We have been learning all about polar regions of the world and in doing so have fallen very interested in penguins. This is Josie carrying her penguin egg around. It was really tough.
Here they are trying to pass the egg from one to the other as the mother does to the father before she goes off to feed. How frustrating!
Almost got it.
With a little help- success. 
Spooky Boo is the latest member of the family to require corrective eyewear. Poor Kitty.
The "big" girls were outside playing and it didn't take long for Margie and Spooky Boo to find them.
The cat is blurry because she is swatting at them! 
If only to be a big girl!
We woke up to a frosty , gray morning yesterday.
A winter wonderland.
Isn't it beautiful?
We were talking about Antarctica yesterday and we made a marshmallow igloo to go along with our theme. As you can see we had Ava with us and ironically she is learning about Antarctica in school right now too!! She wasn't feeling well so Stacy thought it best for her to come over while she went to work.
Aren't they cute?
Emeline LOVED this. We used a craft glue to stick them on the plastic cup. It probably would have been smarter if I had whipped up some frosting because Emmy kept sneaking them!
We also made this toilet paper tube penguin. The girls made some very unusual breeds like this one that is all red.
Teamwork.
THEN, we made an origami blue whale. Emeline is trying to cut her paper into a square. She insisted she knew just what she was doing. Don't worry mom!
We learned so much. Thanks for helping us out Ava. Hope you are feeling better.
I read about this art project a while ago when we were learning about Vincent van Gogh. The above is his painting The Starry Night. We followed these instructions to create a mimic art crayon resist Starry Night.
Here they are studying the painting. 
Getting started. Notice how the wind goes right over the top of that tree?! I thought that was cute.
Very nice use of short "brush strokes" Georgia.
Georgia's first one. They liked it so much they did 2. 
We didn't have neon crayons but chose some brighter ones for the second go around.
Josie's second.
Here is her first one.
... and, Emeline's masterpiece.
Thinking about birthdays I was reminded that I haven't posted this for Josie yet! Her birthday was in December and she suggested a small gift for herself and then requested everyone bring something in for the local food pantry. This is her when we brought the food in to be shelved.
Things are going well with the pony. The weather has been so very cooperative. It has allowed the girls to go out with me and work/play/get acquainted with him. He's been on many walks down the driveway, out in the fields, through a speck of woods. So far so good.
We need to get a saddle that will fit him. As you can see I brought out the smallest one I have (bottom right of picture) just to see his reaction. I've had the girls on his back as often as I can so he gets used to it and he hasn't flinched so of course he really didn't care much about a saddle. Must be Santa got him ready for us!!
Pony kisses. 
Georgia just LOVES him. She's always eager to get out and see him. More to come on our progress!!
We celebrated a wonderful occasion this weekend at Jessie and Matt's house. Sam's FIRST birthday!!
It was a fun BOY party with pin the missing tooth in the dinosaur!
My handsome Bradley and adorable Margie.
There is the birthday boy and his awesome cake. Sorry about the blurriness.
Russell played with dinos.
Yum yum!
My three big girls. Georgia, Emeline and Josie.
Elsie really helped Sam get to those presents. Just what a big sis is supposed to do.
Sam and his boy doll I made him.
Ben, his girlfriend Tracy and my Margie Sue.
You are the sweetest one year old in the world Sam. (Like I said before, at least until March!!!)
We've been doing lots with snow and snow flakes yesterday and I found this interesting craft using q-tips. Emeline made some VERY interesting snowflakes!
They started off very enthusiastically but that enthusiasm faded to frustration as they couldn't get their q-tips to do exactly what they wanted to do. Also it was quite a blow when the table cloth would get pulled or the wax paper would get bumped because things would move and they would have to start all over.
Another interesting snowflake!
After you get your final snowflake in place you load the joints with glue. They are still on the paper drying out right now so I will show you the end results later (That is if I can pull them off the paper while keeping them intact!!!?).
