A Crafty Summer

We've been keeping busy this summer - very busy. But in our downtime, we've tried a bunch of new crafts. Here are just a few:

1. Caterpillars out of egg cartons. They added paper towel wings to make butterflies - beautiful!

2. Painting sticks. First we painted them white, then we added the color. We stood them up against the fence outside! Who needs flowers in the garden, when you can get your color from sticks?! This simple project was some of the most fun we've had - it was messy and it took a long time.

3. Tissue paper butterflies. I cut butterfly shapes out of cardstock, then the girls painted them with a glue/water mixture. Then they sprinkled small torn pieces of tissue paper all over the glue. When the whole thing was covered with tissue paper, they put another light layer of glue on top. We attached some string and hung them in the windows - so pretty!

4. Butcher paper - have you ever noticed that coloring is more fun when it's on really big paper? I traced their bodies and then left them alone to do the rest - these are so great I have them hanging in the stariwell.

5. Recycled art. A castle out of a cardboard box and a wrapping paper tube; a house out of an orange juice container. These are the perfect size for Polly Pockets!

We've also painted seashells that we found at the beach. And then we put glue on some and sprinkled on glitter - they were gorgeous! Abby has been enjoying color by numbers. We've done a ton of painting - watercolors, tempura, acrylic, oils. We've made flowers out of coffee filters, vases out of McDonald's milk containers, and more flowers with beads and construction paper. We've made necklaces and bracelets and even tried braiding beads into our hair. If you had told me 10 years ago that I'd be doing crafts with my children soon, I definitely wouldn't have believed you, and I might have gotten sick to my stomach! But they've certainly brought out a creative side that I didn't know existed.

Technology scares me!

Perry got an iPhone. It's amazing - I really can't believe all it can do. But at the same time, it really scares me. I opened YouTube and just browsed through the top 30 or so videos. At least5 of them had titles that offended me - all I could think about was a preteen surfing through, and how things like this must be affecting our culture. I don't mean to be a prude, but I think this kind of thing is getting out of hand. The other night, we were watching America's Funniest Home Videos on the Family Channel at 7pm. One of the commercials was about meth - and it was horrible. I was sitting there with my 5-year-olds and I'm not ready to explain these things - can't they just be little kids? Do they really need to know about drugs already? I might block every channel on our TV except Noggin - it's the only one that hasn't concerned me.
I think I do a pretty good job of protecting them from outside influences, but they're about to start kindergarten, and I know that my bubble is about to pop. I just hope I've given them a firm enough foundation.

Daddy's Girls!

A Daddy post:

I'm so proud! This morning, I was backing the jeep out of the garage when Abby asked where I was going. When I responded that I was going to the golf course, she said wanted to come along. When we asked Sarah, she wanted to go too so we had an impromptu daddy and girls trip to the golf course. We enjoyed hitting range balls. Daddy offered some instruction but the girls politely declined, preferring to "just hit it by myself!" We didn't stay too long but, as you can see, they were hot and tired. The girls really enjoy hitting golf balls and I make an effort to keep it fun by limiting the time we're there and the amount of insruction I provide. If it worked for Earl Woods (Tiger's dad), it'll work for me.

Oak Mountain State Park - WE LOVE IT!

Friday we went back to Oak Mountain. It had rained the day before, and it was a little cool (highs in the high 70s), so the beach was out. But that's OK - there are tons of hiking trails and other things to explore. So off we went, on an adventure! We decided to walk the Treetop Nature Trail up to the animal rehabilitation center. What a great hike! There are huge cages built for injured birds - we saw an albino vulture and a couple of owls. Awesome. The trail was beautiful; it followed and crossed a babbling brook and the canopy was gorgeous. The girls complained at first but then really started to enjoy it. It was only .3 miles each way, which was perfect for them. We crossed the Yellow Trail which I'd like to go back and try sometime. I'd also like to get a GPS so we can try geocaching - I think the girls would really enjoy it, and it might help them enjoy the woods more.

After checking out the animals, we came back down the trail and then had a picnic down by the lake. Then we went to the farm and petted all the animals. It was great, because there were a ton of babies - a donkey, some lambs, lots of goats, some chicks. This is a special place; you're free to walk around and check out the farm, and the animals are so gentle. The girls had a great time. The only problem was that we didn't have any hand sanitizer...next time we'll definitely remember it!
Oak Mountain is probably my favorite thing about Birmingham. I love the feeling of being out in the woods, surrounded by trees and birds and animals...it's so peaceful. I hope I can help S&A discover the wonders of the great outdoors! Now, I wish I knew more about camping. I always love camping out, but whenever I've done it, I've been taken care of, you know, someone else cooks and sets up the potty and cleans and carries the gear. I'd like to learn how to do some of these things myself.

