Thank you God

Logan thanks God for.....

The one you can't read says "Felicity and Kian."  I love how he thanked God for In-N-Out.  He definitely belongs in this family!

*************************************

Felicity thanks God for...

The one you can't read says "Football", which she was thankful for EVERY night.  I always had to remind her she'd already put that and to think of something new.  The girl is obsessed with football.  Both big kids are actually.  It's super cute!

***************************************

Zac thanks God for.....

And I thank God for.....

(the one you can't see says "Date night")

And I'm also thankful for new family traditions!

Sorting

A few weeks ago Felicity and I did some simple sorting using the kids' blocks.  Sorting is great for preschoolers.  We made three groups; Walk, Fly, and Swim.  Then we sorted away.  It led to good questions (mainly from Logan since Felicity has speech delays, but the conversation is still good for her to hear), such as "a turtle swims AND walks, so where does he go?"  It was also cute to see how they processed things.  They found an umbrella picture block.  I was going to use the fish picture on that block but they insisted on putting the umbrella into the fly pile as we had just recently watched Mary Poppins.  :)  Felicity also found matching blocks and put them into their correct pile together.  This activity was good for her speech just because of the repetition.  She said "fly", "walk", or "swimming" LOTS of times in this activity and that's great practice for her.

 

Passed The Test

Well, I guess our bath salts work just fine.  I don't really know what bath salts are supposed to do (I'm not too girly).  I asked my sister in law and she said they were supposed to make your skin feel soft and should dissolve into the water leaving no grainy traces behind.  So Felicity and I enjoyed a salt bath with our handmade bath salt.  They DID dissolve, so no grainy traces.  And I guess they DID make our skin soft.  They DEFINITELY made our bath smell wonderful.  So I guess we'll make some more for stocking stuffers.

Someone asked for our recipe.  Here it is;

* Mix 2 cups epsom salt (we used a lavender scented one) and 1 cup course sea salt.
* Stir in 3 drops food coloring
* Stir in 6 drops essential oil
* Pour into jars

To use, pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup bath salt into bath and swirl into water until dissolved.

No paintbrush? No worries!

A few weeks ago I wanted to make turtle shells for T week, since we were studying turtles.  I had already cut shells out of large pieces of cardboard when I realized I had no more paintbrushes for the kids to paint their shells with.  I didn't want to give up on the project for such a silly reason so I made these "T-shirt dabbers" to paint with.  Here's how......

Find an old stained shirt and cut the arms off.

Cut the front of the shirt apart from the back.

Fold arms in half and roll each one up.

Place one arm roll in the center of each shirt section.

Gather shirt corners together.  Tie in place right above arm roll and another tie a couple of inches higher.

Dab away.

This kept my kids busy for a while, which is saying a lot because they usually don't like coloring or painting as much as they do crafting.

Oh, and the dabbers MAYBE took 5 minutes to make.

Our QUICKLY Made Baby Mobile

4 month old cousin, Alakai, was coming for a visit.  I got the pack and play all set up in Felicity's room for him but it just looked so boring.  Hours before their arrival I got the idea to make him a mobile.  I got the kids to help me.  We found the embroidery frame they've been using to learn how to hand sew on, a bunch of ribbons, some twine, and my hot glue gun and we set to work.

First we cut all our ribbons in haphazard lengths.  Next we glued them print side FACING IN to the inner embroidery frame.  I've been working on colors with Felicity so I would say, "Felicity, can you please hand me a blue ribbon?", and she'd search through the pile for a blue ribbon.  School...CHECK!

Next we flipped the frame and ribbons over so that the print side was now facing out and the ribbon looped over the top of the frame like below.

Next we slipped the second part of the frame on and tightened it down.

We tied three pieces of twine to the frame and used the twine to suspend the ribbon mobile above the pack and play.  Super easy, fast, kid friendly, and free (except now I need to get the kids a new embroidery hoop but I think I'll be able to find the change for that under the seats in my van).  It was a good lesson in giving for Lissy and Logan too.  They were excited to show Aunt Becca their gift for Alakai when they arrived.

Kian wanted it.  I think I'll hang it above his changing table once our company leaves because, man, that kid sure does throw a fit when it comes to diaper changes these days.  Distraction would be welcomed!

Handmade Holiday 2010 - Logan's Jellyfish

Here's a set of Jellyfish I made for my 5 year old.  We've been watching Blue Planet lately and he really loved the huge orange jellyfish.  Plus, his favorite color is orange.  So I think he'll like these a lot.  They were all made from scraps.  They're special to me because all the rickrack used was left over in my Nana's sewing box and passed down to me when my Papa gave me my Nana's sewing machine.  The little rickrack loops on top are so he can put his finger through it and make them swim.

I can't really put a price on these since they were all made from scraps.  Honestly, I guess in that sense, they were made for free since all the scraps had just been thrown aside after the project they were bought for was completed.  I have issues really......I CAN'T THROW AWAY A SINGLE SCRAP!  But, this project shows there are reasons not to.  And that makes me a happy Mama!

Handmade Holiday 2010 - Memory Game

I made this for Felicity and Logan to play together.  They're made of felt and scraps of material I already had.  I believe I calculated that this game cost me under $2 to make.  I used a few black felt squares at 29 cents each, the material was free because it was tiny little scrap pieces I already had, and the thread was even free since I'm still using up all the thread that was in my Nana's sewing box that was passed down to me.  Can't beat a handmade memory game for under $2!  Plus, it's totally tailored to their likes.  Half the game pieces are girl pieces and half are boy pieces.  Butterflies, owls, and birds will thrill Lissy, and aliens, spaceships, and turtles will thrill Logan.  I can't wait to watch them play it.

I made a little draw string bag for them all to tuck nicely into.  I sewed a playing piece onto the front of the bag for brainless pick up........I hope!