American Girl Club - Colonial Christmas Party

I just had to bring this one back - We really "outdid" ourselves this time!

For our American Girl club this month - we went all out and had a "Colonial Christmas" party.  We brought out the china, silver, even the cloth napkins!  Everyone dressed in their finest, colonial style (or at least, our interpretation of it.) The MCA - aka...Masculine Club of Awesomeness, even participated - they "Did Hard Things" and put into practice what they've learned by serving our young ladies.

I think I had almost as much fun setting up the house for the 42 (yes, 42..) place settings!  Every mom dusted off the china and brought out the table linens.  My house looked amazing!

Our "craft" for this night was assembling the Fruit Pyramid centerpieces.  I am in love with our handiwork...pretty impressive I'd say!

After our dinner was finished, we treated several homes in our neighborhood to a "large" group of dressed up "colonials" singing Christmas Carols.  I think we were a hit!

What an enchanted evening it was!  The food was amazing - Smoked Turkey, Venison Stew, Beef Pie, Sweet Potatoes with Apples, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy and homemade bread.  Dessert was Raspberry Flummery and the most amazing Bread Pudding anyone has ever tasted!  Punch, Cider and Egg Nog as well.

The American Girl Moms - amazing women!

Our Colonial Young Ladies (with their best manners...)

The "Littles" even had silverware!  The knives were a big hit....

The MCA Men - they clean up nicely!

How will we top this evening?

American Girl - All the Kaya Posts

Several people have asked if I could put our American Girl posts all in one place...  So, here is a recap of our meetings.  I'll be adding a new post for each girl we've studied so far.

Kaya - the first American Girl we studied, was so much fun - we started this back in 2011.  It's amazing to look back and see how much we've all grown!

Week One

Week Two

Week Three & Four

Week Five

Week Six

Field Trip!

What an amazing journey this club has begun for us.  I can't even begin to tell you how much these families all mean to each other.  Life long friendships have been bonded together, all because of a simple doll.  What a gift!

American Girl - Kirsten's final Meeting

Our American Girl year has come to and end...  Kirsten's final project - soap whittling.  After some discussion, we decided that the girls weren't ready for real knives and wood whittling, so we did the next best thing - good, old ivory soap!

 

This is what our sample looked like...pretty impressive (no, I didn't do this one!  I was with the MCA - planning a future "big thing" for them to attempt)

 

 Tools of the trade, and the "leftovers". 

 

A couple of the finished projects from one of my daughters - I think she was attempting a fish and bear? 

 

Several lessons we learned - this is a lot harder than it looks!  Plus, your floors will be clean once you mop up all those soap shavings.  (did I mention how glad I am it wasn't at my house this time...)

 

 

Stay tuned - it looks like changes are underway for our American Girls next year!



American Girl: Kirsten Quilts

Kirsten has taught us so many wonderful lessons!  The girls have all learned how to thread a needle, and sew a couple of simple stitches.  We've explored the reality of pioneer life.  Kirsten has encouraged us to be frugal and creative at the same time.

This meeting I got to show them how to quilt!!  I love quilts,  they feel like a blanket filled with love to me.  I have made a quilt for each of my children (actually, I'm still working on that...I have a couple of UFO's around - unfinished objects!)

I was able to share my passion, and the girls made a quilted potholder.  I hope they'll be inspired to make their own quilts someday.

 

Our potholders were made with a simple square.  The girls practiced their back stitching to hand sew around the outside.  Then, they did a whip stitch to bind the edges.  Finally, they were able to do a running stitch to quilt a simple design.

 

These are more decorative than useful - we didn't use a heat-resistant batting.  The girls also thought they'd make great doll quilts.

 

 

 



 I didn't keep track of what our Littles, 1/2 Pints &  MCA were up to... teaching 13 girls to quilt was plenty enough for me!

American Girl - Kirsten

American Girl Club - Kirsten is back on track!

This meeting we focused on some necessary skills for every pioneer girl... mastering threading the needle!

For our project, we bravely attempted 2 projects this meeting, we made Bunny Pincushions and Braided mats.

 

 

 

I'm getting wiser - I pre-assembled all the pieces for the bunny into a ziplock bag first. The body, tail, eyes, whiskers, ears - even the precut thread and needle.  It made it so much more streamlined for them.

 

 

Cute!

 

 

 

Our braided mats/rugs went over well too. The girls enjoyed the braiding.  They taped the strands to the table and braided outward.  After the braiding was done, they wound and sewed small holding stitches.

 

It's been so much fun to see our girls master threading the needle.  I know it seems simple at first, but - with 13 young ladies... they had to learn patience (and so have we!).  I'm grateful that even if they never become fans of sewing - at least they'll be able to thread a needle.

 

Our Half-Pints had fun making paper hats! 