Children's Dance Foundation Recital

The girls' ballet recital was last weekend. They've taken dance at Children's Dance Foundation in Homewood this year, with Ms. Charla. It has been awesome. She's so sweet and gentle, and very creative. They've loved it. They did a great job in the recital; lots of the groups didn't know what they were doing, but their group listened well and remembered all of their dance. They were "Shooting Stars" and had beautiful, flowing costumes.

They had a very supportive group watching them, too. Perry and I went, of course, and so did Debbie and their great-great aunt and uncle, Sue & Bill. Mimi and Pop came up from Mobile to see them, and Carrie and Lauren came too. It was a great day.

The Zoo

I've been getting a bit nostalgic lately. The girls start kindergarten next year, and I'm so proud of them, so excited for them. But also sad, because I feel like I'm losing them in a way. I love our time together, and now it's going to be so limited. It seems like every day has become more important, and I want to remember it all...

We went to the Birmingham Zoo yesterday. It's a great little zoo, really. There are parts of it that I really don't like, mostly the older exhibits with the concrete enclosures, bars, windows, etc. But they're working hard to make it better. We loved the new kangaroo exhibit, the girls rode a camel (very cool), we saw the sea lion show, we thoroughly enjoyed the butterfly garden (one of them landed on Abby's back!), and then they cooled off with a romp in the fountain. An ideal morning - a memory.

Snow, and New Friends

It snowed!!! We woke up this morning to snow on the ground. It wasn't much, but it was Sarah and Abby's first time to see snow, and they were so excited! I think they were surprised that it was cold and wet - they ran out and wanted to build a snowman, but then they touched it and didn't like their cold hands! Abby really enjoyed being outside in it, though. She played on the trampoline for a long time and caught some snowflakes on her tongue.

After we warmed up a bit, we got ready for our new friends. We were supposed to go to an Easter egg hunt with a group of pre-kindergarteners at DVES. It was at 10:00 in a local park, and all I could think about was how cold it was going to be, and how miserable we would all feel, and how quickly we'd try to leave! So, I decided to invite everyone to our house to mingle indoors, heading out only for the egg hunt. It was an ambitious plan, because I don't know many people in the group, plus we were expecting about 25 kids. But, I figured it would all work out, and it did! We had a blast, and made lots of new friends. What a great group of kids and mommies!

Walk for UAB Transplant Games

Today we went downtown and walked to raise money to support the UAB Transplant Olympic Team. It was fun - they had music, and the girls got face tattoos, and there were lots of doggies to pet. Plus we saw our new friends Stephanie and Kevin from Trinity UMC. The walk was a mile, and we didn't take a stroller, so I was a little worried about S&A being able to do it. But they made it! There was a bit of whining about it being too long, and feet hurting, and being tired, etc., but they made it and they were very proud of themselves. They got medals and t-shirts so all was good. I'd like to think that this will be the first of many races/walks for us, but we'll see.
Tonight we went to the Wallace's house for dinner. P & I love Carrie and Stephen, and S&A love their kids Lauren, Clayton, and Catherine. So it was fun.

I Smell a Rat

Yesterday the girls dressed as kittens for Nursery Rhyme day at school. They were 2 of the 3 Little Kittens (although actually I think 4 of them decided to do it together, so it wasn't really the 3 little kittens!). Anyway, I had to look up this nursery rhyme because I knew a little of it, but it's really long and I didn't know it all. According to Wikipedia, it's possible that the colloquialism "I smell a rat" came from this rhyme, because in the last verse the mother cat smells a rat. It's debatable whether she really smelled a rat, or if she was using it figuratively, in effect saying that maybe they only washed their mittens to get more pie. I thought it was interesting (I know, I'm weird!)

Smart kids

It's been a very long time since I blogged, but the last few days have been very "bloggable". Tonight at dinner, Abby asked "What does 'communicated' mean?" I answered "talked, or talked to", and she said "Oh, like we're communicating now?" Yes, that's exactly right! Then, not to be outdone, Sarah asked, "Is 'oink' an onomatopaeia?" "Yes, it is!" They're 4 1/2 - sooooo smart! Like little sponges - it really is amazing.
The other great moment came yesterday. We went to gymnastics - it was a make-up day from last Thursday which was cancelled due to tornado warnings. Sarah wanted to go, but Abby didn't, so Abby and I sat in the gym and watched Sarah. She smiled and waved after each thing she did - it was really cute. Then, in the middle of class, she ran over and gave me a kiss, then ran right back. Last night she said, "I'm embarrassed to tell you this, but I love you so much that I had to run over and give you a kiss during gymnastics today." Wow. Now that is a moment to remember! This mommy gig is pretty awesome.