book class

my friend, cynthia, asked if i'd like to help her teach a children's book class at the library over the course of a few weeks this summer. i was soooo excited because it was just the type of thing i'd been wanting to do. cynthia has a master's degree in something amazing, that relates to libraries and rare books, etc. she has worked in nyc and even in germany on a book exhibit. anyway, she has lots of knowledge and it was super fun to help her come up with cute books for the kids to make. the only class i took pictures during...

the kids in the photo above are guessing which example is moveable type.
in the photo above, we had the kids play a game as if they were the moveable type. we gave them letters and they had to unscramble them to make a word. they were super smart and figured them all out!

above is my friend cynthia showing something to the kids and there's my little pink-shirted lady with the blond ponytail!

the kids were totally and completely interested in every single class. they learned to make "hot-dog" books, an accordian book, an ice cream cone book, and even a little suitcase book to keep their ticket stubs from summer activities they've done.

aftie and ella loved the classes also! afton made a book about her talents. ella made a cute ice cream cone book with her three favorite flavors of ice cream. even grammy was able to come to a class and learned how to make some books. it was a fun way to spend a few summer days!

julie lewitzky: friends and other beings

Julie Lewitzky: Friends and Other Beings

March 23- August 29, 2010
In the Useum (Burchfield-Penney Art Center)
Opening Celebration: Friday, April 9 from 5:30-8:30pm
Julie Lewitzky has created Friends and Other Beings for our youngest visitors and their companions. Her whimsical imagination has turned ordinary materials into a fanciful neighborhood filled with a magical house, lively animals, and a backyard space to play with friendly creatures. Friends and Other Beings is full of distinctive characters that inhabit this quirky space and invite you into their world.

we were invited to be guests at this exhibit by a friend of the artist. it was soooo fun!

her paintings are colorful and whimsical and create a happy environment.

inside the playhouse with our friend, ian.

a picture with the artist and her granddaughter!

afton was totally in love with this exhibit! she is hoping to redecorate her room based on some of the elements found here.

sleepin' over

before these little beauties were tucked in for the night... and these sleepy heads were snuggled in...

there was painting to do...

and sillybanz to trade!

the sillybanz trading kept the girls busy for a good hour. after that was a little dinner, trampoline bouncing, painting, playing, nail painting and more sillybanz trading!

fun night for the girls.

but i remember now why i don't jump at the opportunity to host more sleepovers...
it's 10:43pm and the little girls are still laughin' it up down the hall!

grammy time!

look who came to visit! grammy came to play with us for a few days.

it went by too fast!

we had fun hanging out at home, going to the library for our book classes, attending stamp club at my friend jackie's, running errands, eating at restaurants, going to the pool and watching aftie at tennis camp.
whew! i think that's almost everything.

grammy has seen niagara falls in the freezing cold of february, with the beautiful ice crystals on the trees. she has seen niagara falls in autumn, and now she has seen those amazing falls from the american side in the summer time.

we have to be sure she sees them during each season!

it was a really windy day!


then we took a bit of a detour, make that- a few detours, to lewiston to eat at the silo restaurant and watch the boaters on the river.

can you believe this lady has a bad knee and a broken wrist? she's like the energizer bunny. she just goes and goes.

and last but certainly not least, we took grammy to the hill cumorah pageant. we go every year, but this was grammy's first time seeing it. it's a large production put on by our church in palmyra, ny. it tells the story of how the book of mormon came to be. it's really quite impressive with some decent special effects.

sadly, gram left this morning and took her sweetness with her back to arizona. we miss her already!!!!
love you gram!

st louis trip

last week we took a little roadtrip to st louis to see ry's family. we had a great time!

we went to grant's farm, where they keep the famous clydesdale horses. i have always wanted to see those horses, and i have to admit that i got a little teary when we walked into the stables. i still can't figure out why i became so emotional over horses. i don't even like horses. but i think what really happened was, i realized how lucky i've been to be able to travel a little and see lots of great things.

i remember seeing those amazing horses on tv as a child and thinking they were so beautiful, and thinking that i'd love to see them for real.
at grant's farm, which is named for it's former owner ulysses s grant, you ride a little tram around the farm and look at the animals. so here are the girls with grandma and grandpa on the tram. we saw lots of different animals, including an elephant and two gigantic turtles. it was a very hot but fun way to spend the afternoon.

we were able to spend time with ryan's oldest sister and her family. afton l-o-v-e-s her cousin janette. they worked on latch hook rugs and watched a thousand movies!

ryan's younger sister, angie, has relocated to st louis and so we got to spend lots of time with her, and her "friend" doug. okay, he's really her boyfriend. he's funny and has a mustang. that's what we learned about doug.

also, i'm not sure why afton has such a pained expression on her face in the photo above. too sunny?