Minnis Moments

Master Bedroom Makeover

2012-03-04T18:45:00.001-08:00

I’m slowly getting to the point where my projects are going to get more difficult. This was the last project I am going to be able to do pretty much on my own. All the easy cosmetic changes are going to be done.

I don’t have a picture of what our room looked like before but it was a mix of brown and red. I wanted something new and different so this is what I came up with. I’m not quite done with it yet. Still need to find a few more things for the walls.

First of all, I wanted a headboard. We have never had a headboard. We had looked around some stores at some, but we decided just to make one. We got the idea from this site: http://blissfulbegonia.wordpress.com/2007/11/04/how-to-make-a-fabric-covered-headboard/ It was a pretty easy plan. My hubby put the wood pieces together and I helped attach the batting and fabric. Here is our finished product. And we are very PROUD of it. As long as it stays in one piece!

I am absolutely thrilled with how it turned out. Thanks to my hubby for making it happen!

Here are some more shots of the room:

I made the two side pieces with left over fabric from the head board.

This cute little thing is going to go on a shelf once I find one. It says, “Laugh”.

The frames above the bed are ones I have stored for awhile. So, I put different coordinating scrapbook paper in them and arranged them above the bed.

Cute little vase. A friend and I went out today and looked around. We found these flowery things and needed something for it. So we went to Michaels. I found the vase and went to pay for it. I of course had a coupon and was ready to use it. The cashier was like, “you don’t need a coupon. It’s one cent.” Really? Yes, really!!! Apparently it was on clearance and needed to be gone. And she was dead serious. So, I got a $24.99 vase for a PENNY! She said I should go buy a lottery ticket!

Jewelry holder. Because I have so much jewelry. Haha!

And curtains. I’m still thinking of finding some fabric to drape across the top that would go with the bed. But we’ll see. Kind of like it as it is.

The room is so much lighter. I love it! Just need a few more decorations!

One a side note:

Here is a craft I finished for Josie’s room:

Cute little shelves that look like swings!

Now, for the next project. Think it’s time to tackle the bathrooms!

My Living Room Make Over

2012-02-20T12:12:00.001-08:00

The next “upgrade” on the house was to give the living room some life. I was tired of the old stuff. Never really liked the paint color on the wall. Looked purple most of the time and I hated that! Here is what it looked like before:

So, between Pinterest and my own creativity, this is what I came up with! I really like it! Makes the room seem brighter!

Curtains – Found super cheap at Target. Love them!

Fireplace – The squares are scrapbooking paper on canvas. The idea came from Pinterest where they used foam core and scrapbooking paper. I didn’t like the way it turned out. And I added the ribbon on them to hang them up. The stuff on the mantel came from my own doings at TJMaxx!

The décor above the TV was mostly Pinterest:

Family Tree - http://naptimedecorator.blogspot.com/2011/11/family-handprint-tree.html it came from this website. But I changed it up a little. I think It turned out pretty cute.

“M” - http://pinterest.com/pin/51791464434498568/ came from here, but not sure you are going to see it unless you are on Pinterest. I was going to do the twine but really had no idea how they did it. So, I just painted the M and then added some cute little flower things I found at the Dollar Spot stuff in Michaels.

Shadow box - http://myblessedlife.net/2010/02/easy-valentines-day-craft.html I used a different color scheme and used scrapbook paper and the same flowers from the “M”. Love it! The squares around it are from Bed Bath and Beyond. They are wall stickers that look like a frame. I added some scrapbooking paper behind them.

The Circle Wall – I found this cool thing at Bed Bath and Beyond. Added some scrapbooking paper and wah-la! A fancy piece of art! And a round clock to top it off!

I love this new room! I might make some pillows for the couches, but I lost ambition on doing that! Such fun!

Next project: Kitchen or our bedroom? Don’t know which yet.

Jayden’s New Room

2012-01-22T18:09:00.001-08:00

I am one for change. Not all change. I like the kind of change I do on the inside of my house! I get bored with décor, pretty fast. And now we have decided that we aren’t going to move and are just going to stay put and make this house more of a home! So, I am starting with one room and working to the next! My hubby gave me permission to do what I want! Got to like that. So I have a list concocted and it is up on our fridge. Hopefully, we will be crossing things off right and left! I am looking forward to this!

I decided to start with Jayden’s room! His room has been the same since he was about 18 months old or so. I have wanted to change it for a couple years, but let’s just say, Jayden is NOT one for change! Well, he was finally okay with redoing his room, to an extent!

So here is his room that we did when we moved him to a big boy bed before Josie was born.

Okay, so we had changed a few things since then, but this is what it started out with. Jayden loves farm. Always has, always will! You can’t take it out of him. So over time, we have incorporated more things that have wheels, besides tractors! He just loves wheels. He loves how they work and loves watching them work.

Over the last couple weeks I have been looking for some different ideas. Of course, the addiction to Pinterest helps! I got a few ideas off of there. Jayden picked out a new color and we went from there! And this is what we have come up with!

We found these signs around a year ago. Hobby Lobby is a great place to find cheap décor!

The skateboard idea below I got off of Pinterest. I thought this was really cool and I knew Jayden would love it! We hooked up two skateboards to the wall to work as shelves! We didn’t screw anything into the skateboards, incase someday he will want to use them outside! I just love this idea! (and they have wheels!)

I took wooden letters and some dirt bike/BMX magazines and made these letters! I cut out pictures from the magazines and mod podged them onto the letters! They look really nice in person. I’m not quite done with this corner of the wall. I’m still on the look out for a few more things!

Another view.

I’m pretty excited about his room! Something he can grow into for awhile! I know he won’t let me change it for a very long time so I better like it, huh?

I love redecorating and this was a really fun project! Now, on to the family room!

Water Beads

2011-11-27T19:30:00.001-08:00

Have you seen these things? I have seen these crazy things a few times at the Hallmark stores and have wondered what the heck they are. I also thought they would be fun to play with!

I decided to buy some and see how it would work. They are non-toxic so that’s even better! I bought four different colors to make it more eye catching! You have to soak them in water for 12 hours before you can actually use them. Once they were done, the kids dug right in!

I just had out some random clear containers and utensils for them to use. Just a fun little activity. They say these are supposed to last up to 6 months. But we shall see how long we use them for! They seem to break easy. But that’s all right, we have enough to last awhile!

Halloween Survival Guide

2011-10-31T18:08:00.001-07:00

I am usually not one that gets into Halloween. Just not a holiday that I like much other than letting the kids dress up and go get all that candy they don’t need! Anyway, a couple months ago I was browsing around on my favorites sites and came across this idea: http://naptimejournal.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-survival-kits.html

I found it super cool and thought I needed to make one to take to work. All you need is a bead container, stuff to decorate it, and the goods to go inside it. I had a lot of fun making it and it sure seemed to be enjoyed at work today.

I decorated the outside with scrapbooking paper and curled ribbon. I found these labels that had spiders on them to write what I wanted on.

Some of the items that Nap Time Journal used, I changed to make it my own.

Here is the list of the items to “Eat At Your Own Risk”

Twisted twigs – Twizzlers

Bat Droppings – Tootsie Rolls

Ghost Doughnuts – Lifesaver Mints

Skull Dust – Powdered drink mix

Rat Eyes – Cinnamon Dots

Vampire Teeth – Candy corns

Brain Cells – Nerds

Frog Legs – Mike and Ikes

Fried Skin Flakes – Sno Caps (chocolate with white dots)

Bed Bugs – Sluggles gummies

Ghost Poo – mini marshmallows

Mummy Corpse – Sour Patch Kids

It turned out really cute. Next year I might have to make a couple! I’m kind of brainstorming what I could do for Christmas! Such a fun thing to create!

Glow In The Dark Bath

2011-10-29T18:44:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I am now a fan of Pinterest. I just started looking at it this week and I have already fell in love. My kids are going to be busy with new things to do. My “new” house someday will be pretty with new fun things to decorate with! Lastly, I will be broke! If you haven’t had a chance to look at Pinterest, you need to. Especially, if you are a crafty person like me!

Tonight the kids took glow in the dark baths. All you need is some glow sticks and a dark bathroom! I got it all ready and surprised them. It was super fun and they were really excited. Josie told me about 10 times how cool it was!

We will be buying some more glue sticks for this winter when they need a nice long, WARM bath!

This was Jayden’s tub.

This was Josie’s tub. I put bubbles in hers. Kind of a cool effect!

Now I have to give credit to Marissa Denham on Pinterest. I have yet to figure out how to actually show the website this came from, but I can at least tell you who I found it from!

Can’t wait to do more fun things off of Pinterest!

Try it out! It’s fun!

Getting Colder = Time For Art!

2011-10-18T18:29:00.001-07:00

So of course it’s Iowa and the weather changes daily! Well, It’s finally time for fall temps! Not so much a fan, but I guess that’s why I live here! I miss the 80’s already!

Now that we will be spending more time inside, it’s time to find some things to do to keep these kids busy! Of course, they have a million toys, but they have been ignoring them for months! Not looking forward to Christmas and trying to figure out what to get these two! They don’t need a single thing!

Anyway, Josie was digging around in the craft stuff and found this package of people shapes.

The people shapes had sticky fronts so all we had to do was find stuff that would stick to them. We got out tissue paper, gems, sequins, googly eyes, yarn, and curly ribbon. Figured that was enough to keep them busy! So, the kids got busy decorating!

They had a fun time. It was fun to see how unique each one they made was.

Loved this activity! Should have picked up a few more of these when they were on clearance at Michaels!

We hung the finished artwork up in the kitchen for all of us to admire! Little color is good! I even got in on the action and did a few of them myself!

Melted Crayon Canvas

2011-10-08T18:54:00.001-07:00

Found this idea on one of my favorite blogs that I follow. So, of course, I had to make it with the kids! And since the kids seem to be under the weather AGAIN, we are hanging low the weekend.

http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2011/08/melted-rainbow-crayon-canvas.html

I bought some crayons. You need to use Crayola because I hear they are the only ones that work the best. I hot glued them into a rainbow pattern on a piece of canvas. Got the hair dryer out and started melting the crayons!

The kids had fun watching the colors melt. I will tell you that it took a long time for the colors to actually melt. And of course I couldn’t get mine to look as cool as “Pink and Green Mama” did. But oh well, it was still fun!

I am going to try another canvas with black, white, and gray and see how that turns out. Hopefully we’ll have some fun wall art for our new house someday!

Most importantly, the kids were proud of it! And it does look neat in person!

What’s Next?

2011-09-14T18:35:00.001-07:00

It’s been awhile since I have updated on here. Apparently I am a busy girl! I am trying to figure out the direction of this blog. Now that I am working and both kids are in school, the fun activities are not getting done. I still keep my eye out on fun activities, but haven’t been any for awhile. I love crafting and doing things with my kids so I hope an can still continue some fun ones every now and then.

So, I have been at my job for a month now. The first day was absolutely nerve racking! But now, it’s like old news! I love my job. I love the staff and I love the kids. Everyday seems to be different. I start my day with the kindergartners. They are funny little human beings! I also work with second graders and 4th graders. It’s really interesting to start my day with kindergartners and end the day with 4th graders.

I am only working 4 hours a day. Right now, that is a super perfect schedule for me. I still have a couple hours to myself during the day. Get stuff done, run errands! It’s perfect! And the extra cash is pretty nice to have!

Jayden is loving 1st grade. It’s going a million times better than last year. His teacher is amazing. It is such a relief! Not one day last year did he come home and say he had an awesome day. He has said that almost everyday this year! He has had to adjust to a new classroom, but he’s doing GREAT! I’m a happy mom!

Josie is doing great in kindergarten. She’s having a hard time in the mornings when we go to school. I am still having to walk her all the way in. I stop at her room door though. I am slowly working on making her more independent. She just loves her mom too much I guess! She has a GREAT teacher too. I can’t ask for a better start for Josie! She cracks me up with the stories she comes home with. I should be writing them down, but I don’t. I may regret this someday.

I have learned a few things over the last four weeks:

1. It’s GREAT to be back in the workforce again. Even though it’s only for a short time each day. It makes me feel important again! It’s a rewarding job and I am glad it fell in to my hands. ( And I have got to buy a whole new closet full of clothes!)

2. My kids are awesome kids. They do their best. They treat others with respect. I hope I have done something right and they keep being the kids they are.

3. After being in the schools and having an inside look at what goes on, I have to hand it to the teachers. This school system expects A LOT out of the teachers. They don’t always get the credit they deserve. I have worked on a few things for some teachers and have thought how tedious it is and how much work they have to do, it’s just crazy. They don’t get thanked or appreciated enough! So, I want to say thank you to all the teachers out there.

