Arts in the Middle East

Since my girls can't go out in the street and play like boys can, I've encouraged them to try some new things.  They have been pretty creative.

Above, you can see that Kylie taped a trash bag to the floor of her room and created a painting center for herself.

After seeing someone else personalize some canvases for other people, both of my girls decided to give it a try.

Kylie had mixed the paint to make a light brown and written a person's name in the local language on the canvas.  Since it looked like it needed something else, her dad helped by creating a stencil for her.  It was a short stencil so she would paint a section and then wait a while for it to dry before painting the next section.  I think they turned out great (even though I forgot to get pictures of the final, final products).

She also painted some canvases to look like our country's flag, and then she painted individual names across the middle.

Karis painted some ballerinas and scriptures on canvases, and they turned out beautifully, too.

Reading, painting, coloring, journaling, and "Just Dance" aren't always the best replacements for getting to play outside, but my girls are handling their new life with grace, even if it isn't always fun.

They do, however, get to dance at a studio a couple of times a week, and their teacher wanted to let them have a mini-performance for us since they didn't get to participate in the Spring recital.

It was very thoughtful of her.

The teacher held a mock-practice/performance for us for about one hour while she explained what they were doing at the barre and in center.

It was good for me, because I don't know much about ballet.

The lady in the middle is from Japan, and she is also in their class.  The other 6 people from their class had already left for the summer.

After the practice part, all the dancers left and put on pink tutus and came back to perform a dance en pointe for us.

And look who danced in front of my chair the whole time, imitating her sisters.

Ta-da!