Cousins Sleepover!

The Alabama cousins were in Pearl for the weekend for Uncle Clay's class reunion. So, Saturday afternoon, Tim and Ellie decided to run up and get Emily for an impromptu cousin sleepover.  Ellie spent Saturday morning creating duct tape gifts for Emily.  She made a purse, wallet, pouch, bookmark and bracelet, and put it all in a fun gift bag.

Tim said the car ride home was quite loud -- lots of Ellie and Emily giggles, singing and squeals!  Ellie and Abby were thrilled to see Emily.

All three girls happened to be wearing pink tees, which they thought was awesome!  We ordered take out, made brownies and went for a long walk around the neighborhood.



Emily discovered the Ole Miss sidewalk in the neighborhood and just had to take a photo by it for her parents!  Not a lot of Ole Miss stuff in Auburn territory.



The girls (in their Snuggies!) piled up on the couch for movies and popcorn.

Then it was bedtime (in a pallet of blankets on Abby's floor).

They were up bright and early, ready to head to Pearl to attend Nana and Foo-foo's church.  We spent the afternoon at the Slays, celebrating Foo-foo's 70th birthday. 

Abby had fun with her cousin Gentry -- they share a birthday and are exactly 10 years apart, he's the oldest of the 5 Slay grandchildren, she's the youngest.

Farm Girl!



While Ellie and I were in Natchez, Tim and Abby headed to Crystal Springs to mow the grass at Mamaw and Papaw's old home.  Abby got to visit with Uncle Phil's cows, wander in the field, and ride in Tim's lap on the riding lawnmower. 
Fun day on the farm!!



Natchez Girls Day



Over the summer, Ellie has read several books that take place in the 'old days' and she's fascinated by how people lived in the days before electricity, cars, running water, and other modern conveniences.  So we decided to have a Mom-n-Me girls day in Natchez to tour a historical home.

First stop:  Mammy's Cupboard!  We enjoyed a delicious lunch of blueberry lemonade, sandwiches on homemade bread, and. . .



. . . a huge (and delicious!) slice of their famous banana caramel pie.  Oh my goodness it was good!

After lunch, we shopped for a bit in downtown Natchez.  Then we headed to the historic Melrose estate for our tour.



Ellie was enchanted by the Spanish Moss as we entered the home's grounds.  It's so delicate yet spooky!

We chose Melrose for our tour because it's one of the most intact antebellum estates in the United States.  It had just three owners before the National Parks Service purchased it and over 80% of the original furnishings are still in the gorgeous home.  It was built in 1841.



Before our tour, we had time to explore the outbuildings on the estate's property.  Ellie practiced pumping water, wandered through the barn and then to the slave quarters.

Inside one of the slave buildings is a room set up exactly as it would've looked during the late 1800's.

The main building is over 16,000 square feet.  The home is undergoing a bit of a facelift but we were still able to tour the inside.



Resting on the porch before the tour. . .  and studying a timeline of the home's owners and their families.



The dairy and laundry building (with more servant quarters upstairs), and inside the main house -- the dining room, formal living room (they used the color green to show they had lots of money), and the 'informal' sitting room.

Ellie's two favorite rooms were the childrens' and master bedrooms. She enjoyed seeing the toys and dolls in the nursery.  And she learned how once the large feather beds were made up for the day, the homeowners would use their daybeds if they needed to rest.  Featherbeds were extremely hard to make up so they didn't want to disturb them throughout the day.

After the house tour, we wandered through the formal gardens.

Looking up!

Garden photos by Ellie!

It was a lovely day and we can't wait to have another mommy-daughter date very soon!  Such special times!

Baseball with Daddy

Several weeks ago, Tim and Ellie attended a MS Braves game for a little father-daughter date.  It was really hot and the game went into overtime, but they had a blast!  After the game, there was a huge fireworks show!
(Look at that tooth hanging by a thread -- that was about a week before she lost it!)

Crafty Chicks



More rainy (or super hot!) summer afternoon crafts!!

Ellie discovered there are hundreds of duct-tape craft video tutorials online.  So she sets up her little craft station at the kitchen table with the laptop.  She'll watch the video clips, pausing them as needed, while she makes all kinds of creative duct-tape crafts.  She's created wallets, glasses cases, bookmarks, bows and several flower styles!  Who knew duct tape could be so fun?



