Monday, July 21, 2008
Summer Visitors at the Rose Gardens
Later that same day, we drove Rachael and Isaac around the lakes in Minneapolis, saw all of the gorgeous old and new mansions, visitied the rose gardens at Lake Harriet, stopped by the sculpture garden and picked up some great ice cream at Sebastian Joe's (try their raspberry chocolate chip - yum!). After just a few days, Rachael and Isaac were off on the rest of their road trip to Seattle/Utah/Idaho! We were all jealous and wished we could have jumped in the van and followed them!
Summer Visitors
On June 28th and 29th (wow, shockingly I am behind again!) Bryan's sister Rachel and her husband Isaac came to visit. We had a great visit with them and did a whirlwind tour of the site around the Twin Cities. These photos are from Minnehaha Falls south of Minneapolis. The falls have a ton of water going over them because of all of our spring rain.
We hiked along the base of the falls with the kids. They loved the rocks and were of course drawn to the river .
Monday, July 14, 2008
Crafty Girl: July Card Class
Here are the cards for July's card class - this Tuesday and Wednesday. We are using a new medium by making cards out of overhead projector sheets. All of the supplies are from Archivers - if you'd like a copy let me know!
This is another version I made with vellum. I like the clear better.
This is another version I made with vellum. I like the clear better.
Summer Days
One of our favorite ways to spend these hot summer days is to pack up the car and drive less than 5 minutes down the road to the beach. The back of the van is always filled with sand toys and towels and sunscreen.
Calvin tends to get a LOT of sand on him - like Sophie.
Here is Sophie helping him wash off - which he appreciated for about 5 seconds.
Max usually finds a group of friends his own age to play with.
Calvin tends to get a LOT of sand on him - like Sophie.
Here is Sophie helping him wash off - which he appreciated for about 5 seconds.
Max usually finds a group of friends his own age to play with.
Fake Lake Elmo
A couple of weeks ago we met up with an old friend of ours (Brandi) at Fake Lake Elmo in Woodbury. It is a man-made lake with lots of sand and no shade! I'm not sure why we need fake lakes in the "land of 10,000 lakes", but whatever. They have installed big umbrellas in the sand now, so if you can manage to snag a spot underneath one of them, you will be OK for the day. Every hour they make everyone get out of the water so all of the parents can count their kids and make sure none of them have drowned!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Movie Review
My Kid Could Paint That is a documentary about a little girl names Marla Olmstead.
Marla started painting when she was two and sold her first painting at two for $250.00 when a family friend asked if he could hang her work in his coffee shop. The documentary is fascination because it asks so many questions about what is art? Is modern art's value intrinsically linked with the story of the artist?
There was a huge controversy about Marla when she suddenly became famous and 60 minutes came to her house and aired a scathing piece about there suspicions that Marla's Dad was "helping" her with her paintings. It is really interesting to see their family over the course of the year. The mother is so believable and comes across as incredibly honest on camera. The father is so nervous (perhaps because he is having to prove himself) and edgy that is is hard to know what really happened. The documentary leaves it up to the viewer, but now, all of Marla's works are filmed from start to finish and sold with a DVD. Marla is now 7, still painting and her works sell for thousands of dollars.
Marla started painting when she was two and sold her first painting at two for $250.00 when a family friend asked if he could hang her work in his coffee shop. The documentary is fascination because it asks so many questions about what is art? Is modern art's value intrinsically linked with the story of the artist?
There was a huge controversy about Marla when she suddenly became famous and 60 minutes came to her house and aired a scathing piece about there suspicions that Marla's Dad was "helping" her with her paintings. It is really interesting to see their family over the course of the year. The mother is so believable and comes across as incredibly honest on camera. The father is so nervous (perhaps because he is having to prove himself) and edgy that is is hard to know what really happened. The documentary leaves it up to the viewer, but now, all of Marla's works are filmed from start to finish and sold with a DVD. Marla is now 7, still painting and her works sell for thousands of dollars.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Boy Scout Day Camp
Somehow I volunteered to be a station leader at Max's first ever 2- day Boy Scout Day Camp. After pawning off Calvin and sending Sophie to work with Bryan (that did not work out so well this time), I ended up at a local park with a whole bunch of 8-11 year old boys.
