Our Flag Cake

The girls and their friends had a great time decorating (and eating!) this flag cake on July 4th. My mom baked an angel food cake, and the girls "iced" it with Cool Whip. They then decorated it with blueberries and strawberries to make the stars and stripes. This is a July 4th tradition that we started a couple of years ago and hope to continue for many years.

Painting Canvases

As a part of "Art on the Beach" week, the girls painted canvases. E(1) painted a very abstract painting, and O(4) said she was painting a landscape. We've been reading about Monet, so she was painting a landscape like we read about. Her interpretation of what she saw was VERY different than the way I would have painted it!

They had fun, and I have 2 more masterpieces to hang on my walls!

"Laura" Camp

Since O(4) is totally obsessed with "old times" and Little House on the Prairie, I decided to have "Laura" Camp this summer! O and I have been talking about it and planning for months!

For one week this summer, we did a "Laura" activity each day. Since then we've done a couple of "Laura" activities per week. One of the girls' favorite activities was washing clothes on a washboard. They dressed in their prairie clothing and out we went to the front yard to wash clothes!

The struggled with washing one of Elliott's t-shirts, but O loved washing his socks! They were easier for her to handle, and we were all amazed by how white she got them!


Thanks to Guhguh (my mom) for finding the washboard and tub for us to use!!!

The Complete Little House Nine-Book Set

Still Working On It...

I took yesterday off from working on the cultural exchange, but I'm working again tonight. I need 1 more person (who is not from the US or Canada) to exchange in a group sending/receiving 6 packages. I'm double checking the groups for diversity and will hopefully start sending emails to group members tonight or tomorrow night. So far, I think I have been able to include everyone who has emailed me. However, the last few people who have requested groups of 12 will be in groups of 6...sorry about that. So, if you've emailed me your information, look for an email from me within the next few days. I'll post on here once I have everything sent out. Thanks!

Golf Ball/Ping Pong Ball Paintings

On our first "Art on the Beach" morning, the girls painted with golf and ping pong balls.

To do this activity, we dipped the balls in paint and then rolled them around on the paper in a large container. O(4) was not very interested in this activity (some glittery gel that was in the bag of paint caught her eye, and she only wanted to play with that), but E(1) enjoyed it.

Painting with Medicine Droppers & Liquid Watercolors

The girls really enjoyed using medicine droppers (they call them "shotmakers" since they pretend to give shots with them) and liquid watercolors. I diluted the liquid watercolor a little bit with water in an ice cube tray. I gave the girls white cardstock since the paper needed to be thick in order to not tear. They got right to work!

Clarification on the Cultural Exchange

There seems to be a fair amount of confusion about how this exchange will work, so I want to clarify...

If you choose to be in a group of 6, you will send out 6 packages to 6 different children in 6 different countries. You will (hopefully) receive 6 different packages from 6 children in 6 different countries.

Each package should contain a letter from your child to the recipient's child. The recipient's name should be included in the letter. I will type our letter on the computer, and change the name for each child. I will not write an original letter for each package as that would make it much too complicated and time-consuming.

Every package should contain at least 1 picture of the child who is sending the package. Each package should also contain several cultural items, such as coins, stamps, a small flag, stickers, postcards, trinkets, toys, candy, games, etc. For example, I may include several small toys that my children love...encapsulated foam animals that you put in water and they emerge from the capsule (I'm not sure what they are called), growing animals, silly bands, American Girl stickers, etc. I'm hoping to find things that are original to the US, but also fun and entertaining.

If you have any questions, PLEASE post them in the comments section of this post, so that everyone who is participating can read them. THANK YOU!!!

Another Cultural Exchange Update

I started working on dividing the groups last night and realized that it was futile since I was still waiting on information from some people. So, I'll divide the groups tonight. If you haven't emailed me with your preferred group number, please do so immediately. I think I'll be able to include everyone who sent me their information. Although, some of the groups may have more than 1 US and Canadian participants. I hope that's not a problem. The other problem I'm having is that I want to exchange with everyone! I just wish shipping wasn't so expensive!

Cultural Exchange Update

Thanks to everyone for their responses. I've gone through all of the emails, and if you haven't emailed me with your group choice (1, 6, or 12) you should have gotten an email requesting this information. (if you have emailed me this info, and I sent you an email asking for it...just disregard my email!) I need this information ASAP as I am dividing everyone into groups right now. Thanks!

Spray Paint Art

The girls had fun making art using spray bottles filled with watered down liquid watercolors (from IKEA). I taped big pieces of paper to our fence and gave them a couple of spray bottles of paint (thanks to Amber for this idea!). E(1) got a little frustrated because she couldn't spray the paint without help, but she still had fun.

I also gave them a pack of blow paint pens, and we all really enjoyed that!

It's Not Too Late...

Several people have emailed me asking if it is too late to join the cultural exchange...it's not too late unless you are an American :) I may end up having room for a couple of more Americans, but right now it looks like I have enough. I also probably have enough Canadians and Australians. I'm going to start sorting through everything tonight and putting people in groups. If you've emailed me about participating, but have not let me know if you want to do an exchange with 1, 6, or 12 people, please let me know that information ASAP. I may have to switch the numbers around a little...it just depends on how the groups end up. Thanks!

