All About Red!

Melanie and her Damon hosted an art playdate that focused on the color RED! We wore RED shirts, ate RED food, and painted with RED paint! Mia even got to wear her diablita shirt :) Last month she hosted the ORANGE playdate :) Well, before the rest of the kids got there, Mia and Damon were finished painting and ready to play outside...it was a GORGEOUS day. Who could blame them? So, they all played and snacked and painted and played while the mamas got some good chat in.

Then Kona, Damon's shepherd mix puppy (huge puppy) opened the door to the room she was in and came down to join the party. The kids were in LOVE with all her friendly licks....especially my little animal lover, Mia. It was sooooo hard to drag Mia away from that sweet playful dog and her sweet friend, Damon, who was kind enough to have us over and let everyone play with all his cool toys!

Mia's Mama is M.I.A.

We're pretty much 10 weeks into this beautiful pregnancy and I'm feeling soooo much better. I honestly haven't taken many shots, we haven't really been many places, and being on the PC too long makes me even more nauseous. For those who've missed Mia, here are some shots taken at Casa T by Ms. Andrea. Mia has the MOST fun there. They do all sorts of art stuff, cook and bake, go on nature walks, sing and dance, learn a bit of Spanish, even practice yoga and SOOOooooo much more :)

all shots taken by the lovely Andrea

Mia's First Day of School...EVER!

With a little prep (mostly for me), Mia went to school today! She'll be going once a week, on Wednesdays. Today was just a short trial period. She spent her morning with her buddies Sophia and Austin and stayed till after lunch. What helps a great deal is that Andrea and I are pretty good friends, and in the same mama's group. Mia's already spent a lot of time at Casa T and with Andrea and the other kiddos. That made the transition today smooth as silk.

This morning, she was ready. Her new lunch box in her new back pack, and it strapped on to her back for the 15 steps to the car....then she took it off and held it in her lap all the way there. It's pretty much bigger than she is. She picked it out, and it's perfect. A funny thing when we were talking about going to school, she said, 'I'm going to school in a school bus.'. I guess I always point them out, and she was a smidge disappointed when I said I'd be driving her. You're 2 1/2...let's go a little slower, huh?

I knew she'd have a super time, and she did. She walked into Casa T saying buenos dias...and Andrea and the kids chimed back...buenos dias....all smiles. There isn't any other place in the world where I'd rather Mia to be.

ohhhh this entry is getting wayyyy toooo long. She had fun. Sand box, water play, paint, she calls the Waldorf dolls mama and daddy...and they kiss. a lot. :) Daryl and I are quite affectionate with each other. I love that there's so much love around her. Next week, she's there all day, and she even has her own little nap mat. I'll be sewing the cover tomorrow with the help of an AWESOME seamstress (and Mama to Austin), Allison. Wish me luck :)

the snapper heading out to her first day of school

(notice she's not looking back)

all of the following LOVELY shots were taken by Ms. Andrea at Casa T

We LOVE Casa T !

color - two ways

Yesterday, Mia and I spent the afternoon with pals Sara, Leilani and Orion...and Sara's fab mama, Linda. Linda watched all the kiddos while Sara and I dyed silks. We both enjoyed this craft a few weeks ago at Anja's with the help of Gabriel. The only problem we found after that art playdate, was that we wanted MORE!!!! Order more we did!!!

I ordered and dyed a total of 19 silks yesterday! Sara dyed hers and her mama's so I have NO idea how many she ended up with, but it was fun and messy and creative and fun...did I mention fun. While adding vinegar, dye and hot water to several bowls and stuff, Sara told me an art project she wanted to do based on an idea she found on one of the art blog I have on my blog...follow me? She said, 'all is need is a salad spinner'. I was intrigued! Add paper to the bottom of the spinner, add drops of paint, spin and there ya go! Art! Paint? Yes. Mess? Not so much. She asked me where I thought she could get a cheap one...it's for art not for food. I mentioned Goodwill.

After my trip to HEB for more vinegar, (we used more than 4 gallons!), I spied a Goodwill store. I thought to myself. I'm just gonna quickly stop and they'll have the two salad spinners I need. Sure enough, I walked out of there with two salad spinners at $3 each! Sara was THRILLED!

Today, Mia and I played around with all the silks, and then made some spin art. Good times. Oh, Sara and I are planning a spin art playdate for the O'Mamas. Pretty much all age kiddos are welcome cuz all they have to do is drip paint (or let their mamas drip paint) and spin!

Unplugged Project ~ Stone

This weeks' Unplugged Project from Unplug Your Kids is Stone. Mia and I went out back and picked out some rocks that caught our fancy and brought them back inside. We placed them all out on the table and then we sat there looking at them. What to do? I asked Mia, 'what do you want to do with all these rocks?'...she happily replied 'STACK 'em!'



There you go! Stacking. We aren't professional rock stackers or anything, but you gotta start somewhere. We sure did have a fun time playing around with balance and gravity. I'm not sure why every time I was building my stacks Mia would keep saying, with a silly grin on her face, 'they're gonna fall...they're gonna fall, Mama...'. Talk about pressure!! :)

Mia was so excited as the built her stacks. She concentrated hard, but then got so much pleasure out of it when the stacks came tumbling down…by themselves or with a little assistance. A job in demolition may be in her future.

We enjoyed ourselves, each other and will keep a little basket of rocks handy for the next time we want to challenge gravity. Thanks to Unplug Your Kids for the inspiration.

p.s. the flat ones sure do work better than the round :)

BSM ~ Pollack

Jackson Pollack's painting style was the theme of last week's art playdate. A canvas was unrolled, paint poured, and then eight toddlers splattered paint....on the canvas, yes, but also on themselves and each other. They were actually not only allowed, but encouraged to throw paint.

My choice for BSM is this shot of Z. He had such a wonderful time colorfully painting and didn't even noticed he was being painted on, and being turned into a piece of art as well.

"When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing" - Jackson Pollack

For some more artisitc shots, head on over to Mother May I