Gross

I owe my neighbors an apology after all of the screaming it required for me to catch this giant beetle for my girls.  Bug collecting is yet another thing I thought I would not have to do again after ninth grade biology.  The girls are planning a bug collection complete with pins and foam.  Gross.  This mammoth insect is currently under the microscope being examined.  He is half dead already, which is the only reason I was able to capture him.

Art Group- Watercolor Resist

 Today's project was a watercolor resist project.  We looked at African and Indian paintings featuring a lot of decorative patterns.  Then we made animal drawings with oil pastel and covered the whole paper in black watercolor.  I loved the results.  It was the perfect project for a large group of kids.

Austin Reunion

 We just got back from a family reunion in Austin, Texas.  It was a blast.  We spent a few days in the very hot sun, playing in the pool and any other water activity we could find with my cousins.  My kids were in heaven playing with all of the little kids and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my cousins better as adults. 

 The highlight of any trip tends to be the food.  We LOVED Ruby's Barbeque and Torchy's Tacos.  I think I might have dreams about Torchy's and I'm not usually obsessed with tacos.  We even got a night out with just the adults while the kids had a pizza and movie night.

An Evening With The O Family

 My nephew E was trying to see if he could push his uncle's buttons.  He didn't realize they all have a high tolerance for teenagers trying to be annoying.  They did grow up with 4 boys in the family.

Art Group Week 6- Color Mixing

 Art group was a sucess this week.  We talked about color mixing and read the book "Little Blue and Little Yellow."  We also looked at Itten's Theory of Color and all of the different combinations.  We examined color relationships.  The kids divided their papers up into shapes and sections and then set about trying to mix different colors for every section.  New Fish spent most of her time swirling paint on paper plates.  I think they all like experiementing with the paint to see a variety of colors.

Savoring Summer and Butterfly Wings

 So much about this summer seems fleeting. It feels like the last summer before a big shift and I can't quite put my finger on what will change but it just seems important to hold onto these little moments, the freedom of having two small children.

Fireworks and Magic

 The annual parade and fair in our city is always fun. The girls get more candy than they could possibly eat and we cheer for any and all real floats (not dressed up trucks because they are lame.) Two Fish wanted to go see the fireworks in person for the first time.  We usually just watch from afar and avoid the crowds.

 The fair has lost much of its small town charm so we skipped it.  Two Fish built wooden cars with the girls and I painted their faces after I took Red Fish to see a friend's baptism at the stake center.  I think I am going to take her to all of the baptisms that I help with this year.  It's crazy to think that she can choose to be baptized in just over a year. 

 
The fireworks start late at night and the crowds are unbelieveable. I was grumpy and ready to scrap the whole plan but Two Fish was insistent that we needed to do this night right.  I'm so glad he is my partner in life and can pull me through when I am not feeling the festivity.  I love these traditions and even when I don't feel up to the work that tradition often demands from a mother, I would be sad to miss a moment of the fun. We parked at one of my childhood neighbor's houses and hoofed it over to the park.  We found a stretch of grass and cuddled up to watch the fireworks.

 I grew up right next to the park and this city wide celebration used to be one of my favorite traditions growing up.  This night made me feel like a kid again.  It made me miss my house and the simplicity of being an eight year old. It reminded me of the magic that comes with childhood and it made me more grateful for this little family of mine.  The firework show was fantastic and we all went to be exhausted. It was a good night for all of us.

Another Trip To The Museum

 We spend a lot of time at the local museums, farms, etc. but right now we are spending most of our time at the new children's museum near our house.  We are seriously in love with this place.  My kids could wander around and play for hours. It is crowded but it never gets old.

Art Group Week 5- Wood Scrap Sculptures

 This is one of my favorite projects to do with kids groups.  It is so fun to see what the kids end up creating.  We use extra tacky glue and wood scraps.

Bonaire

 We went to Bonaire on a dive trip while the girls stayed with my brother and sister in law.  The girls had a fabulous time with their cousins and we had fun scuba diving.  I didn't take hardly any pictures because I was too busy setting up dives and spending all of my time underwater diving off the coast of Bonaire and Bonaire Klein.  We did three-four dives a day.  We dove on Buddy Reef (the house reef at Buddy Dive Resort) multiple times.  We also enjoyed the Andrea I & II.  We dove Small Wall, 1000 Steps (a favorite), Kalli's Reef, Oil Slick Leap, Hilma Hooker (a wreck), Angel City, Rock Pile, Captain Don's Reef, Mi Dushi, Leonora's Reef, Just A Nice Dive, Sampler, Weber's Joy among others.  The diving in Bonaire is fantastic.  It is easy shore diving with beautiful coral and a lot of sea life.  We had a little truck to drive around the island and we really enjoyed our adventure together.

 While we were gone my kids were having a fabulous time with their cousins and aunt and uncle.  They didn't even want to talk to us on the phone because they were having so much fun.  I'm pretty sure it was one of the major highlights of their summer. They saw fireworks, played outside, went to the library and the park, had a giant slumber party every night and just generally enjoyed themselves.

Fourth Of July

 We spent the fourth of July at the waterpark.  We have found that the waterpark is less crowded if we go on a holiday and the park has become a summer tradition at this point.  It is a high point of the season for both of the girls and no summer bucket list would be complete without a trip down the waterslides. The girls were off to their cousins while Two Fish and I were leaving on our trip to Bonaire so we wanted some family time together. 

Yes, New Fish is crying in this picture but I promise she had a great day.

Slip and Slide With Friends

Red Fish, New Fish and Little Miss C.

Art Group 2014- Weeks 3 and 4

 This is the biggest project we have ever done in art group and it turned out awesome.  I'm really excited about the finished product.  We sculpted puppet heads out of sculpey on week 3.  I baked them and the kids came back to paint and make bodies today.  There are still about 5 unfinished heads but I am really impressed with the work these kids did.  We used acyrlic paint on this round and it worked out much better than the last time we tried sculpey puppets.