Resolution- February

This month, we chose to thank our local librarians.  We have a great library about 5 miles away with a fun children's room.  There are games and puzzles, blocks and puppets and of course, books and books and more books.  Mary wrote her own card last night.  Sorry, it's so blurry, but I was focused on getting a good picture of her.  It says, "Thank you for a great library! (heart) Mary  age 4".  The librarian loved it (who wouldn't?).  We even included a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies for the staff to enjoy.

note cards

One of the best ways to stop sibling squabbling, whining, occupy the children while I'm cleaning the kitchen is to sit them down at the table with finger paint and index cards.  They have a great time making messes and being creative.  Mary makes cute pictures, but Adam's still in the goopy, smeary mess stage.  I found a way to turn his "art" into something new and creative.















I cut out pieces like this.  A LOT of pieces.

And I glued them onto blank note cards in random patterns.

CUTE!

My quick "State" project

This week, I decided to tackle a quick craft project.  Nail art.  I saw some cute ones on Pinterest that had a heart in your city, but Chesapeake is too close to the border, my heart was too small and my fingers too big and clumsy.  Oh well.  

First, I bought a block of wood at Michaels for $1.99.  I lightly painted it white.

I then found a photo of the state of Virginia on the 

internet and then blew it up to the size I wanted.  

Doug has the smallest little nails that I have no idea

what he uses them for, so I used them here. 

Unfortunately, my fingers are too big, so I needed to

use needle nose pliers to hold the nail while I

hammered.

I nailed around the border and then pulled the paper off.  This is my result.  The kids loved the feel of them.

Because there's navy blue accents in the guest bathroom (and that's where this is going), I decided to use matching string.  It took a couple tries to get a pattern I was satisfied with.

The end result.  Our travel themed bathroom.

Marble Painting

 I just want to say, I love Pinterest.  What great ideas they have for fun crafty moments with your kids.  So no, I didn't come up with this activity by myself, but I will say that I chose to use leftover diaper boxes instead of plastic containers I'd have to wash.  Yes, I know, brilliant.  :)

 Take a box, put in a piece of paper, add glops of paint...

and plenty of marbles.

Then start shaking.

 And shaking.

 Before you know it, it starts to look like this.

 Mary's first creation.  Ta-da!

 Adam's 2nd creation!  He wasn't a hard shaker.  He liked to meticulously place his marbles in the paint and move them slowly.  Such different artists.

 Clean up was a breeze.  Break down the boxes and throw in the recycle bin and toss the marbles in a sink of warm soapy bubbles.  Add a couple helpers and the clean up process only took 20 minutes longer than it should have.  ;-)

 Gotta smash those crazy bubbles!

 Now that's a hard worker!

 The finished projects!

And once they were dry, we glued them to construction paper, covered in contact paper and now we have beautiful place mats!  (Mary's sharing w/ Adam, since his are so gloppy, they still have wet spots and will have to wait until tomorrow).

Today,

Today, we made cupcakes.  The kids got to lick a beater.

 Then, Adam decided the spoon was a better choice.  

 Reminds me of a chocolatey pirate.  Arrgh!!

 His new favorite phrase:  Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, good!

I think I should have changed his shirt prior to the chocolate mess.  Oh well.

 Today, Mary was working on her sight words and she decided that she should write the words too, so it could help her "learn the words more better".  I couldn't have been more proud...and impressed.

 Today, Mary let me take a picture of what she has mastered this week...tying her shoes!  She even double knots.  Little Miss Independent is growing up so fast.

I told Mary this this is an important skill for her to know for Kindergarten...along with knowing our address and phone number.  And she said, "And driving a car."  Um, no.  Not yet.  "Oh yeah, that's for when I'm like 6."  Kids.  Always wanting to grow up.