Water Beads

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

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

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!

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

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?

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!

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