I’m not sure where this blog is going to go from here, but I am sure I will come up with something. Happy Fall and I hope everyone’s school year is off to a good start like ours! Anything is better than last year!

Happy 7th Birthday, Jayden!

2011-08-28T19:08:00.001-07:00

Man, how time flies! Seven years ago tomorrow this is was Jayden:

I seriously cannot believe he is seven! I love this little man to death. He has a heart of gold. Loves his family. Cares for EVERYONE. Worries about EVERYONE! He amazes me with his knowledge. Maybe that’s because he would rather watch the Discovery or History Channel than Nick or Disney!

I went through some of our pictures and tried to pick some fun ones. It was fun to look back on my blonde hair and blue eyed boy!

If only I could put video on here of his little scooting butt! Jayden never crawled, he scooted. It was so stinking cute! How I miss seeing his little butt shimmy across the floor!

He loves the outdoors and he LOVES the farm!

Jayden, you are becoming quite the little man. I love your warm heart. I love how much you care about your sister. I love how much you do the right thing and always watch out for others. Don’t ever let anyone change that about you. I am super excited to see how this school year goes! Fresh start and GREAT teacher! You already say it’s awesome. You never once said that in kindergarten. I love you to the moon and back! Love, Mom

Kindergarten And Beyond!

2011-08-12T19:47:00.001-07:00

Well, the time has come. My baby girl is heading off to kindergarten on Monday. Ugh! I think I am ready, but am I really? Nope, probably not. Will there be tears shed? Yep, probably will be.

I decided to look back on pictures tonight for this post. Hard to pick the ones I wanted to use and it also brought back a flood of memories of my little peanut. Yes, she did have straight hair at one point. And yes, she has always had an attitude!

The five lucky years I got to spend with her were awesome. I am so glad I have got to see all her milestones and then some. Yes, there were some days she tested me to the limit, (and still does) but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I thank Kevin for letting me stay home. I couldn’t imagine it any different than it was. I don’t regret sacrificing the last seven years to be home with my kids. It will be memories that we will have forever.

I am very proud of my little peanut. I can’t wait to see how her first year at school goes. She says she is nervous but I know she is going to do great! I worry a little about her bladder issues and pray she doesn’t regress, but if she does, we will deal with it. I pray that her first year goes so much better than Jayden’s. I pray she makes friends easy and is nice to all her friends. I pray she stays true to herself and makes her mommy proud!

So what is the beyond part? That involves myself! I decided since both kids were in school that I wanted to go back to work. I thought at first that I didn’t want to do anything with kids. Haha, that didn’t last long. I applied for a job at the kids’ school I wanted really, really bad, but that didn’t work out. Yes, I was super bummed, but I decided to look into a couple more at different schools. I went in to interview for a position and walked out having the opportunity to choose between four different ones! I was happy, but it was very overwhelming! I didn’t know what one I wanted to go with and I wanted to make sure it was the right fit for my family.

During all of this last week, I had found out about someone I know past away. She was a preschool mom I had gotten to know this last school year. A great mom of two, young, full of life. This hurt me in many ways! I feel for that family and pray that God is watching over them and that the girls have the love and support they need to deal with their mom not being here anymore. I had just ran into this mom a couple weeks before at a local establishment. We chatted for a long time about what we were going to do when the kids went to school. She was really excited about a job she applied for, which she ended up accepting! She was happy and seemed fine. Life is just not fair!

With this happening, and four different jobs to choose from, I was super emotional! I cried a lot! I was scared to make the wrong decision, but I went with my gut. I decided that I wasn’t ready to not be there for my kids. I still want to be able to help out in their classrooms. I want to help them until they say they don’t need me anymore. Life is too short!! I want to enjoy my kids and still be there for them. So, I chose the job that gave me four hours a day, all morning hours. And I can still help out in their rooms/school! WAH-HOO!

Now, as I look on to the week coming up, I have all sorts of emotions. Am I ready to commit to something? Am I ready to answer to someone? Am I confident I can do the job? Did I make the right decision? Should I have waited a while and just see how the next couple months would go at home? Am I going to fit in? Will people like me? Will I screw up? Will I like the job? Eeek! Lots of questions.

I have to tell myself that I am ready for a change. I’m ready to work again. I’m ready to help kids again. I’m ready to be out with other adults! Wow, that’s a concept! Adult conversation! Who knew it existed. I think I am ready to walk into the school and hopefully everything falls in to place. I still don’t know my duties, which scares me. Looks like I will be thrown in to things! But that’s okay! I hope I can fit in with the other associates. I am the only new one so I have to find my place in the group!

Now, Josie, oh my Josie. These years went way to fast. I cannot believe you will be in kindergarten! I know you will do great! I can’t believe it was a year ago I was writing a post about Jayden, typing and crying at the same time! I am doing it all over again! Doesn’t seem right that it’s your turn now. I love you with all my heart and I can’t wait to see you spread your wings and fly. I hope I have taught you well and given you the confidence to navigate this world. I can’t wait to watch you grow and learn. Do the best you can. Be the best you can. And have fun doing it! I am pretty sure I will be crying on Monday. I promise to try and hold back the tears until I leave your classroom. Can’t promise much as I have been super emotional lately! We will make it! I love you, Peanut!

Change is a good thing. And there is a lot of change in our house! Hopefully it doesn’t take us long to adjust! I’m excited, nervous, and anxious for all that is to come this year. I hope we are on to great and better things!

LIFE IS GOOD!

Tie Dye Baby Wipes!

2011-07-19T11:01:00.001-07:00

I don’t know about you, but we always have baby wipes around the house. My kids are out of diapers, but I still carry some in my purse and have some handy in our vehicles! I always wondered, back in the day, why my mom and dad always seemed to have wipes handy. Now I know!! Kids are messy!

This craft is super easy and good fun! I think they could have sat and done it all afternoon! Why not, nothing else to do in this monster heat wave outside!

I got this idea from Make and Takes. Here is the link: http://www.makeandtakes.com/summer-camp-for-kids-tie-dye-baby-wipes

I didn’t have any Kool-aid on hand so we used food coloring and water instead. Works just the same, I assume.

I let the kids fold up the wipes how they wanted them to be folded.

Then they used a clothespin to keep it together. What’s next? Start dipping!

Then when they were done dying them, I unfolded it! They got really excited to see what it looked like!

I did most of the work for them. I let them fold and dye them, but besides that, I did most of it! Didn’t want food coloring all over the place! We managed to keep the mess low, but still had fun!

I put them outside to dry. It’s 110 out! They should dry fast! They were very proud of their work! Such a fun easy activity!

Sponge Painting

2011-07-07T20:01:00.001-07:00

Josie had been begging me for awhile to do an inside painting project. We didn’t have much going on yesterday so I decided to get something going for her. I saw this idea on a website. Here is the link: http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/06/australia-craft-sponge-art-activity.html She actually has on there a few things she has done with sponges. We have actually made the water sponge balls before! Those work great for outside!

I cut two sponges up into different size pieces. Cubes to long strips. Gave her some paint and paper and we were ready to go!

She had a good time painting! She made a fish and starfish by the waves and sand. And then she decided to copy my rainbow I was making on my own paper. Her and I had a good time painting! Super easy and just good fun. I cleaned up the sponges and put them in a baggie for another day!

Cardboard Kitchen

2011-06-30T12:21:00.001-07:00

I found this idea in the Family Fun magazine a long time ago. When I get an idea from somewhere, I have a binder I put them into. Then I can refer to this when we need something to do.

The idea was to make a kitchen out of recycled products and cardboard. I cheated and went to Home Depot and bought boxes that would be perfect and the right size. I also added a couple boxes that I had at home. I usually save recycling items that I think that I can use at a later date. I finally had enough to make the kitchen!

I found a few things at the Dollar Tree that I wanted to add to it, but most of this stuff we had in the house. This might be one of my favorite projects yet, and the kids really love it!

Here are my little cooks having fun! Of course, Jayden wanted real working water in the sink, but I told him to use his imagination! Maybe you have some ideas for your own kitchen! We still had some of our play kitchen stuff. I had held on to all the Melissa and Doug stuff we have. It worked great for our fun activity!

Here are some of the things we used. Mrs. Dash, soap dispenser, tiny juice jugs, drink lids for handles, red coasters for the stove, sticky back hooks to hang up the towels and pot holders.

Why Not Paint With These?

2011-06-30T12:08:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I was walking around Dollar Tree. Out of the corner of my eye I see these random things hanging up:

Yep, they look like mini mops. Bet you can’t guess what these are supposed to be used for? To spread sauce on your meat when you grill! Of course, when I saw them, I didn’t see a big feast at the grill. Instead, I saw a fun utensil to use to paint!

We had some plywood pieces sitting around in the garage so I decided we need to paint one! I put out six colors of paint and let the kids go to work. They thought this was the coolest way to paint. Both really liked it!

We just used tempera paint to do the painting. It worked like a charm! I even got to get into the fun and help paint. It was a good time!

Here is our finished product! We really don’t have anywhere to put this, but it was still fun to paint! Maybe we can paint the other side another time!

My Baby Girl Turns 5!

2011-06-21T19:19:00.001-07:00

This was us, five years ago today! Me, holding my new baby girl. Feeling scared. Thinking, “What do I do with a girl?” It was a different feeling than when I had my son. I remember how hard it was to name her. We had a different name picked out every week. We couldn’t decide. I don’t remember where I heard her name, but when I did, it clicked! And I knew she was going to be a Josie. And that she is!

She is full of spunk. She is full of life. She doesn’t always listen, but what kid does? She makes me laugh, she makes me cry. She loves her brother. She loves a lot of things. She loves her Barbie's. She loves her dresses. She loves anything girly.

It’s funny raising such a girly girl. I was a tomboy. Still am a tomboy. So when she started wanting to wear dresses and skirts ALL THE TIME, that was an adjustment! But, when she puts one on and that big smile goes across her face and she starts twirling around, I know she’s happy.

My baby girl will be heading to Kindergarten this fall. EEEK! This mama is not quite ready for that. She’s ready, yep, she’s ready. But for me, I am not. Partly because I will be alone and have to figure out what I want to do. I think I am going to go back to work, in some capacity. I would love to say that it’s figured out, but it’s not. I know whatever happens will happen and I will go from there! Life is an adventure, right?

My baby girl is the 3rd best thing that happened to me! Of course, my hubby is number 1 and my son is number 2! She completes me. There are days that she can really push it, but there are days like today where she’s the best thing ever!

I love you more than you will ever know. I will do anything to make your life happy. Thank you for being YOU. I love you, Peanut!

WORMS! A.K.A. SPAGHETTI!

2011-06-13T18:44:00.001-07:00

I had researched some ideas for sensory tables and made a list of the things I wanted to experiment with! It was yet another yucky day here so we needed something fun to do.

I cooked up two boxes of spaghetti. One box I added purple food coloring. The second box I added green food coloring. I also added baby oil. This keeps the noodles slick and they won’t stick together! Plus, it smells good!

The kids had super fun with this! I got out a couple little strainers, utensils, and plates and let them go to work!

Josie thought it looked like worms. The whole time she kept talking about worms and she HATES worms! She’s actually slightly petrified of real worms. But, these worms” were okay to play with!

Jayden surprised me! 3 or 4 years ago he never would have touched these noodles. He has a texture issue with many things. But, he dug right in and it was awesome. He loved. They both thought it was fun to squish it between their fingers!

You don’t have to add the food coloring into the noodles, but if you do, make sure your child has old clothes on! I am sure we will be doing this activity again! Enjoy!

Kool Aid Playdough

2011-06-11T18:37:00.001-07:00

I like to make different kinds of playdough! I think it’s more fun to play with a home made kind than to buy the stuff at the store! So, Josie and I got busy and made some with kool aid. This was really easy and it smells really good too!

This is how you make it:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1 pkg. kool aid (whatever flavor you like)

1 cup boiling water

1 1/2 teaspoon oil

Mix flour, salt and kool aid. Stir in water and oil. Knead. Store in air tight container or zip lock. The site I used said you can keep it up to two months.

Here is our finished product!

The kids kept busy with this fun dough!

Encouraging Summer Reading

2011-06-11T18:16:00.001-07:00

I wanted Jayden to keep on his reading this summer. He ended the school year being able to read small chapter books and I didn’t want him to back pedal by the time school started. Of course, he had different intentions and didn’t think he needed to read daily.

I was going to do the summer reading program at the local library with the kids, but decided I would probably not be that dedicated to the program. But of course, the new Family Fun magazine saved the day! They had included this idea in this last month’s issue:

Basically, you reward the reading by making a beaded bookmark. I got out the yarn and the beads. I decided that we would read 10 minutes per day and add more minutes as the summer progresses. After each reading session, Jayden gets to earn a bead to string on some yarn. This, becomes his bookmark. I told him that when he collects 10 beads then he can either get a matchbox car or we can go out for a special treat. I am sure that he will choose a matchbox car, but to me it’s worth it to keep him reading!

