Today was C-O-L-D, the girls woke up giggling because they just *knew* it was going to snow and they were right. So we headed into DC and checked out the National Gallery of Art.

After the gallery visit we grabbed dinner in downtown then started the slow drive home (seriously, traffic here is a drag). As the snow began coming down stronger Brandon stopped at an overlook point to snap a few photos - Carolyn *HAD* to make a snowball!

A few weeks ago we fell in love with BMA (Baltimore Museum of Art). Not only did they have a great selection of art, but they also had tons of kid-friendly programming. Their "how to help your child enjoy art" brochure suggested the following activity (which the girls LOVED):

- Take your child to the center of the gallery space

- Have her close her eyes tight and listen carefully

- Describe one of the pieces of art, the colors, the figures, the details

- Tell her to open her eyes and *quietly* find the one you've described

The other adorable activity they offered was dress-up like art. Julia dressed up like Edgar Degas' Little Dancer, and Carolyn was given an amazing costume from Bartolome Serrano's Infanta Isabella, huge puffy collar and all. The girls had to "hunt" through the museum to find the art that matched the costume they wore.

And Julia fell in love with Matisse and all... those... COLORS!

Tomorrow we begin our big adventure eastward, 18+ hours eastwardly to be exact. And to keep the girls distracted I have been planning an epic road trip bag... behold the finished product.

I ordered them each a Thirty-One Bag with their names for school this year, perfect to hold markers, colored pencils and wipes for the road. Then I bought large binders and personalized the cover with a map of our trip and their names (and doodles, what little girl doesn't love doodles?)

Inside the bag is Hair-do Harriet, a small note pad, a pencil pouch with glue stick and scissors, and several pocket dividers with blank paper and coloring sheets.

Rather than pack all of the fun into the notebook, I decided to put various activities in sealed magazine envelopes numbered 1-10. This way they get a "surprise" when they open each envelope, and we will space out the opening throughout the two day drive. Otherwise I was worried they would quickly blow through each activity in the first hour and I would be in big trouble.

1. The first envelope is simply blank sheets with red garage sale dots randomly placed. I am going to challenge them to come up with a neat drawing that incorporates the dots.

2. Magazine scavenger hunt to find items like the letters B, K, C and J, a smile and something the color red.

3. I bought a book of hidden picture sheets (don't you remember these from Highlights, loved them as a kid!) and tore them out of the book so each girl could have a handful.

4. A ton of stickers from U.S. Toy and a packet of blank notecards can magically become postcards to send friends, I hope.

5. Road Trip Bingo printed from THIS great blog.

6. Color-by-number coloring sheets I found for free on google.

7. I printed the girls' names and their cousins and friends very large in fun fonts for them to decorate and hopefully send to each kiddo in a "miss you so much" package.

8. Fun magazine pictures should hopefully inspire something similar to THIS art project we did a while back.

9. My friend Teresa suggested a game of "Guess the Flavor" with jellybeans - brilliant, even the parents can play this one!

10. A funprints book by Ed Emberley in which you use a (washable) stamp pan and your fingers to create cute drawings.

Do you notice my multiple uses of the word "fun", ya let's hope this works...

Upon arriving home from Cubeville...
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J: Mommy! Mommy! I painted you a picture!
K: Oh wow, I love it.
J: Ya, it's a teapot
K: Wow... I can (kinda) see that

image from The Long Thread

I would love for Carolyn to design some kind of simple art project to make for her cousins for Christmas. I saw THIS at thelongthread.com (one of my favorite blogs for crafty goodness) and thought this might be a good place to start. Of course, the horse will have to be a unicorn, and it will have to be pink, and it will have to live in a castle.... but its a start.

Tonight we read Alice in Wonderland retold. This particular retelling had been illustrated by Mary Blair, an early Disney artist who used beautiful bold color and designs that would sell like hot-cakes on etsy if she was living today.
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After the girls dozed off to their own Wonderlands I hopped online and found THIS book that is now on my official Wishlist (near the top, cause that list is getting obnoxiously long). I adore her stuff, fantastic inspiration for birthday party prep, and I especially loving this city scene...
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Saturday mornings at our house:

- Sleep-in until 8:30 which sounded lame before we had jobs and children, but now sounds heavenly.

- Prepare hair. Probably a side-ponytail for the girls, or a bun. Ponytail for me, without fail.

- Make breaksfast for the road, tortilla with butter or dry cereal. Juice, too.

- 9:55 Drop off children and husband in front of the Nelson for art classes.

- Proceed to local Starbucks for a frap and reading, reading, reading. Read.

- 11:35 pick up children and husband from art class.

- Listen to stories of clay and paint and glue and museum tours.

- 12:00 grab lunch at QT (per the children's request) and head home for naps all around.

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this is how a perfect Saturday morning looks at our house

PS - I promise we don't eat this unhealthy everyday, only Saturday...usually...

Carolyn has big plans for the spring, they include scoring a goal apparently.

Clouds are on the learning menu this week. And we thought a great way to kick off the week would be to learn about clouds by reading Tommie dePaola's The Cloud Book. Afterward, Carolyn looked at several different pieces of art depicting clouds and identified what sorts of clouds they were.
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I found great suggestions for the art images at THIS site, and printed them on the 'wallet' setting so they could be categorized easily on a poster board. {She viewed them on the computer screen, - as the printed images did not offer enough detail at the small size}.

The mega gia-normous wall art is complete. Brandon and I placed the letters, the girls applied the paint - and now a very personal piece of art hangs above their bed. I would say this accomplishment merits a "pretty darn good weekend" label.
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PS - I tried a new trick with the letters. Last night before bed I applied a layer of clear paint (well, it did have sparkles) over all the letters. This successfully held them down so the girls could use their hands to smear any direction their little hearts desired.