Tuesday, March 29, 2011

And More...

After I posted the previous California pictures, I realized I had not included some pictures that are important to me. The one above is of my sweet sister with her sweet son. I love it. I snapped it right before we headed to the airport. I assigned it to her contact on my phone and now get to look at it every time she calls me. It always makes me smile.
We did a few fun activities with Mazie and Avery while they were together. We made watercolors. We played color & number games with M&Ms. We watched a princess movie that Mazie still talks about. One day after we got back home she told Lucia, "You can go with me to Avery's and we can watch the princess movie."
Avery has fantastic hair. One morning, after putting Avery's hair in a ponytail, I decided to try Mazie's. She looked so cute and so grown-up.

One of our favorite things we did while we were together was attend Avery's art class. Her teachers were great. They set up several different stations. The students get to move around as they like. The week's theme was pom-pom art.
I learned lots of neat tricks, sources, and ideas from Avery's teachers. One was to put a little drop of paint in the glue to give it color. How simple is that?

We also got a recipe for the play dough they use. If I am successful making it, I will post it. The picture below is of Mazie cutting her hot dog.
I also had a few more aquarium pictures I wanted to share.

Below is a picture of the eel that Mazie fell in love with. She thought it was an amazing creature.



I love seeing all the flowers when we go to California. Geraniums that grow huge in the ground. Jacaranda trees, purple and splendid (though not this trip). Birds of Paradise (below) and Lilies of the Nile, which I have promised myself I will grow one day. And Jasmine. A house we passed on our twice daily walks had jasmine growing all along their fence on two sides of their house. It was so fragrant and had the sweetest pale pink flowers. And those are Camellias growing up the side of the house. I had never noticed camellias in California before, but they are definitely prevalent.

Mazie loved getting to know Baby Landon. Below she is putting the pacifier in his mouth. He is such a good, good baby. So good, at times I forgot he was there. He is in a good routine, feeds like a champ, and has such a happy disposition. Mazie and I loved our time with him. The other three are still jealous that they have not met him yet.

Two other fun things we did were Shrinky-dinks and cake pops from Starbucks. One of my sister's best friends, Deirdre, whom I happen to adore too, came over one day with two of her children. She bought the Shrinky-dinks. I had forgotten all about them. Isn't it wonderful how simple things can bring so much magic to children?
Jon and Karen were mighty good to Mazie and me while we were there. Adios from California.

1 comment:

Reckless said...

Great pictures! I'm going to email you a recipe for edible play dough that my kids loved. I can't wait to meet your little people in person.