Catching Up

Sorry about the lack of blog posts this weekend. We've been on vacation for the past 2 weeks, and I don't have any finished blog posts saved to post. The girls have been sick since we got home, and I have zero time or motivation to write new posts (although I have tons of things to write about). We didn't have a very good internet connection while on vacation, so I've been spending my minimal computer time uploading vacation pics to our private family blog.

To those of you who have emailed me within the last month, I'm sorry for my lack of response. The cultural exchange emails have gotten precedence, and I've not answered most other emails...there's just not enough time.

A lot of you have requested that I post pics of the cultural exchange box that I received, and Julie has given me permission to do so. Since, I'm not giving the girls the packages yet (it's a large part of their Christmas), I have to be sneaky about unpacking and photographing everything. I planned to do it while they napped this afternoon, but I fell asleep with them...maybe tomorrow :)

Here are some pics from our wonderful 2 weeks at the beach...

We always tie-dye while at the beach, and the girls are SO proud of their shirts!




My "old time" girl wore her mob cap on the beach. She so silly :)


2 girls and their kites. Getting both of their kites flying at the same time and running with them on the beach was one of my favorite moments.

I was very pleased with the pics from our beach photo shoot.






We went on kayaking adventures during our 1st beach week. At one point we were almost surrounded by a pod of dolphins. Lucky O(5) was even closer to them than we were, and she said that she loved seeing the calf with it's mama. She said she felt like she was in a dream. I loved hearing them blow...so cool.

Straws & Box Lid Marble Maze

My niece(7), O(5), E(1), and I made marble mazes using straws, box lids, and glue. This idea came from Family Fun Magazine (I LOVE that magazine!).

The girls cut the straws and glued them into the box lids to make the mazes. Super simple and fun (for some!).

My niece really enjoyed this activity, but O was not that interested. E(1), however, was VERY interested. She insisted that she make a "bahbble maze,too!," so she and I worked together to make one for her.

Here is my niece's maze.

O decided to take the easy way out and make a non-maze.


Here's the maze I made with E. I put down the glue, and she put the straws on the glue.

Wow!

I just received my first cultural exchange package from Julie from Ohio, and I am VERY impressed! Thanks, Julie! You did a great job, and your package is much better than the ones I'm planning! I'm going to have to work a little harder :)

Excavating Toys from Ice

Excavating small toys from ice is a yearly summer tradition at our house. This is at least the 3rd summer (maybe 4th) that we have done this very fun activity.

To do this activity, I gathered a bunch of small plastic toys and put them in a glass bowl. I filled the bowl with water and put it in the freezer. I forgot about it for about a month until one really hot day.



When I finally remembered the activity awaiting us in the freezer, I gathered the supplies needed...I put the bowl of ice and toys on a tray along with a hammer, salt, cup of water, water dropper, dull knife, etc.



The girls got to work immediately! They loved hitting the ice with the hammer. They poured a whole salt shaker worth of salt on the ice to help it melt, and they had fun dripping water onto the ice with the water dropper.




They enjoyed this activity so much that they immediately wanted to do it again. We put the toys back in the bowl, added water, and put it in the freezer. It was ready the next day, and they had a super time again. We are on vacation now, but I'm sure we'll do this activity several more times before summer's end.

Shell & Stickers Memory Game

I made this shell and stickers memory game for O(5) about 2 years ago, and I take it to the beach with us every year.

I tried to teach E(1) the ins and outs of memory, but she's not quite ready for that :) However, she had fun matching the stickers.

To make the game, I gathered (from around my house) a bunch of shells that looked similar (O's grandmother brought them to her from the Bahamas), and I bought 2 packs of beach/sea life stickers. I put stickers on each shell to make about 10 matching pairs. Simple and fun!

Pseudo Pillowcase Dresses

My mom and I (with help from O and E) made matching pseudo pillowcase dresses for the girls a couple of weeks ago.

These dresses are simple to make, and they look so sweet. Here is a link to the directions from the last time we made a dress like this...way back in 2009.

The only difference is that my mom tacked the ribbon this time because it's very annoying when it slides out. Also, we made matching dresses for the girls' dolls. So fun!

Ocean Playdough

We are vacationing at the beach this week, so the girls and I made ocean playdough to have during our week at the ocean!

We used the basic homemade playdough recipe and added in blue food coloring, clear glitter, and vanilla extract. It's SO much fun (and it's SO easy) to make homemade playdough that I don't know why we don't make it more often. I think it should be at least an every other month activity!

Here is the recipe and instructions for the playdough...

1 c. flour

1/2 cup salt

1 T. cooking oil

1 T. cream of tartar

1 c. water

Food coloring of your choice

Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

Stir ingredients together well. Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan. Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.
Let the playdough cool and then knead until it's smooth.


The girls loved pouring and mixing the ingredients, and then they waited patiently while I cooked the dough on the stove. O LOVES kneading the warm dough (and I do, too!).

The ocean playdough was perfect for our week at the beach since we've had some very rainy days. I brought some ocean animal cookie cutters, ocean stamps, and small ocean animals to go with the playdough (as well as a few traditional playdough tools...rolling pin, spaghetti maker, etc.).

O(5) LOVED making blue mermaid hair.


E(1) loved creating underwater scenes.




Playing with the playdough was a screened porch activity only since it makes such a mess. That suited the girls and me just fine because why would we want to be inside the house when we have a beautiful view outside!

Drawing a Rainbow

O(5) had fun taping her markers together and drawing with them! This is an Art Jar activity, and she was so excited when she drew this one out of the jar! However, the most fun part was taping the markers together. For some reason, she lost her enthusiasm when she started drawing.

After she drew with the washable markers, she "painted" over her drawing with water.