Our "French Artists"

We have been working our way through the continent of Europe over the past few weeks and have made a stop in France. Although we've yet to try some French food (what I was really looking forward to!), we have been studying some of the artists of France-- particularly the Impressionists. We've been enjoying looking through a beautiful picture book full of Impressionist paintings that belonged to my artist grandmother, Nunu (who passed away when Abbie was only 4 months old). It is bittersweet to be teaching/trying to teach my children about art, knowing they had a great-grandmother who was so much more qualified and skilled than I. Having some of her things like this book and the art smocks the girls are wearing helps keep those memories of her alive for me as well as passing down her legacy to my children.

The girls enjoyed their turn at trying to create their own renditions of 'Impressionist" paintings. Emma chose a painting of the Eiffel tower as her inspiration and Abbie chose one of Monet's garden paintings.

They thoroughly enjoyed this project and I was super impressed with their results! So much so I'd consider framing them and putting them upstairs somewhere!!

We also took a turn at doing Silhouette cuttings which were also a type of art perfected by the French (and I know this is true because last year the girls had their silhouettes cut at the French pavilion in EPCOT!!! If Disney says it is true, it must be so-- right?!!!). The girls each drew and cut out the silhouette of their sister.

These were a bit trickier to accomplish than I expected (hence the 'bigger than lifesize' results) but the girls still enjoyed giving it a try. I think, however, that this artwork will stay downstairs in the schoolroom :-)

Next up... French pastries!!!

* A * L * O * H * A *

Emma requested a "Hawaiian Luau (in the garage)" for her 7th birthday party... All I can say is thank goodness for the internet because do you know how hard it is to find beach-themed party supplies in the fall??!!

Thanks to Michael's insistance that we remove the wall in our garage, we now have a large open space that doubles quite well as a party area! Add a wall covering of sand and ocean (a few space heaters for warmth and some hidden floral air fresheners) and our garage had quite the 'tropical' feel!

Emma had a great time with her friends-- she enjoyed serving tropical beverages from the '7 Islands Tiki Bar' and playing limbo and a beach bag relay.

Presents and a set of birthday cakes (hula girl & volcano) rounded out the evening.

Emma and Grandma are now busy planning their trip to the "real" Hawaii!!

A 7 year old

So... my 'baby' is now 7 years old. I can hardly believe it! We had a great day with her yesterday (probably mostly because I only made her do math for school!!) and I have lots of pictures to prove it. She had a pile of presents waiting for her when she woke up-- but was only allowed to open a few of them because we wanted to wait until Daddy was home from work.

This is one of her 'early open' gifts-- her #7 Precious Moments from Anna & Pacca...

After a busy morning at home, we headed out for Abbie's piano lesson but made a stop at the Mayfield Dairy on the way-- where the birthday girl got a free scoop of ice cream (mint chocolate chip!)

Is this display not the cutest thing? The corn ear is made from Mayfield milk jugs!!!

After piano, we did some more errands and then met Michael at Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. Michael has started a new tradition with the girls of picking out his own 'special' gift for them just from him... Emma's was a 'paint your own horse' set. She LOVED it!!

Dinner was followed by singing from the waiters and more ice cream!!

Once we got home, she was FINALLY allowed to open the rest of her gifts. She got lots of nice things including a "girl and doll" pajama set from American girl, a bead set, gift cards, money, 'girly' legos (they are pink!!), and a set of colored pens and drawing pad. She was VERY excited about all of her gifts

All in all, I think it was a great day to turn 7 years old!

Happy Birthday Emma Grace!! We love you!!

We miss the leaves...

One of the good things about our current house is that we have very few trees (and the ones we do have are still fairly small)-- no leaves to get into the gutters, no leaves to blow off the grass, etc.... One of the bad things (in our children's eyes) about our current house is that we have very few trees-- no leaves to rake into piles and jump into in the Fall!!

So... we went to Grandma and PawPaw's house this weekend and took advantage of their abundance of trees!

Even the dog enjoyed playing in the leaves...

All this playing made for a very tuckered out dog and youngest daughter who took a nap together on the way home.