Sammy's Day Out

The homeschool moms had a planning meeting - that day of the year when they all decide what is going to happen to the students of next year while the kids run wild.  One family lives on a farm, and kindly "donated" it's front porch for planning, and the property for the kids to explore! I was disappointed not to be going, until I had a brilliant idea - Sammy needed to come! Sure enough, Sam loved his field trip to the farm, and the car ride there (he yelled, "Go! Go! Go!" for fifteen minutes.)  He ate [my] pizza and watched llamas and walked the quarter mile driveway all by his little self - and then walked back!  Squirt was tired by the time we were done . . . and so was I!  Still, we had a good day exploring the great outdoors :D

Myself and little Squirt

Walking together :)

Walking . . . not as together ;) 

We went down to a little creek :)  Michelle was nice enough to let him play in the water a little bit.

Walking back from the creek. It was a lot of walking!  Riley tried to carry Sammy boy back for me, but he got mad. This was the look he gave Riley. 

It's been a long, fun day!  We slept well that night!

Goofing Off In The Sunshine

A gorgeous day in the midst of April showers!  With temperatures settling around 80 degrees, it was a perfect day for some fun photos.  Sammy and I had a short but semi-professional shoot (which may have turned out a bit great, thank God for that Magnolia tree!)  Madi and I took turns with my nice DSLR until the battery was nigh dead and we were hot and sweaty.  We finished our outdoor session with My Little Pony and Popsicles and Ice Cream!

Madi took this picture of me.  First time using my camera. Not bad, girly!

Hooray for cute flip flops!

Squirt's Teeth XD

We like to do crazy things ;)

Gorgeous flower petals everywhere!

Don't you just love this picture of Sammy Boy?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Activity

For Madi's birthday, I gave her a miniature butterfly garden. We were able to watch as the caterpillar's grew, created their cocoon, and turned into butterflies! Our activity this day was inspired by the caterpillar's (who had to come down to watch) and the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The girls loved this one!

You will need

• Marshmallows 
• Toothpicks
• Paint (esp. green and red)
• Very tiny brushes for the eyes and antenna
• Enough pieces of paper to compensate for a whole caterpillar family, the child's castoffs/mess-ups, an experimental butterfly, and a "test out the color" sheet.  Apparently.  

The marshmallows act as stamps for the caterpillars head and long body.  The toothpicks stick into the marshmallow so you don't get your fingers in the paint and then on the project.  Relatively easy to stick and stamp.  

Word of advice: Don't let your kids try to wash the marshmallows and reuse them.  It doesn't work, and creates a bigger, mushy mess of discolored water dripping everywhere.  Just buy a whole bag and let them have fun.  Or use the stale bag that no one finished with the Christmas hot chocolate.

Madi painting.  Caterpillar's watching.

Some discarded marshmallows

The finished project!

(**Again with the phone pics!  I need to start bringing my camera with me!**)

Sammy's New Shirt

I bought Sammy this cute shirt, so we had to do a quick photoshoot.  Also,  more practice with my flash was needed.

Oobleck Activity

Cornstarch.  Water.  Mix until mixture is oozy and liquidy when you slide your hand in, but rock hard when you bang on the mixture.  Simple.  Messy.  FUN.

Shaving Cream Art Activity

The girls and I are always on the lookout for new activities.  We decided to try to fit this one in before school - crazy and chaotic mistake, but great fun nonetheless ;) 

(** Excuse the phone photography**)

Shaving Cream Art

So, first gather all the supplies.  You will need 

• Shaving Cream (the foam kind, not the gel) (also, mens shaving cream tends to be cheaper, but it will leave the house smelling like a strange man stepped out of your shower. And you also may smell rather...masculine.)
• Food coloring and/or Liquid Watercolors
• Cardstock
• Plastic tuporware lid
• Toothpicks, coffee stirrers, or other methods of swirling the cream
• A cookie pan
• Lots of paper towels 
• Little hands excited to get messy and squeeze color everywhere

First lay paper towels or other form of protection beneath the cookie sheet, then let the little experimenter spray the shaving cream all over the pan.

And smooth it out.  She was so excited that I was going to let her touch it.

Squeeze the color onto the shaving cream, and have fun swirling and mixing!

Using hands for mixing the colors is not recommended.  Apparently food coloring stains...  *cough*

Once the colors are on the shaving cream how you want them, grab your piece of cardstock, lay it on the cream, and press.  Regular paper works fine, but gets limp and difficult.  Cardstock is far easier to manage.

Lift the paper up, scrape off excess cream, and lay to dry.  You will have a rainbow, marble, beautiful mess that will have everyone mesmerized.

Don't use your hands to scoop out the extra shaving cream.  Unless, of course, you like your skin purple and pink.  In that case, go for it.  It will stay for quite some time, so enjoy ;)