Fun on the Homefront

Kari is still an excellent snuggler.  Sure do love this girl!

 Summertime means togetherness...a LOT of togetherness :-).  It's an adjustment for everyone for sure.  But, a midst the noise, the bickering, the teasing, and the general craziness, we have had quite a few wonderful afternoons and fun timers.

Christian now reads to Juliana--so sweet!

Juliana loves to swing and glide out back!

Emily and Juliana, doing some quality snuggling of their own :-)

When Cubby gets home he loves to get out the pool and the little girls are only too happy to join him!

Blue tongues!

 One afternoon Juliana was taking a long nap and the weather wasn't super ideal for being outside.  Emily suggested an old favorite, playing marshmallows and toothpicks!  I don't think we'd done this since Emily was Kari's age and they had a lot of fun making various creations.

Christian's "elephant."  The tail in the back swished up and down :-).

My creation--I think it was a horse?

Kari's "people."

Emily was building a stall for all of the animals.

The finished stall

Christian's "giraffe."

 Then, Juliana was STILL sleeping so I told them about a new paint--marshmallow paint!  Easy, fun, and edible (if you don't mind the extreme sweetness!).

Here's what you need:
*Marshmallows
*Water
*Light corn syrup
*Water color paint brushes
*Food coloring
*Paper

The kids LOVED seeing them expand!

1.  Put one cup mini marshmallows (or large...which is what we had) in a microwave safe bowl and microwave them for 30 seconds.

2.  Add 1/4 c. water to the microwaved marshmallows.  Stir the water into the marshmallows.  The mallows will continue to melt.

3.  Microwave for 30 more seconds.

4.  Add 3 T. of the corn syrup to the water/marshmallow mixture and stir it really well.

5.  Microwave again for 30 seconds.

6.  Stir it together until it's all melted and mixed well with the corn syrup.

7.  Let it cool just a tad and then separate it into different bowls or containers.

 8.  Using a little food coloring, make whatever colors you'd like!  I used popsicle sticks to stir.

9.  Let it cool for a minute and then paint away!

By this time, Juliana had finally woken up and was super excited to get in on the action.

Juliana loves to paint.

 The kids got quite creative and painted ice cream cones and rainbows, abstract shapes, and ocean scenes.  The paint is sticky, but not THAT sticky.  And, if it happens to drop on your carpet, it wipes right up!  Also, clean up is a breeze--just soap and water.

Christian loved the fact that the paint (and additional marshmallows they dipped in said paint) was edible.

 The afternoons sometimes get long when we can't go outside b/c of rain or heat (and we don't always have time to head the the pool in the heat).  So, it's been great to break out some of our crafts and get the kids busy doing something other than driving each other crazy!

 One Sunday morning was rainy and so Cubby and Christian broke out a puzzle.  They were giggling and cracking jokes all the while.  Puzzling is great for bonding at any age :-).

Tons of togetherness has it's tough points...I'll be sure to take some pictures of those soon, but we've also had some great times this summer!