Crafty Quad Wednesday and Rest and Recover Thursday......

We had a busy, happy CRAFTY Wednesday!!

My sweet Faith ( my son, Jesse's daughter) came over to spend the day and she sure has a heart for little children! She played with them all day long.

They, in turn, absolutely LOVED her!!

I heard each one say at different times, "Faith, I love you!"

This grandmother's heart was filled with joy!

I had the art table all set up and we did all manner of crafts!

Cat face masks cut from copies of a lithograph made by Nathaniel Currier between 1840 and 1850 called The Favorite Cat.

In 1857 he and James Merrit Ives formed the company of Currier & Ives, which became known for its printed scenes if nineteenth-century American life.

The history of this may well be lost on the kids at this point but it never hurts to expose them to art appreciation.

We also did these wooden masks from Michael's Craft store.

Only Harrison stayed with the traditional design while the girls went crazy when I offered a box of jewels to embellish their masks. 

Lunch and good long naps followed. Even Faith enjoyed the nap!

The kids stuck to her like glue!

She has an iPod and makes these Musical.ly videos so she made one with them.

I can't seem to upload the one she made but this is a clip of the process.

That afternoon Logan went into Granddad's music room and asked if she could watch John?

JOHN??? We didn't understand. She kept saying, "JOHN, Granddad! JOHN!" And she kept pointing to the computer. Finally, it registered with Louis Dean! He asked, "Do you mean Robin Hood and Little John??" YES!!!! She loves that animated story and watched it sitting right there on his knees.

The other kids soon lost interest - but not Logan!

Faith was soon entertaining the rest of them with a large set of Jacks she bought especially for the quads. I wish I had taken pictures of the computer artwork she did with all their names, She had a little gift bag filled with all sorts of goodies for them!

Wednesday was our day for special visits! First - Faith, and then two special family friends - Kimmy and June.

All four of my children have grown up with Kimmy and June being a part of their lives.

Once again, they came bearing gifts!

Logan is especially fond of those gummy fruit treats and Kimmy and June had brought some over several months ago for them. I put them in a certain basket in the utility room and Logan was so dismayed when the basket was empty! Well, it's not empty any more!!

Each child received their own special bag of fun things like a slinky and other toys and then there was a community basket of arts and crafts supplies from Kimmy, June and Luce.

Well, the kids went right to the table and started doing all their 'projects!'

That's what they call arts and crafts....projects!

They used the supplies and came up with their own ideas.

Win! WIN!!

We ALL got in the mood for art and coloring.

I think the kids were impressed that we stayed right there at the table working on our own color pages! We all had the very best time together!!

June and Harrison.

Thank you, Kimmy, for sharing your good photos with me.

I cannot tell you how dear June is to all of us. 

She was in my art class for years and years.

Every single Tuesday night art class, when Amber and Benjamin were small, she showed up with some little treat for them. Every.single.time.

She has a very special place in her heart for my Benjamin.

Today is his 28th birthday which we will be celebrating in a couple of weeks.

He has a tight work as well as study schedule as he is working on his real estate license.

Me and my Mini-Me!

I picked up a couple of pizzas and we continued to party!

This is another one of Kimmy's great photos.

Dessert was watermelon served in the pool on the front yard.

Once again, Faith was such a good sport!

She didn't come prepared to spend the night but that's what she did so we improvised with some extra cinched in clothing so she could get wet with the others!

Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed having Faith here?

Yeah, I thought I had! Worth saying again, though.

We ended our evening with Kailey putting heart tattoos on everyone.

I admit that I get really tired by the end of a Wednesday so by the time I went to bed I was limping along! It's usually 10:30 or 11:00 by the time I get up on Thursday mornings but I knew Faith was an early riser so.......I got up at 9:30 so we would have time to play NUTS before she had to go home.

We had a lot of fun together and I so hope she will come over again!!!

This afternoon I puttered and potted around all afternoon at a very slow pace.

I had to smile as I cleaned the dining room and heard all the clicking sounds as I vacuumed up all those tiny beads and sequins and small bits of play dough under the table.

We stay INSIDE during most of August - at least during the afternoons when it is just TOO hot to even breathe if you are outside.

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What better way to while away the afternoon than cranking up the window A/C - that makes it REALLY chilly in the den - and watching a great movie???

I found The Notebook on TV and paused it until Louis Dean could join me.

Would you believe this was his FIRST time to see it???

I had not seen it in so long I could barely remember the story line.

We were BOTH tearing up as we watched!

It's been a good Rest and Recovery Thursday.

I even walked around the corner to visit with a sweet neighbor and sip a glass of wine in her beautiful back yard/garden with her. Of course, I waited until the sun went down!