Play dates, painting, and pictures of tiny roosters!

There has been much play going on lately at our happy house. So much play, that this Mama bear hasn't gotten much time to herself to simply sit. It seems like summer is determined to move at the speed of light, so I am trying to cram every bit of fun in that I can. So far, I seem to be exceeding my own expectations because I am dead tired at the end of each day. We have had a couple of fun adventures with a few more in the works.

We had a play date trip to the local dairy farm, Reeds Dairy. Hubs and I took the girls and met with a few other mamas and kiddos to play in the sun and visit some animals. (My dear spouse has no problem being the lone dude at a mom and kid party.) The dairy had a picnic area complete with petting zoo.

Lily loved the calves, especially the one that decided she was lunch and kept licking her.

I loved the chickens as it is a dream of mine to one day have a chicken coop. There was one tiny rooster that Nic was positive he could fit under his shirt and take it home.

Sage was absolutely fascinated by the pony, even though her dad didn't really care for the smell. She promptly fell asleep after we left the pony area and slept the rest of the time. Hee.

 The dairy also has an ice cream shop with the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches ever. Nic is now on a mission to try convince me that we simply MUST have the dairy milk delivered now because it is oh so delicious.

The other really fun thing this past week was Lily's art class. She is loving this class and I am sad that it only has one session left. I am looking into finding other art classes for her to take during the school year. Harder than it sounds where I live. Unless I just have no clue where to look. Hmmm...

Lily's class was about watercolors this week. They played with different techniques to use when painting with watercolors, like using salt and crayons for resistance. Then they used those techniques to paint a picture of a place they liked. Lily chose the beach since our much awaited beachy vacation is just a few short weeks away.

Lily really liked playing with the watercolor markers and different blues for the sky. She also has to take the elevator down after every class. :)

The class is in the upstairs of our local gallery, and a new showing, Environmental Considerations has just started. It is full of large canvases, bright colors, and neat sculptures. Totally up my alley artistically. I'm a free spirit by nature, and I like my art the same way. The two artists are very talented and if you live in my area, you should stop by and check it out.

I was pretty impressed with Lily's take on the paintings in the gallery. She asked a lot of questions, wanting to know what they were and how they were so big. She actually considered the art, even though she didn't quite understand it. It was a fun little mom and daughter date and she wants to look at it again after her next class. I love that she is so interested in different types of art and wants to be an artist when she grows up. It's an obsession that takes after my own heart.

We have a busy week coming up and if I make it through, it will be a blast. Dance class, gymnastics, Princess Dance Camp, a pedicure for me (YAY!!!!), fundraiser lunch, baby shower (making a gift for the mama-to-be) and a few other things I'm probably forgetting. It's right about now that I REALLY miss coffee.

Move over Jackson Pollock, Miss Lily is in town.

Miss Lily had her art class this week and we had so much messy fun!The theme this week was a Jackson Pollock style painting. I absolutely adore how it turned out and am taking it to be framed so we can hang it in our living room. Isn't it stunning?
I really wish I had my camera during the process, so I could post more how to pictures, but I'll try and explain the process. The art teacher explained who Jackson Pollock was in a 30-second biography. Smart to keep it short since there was paint and cool stuff to play with in front of about 50 or so kids.

There were five stations set up: Drip, Splatter, Spray, Roll, and Smear. Each child was given a poster board sized piece of light weight cardboard and a slightly larger sized piece of white paper to keep messes on the cardboard. Which sort of worked.

Drip was a station with kiddie pools on the floor. The kids put their pieces of cardboard in the pool, grabbed a cup of paint with a sponge brush and dripped paint until their hearts were content.

Splatter was a cardboard box with paper on the floor and walls to protect against messes. The kids had these cool foam brushes in two sizes to throw paint on their canvas. This was a station where bystanders walked away with more paint on them than on the intended targets. Haha, We did this station first. I would say save this for one of the last, as all the cool splatter was eventually covered by the other stations.

Spray was another cardboard box and paper set up. Kids were given water guns with watered paint in them to spray paint. Guess which station was Lily's favorite? This could be an art project in of itself, and with towels on the floor, the mess was actually the smallest here.

Roll was a table filled with beads, foam stickers, fish rocks, and buttons. Jackson Pollock used to hide bits and pieces of things in his paintings, so that was the idea here.Kids could grab whatever and roll it around in the paint and stick it to their cardboard. Plastic gloves were given to kids to protect their hands, but wow, was this a mess. There was a lot of handprints in paint going on.

Smear was a station with pieces of sponge and paint. This station, along with Roll, was one of the stations where kids actually touched their art as they were working on it. If it was me, this is where I would start as it gives a colorful background to do some of the other stations on.

The mess this created was incredible, but it was so much fun and the kids were absolutely free to just play with the color and didn't have to worry about what was right versus wrong. I would caution that too much paint leads to a big brown mess, but we avoided that. It's a fantastic project. The paint used was all water based and kids were given garbage bags to wear over clothing, so no harm done. I think this would make a wonderful play date or birthday party activity, outside. I am not brave enough to have this inside.

Lily loved the water gun painting station, so we may set something like that up here at home. Jackson Pollock is a favorite artist of mine, so I may plan on joining her...

If you try this with your kids, I would love to see the results! Have some messy, colorful fun!

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ZzZzzzzz....

So. freaking. tired.

Yard sales are absolutely more fun when you're the buyer rather than the seller. Or maybe that's just my grumpy mama bear self talking because I'm running on two and a half hours of sleep and no naps. It was pretty fun haggling and watching my bag fill up with money, but the sheer amount of work is exhausting.

Oh well, it's over and done and we made a couple hundred, which was our goal. Yay for met goals.

Every time I look up, I have to grin. Lily had her first art class last Wednesday. Hanging slightly askew on the wall (because she had to tape it up herself), is her masterpiece.

Her first class was a Mixed Media self portrait. They had several different stations that the kids got to play in. I think my favorite was the scratch art. The kids crayoned a block of the poster and colored over it with black paint and then scratched it off after drying. (The black circles in Lily's picture.) They played with sand, glue, foils, fabrics, paints, and all sorts of fun things. I thought it was a great idea that the art teacher actually took a picture of the kids for their posters. 

It's funny how different Lily and I are about our art. I LOVE LOVE LOVE mixed media, but I still have to have a plan or at least a general outline. Lily just goes to town. It's wild and colorful and unique, just like her. Next class is the Jackson Pollock class I am so jealous about. I'm hoping they need mother helpers again so I can stay and play in the paint spatter. 

Well, my brain, body, and eyes are shutting down. I'm off to have some well deserved catatonia. I feel so bad for poor Husbandy Face. He had to head into work at 1pm and won't be home until after midnight and he got just as little sleep as I did. That man is a trooper. 

Nighty night night!