Pipe Cleaners

Here is another activity I did with my girls one snowy morning. This actually held their interest for awhile. All you need is a colander and some pipe cleaners. Show them how to shove the pipe cleaners into the small holes in the colander and you're all set. They were entertained for probably 30 minutes or so. And 30 minutes of peace when you are all suffering from cabin fever is awesome!

Snail Mail

I really have been looking for new activities to keep the kiddos busy during these last days of winter. A friend of mine posted THIS link on Facebook and I have found some great new ideas there Last night while I made supper, I employed one of them...Snail Mail. I got out all of my Stampin' Up stamps that I haven't used in years, a washable ink pad, crayons, a load of stickers, and cardstock. I told the girls to just decorate the papers and we would send their mail creations to friends.

Newspaper Sculpting

Another great cabin fever idea that I got from the same friend who gave me the "Clean Mud" idea is newspaper sculpting. All you need is a stack of newspapers and masking tape. Just roll up the newspapers, tape and let the kiddos create.

We made a teepee for our Little People to camp out in.

Clean Mud

I am seriously experiencing some cabin fever, running out of things to do and trying to keep my girls from fighting most of the day. We have been cooped up quite a bit due to weather and illness. SO.....I went online looking for some new ideas. I had a friend of mine mention that her son's preschool class had made "Clean Mud" and it was so easy. I googled it and found a recipe and we made it.

Basically you shred up 2 toilet paper rolls, grate a bar of Ivory soap, and add warm water until you get the consistency that you want. My youngest daughter (almost 2) had the most fun shredding the toilet paper up because she tries to do this frequently throughout the day and we usually tell her, "NO!" My oldest daughter (4 1/2) had more fun actually playing with the clean mud.

It was not quite the hit I was hoping it to be but it was still fun, cheap, and easy! I used the recipe that I found HERE. There are also lots of other recipes on this site too for fun things to do.

Pillowcase Dresses

I have been in love with pillowcase dresses for a long time. I have a beautiful vintage pillowcase just waiting to be made into a summer dress for my oldest daughter. Alas I kept procrastinating and/or forgetting. The other day I was in JoAnne's and decided my girls needed matching Christmas pillowcase dresses and it was time for me to do it! So I picked out some fabric. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it works and they turned out cute.

I used the tutorial found HERE on Naptime Crafts. I added a trim to the bottom of their dresses to set them off. Between the main dress fabric and the trim fabric I sewed on a red pom-pom trim which really added to the dresses, I think.

I am happy with how they turned out. I especially LOVE seeing my girls in something I made for them. Obviously since it is winter and blustery out we added the red leggings and white turtlenecks.

Birthday Gifts

My girls were invited to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago. Our budget is pretty tight with Daddy in school so I decided to make a couple of things to give to the birthday girl. I made her a little cupcake fabric apron to use when she helps her mommy in the kitchen.

I like to make the neck loop a little big so they can grow into the apron. I just knot the excess so it fits better.

I also made her a little crayon roll out of the same fabric. I am not really that great of a seamstress when it comes to following a pattern. I like to think through the project and just kind of do it my own way and that is what I did here. My mother-in-law had made my oldest daughter one a few years ago so I just looked hers over well and came up with my own design.

I was so happy with how it turned out and it was really pretty easy.

There is something about a handmade gift that is so fun to give and to receive. These two gifts didn't take much fabric so I was able to use things I had on hand. They also really didn't take alot of time to make. Handmade is great!

Simple Crafting

I have made a few things over the past couple of weeks that I wanted to share with you because they were ridiculously easy.

The first were super girl capes for my girls. I just cut out a rectangle piece of fabric, angled it a bit going up the long sides. Then I stitched a hem all around it and sewed a piece of ribbon to the top for them to tie their capes on with. I also cut their initials out of felt and sewed those to the capes. EASY!

My oldest daughter is OBSESSED with baby dolls (well, so is the younger one) so I made her a sling to carry her babies around in. I do have to admit I was so excited for her to play with this and she hasn't been that into it. I'm hoping that over time she will.

This again was so easy! I just cut a large rectangle out making sure it was long enough to go around her like a baby sling and wide enough to fold in half. Then I sewed the long sides together and then the middle seam. EASY!

The last thing I made was trick or treat bags for the girls to use on Halloween and in the years to come. I got the idea from this post Kayla Aimee wrote (If you don't read her blog, you need to. She is HILARIOUS!) and she got the idea from HERE.

