Mommy Meatloaf

Hotglue Snowmen

2011-12-01T08:24:00.000-08:00

These little boogers are so cute, but definately not a project for the little kids (gets a little hot).

Take your hot glue gun and on wax paper, glue out the shape of a head. Put a piece of yarn on top (to hang the ornament from later). To make the face, add beads and a piece of orange pipe cleaner while the glue is still hot. Once you finish the face, glue out the body. I added a pipe cleaner for a scarf and some beads for buttons.
HINT: I learned it works better if you glue back and forth instead of in a circle. There seems to be less holes this way... I also learned that your hand starts to cramp after the forth or fifth glue stick.

Once dry, cut the wax paper around the snowman. Once they are completely dry they are freakin adorable! The glue drys to look like ice!

Fun Fall Pictures

2011-10-30T14:43:00.000-07:00

This is a great decoration for fall and simple for all ages (after seeing the kids' pictures framed, I want to do one myself now).

I started with a piece of scrapbook paper. I used paper that was textured so that it would look a little nicer than plain paper (but any paper will work). Next, I took brown paint, mixed in some metallic brown for fun, and painted a tree on the paper. Then once dry, I gave each kid a painted tree and some buttons and had them glue the buttons on using clear-drying glue and a paint brush. They had glue all over the buttons and paper, so its important to use a clear-drying glue, like Elmer's. Since we were doing fall pictures, I grabbed bags of buttons that were assorted fall colors. But, you could also do a nice spring picture by using assorted green buttons and maybe even a red here and there for an apple or a pink for blooms.

Simple. Beautiful.

Spooookkkkyyyyyyy Luminaries

2011-10-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

This is a great way to reuse your glass spaghetti and pickle and mayo jars and make them into something fun for Halloween.

So simple... Have your little one paint the inside of the jar a solid color, depending on which creature they are making.

There are a few different ways to do the face. For my 2 year old, I took a permanent marker and drew the face on the front of the jar. For another of hers, I cut out face pieces, and she put them on the jar. For my 4 year old, I drew face pieces on black construction paper. Then, I gave him scissors, let him cut out the pieces, and using a glue stick, he put the pieces on the jar. And obviously, we had to grab the googly eyes for one.

Add a candle and there ya go. Such a fun use for old jars!

Bringing the Beautiful Fall Colors Indoors

2011-10-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

Our yard is sooooo covered with leaves already. Its crazy!

Coming in from school today, the kids decided to collect a bunch of their favorites. They brought them in and put them on the table. Sooo pretty... So we decided to decorate with them.

I took out some thread (my son made me get thread to match each different colored leave) and tied the leaves to the light over the kitchen table. What an easy way to bring the fall indoors.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Cupcakes

2011-09-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Found this recipe on the side of a box of ice cream cones. The more I read the side of food boxes, the more fun recipes I find!

These yummy little things are actually cupcake filled ice cream cones with icing!

* Mix up your favorite cake mix following the cake recipe.
* Take your ice cream cones and wrap them in aluminum foil so that only the opening is exposed (this prevents the cone from burning just like when you bake a pie and cover the crust).
* The recipe says to put your cones carefully in a cupcake pan, but I put my cones in a meatloaf pan (you can fit about 7 in each pan) so that they couldn't fall over.
* Pour your cake mix in the cones. I filled each cone to about 1 inch below the top.
* Bake at the temperature and time called for in your cake recipe.

If you fill 1 inch below the top of the cone, this is the size cupcake you end up with.

We decorated with icing and sprinkles, but I think it would look cute if you used whip cream from a can! See the great help I had decorating.

Halloween Worthy Lunch - Hot Dog Spiders

2011-09-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

I am really excited that Halloween season is finally upon us. To kick-off my favorite time of year, we had super spooky (ok, not really) hotdog spiders for lunch. Umm, can you say, "Cool"??

Cut up some hotdogs, stick some spaghetti noodles thru, boil in a super-big pot for 10 minutes, lunch is served!! (Thank you whoever originally pinned this. Ive seen it a few places and always think its soo darn cute.)

I feel I should add: yes, our hotdogs ARE pink. They are Valley Dale... mmmmm the best.

My picky eaters loved it, although, one ate the noodles while the other ate the hotdogs.

"Tie-Dye" Done Simple (Yes, We are tie dying AGAIN)

2011-08-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Of all the ways we have tie-dyed, this has to be the easiest for kids! Its soo simple and much cheaper than buying actual tie-dye.

Basically, take some permanent markers, draw on a shirt, spray some rubbing alcohol all over it, and wait for it to "tie-dye". Boom-taw your done (well, other than setting your dye - details at bottom of post)! I took before and after pictures to show how different sized lines made different designs.

Before and After

Before and After

If you want the marker on both sides of the shirt, just lay the shirt flat on the table (on paper so it doesn't bleed on the table) and start drawing. Then turn the shirt over, and go over the lines to make them darker. Spray both sides with alcohol either using a tiny spray bottle or a pipette.

If you want to keep the design in just one spot on the shirt, you can stretch the shirt over the open side of a bowl and put a rubber band around it to keep it in place. Then spray with alcohol and let dry before removing from bowl.

I also thought it would be cool to tie-dye a shirt the traditional way first in a couple of light color,s and then after it has set, do the marker method over top of it. Can't wait to try this next time!

To set your design:
After spraying your shirt, let it set for about 6 hours (even though it will dry fairly quickly). Fill a bucket half with vinegar and half with cold water. Let your shirt sit in the mixture for 30 minutes, then wash on cold.

A Breakfast Craft-to-Go

2011-08-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

Wanna let your kids make a fun snack that they can eat on-the-go??

Welllll....... get some of their favorite O shaped cereal (yes, we used the most sugar-filled cereal we could find, but you could always choose a much healthier O cereal). Get a piece of elastic, yarn, or embroidery floss, and tie a button two one end (or anything that will prevent the cereal from falling off). We use elastic because the thought of possibly chewing on a piece of yarn or embroidery floss makes me cringe.

Now give your child a plate of the O cereal and let them string their own necklace. Its another great project for hand-eye coordination and its fun to do during snack time: one on the string, one in the mouth! When they are finished, tie the string into a necklace and you have an instant snack-to-go!!

The kids love making necklaces and taking them when we go out. I saw a few people have these around the way and have also seen these on various blogs. So easy, so fun, so handy. We've done this a bunch of times; glad I finally thought to take a picture!!

No Paint, No Problem

2011-08-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Its safe to say my kids paint at least 3 times a week, so we go through some paint! We run out quite often, and I will not buy it unless its on super clearance. So what do we do when its time to paint and we can't find the colors we want?? I open the cabinets and start searching. I've talked before about how we paint with pudding and spaghetti, but we also use other fun foods and supplies.

We paint with shaving cream with food coloring. Sometimes we add a handful of sand from the sandbox to the shaving cream or finger paint to change the texture.

You can use your leftover Jello out of the refridgerator and put it on paper, cover with plastic wrap and squish the Jello all around. When finished, remove the plastic wrap, shake the extra off, and the paper is left with some nice designs.

Our new favorite way to paint: take some glue and either squirt or paint it onto the paper (I learned to make glue and put it into an empty glue bottle for the little one since she likes to eat this project). Take cake sprinkles and colored decorating sugar and sprinkle it onto the glue. This time, we also used some purple Kool-Aid and some pink lemonade. Once it sets for a day, the colors will spread and its BEAUTIFUL! The colors come out soooo vibrant.

We did glue/sugar/sprinkle painting last week during our craft-a-day, and the kids entered their pictures in the fair. They both won ribbons :)

Happy Painting!!

Sew Fun

2011-08-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Want to know whats great about teaching your kids needlework?

1. Its fun and entertaining.
2.  Little ones can make artwork that any family member would love to have.
  3. Needlework is good practice for hand-eye coordination which is great for little ones learning to write.

Materials (Other than the buttons, these materials will all be located in the needle art/cross stitching section of your local fabric store)

Stitchable fabric - These fabrics are pre-cut in small sizes for needle art. Make sure you choose a fabric that is larger enough to fill your hoop. I chose a bread cover material because the holes were a little larger which would make it a little easier to stitch through.
Embroidery Hoop - There are lots of sizes and colors. I got cheap plastic ones (ranging from $2 to $5).
Embroidery Floss - Any color
Yarn Needle - These are metal (or plastic) needles that have NO point. Just make sure you don't get one with a big head as it won't fit through your buttons.
Bunch of Buttons - Rather than use buttons from my stash, I bought a bag of assorted shapes so that my son would enjoy them a little more, plus the shape buttons had bigger holes than normal buttons.

Time to Sew

Take the fabric, and put it into the embroidery hoop.  Now, thread the needle with a piece of embroidery floss. I kept the floss pieces to about 2 foot so that my son could easily work with it.  Instead of leaving a piece of thread hanging from the eye (as you would normally do when handsewing), I tied a knot so that it didn't slip out of the eye.  On the other end of the floss, tie a large knot..... And thats it for set-up.

I showed my son once how to run the needle up through the bottom of the fabric and pull it all the way through. We added a button, and pushed the needle back through the other hole, through the back of the fabric, and pulled it tight again. After showing him one time, he went for it! Each button was threaded through one time, then when the needle was to the back of the fabric, he just moved it to the next spot and started over. The only time he needed my help was when he reached the end of the floss. I just tied a knot, re-threaded, and set him loose again.

And of coarse, we couldn't do this project without a version for my two-year-old. So for her, I put a piece of fabric in a hoop and gave her some glue (make sure it dries clear because it will probably go everywhere), buttons, and a paint brush. She loved being able to "sew" on buttons just like her big brubby.

Now obviously you can take the fabric out of the hoops and frame it to hang on the wall, or you could sew a back on it, stuff it, and make it into a blanket. But, my kids wanted theirs hung on the wall hoop and all!

Theres nothing like having new handcrafted artwork to hang on my walls.

Lets Make Some Bracelets

2011-07-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

What little kid wouldn't love to make some jewelry?? This project is easy and f-r-e-e!!

Start out by taking an empty toilet paper roll and cut it into 1 to 2 inch wide circles, and then slit each circle open.

