summertime

The first week of summer is gone.
We didn't do much.
We enjoyed the pool a bit, the girls laid out in the yard, listening to music and reading, delighting in the birds and chipmunks coming to the feeders when they were very still and quiet!
Courtney painted a little bird feeder that I bought at the dollar store for her.
She tried using some stencils on it, but then painted over it.

Courtney's bird feeder

She still has a couple of bird houses to paint.  She can work on them next week or later.
We have pencils, markers, paint, pastels, charcoal, loads of paper..we have air dry clay, oven bake clay, and paper mache to play with.  I plan on having them make their own paper mach.  We can sew, bake, cook...we can make cards, do origami....there is so much we can try our hand at!

The two girls and I went out to lunch and then to Value Village.
Value Village is a second hand shop...clothing, books, household goods......
The girls always find a couple of books they would like to read, and they did this time too.
They picked out some cute "T"s and we found a couple of really nice dresses for them.
Hayley certainly is becoming a mature young woman!
As soon as we got home all the "T"s went into the washer.
The dresses were washed on delicate and hung to dry outside.
Hmmm...had to take them in overnight because it was so humid they didn't dry very well and it was beginning to rain.
The girls have gone to see their other grandparents for the weekend, and they took their pretty dresses to wear to dinner at the clubhouse.

I have a few ideas on want to do for the summer, and Pinterest is full of craft projects for them to try.
Usually Hayley just likes to read (or shop).....lol!

Courtney's handiwork

I've got them enrolled in a week of camp at the Art Centre. Two different weeks, so they will each a  week home here with me for some one on one time.
I hope they enjoy it.
Hayley really wanted a drawing course, which there wasn't any of...only night courses.
Last year they went to a "camp" at a local pottery shop.  They and I were disappointed in that week....they were taken for a looong (in the heat) walk to a local store for a frozen yogurt.  They didn't do the things they were supposed to do, the owners were always late getting to their store in the morning and cancelled the second week of camp, to which we had a very, very hard time getting a refund! (6 weeks!)  It's a good thing I didn't make any plan to travel, or my daughter would have been stuck for a sitter. ( I often wondered if they were having troubles making a go of the business.)