Because we live near the ocean, we go to the beach often.  And whenever we go to the beach, the kids love collecting sea shells.  They spend their time digging, looking for the best shells on the beach.  Each is very proud of his or her collection by the end of the day, having grown attached to all their shells for each one’s unique beauty, and of course insist on bringing them all home.  All of them!  And I can never say NO to that, because well…they worked so hard gathering them.  I don’t have the heart to make them leave their special shells behind.  So, they come home with us.  Every single time.

Can you  just imagine how many sea shells I have around this house?

Once these precious shells are home, most end up in a bucket that sits in our garage.  And there they sit, month after month.

and we painted us some sea shells!

it was very serious work, as you can see from Andrew’s concentration

Aria got busy with the paint, too.

She loves doing what her older brothers and sisters do!

I painted a few myself ~ couldn’t resist, as I love anything crafty.

When we were through, I asked the kids what they thought we were supposed to do with all these colorful shells?  Andrew suggested putting them in the planters as decorations, and then Aislynn suggested they sell them at their next lemonade stand.  This suggestion got the most excitement.  So I guess that’s what we’ll be doing in the near future.

I’m thinking … ten cents a shell?  What would you pay for them?

Handcrafted by cute little kids =  Priceless!