He is super excited about this and actually brings me the book and timer to start reading! I hope this can work all summer!

Got to love the cheesy smile!

Hopefully this can encourage your young reader!

Got To Love To Paint!

2011-06-08T19:14:00.001-07:00

We like to paint at our house. We do a lot of it. The kids like it and it keeps them busy! Last week we had went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a couple things I was looking for. We were strolling around and made it to the unfinished wood aisle. I LOVE THIS STUFF! Lucky us, it was on sale! And when it’s on sale, it’s usually a good deal because they are cheap to begin with. It makes for an easy little project. So, I let the kids each pick out something to paint. Josie picked a cute little wood “bucket” with a handle. Jayden picked a treasure box.

This week has been super hot. It was time to paint our treasures!

It was nice to see them actually get into this project. They are finally getting to the point where they will take their time and paint for an extended period of time! So nice!

After they dried I put a clear coat on them. They turned out really cute! And both kids are very proud of their work.

Jayden hasn’t decided what he’s putting in his yet. Unless he did today and he didn’t tell me. Josie is using hers on her vanity. She put her fake make up in it that I made her at Christmas.

Might have to make another trip to Hobby Lobby to do some more painting!

My Girly Girl Has Her Vanity!

2011-06-01T19:29:00.001-07:00

Josie’s 5th birthday is coming up this month. I was having a hard time thinking of what we were going to get her. We had stumbled across her playing with a toy vanity at our neighbors and it hit me: MY GIRLY GIRL NEEDS A VANITY!

I had a vanity growing up and used it all the time. It was one of my favorite things in my room. So, I knew this is what I wanted to get her. Yes, she is only going to be 5, but it’s something she can grow in to and use it for many years.

Here’s the problem: apparently no furniture store carries them anymore. I hunted all around our area, but had no luck. I had found one on line I liked, but was not quite sold on it. A couple people told me to try out an antique store. So, I drug my friend out to a couple local ones and we find one! It wasn’t quite what I wanted, but it was close enough and something I could work with and make it special. Plus, the price was right!

So, this is what I had to work with:

A vanity from 1960! The original pamphlet was still with it!

Here is how it turned out after I got my creative hands on it:

Here is the stool it came with and I recovered it with some fabric to match her room.

I decided to leave the wood alone. I don’t know if we will ever change it. It wasn’t in that bad of shape and I think it gives it some more character. So we’ll see how this goes for awhile.

Of course, we couldn’t hide it until her birthday! We have no where to store something this big in our house. So, we just gave it to her early!

Do you think she likes it?

I am happy with the way it turned out and I hope she appreciates it for a long time!

This was the first day she got to “play” with it. I watched her from the hallway. It’s fun to watch your kids when they don’t know you are watching them! She had just got out her fake make up and was playing with it!

Such fun for such a girly girl!

Shaving cream!

2011-06-01T19:12:00.001-07:00

I love messy things! I love to get dirty and just have fun doing it! Last week, it was raining and we were stuck inside. I had planned for the rains so earlier in the day I cut out some shapes, using cookie cutters, on some white cardstock paper.

After the kids were home, fed, and had some time to wined down, we got busy! I had bought a couple cheap cookie sheets at the Dollar Tree for activities like this! I set the table up and it was time to get messy!

WARNING: If doing this activity inside, cover all areas!

I gave each kid a blob of shaving cream. They then got to choose a color (food coloring) that they wanted to make the shaving cream. I put some drops of food coloring on the shaving cream and gave them a popsicle stick to mix it up!

Once it mixed to their liking, they pressed the paper shape into the shaving cream.

They did this for awhile. We changed colors a couple times. But they got sick of using the sticks and started using their hands! Remember: food coloring stains! But it was fun! They only had colored hands for about 24 hours!

I guess I didn’t get a picture of Josie using her hands, but Jayden got into it! This really surprises me as Jayden has always had texture issues! He would not have done this a couple years ago! It’s fun to see him get messy!

I didn’t get a good picture of our colored shapes, but this gives you an idea. And I didn’t keep them to see how they would dry. But it was still fun!

I got this from one of two website, but I can’t remember what site. They did it a bit differently too. Their idea was Easter related. It was either from “Dresses and Messes” or “Glue Sticks”. Look them up! They are good sites!

Gazing Balls for Mother’s Day

2011-05-21T18:29:00.001-07:00

This year for Mother’s Day, I decided to get creative. I had seen this idea on another website that I love to follow. She is always crafty and very artsy! Pink and Green Mama is a great site. I think I have referenced it before.

She had done these a while back. I had bookmarked it and decided to make them for mothers day. Here is the link to her directions - http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2009/05/home-made-gazing-balls-for-your-garden.html

I didn’t take as many pictures as I usually do, but oh well! I found the balls at Michaels. They were under $2 a piece. Then I bought some acrylic metallic paint in four fun colors! I also that the 3/8 dowel. I just cut one if half to make two gazing balls. Last, I found some silver jewelry wire, I believe in 12 gauge. It worked great!

The kids had fun making them for the Grandmas for Mother’s Day. I liked them so much that we made a couple for our front rock area! Very easy craft to do! And it makes a great present! Even a few people thought I had bought them! I fooled them!

Thanks Pink and Green Mama for yet another great idea!

Preschool Graduation and Tribute To A Great Teacher!

2011-05-20T18:39:00.001-07:00

Oh boy, today was the day! My baby girl “graduated” from preschool!

I have very mixed emotions about today. I am excited for school to be over and for us to be able to have a fun summer! (Just have to wait until Jayden is done next Thursday!) But, I was not ready for her to be done with school! She loved going! She loved her teacher!

Today, we celebrated at the school. The kids got to walk into the gym with their graduation hats on and the graduation music playing! How cute is that!

They each got called up to receive their “diploma” form their teacher and the principal.

Then they sang some cute, energetic songs! It was fun to watch them all. Most sing, some don’t want anything to do with it, some are scared, and some are just super excited to belt those words out!

At the end Josie and her friend Malerie presented their teacher with a picture from the park the other day. Malerie’s mom was in charge of the picture and I was in charge of the frame! It became a bigger project than we both thought, but I’m glad it turned out the way it did!

She opened it up.

Super cool picture of the class!

Then she read the card I gave her.

Here’s the thing, this is one awesome teacher! It was very hard to hold back tears today. She was crying about two minutes into the celebration when she was reading a poem, which then lead to my waterworks starting up! It was off and on teary from that point until the end!

There is those times when you cross a path of a great teacher. A teacher who is there to TEACH the children and to TEACH them to be who they are and nothing else matters. A teacher who is not afraid to get on her hands and knees to play, or to get dirty, or to give a hug, or to just plain be down at a child’s level!

This is a teacher who we will always remember and be thankful that she is a teacher. She helped Josie grow into the student we hope she’ll be as she continues on to Kindergarten.

There is so much more I could say about this awesome teacher. Thank you for everything you did for my daughter and her friends! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come in and volunteer once a week! Thank you for being the rock to Josie’s foundation! You are a great teacher and great teachers need to be recognized!

Thanks again, for helping the children color the world!

Noodles!

2011-05-20T06:13:00.001-07:00

Last week, I was picking up some groceries and discovered these noodles I had never seen before! I picked some up to make some cavitelli, but then I decided I needed some extra boxes to do something with in the sensory table! They are called ditalini noodles. Here is a link to check them out: http://www.barillaus.com/Products/4/ditalini.aspx

I brought them home and got busy dying them with food coloring and vinegar. They turned out nice and bright.

They dried pretty quick so Josie got busy playing with them. I put some different strings in with them and she started threading them! It was a good little activity for her. Plus, I had put a good hand full of “see through” containers in with the noodles. She had a good time playing with them.

When my son got home from school, he dug right in and had some fun, too! It didn’t take him very long to figure out that these noodles could fit in his auger! So we soon had a farm! I didn’t get a picture of him, but it was fun to see him use his creativity.

What I liked about these noodles is that they seem to be keeping the kids’ interest longer than normal. It have had this activity out for a week now and I think they have played with them everyday! I like that! Sometimes I get something out and ready to put in the table and they only play with it for about 20 minutes. So this is obviously a hit!

The Royal Fever

2011-04-29T18:24:00.001-07:00

My four year old has the Royal Fever! I was super excited to watch the wedding of William and Catherine today. Why? Because it is the only thing happy going on in this world!

My four year old joined in on the excitement!

She had been wanting one of the girls Easter dresses at Target. I was not going to pay full price for one as I knew she just wanted it for play. I told her that I would get her one after Easter. One word: Clearance! Yesterday, I was roaming around Target and found her the perfect little dress to play in. She likes the big “poufy” kind. This one looks like a little flower girl dress! She was very excited yesterday when she saw the dress and had it on immediately.

Well, this morning we sat down to watch the wedding. (Of course, she had her new dress on.) Josie was very intrigued by Princess Catherine. She loved her dress, loved the veil, and pretty much just loved everything about it.

After a while, she came into the room with a Barbie. The Barbie was in a pretty gown and a veil. So she was obviously mimicking Princess Catherine. A little while later she turns to me and says, “Mom, I want a veil. Can you sew me up one?” I responded with a yes, we can figure something out. I didn’t know how I was going to make one, but knew I had better figure it out!

Here is what I came up with today. One yard of tulle, one head band, 1/2 yard of a row of embellishments, and some tiny jewels. I think I spent less than $5 to make her veil.

Here is the final product!

She had to have the part of the veil that comes over the face like Princess Catherine’s. How cute is this! She loves it. She had a hard time being patient for me to get all the little jewels hot glued on to the tulle, but in the end, I think it was worth the wait!

It’s so fun to do these cute little things. She was grinning from ear to ear when I had it all done. I’m sure she’s going to wake up in the morning and that will be the first thing she puts on! How she needs a bouquet of flowers! Then it will be complete!

Such fun for a dress loving girl! I’m glad I was crafty enough to come up with something!

Easter Fun

2011-04-21T06:47:00.001-07:00

We got in the Easter spirit this week and did some crafty things. Just some simple crafts to make these dreary, cold spring days fly by! Really, it just needs to warm up! The sun needs to shine. And we need to be out enjoying the awesome weather. But I guess we will be patient and wait for mother nature to decide when that will be!

I set up Josie with a little painting project. I gave her some different colors of paint, some Easter shaped cookie cutters, and some paint brushes. Very simple, but a good amount of time was spent on her work of art!

I had bought some card stock egg shapes at Michaels. I then covered them with different colors of paper. After school, the kids got busy and decorated the eggs. I even did a couple too! We used, Easter stickers, egg confetti, gems, and puffy paint. Puffy paint seemed to be the hit. They don’t quite have it mastered on how much to use, but it will come eventually! After they dried, I hung them up on the cupboards in the kitchen.

I have never decorated eggs before. I have never boiled eggs before. Of course, I had to look that up, plus ask a friend how she did hers! We set up to do the eggs and it turned out more fun than I thought. The kids really liked this and I guess we will have to do it next year! It was easy and simple. And now we have a cute little centerpiece on the table to look at! Nice work kids! (Yes, Josie is busting a move in the first picture! We like listening to music in our house. She must have liked the song!)

New Wheels For The Little Man!

2011-04-10T19:13:00.001-07:00

I think every time I blink or turn around and focus on something else, Jayden grows up on me! We have known that he was in need of a bigger bike, but I don’t think either of us realized it until today. We were outside enjoying the weather. Jayden was riding his bike around. I got to looking at him and had to laugh. The poor kid was just too long legged for his bike! He loves to ride his bike. But now it was time to find him something a bit bigger!

I had to look back at the past years of him on his bikes. I found a couple pictures to share.

Here he is on his 12 inch bike. Probably between three or four years old.

Focused and ready to go!

Here he is on this 16 inch bike. He had learned to ride without training wheels this day! I can remember how super excited he was! And this is the bike that he just graduated from today!

And now a 20 inch! The guy at the bike shop kind of laughed at us when we told him he was still on a 16 inch. So, I guess it was time to move him up! We found an awesome deal on a GOOD brand bike at a local bike shop. It is used, but Kevin was excited about it. We had stumbled upon something good for once! And to Jayden, it’s a new bike! Love it.

The best part….we were explaining to him how this was a good deal and that a new one is between 200-300 bucks. And how cheap we got it was a very good price. He responds with, “just like on American Pickers!” And we all laugh. American Pickers is one of Jayden’s favorite shows!

He was in a hurry to get it home and test it out. He just loves it and couldn’t be more happy. I love this kid so much. He has a heart of gold and the littlest things just make him light up! Glad we could make his day! Now he has a new bike to grow in to!