Next, give it to your child and let them go crazy decorating. They can use markers, paint, glue, whatever they want. My son decided to take some shells he found while we were at the creek and glue them to his bracelet that he had painted blue. The shells made his a little heavy, so I glued a little piece of velcro to it to help keep it closed. My daughter finger painted hers. My niece painted hers with glue, and then rolled it in glitter. And of coarse, I had to make one :) I painted mine white & blue and then dotted some glitter in the glue.

So fun, so easy, so cheap, so entertaining!!

Hello, My Name Is....

2011-07-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

My son has been spelling his name for what seems like forever now, but writing it and identifying the letters as individual letters (and not just one big word) is a little foreign to him. So, we decided that this would be our focus for the last couple of weeks. I wanted to make it fun as well as educational, and of coarse it had to hold the interest of a 4 year old. We have been using a few different methods; some methods worked a little better than others, so I'll just highlight our two favorites.

1. My children both have their own notebooks to draw and write in. Each day I write my son's name with pencil 4 times on a page. He takes his markers and traces over each of the letters so that he can get the hang of forming each letter. For added reference, I wrote his name on an index card, laminated, and velcroed it to a wall in my kitchen (we use the same wall for keeping up with daily weather, date, day of the week, and a daily color). This card can be pulled down and placed in front of my son while he is writing in his book.

After he has traced his name 4 times, I give him blank index cards, and he free-hands his name once on each card. Now, his motivation for doing this: we take each card that he has written his name on, put it in an envelope, and he mails it to a different family member each day. He is soo proud of himself for being able to mail these to whomever he chooses. (And if you are a family member who is wondering where your "Russ Card" is, don't worry, its coming).

2. I took 4 index cards, and on each card, I wrote one letter of my son's name (I also did this for his last name, but haven't started using them with him yet). I did the same for the 4 letters in my daughters name.

I take the 8 index cards and hide them all over the living room. After a big "Ready, Set, Go!", the kids are set loose to find all of the index cards with their name's letters. Once found, they arrange them in order on the coffee table so that they spell out each of their names. Now, my 1 year old hasn't completely gotten the hang of putting hers in order (although I have to brag that she CAN spell her name now and does recognize which 4 letters are hers), so this is a team sport. The team does not win until both names are spelled correctly and then each name must be spelled out-loud by both of them. This game has become a surprise hit!! I can't wait for next week when we add our last name into the mix.

I think I have managed to trick my children into learning something without them realizing it. Thats always a good thing hahaha

I would love to hear the ways you have made spelling fun for your little ones. We are always looking for new ideas!

Sooo Flubbery

2011-07-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

This is a great recipe for the kids to make and play with; its flubber!! It feels just like the stuff you get in a little jar at the dollar store or wherever that makes fart noises... hehehehe

Combine 1/3 cup Elmer's glue, 1/3 cup water, and some food coloring. I decided to put mine in a jar so that I could just shake it all up for the final step, but you can also use a large bowl. Mix it up with a fork until the glue is all dissolved (takes about 1 or 2 minutes of stirring).

Next, take 1/3 cup water and pour it into a SEPARATE cup or mug. Add to tablespoons of Borax to this water and let it set for a minute or two without mixing. You are just waiting for the Borax to settle to the bottom of the cup (the water on the top will be white and cloudy, thats fine). ***Oh, if you don't know what Borax is, its a laundry additive that you get in the laundry detergent isle at the grocery store. Its great stuff. We use it in our washing machine, for removing smells from trashcans and liter boxes, and a bunch of other stuff.*** Once the Borax has settled, pour the water out of the cup, leaving just the wet Borax. If you still have a little water left in the cup, its fine.

Now, take the cup of wet Borax and pour it into the glue mixture, scraping the remains out of the bottom of the cup. Now either shake up the mixture or stir it up til it starts to flubberize.

It will be kinda wet still when mixed, so just take the mixture out into your hand over the sink, and squeeze it and work it from hand to hand. Doing this will cause the extra moisture to fall out and get worked in. Do this for about a minute and it will be finished!! Just set it to the side, wash the leftovers off your hands, and DONE!!

This stuff is sooooo funnnnn and easy!!

Time to Play with Our Food

2011-07-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

Time to combine two of my kids' favorite things: finger painting and spaghetti. It adds a fun twist to normal everyday finger painting.

Next time you break out the finger paint, just boil up some spaghetti noodles (or use leftovers from last nights dinner) and add it right into the paint. Since its summer, we decided to take ours outside into the grass. I put a couple of big pieces of paper on the ground with some bowls of different colored spaghetti paint. The kids had so much fun painting with this mixture. They experimented with making fun shapes on the paper by rolling it and throwing it (and my daughter even found it amusing to paint herself with the spaghetti).

When they were finished with the painting (which was a good hour after they started), we decided to make some spaghetti art. I cut off little pieces of aluminum foil and placed them on the table. Then each kid took handfuls of spaghetti and arranged (or threw) it onto a piece of foil. I had to join in on this part and make one too :) When they were finished, I placed the foil with the art in a spot where it wouldn't be bothered and let it set for two days until it hardened. Then, I gently pulled away the foil, added a piece of ribbon, and hung them from the kitchen window for us to enjoy! I think we may make some more around Christmas for the Christmas tree.

This project was double the fun. And the advantage of doing it outside during the summer, when they were finished they just jumped in the baby pool and washed themselves off.

Best Part of Summer: Butterflys

2011-06-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

So why not raise your own?? I must say, we had so much fun checking on these little guys everyday.

For my son's birthday this year, we decided to get him a butterfly kit. They sell them at most major toy stores and online. Here is the one we did: http://www.shop-insectlore.com/Butterflies/Butterfly+Garden+Shipped+with+Live+Caterpillars.axd

Now don't get yourself all excited thinking there are live bugs in the kit. The box acutally comes with just the butterfly house and a certificate that you take online to order the actual caterpillars (I suggest ordering the bugs before you give the kit to your child because even though it only took a few days to get them in the mail, boy was that a long few days for my kids to wait!) Once you get your caterpillars, you get to watch them grow and grow and grow. Its pretty amazing how quickly they get soo big!

After that they go into their cocoons, and then after a little more waiting...... YAY BUTTERFLYS!! We were glued to the butterfly house for weeks. The kids loved that they got to feed the butterflys flowers and sugar water everyday. They never missed a day... And if they had it their way, we would have fed them every hour.

The hardest part of the whole experience was convincing the kids that we needed to let the butterflys go. We watched them a week, and they finally agreed it was time. We found a nice flowery spot and said goodbye.

This little guy tried to hitch a ride back in the house on my husband's hand.

Free Home Depot Fun

2011-06-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

So, as a lot of us already know, Home Depot has Kid's Workshops the first Saturday of each month. I have wanted to take the kids for awhile now, but just never got around to it. Ok, honestly, I was a little afraid it may be too much for my 4 and 1 year old, plus I wasn't sure how it all worked, so I kind of put it off. But my husband and I finally decided it was time to try it out, and I'm so glad we did. For those of you who have also thought about it but weren't sure what to expect, here ya go:

1. Its completely free. For the cost of $0, your child gets a Home Depot apron and a cute little kit to build something wooden (something different each month). They have all the supplies set-up, ie hammer, glue, nails, whatever you need. There are little tables set-up with little chairs (or in this case, 5 gallon buckets which, by the way, are the perfect height for little ones to sit on). And when all finished with your project, your child is given a little pin-of-accomplishment to put on their apron.

2. The projects are pretty easy; even my almost-2-year-old did a great job. Both kids had a blast.

3. I'm the kind of person who likes to just jump in without instruction, and thats what this is. The employees hand you the project and only help if you need it. It was nice being able to sit with my kids and go at our own pace with our set of instructions. We didn't have to keep up with anyone else.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a fun, free, activity that you and your child can enjoy together, make sure you hit-up the Home Depot Kid's Workshops. Just check their website to see dates, times, and upcoming projects.

The Story of the Story Book

2011-03-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

This project all started because I decided to actually sort through junk that has been accumlating in my house. As I'm trying to throw away all my outdated magazines, my son started flipping out. He wanted to know why was getting rid of such cool pictures. He had a good point. So, to keep him from melting down we decided to do a fun little project. He and I created a book from all his favorite magazine pictures, and he narrated the pages for me. It turned out to be such a great experience for both of us! Here is what we did:

We grabbed the scissors and started cutting out all the pictures he liked (good thing we bought new safety scissors this week). We took the pictures, arranged them on the table, grabbed a glue stick, and he went to work sticking them to blank paper. Then came my favorite part! One-by-one we went through the pages and Russ told me what was going on each page while I wrote it down. He created some cute little stories.

Then we decided to professionally bind the book..... Ok, not really. Instead, to make the front and back cover, I took two pieces of cardboard, covered them with white paper, and duct taped around the sides (yes I know, there I go with the duct tape again). I put the pages we created into the covered cardboard, punched holes, and tied it together with ribbon. He named the book, I wrote it on the cover, he did some final artwork, and we were finished.

I can't tell you how excited my little one was when we got in bed last night, and he was able to read his own little book. This is definately a project I recommend everyone try. It is sooo good for the imagination!

Newspaper Beads

2011-02-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you the reasons I love this project:

1. It was something my son and I did together, and we both had fun. 2. It was a great way to recycle some old newspapers. 3. It makes a really cute gift for your little one to give to Grandma for Easter. And my favorite reason, 4. My heart melted when my son told me he wanted me to have it because it would look so pretty on my wrist. xoxoxo

The only bad part about this project: It takes a few days to complete it because you have lots of drying time.....

Mommy & Kid Part: Start of by taking a newspaper and tearing it into small pieces. You can also use the old sales ads that come in your paper. My pieces ended up being anywhere from quarter sized to candy bar sized. The smaller the better. Ya know, I'm amazed at how much kids love to tear up newspaper :)

Here is an adult part: Take your cut-up newspaper, and put it in a large pot. Boil some water and pour it over the newspaper. You'll want enough to cover the paper. Then, put the lid on the pot and leave it sitting for an hour or a little more. You'll want to stir it every now and then. The goal is to have the paper break up into a nice mush.

