Welcome Spring!

Today officially ushers in spring!  I've heard it may snow a little bit tomorrow, but I haven't brought myself to look at the weather.  This first day of spring has been gorgeous!  We started planting our garden today...we're a bit behind, I know.

Here's the first picture of this year's garden.  They don't look like much now, but I love when the first little sprouts break through the soil!  I tried to find some flowers to photograph in honor of spring, but the only live flowers I could find were so tiny I needed the Super Macro.  Then I just supplemented with a shot of the fake flowers on my door wreath :).

         

The craft for today was making little pom pom caterpillars.  The idea came from a craft in the Oriental Trading catalog.  Normally, I am more than happy to support that company by ordering their products, but Kaitlyn really wanted to do this craft today.  So I improvised with things we had on hand. And once they were made, we of course had to take them outside....

 

I also started my determined quest to replace my Scholastic book club addiction with regular trips to the library.  So Kaitlyn and I went to the one right down the street today.  She got to play in the activity center and with the educational computer games, so she had a blast.  I was also thrilled to find that they carry a ton of Thomas the Train and Veggie Tales videos!  Why didn't I use the library before, I wonder.  Happy Spring!

Easter Crafts

Our computer is finally back up and running!  I'm going to share a few Easter crafts I've done with the kids over the past week and a half.  It's funny because you can never really tell which crafts will be a hit with the kids and which won't.  I thought the chicks in an egg craft would be one that the kids would love, but that was actually the least favorite of the below crafts.  Every kid has a different craft personality, but I think it's good to try a wide variety, even if some are a flop with the kiddos :).

 

Here's the chick in an egg craft.  I thought it was adorable.  And don't get me wrong, the kids thought these were cute...they just weren't as into them as they have been into other crafts.  These are made from foam sheets, with foam flower stickers.  We used glue sticks to attach everything and a small brad to make the hinge.

 

I'm a sucker for anything that includes the kids' hand or footprints, so I fell in love with this Angel craft idea the moment I saw it. We just used cardstock, stickers, glue sticks and markers to make these.  The body is their footprint and the wings are their handprints.  Both kids really enjoyed having their feet and hands traced, and they really liked the final product.  Kaitlyn was much more into the decorating than Colton though.  As you can see, she even decorated herself!

 



And then there's my favorite craft of the week!  These little styrofoam bunnies are sooooo cute!  The kids had a great time making these.  They got to participate in every step of the craft, so that kept them happy and involved.  They cut the pipe cleaners (with a little bit of help) and stuck them into the styrofoam eggs.  Then they placed the eyes and used a glue stick to add little cottonball bunny feet.  These are still getting a lot of play time!

Fun Kids Craft Ideas

I want to share some really fun craft ideas along with a shout out to the Nick Jr. fan club web site.  I found this web site a while back when Kaitlyn started getting into Bubble Guppies.  They have a ton of printables.  I've found that the coloring pages aren't really worth it for us because you can get whole coloring and activity books at craft stores and dollar stores for under $1.  But the craft ideas are awesome!  We've done a few recently that I will share.  But this web site has everything from holiday cards and mobiles to board games and 3D projects, all with templates that you can print right from your computer.

 

For Kaitlyn, we did a Bubble Guppies hanging name sign and an Umizoomi Castle.  The hanging sign originally called for it to say "FALL," but I printed extra templates and modified it a bit to spell out her name.  This is just paper printouts glued onto foam sheets with foam letters on top.  The castle is just printed out templates wrapped around a shoe box and some toilet paper rolls.  It's great for teaching numbers, and there are plenty of other character templates to keep this fresh.  Kaitlyn has the Umizoomi characters and the Dora characters sharing a castle at present :)!



This is one of the fun board games they have.  If you have access to a laminator, this would be very durable.  Right now, ours is just paper on poster board for some stability.  But the kids have fun playing.  This one is a number game that involves number recognition and counting (forward and backward!), so it's a good learning tool.



