diy color my headphones

my girl will be rocking 4k with her new headphones. this project totally took me back to my tween era. and, even though the school is well over halfway done, it is nice to have a small surprise to brighten the long stretch to the end.

elizabeth at contemporary farm girl walks you through the whole process. the only differences i made were to use crochet thread and to skip taping the one inch thread to the wire before adding another strand of thread. just think of all the color combos.....rainbows, stripes, school colors, seasonal... let me know if you try this. i would love to see the finished product.

you're so fine

spring!! you're so fine. you blow my mind!!! hey, spring!

can you believe this weather and all the gorgeous days we have had. technically, the calendar says that it is still winter but the thermometer is reading in the 80s.  i kind of have the feeling that wisconsin likes to skip spring and fall and go right to the hots and colds of the next season.

h has been doing his fair share of digging and i am sure that i will see lots of these wiggly creatures coming my way all summer long. he has also found a frog already and we can hear the peepers in the fields. h is big on the where?? so, i need to explain that i hear them. i do not see them. he definitely likes visuals. he also likes to make plans. 'that's my plan!'

after our trip, we headed to gramma and grampa's for the weekend. i will definitely be playing catch-up for longer than anticipated. the kids got all the costumes out and we found squirt bottles for all....because when one has something, they all need one. they hid them really well for a moment and then bursted out with joy that uncle was coming closer but still way out of range and started squirting away.

the cousins enjoyed having all the attention.

of course, there was some work involved in the visit. grampa wanted help pulling line fence out on the new farm. we did get "some" work done but we also took the time to fly kites in the warm sun and wind.

i am thinking that this might just be in the lamb of march. ummmm.

for the love of...

for the love of birds. we got together with our neighbors to stir up some treats for our feathered friends. they didn't exactly turn out so we improvised and next time i think we will try this recipe.

if only they would have set up. they stayed crumbly and would not hold together. we got out of the house and enjoyed ourselves.  it has been a little harder to get out the door lately. sometimes it is nice to just stay in a nice, cozy, warm house and it seems as if we all have different agendas. i have found myself repeating and repeating what i need them to do from getting their coats and shoes to stop bouncing off the walls. i find it so hard to comprehend how there energy does not get used up.

since the birdseed ornaments did not work we used a little peanut butter (mix will oil....birds do not have salivary glands), spread it on old bread, pressed into the birdseed, folded them in half and put a piece of ribbon on them to hang. note to self.... next time be sure to place highger than the dog can reach. she tried to sneek away with one!

it was a lovely day to treat our friends and to explore the world of creatures outside our door. so hard to believe that this is a february scene. tomorrow the world is going to look a little different. they are big and fat and absorbing every sound so that the world seems calm and restful.

only in wisconsin

totally not convinced that winter is over. heck, it is only february and last year we had snow in may! but, 2 days of temperatures in the 40s makes you want to bring out some spring like things and do a little cleaning (or a little more unpacking....it never ends!).

a drew a fancy shcmancy mr. silly and wrote his awesome, can't be pronounced, took up half the driveway name. amazing how her writing is just taking off.

we also did a little spelling and sounds work with the alphabet. we picked a name, they found the letters and i wrote them out. education outside....who knew.

and, totally not to embarass him but, only in wisconsin??? no, only a man!! he likes his privacy! but, here i caught him, doing his duty and scraffing a snack!



v day love and cookies

this year a and i decided to stitch a little love into each valentine. we added denium hearts to colorful paper....some for the boys and some for the girls.

a worked very hard on the lettering. somehow she has already gotten to the stage of embellishing her handwriting with little circles on the ends of her letters.

 

the next day we added candy cane hearts and heart bracelets to the cards.



of course, we also had to have some sweets to enjoy ourselves so, we made some peanut butter cookies with dove dark chocolate hearts in the middle.

 it is best to taste them when they are all chewy and melty.

this little guy has a thing for just the chocolate hearts! i {heart} my babes!

peanut butter cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
About 1/3 cup sugar for rolling
1 package Dove dark chocolate hearts
Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Roll dough into 1" balls and roll in sugar if desired. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for about 9 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate into the center. Let sit for about 3 minutes, then carefully remove to cooling racks to cool.

sometimes you just got to move it

 a while back we pulled out the kleenex boxes i saved and created some dinosaur shoes. in all the glory of painting, taping, and gluing....(yes, i said glory.....kids love sitting down to do these things although they may truly not enjoy cleaning up afterwards and i sometimes take on that chore just so i don't have to listen to the whining) we ended up with some cool cool kicks!

we used some clementine art paints for this project. next time i think i would opt for something thicker like acrylic paints.

winter really instills this craziness into my kids. i am not sure if it is the desire to be confined by 4 walls and avoid the cold or the lack of daylight hours but, these 2 can drive a mom up the wall. it seems as if they are 2 decibels too loud for me to handle most times or they get into each other's space just a little too much. and, not like there are not other rooms in this big old house of ours but, it is just comfy cozy to be close because in the end we really do love each other and the joys and frustrations we bestow on one another.