Once you get this beautiful mush, you want to drain out the water. You can do this using a collander if you want, however, I found it was easier to take handfuls, squeeze the water out, and then put it in another bowl. When the excess water is out, mix in some Elmer's glue to help hold the paper together. Just guess on the amount. I used about 8 pages of paper and maybe 1/4 bottle of Elmers. There is really no exact science to this part. Heres my warning: Your hands are going to be black when you are done!! Don't worry though, it washes off, but be careful not to get it on your clothes. I also suggest washing your pot as soon as you are finished because the inside will be covered in black also (don't worry, it washes out).

Alrighty, next is another Mommy & kid part: Its time to form the beads. Take out small amounts of your mush and roll it into balls. Try to squeeze out any extra water as you go. My son didn't get the "squeeze the water out" concept, and his turned out fine, so don't worry about it too much. I will say, shaping the balls is a little harder than I expected. You can't really roll it out because it breaks apart a little. It just takes lots of squeezing and hand-shaping. Have fun with it!! Make some squares, balls, flat round discs... whatever your little hearts desire.

Here is the rough part: Once you get your beads all shaped, put them on a piece of aluminum foil or wax paper and wait for them to dry. Its gonna take two to three days for them to dry out completely. I hate waiting, but ya gotta do it. When they have completely dried out, it will be pretty obvious cause they will be super light.

Now that the beads are dry, drill a hole thru each bead. Then you can either paint them as they are, or you can sand them down a little with sandpaper or an emory board. The will not be pefectly smooth; they actually have a natural rock kinda look. They would probably look pretty cool painted to look like turquoise or something. But my kids just went crazy painting all different colors :) Hint: You may want to put wire thru the beads before you paint them or you may paint the holes shut. Not a big deal, just makes it a little harder to find the holes when you string them.

After the paint has dried, spray them with a gloss finish, string them, add a hook, and wear them!!

Breathe New Life into Unwanted Clothes

2011-02-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

Living in a town with no fabric stores has taught me to get creative when looking for material. I don't always feel like driving 35 minutes to get to a fabric store, so I found a new way to find what I need: thrift stores and yardsales.

Yes, I know they don't typically sell material, or do they? As I walk thru the store looking up and down the racks, I switch my brain over from thinking "Wow thats an ugly dress" to "Wow thats some nice material in that dress". Its amazing how different things look when you look at it thru different eyes.

Example: I was at a yardsale this summer and the clothing was fill-a-bag for $1. The clothes were pretty old or just not my size or style. However, they had some great prints in them. So, I filled a bag with a bunch of stuff, and in the end, I paid about $.10 per piece. Here is the first adult sized (not my size) skirt I bought:

I cut it into pieces and added hems. The top piece I cut and sewed to where the zipper could still be used. The second, I just added elastic to the top for a waistband.

Here is the second skirt I came home with:

This skirt had an awesome waistband that I thought would work perfect for a dress top. So, I measured the length & top, marked it, cut, and sewed a seam down the side. I used the left-over bottom piece to make two straps and attached them to the top. Here is how it turned out:

Next time you're at a yardsale and nothing is your size, flip your brain to fabric mode, and take another look around!!

Because I Had to Use the Leftover Paint Swatch Pieces.....

2011-02-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

After we made the Paint Swatch Monster Valentines, we had a bunch of little pieces of paper paint swatches left (these were the little pieces that we cut off after the cards were glued together that contained the names of the paint colors). My son looked at them and said, "Now what are we going to make with these?" I'm thinking he's been around me too long. He kept arranging the tiny pieces next to each other, making pictures, and I realized that they looked like little mosaic pieces. I dug thru the closet where I keep all the just-in-case-I-need-it stuff and found a clay flower pot!

Sooooooo..... Here is what we did! I poured a bowl of decoupage glue, gave my son a paint brush, and let him glue the pieces to the pot. I showed him how to take the smaller pieces and fill in the empty spots, and he did awesome! After he was finished, we painted a coat of decoupage sealer over the entire pot to waterproof it and give it a glossy finish....... LOVE IT!

Paint Swatch Valentine Card Monsters....

2011-02-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!! Today we made Valentine's for my son's preschool class, and I have to say, I think they turned out super cute. I wanted bright, fun cards, and I think we accomplished that.

For the card, I gathered up a bunch of paper paint swatches that I had been collecting each time we repaint a room (because of coarse I didn't throw them away when I was done). I took two cards and glued them together, pretty sides out. I started using hot glue, but found that spray adhesive worked better. It gave a smoother finish. And since it drys slower than hot glue, it gave me a chance to move the cards around until the were lined up correctly.

After they dried, I put them on the cutting board and cut off the part of the card that told what color the swatch was. That left me with a double-sided color card with nothing on either side. I then took my permanent marker and wrote Valentine greetings on one side, signed my sons name, and left the other side for monster-making.

So, next I gathered up some sticky-backed googly eyes and stickers. For the mouth, I found some sticky-backed red craft foam and cut mouths of all shapes and sizes. I put all the different supplies in piles on the table and let my son go crazy decorating the cards. He got soo into making these monsters!

Once he was finished, we cut some yarn and glued it to the monster heads. And of coarse, we made some with mustaches. To attach the yarn, I used a decoupage glue so that my son could put the yarn on without burning himself.

And there ya go!!

A Juicy Bird Feeder

2011-02-03T11:45:00.000-08:00

With all the snow we've had lately, we've spent a lot of time staring out the living room window. There have been soo many birds on our porch swing chains lately that my son decided we need to make a bird feeder. After being snowed in for days on end, the craft supplies started running low (which is good because now I get to restock), so we hit up the recycling bin.... again. We found an orange juice carton that was just perfect for our project.

So, I started by drawing a square on each side of the carton where we would cut the holes for the birds to eat out of. I started the hole, then gave my son the safety scissors and let him cut them open.

Next, let your kid go paint crazy :) Just a hint, paint the carton with a coat of white or other solid color and wait for it to dry before doing the other colors. The words on the carton are hard to cover, especially if you let your little one use washable paint.

Once its dry, find a nice stick to use for a perch. To attach it, put a hole just under the window on each side, and stick the stick straight thru. Now, put two small holes in the top so you can run a string thru for hanging.

And now hang your bird feeder, and wait for the birds to come! I really wanted to wait for a bird to land on it for the final picture, but I'm impatient; I'll just add that picture later :)

Fathers Day Stepping Stones

2010-06-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

I tried to dream up something new and exciting for the kids to make for a Father's Day present this year, but I've been so busy that I just came up with nothing. So, I decided to do a craft that I've done before, pre-children. We made concrete stepping stones that daddy could put in the garden.

I went searching in the shed for the mold that I used before, but I couldn't find it. I didn't want to buy a new mold, so I improvised. For one stone, I used an old plastic bowl that I didn't use anymore (cause I left it outside after a cookout and never got around to taking it in). If you actually put your stuff away and don't have any old ones laying around, just go to the dollar store and get one. Its much cheaper than buying the "stepping stone mold" from the craft store. For the other stone, I used a cardboard box. .

Instead of buying the bag of stepping stone mix, I used some left-over concrete/mortar. You can actually buy a bag at your local home improvement store for about $6. This is a huge advantage over the kit at the craft store. The craft store bag makes one 12 inch stone or two 8 inch stones. The mortar from the home improvement store will make billions of stones (ok, not billions, but A LOT).

Mix up some concrete and water to a brownie consistency. Then, pour it into your molds and smooth it out. Let it set for a couple of minutes, then let your kids decorate. I decided to do my kids footprints. In one, we used stones that I had left over out of an old vase of flowers. I don't have a picture of it, but for one I used stones left over out of an old fishtank. You could also use rocks from the yard, left-over nuts and washers, cut-up straws, just whatever you find laying around.

Another option, we had a bag of sand left-over from the sandbox, so I cut the top open and had the kids step in it. When they picked up their feet, their foot-print was left behind. So, I filled the footprint with mortar, let it hardened, and pulled the hardened form out. It made a foot-shaped stone.

Let your stone set-up about two days and there you have it! Between pouring in the ingredients, mixing it up, pouring into molds, adding embellishments, and stepping into wet concrete, my son loved this project!

Alexa in Wonderland - Little Bit of Ranting

2010-06-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, my 10 month old pulled an Alice and tried to take a trip to Wonderland yesterday. We were hanging out in my yard, which is on a mountain in the woods, and she was just crawling around as always. I was in the middle of the yard helping my son with something and in the 2 minutes I looked away, she made her way to the edge of the trees and had eaten a wild mushroom or two and was about to eat another. So, I scooped her up, ran in and called poison control, and rushed her to the ER. After 6 hours of observation, we were released to go home. We got lucky, and she was perfectly fine. Other than the thrill of trying to entertain a 10 month old in a small hospital bed for 6 hours, the the hospital stay was uneventful.

Now for the reason I feel I need to share this; I was treated by multiple people like I was a bad mom!! Really, am I the first person who has turned their head and had their kid get into something they shouldn't have?? I mean, I could have her in the middle of an empty padded room and she would find a way to hurt herself. If she was in a warehouse filled with cotton candy and chocolate chips, she would find an exposed piece of floor tile and eat it. The doctor asked me what happened, so I said that I looked away and before I knew it she was across the yard eating something. The doctor actually said to me, "So, where you hanging out talking to friends and just not paying attention?" OH MY!! ARE YOU SERIOUS! Where the heck did that come from. Then I was asked what time it happened and I told them 11:20. Poison control basically called me a liar and rudely told the doctor there was no way it happened at 11:20 because I called them at 11:15. So, I was 5 minutes off and that means I'm trying to hide something??? So, next time your child cuts a finger, don't pick them up and stop the bleeding. Run in the house and document the event complete with the exact time while they bleed profusely, then go stop the bleeding (Ok, maybe I'm being dramatic there, but thats how they made me feel). And on top of these people (not the word I was looking for, but it works), I had non-employees (and thats what I'll call them) tell me that I need to watch my children better..... Shaking my head....

My children gnawl on bugs, dog food, paper, the furniture, my leg, and anything else they can get in their mouth. So, all you super-moms out there who never take your eyes off your children and whose children have never gotten hurt or eaten something they shouldn't have, would you please give me lessons?? Ok, I'm over it now!! :)

From Christmas Tin to Travel Bin

2010-06-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out a cabinet the other day, and I found this tin that someone gave me full of cookies at Christmas. Well, you know I can't just throw something like this away, so I put it on the counter and decided to use it to hold all kinds of fun stuff for Russ to use while we are in the car.

