Wordless Wednesday

I love this picture my husband took with his iPhone of Devin walking to the Braves game last week.

Tie Dye Cards - an American Girl Doll Camp Craft

Here is one of our projects from my American Girl Doll Camp last week ... this project went along with the historical doll, Julie, whose era was the 1970's.

Tie Dyeing paper is not the same process as tie dyeing fabric. To give our paper that look we used shaving cream, alcohol inks and glossy cardstock.

It was a huge hit!!

To make your own tie dyed looking cardstock just follow these simple directions:

Spray shaving cream onto a plastic disposable plate (do not use gel shaving cream).

Add a few drops from each bottle of alcohol ink (we used three coordinating colors) to the shaving cream.

Using a plastic knife drag the knife through the drops of ink in the shaving cream. This should give your inks a more swirled look.

Place cardstock, glossy side down, into the shaving cream. Tap lightly then pick up the cardstock carefully, turn and repeat. The girls each did this about five times to get the appropriate amount of ink coverage on their cardstock.

Once you are satisfied with the way your cardstock looks remove from shaving cream and wipe with a paper towel.

We then stamped our cardstock with line image stamps.

All the girls just loved this technique and the way their cards turned out. It is a very easy craft to do with kids just make sure all the children are wearing either a crafting apron or tshirt as alcohol inks will stain.

Sun and Fun with Friends

Today we hosted 4 of Devin's baseball friends and their families at our Club for swimming and lunch. It ended up being a marathon 5 hour sun and fun fest.

We are thankful for these new friends Devin has made ... all four boys are from Devin's Spring baseball team and two of them were also on the All Star Team. All very sweet Christian boys with great parents, who we enjoy hanging out with. God is a great provider as I had prayed for Devin to find friendship with a boy his age, and with similar interests. Instead of giving Devin just one new friend he has provided four.
Of course, the girls had a great time too!!

American Girl Doll Stamp Camp

This is my second summer hosting an American Girl Doll Camp. This year I decided instead of offering several one day camps during the summer I would offer a 3 Day Camp for older girls and a 1 Day Camp for younger girls.

It was a lot of prep work but, I enjoyed so much spending time with these sweet girls! Each day we learned about a new period of history relating to the doll we were studying. This year I chose Rebecca, Kit, and Julie. We did two projects each day that coincided with the doll we were focusing on. For example, with Kit we made bottle cap necklaces - which had each girl's first initial stamped in the center. I chose that project because Kit loved to use a typewriter to write articles for her local newspaper and she also grew up in an era where everything had to be recycled and used - hence the bottle cap.

Each camp I also always choose a charity for us to work for. This year, for the American Girl Doll Camp, it was the Ronald McDonald House. The girls brought individually wrapped snacks for RMH and we made cards for the families staying there to use to send back home - (thank you cards, thinking of you cards, etc.). Next week I will deliver everything to the Ronald McDonald House along with a picture of all the girls who worked so hard on the cards.

One camp down and one to go next month!

Sometimes When You Lose - You Still Win

So proud of Devin's All Star baseball team ... tonight they were awarded Best Sportsmanship after the Pony State Championship Game. This award is voted on by the umpires and league director. Our boys had great attitudes through the whole tournament - that can be hard when you are losing.
We told Devin from the beginning of the tournament that win or lose it was all God's Plan and sometimes when you lose, you still win.

Father's Day

The kids made sure my husband had a really nice Father's Day ... it started with us running to get donuts from Krispy Kreme, early in the morning before my husband awoke. He did not get to sleep in as long as he probably would have liked because you have to eat Krispy Kreme donuts while they are HOT! :)

I think my husband's favorite gift was this picture:

... that we had printed on a canvas and gallery wrapped. He said it will look perfect in his office.

After church our afternoon was spent grocery shopping and decorating for our Father's Day dinner while my husband enjoyed some downtime.

Dinner was steak on the grill, baked potatoes, baby lima beans and a cookie cake that Lexi helped decorate.

3 Days - 4 Games

Over the past 3 days we have enjoyed watching Devin and his teammates play their hearts out in 4 games. We lost every game, the first one was a blowout but, the remaining 3 were close. Most of the teams we came up against were way out of our league, talent wise. Our team was comprised of players who, for the most part, have never played baseball outside of Upward (a non-competitive league). Devin was one of only two or three boys with more competitive baseball experience.
Losing though did not get Devin's spirits down ... he loved every minute of it. Devin's last up at bat during the tournament, was in the pouring down rain. Devin came up to bat with a wave to the stands and a little bow before hitting a double. When he made it back to home plate, it was with the biggest smile ever and that's what playing baseball is all about!