On the second day of Grams Camp, the girls slept until almost 9 o'clock. They always sleep well at our house because the bedrooms are very dark. We keep the hurricane blinds on the outside of the house closed in the summer. It helps keep the house cooler. Our daily high temperatures have been running 96-100 degrees with a heat index around 105. Air conditioning is the most important and most expensive thing we pay for in South Texas. The fact that the dark helps The Princesses sleep in is a bonus.
We had muffins and strawberries for breakfast. I let the girls help make the muffins. We used Krusteaz One Step Muffin Mix. It's super simple. You just add water and shake, then you pour the mix into muffin tins and bake. I've used it before with good results, but these came out a little bit crumbly. The girls loved helping to make breakfast and the muffins tasted good. The girls were also highly entertained by my strawberries. I always cut the stem end out and it leaves a little round hole, perfect for little fingers.
Because the muffins were so crumbly, I had to sweep my dining room and kitchen after breakfast. I moved the chairs into the living room and showed the girls how much fun it is to make a train. As you can see, we had a variety of passengers on our train. Besides Princesses, we had bears, giraffes, and monsters. We even had a bell to ring. They thought it was great fun. The even added my red kitchen step-stool at the back of the train because all trains have a red caboose. I wish I had snapped a photo from the back, too.
After lunch I sat down with the girls to work on a craft project. It was hard to find something that both a two year old and a four year old would be able to help with. I decided on a "treasure hunt bottle." Before they arrived, I went through my craft supplies and chose several small items that would fit inside of a water bottle. Most of them were buttons that were shapes. Each girl got a turtle, a button with two birds in it, a gold ladybug, an angel, a Santa Claus, a flower, a seashell, a penny, a nickel, a dime, and a few other tiny items. We filled the bottles with pony beads that I got at Dollar Tree. We also added star-shaped sequins and white glitter. Each girl filled her own bottle. I had to give the little one a little extra help. After they were finished I put the lid on using super glue so they could not remove them. They had a lot of fun doing a craft with me. I think it made them feel like big girls to get to use my craft supplies. They especially liked my button box, exactly like their mom always has. Princess E picked out some very sparkly buttons that she wants me to use on a dress for her. (I had them leave the bottles here for their next visit. I plan to remove the glitter and also about one-fourth of the pony beads. The bottles are too full to allow the beads to move freely and the glitter just sunk to the bottom.)
When Grandad came home we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. After dinner, when it finally started to cool off a little outside, Grandad helped us roast marshmallows over a sterno fire, so we could make s'mores. The girls had never had s'mores before and they were a big hit. They loved the s'mores. I loved their s'mores faces. Priceless!
This was a very busy day and when bedtime rolled around, both Grandad and I were ready. Princess J went to bed without much complaint but only after removing all the "scawy bad guys" from her room. (I will post separately about that.) On the other hand, Princess E was determined not to go to bed. She must have gotten out of bed twenty times. It made me very cranky. Ultimately, we just outlasted her.
I learned a lesson on this day of Grams Camp. Too much sugar is not a good thing. I think that was part of the reason we had trouble with bedtime. After this, I was very careful to restrict their sugar intake and try to keep them on a schedule for meals. We also tried to do more physical activities to help tire them out. You will see that in my posts about days 3 and 4 which will be posted over the next few days.
