing because “singing makes me happy.”

John and I tried hard not to laugh through the whole thing as Audrey fiddled with her hair, yawned, stretched, and picked her nose. Occasionally she would sing a few words here and there but she mostly fiddled. Maybe next year she will get into it more.

After the performance there was a pizza/dessert party. The girls also received certificates of participation and gift cards to our local Christian book store.

The girls can’t wait to start again next year!

Birds Nests

With the arrival of Spring, I thought now would be a good time to teach the girls about birds and eggs. We read the book Nest Full of Eggs, discussed how birds build their nests, and how baby birds develop inside the egg.

Next, of course, came the craft(you know I can’t just simply read a book). I made up some salt dough clay and dyed it brown with food coloring. This was our mud. I also cut up some pieces of yarn, since birds sometimes use this as well.

Then we went outside and gathered twigs and dried plant leaves and grass.

I tried to show the girls how to form the grass into a bowl shape and then use the “mud” as glue, but the salt dough wasn’t the right consistency so it wouldn’t stick.

So plan B was to shape the salt dough into a bowl form and add the grass. Still didn’t quite work. The dough wouldn’t’ hold shape. It kept wanting to collapse.

So here are the finished “bird nests".”

As you can see these don’t really look like your typical nest. Perhaps they would suite a bird living in a swamp or something.

I think when the weather warms we will try it again with real mud this time.

Live and learn!

Spring has Sprung

It may not be officially Spring yet, but this past week’s weather has sure made it seem that way! The girls have been enjoying the nice weather immensely. It has been so refreshing to our souls to be able to go outside in the fresh air and play again!

Here are few pictures of the girls making the most of the nice weather.

Natalie learned how to ride her tricycle!

Then she got bored with that and taught herself how to ride Audrey’s bike.

Audrey enjoys using our driveway as a rollercoaster.

How have you been enjoying the nice weather?

 

Planetary Art

We have been studying the planets the past few weeks and, as usual, I had to come up with some sort of art project to go with it.

We started with the sun.

Lori painted a paper plate orange and yellow and then tore pieces of yellow and orange tissue paper to stick on.

Next was the planet Mercury.

For this we used cardstock circles that the girls painted gray with a sponge to give bumpy (crater) look.

O.k. so we didn’t get very far with our planetary art. The last planet we did was Venus. If I had them do an art project for every planet we’d still be doing them in May. Anyways, here are the pictures of Venus.

The girls put their circles in a cereal box I cut the top off of and rolled around a marble dipped in paint.

The girls had a lot of fun making their planets. Maybe next year we will make the rest of the planets.

Weekend Project

I picked this book up at the library the other day and found in it instructions for making these fabulous snack bags.

I’ve been needing some sort of creative project to work on and finally found one! It only took me about 1.5 hours to make 3. I plan to make more. Here’s what they look like on the inside.

Not only did I find a great creative project but also a way to use up some scrap fabric and save me from having to buy Ziplock bags. I guess I’m being green too. Wooo hooo!