I decided that I would paint it (so it didn't look so Christmas-y), and immediately I thought of the left-over chalkboard paint hiding in the back of the closet. So, I took some sandpaper and buffed it to make the paint stick better, and then I grabbed the chalkboard paint and painted the lid while Russ used craft paint on the rest of it (I can't paint without him). I used the chalkboard paint on the inside and the outside of the lid.

After the lid was painted, I thought it looked like a road, so I painted some yellow lines on it. Then, I went digging through Russ' room and found a few little plastic cars we won in the arcade. I took a strip of magnet, cut small pieces, and stuck them to the bottom of the cars. Now, I had a racetrack with cars that would stick to the tin so they wouldn't fall off and get lost.

The only thing left to do was fill the little travel kit with fun stuff (including chalk, fruit snacks, pad and paper, etc.) and put it in our car.

I'm really happy with what we ended up with, and my son has really enjoyed having something new to play with in the car!!

(Wanted to say he doesn't have his seatbelt on because this was a staged pic in my driveway. Notice the open door. hehe)

Easiest Teether Ever

2010-06-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

I was blog-surfing earlier today and saw the cutest little teething ring ever! Its a wooden ring with pretty fabric and ribbons attatched around it. I knew this was something that my little one would love to play with; she loves ribbons and tags, and the wooden ring just looks like it would feel good on her little gums.

Well, I happened to have a bunch of wooden rings in my craft closet (I think there is a little bit of everything in there), so I decided to make one. Because I already have too many projects going on right now, I decided to simplified mine a little (if you want to see the much cuter inspiration, check them out over at Patchy Apple).

So anyway, here is what I ended up with.

Basically, I took an unfinished wooden ring and tied little pieces of ribbon all the way around it. (You were right, Abbie. There was a use for all those little pieces of ribbon left over from making hairbows). I tied the knots as tight as I could get them, then I grabbed a needle and thread and stitched them so that they would stay put.

AND THATS IT!! Told you I did it the simple way.

Now I know this isn't the prettiest thing in the world, however, my daughter is in LOVE with it!! She wouldn't put it down.

I think I may make a couple of extras and keep them in the car and diaper bag.

Hello Mr. Sewing Machine

2010-06-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

After monthes of closet time, I finally pulled my sewing machine from the closet and got it all set up. Its been away partly because I hate dragging it out, setting it it up, and having to keep the kids off of it, then putting it right away (since I have no sewing room, I use my kitchen table) and partly because I lost the cord for awhile.

I've made the most of this time together with my machine and have kept myself sewing most of my spare minutes the last few days. Spare minutes with these two rugrats are few and far between, but I've managed to get some time in.

I have a babyshower to go to this weekend, and I wanted to make a few gifts for the soon-to-be-born little boy. I went with the kids to the fabric store and let Russ pick all the fabric. I think my 3 year old has a knack for this because I love all his choices.

So, I figured I would share a little of what I've been working on.

Here is the first set I made. Russ picked out the animal print and I picked the material for the back.

And of coarse Russ had to get some John Deere material.

I thought this one would be cute for the 4th of July (even thought the baby won't be born until August. He can wear it next year).

And of coarse I had to make something for Lexi!!

I made a few other things that need a little finishing up. I made a couple of things for me, a few for my kids, and a few because I don't know why. Hopefully, I might get some more pictures up soon.

Back from Vacation

2010-05-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

I'm back!! I had a week of two sick babies, a sinus infection for myself, but then it was all better because we went on VACATION!!

We spent a week in Ocean City having lots of family fun. We did the beach, hit the carshow, saw the wild ponies,

walked the boardwalk, had my favorite ice cream,

did some crabbing

and had lots of family fun-time!!

We had a great time! I had soooo many fun ideas pop in my head over the past few weeks that Russ and I will have lots of stuff to keep us busy. Can't wait to post!!

The Cozy Cone

2010-05-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

My son is soooo into the Disney Cars movie; I think we watch it at least 4 times every week. Whenever we go out, we keep our eyes out for anything from the movie that he doesn't have yet. So, today I was at Target looking through the dollar section, and I got excited when I saw a 6 pack of orange cones. I immediately thought COZY CONE MOTEL.

I bought the 6 pack of cones and went home and got to work. Ok, I didn't do too much work, it was pretty simple. But when Russ woke up and saw what I did, he was literally screaming with excitement!

I took the cones and cut an opening in the front measuring approximately an inch and half by an inch and half. On some of them, I cut across the top of the opening so that there was a square door hole. On others, I just cut up the two sides and then folded the flap up to form a porch. Be sure to cut slowely and carefully or the plastic will crack (thats why there are 4 Cozy Cones instead of the 6 that came in the pack).

After that, I just took a permanent marker and drew on some room numbers and windows.

And there you have it, the COZY CONE MOTEL!!

An Eggcellent Snake Project

2010-04-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got tired of seeing the basket of plastic Easter eggs sitting in the living room floor and decided we needed to do something with them or throw them away. I was looking at them (thinking about tossing them in the trash) and noticed that each half of each egg had holes in the ends. I assume these holes are there in case one gets stuck in your childs mouth. So anyway, I grabbed some line and gave it to Russ to string the eggs onto.

I was amazed at how much thought he put into stringing them together and how carefully he worked. I wanted to help, but he enjoyed it too much and wouldn't let me! So, as he was stringing the eggs, they started looking like a long, winding snake. Our playtime had developed a into a snake project.

Russ continued stringing the eggs until he had one left. The very last egg was turned backwards to give it a "finished" look and the line was tied in a knot.

Then, since we decided it was a snake, I painted a face on it and glued on a piece of ribbon to make a mouth. Our pointless project turned into a cute little toy. My 8 month old daughter especially likes playing with it!! And best of all, I didn't have to throw the eggs away.

Happy Earth Day

2010-04-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

I was at my dad's last week, and he had the cutest little simple tool I'd ever seen. You use it to turn strips of newspaper into little pots for starting seeds. They are great little pots because once the seeds sprout, you can plant the entire newspaper pot into the ground.

I wanted to make this little tool for myself, but that would require using the lathe, and well, I need all my fingers. I came home and sat down next to the recycling bin and figured out how I could make the pots using stuff we had thrown out. I finally got it to work and so, to celebrate Earth Day, we decided to make some of these newspaper pots and planted some wildflower seeds in them.

The only "tools" I used were a water bottle that we cut both ends off of and a laundry detergent cap.

To start, take your newspaper (after you've finished reading it) and cut strips all the way across that are about 6 inches tall and are the length of the paper.

Take one strip and wrap it around the water bottle. Let about 2 to 3 inches of the paper hang over the end of the bottle (the overhang will form the bottom of the pot). The overhang should be over the cut end of the bottle. You keep wrapping around and around until you reach the end of the paper.

Once the newspaper is around the bottle, push the overhanging paper up inside the cut-out hole in the bottle. I used the laundry detergent lid to get it pushed all the way up in there.

Next, carefully pull the newspaper off the bottle. Reach inside and twist the paper that was pushed inside. It helps if you set the pot on the table while twisting the inside paper. This will form a nice, solid bottom.

Now you can fill you pot with dirt and plant your seeds. I placed all my pots in a tray that we got when we bought flowers. If you don't have one, you can put them on a cookie sheet. Put the tray in a nice sunny area, water daily, and when they sprout, you can plant the entire newspaper pot and all straight into the ground!

Happy Earth Day!

Crayon Iron-Ons

2010-04-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

I know, I've already done crayons (probably will do them again). But, they have soo many fun uses that I can't get enough. This time we used our crayons and some sandpaper to make iron-ons. The little ones (and big ones) will love creating their own clothing or accessory designs! Its such a fun project for kids of all ages.

Take a piece of coarse sandpaper and color your design on the rough side. I free-handed some hearts and flowers. Since my son isn't old enough to really draw designs yet, I cut out some shapes and letters for him to color. Remember: When cutting out letters or when coloring words, you must make them backwards so when they are transfered, they face the right way.

Now for the adult portion! Take your material (shirt, bag, whatever) and put it on your ironing board. Be sure to put a piece of white paper or aluminum foil under the layer of fabric you are putting your iron-on on. If you don't, the crayon will bleed through. Place your picture on the fabric, crayon side down. Now iron it on. Be sure to move the iron very slowly and iron for 10-20 seconds (don't burn your shirt though).

Now, carefully peel off the sandpaper while its still hot and ALL done!!

Wait until your child sees their masterpiece on a piece of clothing. They'll love it!

BE SURE TO READ THIS: While handwashing is best, you can wash your project in the machine on cold. DO NOT DRY YOUR PROJECT IN THE DRYER! Not only will the crayon melt all over your project, it will probably ruin all the clothes in the dryer. I know this from experiences with crayons left in pockets.

Bunnies and Chics and All that Cute Stuff

2010-04-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

When I decided to make some fun little stuff for the kid's Easter baskets, this is the first thing that popped into my mind. By no means am I trying to say I invented these little boogers (I actually had a purple one when I was little). So, I got my washrags and folded them up until they looked like I remember, and now I'll show you what I did.

For the bunny: Fold the washrag into a triangle and roll it up, starting with the pointy side.

Next you want to fold the rag around to form an O.

While holding the rag as shown above, fold the two ends back over your hand. It will form a "head" on front of the O.

Now take a piece of ribbon and tie it around the entire area to hold the head in place (tie it around the rag where my fingers are in the last pictures).

For the chic: Start off the same as the bunny.

Now, instead of flipping the ends up, you flip them to the sides to form wings.

As you see above, I pulled one side of the rag down and to the side to have a smoother area for the face. Now wrap a piece of ribbon around the entire thing (where my fingers are).

Now, to make the faces, I just glued on some pom-poms and googly eyes. Because my 7 month old eats everything she can get her hands on, I decided it would be safer to paint a face on her bunny.

These guys are a great idea if you are looking for a last minute basket stuffer since they are quick and easy to make!

