stART: The Paper Princess

We are finishing up our Princess Unit this week, and our next book was The Paper Princess, written and illustrated by Elisa Kleven. It was just a LOVELY book, and it intrigued me to look at her website. I don't know if I've read any of her other books, but I am definitely going to be looking for more Elisa Kleven books when we are out and about today. She even sells her art, which I am going to inquire about; I would hang it in my house.
The collage illustrations are, like I said, lovely. They have a whimsical, dreamy feel. The story is about a little girl who draws a paper doll.

The paper doll accidentally blows away and travels through a series of adventures and mishaps as she longs to find her way back to the little girl.

The kids set to work decorating their own paper dolls. I drew the outlines where the clothes should be. Their only other instructions were:

1) Shoes should look like "watermelons" (we used the closest paper we could find in my scrap paper file). I cut out the shoe shapes for them, as well as the crown shapes.

2) Socks should look like "starry skies."

3) Add hair.

4) Draw on face.

5) Add rosy cheeks with chalk.

Beyond that, I set out markers and paper scraps & scrapbook stickers that might go along with the forest and meadow themes. (The first page reads: The princess's dress was like a forest.) They would use these materials to create her/his collage-clothing. This ended up being one of my favorite projects we've ever done.

Sissy's paper princess

Dash's paper prince

Tornado's paper prince

At the end of the story, a boy finds the Paper Princess, and he is sad because the meadow picture he drew for his sister blew away. He doesn't have any more paper so the Princess tells him he can turn her over and use her back, which is blank, to draw the picture. When he takes the picture to his sister for her birthday, she realizes it's HER GIRL, who is ecstatic to be reunited with her paper doll princess.

After the kids finished designing their paper dolls, they turned them over and decorated their backs, just as the boy had done!

For more story + art projects, visit A Mommy's Adventures.

Cinderella and Dash

Dash completed his Cinderella and the Prince creative movement camp. Okay...so, let's be real; it was a dance camp, but I passed it off with his dad a lot easier by calling it "creative movement." I was so proud and entertained, watching him in class. He totally focused on what the teacher was saying and did everything she asked him to do. I giggled watching him plie' and leap across the dance floor. One day they got to dance with their swords and crowns (wands for the girls), which they had decorated.

They didn't just learn dance movements; they talked a lot about Cinderella, the story behind the ballet. They watched a clip of a performance. They put together a booklet with activity pages they completed, including this page of facial expressions -

and this coloring page he's still working on.

He loved this camp. LOVED IT. He was greatly disappointed that today was the last day.

Summer Bucket List

I had seen that the Little Wonders had made this cute "bucket list" for summer, so we have been making our own list of fun things we want to do this summer. I printed off June, July, and August calendars and started filling in all of the local events. Today, I noticed Mama Wonder has turned her idea into a Blog Party, where everyone shares their lists. I'm all for making lists and goals, and I think making your goals public is a great way to stick with it. Here is ours:

Trips/Outings:

*visit 2 new (to us) state parks in Arkansas

*find at least one new, totally cool swimming hole

*make good use of our zoo pass

*make good use of our local water park pass

*make it up to the Buffalo River at least twice

*trip to Hot Springs, including a visit to the Mid-America Science Museum

*Butterfly Festival at Mount Magazine

*Silver Dollar City trip with my entire family

*visit the Pharaoh exhibit while it's still at the Art Center

*4th of July in Illinois

*nephew's birthday party in Missouri

*trip to Texas visiting friends and family (and let's be honest, The Spiral Diner)

*Splash Zone in Jacksonville (kids saw a picture of it and haven't stopped talking about it)

*watch Toy Story 3 at the theater

*trip to St. Louis (I want to check out the City Garden.)

*visits to lake with Tornado's new remote control boat

*weekend trip with just my husband (I just now decided that one.)

*Elephant Sanctuary in Quitman

*visit a few of our relatives we miss

*Peabody Park at the Rivermarket

*catch The Living Sea and Animalopolis on Imax at the Aerospace Museum

* go see Ramona & Beezus opening July 23 (We saw the trailer to this the other night while watching Shrek 3, and I was smiling giddily at Ryan with two thumbs up. He was like, "Really?" I think it looks great!)

