making music

We spent the first couple of days of the week outside, the weather has been beautiful. On Monday we walked to get Delia a hair cut and to the donut shop. We figured since we were half way to Jason's work we'd surprise him with a donut. When we got there he was just on his way out the door (so glad we didn't miss each other) and we got to walk home together.

On Tuesday we walked to Silver Lake Park and played with friends from Mom School. Joshua rode his bike both days and I think it was about ten miles altogether - so glad that he can ride his bike and that he enjoys it. I did get my stroller and it makes it pretty easy for us to get out and do stuff.

We made some drums from food storage cans
(the tops are canvas that I painted with watered down glue)

We also made the toilet paper roll kazoos - very fun, but they didn't last long!

Eliza is just along for the ride!

And check out my sister's news here. Yay!

Airplane Making

Joshua loves for his dad to make him paper airplanes, so when I was at Goodwill the other week I picked up a book on airplane making, called The Complete Airplane Book. It's available, but don't buy it! Jason was excited when he saw it, he said he had that same book when he was a little kid, but it wasn't the good one.

Then his parents came last weekend and brought a bunch of his books from when he was younger, including both of the books on airplane construction (we're not positive they don't belong to one of his brothers - but we're not giving them up!). The better book is called The Best Paper Aircraft and there are used copies available through Amazon and it's totally worth the penny they are charging. I've never seen planes fly like these!

And a Happy Birthday Shout Out to my brother, Jason!

Wrapping paper on the cheap

The kids colored on some butcher paper for craft time.

And we turned it into wrapping paper for their cousins.

I also like to use old road maps and paper bags from the grocery store.

Any other ideas for repurposed wrapping paper?

Popcorn Trees

We recently had a popcorn morning. We played a counting game with popcorn kernels, made popcorn trees, sung "the popcorn song" and, of course, we ate popcorn.

The kids really enjoyed making the trees, I just drew a pattern for the tree and Joshua cut it out and we glued popcorn on. Simple and fun!

Dirty Hands

Sometimes I have a hard time crafting with my kids because I don't want to pull out everything and make a big mess!

A few years ago I went over to my grandmother's house to make a cake with her - she had given me the recipe, but hers always tasted so much better, so I wanted to watch her make it and get the secret (turns out I wasn't mixing it long enough)! I was pouring the batter into the pan, using my spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and get out as much as possible - she just looked at me and said "don't be afraid to get your hands dirty!" That memory has stayed with me and now that I am a mom, I hear her reminder whenever I think of not doing something with the kids for fear of the mess!

I know my grandmother was thinking of baking and cake batter when she shared her advice, but this week it helped me break out the charcoal and experiment with the kids. I had never used it before myself. It was really messy, it did clean up, and we had a great time!

Joshua's first charcoal drawing.

Sewing with the Kids

With all the sewing I have been doing lately, the kids have been asking what I can make for them. On Friday we made a couple of quick projects just for Joshua and Delia. They picked out the fabrics they liked and Joshua helped me with the sewing. Oh, and Joshua insisted on taking the pictures, too!

Our Very Own Art Gallery

Inspired by Soulemama, Jason built us these displays for the kids' art. It was a simple project that he let the kids help him with.

The hardest part was finding the right bull dog clips (which we eventually got at Staples, after I bought the wrong ones at Office Max).

The art displays hang right above the kitchen table and
I love them! My husband's the best!

Waiting for the Birds

A few weeks ago, while we were on a walk, Joshua started collecting pine cones. Jason thought it would be fun to do something with the pine cones and suggested bird feeders. We finally picked up bird seed this weekend and the kids had a great time putting them together! We used peanut butter as a base and then rolled the pine cones in bird seed.

Delia's pretty focused!

Joshua and Delia working together.

It was Jason's job to hang the pine cones last night. He wasn't so happy about me taking pictures of this part, but I felt like it was part of the story!

Now we're just hoping there are some birds that want to stop by for a treat!