Memorial Day Parade

I love the Gibson Tuck

I may be obsessed with this style for summer.

Poppies

I needed some flowers for my wall.  I love the way these poppies turned out, they make me smile every time I see them. For art class inspiration I turn to two websites, that artist woman and Art Projects for Kids.  Both of these women understand how to teach art to children and have lots of great ideas.

Out of the Camera

A bug bite near her eye.  She is obviously very sensitive to bug bites.  She gets that from me.

Work it Iz.

The Pyramids.

The Sphinx.

Get out of the picture Isabel!

Can I help Mom? Lick it?

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I made these on Saturday morning because we were out of maple syrup.  I will definitely make them again.  Awesomeness on a plate!  I adapted the recipe I found here.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

For the Cinnamon Filling...
1 stick softened butter, almost melty 
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 T. cinnamon

Using a rubber spatula to scrape the sides, pour this mixture into a large pastry bag or ziptop bag with corner cut.

If you melt the butter, the sugar will settle at the bottom of the mixture.  NOT GOOD! It will clog the pastry bag and make a mess on your skillet.

For the Cream Cheese Icing...
2 cups powdered sugar
2 ounces cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
4 T. milk

Mix until smooth.

For the Pancakes...
3 c flour
3 T sugar
3 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
3 c buttermilk
1/2 c milk
3 eggs
1/3 c canola oil

Blend. Ladle batter unto skillet.  Snip corner of pastry bag, swirl cinnamon filling onto pancake.  Cook the pancake until bubbles form evenly through each cake. Gently flip each pancake over and cook on other side. Top with icing.

Turtle Playground

Who knew that giant turtle sculptures could be so much fun?

The Arch

We saved the Arch and the Westward Expansion Museum for our last day in St. Louis.  It was a goofy, backwards way to do things, but I wanted to go to the Arch on Thursday so we could also attend a session of the Storytelling Festival that would be located inside the museum.  The morning was beautiful and we enjoyed taking it all in.  The Arch was breathtaking and the museum below was great.  We studied Lewis and Clark for weeks prior to our vacation.  The girls loved seeing posters and displays of things that they already knew.  It was a privilege to witness their genuine excitement about American History.

While researching things to do on vacation I found the St. Louis Storytelling Festival on an events calendar somewhere on the web.  We attended two of the sessions for children.  Our family thoroughly enjoyed them both.  I found a YouTube of one of the storytellers, Randall McGee. Here you go.