Garden Art

Last Saturday, the perfect spring day at 75 degrees got us out in the garden. Grandpa tilled the soil; and Marcella, Cameron, and I planted flowers. Marcella selected a 9-pack of red salvia, and Cameron opted for the lavender petunias. We threw in a couple of marigolds for good measure. Then the girls had a great idea; they decided to use some old bricks as a border. They added a cool pink and yellow pattern on the bricks with their sidewalk chalk. This beautiful flower garden is off the patio, right outside the girls' bedroom window.

Easter

The girls made these cute egg holders (from kits) and decorated this Easter egg "tree" (an old branch painted white & stuck in a pail with florist's foam). Can you see the tiny red bird perched on the vine? Marcella found this on the playground. She washed it and saw that its tiny feet grabbed our vine perfectly! Happy Easter!

Culinary Arts

Cameron selected these recipes from the Pink Princess Tea Parties cookbook (Barbara Beery). We made Perfect Pink Lemonade (using the juice of my mom's lemons from Florida) and Ladybug Cookies. The cookies are made by icing vanilla wafers, adding chocolate chips for spots, and placing Whoppers at one end for the heads. Cameron said, "We made a big mess, but it sure was fun!" Marcella says the best way to eat these cookies is to put the head on the top and shove the whole ladybug in your mouth for one gigantic tasty treat! Yum!

Valentine Crystal

The girls painted wooden hearts (from Michael's). They added glitter and some lacy designs from a paper doily on the front. On the back they HAMMERED a thumbtack at the top and at the bottom. A pink ribbon was attached to the top thumbtack; on the bottom, they strung beads on jewelry wire and added crystals from the old chandelier that was in our dining room. Now, these Valentine Crystals are hanging in bedroom windows, making colorful rainbows on the wall.

Christmas Paintings

The girls wanted to create an ornament painting. We used 4x4 wrapped canvases and acrylics. They had fun adding glitter, of course! These paintings made great gifts for their teachers.

Thanksgiving

Napkin Rings! I cut a paper towel holder into 1 inch rings and wrapped them in brown ribbon (hot-glue the ends). The girls painted leaves that I drew on watercolor paper. They wrote names on the leaves and finished with a gold-leaf touch. I hot-glued the leaves on the rings, and ta-da... we have place-card napkin rings!

Boo!

Yesterday, the girls had the day off for Fall Break, and we had lots of fun. We went to the Brick Pond Park & saw one mama duck with 14 babies. Then, we came home and made some scary ghosts for all the trick-or-treaters we're expecting. The girls used garbage bags, paper from the shredder, black yarn, and a black marker. Hanging in the Japanese maple, these ghosts blow eerily in the wind. When Grandpa came home from school, his little foot was scared right out of his little shoe! Booooooooooo!