 

 

And the MCA (masculine club of awesomeness for those who don't know them)  were doing a push-up contest when I walked by....

 

 

We have something for everyone here!

 



American Girl - Kirsten Returns!

Okay... the American Girl club has gotten off to bumpy start this year.  This is only our 2nd meeting!  It's been a rough winter of lots of sick kiddos (and we have lots of kiddos between us...) But, spring is returning, and so are we.  But, it's good to be back in the swing of things!

Let me introduce you - we have 7 families total

• 13 American Girls - ages 8-13
• 11 MCA (Masculine Club of Awesomeness... really what else could they call themselves) boys age 10-16
• 7 Half Pints - ages 5-7
• 7 1/2 (another one is soon to join them...) Littles - ages birth to 4

So, it's a bit of a chaotic, wild, crazy and WONDERFUL household everytime we are together!

This month - the American Girls made Yarn Dolls & Homemade Bread and Butter .

 The yarn dolls were super cute - the head is made with a ping-pong ball.  They used their creativity to personalize them!

Glad we had a bona-fide, home-made bread baker to teach this lesson.  I thought it all came from the bread store...  It was the most delicious thing I've ever tasted - I'm a believer!  Too bad I can't add smell to this post... the pictures just don't do it justice.

The MCA - continued with "Start Here" - and have devised a list of "hard things" to tackle this year, including another fundraising effort for our trip to India.  If you missed last year's post - these amazing boys raised $2,000 with a yard sale and survival bracelets to send another family to Haiti on a mission trip!  They are "professionals" now... I can't wait to see what God does with them.

Our new group - the Half Pints, are doing a book & activity together.  They were ready for more than just free play...but, not quite ready to join the older kids yet. 



Our Littles - well, they just play and have the time of their lives!

American Girl - Time for Kirsten!

Our American Girl Club/MCA is back!  We kicked off the year with Kirsten - the pioneer girl.

Let me catch you up... We have 7 families, with a total of 37 1/2 kids!! (one of us is pregnant...no, not me!)

13 American Girls
11 MCA (masculine club of awesomeness - what else would teenage boys call themselves?)
6 Half-Pints (had to create a new group this year...they want projects too!)
7 Littles - with a new baby due at the end of the year!

This is our 3rd year together. 

Here is a recap of our first meeting.    Beautiful, but noisy!

 

Tin Can Luminaries:  add water and freeze to create the strong interior to keep can from crushing.  Then use a hammer and nail to create your own pinhole design.

 

This was a good activity for outside in the garage!

 

Handmade candles:  melt the parafin wax, add the delicious scent (pick your favorite!)  Color with a melted crayon.  Pour wax into dixie cups with wick suspended.  Peel away cup and enjoy!

The MCA began the Start Here book by the Harris brothers.  They are eager to continue their "Do Hard Things" theme...  a 30 Hour Famine may be in the works for this year.  Teenage boys willing to go without food for God's plan?  Could be BIG!!

Our Half-Pints had fun with Harold and the Purple Crayon - and making their own creations.  And of course, playing outside together!

 

What cute little Half-pints....

 

 

Meet the Future MCA!

Our Second Annual Christmas Party is coming soon...can't wait!

American Girl Club - Josefina & The MCA!

Alright, I know...I'm a bit behind with the American Girl Club - MCA (masculine club of awesomeness - for those who haven't met our "secret boys club") posts. Let me catch you up!  We moved from Felicity into Josefina in January.  Here's a recap of our projects:



Cardboard Weaving:

Our favorite: Rebozos!

They had so much fun with the Rebozos.  They wore them everywhere, for days!

 

Cornhusk Flowers and Painted Flowerpots:

So glad we did this one at Lani's house!

 Simple to make, and beautiful too! Dyed cornhusk flowers!

Glass bead necklaces and butterfly hair clips.  Josefina had to look nice, didn't she?

And, our Memory Books.  A great place to keep our favorite memory verses, autographs, and pictures.  We used melted wax and craft paper to make "oil paper" covers. 

But, this semester really belonged to the MCA - Fundraising Garage Sale!

 After reading the book "Do Hard Things" - our boys decided they wanted to DO HARD THINGS!  So, with a little guidance (and alot of donations) they organized a fundraising garage sale that raised over $2,000 to send one of our families to Haiti this summer on a mission trip.  They planned, promoted and worked very hard.  What a huge blessing to see what God can do with our "junk" - he turned it into an eternal blessing - and taught our MCA they can do someting HARD for God - no matter how old (or young) they are.

Here's a couple of highlights from the sale!

Advertising Specialists (not afraid to be silly to get the people to stop!)

 Here are the Survival Bracelet salespeople.  The MCA made and sold these bracelets all spring as well to raise money for the "Send Hope to Haiti" fundraiser!

 So many great learning lessons took place, even how to make and count change!