Can We Grow a Garden?

2011-04-10T18:56:00.001-07:00

For about the last 3 years or so, we have talked about making a garden. I have no green thumb so it doesn’t sound like much fun to me! But, I also think it is something the kids need to learn about. Where our food comes from. How plants grow. The work it takes to make these things happen. This weekend, we bought one of those starter greenhouse kits. The kids picked out vegetables and flowers.

I decided that this can be a project for their dad and them. I do so much with them that I wanted Kevin to have a little fun too! It’s kind of fun to be a bystander!

First they put the soil in each slot.

Then they got busy filling the holes with the different seeds. Kevin made a map so we know what is in each hole! Good thinking!

All done and ready to see what grows!

Now our goal is, by the time that they outgrow this greenhouse, we will have an idea of where were are going to transfer them too! I am sure Kevin can handle it real well! Here’s to happy gardening!

Digging Up Bones

2011-04-10T18:45:00.001-07:00

I decided to take the sensory table outside and start doing the messy things I have swarming in my head! Our front porch is nice and shady, just the perfect spot.

I decided to put together a “bone” digging table. I bought some dog biscuits that are bone shaped. Then I bought some potting soil that is chemical free! I had to let the potting soil dry for about 24 hours.

Once it dried the kids got busy! The idea behind it is to dig up the bones and then put together an animal skeleton. Could also do dinosaurs! The kids got busy digging!

They had a great time digging with their tools and finding the bones! Here are a couple of their skeletons!

Josie’s Skeleton! I think this one was a cat

And this is Jayden’s monkey!

This was a fun idea! I found the dog biscuit part on line, but then came up with what to cover it with. I’m sure it’s not going to take Jayden long to figure out that he can “farm” the dirt, too! Once they are done with this activity, I will use the soil to plant some flowers in their flower pots from the last post!

Spring Flowers

2011-04-04T18:38:00.001-07:00

Today we did a very fun and EASY craft! I bought a couple flower pots at Michaels. They are super cheap. I want to say they were under 2 bucks a piece! I let the kids paint them and make them their own.

I had bought a pack of white flower cut outs. Wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with them, but I knew I wanted to do something with flowers for spring! So the kids each decorated six flowers. They used: gems, foam flower stickers, sequins, tissue paper, stickers, etc. It was great. Each flower had it’s own uniqueness.

I had a bunch of dowels in my stash of stuff. I painted them green and those became the stems. We had to wait for everything to dry!

I ran to Dollar Tree and got those foam things you can put in the bottom of a vase/flower pot to hold the flowers in place. I also picked up some green Easter grass to fill in the flower pot. I taped each dowel to a flower and filled their flower pot with 5 flowers each.

HAPPY SPRING!

When we are done admiring them on the inside, I’m going to have the kids plant some flowers and will watch them grow outside! Double use for their flower pots!

What I love about my kids is their thoughtfulness for others. Each of them asked if they could take one of their flowers to their teachers tomorrow. Of course, I said yes! On the back of the flower I put: “Thanks for helping me grow.” I really wanted to hang on to these until the end of the school year and they could give them to their teachers, but nope, wasn’t going to happen! I love my kids!

Comfort food!

2011-03-23T18:17:00.001-07:00

I have become a fan of cooking over the last couple of years. It is just way more easier (and more enjoyable) to eat at home then try and drag young kids out! When school started, last fall, I started making a monthly menu. This works like a charm! We don’t eat out as much and we have more quality time at home around the table.

The picture above is a comfort food meal. It comes from my high school years. I spent A LOT of time with my friend Kim and her family. Her mom was a great cook! She always had something yummy brewing in the kitchen.

Now, don’t get me wrong, my mom is an awesome cook as well! So, this is how it worked: My mom would make a meal and we would eat between 5-6 p.m. I would eat at home, then I would head to Kim’s house and eat with her family! They were late eaters between 7-8 p.m. Worked perfect when I had a metabolism for it! Can’t say I could do that now!

One of my favorite meals Miss Sally made was chicken casserole! I was for sure to be there the nights she made this yummy meal!

What’s best is I have the recipe and can make it whenever I want!

When I do make it, I always think back to the comfort meals from my childhood. What meals were yummy, like chicken casserole, and what meals I dislike, to this day, like MEATLOAF.

I made chicken casserole last week and thought about blogging about it. Not because it is super yummy, but because it brings back a part of my life that was fun! And every time I make it, I think of all the fun!

Thank you, Sally, for opening your house all those years ago! To this day, this is one yummy meal! I know Kim and I gave you many fits in your kitchen, but they are all memorable treasures!

Do you have a favorite childhood recipe?

Bird Houses

2011-03-20T18:35:00.001-07:00

Over spring break, Kevin and the kids worked on their bird houses. Kevin built the bird houses which turned out awesome. Jayden and Josie went to work painting! They had fun decorating and painting them just how they wanted them to look.

We have an awesome tree line and creek in the back of our house that makes it great for wild life! We get to see the typical squirrels and birds! What is more fun, this time of year, the ducks come back and have babies around the creek! Something we look forward to every year. They are fun to watch.

Today the kids and their dad found the perfect spot for their new houses. They had to be beside each other so the birds can be “neighbors". So fun! Hopefully we get some birds to inhabit them soon!

Leprechaun Village

2011-03-13T18:16:00.001-07:00

I was in need of a new sensory table idea. It had been empty for a few weeks, but I finally found something I thought was fun!

“Pink and Green Mama” has a really fun St. Patrick’s Day theme idea. http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2011/03/peg-doll-leprechauns-st-patricks-day.html

Like always, I am NOT as crafty as that Mama, but I did my best to make it fun for the kids.

We decided to call it a Leprechaun Village. We had to do some explaining to them about leprechauns, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. It was a fun little lesson for them.

Here is what I came up with!

Items included: green rice, wood rainbows. foam shaped shamrocks, “emeralds", coins, pots, and a couple houses.

And here our the Leprechauns! And I never said I was artistic!

I made a couple little houses for the Leprechauns to live in. I used plastic flower pots from the Dollar Tree that came in a 10 pack. And a pack of fake moss that I hot glued to the outside of the pot!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM! WE LOVE YOU!

Muffin Tin Meal

2011-03-07T06:39:00.001-08:00

If you want to make your child’s meal more fun and exciting, try using a muffin tin! Muffin Tin Mom is where I got this fun idea! http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/2011/03/muffin-tin-monday.html

She calls it Muffin Tin Monday and encourages people to post a picture of their muffin tin meal on her website. I have not done that yet.

I think this would be a good tool to use when you want to introduce a new food. The other night we were having couscous. None of us have ever had it. I thought it would be fun to get out the muffin tins to introduce this new food to the kids.

Here is what are muffin tin meal looked like:

Grapes, ketchup, strawberries, fish sticks, couscous, and green beans!

The kids totally loved this! Jayden said we should do this every night! They were not fans of the couscous, but both kids actually tried it! I am curious to know if they would have tried it on a normal plate. (I wasn’t a big fan of it either)

If you roam around on Muffin Tin Mom, you will find many cool ideas that people have come up with. Some people are quite creative with food! This summer, I plan on getting into it a bit more. Both kids will be home all day and we’ll have more time to get creative! I’m going to be keeping my eye out on cheap cupcake holders and other fun gadgets that would fit in the tin circles!

By the way, Dollar Tree has muffin tins! I bought a couple just for meals!

Try your next meal in a muffin tin! I’m sure it will be a hit! Check out Muffin Tin Mom! http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/2011/03/muffin-tin-monday.html

Some Of My Favorites

2011-03-03T19:02:00.001-08:00

I was looking back at some pictures today for something I was going to make. I got sidetracked by looking at pictures of the kids and some of the fun things we have done. I don’t think I have posted any of these because I didn’t start blogging until after we had done them.

I love doing things with my kids! I love keeping them busy! I love getting messy! So here are some activities we have done that were definitely fun!

Painted houses out of appliance boxes.

Painted stools! We used them at our craft table. Now, we use them at the kitchen table.

Shaving cream and wooden masks.

Peg boards – we actually just got these out again. Just as fun as the first time we made them!

Pirate Ship!

Spikey ball painting. Totally fun and I will be doing this one again shortly.

Potato painting and fly swatter painting.

Santa’s Workshop

Tree houses

Minnisville! Our village made out of birdhouses!

Window painting – with our old windows from our house! I kept a couple so the kids could paint on them!

It is fun to look back at how much fun we have had. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do!

Play dough!

2011-02-24T18:44:00.001-08:00

Okay, so we all know what play dough is and what a mess it can make. But when it entertains my children for an HOUR AND A HALF, I will for sure have it in my house!

I had thrown all our play dough away as it was all dried out. Josie has been asking daily if she can play with play dough. I gave in today! A recipe on line caught my eye so I thought I would make some homemade play dough. Josie and I got to work and made 3 big batches. We have more than enough play dough for a while!

Recipe:

2 tablespoons oil, 3 cups water, 3 cups flour, 1 tablespoon cream of tartar, food color, flavor extract or kool-aid for smell/color

We used food coloring and glitter!

Mix it all and cook on medium on the stove and stir until it forms into a slightly sticky ball. Take it off the stove and knead it for a bit. Store in an air tight container!

After school, the kids were eager to get to playing. They had an excellent time. They played with the play dough for 1 1/2 hours!

I got out pipe cleaners, gems, puff balls, googly eyes, straws, play dough tools and let them make what they wanted! I loved watching their creativity!

We had some aliens, robots, snowmen, pizza, and some frying pan concoction. That’s the first picture. So much fun!

Even though play dough is messy and we sure had a mess when we were done, it’s worth the creativity you see coming from your child.

On a side note:

We use Kevin’s old white t-shirts for our “messy shirts.” Of course, they are HUGE on the kids. To keep the sleeves out of their way we use the food package clips. Easy to take on and off and keeps their oversized shirts in control.

Absorbing Paint

2011-02-22T18:21:00.001-08:00

Not for sure what to call this activity. But this was the name that the Family Fun magazine gave it. I had ripped this out of the magazine a few months ago and put it in my stash of things to do. I don’t actually remember what month it was actually in. So, I will call it absorbing paint and leave it at that!

Materials: card stock, eye droppers, glue, colored water, salt, a cookie sheet or something with sides

Colored water: 1 tablespoon of water/5 drops of food coloring.

1. Make a design with glue!

2. Sprinkle a good amount of salt over the glue. Remove extra salt.

3. Use the eye droppers and put drips of colored water over the salt/glue. Watch it spread!

Now, this activity in the magazine said it was for 3 and up. Not for sure a 3 year old would have the patience. Unless they are a child that likes to do tedious things. Josie(4) had a hard time just dribbling a bit of water onto the salt. She finally figured it out and was thrilled to watch the colors run through the salt/glue. She got pretty excited for herself when she did it right. Jayden, who is 6, had a bit of an easier time. He still used too much colored water in the beginning. He was also thrilled when he figured it out! They both said about 10 times how they liked this activity. It was a hit! We will for sure do this one again!

This was the part that blew my mind! I had no idea my son could make bubble letters! He has been talking a lot about the USA and presidents at school. He said he wanted to write USA. So..I figured he would just make a normal letter. Nope!!! He did bubble letters! And by this point he had the eye dropper figured out and did an excellent job! PROUD MOMMY MOMENT!

And of course, Josie had to copy her big brother! She actually did a good job, too. Very impressed with my kids today!

Great activity! Just make sure you have the time and patience to make it work!

I Tried to Sew some Book Holders

2011-02-14T18:07:00.001-08:00

I sometimes like to pretend that I know how to run a sewing machine. I had home-ec class in middle school! Of course I know how to sew! My mom also helped me learn, too! I purchased a sewing machine last fall. I had wanted one for awhile. Not so much to sit down and make a quilt. But just to sew up some quick things or fix something that needed to be fixed.

I have wanted book holders for my kids’ bunk beds for awhile. They have book lights and love to read/look at books at night when they are going to bed. But then they tend to sleep with the books under their pillows or somewhere in their beds! I usually send these types of projects to my mother-in-law! Now, that woman can sew! And she can always take something so simple and make it quite fun and something I never thought it would look like.

I decided though I wanted to try this one on my own. I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but I knew I could make something that would work! I found some fabric to match their rooms and went to work.

I am not going to explain how I did this one. It was all in my head. They didn’t turn out quite like I wanted, but they work for now and the kids love them. I might send the remaining fabric to my mom-in-law and see what she can come up with. For now, I guess I can be proud of what I attempted to make!

Flowers of Love

2011-02-08T18:23:00.001-08:00

I like Valentine’s Day. I also thinks it’s an overrated day! Why is it we use ONE day a year to celebrate and say “I Love You?” It should be an everyday thing!