Jar o' Beans

2010-04-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

When deciding what to make for the kid's Easter baskets, I wanted to use things in the house so I didn't have to buy too much stuff. Since I have plenty of baby food jars, I decided to turn them into jelly bean and robin egg holders.

First, paint your lid: white for the bunny, yellow for the chic.

Take some felt (or construction paper) and cut your pieces. For the bunny: ears and feet. For the chic: beak, feet, and wings.

Now glue the pieces to the jars. For the mouth and eyes, just grab a paintbrush and paint them on. If you don't have a small paintbrush, use a toothpick. Toothpicks work great for painting small things like eyeballs.

Only thing left to do is seperate out your yellow and white jelly beans or robin eggs and add them to their jars.

I couldn't let Russ help me with this one since it will be in his basket Easter morning, but I'm sure the kids would love to do this project with you.

I Love Contact Paper

2010-03-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my playgroup and I had a booth at a local Children's Day where we had to provide a craft for all the kids in attendance. We needed something that was easy for all age groups, not messy, and inexpensive. So, we decided to make stained glass windows using tissue paper and contact paper. This project is super simple for even the youngest kids. The children seemed to all enjoy it so I'll share it with you.

Start out by ripping a whole bunch of little pieces of tissue paper. They can be any size or shape, doesn't matter. You can mix up the colors however you please. I suggest that instead of buying it, you should pull out that stash of tissue paper you've collected at birthdays and Christmas.

Now, get out your contact paper. For those who don't know about contact paper, its great! Basically, its clear shelving paper that is sticky on one side and can be used for crafts, laminating, or lining shelves. There are so many projects you can do with it (don't worry, I will be posting more). You can find it with the shelving paper at your local grocery store. So, back to the project: cut a square about 5x5 out of the contact paper.

Peel the paper off the contact paper, and place it on the table sticky side up. Have your child stick the pieces of tissue paper all over the contact paper. The can overlap, there can be spaces uncovered, the whole sheet can be covered, it doesn't matter.

When they are finished, take another piece of 5x5 contact paper and peel the paper off. Stick it on top of the first sheet of paper so that the tissue paper part is sandwiched in the middle.

Now, grab some scissors and cut a shape into the contact paper sandwich. I like eggs and hearts because they are simple. If you want to do something more difficult and can't free-hand it, you can print a template online and use it as a guide. We decided to do an Easter bunny since Easter is this weekend and my son has Easter bunnies on the brain. You can do different shapes for each of the holidays.

To finish it off, cut a hole in your design and put a piece of ribbon through it to hang it from the window.

As I said, this project is so easy, but the kids will love it. My photos don't do them justice, but they really do turn out cute.

Peek-a-Boo Puppets

2010-03-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

I need to start off by thanking my buddy Becca for hosting this puppet party for our playgroup. These peek-a-boo puppets turned out sooo cute! They pop in and out and can dance all around.

Start off with a wooden dowel. Take a styrofoam ball and stick it on the end of the dowel to form a head (I guess it would really be the skull since it will be covered, but anyway...) Then, take a plastic cup, cut out the bottom, and slide it up onto the stick.

Next, take a sock (I used an old one because its cheaper than buying one) and slide it over the ball, down the dowel, and up over the cup. The sock needs to be hot-glued to the cup. Before you glue it, make sure the cup is all the way at the end of the dowel; this is so you have room to move the puppet up and down when its finished. If the sock is longer than the cup, just cut the sock.

Now you want to take fabric, felt, or whatever and cover the cup.

Ok, so on to the fun part. You can use felt cut-outs, wiggly eyes, pom-poms, pipe cleaners,or whatever else you want to make a face and decorate your puppet. This is a part thats fun for the kids. Now of coarse, they can't use the hot glue gun, but you can give them Elmer's and let them go crazy. The Elmer's doesn't stick so well, but when they aren't looking you can use your hot glue gun and re-secure their pieces. For mine, I made curly hair by wrapping yarn around a dowel, wetting it, and microwaving until dry. Make sure to microwave at small increments (20 seconds or so) or you will burn the dowel and yarn. Trust me, I know!!

Time to have fun with your puppets (or take a nap with them)!

Butterflys and Blooms

2010-03-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

This week felt like spring had finally arrived. So to celebrate, we made some pretty pretty butterflies and flowers. This project is literally the easiest and cheapest project possible, and it turns out soo cute.

Give your little one a coffee filter and some markers and tell them to go crazy. It doesn't matter how much or how little they color the filter.

For the butterfly: Gather the filter up in the middle so that there are two equal sides to the coffee filter and wrap a pipe cleaner around it to form the wings (you actually only need about 1/4 of the pipe cleaner). Bend the ends of the pipe cleaner to resemble antennea.

For the flower: I actually used two coffee filters, placing one on top of the other. On the backside of the filters, gather up the entire middle section. Wrap a pipe cleaner around it.

Now for both the butterfly and the flower, you take a spray bottle of water and lightly spray the coffee filters. The water will cause the colors to make a really cool tie dye type design. Each project will be soo different and super cute.

My Baby turned 3

2010-03-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't get to post last week because I was working on stuff for my son's birthday party. My baby boy turned 3 this weekend. He's not a baby anymore.... and he reminds me every day.

I didn't want to have his party at our house since our family is huge and my house isn't. I wanted to try something different this year, something that would be super fun for Russ and all his little friends. So, I picked up the phone and started calling all the fire departments in the area, and I found one that you could rent for parties. The party was actually in the bay with the fire trucks. There was plenty of room to set up tables and chairs, let the kids play with their toy trucks in the floor, and still have all the fire trucks in there with them. The fire fighters were awesome! They gave the kids a tour and told them all about the different parts of the truck. Then, they pulled a truck outside, hooked it up to a hydrant, and shot water across the sky. I think this was the highlight of the day.

Instead of gift bags, we got plastic fireman hats, and I assembled foam fireman badges and wrote each kids name on one.

We kept decorations to a minimum (one of the advantages of a fire department party). My friend and I did make a super-cute banner out of scrapbooking paper and simple shapes.

As far as "entertainment", besides the fire engines, we filled the floor with toy trucks, had fire engine tattoos, and made a coloring sheet with a fire truck with the birthday boy's name on it.

If you have a little boy, I highly recommend a fire department party.

I have a surrogate....

2010-03-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

for my chicken eggs! My good friend Mamma Tortilla is currently incubating 8 of my chicken's eggs as a fun project for her little ones. She is going to keep me, and everyone in the blog world, posted on their progress, so be sure to click on her name to pop over to her blog and check it out. I'm hoping she can get some good candling pics along the way. The chicks will stay with her for the beginning of their lives, and then they will come back to us.

Meet the Daddy

Here is Kevin. He is the daddy of all the eggs.

And here are the potential Mommies

Froee, Al, Kiki, and Lizzy

So, be sure to check back in about 20 days to see pics of our little chicks!! It will be exciting to see what the babies look like.

A Hair-Raising Project

2010-03-05T06:51:00.000-08:00

I think this project turned out just hilarious! We made our own Chia-Pets using old pantyhouse and grass seed.

Basically, you take a pair of your old, ripped pantyhose and form a little pocket. Put a little grass seed in the bottom, then some dirt, some more grass seed, then fill with dirt. Tie the end to form a head and cut it from the rest of the pantyhose.

On one of the heads, we added googly eyes, a felt mouth, and twisted a section of dirt into a nose. For the other, we used parts from our Mr. Potato Head. My husband and son made the one with the Mr. Potato Head parts, and if you know my husband, you'll notice it looks a lot like him!! I cut a hole in the bottom of a styrofoam cup and placed the head on the cup, with the knot in hole.

Finally, we took the heads and put them in the kitchen window. The heads have to be watered every day. I think ours are watered about two or three times a day because Russ dumps water in them every time he washes his hands.
This project was definately one of our family favorites. I gave mine a haircut last night. I tried to talk my husband into trimming his, but he refuses :)

Here they are enjoying some of the warm weather on the back porch!!

UPDATE!!!!

The one on the right as had a few haircuts. The other, not so much.

Fun with "Recycled" Bottles

2010-03-04T05:46:00.000-08:00

Yay for National Craft Month!! Russ and I decided that for our first National Craft Month project we were going to have fun with old plastic bottles. This is mostly because we didn't have the supplies for the other ideas I had, so I went digging thru the recycling bin.

So, with the round shampoo bottle I found, we decided to make a piggy bank for Russ' farm themed room. I took the lid off and painted it into the nose. For the tail, I took a pipe cleaner, painted it pink, cut a hole, and glued it in. I used heavy paper painted pink for the ears. The feet are caps from soda bottles painted pink and glued on. The eyes were painted on. And last, but not least, a hole was cut in top for the money to go in. As soon as we were finished, Russ had to run in his room and put money in it. He was so impressed with his little piggy!

While I was doing the cutting and gluing (the parts that Russ couldn't help with), I gave him another shampoo bottle and he painted it. His abstract paint job didn't much resemble an animal, so we decided to make it into a maraca. I filled it with rice and glued the lid on. Then, I found a dowel that fit down the hole in the lid (and ripped the cover off). I glued the dowel into place. It was a simple project, but you should see the look on Russ' face when he is playing with the things he makes himself.

Cute Little Hairbow Holder

2010-02-24T17:38:00.000-08:00

After making all the hairbows for my daughter during the blizzard, I decided I better find somewhere to keep them. I wanted to keep them so that I could easily tell what bows she had, but I also wanted it to be cute. I decided to make this cute little face; its just like one I had as a kid.

So, I took a piece of cardboard, traced a bowl to make a circle, and cut it out. I covered the circle with stuffing (because I was out of batting). I then took an old pillowcase and covered the circle, flipped it over, and hot-glued it to the cardboard. I glued a piece of ribbon on the back to hang it from.

To make the hair, I took yarn and made 3 sections with 10 pieces each. I tied them at the end and then braided them together (to keep it tight, I actually tied it to the cabinet while braiding). I then glued the braid around the face and added some bangs.

To make the face, I cut eyes and a mouth out of felt and glued them on.

There ya have it, a cute little face with cute little braids to hang all your hairbows on!

From the Mouth of Russ...

2010-02-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share a few Russ-isms. He always keeps us laughing!!

Me: "Don't put that up your nose?" Russ: "Ok, I'll put it up your nose".

