dinner picnic

If you ever decide to build a big green snow cone shack, you could possibly have a big pile of scrap wood in your driveway. What should you do with that pile of wood? Good question. You should take the wood out by the lake and burn it up. And that's exactly what we did last night.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows on the big fire. I made some onion rings and lemonade. Food tastes better when you eat it outside. And yes, we ate hot dogs on my white Wedgewood China plates. We use the good china on special occasions... like campfire dinners.

Take some advice from the top of Charlie's Jones Cola bottle. It's good advice.

shack update

The Snow Shack got a roof and walls and a wobbly window! And some green paint. Very exciting. I am working hard this week to get a few products ready for purchase. I've gotten several emails about shirts, stickers, pictures etc. Hopefully we can set up a way for you to support the shack even if you don't live nearby.

we finished alice

Every day after lunch we have reading time. I set the timer for twenty minutes and I read a book without pictures to the kids. First, we read book number one of the original Mary Poppins series. Then we started Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. We have a copy that was designed by Helen Oxenbury. The illustrations are breathtaking. There aren't many pictures in this book, but every now and then the kids would do a collective "gasp" when we would get to a picture page.

We just finished this week. Next we'll read Indian in the Cupboard. What are you reading these days?

week in review

egg paint

We did an art history lesson today about artists from the 1200's who made their own paint. They mixed berries or minerals or dried insects with egg yolks to make a bright tempura paint.

Here's how we made our own paint. I mixed three egg yolks (I ate the the whites for breakfast and kept the yolks aside for this project) with 2 teaspoons water. I "forked" it (which is what little Dean calls whisking) until it was frothy.  Then we went outside and found two good rocks.

I filled an empty egg carton with colored chalk and let the kids crush the chalk with the rocks.

Then I spooned small amounts of the egg yolks into the crushed chalk and the kids stirred with a paintbrush. Then they painted pictures on newsprint paper.

Little Dean made a family of dinosaurs and Millie g. made flowers. Egg painting is fun.

they wanted beaks

The conversation went like this...
Me: (unloading the dishwasher, kids run in)
Kids: "Mommy, can you make us some beaks?"
Me: "what kind of beaks?"
Kids: "bird beaks."
Me: "YEP." (left the dishwasher open, went to get construction paper and tape)

Me: (cutting, taping) "So why do you guys need beaks?"
Kids: "because we made a nest out of all the pillows from everywhere."

Take a break from the dishes and make a beak. Happy weekend!

back to ballet

Warning! REALLY adorable pictures in this blog post. O.k. Millie g. started her second year of ballet. She got "promoted" to the 6-8 year old ballet class even though she's only 5. She likes dancing better than anything else...

And Stella Belle started her very first year of dance class. She is the funniest, sassiest child in all the land...

I hope my girls start a new ballet class every August for the rest of their lives. Happy dancing in this cool September weather!