Of course, it is fun to do activities with the kids! I was browsing around some of my favorite blogs I like to follow. I came across this one by Teach Mama, http://teachmama.com/2010/02/our-love-tree.html

I liked this idea, but right now it’s –20+ degrees in our neck of the woods! I wasn’t feeling like freezing my toes off to find sticks that would work for a tree. So my creative brain had to get to work! I pulled out my tub of random items and this is what I came up with!

This picture shows two things: two very cute kids and one awesome vase of flowers!

I took various colors of pipe cleaners inserted them into straws. These are the “stems.” I think we made about 30 of them. Then I found a vase and Josie and I used some colored glass beads to put in the vase.

Then I put all the “stems” into the vase. I actually put the stems in first, then filled in around it with the colored beads.

I had bought a stash of scrapbooking paper at the Dollar Spot at Target. Chose some patterns and used two heart cookie cutters and made some hearts!

When the kids got home from school, we went to work! They had to think of ALL the people they love. And let’s just say, their list is long! We are blessed with lots of fun people in our lives that the kids adore! We had to include two special people: Jayden’s teddy bear and Josie’s baby doll that they sleep with. I was really happy with the thoughtfulness they had. And of course their teachers and the teachers’ helpers made the flowers too! I hope they learned something about love and why so many people are special to us.

I had paper punched a hole in each heart. When they got done writing a name, I put it through the pipe cleaner and bent the pipe cleaner so that the heart would stay on.

Here is looking up at the flowers and the names on the bottom.

I arranged the flowers like a bouquet. What was nice was I could pull as much of the pipe cleaner I needed to out of the straw and the straw stayed secure. So we had a nice full bouquet of flowers!

And now we have a cool centerpiece for our table.

The House the Minnis Kids Built

2011-02-03T11:08:00.001-08:00

For Christmas we had given the kids a Discovery Kids Color Me Playhouse. http://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Kids-Color-Me-Playhouse/dp/B004E5A1G0 Now, I of course found a great deal on this at Kohl’s. I think I paid under $15 for it. It was a super good deal. I knew I wanted to save it for a snow day or something like that. Well, this week, we had our first snow day of the year!! Great time to get it out and have some creative fun with the kids.

The kids were excited and really got into making their house really colorful and fun!

It’s pretty good size! And has a ton of room for the kids to play inside.

We started out with markers, but found out it would take FOREVER to finish. I knew the kids would lose interest. A lot to color, not a lot a patience to make that happen! So, we got out the tempera paint. I was a bit nervous about the paint as we had set it up in the basement, on carpet. But luckily, we all painted nicely and no paint hit the carpet! The kids let me do the roof. They wouldn’t have been able to reach the top. They also let me help with some of the other things but for the most part, they did it all themselves!

The coolest thing about this house was that it had two doors, two mailboxes and they each had two sides to decorate. This worked out perfectly for them. Jayden’s side was “Jayden’s Farm house.” Josie’s side was “Josie’s Cottage.”

Josie drew some purple clouds and blue sky. Oh..a blue dog too!

All done! Super job done by my two awesome kids!

They are more excited to make cards and “mail” them to each other. They each made one and “delivered” it to their mailboxes. Josie drew a tractor for Jayden. Jayden drew a doll with a suitcase. It said, “This is Josie’s favorite doll.” So cute!!!

We ended the afternoon with a movie in their house! This was a big hit! They still have to decorate the inside of their house, but that will come in time.

Valentine Door Hangers

2011-01-26T18:12:00.001-08:00

My husband was trying to work from home the other day. Of course, this does NOT work well at our house. We have no “office” that he can go to, close the door and work in peace! He gets to hold up shop on our kitchen table! Most of the time, this doesn’t work so well. As long as I keep the kids busy and out of his way, it works! Josie was bored and in need of something to do! I decided that it was the day to start doing some Valentine’s fun!

I had picked up some foam hearts in the dollar spot at Target. Went through my stash of buttons and picked out red, white, pink, and purple. Gave her some glue and now we have some CUTE door hangers!

She decorated two with buttons. Then we got out the smaller foam heart stickers. She made one with these.

I also found some “jewels” and she got to decorate one with those.

This kept her busy for about an hour. She could have kept going, but I wanted to save some of our big hearts for another Valentine project. It was fun and she did really good with this project. Simple but still fun!

And now we have some very cute door hangers! I punched a hole and tied a ribbon. Then she picked four doors in the house to decorate!

Lego-maniac!

2011-01-24T07:15:00.001-08:00

Yep, it’s true! I finally have a Lego-maniac on my hands! Over the last couple years, Jayden has accumulated a few Lego sets. We would put them together but he really didn’t seem interested in them. The magic year must be when you turn 6! He is now into Legos and acts like he has never seen them before! This Christmas he added about 6 more sets to his collection. They had been sitting in a pile waiting to be put together. I kept looking at them, but it’s such a chore! Last week was pretty cold and we really didn’t have anything going on. What else to do but put together 6 Lego sets!

It all started out fine. We put together all of the ones that were still in their boxes. Jayden was happy. But then we decided to put together al the other sets he has. The only problem with that is all the pieces were mixed together! I grew impatient trying to find pieces and my organizing self kicked it! What could I do to organize the pieces so we could find them all?

I wondered around Michael’s and Wal-mart and decided to use bead organizers and smaller tubs/containers. After two hours of organizing the mass chaos of pieces, we now can find all the axles, lights, smooth pieces, etc.!

Now we can find everything we need! It is so nice! Jayden was very excited and his frustration was downgraded to minor! I LOVED sitting and watching him use the map to build something! It was so nice to see. He was very appreciative of our new system! I took these pictures after we had already made a bunch of stuff so the stash of Legos seems little!

The pieces that couldn’t fit in the little organizers, I spread them out in the sensory table. These are all the odd pieces that would be easy to find in an open area! Examples: hoods, windows, extra large pieces, etc.

Jayden spent ALL day on Sunday. No joke! Building and playing with his Legos. By nighttime, we had a city! He is very proud of his city! Now if only I had somewhere to put this city besides my front room! (We need a bigger house)

The picture doesn’t do it justice, but I am really proud of him! Some of the things in the “city” are: camper, tow truck, parking lot, police and fire station, semi truck, tanker truck, cherry picker, car, ambulance, police car, etc.

We talked about when we are done with the Legos and when he wants to put one away, that we are going to put the pieces in a big baggie and label it what it is! I’m not spending two hours sorting Legos again! Then we’ll just store them all in a bigger bin! He’s a happy builder and I am a happy organizer!

This made me giggle. This is his gas pump/gas station. The building we made didn’t make it into the picture. But he had to make the pump area like he sees in town. Have to have the roof over the pumps! And the big open area there is a circle Lego. This is where is tanker trunk can unload the gas! Just love it!

Recycled Calendar Puzzles

2011-01-12T18:21:00.001-08:00

I found this idea from a blogger whom I follow on a regular basis. She is an amazing, artistic woman! A lot of her ideas I don’t seem to touch, or wish I was “artsy” enough, but this one I decided to tackle! It looked fun, looked pretty easy, and thought the kids might enjoy it. Here is the blog I got it from. It’s called “Pink and Green Mama.” It is a blog to follow if you like to make crafts! http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-recycled-calendar-mod-podge.html

If you want more clear directions on how to make these puzzles, than please go to her website! She does a much better job! I give all the credit to her blog for this idea, but I wish I had her talent and art ability!

I, of course, did not save any of our calendars from 2010. I recycled them quickly! I always get excited to put up a new calendar. It’s like a new start! I knew Michael’s had had some calendars for $1. I decided to check it out and see if they had any left. It was my lucky day! Not only did they have some, but they were $.50 a piece! Bonus!! I then looked for the cube blocks that she had used to make the cube puzzles. Michael’s did not have enough on hand, I need 9 of them. So, I decided to see what the Dollar Tree would have that would be cubed shape to use! Well, my luck again! They had these cubed toy puzzles that were a little bigger than I wanted them to be, but I knew they would still work. So I snagged some up to use.

Now, I don’t know if I would do this craft again as it was pretty tedious. And my kids really aren’t kids that get into puzzles, but I wanted to try it out anyway. But, if your kids like puzzles, than it’s worth a shot! So here is how I did this project.

I did find these flat squares and thought making two sided puzzles would be fun! I cut “perfect” squares and mod podged them to the wood pieces. This puzzle, I used 12 squares.

One side is a butterfly and the other side is a snail. You notice a little square of the same picture? That is from the back of the calendar that has all the pictures of the calendar. I cut those out and use them as the guide so the kids know what the picture is supposed to look like.

These are the blocks I found at the Dollar Tree. I then used 6 different pictures from the calendars. I made sure they were all different colors so it was easy to tell what picture you want to put together. This was the tedious part. Doing one side at a time and waiting for the mod podge to dry! But in the end, it turned out pretty cool!

These are just some pictures of my daughter enjoying the puzzles. The fourth picture is the blocks all done. On the top is a “map” of the six different pictures! I used my laminator. I just got one of those this summer and finally put it to use. I will have to say it will probably be something I use a bit more often now! Kind of fun!

Below, are some other puzzles I made. I cut out some pictures and used my laminator. Then I just cut them in to different shapes. They are smaller puzzles, but seem enough of a challenge for my daughter. I put them in individual baggies so we can just pull what one we want to put together out.

When my son got home from school, he got in on the fun too. He’s definitely not my puzzle kid! He did seem to enjoy these though!

Thank you Pink and Green Mama for the awesome idea! http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/

It’s fun to step out and do something different. I enjoyed making these for the kids, for the most part! It’s fun to see them getting into them and playing. Using those little minds!

Welcome to the Zoo!

2011-01-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

We made this a few weeks ago, before Christmas, and I forgot to post it! We made a zoo last year around this time and it went over so well. The kids had fun playing with it. So, I thought we would make another one and see how it goes! I had been saving Kleenex boxes to use for our zoo this time. I thought they would make excellent cages! With a hole punch and some pipe cleaners, they turned out pretty good!

We got out the foam stickers and started decorating the “cages”. We also gave all the animals we have a new home!

And what is a zoo without an aquarium! I had found this wooden bowl at Goodwill and figured I would use it sometime. It made the perfect aquarium! We added blue puff balls as the water!

We have quite a few animal figurines at our house. These worked out perfect and the kids had a great time playing! Such a cheap, fun activity to do! Let’s the kids be creative and use their imagination!

And what is a zoo without visitors! I had bought a people foam kit at Michael's. This has come in very handy with many things we have done! Josie made these fun little people! Jayden also used a couple as the zoo keepers!

What a good way to spend a cold winter day!

Ice Skating Adventure!

2010-12-23T14:13:00.001-08:00

I have wanted to do this for a very long time! This was always one of my favorite past times growing up as a kid. The weather was just about perfect today: 30 degrees and no wind! Our town has a outdoor rink that they built a few years ago. We ventured there today to test it out for the first time. I didn’t know how the kids were going to do, but it was worth a shot!

Jayden fell pretty much the minute he hit the ice and that ruined it for him for a bit. But with encouragement we got him to loosen his death grip and enjoy it as much as he could. I think the next time we go, he will have a bit more confidence in himself and will do just fine! Here is a short clip of our little man trying it out for the first time!

Jayden skating for the first time

Josie, on the other hand, it took her about 5 minutes and a couple falls and she was skating alone. Not wanting help at all! It was so much fun to see her take off like that. She would fall and get right back up. The whole time she was skating she had this proud grin on her face that she was trying to hide. She also turned a circle at one point! Such confidence she has! Here is a short clip of her skating.

Josie Ice Skating

I was very proud of both my kids for trying something new and different. Jayden was not happy at all that his little sister did better than him. So the competition begins! We had to have a little talk about it, but he’s okay now! I think this will be a family event that we will have to do again and again. Lots of fun was had by all!

The “Jeep Express”

2010-12-22T18:32:00.001-08:00

Ya Got to love the movie, “Polar Express.” Ya got to also love when you can make it “live” for the kids. There is this activity you can do to make looking at Christmas lights more fun! It’s been called the “Minivan Express.” But since we don’t have a minivan, we called it the “Jeep Express.” This was our second year of doing this and it was just as fun and surprising for the kids as last year. I love making these kind of memories that will last forever! I hope they will pass it on to their own kids someday!

If you have seen the movie, you know the story behind the ticket. I had printed off four tickets from a website last year and held on to two of them to use this year. I taped them to our snack cupboard so they would be surprised to find them!

I had the kids get their jammies on, then because we have such a routine in this house, I knew they would go to the snack cupboard right after that. Josie opened it and found the tickets! She was confused….ran and got Jayden…he came down and they figured it out. So excited!