Programs:

*local libraries' summer reading clubs

*story times at Nature Center

*story times at the zoo

*farmers' markets

*free summer movies at local theaters

*Rivermarket outdoor theater

Kids Classes/Camps:

*Tornado - Art Camp

*Dash - Creative Movement Camp, Soccer Camp

*Sissy - Cheerleading Classes, Dance Classes

Thematic Units/Plans at home:

*Sharp-toothed Animals Unit

*Strawberry Shortcake Unit

*Colors Unit

*Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Unit

*cool art & science projects we got for Christmas

*water balloons and other water fun

*plant pumpkins in our backyard

*start decorating the boys' cubby (hideaway spot in the wall above their bunkbeds)

*read The Mouse & the Motorycle by Beverly Clearly

*make lots of popsicles (note to self: order silicone mold today)

Muffin Tin Monday and Cousins Visit

There is no theme to our MTM meal this week. They just had:

yellow watermelon - which they were particularly excited about (Fun fact: Sissy loves watermelon so much, but she always calls it "cantaloupe," even the red kind.), crackers with cashew butter, Calbee brand Snapea Crisps, almonds, and steamed broccoli & cauliflower

Nothing fancy, but we did get to try a new product, Annie's brand Organic Bunny Classics Saltines, which come in fun shapes.

In other news:

My sister-in-law drove her kids down this weekend for Tornado's birthday party (more on that later this week). As always, it was lots of fun having them around. Sissy just so happened to have a brown dress on, just like her cousins, so they posed for me.
3 of my best guys. Pierson is being so ornery, purposefully not smiling or looking at the camera.
The kids had a blast playing outside in the water. They played with water guns and the new hopscotch sprinkler, that was part of the gift they gave Tornado.

Sissy and Clara, cooling of with (very tasty) watermelon

This week's gratitude list: #166-179 :

*My son turned 10 yesterday.

*Everyone who came to his party is very important to us.

*He loves birthdays, maybe the most of all.

*Muffin Tin Mondays, just because they're fun.

*My Bloggy friends; they're fun to have.

*My sister-in-law: from day one, she always made an effort to connect to our entire family.

*Although she might never have a sister, Sissy has 4 (so far) girl cousins she loves.

*My niece got accepted to a Gifted & Talented program at Drury College. She's a little smarty.

*My husband always works so hard at my honey-do lists. He's so helpful and so capable.

*My dad gave us two pots of Swiss Chard he planted. We just have to walk out on our front porch and pick a salad. The kids walk by and pick of leaves to eat as they're passing by.

*Before my party on Friday, my mom went to the grocery store for me, then helped me prepare the food, and IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH, she came back to my house Saturday and washed every single one of my dirty dishes.

*water fun

*watermelon!

*This morning we were talking about waiting on Daddy to go somewhere, and Sissy said, "Yes, I want to wait for Daddy cuz him's a good daddy."

Linking up to:

The Story of My Birth

I am taking part in the "Mommy's Piggy Tales: Record Your Youth" project. Every Thursday, I will be writing about a certain time in my life, starting with my birth. To read more about this project (and maybe you'd even like to get involved), visit here. .

While I wouldn't call myself a "pack-rat," I've always been a "saver" of things that are special to me. When Ryan married me, he quickly learned he would also be acquiring many heavy tubs, full of my keepsakes. (He's had to lug these tubs up and down apartment steps and attic steps during several moves.)

My great aunt Mert got me started scrapbooking when I was young, and I fell in love with the creative kind of scrapbooking that exists now after I found out I was expecting my first son. Over the years I have made scrapbooks for family members, and I've started a few (completed this one of my early years) for myself. I hope this project will spur me on to finish my other scrapbooks I have started. Maybe my kids will be interested in them one day, and I sort of see it also as an acknowledgment to my parents - that I loved my childhood, and I'm proud of the life they gave me.

What I had written on this page:

Mom and Dad went to her regularly scheduled doctor's appointment on July 22. The doctor told her to stay in town (We lived about 40 minutes away.) because she would probably have me soon. They ate lunch at Mexican Villa (surprise, surprise) and back at the hospital, Mom got really sick. The doctor started laughing as soon as he saw her and said he should have warned her not to eat spicy food. I was born at 8:25 p.m. that night at St. John's.