This one I saved for last because, while it was obviously inspired by the Bubble Guppies hanging sign, there was no template for it.  Colton tends to be one of those kids who likes things that either don't have much out there as far as fun ideas (i.e. the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy) or cost money for pretty much everything beyond coloring pages (i.e. Thomas the Train).  He loved Kaitlyn's hanging sign so much because he is really into letters and spelling his own name, but the Bubble Guppies aren't really characters he gets excited about.  So it took some improvisation and Google searching, but I came up with Thomas and Percy pictures that were similar enough to make a cute template, put some white foam clouds on them, and added his name.  He was thrilled!!  If you have a Thomas the Train lover, this would be a really fun project.  They get to use glue sticks and spell their name...what could be better!  But even if your kids are not into the characters on the Nick Jr. web site, you can still find fun ideas to modify.  It's free to join.  Happy crafting!!

Fun Projects

Brandon went up to Pennsylvania to help a friend out today, so I had the whole day to do some fun stuff I've been wanting to get around to.  Kaitlyn and I went to JoAnn Fabrics earlier this week armed with fun coupons, and she picked out fabric for a cute jumper.  So I took the morning and sewed it together.  Granted I was too lazy to use a pattern and it was my first time putting a zipper in an outfit, but I was pretty happy with the results.  Kaitlyn loves it, so that's what really matters!



This is the fabric cut out.  I just traced a pattern off of one of Kaitlyn's other jumpers and cut up an old ivory tablecloth for the lining.

 

Here's the final product and Kaitlyn wearing the dress over her pajamas!



Then I moved on to adding a satin border around some fleece I got a while back to make a blanket for Colton.  Kaitlyn has a Minnie Mouse one that I have to get around to edging, too...not today though...there's only so much time you can spend sewing in one day :)!

So those were the fun projects for today.  I also want to share some pictures of the construction project Brandon and Colton did for Colton's school and the greatest idea I've seen in a while...



Here's Colton working on his gum drop and toothpicks construction.



And the project so far...  Brandon really wants this to span a huge part of the dining room table, but he just hasn't had the time to work on it that much.  We have to send the picture in for Colton's show and tell next week, so we'll see if it gets any bigger or not.  I think it's pretty fun as is, though.



And here's the greatest idea I've seen in a while!  A blog called Steadfast Life recently showcased this idea for using a hanging shoe organizer to house winter gear like hats, gloves, and scarves.  We are constantly searching for the second glove in a pair, so I thought this idea was genius.  I ordered this $10 organizer, it came Thursday, and voila!  It's making me very happy right now!!  I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Catching Up

For anyone who has gotten the flu this year, you know it's a bad one.  It knocked us out for a week, and we're just now getting back to normal.  Between that and work being extremely busy, I just haven't had much of a chance to keep up with the blog.  So this is going to be one big post of updates.  I also am going to switch to a weekly devotional, which I'm hoping to catch up with tomorrow.  I am finally up to Revelation in my Bible in a "year" readings!  So I'm really excited about that.

It's weird because I have been praying over this past year that God would let me know when the time is right to leave my current job, and I always had this feeling that I needed to read through the whole Bible first.  Well, now that I am about to finish reading through the Bible, my job is on the chopping block with sequestration.  Maybe God is giving me that nudge...  But please be in prayer for everyone who is facing furloughs, lay-offs, etc.  This is going to impact so many families.  I know that people like to villainize federal employees, but the truth is, most of us are just like everybody else, working hard just to put food on the table.

But all that aside, here are all of the updates....

Art Projects

Kaitlyn and I often go to Michaels Arts and Crafts store on days when I'm home.  It's Kaitlyn's favorite store!  When we turn into the shopping center, she always says, "Here we come Michaels!"  So this past week, we landed some awesome bargains.  Little wood picture frames with tiny markers that the kids could decorate with for a dollar each.  Colton colored his doghouse, and we added a cute picture of Barstow as a baby.  Then we found two packs of cute little animals and cars with a brush and set of paints.  Those may have cost more than a dollar, but less than two!  The kids had a blast painting, of course.  Kaitlyn really concentrated on getting the nooks and crannies of the cat.

