Bub-Bye

All growing up my mom made traveling super fun. If we were going somewhere as a family, she would plan things for us to look forward to. When we would drive to my grandparents house in Florida, she would have a special present for us to open in every state we would enter to keep us entertained in the car. If her and my dad were going on a mission trip, she would purchase us a special journal and colored pencils so that we could document everything we did while they were gone. I want to do the same type of things for my kids so that these times are always special. Since Chris and I are going to camp next week, I wanted to have something special for Isaac to have each day that we are gone. He gets 1 present, and 1 card from us every single morning! The only bummer is that I won't be able to see his face when he opens his prizes!

The Popsicle Remix

I am BY NO MEANS a mom that is a stickler on health food, but for some reason, popsicles drive me nuts! I always feel like I am just handing my kids a cup of sugar. I have been looking online for ways to make enticing cool treats for summer that won't give my kids a sugar high. We always used to put our grapes in the freezer growing up, so when I saw this from Make and Take, I couldn't wait to get some made. Isaac loves eating them and I don't feel as bad about giving them to him. You could really do this with any fruit and it would be great. I have also used orange juice in my popsicle molds and Isaac doesn't notice a difference. Another great dessert is freezing bananas, sprinking them with cinnamon and topping them with cool whip. A great treat and pretty healthy! Enjoy!

sidewalk chalk paint

i found this great recipe for sidewalk paint chalk, we made some this afternoon, and madeline had a riot using it!
it was super easy, and i had all the supplies, in my kitchen, which was really just water, corn starch and food coloring!

enjoy!

We Love Bubble-Wrap!

Isaac would paint all day long if I would let him, so I love finding new paint techniques that make it more interesting. I saw this online and knew I had to do it. It's pretty simple... just cut your bubble-wrap into squares or stencils and use them as your painting utensil. I used blue and red paint so that I could laminate them and make them into place mats for the 4th of July. It worked out well since it kind-of looked like fireworks... kind-of. Isaac had a blast and they turned out really cute!

Ghetto-Pottery Painting

I wanted to have Isaac make something for Chris for Father's Day and I found the perfect craft! It's like ghetto pottery-painting and it's super cheap and very easy. I ended up paying $1 for the mug and $2 for the paint. It doesn't get any better than that!

Items you will need:
A Ceramic Piece you would like to paint
I let Isaac pick out whatever piece he wanted from the dollar store and he chose this mug.
(They have plates, bowls and mugs you can pick from)
Paint Brushes
Enamel Paint
If you use an acrylic paint it will wash right off

To start, wash the piece you want to paint and dry thoroughly.

Then let them paint like crazy! Afterward, let your piece dry to the touch. Remember, enamel paint is a little more difficult to clean than acrylic, so protect your table!

Place in a cool oven and set it for 350 degrees.
Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool in oven.

We haven't washed our mug yet, or had a beverage in it, but it looks really cool! You could even paint overtop your kids' creation and place initials or even a "Happy Father's Day". I know it's not a masterpiece, but I bet it will become Chris' favorite mug!

Rainy Dayz...

I decided to store all of our mini-crafts and a few other supplies in a box for rainy days. I really want this box to be special for the kids...something that they look forward to opening. So...today, Drew got to pick out of the box - we had fun with clay!

cupcake flowers

today we made cupcake flowers, i am running low on craft supplies, so i scrounged around and found construction paper, bug stickers, and some mini cupcake cups.

i traced a flower on the construction paper (i happened to have a flower shaped spatula that worked great!) and then had madeline color the flowers,
she then put some glue on the flowers and placed the cups in the middle.

we then put lots of little buggies on our flowers and filled them with jelly bellys.
these would be super cute to make with bigger cups for a party.

enjoy!