Grandpa Jim: "How are your chickens?" Russ: "Dead, they froze". (They didn't freeze, they were fine).

Me: "What do you want for breakfast"? Russ: "Lobster and waffles".

Russ (from the bathroom): "Hey momma, my poop really stinks".

Daddy: "I drilled a tiny hole in the bottom of the angel so you can put it on top the tree". Russ: "Yea Mommy, its a heiny hole".

Russ (from the bathroom): "Hey momma, my poop is blue and theres two of them".

Russ at 4:30am: "I've never seen these cartoons before". Me: "Thats because you are never up this early".
Russ: "Oh, well, I'm going to start getting up early so I can watch them". Me: "I don't hardly think soon".

After Russ ran and jumped head first over his Grandmother, landed on his head, and did a flip, I asked him: "What was that"? Russ replied, "Touchdown".

I dropped something and said, "Oh my". Russ: "No Mommy, say D*mn it".

After throwing up, Russ wiped his mouth and said, "Tasty".

Tie Dying for Two Year Olds

2010-02-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I LOVE to tie dye. And because I love it, well, I figured my son would, too. The problem was how do you give a two year old bottles of permanent dye and let him go crazy in the house?? So, I had to get a little creative (and cross my fingers hoping it would work the way I wanted). I have painted on paper this way, but never tried this on clothing. Well, it worked and so now I'm going to share it with you!!

*Mix up your dye using the instructions provided with the package. When the dye is mixed and ready to go, put the colors in an ice cube tray. Obviously, you will use a different ice cube hole for each color. Be sure to not overfill so the colors do not mix.
*Put the tray in the freezer. Wait a few minutes and check the cubes. When they start to get a little bit of freezing on the top, stick toothpicks in each color. If you add the toothpicks before the cubes start to freeze, they will not stand up straight (and if you do it too late you can't get them in). After the toothpicks are added, carefully put the tray back in the freezer until the cubes are frozen solid.
*Prepare your area. I just put a trashbag on the table and put the shirt on top of it.
*When the cubes are frozen solid, remove them from the tray. I arranged them on a plate and put them on the trashbag next to the shirt.

Now your little one can use the cubes (holding them by the toothpicks) to paint the shirt. Russ had his own little method that he came up with. He would take each cube and place them on the shirt one by one. Then, he would take them all off one by one. He did this multiple times. The longer the cubes were on the shirt, the more they melted leaving more color.

We flipped the shirt and he did the other side. When he had had enough, I had him place what was left of the cubes on the shirt, and I just folded it up inside the trashbag and let it set until the cubes were melted. About 30 minutes later, we opened the shirt and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!

Be sure to check the instructions that came with the dye to see how to rinse and wash the shirt.

Hairbows for my Hairless Child

2010-02-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

My friends and I visit a discount ribbon outlet occasionally, and because prices are soooo cheap, we buy far to much ribbon. Since we've been stuck in the house for what seems like forever because of this blizzard, I pulled out my ribbon stash. See, Russ likes to take my ribbon and toss it around and has it all tied up in a knotty mess. So, my original goal was to sort it all out and roll it all so that its nice and pretty and organized, but that seemed a little boring. So, instead I started making hair bows.

I know this is a little early since my daughter is only 6 months old and doesn't really have hair yet, but I couldn't help myself.

And this is my favorite of them all. When we finally get to take her to Disney World for her first time, she will be ready!!

I'm not posting instructions for these bows because I really don't feel like typing them all out (I know, I'm being lazy). But, if you want to know how to make any of them, just leave me a comment and I will email you instructions!!

No Cream Like Snow Cream

2010-02-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

With over two feet of snow on the ground and more pouring from the sky, how can you not want to make snow ice cream?? We made some tonight and oh my, it was soo good. Even my skeptical husband loved it (and had to go back for seconds... and thirds).

So, here is our recipe: Mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Gather a big bowl full of nice fresh snow (about a gallon or so). Pour the milk mixture into the snow and mix well. To make the best snow cream ever, you have to mix with a big icicle!

When its mixed to your desired consistency, scoop, add chocolate syrup if you want, and eat!!

There is no better way to enjoy all this snow!!

And so you know, you can't freeze the ice cream in the bowl. It just doesn't work very well. But, you can take it and put it into icecube trays and stick toothpicks in them. They make great popsicles.

Fun with Crayons

2010-02-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

Now that Lexi is crawling I've had to spend hours picking up all the little things that Russ leaves on the floor. I never realized how many broken crayons we have floating around here. I couldn't stand the thought of throwing them away but didn't want to keep picking them up. So, I decided to do a few projects with them that I used to do as a kid.

We started by sharpening the crayons down to piles of shavings, seperated by color. Russ loved this part. For some reason sharpening crayons is fun.

Once we had the shavings, he arranged them on a sheet of wax paper that was on an ironing board. After they were in place, we put another piece of wax paper on top. Then, we placed a piece of foil on top of everything.

Take an iron and put it on low, and place it on top of the stack. Do not slide the iron around! Pick it up and move it from place to place, leaving it in each spot for a few seconds. You can keep checking the crayons to see when they are the way you like.

Once finished, remove the aluminum foil and its sooo pretty!! If you want, you can remove the top piece of wax paper, but remember that removing it will make the piece more fragile.

We used the melted crayon art to make stained glass hearts. We took colored paper and cut out hearts, then glued the heart on top of the artwork, attached a ribbon, and hung it from the window. You can also fold paper into a card, cut a heart out of the front of the card, and glue the crayon art inside of the card so that it appears in the heart cut-out. If doing the card, do not remove the top sheet of wax paper as it will break.

Our second crayon project was made using the tiny pieces of crayons that were too short to sharpen any further. We just piled them into a muffin pan (ours was shaped like a butterfly, but any shape will work). We put the left-over shavings in, too. I then placed the pan in the oven at about 200 and watched for the crayons to melt, then removed it. To get the piece out of the pan, just put the pan in the freezer for 5 minutes and it will pop out. You can use the piece as artwork or as a new multi-colored crayon.

Oldie but a Goodie

2010-02-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on the couch yesterday watching the 36 inches of snow fall from the sky, and a little birdie came and landed on my bird feeder on the porch to get a snack. I felt bad for the poor little thing; with all the snow, who knows how long until it will be able to find food on the ground. So, I decided that it was time to teach Russ how to make a pine cone bird feeder. Luckily, we had gathered pine cones every chance we got through out the fall. I know everyone has made these before, but I wanted to post it anyway to remind you all that we need to take care of the birds (and squirrels) in all this bad weather.

Russ loved this project. Partly because he gets to feed the birds and partly because it got a little messy. We had peanut butter everywhere, but oh well. He had so much fun, that he wanted to make two pine cone feeders for the neighbors across the street.

We made one for the chickens, too. They really liked it!!

Its been awhile!!

2010-02-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

I know its been awhile since I posted. January was a rough month for us: I had strep, Lexi was teething, trying to work in some exercise and lose some weight, Russ was being Russ :) It felt like there was something always going on that kept me from getting stuff done. When Russ was teething, I never knew it until the teeth broke through. Lexi on the other hand hasn't slept since mid-December! It has been rough. My craftyest time of day has always been the time between kids going to bed and me going to bed, so when she isn't sleeping, well, I have no me time.

But, things are back to normal sleep wise, finally! So, I plan on getting back into the swing of things very soon!!!

Dough Ornaments AGAIN??

2009-12-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know I've already posted the dough ornaments. But, I've had to make more initials since then for my children's playgroup, and while making them we created my favorite ornaments yet! My son was taking the dough and smooshing it down on the baking sheet. Well, I went to pull his dough up and re-use it and I noticed that his tiny little handprint was on the dough. That gave me the idea of making larger ""cookie" shaped ornaments and putting the kids handprints into them.

So, I smashed out the dough into a roundish shape (you can use a rolling pin and round bowl to cut the shapes if you want it to look a little neater). I then pushed the kids' hands into the dough and baked. You can find the recipe and baking instructions in my blog titled "Dough Ray me faa so la te Dough".

When they were baked and cooled, I took some paint and painted the inside of the handprints and painted their name and the date on them. I finished them off by spraying glitter over them and sealed with a spray gloss, then hot glued a ribbon on the back for hanging (because I forgot to poke a hole before baking).

These are a great, easy, cheap idea for a present for grandparents.

Christmas Present for Grandmom your Little One Can Help Make

2009-12-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

We are putting together some last minute Christmas presents, and these little pin cushions are too cute to not share. Obviously, I like to make stuff that involves Russ, so this one is perfect.

I took empty cans and let Russ paint them. You can use any can, but I prefer the smaller ones. These had red jalapenos in them. Tomato paste cans would be good too, but I wasn't making anything with tomato paste.

After the paint dried, I made the pin cushion tops. I took a piece of scrap fabric and cut it into a square. I put a bunch of stuffing in it and tied it with a rubber band. I then put hot glue around the lip of the can and stuffed the stuffing filled fabric into it. Thats it!

It may not be the most beautiful pin cushion in the world, but Russ painted it so I love it. I just wanted something he could help with that was a little different than the normal gifts we make. Can't wait for him to give them to his grandparents. He is soo proud of them and I am soo proud of him!

The Finishing Touch

2009-12-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

I'm just sooooo happy about FINALLY having a tree topper that I had to share this with everyone:

As I've stated many times before in my blog, our tree has all homemade ornaments. Each year we try to come up with an idea for a tree topper, but we never carried out any of the plans. So, for the past 4 years, we have had nothing on top of our trees. Well, after we picked out our tree this year, we were walking through Home Depot, and I saw something that motivated me. We were in the lumber section and I saw a wooden baluster (or whatever its called) that to me looked like an angel. I asked my husband if I was crazy, but he saw my vision.

So, I took the wooden piece and painted it white and skin toned. I painted a face on the "head". The screw was removed from the bottom and a hole was drilled so that it could be placed on the tree.

To make curly hair, I took brown yarn and wrapped it tightly around wooden dowels. I then wet the dowels and put them in the microwave for 2 minutes (or until the yarn had dried). When I took them out, I sprayed them with hairspray. Once cool, I removed the yarn from the dowels and POOF, curly hair!! Using a hot glue gun, I attached the hair to the "head" and hairsprayed it to keep it in place. I bent a piece of wire to form the halo and hot-glued it to the back of the wood (I love my hot glue gun).

