scrapbooking w/ memaw

as you probably know, wednesdays are typically my day to have the girls. raven loves to do creative activities, such as painting, drawing, writing, and "scrapbooking". she didn't call it scrapbooking until she heard mommy talking about going to the scrapbook store and scrapbooking w/ her friends and stuff -- but once she heard that, she's called it scrapbooking ever since.

for us (raven and memaw), it's really more of a combination book. we paint, draw, color, trace our hands, and paste pictures all in the same book. well, after mommy had gone to a scrapbook class and left raven at home (crying hysterically because she knew she was being left out of something really spectacular!), we had to make a special scrapbook page at my house.

we had to have everything, too -- colored paper, tape roller, stickers, pictures => the works. we sat down on the living room floor to start scrapbooking, and raven knows right off what she wants and doesn't want. i can make suggestions and help her, and she's fine w/ that. but if mommy joins in the activity, raven turns into a miniature hitler. mommy doesn't get to choose her own colors to color w/, part of the picture to color, or nothing! then if she does something, raven usually colors over it. it's really quite comical to watch, but terribly frustrating for mommy!

raven chose to use a picture of herself from clay cafe from thanksgiving weekend 2005. she was intently painting her ornament for the christmas tree. she chose the stickers and the colors on the page and even placed the things herself. the only thing i "helped" w/ was getting the borders on in a close-to-straight manner.

after finishing our scrapbook page, then we had to trace our hands on the other page. that's something that we do to entertain and fill time while waiting (places like church), but it has gotten to be quite a family tradition as we stamp our hands every new years day. she's explaining to me why a couple of my finger are really fat, but in reality -- she just got in a hurry.

also, as you can see, raven is "maked" (translates to "naked" in adult language). she's not at my house more than 10 minutes before she's "too hot" and starts removing clothing. since i'm wearing a t-shirt w/ a sweatshirt and sweatpants -- it's obviously not TOO hot in the house. it could be 40 degrees, though, and she would want to run around in her underwear. i'm ok w/ that because i'm memaw and those things just don't bother me.

we have a great time together and look forward to our days to do special things. these are times for "just us girls" to do our thing. it's a great opportunity for me to spend 1-on-1 time w/ the kids w/o the stress of doing something big! now that the weather is getting nicer, i'm sure we'll spend much more time outside, playing and walking and looking at the garden and more. lots of pictures in the making, i think!