I am in love with banners/buntings...whatever you call them so I went with that for my bags and because I try to stay away from the "spooky" side of Halloween. I tried out Liquid Stitch for this project because sewing things on to a canvas bag with the sewing machine is too frustrating. This was awesome stuff. It was messy on the fingers but it washed right off. It has held up through one night of trick or treating so far too! I made sure to put the glue as close to the edge of the fabric so that it would not fray which seems to have worked. To finish the bags I stenciled the word "CANDY" across the top with orange paint.

Love these!

Tuesday Night Rambling

IT.IS.HOT! We are under a heat advisory and watch for the rest of today and all day tomorrow. It is miserable outside. I don't like heat like this. If I have to be out in it, I get grumpy. I thoroughly enjoy the temperatures that come with fall. I am not ashamed to say that I am very much looking forward to fall.

I could not live in an area that doesn't have seasonal changes because I could not make it without seeing my world transform from green to brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow. It is magical. I love everything about fall, the aromas and the sights. I also dearly love to walk outside and not be hit by a wall of heat and humidity.

My one hope for fall is that is will last. It seems to be over as soon as it arrives. I am hopeful for a fall that will hang on this year so that we can enjoy each and every minute of beauty and crisp air.

Watching God's hand at work as he creates a masterpiece of color in the trees is absolutely brilliant. His is an amazing artist in each season.

We purchased a new children's Bible story book for our daughter's 4th birthday. I had read about the book on Angie Smith's blog Bring the Rain. I also knew some friends that had it for their children. I can't say enough about it. Peanut looks forward to it each night, anticipating the upcoming story. She sleeps with it and some nights I hear her retelling the stories that we have already read or making up stories about the ones we haven't. I love that each story ends with foreshadowing of what or Who is to come.

The name of the book is PERFECT, The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. That is exactly how each story ends. The story doesn't end, it fills you with anticipation for what is to come, the Rescuer. I have enjoyed reading it with her each night almost as much as she enjoys hearing the stories.

I am thrilled to see her excited about these stories and for her to hear how God has helped his people since the beginning of time. How He has never given up on us, even when we are in the mire of sin.

I highly recommend this book if you have littles at home or for a family with littles.

On a completely different note, I am getting close to 150 posts. I am thinking of doing a giveaway or something for that post. I'll keep you in suspense though! A giveaway would be a great way to actually get some comments on here again though. Ha! Keep checking back to see if I do it or wait until 200 posts.

Silly Spaghetti Dogs

Confession time. Yes, I serve hot dogs to my oldest. She doesn't have them all of the time but they are on the lunch rotation.

I had seen some silly hot dog business on a few websites and decided yesterday that we needed to instill some of that same silliness into our lunch. I taught Peanut how to make Silly Spaghetti Dogs. She had great fun poking the uncooked spaghetti noodles in the hot dog pieces.

They do look a bit strange sitting there waiting for the water to boil.

Next I dunked them in the boiling water and waited for the noodles to cook. They were even sillier after being cooked. Peanut thought they were great.

They were so easy to make. Peanut got to help make them and then got quite a kick out of her lunch. This is certainly not something we would do everyday but now and then.

I do have to share a funny story regarding this creation. I sent my hubby a picture via our cell phones of Peanut eating her Silly Spaghetti Dog while he was at school. I try to do this off and on so he can see his sweeties throughout his chaotic days. Anyways...later we were talking about it and he asked, "How in the world did you get the spaghetti in the hot dog? Did you poke a hole with a toothpick and string it through?" HAHA!

I assured him that we had poked the uncooked noodles through so it was easy and I had not boiled them and threaded them through a needle to poke through the hot dog.

Homemade Playdough

Last week Peanut and I made some homemade play dough. I found the recipe HERE on Ramblings of a Crazy Woman's blog.

It was really easy. This recipe is special because you use kool-aid which makes it smell wonderful. We made grape and orange. It turned out really well. I was a little skeptical at first but once we really started playing with it and squishing it, the play dough got easier to work with. Peanut thought it was so neat to make our very own play dough in our kitchen. Here are some pictures from our play dough playing adventure.

Note to play dough makers: Be sure to label your play dough when you store it in the fridge so that your unsuspecting hubby does not eat your creation!

Sorting

The other day after I laid the baby down for her nap, I started dumping things into a large cake pan. Peanut who is 3 1/2 years old was instantly curious as to what I was doing. I just kept dumping and finding things.

I then presented the cake pan to her and a bunch of small bowls. I told her she could look through all of the loot and sort it. She had a splendid time sorting and worked on this activity for some time. If you are looking for a quick activity for these LONG winter days, this one works great!

