Life as a Leach

At Abby's awesome preschool program through our church, they did some adorable footprint butterflies.  I absolutely loved it!  When I went to hang it in her room, I realized that the best place was next to her mirror...but being the symmetrical lady I am, I couldn't hang it on one side without something on the other side!!  I have had this picture pinned for quite some time with plans to make it "sometime."  This was just the motivation I needed! "You Are My Sunshine" is a pretty special song to me.  I sing it to Abby all of the time before bed or right after she wakes up and is all snuggly.  And one day I will get through the last line without tearing up.  Maybe. Abby was super cooperative during the handprinting, and she was super excited that "her hands" were on the picture.  The whole thing really only took 15 minutes or so.  In retrospect, I probably should have painted the canvas and let it dry before doing the sunshine...

If you've ever bought finger paint, you know how expensive it is.  Plus, someone inevitably squirts a large amount out on the paper and wastes it!  Abby doesn't like the consistency of store-bought finger paints , but will use the Color Wonders finger paint.   I found this easy recipe on Pinterest and used some of our many baby food jars to store them!  The "cooking" process only took about 10 minutes, and then it became the consistency of the Color Wonders finger paint.  Guess what?!  She LOVED it!!!  Abby painted for over half an hour and really liked the different colors.  She mixed them a bit after getting colors on her fingers and then dipping them in other colors, but that's ok.  Bonus:  This didn't cost me anything!  I already had the salt, sugar, corn starch, and food coloring! What a cheap alternative to store-bought finger paint!

My mom shared with me this idea she found on Pinterest (Yes, she is now officially a Pinterest junkie!!) and I tried it out for myself. It's a time out bottle designed to help kids not only sit in time out effectively, but to calm down as well!  Caleb can get kind of nasty when he is sent to time out (not my son!), which sometimes leads to bigger issues.  This is one of those, "Can't hurt, might help!" ideas, so I figured why not??? The complete directions are found at the link above, but basically, I added a little clear Tacky Glue, about half a tube of glitter glue, some glitter, and some water.  I didn't measure anything, but less is more.  I added small amounts until the glitter fell to the bottom in about 5 minutes, using my microwave timer to test it out. The key is to use HOT water.  I put it in the microwave for about 4 minutes to get it boiling.  The heat helps to melt the Tacky Glue, or else it will clump.  So make sure your wate...

I give a lot of gifts to teachers, therapists, and our nurses.  I believe in the power of a thank you note and a little thinking of you  every now and then.  As a teacher, I know how much it means to me when someone remembers the job I do.  Teachers (and therapists and nurses!) work super hard for not a lot of money, so I think it's important to say thank you ...and often!!!! Thank you, Ms. Nancy and Ms. Karen!! Thank you, Ms. Katie and Ms. Amy!!  For an end of the year gift for Caleb's teachers, I made each teacher a set of clothes pins magnets.   I originally heard the idea when we made them at MOPS, but I decided to keep the ones I made!  :)   Most of these were made with craft supplies I already had.  I did buy some ribbon so that they looked more like a set.   The cool thing with these is that Caleb was able to help with them.  He picked out the ribbon color and the flowers for each one, although I d...

I'll admit it.  I have developed a Pinterest problem.  As much as I try not to get sucked in, the wonderfully crafty ideas are just too much for me to handle! So I went right to Pinterest to look for some gifts for Teacher Appreciation Day.  We have a lot of teachers these days:  Caleb's 4 teachers, Abby's 3 therapists, and her 3 nurses.  They're all teachers in their own way, and we like to say thank you with little gifts every now and then. For Caleb's teachers and Abby's therapists, I made Emergency Chocolate pull-tab cans based on this post.   I found this quite some time ago and have been saving the tin cans that Caleb's mandarin oranges come in ever since!  The pull-tab stays in tact because you open the can of oranges from the bottom using a can opener!  Cool, huh? I typed up a little narrative explaining when the chocolate was to be used...in case of emergency only!  Abby's and Caleb's are slightly different. "The cont...