Little did I know...a force of nature (who would later become a dear friend) was also making her entrance into a room somewhere down the hall.

19-20 years later, while sitting in one of our elementary ed. classes, Julie and I had great fun discovering that we not only shared a birthday, but we also shared the same hospital nursery.
She wouldn't have recognized me, though. I hope I've changed a lot since then. (Although, I think I do still make that expression.) I weighed 9 pounds and 12 ounces. I apparently inherited the ability (curse?) of bearing big babies; my daughter was 9. 10. (Although, unlike me, my Mom was the superwoman who gave birth to her large babies without surgery.)

I'd like to say that hospital picture was a fluke, and I wasn't really that chubby...but, let's be honest.

My pretty momma and handsome daddy were married in February, when my Mom was barely 16, and my dad was 19. In September, my big brother was born. (You do the math. I remember when I was in elementary, telling friends that my brother was born really early because I couldn't have imagined any other explanation.) 2 years and 10 months later, my brother got a sister. (My parents have now been married 38 years! I'm SO proud of them for making it work.)
Matt and I were (are!) typical brother and sister: fought a lot and played and loved a lot, too.
There is no significance to my first name: Jenny (officially Jennifer). It was just a name my parents loved. They obviously weren't alone, as I think it was the top baby girl name in 1975. That's okay, though; I like my name. My Mom calls me Clara (or even Clara Sue), sometimes when I'm in trouble.
My middle name is Clara, which was my Dad's mother's name. (Don't my grandparents look like movie stars?) She unexpectedly died when my brother was a baby. My brother and sister-in-law carried the name on further by naming my niece Clara.

That's all I've got for now. My parents don't actually have very good memories of little things like our births, bless their hearts. I think taking care of 4 kids at such an early age zapped their memory processes. I ask her twenty questions, and she's like, "Hmm, I don't know," or "I don't really remember." My Mom won't even tell me if I was planned. "I wanted every single one of you. Of course." Me: "Yes, I know that. But was I planned, or was I a surprise?" She will NOT concede. She thinks that if she tells one of us we were a surprise, we'll think she loves us less. Silly Momma. I have really great parents.

stART: The Kissing Hand

We read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn for this week's stART (story + art) project.

We, of course, love this book. We've read it before, but they didn't really remember the story so we pulled it off the shelf. It's about a little racoon who is nervous about leaving his Mom for the day. She tells him the secret of the "kissing hand." She kisses the palm of his hand and tells him whenever he feels lonely, all he has to do is press his hand to his cheek and think, "Mommy loves you." And the kiss will jump to his face and make him feel safe and loved. Then before he goes, he kisses her hand, too, so she will also have a kissing hand. We kissed each other's hands a lot while we read it.

Then I traced their hands onto the back of cereal boxes and cut them out for them.

I had them rip tissue paper into bits, then glue them onto the hand, covering the entire surface.

`The next day, they painted over their dried hands.
their finished Kissing Hands

They found some hearts amidst all of our craft stuff - 2 pink glittery chipboard hearts and one red scrapbook dye cut - and glued them onto the middle of their hands.

For more stART activities, visit A Mommy's Adventures!

Muffin Tin Monday: Princess theme

Since we are still working through our Princess Unit (HERE is our Princess stART activity), I made our Muffin Tin Meal today accordingly. They had blackberry/strawberry kabobs, carrot/tomato kabobs, CROWN-shaped cheese (we use Vegan Gourmet), an applesauce cup, and...
a Sunflower butter and fruit spread CROWN sandwich with carrot and blackberry jewels (stuck on with Tofutti cream cheese).

Princess loved it.

This was actually their breakfast this morning. Tornado always has trouble eating first thing in the morning, but he happily finished this meal. I guess some baking cups and princess party picks were all it took.

Today is our first "official" day of summer. I guess this is technically my first actual "summer vacation" since...1998. (Since this was the first year we didn't homeschool my oldest son, our lives never really followed the typical school year, therefore summer vacation was irrelevant.) I'm taking a deep breath and thinking about all of the fun I hope we have this summer. As I try to keep on top of my aaactive 5 year old and as we try to formulate what our plan is going to be for next year.

Visit Michelle's site for more Muffin Tin Meal ideas.