Shaving Cream and Food Coloring Prints

During our "Art on the Beach" week, the girls had a great time mixing food coloring into a tub of shaving cream.

After they played with the shaving cream for a while, we placed a piece of white cardstock onto the shaving cream to make a print. This creates a pretty marbleized print (after you scrape the shaving cream off the paper).

The girls enjoyed the shaving cream so much that we did a variation of the same activity the next day. This time we used powdered tempera paint instead of food coloring. It turns out that blue and yellow don't necessarily make green!

We didn't make any prints this time. They just enjoyed the sensory experience of smearing themselves in shaving cream and then washing it off in the lake.

Painting with Colored Ice Cubes

My girls had a FANTASTIC time painting with colored ice cubes yesterday afternoon!

To make the colored ice cubes, I filled an ice tray with water and added food coloring (a lot of it!) to each cube of water before freezing the cubes. We painted on white cardstock since the paper needs to be thick in order to prevent holes from all of the water.


O loved painting a sheet just one color until the ice cube melted, and E loved painting with all of the colors. I also really enjoyed painting with the ice cubes, and I was surprised by how well it worked (we did this when O was almost 3, and I don't remember it working this well).


O said this was her favorite art project that we've done all summer (we've done a lot...I just haven't found the time to write about them yet). She and E would have painted all night if the ice cubes hadn't melted. Luckily, I refroze them so we can use them another day!

Btw, our hands are stained, but I think it will wear off in a day or 2.

Cultural Exchange

No more US participants, please! I don't want to put more than one US participant in a group, but I may have to at this rate. Also, there are LOTS of people that I haven't heard from with regard to the group number...I need this info so I can start dividing you into groups. I'd like to do this tomorrow (or maybe even start tonight). If you want to be involved, but have not contacted me, you may have another opportunity...if this works (without causing me too much gray hair!), I'd love to do it again. I'm super excited about the possiblities, but I am a little worried about people committing to participate and then never actually sending out any packages.

Attention...Cultural Package Exchange Participants PLEASE Read!

I've realized that instead of emailing each of you individually, it will be MUCH more time efficient for me to just put any instructions/directions on the blog. At the last count, almost 70 people have emailed me wanting to participate in this exchange. Since I have a hard time telling people no, I am going to divide the exchange into several groups.

I need each participant to email me with the following information:

1) Do you want to exchange with 1 person, 6 people, or a group of 12?

Please keep in mind that shipping may get expensive, and once you commit to being a part of a group, you MUST follow through with it.

2) Your child/children's names and ages

3) The country that you will be representing (several people who live in the US will be representing their home countries).

4) Your full name and mailing address

5) Please put "Cultural Exchange" in the subject line of your email

Please keep in mind that you must email me with this information to be a part of this exchange. I need this information as soon as possible in order to set up groups.

Here is what I expect from each participant...PLEASE read and be sure that you will be able to comply with the instructions before committing to be a part of this exchange.

1) If you sign up for a group of 12, you MUST send a package to each of your 12 group members! I do not want anyone to send out more packages than they get in return.

2) Each package should include a letter to the child/children of the participant you are sending it to...for example, the letters to me should be sent to O and E.

3) The letters should be written as if from a child. Although, parents may write the letters with input from their children if the children are unable to write letters. The letters should include relevant cultural information...holidays, traditions, your child's favorite foods and pasttimes. Basically, I want my children to be able to vividly imagine what it would be like to live in your country. I want them to have enough information that we can pretend to travel to your country and be children in your country. Be as descriptive and provide as much information as possible. Remember that you are reaching children around the world...what do you want them to know about your country???

4) You must include at least 1 picture of your child. I plan to put a huge map on our our wall, and we will attach the picture of the child to his/her home country. This will make our cultural/geography study more relevant and exciting!

5) You must include at least include at least 3 items in addition to the letter and pictures. These items could be coins, bills, stamps, artwork by your children, a small handmade toy, a recipe card with your favorite child friendly recipe, a small flag from your country, candy, small souvenir or trinket, postcards, examples of your language, stickers, small musical instrument, etc. Everything will need to be small and lightweight in order to minimize shipping cost.

6) All packages need to be sent out at roughly the same time...don't send one this month, the next 6 months from now, etc. I will not be sending my packages until the end of August or beginning of September. I want to be able to gather souvenirs while we are on vacation, and I want to have plenty of time plan our letter. Others of you have indicated that it may be several months before you can send your packages...ALL packages need to be sent by October (unless you contact me ahead of time and let me know...I need to know this information before I set up the groups).


If I think of anything else that I need, I will post it here. I will only send your names and addresses to the people who are in your group. I will never post personal information online. However, I will post info about the packages we receive along with links to your blog if you would like for me to.

Thanks for reading and participating in this (hopefully!) fun, educational, fantastic, wonderful, and phenomenal exchange!!!