My Spoils



Rarely do I splurge on myself, but I have been eying the Ashland collection at Michaels for a while now and it finally went 40% off!  I could have bought the whole collection if it weren't for the money issue and the fact that I just don't have room for it all.  But I did get a mosaic "Hope" stand, a vase, and some fake flowers.  It's brought a smile to my face this past week :)!

Potty Progress



Well, my attempt to bribe the kids by promising them that if they were potty trained by the time we reached the end of the current box of diapers they could pick something out at Toys 'R Us has officially failed.  We were off to a good start, but interest in the whole project languished mid-week.  The potty sticker chart is filling up nicely, though!  They haven't stuck to their own sides of the chart, but Colton is getting some stickers on there.  Yay for progress!!

Fun Time

     

Kaitlyn built the great wall of blocks in our living room last night...it was adorable!  Colton counted the blocks up to 20!  And then there's Kaitlyn reading a 3D Monsters Inc. book with her dada...love those moments!

Colton's 100th Day of School



So Colton's class celebrated the 100th day of school, and for a home project, each kid had to collect 100 of something.  For Colton's project, he put 100 puppy Valentine stickers on a piece of construction paper, writing a number by each one with hand over hand help.  It was a long process, but he enjoyed the numbers and the stickers...so well worth it!

Scholastic Book Club

   

I have become a Scholastic Book Club addict.  Every month, Colton's teacher sends home those little brochures of amazingly inexpensive books, and I just have to order some.  Colton brought this month's order home from school today!  I think I may actually get even more excited than the kids.  Fifteen books and a bear adding game for less than $30...you have to admit that's an awesome deal!  I'm loving the bears...the kids are already showing an interest in adding because of them.

So that's it for now.  Colton and Brandon are supposed to do a gum drops and toothpicks construction project after dinner, so that should be some fun pictures.  Guess I should get to starting dinner now :).

Kaitlyn's First Tea Party

Kaitlyn absolutely loves all things tea party related!  She has three play tea sets and one super nice one that we have put away for when she gets older.  So when one of the girls from church invited her to a tea party, she was THRILLED!  We got up this morning and got her all decked out in her Dora princess dress.  Here are some pictures from the fun:



Here she is before we left...all ready to go and super excited!



Drinking tea from one of her own tea cups...



Just a shot of the tea cup I used.  I love tea cups...they're so pretty and dainty!



Playing conversation heart BINGO.  This was such a cute idea!  The kids who can't read yet just had to match the colors.  The older kids matched the words on the hearts to the paper.



Colton got all of his colors right!

   

Kaitlyn started out well, but then she just decided to put hearts wherever she wanted them.



Sipping "tea"...lemonade really...



Can you tell she had fun?

 

Colton enjoyed playing with stamps during the craft part of the party.  He was covered in green ink!



Kaitlyn's craft was an adorable little owl goody bag!



And then it was off to building with cardboard blocks!  I think Kaitlyn really enjoyed her first tea party!  Colton had a great time, too!

Snowman Craft of the Day

Both of my kids are infatuated with snowmen.  They love to read stories about them, sing about them, and one day I'm sure they will love to make one if we ever get a good snow.  So for today's craft, I figured something about snowmen would be perfect.  I was going to do paper plate snowmen but decided to save that for another day.  Instead, we did construction paper snowmen with white paint snowflakes.  I helped them place the pieces and helped hand over hand with the eyes and buttons.  But the rest is their work.  Here are the finished projects:

 

And here's Kaitlyn's "self portrait" (when I asked what she was drawing, she said "me")!



Then she added some fringe with scissors!  I'm going to be so sad having to commute to work tomorrow.  It's been so fun spending more time with the kids this past week...