They hurried up and got their robes and slippers on and headed out the door.

“Conductor” Dad was waiting by the door to punch their ticket to get on the express! Jayden was super pumped about this. His laugh was one to bottle up and keep it forever!

They hopped into the jeep and were very excited about the treats they found! Of course they got settled into their seats and dug right in to their popcorn and candy! The best part is, we listened to the “Polar Express” soundtrack while driving around town. Enjoying the music and lights and just a fun thing to do! They LOVE the “Hot Chocolate” song. I think we listened to it about 5 times! It’s a pretty catchy tune!

Josie is convinced that Santa set this up! And every Nativity scene we came across in someone’s yard was a God Village. Apparently that is the new terminology in the house! It’s stuck in her head! Now they are both saying it.

“Conductor” Dad driving us around! Such a good dad he is!

Another great Christmas memory written in the books!

Glittery Snow

2010-12-13T18:20:00.001-08:00

Okay, I have said before, I apparently like glitter this year. It’s been fun and festive with all the things we have been doing around the house. Hasn’t been quite as messy as I thought it would be. Today, I changed out the sensory table. I had in it the Insta-Snow. Let me tell ya, it was a lot of fun, but didn’t live up to my expectations. But, the kids had fun with it and I would probably buy it again. It just didn’t keep the volume that I thought it would. My son had fun driving his monster trucks through it. We will probably buy it again, but I won’t have such high hopes!

Today, we made some glistening snow! I had bought 4 containers of salt. I think I spent a whole $1.60 total. I ended up only using three containers. The kids poured that into the table. Then I added many different colors of glitter to give it sparkle and some color!

You can’t really see the sparkle but it’s in there!

I have a bin of containers and lids and other random things that I use for our sensory table activities. This time, I pulled out all the clear containers, two small scoops, sifter, and two funnels. I did this so the kids could watch the “snow” glisten and see what they were doing! It’s a great activity and the kids are having fun with it.

The salt does leave a weird texture feeling on your hands, but nothing that a little soap and water can’t take care of. I look at it as a very cheap, fun, and different activity to entertain the kiddos! Just have a broom handy!

Gingerbread House

2010-12-13T18:07:00.001-08:00

This weekend, Mother Nature decided to bring on it’s first big snow of the year. This meant, we were stuck inside! When that happens, you have to find lots to do to keep the little busy bodies…BUSY!

When my daughter was 18 months old and my son 3, we decided to make gingerbread houses. I had bought the kits to use instead of just being creative on are own. The kids had fun doing them, but within minutes my daughter had broke out in hives. I haven’t bought a kit since! My daughter really wanted to do a gingerbread house so we got creative and used stuff at home! We still have a ton of Halloween candy and it came in very handy. We used: graham crackers, frosting, M & M’s, Smarties, Skittles, Sweet Tarts, snowman marshmallows, and a few more things I’m sure.

My husband helped get the house built. We just made a one story “bungalow!” That’s all they needed to make them happy! We then let them do what they wanted to it. It was fun to see what they came up with.

Jayden working hard!

Josie enjoying the fun!

And the best part: EATING THEM! They didn’t each much of it as I think they were on sugar overload from the samples they were sneaking while making the house!

Snow!

2010-12-05T18:50:00.001-08:00

I found this fake snow at a little shop over Thanksgiving. It looked like fun and had an interesting texture. They had a sample out to play with and the lady working explained it to me. I thought about it for a minute and decided it would be a totally fun activity for the sensory table!

This is what it comes in. It’s a little tube that has a white, powdery substance. I bought two packages.

Follow the directions on the package!

Then you have snow! The two tubes I bought, made enough for both kids to play with a good amount. I wish I would have bought another tube just to make sure I had enough. I love the texture. It even feels cold! The cool thing about this snow, is it will dry up, but you spray a little bit of water on to it and it will poof right up again! I am curious how it will look in the morning after drying out over night. It also says that when you are done with it and let it dry out, it should all fit back into the tube! Verdict is still out on that one!

I got out the castles that I had kept from our moon sand. My son got out his army/police/fire men and used them in the snow and used the castles as forts! Love the creativity!

Since we don’t have snow outside, YET, this is a great indoor activity. The snow doesn’t turn into water and they hands don’t get cold! If you see this fun snow around your town, you should try it out! I did find some at Wal-Mart today, but it does not have the same consistency as this kind. Such a great activity on a winter day!

Every Little Girl’s Dream

2010-12-03T07:07:00.001-08:00

If you have a daughter who likes to play “salon” like mine does, than this idea is for you!

My friend shared this idea with me that she was going to make for her girls. I thought it was pretty cool and knew that my daughter would love it as well. My friend can’t remember what site she got the idea from, but she Googled “fake makeup” and this is what she clicked on! I totally love it and I know it’s going to be a big hit in this house.

Most women wear makeup and have cases of it lying around that they don’t use anymore. I, on the other hand, do not wear makeup. I actually scrounged a couple cases up from my mom. I then decided to go check out the Dollar Tree and see what they have for makeup. The Dollar Tree always pulls through! They had quite the selection! So I think I spent about $4 dollars in total on makeup.

To start, scrape all the real makeup out of the container and clean it as good as possible. Here is a picture of one of my empty cases.

Once they are emptied and dried, all you need is some sticky back foam! I used a variety of colors and textures to fill the little squares. I had some foam that had some glitter on it, also had some sticky back felt. Use your creativity and come up with the colors and styles of “makeup” you want to make! I did have to use some non sticky back foam, but I used foam glue to put the pieces in their place.

Here is my end result! Doesn’t it look like real makeup?

There is also a way to make fake lip gloss! Empty a container of makeup and pour some nail polish in the squares and let it dry! It turns out all smooth and shiny. It really does look like lip gloss!

This makeup is going to be one of my daughter’s 12 Days of Christmas. I can’t wait until she opens it. Thanks, Emily, for the awesome idea!

Fun Foam Snowflakes

2010-12-03T06:47:00.001-08:00

Last year, the kids and I decorated some foam snowmen. They loved it! Here is how they turned out. We have them hanging down the stair railing.

This year, we made some snowflakes. It was a big pack of them and we probably could have done them all. The kids loved this activity. For supplies we used: glue, glitter, glitter glue, Christmas stickers, google eyes, foam stickers. The popular supply was the glitter! It made quite the mess, but I wouldn’t change a thing for the fun they had decorating their snowflakes!

What is fun about snowflakes is that they are all different! No exception in homemade snowflakes! I even had to get in on the fun and make a few myself!

Then we decorated the house with our new snowflakes!

Such a fun easy craft to do with the kids! I love Christmas crafts. There is a wide variety and they just make the house so festive! Plus, they are homemade decorations to hold on to for years down the road! That is, till the glitter falls off!

12 Days of Christmas

2010-11-30T18:31:00.001-08:00

I have wanted to do this with the kids since I had them, but of course I had to wait until they understood Christmas just a little bit more! I have thought about doing an Advent countdown with them, but I decided to start small. I loved the idea from this website, http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2010/11/countdown-to-christmas-homemade-family.html This is my goal for next year! I can start thinking about it earlier and get some fun ideas on paper!

So, this year I settled for doing the 12 Days of Christmas. I can’t wait until we get to start it!

I went to Michael’s and walked around to get my creative juices going! I grabbed some Christmas scrapbook paper, some fun colorful gems and some cardstock stockings. I bought enough so that next year if I decide to do the Advent Count then I have all the items I need!

I cut the scrapbook paper to cover the stockings. Then glued them on. I used the gems to write the numbers on each stocking.

I decided to decorate the trim of the stockings with glitter. Josie started to help me with this, but she was making more of a mess than I wanted! So, she gave up and I got to finish with less mess!

I also found some clothespins at Michael’s that had Santa or Snowmen on them. You could paint/color them if you wanted, but I decided to leave them plain. They were just cute! I got some red ribbon and clothes pinned the stockings to the ribbon and hung them on this railing. I love how it turned out! What I also like about this is that next year when I decide to do the Advent I can write on the backs of the stockings the idea/activity for each day.

I found some trinkets, crafts, candy to wrap up and let the kids have each day of the countdown. I’m excited and I know they are excited, too! I also can’t wait to do a more fun but meaningful one next year! Enjoy!

Giving Thanks

2010-11-23T18:45:00.001-08:00

Wow, 2010 has flown by! It’s been a crazy, but fun year. I love that the kids are old enough to do a lot more things. We don’t have to be home for naps. We are free to roam and go as much as possible. What freedom we have as a family! I thought I would reflect on the things I am thankful for this year.

I am thankful for Kevin’s job, even though he is rather stressed most days.

I am thankful for Kevin and all he does for me and the kids. I may not show how much I love him all the time, but he is the best husband and dad we could ask for.

I am thankful for my Jayden. He is becoming more independent and finding his place in school. I am thankful for his kind heart and loving soul.

I am thankful for my little Peanut. She amazes me everyday. I am thankful for her hugs and kisses and her zest for life.

I am thankful for Jayden’s new teacher. We hope she will be there till the end of the year.

I am thankful for my family. We may have it rocky at times, but we are stuck like glue!

I am thankful for my friends and my mommy friends! Without you guys, life would be dull!

I am thankful for our health!

I am thankful for technology and keeping up with friends and family.

I…am…thankful!

For my little artists

2010-11-14T15:59:00.001-08:00

With the kids back to school and bringing home project after project, I needed a place to show our favorites off! I don’t have a lot of wall space in my house and wanted to be able to display their work somewhere we could enjoy it. I found the perfect spot! Then, I had to decide how I want to do it. I had seen people use cork board and picture frames and decided that is what I wanted to do!

I wanted all my frames to match to since this is in our living room area. I found a 10 pack of frames at Kohl’s for $17. I thought that was a good deal as they were all the same color but different sizes. I then found a 4 pack of cork board at Wal-Mart for $6. I also picked up a pack of push pins that are black and white striped.

I used the glass of each frame to measure how much cork board I would need. Then I glued the cork board into the frame with heavy duty glue. I let them dry and then start to collage them together on the wall. Instead of using pins to hang them, I used the command strips so that I could put the frames close together. I ended up using 7 of the frames. And what I like about this is I can add more frames to it as I see fit. For now, I think this will be plenty of room!

After I got it on the wall, I decided it needed something to go with it. I was trying to find a saying that had something to do with art/imagination/creativity. I found this one at Kohl’s and that it would work pretty good!

“Home – Where laughter is shared and where memories begin”

Here is the finished project!

Then this is what it will look like when the kids’ fun art comes home!

Bare Classroom

2010-11-11T11:40:00.001-08:00

As a new mom to the whole school experience, I wanted everything to be perfect for the little man so it was an easy transition. The school year has gotten off to a rocky start. The teacher was great, but life circumstances seemed to not allow her to be there on a consistent basis. The first thing that he would say when I would pick him up is whether the teacher was there or if they had a sub. That should not be the focus for a 6 year old. He should be excited about school and telling me about his day. I kept giving it the benefit of the doubt and kept saying the next week would be better. I didn’t want to be that “new parent” that like to complain.

Yesterday, changed the whole classroom! We found out, the long way, that his teacher had resigned. Of course lots of questions and madness entered my head. Nothing can be said because of school rules and the proper way to handle it. I get that, but you could at least inform the parents BEFORE the new teacher starts, today, as to what is going on! The lack of communication is getting to me more than anything. Kids are resilient. They will move on. They will probably not even notice a difference.

Yesterday, myself and some other moms went in after school to voice our concerns. We didn’t get very far, but it was nice to be heard. The new hire, that starts today is a long term sub. For the kids sake, I really, really hope this turns out to be a good fit and we can move on to a consistent year. There has been no consistency yet and we know that this class is further behind than the other two classes. They are going to have extra help in the room to get the kids caught up. Ugh…that just kills me. Was this last 9 weeks or so a waste of time?

After talking to the few people we did, we went to the classroom. Talk about a heartbreaker. The walls were bare. No fun kid art, not fun posters, just boring walls. My heart sunk for the kids. I wanted to cry. It made kindergarten look like prison. Sure hope they can get the room more fun again!

The other kicker is that the principal will be doing our conferences next week. I just hope the old teacher has some sort of progress/report card for the kids so we know a little of what went on the last 9 weeks. I also assume he is filling in so he can listen to the parents! I sure hope it won’t be a waste of time.

I know this can happen in any school system and probably does more often than I realize. I just hope the kids can bounce back and that they get some structure in the classroom and start having FUN in kindergarten!

This mama bear is protective of her kids and only wants the best for them. It can only get better from here on out right? As a new school mom they have a lot to prove to me and those walls better get some color!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T19:35:00.001-07:00

The cutest little snow princess you will ever see!!! She LOVED being all girly!