Ready for another Pinterest-inspired activity?   Think Sunday School felt boards from your childhood.  So fun!  I have had my eye on this one for a while and made it just as soon as I bought some felt at Walmart! I got one package of felt and let Caleb choose two colors to be used as backgrounds. I glued the two pieces back to back and let it dry for a few minutes. Then I simply began cutting pieces of felt into various shapes.  I chose to use plain, organic shapes like rectangles, squares, circles, and triangles.  The original tutorial used craft scissors, which turned out really cute too.   I cut a small hole in the background, threaded a ribbon through the hole, and tied a few knots so that the ribbon would stay secure.   Caleb has absolutely loved this!  This is a tree, the moon, and some sticks.  Since  this picture was taken, he has become much more creative and prides himself in using every sin...

Yes, this is another Pinterest-inspired activity! My sister actually pinned this off of a blog we both frequent , and I thought it was a great idea.  You take plain old Ivory soap (you know, the stuff that floats?!) and put it in the microwave. Yep, the microwave!   I'm not sure who thought to do that, but it is pretty stinkin' cool! ***Note:  apparently, it DOES need to be Ivory soap.  I haven't tested it myself, but several readers said other kinds of soap burned in their microwave.  I can't imagine that burned soap smells a whole lot better than burned popcorn, so I wouldn't advise using another brand.  Plus, Ivory soap is cheap! Basically, it forms this humongous cloud that Caleb then played with for quite a long time.  You just have to watch out for hot spots.  I let it cool a bit before I let him have at it.  Then, I just gave him a big tray and let his imagination run wild!!  I'm terrible at taking pictures of the proces...

 I will admit it:  I love Pinterest.  I purposefully don't go on there very often because I know that three hours would go by before I knew it.  But I have found that purposeful searching (and then getting the heck outta there!) has proven pretty awesome!   A quick search for Easter gift ideas led me to Peeps S'mores!  We created these little baskets for Caleb's teachers, the nurses, and Abby's therapists. I made little tags for each basket and printed off directions for making the Peeps S'mores. It's nothing fancy, but we like to say thanks to some of our favorite Peeps!  :)

When we were at Homestead Gardens recently to see the trains, Abby fell in love with this snow globe.  It was glass and expensive, so I wouldn't let her hold it, but I shook it around for her to watch the snow falling.  She sat mesmerized until I put it back on the shelf...then, she burst into tears and had herself a full-on fit!  My sister sent me the link to a how-to on homemade snowglobes on http://www.ourbestbites.com/ (quite an addiction, I might add--way more than just another food blog!) I didn't follow the how-to exactly, because I didn't put Caleb and Abby's pictures in the snow globe.  I don't have laminating access and didn't want to pay out the wazoo for two little pictures at an office supply store.  Plus, Caleb was quite content to pick out an ornament to put in his.  :) I used two little glass baby food jars, which are a good size for little hands.  I hot glued the ornament to the lid.  Then I filled the jar with water and du...

We had 4 crafts the kids could do to go with our four seasons theme. pumpkin playdough (fall) and they each got their own little pumpkin ball to take home Planting flowers (spring) Bubbles (summer) and painting ornaments (winter) We also had a moon bounce, just because it's fun and it lets them get some energy out! The crafts seemed to be a hit and kept the kiddos busy!  :) This little one was just completely worn out!

I found the idea for the Box House in my Family Fun magazine and promised Caleb we would build it when Abby's next supply shipment came.  Needless to say, he was very excited to see our supply company truck drive up!!  I got more help unpacking this month than I ever have! His Box House is complete with an elevator, several trap doors (with rugs over top to conceal them, of course), a pool, a deck, ramps, and a hot tub.  And let's not forget the room under the stairs like Harry Potter!  :)  (He has never seen any of the movies, so I have no idea how he knows so much about it, but he does!) He LOVES it.  It was worth all of the time it took to make it, because it makes him so happy!  :)

My mother-in-law, Barbara, is a big quilter.  In the past, she's made several quilts for Caleb and Abby, including an awesome baseball quilt for Caleb's room and a beautiful pink and green patchwork for Abby.  Recently, she made quilt hangings for different occasions.  The ones she sent me are for Abby's birthday and October, but there will be one for each month.  Isn't Abby's cute?!  I'm going to use it as a decoration at her party. This is the October one.  Caleb likes the pumpkin a lot. Very cute and crafty, Barbara!  I love it!!