once the kids got to rock out in their new kicks, i thought it could definitely be a little loud and rambunctious. but, they surprised me! they were calm and moved a tad slower and tended to be rather quiet dinosaurs. ahhhh! that was a good project. check out laurie berkner's we are the dinosaurs song to stomp to.

these 2 also seem to be a little quieter when outside as well and when they are concentrating so hard on not falling. the rink did not get filled in this year because of the mild weather but, there was just a big enough patch to give ice skating a try.
.

 once our toes and noses were chilled, we headed back in for some comfy cozy snuggling and hot chocolate....always made with milk, it makes a world of difference.

pass the crayons...please

 how we ever accumulated sooo many crayons, i may never know. how to shave and melt and make some disappear, that i know.

for this project all you need is an old pencil sharpener. it will get all gunkie so, you will probably want to keep it as a crayon only sharpener after this project.

some wax paper.

an iron.

some old crayons. if you have a hard time taking the paper off, soak the crayons in water, then peel the paper off and pat them dry with a paper towel.

ava did her share and then got busy cutting and pasting.

hudson loved mixing colors. for some reason he is a big fan of purple. he claims the purple towel after bath almost every night.

make sure you don't put too many sprinkles between your 2 pieces of wax paper. also, when you are ironing use a low setting and put some paper towels or a rag under and over so that the 'just in case' scenarios are covered.  i can just imagine a future of ironing my husband's shirts only to find them tye-dyed with wax. arghhh!

after they are melted and cooled check out the cool swirls and colors you have created by putting them up to the window. we then created kites to hang in the window. next up decorating the tail with some 'bows'. we are going to attach bows labeled with things that the kids have learned. ava's first is the alphabet and hudson has been adding his colors.

have a glorious day!

the teacher in me...a semi-tutorial

 not the greatest looking thing, right? but, just watch.

 a little spray paint.....

a little more paint.....

 4 days of waiting....and waaahhh laaaaa! a really big chalkboard for cheap!

the board was free. uncle had a glass package delivered in it (score!) and the paint around $10. that girl is totally me. i can already see the teacher in her. i have some leftover paint so i am thinking of typing off a square on the wall and outlining it with molding or even making a row of house shapes ......what do you think?

10 things i ((love)) sunday

i heart valentine's day!! not for the jewelry or the candy or the flowers but for all the fun and creative ways to say 'i love you'. and, for all the crafts that involve pink and hearts!!!

1. take this super cool, easy, and educational game with hearts. maggie from smashed peas and carrots posted a great tutorial on Kids Create.

this game has so many options. the obvious matching game where you find pairs but you could also play a game where you mix both sets (numbers and colors) and then find pairs or take it one step farther and have them find 9 pink objects or draw 9 pink things.....

2. from purl bee, i found this tutorial for valentine heart barrettes. all the girls in ava's class are getting one (all 4 of them!)

3. i love these knotty legs baby leg warmers

4. revolutionary souls makes these tiny slippers .

5. strawberry and rosemary scones so very very yummy. i made ours without the glaze and instead sprinkled sugar on them before baking. pic from http://www.myteenytinykitchen.com/2010/02/strawberry-rosemary-scones.html

6. i am so smitten by these s'mittens by tippy toes knits!
 
7. hanging some art on the wall as an everyday reminder to love fully. falcor digital and silhouette blue

8. for hudson, i would love this bowtie from buttered toast.

9. for ava, i created a blooming hearts tee.

10. for my hubby and me, i would love some us time. life is moving too too fast and i am missing just being us.

sending you the sweetest of wishes for a happy valentine's day!

i know an old lady who swallowed a pie

happy turkey day, dear friends!!! i hope that your pants still fit after all of the festivities. let's be honest the day is all about FOOD!! yummy food and pies and bars!

i wanted to share this video of an awesome 4 year old sharing the book 'i know an old lady who swallowed a pie' by alison jackson. watch the video and do the activity with your child. have them retell it to your thanksgiving guests.

if you cannot get the images to print please email me and i will send the files your way.

craftastic weekend!

i am a crafter. i like crafts. i like sewing and gluing and finding ways to use bits and pieces of leftover project materials. i also like organization but, creating masterpieces does not lend itself to organization in my household and let's face it, being a mom of two does not lend itself to organization. i'm cool with it. i can handle it....most days!

this is the time of year that flies from one holiday to the next. some are already counting down the days to christmas. i must admit that i have even pulled out the "you know, santa's elves are watching you."

this year i wanted to focus a little more on thanksgiving. we have so much to be thankful for and it is so easy to take those precious things for granted. we started off by creating our own fall color-changing leaves. a used her new clementine paints and about 20 paintbrushes!!!

 we left those to dry and came back to them the next day.  we read the book p is for pumpkin. God's harvest alphabet by kathy-jo wargin and we brainstormed all the things that we love. family, friends, the dog, spiders (a contribution because they eat bugs). glad she can find the good in almost anything except turning off scooby-doo!

then we took a few blank maple leaves and drew and scribbled the most important things we are thankful for on them. cut them all out and a little tape and a {give thanks} garland and viola!!! instant decorations for thanksgiving. guests can talk about it and add their own and i have a daily reminder to pause. life is short and good.

what do you want your kids to remember most this holiday season. any great family traditions you like to do?