One of a kind set of coasters

Last year I bought us some cute cardboard coasters for the living room, but after normal (or abnormal) wear and tear from the kids, they are in need of replacements.   Hello, craft project!

I found these great wooden pieces at the dollar store.  There was also a pack of 16 sheets of felt for yep, $1.  Fantastic!

I painted each coaster black then printed, cut and glued on some of my favorite pictures.  Mary helped me glue on the felt pieces.  I think it's fun that each one has a different colored "bottom".  I then sprayed  them with an acrylic sealer to help protect them.

 Ta-da!  A super fast project.  I think they look pretty cool.  And you can't beat a new set of unique coasters for $4.25!

A busy, busy few days

Mary's class has a "Mystery Reader" every Friday who comes to read a favorite story.  2 Weeks ago, Mrs. Paul (the principal) was the mystery reader.  This past Friday, it was me.  Mary had NO idea and it was a complete surprise.  What a great moment to walk around the corner into her classroom and see her face light up.  I read one of our favorite books, Stinky, Smelly Feet by Margie Palatini.  I had an idea to tie in a quick art project with the book, so I checked with Ms. Ryan first and thankfully, she was on board.  She was truly a good sport considering I wanted the kids to make a clay mold of their foot and it was messy, a tad bit stressful (since we had to hurry and get the kids to music class), but overall, a lot of fun.  We used the air dry clay from Crayola and so we just left them in the classroom all weekend to dry and they got to bring them home today.  But more on that later...

Saturday the kids and I used up the remaining clay.  Thank goodness we did it on the back deck.  Did you know that if you continuously add water to air dry clay, it dissolves into a white milky liquid that splashes everywhere?  Well you do now.  I was able to make a small bowl and a chunky heart shaped paperweight.  The rest was lost in an ooey, gooey mess.

Later, we got clean with a little slip n' slide (er, crawl n' scoot) action (thankfully, they're unaffected by the lack of hills in our yard) and some good 'ole cherry lemonade always brings smiles.
































You know it's a good day when Adam curls up and falls asleep while we're having our evening story time.  And no, I don't think I'm that boring.  :)  Mary accused him of falling asleep so he could avoid brushing his teeth.















And today, Mary came home with her footprint, so we had a late afternoon painting session.  Mary decorated her stinky, smelly foot, Adam decorated my bowl and I supervised so there would be minimal decorating of the table, or chairs, or bodies...

We also had a big surprise involving rotting wood around our door frames.  That involves a post of it's own, but I'll wait until we have our new door...

Summer Olympics 2024?

Mary decided that after 2 years of dance, she would like to try gymnastics.  After about 5 minutes of shyness, she became her normal bouncy happy self.  And she loves it.  I have to say, I'm quite impressed with the facility and the program.  This is week 3 and she's already been on the high balance beam (not the one that 2 inches off the ground), a bar (@5 feet high), and the trampoline.  She's working on a handstand and the backward summersault.  I can't wait to see what this year brings us.
*Can you tell she loves her new HOT pink leo?*

   They have windows in the gym, so I can watch, but every time I try to take a picture, it has a terrible reflection.  Hopefully, I'll get some good ones when we have recital day.