Pancake Art

We're no Tiger Tomato  but we do love pancake art. 

We made one whole box  of pancake batter, added food color in small batches and funneled  into our "pancake crayons".

Then we played with our food. 

Tie Dye

We like to make messes... the harder to clean up, the better. The more likely to leave stains, sign us up! I exaggerate but we do have a way of gravitating towards splotches and splats. Tie Dye was no exception. During this project, Chandler was in a bit of a hurry to get through so that he could pursue some other interests, so he more or less splattered his shirt with one color and called it done. Once all of the finished projects were untied and rinsed out, I could tell he was slightly disappointed with his results. I believe he learned from it, and if he's anything like his Momma, it will be one lesson amongst many on the fine art of being fully present and focused. (Am I the only one here who battles the multi-tasking monster?) He went on to help with another, more traditional shirt and put a humorous spin on the first one. We have at least half a bottle of each color left over, but we have run out of 'blank slates' to tie dye. Rye was determined she wanted tie dyed underpants, and she got them. Everyone else, however, declined to tie dye even a single pair of  underpants, thus the current shortage of blank canvases. Stay tuned, I'm sure we'll come up with something soon.

Horsing Around

Rye is all about HORSES these days. Therefore, WE are all about horses these days.

 From stick ponies:

On our way back home from a Sunday drive to Savannah, we stopped by Bass Pro Shop.

She also got a lasso:

And carousel rides:

Chandler shilled out the money for baby sister to take a whirl around the mall carousel before we headed back home. 

Hey, Ya'll!

 To galloping and leaping around the house, pretending to be a horse: 

Then finally, FINALLY meeting (&riding) a REAL horse:

Stay-N-Country Ranch has a LOT of horses and other animals too.

Fisher took his turn first: 

Riding like a natural Kentuckian:

Waiting patiently in the Peanut Gallery:

Fisher holds the harness while Rye gets geared up

Moment Of Truth:

"Riley are you ready for your turn?"

'YES! I'm ready to JUMP FENCES?'

GiddyUp & Away We Go!

 Learning to command the horse and identify parts with Mrs. Missy: 

Learning to care for horses is an important part of riding them. 

 Hoof Care is essential, too: 

Sage is a gentle saint

Sage loves peppermint and Rye shows no fear in offering her one: 

Fourth of July Recap (Part 1)

It has taken me so long to finally get around to sharing July 4th photos. I took way too many photos too...especially of our sand castle building.

The idea was to make a stop motion of the castle being built and then dissolving into the sea. What actually came of it was photo documentation up until about the mid point of the castle's dissolution (when my battery died). Which was not enough to make the stop motion but plenty to make picking photos to share a challenge.

A collage of castle building follows. What started out as a toddler's whim to build a sand castle turned into a group effort (sans the toddler, who found something more interesting to do about 15 minutes after we started)

Eventually, all that remained of our work was the ocean's floor. One thing that stuck out to me was how my boys kept building as the waves started rushing in... They had a vision they wanted to see completed. They worked against the tide to see it realized. Even as doom loomed, they labored on. When the castle did what castles do, they watched with a satisfaction tied to their work, not the dissolution of it's product.  I'll bet there's a lesson in there somewhere, if only we dig a little... ;)

Mommy & Me Art

One of Riley's favorite questions is "Will you________ with me?"

Whatever it is she is doing, she likes to have a friend join in- usually-and most almost all of the time, that friend is me. 

For this I am grateful. 

It is nice to needed in such a way. 

I plan to enjoy it while it lasts. 

On this particular day -a while back now, but it could have been any day, given her chosen activity- Riley wanted me to paint with her. Riley asks to paint every single day. 

Rye determining which shade to tint her mostly murky colored painting. 

Of course I joined her. (I LOVE painting too!)

I came up with a few clouds. Perhaps that is the ocean underneath...I'll never know how it turned out, this was as far as I got before she claimed it and began to add her own touches. 

We were low on paper for painting, so I pulled out a stack of paper sacks. 

Some of my brown bag masterpieces:

When I painted this rainbow, I thought Riley would love it- and she did. However she offered a critique:

"All it needs is some love and sunshine"

So I kept painting...

I then painted her a sandcastle and a beach ball... I was feeling kind of proud of my little painting... which meant I was doomed... what with pride always preceding a tumble: