artsy pen pals

i adore my nieces & nephews soooo much. each one of them is so unique. i know them so well; i unconditionally love them. i also loved my cousins growing up & still do. i really want my own kids to have that.

my kidlets send & receive fun little kid letters from their cousins via snail mail.

they loooove it! last week ellery destroyed lena's in about a day and a half by carrying it with her everywhere. this is the most recent pic i have of one from lexy. she's the oldest so her pen pal gets some seriously impressive art. :)

& since i'm usually boring about it, it's literally the back of austin's old homework assignment with a scribbled drawing. maybe ellery writes a letter or 2 (that i have to distinguish for the recipient) & we add a tiny note from me in the girls words of what they want to say to lexy, lena, luke or jack.

either way i think it's darling. & i like that it's rare enough that the girls fuh-reak when they get one in the mail.

this time we did something different. i had one apple that was too old to be really good so first we tried apple stamps. fail. i think i just didn't cut it straight enough...

but i'd been hoarding our toilet paper rolls so i did have a plan b.

punkins!

cossette got ticked when ellery started the thumbprint stems. she got a turn too. haha patience child!

we were on such a roll we did a couple extra for hodgman grandparents & us.

i like the thought of 4 little projects a year to put on the bookcase. best start brainstorming/scouring pinterest now. :)