Camping Week

It's Camping Week!  We did this last year and it was sooooo much fun we decided to do it again!  Who doesn't love a tent and a campfire right in the middle of their house?!   Ok... Don't answer that - we love it!

First, we set up camp, complete with a sleeping bag and some wonderful library books to read by the campfire.

Of course, you can't have camp without a campfire, so we made our own out of tp tubes and tissue paper.

We brought out our shakers from Music Week last Summer and sang some campfire songs.

C helped to name our camp, Camp Laundry, which is so appropriate because we use the drying rack for the tent and it is right by the laundry room!  We even made a sing out of sticks and other things collected froma nature walk.

Later in the week, we tried painting fire with marshmallows!

"Mama, I love you, but you have some crazy ideas..."

It was more about the process than the product...

And eating marshmallows, of course (NOT the ones with paint on them!).

We made a little handprint campfire craft to keep...  If I can find a handprint craft to go along with our themes, I am going to do it - their little hands are so sweet and are GROWING so fast!

Our week included a trip to Birmingham for an appointment, so we made the best of it by "hiking" on the trail like you would on a camping trip.  Most camping trips probably don't include a well-manicured public botanical garden, but you have to work with what you've got!

We concluded our week by making our own little campfire and roasting marshmallows.  First, we had to gather the wood.  Sam and the girls hiked around the farm to find just the right sticks (or logs!) for the fire.  

On a side note, FL could NOT walk our driveway last year ( it is about 1/4 mile long).  She would cry and fuss and just give out right there in the middle of it because she simply didn't have the muscle strength or stamina to walk that far.  It took about an hour if I wanted them to walk the whole thing there and back because we had to rest sooooo much.  So, we pulled them in this wagon (a gift from the Stinson family - thank you!) everywhere on the farm.  Since the horses had to be fed every afternoon, this wagon got a LOT of miles on it in those early months.  Now, a year later, they are pulling it everywhere on the farm, fully loaded, uphill, both ways! ; )  I don't take a lot of time to reflect on how much the girls have accomplished since they've been home, but they really have come so far - thanks for going down this little rabbit trail with me!  It's nice to look back and celebrate their progress!

While I was making dinner inside, Sam and the girls worked on the campfire outside! (Excuse the blurry phone pictures - I stopped what I was doing to come and quickly take pictures as the sun was going down)

After dinner, we at around the fire, roasted marshmallows, sang songs and just enjoyed ourselves.

It was a great way to end the week!

I'm thankful for my two precious little campers and the fun times we have together as a family!  I'm pretty sure we will have a camp week next year - maybe even doing the real thing!

Friendship Week

This week was all about friends and fun!  We have some fantastic friends near and far, so it was fun to celebrate.

C and FL "wrote" some postcards to some of our friends in our travel group that live far away.  I enjoyed listening to what the girls wanted to tell them and felt was important information!

A nice long walk to the mailbox to give our postcards a proper send off was in order.

Of course, some of our "friends" are not people, but the sweet animals we share our farm with.  Scout has always made a good playmate!

One of the girls' friends came over (and her mom happens to be a friend of mine from college!) and we worked together to make some custom wrapping paper with a baby pool, paint, a beach ball and paper.

They had to communicate and help each oer out to make the designs more colorful. (Use a heavier ball if you choose to do this activity).

Next, we made our own friendship cuff bracelets out of tp rolls!

A little paint, glitter and sequins can dress up anything!

One of my children was much more interested in mixing and experimenting with the paint...

They came out very cute and we were able to share them with lots of our friends.

The girls' friend even made them a special bracelet!  They were THRILLED, as this friend is a big kid!

The weather was SO warm, I let them put on their suits and clean the ball and pool for me. : )

We also made cards for a very special friend of mine.

Friends love each other, even in the hard times!

C and FL wore their BFF shirts this week to celebrate.

Because, wether they realize it or not, they are ech others' best friend for life. : )

Happy Friendship Week to all of our wonderful friends!

Fire Safety Week

Fire safety week started with a fire of our own!

Our pool and pool deck was in such bad shape, there was only one economic thing to do.

Burn!  Under careful watch, though (don't worry, the girls were napping while it took place).

So, two little firefighters in training came to inspect.  And be cute.

We also started learning about fire, matches, lighters, extinguishers and how to call for help.

I drew a "9 1 1" and the girls cut and colored the majority of the numbers.  Then they glued them onto the paper in the proper order.

C and FL also practiced dialing 9-1-1 on my I pad, phone and a big pretend phone.

I know they are a little young to understand, but I don't think it's too early to begin and plant those seeds.  Plus, they were excited about touching my I pad and phone!

We also looked for things that helped keep us safe in our home, like fire extinguishers and smoke detectors.  They like to look in everyone's home for them, too!  Let us know if you need detector detectors!

Ella helped make it more fun.

Sam and the girls tested and updated each detector (which is a lot of smoke detectors due to our home study requirements!).

They were nice and loud!  We practiced what to do when a detector goes off.

We picked a fire drill family gathering tree to make sure we were all ok.

The girls also pretended they were fire fighters.  Here they are at the "station" waiting for a call to come in for fire help.

DING DING DING DING!!!   C and FL sprang to action and quickly donned their gear and hopped on their fire trucks.

GO GO GO!

We drew some fires that they put out.

They also found some other "fires" along the way.

They liked riding their scooters to the scene!

The old fire dog stayed at the "station" happy to play along with this resting role!

Later in the week we did more fire/emergency art.

This was painters tape painted over in fire colors.  Their favorite part was removing the tape and playing with in afterwards!

We also painted fire using forks!

I liked how this turned out and how the yellow and red blended to make orange.  We will do this again sometime.

I think they learned a little bit and their art turned out well.  Charlotte's is on the left and Flora Lin's is on the right.

We still plan on visiting a fire station, but we will have to fit that in at another time.

It was a fun and safe week! : )