Big Girl

Look who decided to start sitting up on her seven month birthday!

Swim Lessons With Miss Duanna

Mad Science Week

This week was a huge hit with the girls.  And before I go any further, I should really say this summer is brought to you by Pinterest--because I came up with very few of these ideas myself.  Thank you Pinterest for making me a better Mommy!

This week was inspired by a show at the library, Professor Brainius.  It reminded me of Pop Rocks--lots of bang but not much substance.  But anyway, we had our own fun science experiments at home.

 Density Column

Vinegar and Baking Soda Explosions:
This was a great one!

Colorful Celery

Soap Clouds=Tons of fun in the bath
just be warned, it takes a lot of extra time trying to wash the soap off!

Science Fun Books: (choices were limited this time)

Science Verse

Newton and Me

Oh No! Or how My Science Experiment Destroyed the World

The Magic School Bus and the Science Fair Expedition 

Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention DVD

Nursery Rhyme Week

This week kind of fizzled, because I was busy with work.  We did this craft for "Hickory Dickory Dock".  I had high hopes it would help them tell time but no luck.  For "There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" we went through the shoe basket and got rid of shoes that didn't fit anymore.  We went to a show at the library where Mother Goose sang to us.  We should have done a lot more crafts and games and plays--it just didn't happen.

Our Favorite Nursery Rhyme Books
Old Mother Hubbard and her wonderful dog
This is the House that Jack Built
Mary had a Little Ham
Nursery Rhyme Comics
The completed hickory dickory dock
The Cheese
You read to me, I'll read to you : very short Mother Goose tales to read together
The top secret files of Mother Goose!
Little Bo Peep can't get to sleep
The Great Nursery Rhyme Disaster

Happy Father's Day

Circus Week

 This was by far one of my favorite weeks.  We started out by watching a promo DVD from Ringling Brothers Circus so that we could plan our circus acts.  Then we spent the week practicing, making decorations and putting together costumes for the big performance on Friday for Nana and our cousins.

Welcome to the Circus!

The audience

Our Ringmaster

We made this cute circus tent play set found here

and clown hats.  We did some fun preschool circus worksheets.  For lunch after the performance we ate corn dogs, popcorn, peanuts, circus animal cookies, circus peanuts (those orange marshmallow things) and fresh lemonade.  And now, for your viewing pleasure,  here is the grand performance!  Thanks Tammy for being the cinematographer!

Our Favorite Circus books:
Miss Bindergarten plans a circus with kindergarten
Olivia saves the circus
If I ran the circus
Peter Spier's circus!
Who put the B in the Ballyhoo?
Circus shapes
The painted circus 

Nana at the Arboretum

We were so lucky to have Nana stay with us for a week.  We went to the Arboretum and saw the most amazing Chihuly glass exhibit.  It was by far my favorite experience at the Arboretum!  I took so many amazing photos--please bear with me because I had a really hard time narrowing them down!

 

It's Scakle Time!

 One of my girls' favorite singers is David Chicken.  Allegra had been begging for months to see him again so we took a family trip to a downtown mall and waited ALL DAY!  But it was worth it!

This is Aurora VOLUNTEERING!  I thought it would never happen!

And then she volunteered AGAIN!

Even Allegra volunteered!  That is how much my girls love him!

Super cute David Chicken had a fan made.  If we are really going to be groupies, I may need to make a few of these for next time!

Mommy Summer School: Art Week

In order to learn lots, have fun, and stay sane this summer, I decided we would have a weekly theme. Each theme will include crafts, tons of library books, homework pages, and, if we're lucky, a field trip.  For the first week I chose "Impressionist Art".  We did some watercolor in the style of Monet by painting outside.

"Colorful Rain"

"Monet"

"Running Spider"

We visited the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth for an Impressionist exhibit featuring the works of Renoir, Degas, and Monet.  I knew the girls wouldn't totally appreciate but they did pretty well.  There was just no way I could pass up the opportunity for them to see such amazing artists.  It could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience!  Here were some of our favorite pieces.  I think Renoir is my new favorite impressionist artist!

We had some extra time after the museum that I hadn't expected (very unlike me to not have everything planned) so we made an impromptu  stop at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  They were nice but it was deathly hot.  We were very tempted to jump in.

We made sculptures out of peanut butter playdough (equal parts PB and evaporated milk) while listening to impressionist music.  They weren't really into sculpting that day--just eating.

We also did some sponge painting onto a drawing of Monet's "Waterlilies".  They actually turned out really cool but I couldn't get the pictures to upload on blogger (I don't know why blogger is being so difficult lately!) 

Here is a list of our week's books:
Lineea in Monte's Garden (DVD)
Amelia Bedelia's Masterpiece
Dog's Night
Seen Art?

Art's Supplies
Babar's Museum of Art
The impressionists : the origin of modern painting 
Pierre Auguste Renoir

Well, I loved this week and I can't wait to see how the rest of the summer turns out!