Preschool Fun

 Since I will no longer have any in preschool come this fall and I still have some random preschool stuff left, I wanted to take advantage of having my niece over for the morning to use some of it up. I also thought it would be a great way to keep everyone in one place and out of the play closet and Grammy's house.

 The girls started off the morning by making blue collages.

 Then went hunting for red, blue, and yellow pom poms.

 Followed by a game off toss.

 The two younger girls were having so much fun with the pom poms that they were not interested in decorating tea pots.

It has been a peaceful morning with the 5 girls and everyone has stayed in the kitchen! Why is this so important....because Zoe is potty training and we want to keep her close to the potty and off the carpet.

Summer Food

 Cooking during the summer is so exciting. There are so many delicious fruits and veggies in season. We have been enjoying the local farmer's markets to pick up so of these summer treats. Butterfly helped me with dinner tonight which included:

 Green beans with cherry tomatoes and carmelized balsamic onions topped with parm.

 Couscous salad with corn, asparagus, yellow peppers and summer squash.

 Grammy made her yummy guacamole while we waited for the green beans to bake.

After dinner we enjoyed raspberries with chocolate alvacado dip.

Everything was fabulous. I am trying really hard this summer to expose the girls to many different foods. The big one the other night was shrimp. I am not much for seafood but my mom is and she grilled up some well marinated shrimp. I believe Dragonfly loved them the most as her plate was covered in little shrimp tails. We also picked up quite a few different types of mangos and pears at the farmer's market and made smoothies and other fun treats with them. This has been such a fun summer of discovery!

Healthy Snacks

Thanks to pinterest, I have found several healthy snack recipes for us all to enjoy. Today we made monkey cookies. The best part of these cookies is that they contain no sugar but the cocoa still allows you to think you are eating a chocolatey treat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monkey Cookies

Author/Source:

Jimmie @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 3 bananas
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Dash of cinnamon (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash bananas in a large bowl, then stir in remaining ingredients. Let batter stand for approximately 20 minutes, then drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon if desired. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Summer School

I am just going to label this summer....The Summer of Transition. We are currently in a holding pattern awaiting our next move. Since life is a bit crazy right now, formal schooling has been put on hold. PF has decided to dive into 7th grade work so she can get ahead for the upcoming school year. We are excited to be able to alot of fun educational things with the Stewart's next year and PF wants the ability to participate as well. 7th grade will hold a heavier work load for her and I think she is making a wise choice by getting as much done as she can over the summer. I am also trying, when possible, to work on Kindergarten curriculum with Dragonfly. I want her used to her new books by August so it will be easier to do schoolwork with all of my kiddos.

Butterfly and Ladybug are enjoying their light schedule of reading books and playing. My mom printed off some worksheets for them that they work on at their leisure.

We are hoping to have plenty of trips to the pool, park, library and other fun places to complete our summer.

High Museum of Art

I took my two older girls on a big girl field trip. We headed to downtown Atlanta to explore the High Museum of Art. I remember being there once as a child and really enjoying it. Not surprising, the museum has changed quite a bit since then. We first stopped by the family area. The girls quickly grabbed a seat and went to work on their own piece of art.

 Flowers and Butterflies......

 After finishing their masterpieces, they headed over to the building area.

 Not sure what their final structure was but they enjoyed building it.

 While in the family area, I found family guide booklets for Architecture and Decorative Art in the museum. We grabbed them and headed out into the main museum. I am so glad we had these guides because they added so much to our museum experience. The architecture guide helped us to see past the art and look at the building itself, to see how the building helped to accentuate the art. The Decorative Art guide set us out on an adventure to discover which art pieces were being described in each clue.

 The girls really liked all the vases on display.

 PF wanted to bring this piano home. I loved all the small detail and work that went into creating this piano.

 Butterfly's favorite piece: She loved this painting because of all the colors that were used to paint it.

 Butterfly found silver wings.

 PF wants to hang this light in her room.

 PF's favorite piece: She liked this piece because it was a lizard and she loves lizards.

 When we finished touring the museum, we headed out to find a place for lunch. The girls loved the dolphin we found along the way. We found a Thai restaurant a few blocks away. I love Thai food but I have never taken the girls to a Thai restaurant. I love being able to expose them to different cultures especially through experiencing food.

 They loved it!

Book Projects

This year, PF has a list of books to read. After reading each book, she will be required to display her comprehension of the book in a creative form. So far she has completed three books: Christy, Dr. Doolittle, and a collection of Fairy Tales. She has made a giant book with summaries of each story, put on a theatrical presentation, and made a log cabin display.