To make the wings, I took a coat hanger and bent it into shape (with the help of my husband because I couldn't get it exactly the way I wanted it). I covered the bent hanger with a pair of white tights and tied it off to make it tight. Then, I sprayed glitter spray over it and lined it with glitter glue and glued it on the back of the angel (glued my fingers to it as well).

Thats about it.... She is nothing fancy, but we love her anyway. Russ said she is beautiful; as long as he is happy, thats all that matters.

Dough ray me faa so la te Dough!

2009-12-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

Yay!! We made more ornaments! These turned out sooo cute, at least I think so. They are great fun for all ages; Russ loved helping with these from start to finish.

So basically, you will make a playdough type dough mixture. Just mix together 1 heaping cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of water. Mix it up with your hands. The dough should feel like playdough if the consistency is right. Just add more water or more flour until you get it right. If you want colored dough, just add some food coloring. Once mixed, sit it aside for awhile (trust me, its easier to work with if you let it set for about 30 minutes).

Now its time to shape your ornaments. You can do it any way your heart desires. Of coarse, you can use cookie cutters or a knife to cut out the shapes.

You can roll out little "snakes" with the dough and then shape them. I did letters for each of my kids' initials. You can also twist the "snakes" together and form them into a circle for a wreath. I haven't done this yet, but I want to twist a white one and a red one together and shape it into a candy cane (to make white dough, just add cream of tartar).

This snowman is made by rolling balls and stacking them.

I also want to try cutting out a simple round shape and then carving an initial into it, or etching a picture into it.

Once your shapes are made, put them on a cookie sheet and bake at about 250ish for 2 hours. Be sure to flip them every 25 minutes so they don't turn brown. If you do a standing ornament, don't worry about it.

Take the ornaments out of the oven and let them set until they are completely cool before you paint them. If you don't, the paint doesn't stick right. If you have rough edges, just file them off with an emory board or sand paper. After the paint drys, be sure to spray a clear coat over them for protection and to add a nice shiny finish.

If you do make these, please send me pics to post!! I have sooo many more fun ideas for these; I would love to see what every one else comes up with, too.

Do You Know the Gingerbread Man??

2009-12-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

I simply LOVE this project. Its for cute little "gingerbread" ornaments that you can hang on your tree and keep year after year. The kids will love to help with this one. Even if they can't help make them, they can definately help decorate them. These cuties will smell like straight cinnamon, and the smell will last for years to come.

NOTE: THESE ARE NOT EDIBLE. You can try, but you will break a tooth as they set-up super hard. Oh yea, and they contain glue so I doubt that would taste too good even if you could bite them (I know, kinda funny).

Mix together 1 cup of applesauce, 1 1/2 cups of cinnamon, and 1/3 cup Elmer's Glue. Yes, I know, thats a LOT of cinnamon! When its nice and mixed, chill in the refridgerator for 30 mintues. Have a cup of hot cocoa (or wine) while you wait....

Take the dough out of the refridgerator. You'll need to sprinkle some cinnamon on your work surface to keep the dough from sticking. You can do this on a board if you want; I just use the counter. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. It can be a big pain in the butt getting the dough to set-up just right. If its too cold, it won't roll correctly (trust me, you'll know if its not right). Don't throw it away; just set it aside and wait until it warms up a little and try it again later. My friend threw hers in the trash and then came to a playdate and told me what happened. I had her go home and pull it from the trash, and it then worked just fine.

Once its finally set right and rolled out to 1/4 inch thick, take your cookie cutters and cut out the shapes. You can use any size cutters, large or small. Letter cutters are also really cool to use. Be sure to poke a hole in the top of each ornament (this is for the ribbon they will hang from later). If you forget to poke the hole now, you won't be able to do it later as it sets up really hard. Put the shapes on a cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet on a rack to harden. It can take a few days for them to harden all the way. I set mine in the oven so they wouldn't be in the way.

When they are completely hardened, you can decorate them!! Use any kind of paint, glitter, sprinkles, beads, or whatever you want.

Adventures in Thanksgiving Travels

2009-11-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went to visit some of my family in southwest Virginia for Thanksgiving. I love going down to visit everyone and have been making the trip pretty much my whole life (either from Virginia to Maryland or Maryland to Virginia depending on where I lived at the time). It is 5 hours or so each way and after awhile you get used to it. However, the trip is a little different than it was before I had a family of my own to travel with.

We took our four-door Silverado because its the only thing we own thats actually big enough for us to travel in. So, in the front seat its me and my husband. Between us and in the floor, we have stuff cramed into every bit of open space: snacks and diapers and cameras and everything that can't go in the bed of the truck. We do manage to leave just enough space for my feet. In the back seat we have our two kids in their carseats, our bassett hound, and our big mutt/hound dog. Its a full truck!! Luckily, we have a nice large bed for all the luggage. Oh, and this time we decided to bring home another chicken from my parents farm, so we had a chicken in a box in the back with our luggage (because we didn't look Beverly Hillbilly enough with the loaded down truck).

Now, traveling with dogs does have its obvious down side, like having to walk them, get them water, and stuff. But, add to that the fact that everytime we visit the farm they roll in every dead animal they can find before they get in the truck to come home. So, we had the pleasure of smelling their nasty, dead animal scent the entire confined trip.

Because it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving we, of coarse, hit stop and go traffic several times. And, if you've traveled with children, you know that everytime you stop the baby cries. And everytime the baby cried the 2 year old grabs her or pokes her. And everytime she falls back asleep, the two year old grabs her or pokes her until she cries again.

Finally, we were about 25 minutes or so from home and we got pulled over for only having running lights on (my husband turned the lights down at a traffic light we had just stopped at because they were going straight into the little car in front of us and he didn't turn them on afterwards). So the cop walks over and comes to the window. That made the dogs start barking like crazy, which scared the crap out of the sleeping children so they woke up screaming and crying. The officer is trying to talk to us, but all we hear is screaming and barking. The dogs are jumping over the baby trying to get to the cop so she is screaming louder. I'm turned around trying to get her pacifier in her mouth so she can calm down and am trying to keep the dogs off of her. Russ got excited when he realized what was going on and just started yelling police car, police car!

I think they felt sorry for us, so they quickly sent us on our way.

Can't wait to make the trip again next year!!

Thanksgiving By Candlelight

2009-11-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

I guess I should have posted this a little sooner so everyone could have saved their Halloween pumpkins, but with the kids being sick lately I am a little behind. My friend Sarah and I like to make these candles for our Thanksgiving tables. They are super easy to make and look oh so cute next to a big, fat turkey.

Take some little pumpkins or goards, cut them open on top, and hollow them out.

Next, melt some wax. If you don't have a big block of candle wax (I'm sure most of you don't), take all of your old candles you don't like anymore and all of the left-over pieces from candles you've almost burned out. Melt the pieces in a double boiler. If you don't have one, you can fill a pot with water & float a smaller pot inside of it. Add the pieces to the inside pot. Be sure to use a pot that you no longer use for food, though. To color the wax, add old crayon pieces.

You'll need to get a wick (either a new one or one out of a candle you no longer need). Spoon a small amount of the wax into the bottom of the pumpkin, and then push the end of the wick into it. When it hardens, wrap a pencil around the top of the wick and lay it on top of the pumpkin. This will keep the wick from moving when the wax is hardening. After the wick is in place, fill the candle with the melted wax. The easiest way is to use a disposable cup.

Once the wax hardens some, the top of the candle will sink in a little; you will need to add a little more wax.

These candles are soooo easy to make and are such a nice touch to your holiday table!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

How Many Santas Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb??

2009-11-22T17:01:00.000-08:00

Each Christmas we decorate our tree with ornaments that have been made by our friends and family; we don't use any store bought ornaments. After signing up for an ornament exchange on my friend's blog, mammatortilla.blogspot.com, I got motivated to start my yearly ornament making!!

Today, I decided to repurpose items in my house to make my Christmas decorations. So, I searched the house for all of our burned out light bulbs and turned them into tree ornaments!!

For the snowman, I started off by glueing ribbon around the top of each bulb. This will be used to hang the ornament on the tree. I then glued felt around the bulb to form the ring of the hat & let the ribbon hang out of the top. After the ring is on, go ahead and make the rest of the hat & glue it in place.

Next, paint a face on the bulb and thats it!!

In the living room light, I had a long bulb that had burned out. It looked to me like a Santa face, so thats where I went with it. The Santa ornament is basically the same thing, but I started off by painting the entire thing white. After the paint dried, I glued felt into a hat shape & put it on the top of the bulb, leaving ribbon hanging out as I did with the snowman bulb. I took batting & twisted it into a "string" & glued it around the hat & to the end of the hat. I then painted on the Santa face.

I'm so excited about these "recycled" light bulb ornaments. I have a burned out flood light outside that I am going to make into an angel for the top of my tree (as soon as my husband goes out to get it for me). I'll post pictures when its finished. If any of you make any of these, I would love to see pictures!!

Its Getting Snotty in Here

2009-11-20T05:36:00.000-08:00

Both of my beautiful babies have been hit with a yucky cold that is accompanied by viral eye infections. Its some fun stuff. They have snot pouring from their noses AND their eyes. Everytime I catch up to Russ, he has it smeared from his forehead to his chin and from eye to eye. At least Lexi hasn't figured out how to wipe it yet. I've never cleaned so much mucus in my life as I have the last 3 days. Russ' sleeves (and mine) are nice and slimy :) Want to know what else is a little disgusting? When you are nursing your baby and there is a string of snot leading from her nose to your boob when she pulls away!!

By the way, if you haven't tried them yet, check out Boogie Wipes. They are the best thing ever. They are like diaper wipes for the nose, but they contain a saline solution that breaks up the boogies when you use them.

So anyway, the doctor gave us eye drops for both of them. Thats an adventure in itself. Putting the drops in Lexi isn't so bad; she is too young to fight or run from me. Russ, however, is nearly impossible. First, I have to catch him. Then, I have to wrestle him over my knees. Then, I have to try to get his eye open with one hand and have the drops ready in the other. I'm lucky if I get one drop in before he knocks the bottle across the floor, and I'm suppose to get TWO drops in EACH eye?? And, I have to do this 4 times a day?? I've tried bribes and threats and begging and pleading, but seem to work. Oh well, it will be my daily work out.