Snow Day Fun

We got hit with quite a bit of snow Sunday through Monday. This makes it very difficult to get out with two little ones as any Mommy in a snowy zone will tell you. We have just been at home the past couple of days. I think I might have a bit of cabin fever. I am really ready for spring this year. I have never been so cooped up for so long. We are all anxious to go to the park and to go on walks.

But since it is still cold and snowy, we're trying to make the most of it. I am so thankful that I get to be with my two little girls each day. I just love them to pieces and want to enjoy each moment with them.

One thing that we did was bring the winter inside. We haven't ventured out much to play in the snow because:
1. I don't like being cold.
2. I am usually by myself with a baby and 3 year old...sounds too hard.
3. The baby, Pumpkin would probably crawl into a snowdrift and get lost.
4. I don't like being cold.

So...we brought the snow inside. I filled a big pan with snow and let the girls go at it. They enjoyed this but it didn't last as long as I thought it would. Perhaps their little fingers were freezing? I don't know.

(Yep, that little one, she's still in her pajamas. Changing her clothes and/or diaper is as easy as changing a greased pig! I have never actually done that, but I think I know what it would be like now.)

I also filled my Kitchen-Aid mixing bowl with snow and whipped up some snow ice cream. I have never done this before. It had never crossed my mind that it could even be done. Several Mommy friends have been talking about doing it, so we did it with fresh, clean snow. You can click HERE for the recipe that I used from allrecipes.com. It was good...definitely not homemade ice cream good, but good.


I jazzed up lunch the other day by serving tiny things in a mini-muffin tin. Isn't it so cool how something that simple, that easy can be so entertaining to a child? Love that!


We've been painting. We made Kool-Aid to make scratch and sniff paintings. That idea was found HERE.


I got finger-paint paper to do the Kool-Aid painting. Peanut was very concerned that we didn't have finger-paint. I remembered stumbling on a recipe to make homemade finger-paint so we did that the other day. You can find that recipe HERE. In the post you can read that the mixture gets VERY thick. She wasn't kidding. It reminded me of congealed lard, not that I have had alot of experience with that, but I think I know what it would be like now. I almost threw it out but Peanut was so excited so I forged ahead and mixed in the food coloring. It was very goopy but it worked and we had fun. That is ALL that matters. Oh, and it was a whole lot cheaper than buying finger-paint.


Being the good Mommy that I am, I let her "wash dishes" after doing the finger paint. Ok, really it was because her hands were a MESS and I thought that would be the best approach to cleaning them. It worked and she had more fun. Look how cute she is!

That's what we have been doing. Having fun. Enjoying each other. Staying warm. What fun things have you been doing to make the winter days pass?

Advent Calendar

We have been doing lots of fun Christmas activities in our household with the help of our nifty advent calendar. The Mom's group that I have been going to at our new church gave out all of the materials and ideas for this. I was so excited about making one this year because I knew our oldest daughter would really get into it now that she is 3 years old and she has. She loves getting up in the morning and finding out what our special activity will be.

It was very easy to make. We were given assorted scrapbook papers cut into squares. I just rolled these into cones and glued one side down. We then hung them by the cutest little clothespins to a piece of yarn that was hung on our kitchen wall. It is so cute and adds a festive, Christmas spirit to our home.

Here is the list of our Advent activities:
1.) Go downtown to see the Christmas lights and take pictures of the girls.
2.) Make paper snowflakes to hang on patio door.
3.) Make a paper chain to decorate with.
4.) Write a letter for Santa Claus.
5.) Have family game night with Christmas music and hot chocolate.
6.) Go to the mall to see Santa and the Christmas decorations.
7.) Make a Christmas craft.
8.) Buy a present to donate to Toys for Tots.
9.) Make cookies and decorate them.
10.) Go to a local town (with Gigi, YEAH) and see the Christmas lights.
11.) Make Christmas cards to send to family.
12.) Go to the library for a Sound of Music for a preview performance.
13.) Have a Christmas tea party with our family.
14.) Read Christmas books together and enjoy some more hot chocolate.
15.) Drive around after Daddy is off of work to see the houses all decorated.
16.) Go to Christmas story hour at the library.
17.) Make a birthday cake for Jesus and read the Christmas story from the Bible.
18.) Watch a Christmas movie and camp out for the night by the Christmas tree.
19.) Donate canned food to charity.
20.) Go to Gigi's canata.
21.) Make and hang an edible treat for the birds.
22.) Be a Secret Santa to someone.
23.) Make Christmas cookies to give away.
24.) Open one gift before bed and leave cookies for Santa.
25.) Celebrate the birth of Jesus!!!