16 May 2010

Although Mother's Day was last week, we're posting photos of the sweet gifts the kids made for Becky this week. Sophie made a necklace with jasper beads and a fuchsite ruby pendant. Gibson also made a necklace. His is the popular pasta and yarn combination (thank you to his darling nursery leaders who helped him.)

Abe potted a marigold and decorated the can that holds it. Helen made a plaque from homemade paper. Handmade presents are the best. Each of these presents represents the givers' best efforts-- lots of love in each.

We bring home lots of great ideas from Helen's school. A new favorite is making swords by rolling a section of newspaper diagonally so that it makes a long tube. The kids can whack freely without too much damage to people or property.

Helen colors a princess picture nearly every day. This week she hung her favorite pictures on the fridge for a mini art exhibit. We took a photo because we knew the pictures would stay up for about 15 minutes before Gibson took all the magnets down. We especially like the pictures Helen embellishes with her own words and drawing.

While Brandan was in residency, we lived near his cousins, Dave and Christine, and enjoyed spending time with them and their 4 kids. Six years later, Dave and Christine have moved close to us with their now 7 kids. We reconnected with them this weekend and their daughter, Brynlee, stayed the night. Brynlee is a sweetheart and she and Sophie have lots in common -- favorite music, favorite books, playing the piano, jewelry making. They had a great time dressing up, taking photos of each other, adding effects, and combining the photos into slide shows.