Today, I'm thankful for the fact that my two babies just have colds and nothing more serious.

Its That Cookie Time of Year

2009-11-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

Every year I like to bake lots of candy and cookies for Christmas. Last year I didn't get to because I was newly pregnant and sooo sick. Russ and I plan on making up for it this year by making even more than normal. We started trying out some different recipes this week. This is one of my favorites, and the kids really seem to like them, so I'm going to share.

These are called stained glass cookies. Start out with some sugar cookie dough. You can either buy the store bought dough or you can make your own. I use this recipe:

Mix 1 softened cup butter & 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy. Fold in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract & 1 egg yolk. Mix in 2 1/4 cups flour until dough forms a ball. Refridgerate for 2 or more hours.

Preheat the over to 375. The store-bought dough directions call for less, but you need to use 375!!

This is the fun part: take some Jolly Ranchers in colors of your choice and crush them up in a food processor. Keep your colors seperate. If you don't have a food processor, you can put them in a plastic bag and use a hammer. You can use almost any hard candy. We used candy canes for some of them.

Now, take your home-made or store-bought dough out of the refridgerator, knead until softened, and roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured counter. Take a cookie cutter and cut out your shapes. Place the cut-outs on parchment paper and place it on a cookie sheet. If you don't use parchment paper, the candy will stick to the cookie sheet & not come off. Use a smaller cookie cutter (or a knife) and take the center out of the cookie.

Take your crushed up candy, sprinkle it into the holes in the cookies. Fill the holes completely!

Bake at 375 for 7 to 10 minutes.

I didnt have cookie cutters, so I had to shape mine by hand. The shapes turned out kind of funny, but you get the idea.

Potato Candy

2009-11-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

A few of you asked me how to make potato candy, so here ya go!!

The only ingredients you need are powdered sugar, peanut butter, and a potato. Start off by peeling, cutting, and boiling the potato. After it is cooked and the water is drained, put about 1/3 of the potato in a large mixing bowl. Add about 1/3 cup powdered sugar. Mix. Keep adding powdered sugar and mixing until you end up with a nice doughy consistency. I can't tell you exactly how much powdered sugar or potato you need; just keep adding small amounts of both until you have a firm dough. You can mix with a blender if you want, but I find that hand mixing works better.

Put you dough on wax paper thats been sprinkled with a small coating of powdered sugar (to keep it from sticking). Then, roll the dough out thin with a rolling pen.

When the dough is nice and thin, coat it with peanut butter.

Finally, roll the peanut butter covered dough up into a log, and cut it into pinwheels.

The pinwheels turn out much prettier if you put the log in the refridgerator before cutting and if you don't let your 2 year old cut it for you!!

Man It's Cold!

2009-11-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

Each morning Russ and I let out and feed the chickens before we do anything else; this is his daily chore. Russ loves his chickens more than anything and loves feeding them our leftovers from the night before. So, I know its getting cold when he stands at the door and says, "No...no... bye-bye mommy," and shuts the door on me. I think its about time we start wearing shoes and coats when we go out there. Man did my feet get cold!

Got Pudding??

2009-11-05T09:24:00.000-08:00

Since the bathroom tile was being layed today, I had the job of keeping Russ out of the bathroom. If you know Russ, you know how difficult this could be due to his love of power tools and bulding things. So, we decided that we would paint. Our favorite medium is pudding! Pudding definately has many advantages: it doesn't stain the furniture, its fun to take a bite between brush strokes, and the dogs can clean up the floor for you when you are finished.

I encourage all of you with kids to try pudding painting; its soo much fun and soo much easier to clean than paint. We did forget until half way through to take Russ' shirt off though. He told me that "Mommy needs to take her shirt off, too." I didn't think that would be the best idea with the tile guy here :)

Too Many Projects, Too Little Time

2009-11-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I wanted to be able to post pictures of my latest projects this weekend, however, I didn't manage to complete any of them. With finishing costumes, trick-or-treating, and the church carnival, this weekend was soo busy. I did actually get a couple of projects started. I'm in the process of making wall hangings for Lexi's room, a tutu for a friend, and also a bag for myself (or a Christmas gift for someone else depending on how it goes and if they see it on this blog). I'm happy so far with the progress on all of the above.

It seems when you have a child who is 2 years and 1 who is 3 months, there is a lot of time left for crafts :) I am bouncing back and forth between projects whenever I have a little time here and there. My plan is to have all three finished by Friday.

The biggest project I took on this weekend is potty training Russ!

We started Russ on the potty this weekend, and its going really good so far. He didn't have any accidents today in his big boy undies & only went once in a diaper (because we were at the store). Hopefully, tomorrow will go just as good (fingers crossed). He seems really into it; its probably just because he likes getting stickers for his board & potty when he goes. Hey, whatever works for him.

It was really nice today only using a total of 2 disposable diapers between the two kids!! With Lexi in cloth diapers & Russ in undies, we weren't throwing extra money away. Yay us!! I can't wait to only have one kid in diapers again.

Sometimes I think that maybe this is too much to take on all at once, but oh well. It keeps things interesting!!

~~Update~~

Russ peed on the potty all day yesterday and pooped on it this morning! He came and got me and told me before he had to go! My baby is growing up.

Its amazing how exciting pooping can be when you are a mom!!

Things that make you say Ewwww

2009-10-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Reasons I Really Needed My Shower Tonight

10. The baby spit-up on me

9. Realized the dutch oven on the stove was actually dirty from dinner 2 nights ago. Filled it with water to wash it, and because its so darn heavy, dumped the dirty water all over myself.

8. Because its too cold to bathe in the creek.

7. An entire cup of red soda was knocked over on me & the floor by my child.

6. Baby spit-up on me again.

5. On my way to let the chickens out this morning (barefoot as usual), walked in some nice steaming fresh dog poop. Probably walked in some chicken poop while at the coop as well.

4. Two year old believes that if his nose is running, my hand &/or arm is a good place to wipe it.

3. The baby spit-up on me again.

2. My 2 year old had a coughing fit in the truck & threw up on himself & me while in the truck & while I was getting him out of the truck.

And #1: My much deserved & only alone time of the day!!

CSI: Mommy Edition

2009-10-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

The crime scene:
    Three cupcakes hiding in the microwave, black icing missing

The clues:
    1. The stool was pulled up to the counter.
    2. The counter, the microwave, and the stool were covered in tiny black handprints. Main suspect was questioned and told us that they were daddy's handprints.
    3. The main suspect has a mysterious black substance all over his face.
    4. On day 2 of the investigation, the suspect filled his diaper with poop that was a lovely shade of tealish blue. It looked like playdough.

Russ was booked and charged.

Case closed.

Anyone wanna be friends with a mommy of a 2 year old??

2009-10-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

My two little lovely children and I took a trip today with a friend of ours and her baby. We rode with them to the ribbon outlet in Hagerstown; its about an hour trip each way. Well, her child was not feeling well and was trying to sleep on the way home. Russ decided that she didn't need a nap and decided to keep her awake. Every time she fell asleep he would yell at her or grab her hand or sing as loud as possible. He worked very hard to keep her awake the ENTIRE way home. The poor girl cried almost the whole way home and Russ was so proud of himself for this.

I felt so bad for the little girl! I felt so embarassed for me. I tried telling him to stop, I bribed him, I threatened him. Two year old are very strong willed. Or maybe they are just hard-headed. If there is a way to control a two year old in the car, I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe I'll just need to only be friends with other people with two year olds so they understand that the two year old is really the boss!!

I have a feeling that I won't be invited on too many more trips with them.

Tutu Time

2009-10-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

I have been seeing all these cute little tutu's everywhere I look and thought Lexi would look soo adorable in one. So, I decided to try my hand at making one. They are the easiest thing I've ever made; I didn't sew a single stitch!

Tulle comes in rolls that are the perfect width for a tutu (you can buy it on the bolt, but if you do that, you will have to cut the strips long ways and wide and that just sucks). If you are going to a fabric store, you will usually find these in the wedding aisle. So, you need to first pick out your colors. I found that two main colors and one color thrown in here and there works well. Of coarse, you can do any combination you like. For this newborn tutu, I chose a pretty pink and threw in some lighter pink.

Figure out how long you want the tutu to be. The tulle needs to be cut into strips a little more than double that length. For this newborn tutu, my pieces were 11 inches long.

Take the strips and tie them in slip knots around a piece of elastic. Your elastic should be about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch wide. Continue adding the strips in slip knots until you reach the desired waist size.

Tie the elastic in a knot or sew it shut, and you have a skirt.

To give it a more finished look, I took a piece of ribbon and wrapped it around the waist of the skirt, weaving it in and out of the tulle.

My little angels, I mean cowboy & indian!

2009-10-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

So, I decided awhile back that Russ and Lexi would be a cowboy and indian for Halloween this year. I had a picture in my head of what I wanted them to look like. The costumes were totally "make-able" but finding the material would be a little difficult. I decided I wanted to use real suede, and once I get my mind on something there is no changing it. Suede is a little pricey, so I searched thrift stores, and second-hand stores, and family members closets and finally found an old men's coat at Good Will that was the perfect color. I was able to use the coat for both Russ & Lexi's costumes. I did some creative cutting, lacing, and riveting, and their costumes came out great!!

The vest is made of the front sides of the jacket. The chaps are made of the back of the jacket. I took one whole sleeve and turned it into the indian costume. Finally, I added rivets, hooks, beads, and accessories to finish off the costumes. I'm very pleased with the end result.

I'm here!

2009-10-19T11:11:00.000-07:00

I started this blog awhile ago and I'm finally ready to start using it!!

Since there are so many things that happen during the day that I want share, I decided to start this blog. I want to be able to write about things that happen, what my children are up to, what we've done together, what projects I'm up to, and everything else in my life, big and small. I'm sure most of my posts are going to be rather boring to some, but they will all be special to me.

Added bonus: When I have no one to talk to during the day, I can type and talk to myself!!

Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!!