BATMAN! He absolutely loved this as well! He would run really fast and say he was flying! This was just the perfect costume for him!

Squeeze Bottle Painting/Drawing Dough

2010-10-29T18:49:00.001-07:00

I found this idea from a couple different sites. So after seeing this twice, I decided I wanted to do it! The Family Fun website called it Toddler painting, but after doing this activity, I think it can be for anyone! http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/drawing-dough-673210/?cmp=OTC-Facebook-ffun-DrawingDough

I did find the squeeze bottles at Michael’s. They are in the cake decorating section. I was searching all over, then decided I better ask. I mixed up 6 different colors. I know the picture is sideways, but you get the point! :) It seemed to me that the measurements on the site above were a bit off. So I kind of just mixed together what I could to make it the consistency the was called for. You mix flour, salt, water and tempera paint together to get a consistency that is still pourable, but not runny.

I then got out some heavy scrapbooking paper/cardstock and let the kids go to work. This activity was a ton of fun and we will for sure be doing it again!

Getting busy on their artwork!

Josie’s on the left was a picture of her and then she was writing her name. Jayden’s on the right is a picture of him as a rock star. A guitar in hand, and on a stage. He also is sporting a mo-hawk. There are blue lights on top, and the two dots on the bottom are the peoples’ heads with their hands in the air! HAHAHA! I love seeing his creative imagination! He is blossoming very well in his first year of school! Josie is almost there. Most of the time you can make out what she makes, but this was a little more challenging to make a picture! And yet again, the pix are sideways. Maybe I’ll have to have my other half fix this for me!

Jayden drew the one on the left. This is of a house on fire. And the fire truck has it’s ladder and hose out! Totally awesome! Josie drew te one on the left. Another self portrait with some flowers! Love it!

Can’t wait to do this activity again! It wasn’t messy and it was something new and fun! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Our Very Own Haunted House

2010-10-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it’s not much on the haunted side, but to a 6 and 4 year old, it’s scary enough! This week we put together our haunted house in the basement. Last year we made a pirate ship. This year it is a haunted house. I had kept most of the decorative stuff from our pirate ship from last year to decorate for this year. Plus I had gotten some Halloween stuff on clearance last year for 50-75% off. So we had some new stuff to use too! The kids spent a lot of time in the pirate ship last year. I was hoping for the same this year!

I went to Lowe’s and got a couple big boxes. I ended up putting them side by side and wrapped some bungee cords around the top to keep them together. I cut a door they have to crawl in to enter the house. I cut two square doors on the inside to go between the boxes.

I got some black plastic table cloths at the Dollar Tree to cover the outside. I made some peak out holes too so there is some air movement in the house and places to look out from.

And this is our finished product on the outside!! It was a ton of fun to decorate. The kids helped me put things where they should go. I love the “welcome” sign on the door! We had this on our pirate ship last year, too. Most of the other stuff is new this year. Spider webs, fake bloody gauze, magic potion sign, haunted house sign, etc. So much fun to decorate!

These are from the inside. We hung up some more webs. See the big spider!!! (first picture). The pumpkin is hanging from the ceiling and lights up. We also have a string of Halloween lights hanging up as well. They have done some more decorating on the inside. I don’t fit so well on the inside so I am not quite for sure what all they have done. It’s so much fun to see their imaginations grow and learn! I also got a cd of Halloween Party music. They can play and listen to it while in their house!

It’s amazing what you can make out of a couple boxes. What great memories we will have!

The years still pass, but you are always in my heart.

2010-10-25T18:50:00.001-07:00

17 years ago, I was an innocent Sophomore in high school. It was a typical fall day in Iowa, when my family changed forever. It still feels as if it were yesterday. Those couple days will never leave my mind. I miss your laugh, I miss your spirit, I miss your craziness, and I just miss YOU. Your life was too short. You had so much to look forward too. God had a special plan for you. I may never understand why it had to happen. I will see you someday and that will be great.

This is one of the only pictures I have on our computer of my brother and my whole family. I was about 7-8 in this picture. It was a fun family moment! We loved to joke and still do! Just wish you could be joking with us. Until we meet again…..

We miss you Cory Lee!

11 years ago

2010-10-24T18:35:00.001-07:00

11 years ago I took a summer job as a co-site director for Campfire USA. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, or how much of my time and heart was going to be consumed by camp, but I will always cherish all the memories those awesome 3 summers.

11 years ago I met some amazing kids. Some I grew to love and had a very special bond.

11 years ago I met this girl. The farthest one on the right.

Last night, she got married!!!

Camp was awesome. Camp stamped a big ‘ol stamp on my heart. I will never, EVER forget the fun, the tears, the kids, the adventures, the hot sun, the rainy days, the smiles! We had some amazing days. I loved watching the kids grow and learn and just be kids. I loved watching them come in the morning all nice and clean and leaving in the afternoon a complete mess! Oh those days were fun. Memories to last forever.

The bride was one of those kids that LOVED camp. She wanted to be there, she had fun. She didn’t like when it was hot and she often said she was tired! She could run with the best of them. She could be a friend. She was an awesome kid to have at camp.

Last night when I walked in and saw a beautiful, young woman standing there in a beautiful wedding gown, it made me want to cry. Janel, you have grown from that little girl, into an amazing young woman! I wish you the best and hope more of your dreams come true! Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day. (But to me, you will always be that little girl in the picture above!)

At the Drive-In!

2010-10-21T09:26:00.001-07:00

I think Family Fun magazine should give me something for doing/testing out their activities that they have in their magazine. I’m a sucker for a lot of them! I can’t find this project on their website for some reason. But it was in last months issue of Family Fun. It was called “Create Some Cars” on page 32.

If you have a boy like mine, who LOVES anything with wheels, then this project is for you! My daughter also enjoyed it so that is a double bonus!

I found a couple medium sized boxes that both kids could sit comfortably in and have room enough to move around. I cut off the top flaps on them to make the “car” more open.

I gave them some paper plates to paint black.

Then we made a license plate for each one. Jayden’s said, “Hot Rod”. and Josie’s was “Barbie Car”.

While the paint on the wheels were drying, we decorated the cars. This was the fun part! They both really got into it. Josie had fun sticking foam stickers on the outside of her car. Jayden was more into the details.

He had to make the grill on the front. And also had to have double exhaust with flames! We also made headlights and break lights out of foam.

He also had to put the brake and gas pedal inside. That’s what the white duct tape is for. And a seatbelt, cup holders, mirrors, ect.! It was soooo much fun to see his little mind work and get creative! In the picture with Josie, she is pulling her seatbelt on!

All done with our masterpieces! We added on a smaller shoe box on the side of each car. These are hooked on with binder clips. Now they can have their snack and have somewhere to put it while they are at the drive in!

At supper, we ordered some pizza. We let the kids eat their pizza in their cars while watching a movie! They LOVED this. Jayden did not move the entire time. He was very comfy in his car.

They already have other uses for their cars. Last night it was a truck. Today it has been a camper. We added a feature to our cars. Most of us have one when we are out and about! A cell phone! We gave them two of our old cells phones and it is making for some great imagination! I am sure these will be well loved and used greatly in the next few days. Can’t wait for our next movie time!

Mod Podge and Masks

2010-10-20T07:23:00.001-07:00

I like Mod Podge. I have used it in the past for many different things. I have never done a craft with the kids using it though…until now. I had found these masks at Michaels for 2/$3.00. I had to think about how I wanted the kids to decorate them. I decided to buy some Halloween Scrapbooking paper. Which I found at the Target Dollar Spot. An 8 pack for $1.00! Can’t beat that! I cut some of this paper up into little squares.

I set everything out on the table and let them go to work. At first,they had a bit of a hard time working the mod podge and making the paper stay where it needed. After a few minutes they caught on and were having a good time! They actually covered more of the mask than I thought they would. So, all in all, it was a good project!

We set them aside to dry. The kids wanted the “teeth” painted white so we did that as well. I bought some elastic at Wal-Mart for $1.00. I used this to allow them to wear the mask. We poked holes on each side of the mask and hooked some elastic on it. Now they can wear them! I have a future use for these on my next Halloween creation that we are working on!

The Kitchen is Complete!

2010-10-14T08:21:00.001-07:00

Okay, I think I’m ready to say that my kitchen is done. There a few spots I need to touch up or add something too, but it’s good enough for now! I am proud of all my hard work to get this done. It really changed the look of the kitchen. I feel like it’s not as dark as it was. So hopefully I can enjoy it before something gets spilled on the floor or I manage to get food coloring on the wood work! I am known to not handle food coloring well! I couldn’t find a picture of the kitchen before I did the makeover. I forgot to take one last week when I started this fiasco. But, most of you know what my kitchen looks like. So here is the finished product!

Recap of what I changed: I took the doors off and cleaned all cabinets inside and out. I added some hardware to the doors and drawers. And we cleaned up the grout on the tile, backsplash and floor. And I added a paint/sealer to the grout that would brighten up the room. I also got to take the “plate jail” off and have a nice open space for “pretties”. This is shown in the second picture to the right of the sink. I’m so glad to see that gone! So there it is. I am happy with what I have done. Now to move on to the bathrooms!

Lovin’ the Pumpkin Patch!

2010-10-11T18:24:00.001-07:00

Since Jayden was a year old we have been going to the same pumpkin patch! It’s kind of one of those patterns. Why change it? Howell’s Pumpkin Patch is our favorite! http://www.howellspumpkins.com/ If you roam around their website, you will find pictures of my two kids that they have used for their website! How fun is that!? Yes, there are other places we could go. Yes, we gave the kids a choice to go to Howell’s or somewhere else. And it always comes back to Howell’s!!

Today the kids didn’t have school. Kevin took the day off and we headed out. October, this year, has been way warmer than normal! So why not spend an 80 degree October day at the Pumpkin Patch! What was even better? It was a weekday!! Less busy, less crowds, no lines! We spent four hours today roaming around and just letting the kids play and explore!

We started off the day in the Kid play area. The kids played in the corn. Josie made a “corn angel”. Jayden had fun with the duck races. They played on the pedal tractors. Jayden had a hard time picking what one he wanted to use. Josie gave up and used the tricycle.

They climbed on the bails, went on the slide and played on the various swings! We could not keep up with them!

Josie was loving all the things you could stand behind and take your picture. She LOVES the camera. So everything we saw it was, “take a picture of me, mom!” Here are a couple of my favorites!

After our picnic lunch we played with the animals. First they road the pony’s. Which is new at Howell’s. This was a big hit, as they were REAL! You didn’t have to put a quarter in them to make them go! Josie road Ruby and Jayden road on JJ. We also fed the goats and sheep.

We headed out on the tractor ride to go through the corn maze and play on another new attraction! They have pedal go-karts now! And they have a track through the corn to go through. Totally fun and worth the laughs. Jayden was bummed that he couldn’t quite drive it himself. The corn maze was good too. Josie actually made it through the whole thing without wanting to be carried. I think that is a first! She’s not one for long distances on her own feet yet!

We were a little bummed looking for a pumpkin in the fields. It’s our normal tradition to find one out in the field. But whether it be the torrential rains we had all spring/summer, or the fact it has been so nice that a lot of people have picked pumpkins, but there weren’t a lot to choose from. Jayden was really, really bummed! But we ended riding the tractor back in and picking up a few pumpkins that Howell’s had already picked. We let them pick out a couple smaller ones so that we can just decorate them and leave them as a centerpiece on the table.

The best part about getting pumpkins this year, was that we got to wash them in the “Punkin warsh” The kids absolutely loved this. And we didn’t have to take dirty pumpkins home!

We let the kids go back into the kid area and have some more fun before we were going to leave. This involved the corn pool and dumping the corn on our heads! Let’s just say when we got home, they had to go straight to the bathtub! Jayden was filling his hat and putting it on his head. Josie found a pot in the corn and used that! The giggles made it all worth it!

Another year of laughs, another year of fun, another year of living through our children. It’s great to see them so excited and not have a care in the world. I will be sad when some year the kids say they are “too old” for the pumpkin patch. But until then, we will enjoy it! We love Howell’s and all they have to offer. I’m sure next year when we ask the kids where they want to go, they will say, Howell’s!

Kitchen Clean up!

2010-10-09T19:34:00.001-07:00

I like my kitchen. It’s not too big, not too small. I am not a fan of how dark the wood is, but there isn’t much we can do about it. We didn’t want to do a whole kitchen remodel: too expensive. Just wanted a little freshness to it! I looked into painting the cabinets, but my hubby didn’t think that was a good idea. So, instead, I decided to clean them up! I took all the doors off and the hinges. I spray painted the hinges a satin nickel. I cleaned the cabinets thoroughly! I even took a ton of stuff out of the cupboards that we never use! Now there seems to be a bit more room. And what’s nice is only the necessities our being stored!