One afternoon, we used a sharpie to trace pictures from a large coloring book, making our own watercolor templates.  Ellie painted Pascal the Tangled lizard and Abby painted a lovely tiara. 

Abby taught herself to cut with kiddie scissors.  She spent over an hour the other day practicing with paper plates.  Snip snip!

Ellie and her friend, Lucy, have enjoyed several quiet days on the porch sewing little pillows.  Their sewing skills are impressive for beginners -- and they're so patient with their stitches and knots.



We traced Abby's outline on newsprint so she could color herself.   It's a life-sized Abby drawing!  I added her 'clothes' and Abby did the rest.  I love her yellow face and pretty purple hair!



Potatoes, Pears and Puddles



Ellie and Abby LOVE helping me cook and I love that they want to help.  They also love 'make your own' food like tacos, salads and baked potatoes.  The other night we had a baked potato bar and it was a big hit!



Our sweet neighbor gave us a bunch of tiny pears so we decided to make our first ever pear tart.  Ellie is an expert egg-cracker and ingredient measurer.   Abby is the official 'ingredient pourer' and Farmer's Market honey drizzler.  The tart was pretty tasty for our first attempt! 



It has rained pretty much alllllll week.  We're so over it (although it's given us a good excuse to stay inside and de-clutter the girls' bedrooms!).  But it did lighten to a little drizzle yesterday evening and we went outside to stomp in puddles and get some wiggles out!



Looking for worms. . .

Boots!

Balancing act. . .

Silly girls and statue girls!

Reflections. . .

I love these happy faces!!

Toothless!!!!!!!!

Ellie got out of the shower Monday night and said, "I'm going to pull out my tooth!"  And she DID!!!  Baby tooth #4 is out! 

The tooth fairy left sparkly glitter all over Ellie's nightstand, floor and mattress!

She also left Ellie a gold dollar in a pretty pouch!

Science Lab



June flew by so fast with vacations, VBS, birthdays, more vacations, that we are FINALLY starting to actually relax and do some of our planned summer projects!  This week, we had a little science lab per Ellie's request. She attended science camp in June and wanted to share one of her experiments with us.  The first experiment was one I'd read about:  learning how rain forms in clouds.  We squirted shaving cream in a glass of water and then added drops of food coloring.  The food coloring worked its way through the cream and swirled in the glass. 



It was really pretty, especially when we mixed colors.  Pretty and scientific!  Yay!  Our kind of project.

Our second experiment involved paper dyeing -- this is the one Ellie learned in Science Camp.  We added drops of food coloring to a plate covered in shaving cream, then swirled it around with a fork.  Then we placed a piece of card-stock over the shaving cream mixture, pulled it up and wiped off the shaving cream and . . . voila!. . . marbled paper!  When it dried, the girls used it as notecards to write to their pen-pals in California.

Abby wanted to do an 'experiment' she learned in pre-school, so she told us to squirt the rest of the shaving cream all over the table!  I did and the girls spent about 45 minutes sculpting, drawing, smearing and writing with the shaving cream.  Entertaining and clean!  The perfect rainy day activity.

They've also been sculpting with craft sticks.  Ellie's worked on her tower all week.  It's now twice as tall as in the photo!
We have a lot more projects planned and just 3-1/2 weeks left of summer!  Oh my!

Arts and Crafts (and Cheese)

Yesterday, Ellie attended Ava Jane's Art Barn summer workshop!   She looks forward to it all summer!  The children bring a sack lunch, and Ava Jane gives them an art-history lesson before they start painting.  This year, they learned about Van Gogh.

Here are their Van Gogh inspired landscapes!!  They did an amazing job.   The skies in their paintings are beautiful and look so skilled for almost-third-graders!

Ellie and William

Earlier in the week, Ellie and her friend Lucy made a bunch of creative duct tape pencils and set up a cute stand in the front yard.  Unfortunately, it started to rain so they had to pack up their wares after just a few minutes.  But they did sell three pencils to a neighbor so it was a profitable afternoon!  They have big plans for a future stand!

Some children are caught with their hands in the cookie jar. . . .
. . .  this child is caught with her hand in the feta container!!  Silly girl!!