Bees, Birds and Blooms (+ a Lot of Slipping)

Michael and Adellelyn spent the week with us while their parents were chaperoning a youth camp last month. They are now 11 and 8 years old (HARD to believe), and are busy, busy, busy. Ron was on call the week they were here, but fortunately didn't get called out much at all and was able to spend the evenings and Saturday with us.  I picked them up on Sunday afternoon and they were excited for the adventure!

On the way home, we played car games, made a grocery list and discussed what they wanted to do while at our house. The top things on their list were:
        *Slip & Sliding in the backyard
        *Picking Blueberries
        *Going to Sewing Camp
        *Going to the Duck Pond
        * Going to a bee Farm (added after hearing about buying honey at the Farmer's Market)

Since Callie's boys don't go to school on Mondays, we used that day to play outdoors with Toddler D.

They climbed the fig tree and picked figs. . .

Looked for lizards & bugs, played in the sandbox and on the swingset . . .

And had tons of fun on the Slip & Slide!!! Toddler D even got brave enough to try it out!

And that was just the morning!!! In the afternoon, they began the Kids Sew Camp at Fabric Boutique. Before signing them up, I made sure that both wanted to attend (they did) and that there would be boy-friendly projects to make (there were).

Tuesday morning, I made a call to a local honey business and when I didn't get a response, we decided to drive over to check it out. Hummer & Sons is small establishment and though they don't normally offer tours, the owner came out and offered to show us around.  It was great! We learned the process of getting the honey, getting the water out of it, packaging it and even got to taste honey from the comb.

We drove out to the Sunflower Trail near Gilliam one day and the kids had a great time running down the dirt road and selecting flowers to bring home with us.

We even found a nest tucked in the stems.

With two eggs inside!!  Soon there will be 2 tiny red-winged blackbirds babies begging for food!

We kept busy around the house on Thursday morning, creating Father's Day gifts for Papaw and their Daddy.

We also tie-dyed some shirts in patriotic colors to wear on the Fourth of July.

It was the last day of Sewing Camp, so they had a small ceremony to receive their certificates and show off what they had made.

That evening, Michael and Adellelyn joined us for one of the Summer Fun Runs.  Michael ran the 3.1 miles with Papaw and I joined Adellelyn for the kids' 1.5 mile run. It was quite hot and humid!

On Friday, we went berry picking with Callie and the little boys.  It was hot, but fun!

Miles enjoyed the berries as much as anyone, picking them right off the vine or out of the bucket and popping them into his mouth.

Adellelyn helped me make some cobbler that afternoon and we enjoyed dinner on the deck that evening.

There was more Slip & Sliding in the afternoon, and Luke and Adellelyn spent some time talking to the fairies. (She is so sweet and patient with the little cousins)

Ron was off on Saturday, so we were able to work at the food pantry in the morning and explore Norton Gallery and the Refuge in the afternoon.

I've said it before, but anytime these kids are outdoors, they are happy!!!

We had such a good week together. I was pretty exhausted when it was finished, but Michael and Adellelyn seemed to have lots of fun and I enjoyed being with them.

Making of the Fairy Gardens

One of the biggest projects we undertook last week during Granny Camp, was the crafting of individual fairy gardens.  After doing some searches on Pinterest for Inspiration, the kids began brainstorming about things they would like to include in their own gardens.

Their highest priorities were:
1.  House
2.  Ladder
3.  River or water
4.  Swing
5.  Fairies or gnomes

We made a trip to Wal Mart to purchase flower pot saucers and also found some tiny bird houses on sticks.  At Dollar Tree we picked up stones and pebbles and a couple of silk flower branches, then came home to begin working while it rained outdoors. (Most of these photos were taken with my phone, indoors, with very low light, so please excuse the graininess)

First, they painted their houses.

 Next up was the construction of tiny bridges.  I used florist wire that I had on hand to make a base and the kids glued pieces of craft sticks on for the "wood".  I manned the glue gun and they stuck the pieces in place.  I had an old roll of fake pearl ribbon that the girls used as a railing for their bridges.

As I mentioned yesterday, we took a little walk during a break in the rain showers and found some natural elements to add to the gardens.  We brought home sticks, acorn caps, pecan shells, leaves and magnolia cones.

Using the stones that we purchased, each of the kids made a river and river bank.

We broke the sticks into tiny pieces and glued them between longer pieces to form the rungs on fairy-sized ladders. The kids also painted stones to make bugs and such.

Interestingly, the hardest part of the whole process was finding affordable fairies.  Who knew that fairies would be so expensive??!  It took stops at several different stores, but we finally located a tube of fairies at Michael's that wasn't too ridiculous using the week's coupon.  I also purchased a package of tiny birds and a package of moss at Joann's.  Here are some closeups of Adellelyn and Jexie's gardens.

Naturally, Michael did not want an girl fairy, so we decided to make a boy gnome.  I used the wire to form his body and glued on scraps of fabric for clothes.  Michael added an acorn cap and put a fishing pole in his hand.

The construction of these gardens was bit messy--I kept a vinyl tablecloth spread out in the living room with all of our supplies and tried to keep all the mess on that as much as possible--but they turned out so great!   The ideas were their own and I just helped them figure out how to make them work.  I like how we were able to use so many "found objects" and how each garden is unique, despite similar elements.   It was so fun and the kids loved making them!  While I never really wanted one for myself before, I'm thinking that I might have just the right spot for one out in my herb garden.