I also wanted to put some hardware on the drawers and doors. We moved into this house 7 years ago and it has bugged me that we did not have hardware on the doors. I went to the Habitat Restore http://www.dmhabitatrestore.org/ that is in Des Moines to look for some hardware I could get to spray paint. I found enough pulls for the drawers, but could not find enough knobs. I needed 22 of them. I would find around 10 or 12 and then couldn’t find anymore of the same thing. So I bought the pulls for $4.50! Good deal I should say! Then I just went to Home Depot and found some cheap knobs that I could paint. In then end all of them looked great!

One cabinet that we stored our dinner plates in, reminded me of a jail cell! Just a wood encases that let you stand the plates upright. I never liked this either and I finally got rid of it! For now, it’s going to be an open area that I will be decorated with fun stuff! And now our plates have a home inside a cupboard!

So, after 4 days, I managed to get it all done! Such a process, but so worth it! I was really bummed that I had to have help with the drill. It got the best of me and I didn’t feel like fighting it. So, I managed to do 90% of this project. It made me so happy to know I accomplished most of it on my own! Even going to the local stores and finding what I needed!

Now that it is all together and looks really nice, we have to clean up the tile! It’s not looking so hot! So, tonight we got stuff to clean up the tile, seal it and make it look new again! Can’t wait to get this done so the whole project will be complete!

I have a feeling we will be cleaning up some more woodwork around here! Give it that shine and “newness” it may have had 10 years ago!

I don’t have a picture of it as I want to wait till I have it all done. So maybe within the week!

After we get the kitchen done, we will be moving on to the bathrooms! New floors and counters! And maybe a water saving toilet! :)

Love feeling accomplished! Such a big project all done! And the kids even helped which made it more fun! They loved scrubbing the hinges with a toothbrush!

What is even more cool, this kitchen “Refreshing” cost less than $100 to accomplish!

Spiders, ghosts, bats and more!

2010-10-04T18:02:00.001-07:00

Today I decided it was time to get out my Halloween theme for the sensory table. Some of the stuff I had from last year. This year, I just added some things that I thought would be fun. There are a few different textures which makes it fun!

Last year, I found the spiky balls and plastic cauldrons on super clearance at Wal-Mart after Halloween. I had those in my sensory table after Halloween last year. The kids really liked them so I decided to add to it this year with some different things.

Target Dollar Spot had some great finds! I found some skeleton and pumpkin shaped cauldrons to go with my black ones. They also had some tiny pumpkin and bat erasers. Also at Target, I found some rubber/stretchy spiders, skeletons and mice. (Jayden is not a fan of this texture, but it’s fun to see him try and work with it). I also got some plastic bats. At Michael’s, I used the 40% off coupon a couple times and got some hard/smooth ghosts and bats!

Lots of fun stuff to make some good ‘ol witches’ brew!

Downtown Des Moines: Not something we do often

2010-10-04T17:40:00.001-07:00

So, this last weekend was some GREAT weather. Cool enough temps to be outside and warm enough that you don’t have to sweat! I love fall! I wanted to do something different, that we had not done before. So, we ventured downtown to the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/pappajohn-sculpture-park We don’t venture downtown very often. Mostly for the hospital. That is about it. It’s not somewhere I like to go, nor really want to go. I do know there is a lot of cool stuff we are missing out on. We got a sneak peak of it this weekend!

I had wanted to see the sculpture park, but figured it wasn’t going to be that thrilling for the kids. So I rounded up my friend and her crew! The kids had a lot of fun running around in the grass and admiring the artwork. Some of it was quite interesting, to say the least.

We then went and checked out the new pedestrian bridge. I would have to say that it was pretty cool. The kids were a little timid on it. Such a big thing can be scary! By the pedestrian bridge is a Pagoda. I had no clue what it was called, but a friend informed me it isn’t an Asian Hut thingy! It’s something you drive by when you are on 235 and say, “what is that? we should go check that out.” Well, we finally did! The kids loved exploring and looking around everything! I am glad we took the time and checked these downtown items out!

Here are some pictures from our fun!

Holding Steady!

2010-09-29T18:19:00.001-07:00

Today I had to take Jos back to the specialist. I was a wee bit nervous for the fact that we had done some alternative treatments that seemed to be working. I wasn’t for sure how they would respond to it. When the nurse took us to do height/weight, she asked what medicines she was one. I told her, but said she hadn’t take them for a few weeks. Of course she got on the defensive side! I stated my case and moved on!

We then got called in to our room. Had to wait for Jos to have to go potty so we could do a flow test. She basically had to sit on a commode type thing that had a funnel attached, that was also hooked to a computer. Got that done, then they did an ultrasound to see if her bladder was empty. She had 10 cc’s still left, but not enough to worry about.

We waited a few minutes and saw the doc. Her flow test was good! Her pee was clear! No bacteria!!!! I was super excited. She then asked me how things were going. So I told her about the chiropractor and acupuncture. She was totally receptive to it! She said they sometimes recommend chiro treatments for this matter. She didn’t say much about the acupuncture. But she was very happy things were better for Jos. I told her that I hadn’t given her any medicine for about 3 weeks. She was fine with it and told us not to worry about any more medicine!! How exciting that I don’t have to pump my daughter with drugs anymore! She also said to keep with the chiro/acupuncture since it’s working and to call if we needed anything and we could come over.

I was glad for this as I have this odd feeling that Jos may regress at some point, then we would be back to square one. But she said we could call and come over whenever we needed too. So we shall see how it goes for awhile. She’s about 80% a normal 4 year old! She still has her moments, but they are far and few between! I’m so happy that we are where we are at now. I only hope that things can continue to improve and that we won’t have to go back to Iowa City again! Keep my fingers crossed. I worry about about next year, when she’s off to Kindergarten and only has certain times she can use the bathroom. But, the doc told me today if it becomes an issue again we can set up an IHP (Individual Health Plan) with the school and they will HAVE to follow it. I hope we don’t have to go through all that!

So, all in all, I am one happy mom tonight as my daughter is on the mend. As long as we can keep it up the stress will be gone! Thank you Joan for pushing me to do the acupuncture! I owe ya big time!

My Bucket List

2010-09-26T19:54:00.001-07:00

I have always wanted to do this. I think of things I want to do or re-do, but I never seem to write them down or get them done. This summer I had made a list of things I wanted to do with the kids. I got most of them accomplished and I was happy about that. The kids and I stayed busy and didn’t have many “boring” days at home!

I long to do many things in my life. Some as simple as redoing a room, but some are as complex as trips to exotic locations. I like to dream. I like to say, “what if.” I like to think of what I could do and what I can’t do. It’s fun to dream! So here goes my list. Maybe I can starting marking some of these off. And these are in no particular order. Do house projects count as bucket list items? I think so! :)

1. Decide what I want to be when I grow up.

2. Chicago

3. Yearly Mother/daughter overnights (when she gets a couple years older)

4. Jamaica, Cancun, Bahamas (anywhere WARM)

5. Disney World

6. Kitchen remodel

7. Bathroom remodel

8. Landscape remodel

9. Out east to visit Karrie and Steve again (this time, fly!)

10. Colorado

11. Find my happy self I once was

12. Another mom, sister, niece trip

13. Another friends trip!

14. Carpet upstairs

15. Own an Ipod to call my own!

16. Take the kids tent camping (they are spoiled with Grandma’s Camper)

17. Move to a bigger house

18. Take Jayden on a train ride

19. Own something other than a minivan!

20. Go back to Costa Rica or visit Europe

Okay, 20 is a good start! It’s fun to dream, isn’t it? :) Some may be many years away, but some are reachable. Can’t wait to start marking some of these off! I will add more as I think of them, but this is what is on top of my head at the moment!

So…what do I want to be when I grow up?

The Scoop Shop

2010-09-18T19:08:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I stumbled upon an idea using puff balls as ice cream. I now wish I could remember who I got this idea from so I could give them some of the credit, but I just can’t remember. I put this idea in the back of my head and said I wanted to do this sometime. I was walking through Michaels with a friend of mine and was telling her about it and we started brainstorming what to do! We went to the “puff ball” aisle and put our brains to work.

I had bought some Ice cream Cone shaped glasses and scoops earlier this summer because I thought they were cute. Then this week at Michaels, more of the scoops were on clearance for .50 cents. Michael's, this week, also had assorted foam 60% off!!! Which made the big packs, $3.20! I stocked up on some sticky back foam and used that for a lot of my decorating. and making of things.

My friend found some ice cream “buckets” at the Party Store outlet for $1 each. She also found cute little spoons! They work perfect for this activity!

I then decided I needed to get more elaborate with mine as my kids are a bit older and I was afraid they would get bored fast. So, this is what I came up with! “The Scoop Shop!!”

I had a wooden toy box sitting in my storage room that I had bought on a garage sale for cheap. It wasn’t being used, so I turned it into our shop! The box is upside down so the top can be used as the counter. I cut out foam letters and Ice Cream shapes to decorate the box. I also cut out ice cream shapes to decorate the buckets. I did buy some ice cream stickers and stuck them around the outside of the buckets to make them more fun!

The cups/cones/utensils!

I found these cute “napkins or placemats” on clearance at Michael's too! Got to just love clearance. I used an old parmesan container, decorated it and put tiny puff balls in it for “sprinkles.” My friend and I came up with this for sprinkles. How fun is that! In the red container is “cherries.” Which is red puff balls. I used a yogurt container and just covered it with felt.

My friend got the idea of making “syrup” out of felt. Pink is strawberry, dark brown is chocolate, and light brown is caramel. The white circles are what I came up with for “whip cream.” I want to come up with some more toppings, like M & M’s, peanuts, etc. that you can put on ice cream. Once I figure that out, I will add it to the Scoop Shop.

That is our menu on the left. I wanted to make it easy for both kids to read and understand. Trying to work with my son and getting him to recognize words! I also decided, when you work in a “shop” you have to have a name tag and hat! I made these fun hats and name tags out of foam! Which of course, was a HUGE hit!

My daughter could not wait to get started. She had been watching me make this for a few days. She kept on asking me, “When can I play Scoop Shop?” How cute is that?! Here are some pictures once the kids got to work! Enjoy!

Craft Foam Fun!

2010-09-14T18:44:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I ran across this idea earlier this morning. I had some foam in my craft supply so I got to work! I would like to thank http://www.filthwizardry.com/ for this awesome idea! Such fun for kids! I couldn’t wait to try it out tonight.

I cut shapes and other random things out of some craft foam. I also went to a couple local stores and got some good deals on some clearance foam. The foam I used is not the kind that has the sticker back. It is just the plain foam shapes! My daughter had fun watching me make some shapes. She tried to help, but gave up and went and did her own thing. I used my supply of cookie cutters. My fun scrapbooking scissors to make some cool designs. I made, hearts, stars, grass, circles, hexagon, bears, strips of foam, blocks, ABC’s, 1-20, squares, rectangles, triangles, etc! Plus the clearance foam i found today!

Tonight, when it was bath time, we put the kids to creative work! They LOVED this. My son normally takes a “man shower,” but tonight he wanted to take a bath too so he could play. They sat in the water for a half hour before we had to say time to wash up and get ready for bed! (school night). We will be taking advantage of this for many nights to come. I also want to try it some afternoon when we need something to do. Give them a couple glasses of water and let them play with their close on. It was totally fun to watch their minds work and see what fun art they could come up with. And you don’t need anything! The foam sticks with water!

Jayden’s pizza

Josie had all the people lined up!

You can get craft foam pretty cheap. Try it out and make bath time a blast for your kids! I will be adding to this as well, when I find some good deals, or think of some new shapes.

Felt Cake

2010-09-14T18:23:00.001-07:00

I couldn’t wait to make this for Josie to play with. She loves decorating things and making it her own. I got it, of course, from the Family Fun Magazine.

I started off with some boxes I found at Goodwill. You can get them at local craft stores that are plain, but I wanted to see if I could find some cheaper. Well, I did. Goodwill had a few to choose from. So I started with these. Added some felt. Cut some shapes. And made a new fun felt cake! It is so easy and fun to play with as felt sticks to felt!

It’s kind of a hodge podge of different felt, but I wanted it as girly as possible. Since, my little girl, is a girly-girl. What’s nice is the shapes I made to decorate the cake can fit right inside the cake itself. As I did not glue the lids down. So, now we can add more to it whenever we think of something new! I didn’t make the candles like the magazine did. I might make those another day, but for now we will play with it as it is!

She has managed to drag it all over the house the last couple of days! So, I think it’s a hit! I am going to incorporate it with the felt food I made a couple weeks ago. That will be fun too!