Preschool Graduation

I meant to post these last week, but I got busy, then our computer started acting up. (And Ryan and I have spent over an hour tonight trying to put video on here, but our computer isn't cooperating...maybe I can add it tomorrow night.) Dash graduated from Preschool. I wrote about his last day here. I was sad about this life experience of his coming to an end.

I warned him that I might cry. I told him if they played "Pomp and Circumstance" there was a good chance I would. (I mean, I can just hum that song to myself without thinking about anything in particular, and I feel emotion.) "No!" he warned. "Don't cry." He gets embarrassed. He inherited his self-consciousness from his momma.

Of course, as soon as "Pomp and Circumstance" came belting out, and the little sweeties came walking down the aisle one-by-one in their adorable little outfits, tears sprung into my eyes. (I absolutely love that they got to wear real graduation outfits.) I didn't let myself cry, though, since he asked me not to. I can't make any promises for future moments of your life, though, Son. Whenever he looked at me, I stuck out my lip and made crying motions with my fists by my eyes just to tease him. His eyes got wide, and he mouthed, "Don't." He's like a teenager already.

The kids performed several songs (learning songs...months of the year, vowel sounds, etc.) for the audience. They were precious/adorable/impressive/hilarious.

The once-in-a-lifetime shot of my son getting his Pre-K diploma...classic.

Daddy and Dash

Mommy and Dash...do you enjoy the fact that Ryan didn't even notice the diploma was upside down? I love it.

This is Dash with his best buddy, C. I'm so sad for them to have to go their separate ways. Hopefully, we can get them together regularly this summer.

GRATITUDE LIST:

I'm thankful for my 5 year old son. I'm thankful that I was so fortunate to be able to have not just one, but TWO boys. I like that I see myself in him. I'm thankful that he loves me SO much, that I am the first one he wants when he is sad or upset. I'm thankful that he's full of energy, even though it really doesn't make my life any easier. (And that not only did he have 2 classrooms of kids he could call friends, he had a friend who absolutely loves him and would call him his "best friend," - I mean isn't that an amazing thing when someone wants to be your best friend? and that he got to wear a red cap and gown, and that he smiled at me sweetly during his ceremony, and that I have gotten to spend over 5 years already with this fun person.)

That's #156-165...you'll find the rest of my Gratitude list by looking at the Gratitude Community label on the left. Visit A Holy Experience for more about the Gratitude Community.

stART: A Little Princess in the Making

This week for our story + art project, we chose A Little Princess in the Making by Emilie Barnes. Sissy and I (and the boys because they want to be included) have been working on a Princess Unit this week. (For the boys' sake, we call it Prince and Princess Unit.)
I really like this book. I picked Princess Unit because...well, there isn't anything Sissy likes more than that. But my plan was to focus on the heart of a princess - what it really takes to be a princess, which isn't just wearing a pretty dress.

We haven't gotten through the entire book because I want to take our time. There are only 30 pages in the book, but it is divided into chapters that begin with "I'm a Little Princess when I..."

The 6 chapters include Care For My Castle (being kind, obedient, and appreciative, etc.), Am a Good Friend (and being a good host), Travel Through My Kingdom (manners, The Golden Rule, etc.), Make Myself Pretty (which is more about hygiene and taking care of yourself), Dine at My Fancy Table (eating healthy, table manners, setting the table, etc.), and Have a Grateful Heart.

There are also two pages at the end with princess paper doll cut-outs. I want to get the boy version of the book, A Little Hero in the Making, next.
If that's not your kind of thing, we've been reading many other princess books this week, too.We went the "jewelry as art" route. We've been making jewelry of all kinds this week. One thing we did, which I just loved, is making Sparkly Confetti Necklaces. I got this idea from ShowKidsTheFun.com.

I cut a small freezer bag in half, one piece for each of them. They poured glue onto the plastic in the shape they wanted. (Sissy said circle, and Dash said oval.) Then they covered the glue with sequins, pieces of aluminum foil, jewels, glitter, and little colored shells.

We let them sit for a couple of days. (After a day or so, we peeled them off the plastic bag and turned them over to let the other side dry faster.) Once the glue dries, we were left with these shiny pendants. I poked a hole at the top of each one and let the kids choose a ribbon or string.

my little Princess-in-the-making and Hero-in-the-making

For more great story + art ideas, visit A Mommy's Adventures.