Air Dry Putty Sculptures

 Today, we tried out
Super Lightweight Air-Dry Putty for the first time.  We are going to use some for Art Group on Monday so I figured we had better test it out first.  It has a really strange texture.  It is extremely light weight and super stretchy.  The girls went completely wild over it.  It is such a great sensory tool- totally unlike salt dough or the clay we usually use.  They spent forever digging their fingers into it and stretching it.  It is almost completely mess free because it doesn't crumble or stick to anything.  We will definitely be using it quite a bit in the future.

The first thing New Fish made was a little pinch pot with strings draped over it to make it look like a bird's nest.  As soon as she finished it (shown above) she promptly destroyed it and spent an hour stretching the clay and twirling it to make all of these multi-layered organic shapes.

Red Fish created a bird's nest with eggs, worms and a bird sitting on top.  I thought it was pretty impressive.

I'm looking forward to trying this product with the group!

Scratch Boards

New Fish top, Red Fish bottom

 We've been trying out scratch boards for the first time.  The papers are coated in black coating with bright colors underneath.  We used sticks to scratch our drawings.  This is another fun project that isn't messy and kept my girls busy creating for quite awhile.  We got a pack of 100 papers and I think the girls are going to use them up pretty quickly.  Red Fish especially loved these because of the rainbow element.

Colored Masking Tape Collage

 We've been testing out a few new art supplies like colored masking tape.  I think the girls find it soothing to just peel tape and make a collage.  It's a great activity for keeping little hands busy and out of trouble.

This week has been so insane that I haven't even unpacked the giant boxes of art supplies that were delivered while we were on vacation.  We've sneaked a few things out of them but they have remained relatively untouched.  It's tragic.

When I would think about growing up, I would imagine my life as Mom and also as a career woman.  I would imagine them separately. I never could figure out how they would work together.  Most days, I still struggle to see how it's all working together.  I work from home but I'm a full time, very hands on Mom 24 hours a day.  Before I became a Mom, I just really had no idea of it's all consuming nature.  It really is impossible to understand until you become a Mother.

This week was a crazy week of a lot of work.  My brain has been filled with a million pressing projects until it might just explode.  My mind is bouncing from one thing to the next as I've struggled to keep up with it all (except the house work- I gave up on that.)  I made sure to do one really fun thing with my kids every day like swimming or a picnic at the park or something that would wear them out and allow me to focus on them.  There have been projects and story time etc.  They haven't been neglected or wanted for attention but I'm feeling a bit crazy.  Hopefully I can catch up on everything without loosing my mind.


1/2 Colored Masking Tape - Set of 10

Date To The Symphony

 Red Fish is off to the symphony with her grandparents.  Tonight will feature Tchaikovsky's violin concerto.  One of my favorites.  I hope Red Fish loves it as much as I do.

Belle needed her picture taken too.

Art Group Day 1- Stained Glass Windows

Today was the first day of art group.  So far, just the youngest kids are attending until the school year is over.  We looked at pictures of Gothic style stained glass windows to start things off.

Stained glass is an ancient art-form stemming from the 4th century.  The colored glass filters and transmits light in a way that has always touched my soul.  While the impressionists tried to capture light in their paintings, stained glass artists actually use the light to create a mood and color that is difficult to replicate.

The artists would create a wood panel drawing of their creation and carefully plan the linear framework of their piece.  The glass has to be blown by glassblowers into flat sheets and then carefully cut into shapes with iron shears.  The glass was sometimes layered for different color effects.  The glass was held together by lead cames and an armature of iron bands.

New Fish was more interested in using scissors than in her collage for most of art group.  She hurried and tossed some tissue squares on hers at the last minute.

We discussed using the light in our pieces and layering the different pieces of tissue paper to create darker colors or to mix colors together.  We used electrical tape and black contstruction paper for our frames.  The outeruter edges were covered in electrical tape.  Everything was sandwiched between sheets of contact paper to create a glue-less collage and then we hung them in our windows at home.

Repositionable Clear Con-Tact Cover

Tissue Paper Squares 4 - 480 pieces

1/2 Colored Masking Tape - Set of 10

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Walking to the aquarium

 The aquarium was beautiful with incredible sights, great hands on exhibits and a hefty price tag.  It was well worth spending our entire day inside.  It was also the most difficult part of our trip.  The girls were worn out by this point of our trip and the aquarium was a little too restraining after a week spent outdoors.  They loved the fish but they wanted to run, run, run.  I can't complain too much though, they were so good for the vast majority of the trip.  They rode in the car like angels, slept relatively well in five different locations and hiked all over the coast of California.  I was relieved and happy that they did so great on the trip.

 The aquarist handed a sea star to New Fish.  New Fish looked at her and said: "Sea stars are invertebrates."  The look on the aquarist's face was hysterical.  New Fish has no idea what invertebrate means.  She must be listening to Red Fish.

There was a jelly fish experience exhibit with black lights and psychedelic music.  New Fish took it upon herself to show everyone how to "dance like a jelly fish."

Pt. Lobos

 We did a beautiful hike around Pt. Lobos State Reserve.   We saw sea lions and otters out in the wild swimming and playing.  There were tide pools full of crabs and other tiny creatures.  A little piece of Heaven.

 All of this hiking and jumping off rocks has required a lot of bandaids.  They work great for both physical and emotional owies.

Whaler's cove

 

After Pt. Lobos, we checked into a Best Western in Monterey.   The girls went swimming with Two Fish and he spent an hour throwing them in the air.

 

After the girls cleaned up from swimming, we went to dinner on Cannery Row and took a look at Fisherman's Wharf.

Big Sur State Parks

Typical New Fish faces- she's a sassy little thing.

 The girls spent a long time splashing around in the river in their wetsuits (it was so cold!) and then we went out on some amazing hikes by the coast and in the redwoods.  First we went to Lime Kiln state park and did a trail.  New Fish rode in the backpack and Red Fish walked.  These pictures just really do not do this area justice.  It was gorgeous.  This was Two Fish's favorite part of our trip.

 Next we went to Julia Pheiffer Burns state park and did the waterfall trail.  It is more of a stroll than a hike.  Both of the girls walked.  The fence freaked me out because it doesn't really keep them from going over the edge and it encourages them to walk right next to the cliffs so I was all over the girls the entire walk.  They didn't appreciate it.  We also visited Pheiffer Big Sur state park.  All of them were breath taking.

Fake Camping

 Our next stop was Big Sur, CA where we tried out our first "fake camping" with a cabin at Riverside.  We had planned on camping most of the trip but decided last minute that we didn't really have room or energy for all of our gear.  The cabin was almost as cheap as a campsite because CA is so expensive.

The room was clean and the beds were comfortable.  The people who run the park were very friendly and nice to our kids.  This is the first trip we have made that New Fish didn't spend hours screaming the sonic scream.  It was a real treat for us.  We are making a traveler out of her after all!

 Red Fish's bed folded down. The girls loved sleeping in the bunk beds.

 We were right next to a small, slowmoving river.  The girls spent hours throwing rocks into it.

 We were right in the middle of a forrest of redwoods and it was stunning.  The girls loved running around and getting as dirty as possible.

 We spent two days roasting marshmellows, cooking outside and hiking.  It was much needed family time in our beloved outdoors.