Marina's Birth Tree

Santa Comes to Town!

A great Santa at Bayview Farm and Garden. Marina (4.5 yo) thought for a long time on what to ask for from Santa before we went to Bayview.  She came up with: a bunk bed and a toy squirrel. 

Easy enough!  Merry Christmas!

Painting away the Rain

 

 

 We are all big fans of face paint.  Shown above is marina with a flower, drawn by me, and Stella, with "wild cat" paint, applied by, guess who?  Her!  Much to my surprise.  

This is the face painting book we have: http://www.amazon.com/Face-Painting-Inc-Klutz/dp/0932592856

People Emerging: Marina's Art

 Above: "Mommy this is for you, it's you and me holding hands.  You have the short dress, I have the long one.  And you are wearing a white shirt." ---Marina, 4 1/2 yo

It has been really exciting seeing people, animals, and plants emerging from Marina's (4 years old) artwork.  Some of my favorite of her pictures are little sketches she does with a pen on sticky notes.  I really love how personal her pictures are.  I hope she always keeps her unique perspective!  Below are some more pictures:

Above: Sunshine, butterflies, and ?

When I wouldn't buy her a new nutcracker, she decided to make her own, see above.

Cut-outs, a favorite.  She's great with scissors.  

Autumn Walk at the Farm with the Girls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just like Mama

Just like mama

Marina at Goss Lake, Whidbey Island

Cute Kiddos, Babies, and the Naming of PJ

Stella told me, above picture, that she was giving baby some "booby". She loves her babies. We haul them into stores, take them in strollers, feed them, and fetch them out ofthe car when they are missing from the house. All at Stella's insistence.

Marina and the ever-lovable PJ the cat. He was born and raised at our house with the girls around and is incredibly tolerant of their noise, energy, and hugs. He, in fact, seems to thrive on it. What a sweetie. PJ was named after a pony that Marina became attached to at the Island County fair a year ago. After trying out several other names on him, the name PJ fit just right.

Summertime Kids Crafts: Painting Outside with Your Kids

We used finger paints outside on the two sided easel. Stella (1 1/2 years old) had one side to paint on and Marina (4 years old) had the other side. When the weather is nice and warm it is fun to set up some messy paints outside and let the kids experiment with them. After they finished their pictures on the easel, they both began to paint their bodies. Bath time!

Above: picture number 1

Above: picture number 2

Kids Craft ~ Magazine Cutout Cards

Magazines + Glue + Construction Paper = Fun cards

When your kid(s) are big enough to cut out pictures from magazines you can have lots of fun seeing what they put together, and how cards differ depending on who they are making it for. The above card was made by Marina (4 yo). She cut out pictures from what looks like National Geographic magazine and pasted them on to the construction paper color red for father's day. She chose a turtle, a rainbow, two bear pictures, flowers and a butterfly. Try making your own magazine cutout cards and see what your child picks. . .

Riding Joey

Marina on Joey with Caspian snacking in the background

Marina has some new riding boots and she enjoyed using them on one of our beautiful sunny days here on Whidbey Island. When I take her riding I put little Stella in the Ergo backpack, saddle up one of the ponies for Marina and lead her through some of the most beautiful trails around, especially this time of the year with the canary grass standing taller than the ponies, the yellow splashes of buttercups, the continual sound of birds singing and chirping, and the green, green, green of everything sprung to life in early summer.

Stella has no fear of the horse or any other animal for that matter. Above: trying to feed the horse flowers, Below: posing on the horse for a picture. Stella is still too young to ride without assistance, but she loves sitting on the horse

New boots

Kid's Art Craft: Painting Rocks for the Garden ~ Some ideas for making a mini garden for & with your kids

It is great to set up a craft for your kids that you can actually use and enjoy later. Painting rocks is one of those special crafts. We used acrylic craft paint and spray it with a shellac to preserve the paint, otherwise it will wash off in the rain. The stones make nice garden ornaments and great gifts for family and friends.

Here are some tips and ideas for painting your rocks:

• use a separate paint brush for each color
• paint garden insects, ladybugs, birds, butterflies, faeries on your rocks
• paint each rock a different color and make a rainbow
• try painting words on rocks
• make a mandala with different color rocks and patterns radiating out into a circle
• place your painted rocks in your kids' very own mini garden with kid friendly plants, vegetables, and flowers
• paint different vegetables on your rocks then mark the rows of your vegetable garden with them
• paint your kids' names on the rocks
• paint different weather scenes on your rocks: sun, rain, wind, snow, lightening . . .
  

Painting outside, Marina

Marina painted beach wood, sea shells, and various sized rocks

Grandma's (Nanny's) Magic Garden Marker, by Candice

Butterfly, by Marina

Star in the night sky, by Marina

butterfly

My Flower Girls, it's going to make you smile! And some pictures of flower jewlery

Sister flower faeries

Kisses

And more kisses

Fragrant Rose Neck Wreath from a climbing rose variety

Marina made these flower rings by wrapping the stems around the flower heads and tucking them in.