We live in the "frozen tundra" and winters here can be really long, especially when it's TOO cold to go outside and burn off a little extra energy. The other day my kids were telling me how bored they were bouncing off the walls with energy. So I made them all sit on the step (ha!!!) while I made a special surprise for them. What did we do? We did an indoor obstacle course. It was filled with items we already had in our house (making it FREE) and it was some really good fun! The kids were getting along great and helping and encouraging each other along the course. Here is how I laid out the course for them. Click on the photo to make it larger It was great to see them burning off the energy! Then a few minutes later the decided to get more creative! Here's what THEY decided the course was. click on the photo to make it larger Then even later the moved things around and redesigned the whole thing. I would say all in all it was a success! We … [Read more...]
Fun Stuff Fridays #7
Remember when Linkys were all the rage in blogging? They were a great way to find and get to know other bloggers before social media and Pinterest became mainstream. It didn't hurt that they brought a ton of traffic to your site too. Lindsi and I started our Fun Stuff Fridays linky back in 2011. We kept it going for 20 weeks before it fizzled out (or we got sick of doing it, I'm not sure which happened). It is now soon to be 2017 and at lot of the links in those linkies no longer exist. Plus, I've let my link up subscription lapse so you can't get to them anyway. Instead of deleting the Fun Stuff Fridays posts, however, I have decided to clean them up and make sure our featured links are still valid. After all, on a rare occasion I get traffic from one of these old posts. The linky may be gone but the featured posts are still valid as of December 2016... Welcome to Fun Stuff Fridays! It takes us a while to go through each entry and narrow it down to our top three. We wish we … [Read more...]
Shaving cream and glue
My kids LOVE playing with shaving cream! (I mean let's be real...you know you do too.) When they came home from preschool with these great puffy snowmen I had to investigate what they were made out of. Sure enough----shaving cream (and a little glue). Here is what you will need: Shaving cream (cheap Barbarsol works perfectly) School glue (ya know Elmer's) Construction paper Glitter, beads, buttons, or gems (optional) A bowl A paint brush (also optional) Squirt half (or all if you are having a blast) of the shaving cream into a plastic bowl. Next add the glue and mix. (There is no real recipe to this but half a can of shaving cream and a whole bottle of glue worked perfect for us) Have your child scoop out the shaving cream mixture and "paint" with it all over the paper. A little tip for you- the thicker they lay it on the better and the more puffy it will dry in the end. Paintbrushes work great....but hands are even better!!! (P.S. see that shirt my daughter is … [Read more...]
Make fun of cleaning
I've mentioned my grandma a few times before and how she was creative, clever, and fun. I have so many amazing memories of the "little things" in life that she turned into great things. Not long ago she passed away and while the pain of losing her is still raw I know that I am so lucky because I have so many wonderful memories to last me a lifetime. One thing that she made fun was cleaning. Yes, you read the right, cleaning! She loved to sew and she had sewn me an apron that she kept in the top drawer in her kitchen (right next to her towels). On Sundays we'd get up and she'd open the kitchen drawer and pull out my little apron and tie it on. It's amazing to me that a simple apron made cleaning fun. I thought it would be really neat to "pass on the cleaning fun" to my daughter. I made her a special cleaning apron that I now keep in my top drawer in my kitchen right next to the one my grandma made for me. When it is time to get some cleaning done I try and make a game or a race … [Read more...]
Fun Stuff Fridays #6
Remember when Linkys were all the rage in blogging? They were a great way to find and get to know other bloggers before social media and Pinterest became mainstream. It didn't hurt that they brought a ton of traffic to your site too. Lindsi and I started our Fun Stuff Fridays linky back in 2011. We kept it going for 20 weeks before it fizzled out (or we got sick of doing it, I'm not sure which happened). It is now soon to be 2017 and at lot of the links in those linkies no longer exist. Plus, I've let my link up subscription lapse so you can't get to them anyway. Instead of deleting the Fun Stuff Fridays posts, however, I have decided to clean them up and make sure our featured links are still valid. After all, on a rare occasion I get traffic from one of these old posts. The linky may be gone but the featured posts are still valid as of December 2016... Welcome to Fun Stuff Fridays! It takes us a while to go through each entry and narrow it down to our top three. We wish we … [Read more...]
Borax Crystal Snowflakes…FAIL
I have no idea why this week turned out to be a FAIL week for our projects but sometimes life just is that way. We promised to share our failures along side our successes. So here is another FAIL. This is what you SHOULD end up with photo courtesy of About This is what I got What I did wrong---I estimated rather than measured Here is what you will need measuring cup and spoon Borax 20 mule team bowl (pint size) boiling water pencil string pipe cleaner food coloring (optional) Cut a pipe cleaner into three equal parts and twist together Attach string to each snowflake and hang using a pencil, make sure they do not touch the side or the bottom of the jar Fill the jar with 1 pint of boiling water and carefully MEASURE 3 tablespoons of borax and stir until disolved. (you may add a drop or two of food coloring at this point). Set them aside for 24 hours and when you come back to them you WILL have pretty crystal snowflakes. Just in case you … [Read more...]