I was in charge of the Water Sports station and it was COLD!! Granted it was late June, but there was a freezing wind blowing that day! I had on three shirts and thought I was going to die if I had to sit out there much longer! The boys for the most part seemed to be fine because
a. they are boys and b. they were running around all day. Max seemed to have a great time and his favorite stations were archery and marshmallow launchers.
Doesn't he just look old?!
I was in charge of the Water Sports station and it was COLD!! Granted it was late June, but there was a freezing wind blowing that day! I had on three shirts and thought I was going to die if I had to sit out there much longer! The boys for the most part seemed to be fine because
a. they are boys and b. they were running around all day. Max seemed to have a great time and his favorite stations were archery and marshmallow launchers.
Doesn't he just look old?!
Painted Turtles on Father's Day
We spent Father's Day at church and then had Kelly's family over for a BBQ, a hike through Lebanon Hills Park and then back to the house for dessert and games. It was a gorgeous day!
We have been blessed with wonderful fathers and wish we lived closer to them!! The kids love their Grandpas and we feel blessed to have them! We gave Bryan a hummingbird feeder for Father's Day and we had hummingbirds feeding from it just hours after we put it out!
The kids found a cool painted turtle on one of the paths. Sophie kept trying to feed it grass.
After the hike the kids decided to wrestle in the grass and then roll down the hill entwined in a big mass of flailing limbs. This idea ended as all such ideas end. Laugh, laugh, ha, ha, ha, BLOOD CURDLING SCREAM, many tears.
We have been blessed with wonderful fathers and wish we lived closer to them!! The kids love their Grandpas and we feel blessed to have them! We gave Bryan a hummingbird feeder for Father's Day and we had hummingbirds feeding from it just hours after we put it out!
The kids found a cool painted turtle on one of the paths. Sophie kept trying to feed it grass.
After the hike the kids decided to wrestle in the grass and then roll down the hill entwined in a big mass of flailing limbs. This idea ended as all such ideas end. Laugh, laugh, ha, ha, ha, BLOOD CURDLING SCREAM, many tears.
Dance, dance baby
Sophie started taking dance lessons this year -a jazz/ballet/tap class at a school here in Eagan. I looked for a very long time to try and find a place for her to take dance lessons and visited a lot of the local schools. It is kind of shocking to see what is out there and what kind of moves the schools are teaching young girls!! When visiting, I looked at the costumes of the former classes and I bluntly asked if their jazz classes included "pole dancing for 5 year olds". We finally found a place that seemed fine and Sophie has loved her class every week.
This was our first experience with a dance recital, and it was quite the eye opener! The costumes are EXPENSIVE - I now know why moms look positively green when I buy their used costumes for a dollar or two at a yard sale! There are dress rehearsals and photos and everything done in full make-up and hair. The recital itself was almost 3 1/2 hours long! Sophie did a great job though she tends to be very concerned about whether or not the girl next to her is in the right spot and often we could hear her trying to push the girl into the right place! I actually have some video of the dances, but they are too big to put up - I need some computer help with them!
This is Sophie and Sydney, a friend of hers from church who attends the same dance school. She was very sweet and shared her flowers with Sophie! We gave Sophie a necklace with a real beetle inside of it for her congratulations gift. She named the beetle "brownie", because it is brown.
This was our first experience with a dance recital, and it was quite the eye opener! The costumes are EXPENSIVE - I now know why moms look positively green when I buy their used costumes for a dollar or two at a yard sale! There are dress rehearsals and photos and everything done in full make-up and hair. The recital itself was almost 3 1/2 hours long! Sophie did a great job though she tends to be very concerned about whether or not the girl next to her is in the right spot and often we could hear her trying to push the girl into the right place! I actually have some video of the dances, but they are too big to put up - I need some computer help with them!
This is Sophie and Sydney, a friend of hers from church who attends the same dance school. She was very sweet and shared her flowers with Sophie! We gave Sophie a necklace with a real beetle inside of it for her congratulations gift. She named the beetle "brownie", because it is brown.
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