National Dance Day - global dance party!

Dance

Did you know that July 31st is National Dance Day?  Well, that's today, so if you aren't dancing now then you should find some great music and start moving your feet.

Miriam and Breier spent the morning dancing and completing activity 10 -Dance Party- of the Dance badge.  I suspect that the rest of the troop will get into the Dance Party action the evening of August 11th ;)

Art to Wear

Art to Wear

Sunday's needlecraft activities led to a headband embroidery project that helped Miriam meet two requirements for the Art to Wear badge - #2 Fashion Friendship and #6 Fashion Add-ons.  It turns out needlecraft is addictive and a great solution to attacks of restlessness and boredom :)

Miriam's first headband creation.

 butterfly for Breier

Folk arts badge

embroidery

Today turned out to be craft day in the Galan house.  Miriam tried her hand at embroidery and learned six different stitches - in and out, weave, couching, whip, cross, and satin.  We discovered that this activity meets requirement #5 Traditional Art of the Folk Arts badge.

Folk Arts

Here is a little history of the art of embroidery from the American Needlepoint Guild:
A Quick Run Through History, Part 1 - by Chottie Alderson
A Quick run Through History, Part 2

We worked with this Simple Embroidery book and it was really easy to use.

If you want to try out embroidery, here are some helpful free videos at needlenthread.com.

Have fun! We did :)

Badges, badges everywhere

small craft

making it matter

sky search

Besides being a lot of fun, two weeks at camp (Owl Prowl and Harriet Potter) definitely gave Miriam a boost with badge earning :)  She also earned her safe boating certificate.

Miriam and Sarah at resident camp (Owl Prowl)

Fishing Village at Camp Agnes Arnold

Hipper!

Talent Show

ukulele song

Summer Reading

This summer I have a goal of reading 500 books. I don't know if I'll get there but I'm having fun trying.

Books I have read so far:
The Ugly Duckling
An Animal Alphabet
The Amazing Spongebobini
Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully
The Island Princess
Fancy Nancy, Pajama Day
Fancy Nancy and the Boy From Paris
Fancy Nancy, The Show Must Go On
Fancy Nancy, Poison Ivy Expert
Fancy Nancy At The Museum
Fancy Nancy, The Dazzling Book Report
Fancy Nancy Sees Stars
Down, Down, Down
The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau
Ivy and Bean, Doomed To Dance

Books I want to read this summer (plus all the books I don't know about yet):
Ivy and Bean
Ivy and Bean and the Ghost That Had to Go
Ivy and Bean Take Care of the Babysitter
Ivy and Bean: Bound to Be Bad
Little Women
11 Birthdays
The Cabinet of Wonders
14 Cows for America
All Stations Distress
Mudshark
Sparrow Girl
Squirrel's World
Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet
Surfer of the Century
Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow
Pirates
Tap Dancing On the Roof
Unbrella Summer
That Book Woman
Home of the Brave
Dying to Meet You
The Hinky Pink
*Books in blue are part of the Texas Bluebonnet Reading Program 2010-2011

Parsley facial toner

Here is a fun and easy way to complete one of the "looking your best" badge requirements -number 4 skin care secrets.  Yesterday I found a recipe on a blog called Homemade Mamas for parsley facial toner.

Basically all you need to make this is parsley, boiling water, and a container to put your finished toner in.  The end product is supposed to be really good for your skin and because you store it in the frig. it is also really refreshing for summer. Miriam says that "your face feels really clean after you use it". And best of all, it is really quick and easy to make.  We labeled little bottles for the whole family.

Making this toner also gave me a really smooth intro into teaching Miriam how to really wash her face well -a very long overdue lesson.  Did you know that you are supposed to rub your soap on your face in little circles to get all the dirt off?

I hope your summer is going well :)
-Rachel