Crafty? Yes.. Creative? No.

"You're so creative!"

I get that a lot.  And while I like to think I'm crafty, it's less about creativity and more about being able to follow directions.  Cut this.  Fold here.  Print this.  Yes, you read that right.  Print this. 

One of my newest crafty loves - free printables.  So quick!  So easy!  Usually just a little cutting and folding required and - voila!

I'm stealing borrowing and idea from One Pretty Thing - a site that has a ton of craft links every. day.  Only OPT has a photo of every craft, and I'm just linking you here with a short description.  I like to print cards (to stuff into my collection of unused envelopes) since I'm really a fan of letter writing.  Most recently, I've been doing back-to-school printables - especially lunch box notes.  One day my kids will outgrow this, and I'll be sad - but for now, I guess there are worse things that printing out free stuff.  I'm going to link you directly to the site with the printable download, but many thanks again to OPT for the links, the ideas, and the craft reading escape on a daily basis!

Backpack Snack Treat Topper (for the first day of school, so print it now!)
After School Convo Cards (hope this is a fun way to jump-start some after-school conversation with my oldest)
Gingham Lunch Note Cards (so cute!)
Lunch Box Love Notes (get out your circle cutter!)
Lunch Box Notes, Tags, and Stickers (customizable notes, and a cute idea for attaching the notes!)
Make My Lunch ... Fun (notes and bag tags)
Lunch Survey (scroll down - probably best for older kids)
Printable Lunch Box Menus (boy and girl designs - 4 per page)
School Notes Printable (scroll down; 2 per page)

And one more, not via OPT:
Super Sweet Lunch Notes (in celebration of the newly-designed another lunch - one of the bento blogs that I read)

Enjoy!

ETA:  Look at this post that just came through my reader today.  She has some of the same printables in her post!

If you wonder about scrapbooking...

If you ever wonder why I want to get caught up on my kids' scrapbooks - or why anyone would even want to scrapbook - hop on over to Katherine's blog and take a look at this post. It's a lovely post. Just looking at the photos gives me the same feeling as my hectic, non-stop days. The words are simple, but really express how I feel, too.

Thanks, Katherine, for putting it into words!

Happy New Year!

We're hanging out at home this evening, and enjoying every minute of pizza-making, Wii-playing, and crazy glasses-wearing! Hope where ever you are, and what ever you are doing, you are surrounded by those you love and filled with joy. Best Wishes for a fantastic 2010!

October Fun

Well, October wasn't all fun and games... Miss M got the flu and missed 6 days of school. She also missed a birthday party for another PA (peanut allergy) kid, which was a bit disappointing for mommy (one of the few times she can attend a party without me worrying about the party food). For 3 of those days, Mister J was also home sick. Not to be left out, Big J and I have had our own days of feeling puny. Thankfully, the kiddos were feeling better just in time for some Fall and Halloween fun!

Miss M attended a ballerina birthday party for her friend, H. Here she is in the 'dressing room' getting ready to dance with a real ballerina who came to perform for the girls and then teach them a few ballet moves.

I didn't take many photos at our church's Fall Festival, and here's the only one the kiddos together. They were in line for the pony rides, so they didn't want to sit still. Mister J seemed to have the most fun playing Bingo, and Miss M had the most fun getting snacks - sno cones, popcorn, and cotton candy!

It's been a rainy month, so we just picked out our pumpkins last week. I managed to get only a few snapshots of the kids - they are so glad to be feeling better that it's tough to get them to hold still! The pumpkin patch we go to always has lots of neat places set up for photo ops.

Mister J is in the back of a big wagon that's decorated and filled with hay bales. Miss M is in the background, refusing to join the photo :)

Before we knew it, Halloween was here! Mister J wanted to be a fireman - how do you think his costume turned out? I found the coat at a local consignment shop (on sale for 50% off - yeah!). The helmet was a gift at his fire truck birthday party last year. Those boots are the ones I got for him when the kids were both asking for rain boots early in the year (they still fit!). Pants - regular cargos from Wal-Mart. The badge is a sticker from out local fire department, and those (removable) stripes are made of duct tape. I'm pretty proud of how this came together!

And here's the costume Miss M selected. I bet you aren't even surprised that it's dance related :)
Trick or Treat! I'm Angelina Ballerina! Yes, I'm a mouse - see my tail?
The pink dance costume was borrowed from a friend. I attached felt ears to a headband I already had, and edged them with some fuzzy, feathery stuff I found at AC Moore. That same thing was used for the tail. The (new!) pair of white tights didn't make it through the evening - oh, well! I bought some black and white makeup to mix into grey for her whiskers. The long-sleeved shirt was straight from her closet. All totaled, I spent less than $35 on new items for both costumes - and the pants and coat can be worn again! Too bad about the tights....

Instead of the normal house-to-house trick-or-treating, we attended Halloween Festival/Trunk or Treat at two churches. The kids had a great time, and I thought it was nice to have Halloween fun without dealing with traffic in the dark (half of our neighborhood has sidewalks, the other half does not).

Mister J was very patient, and won a cupcake after several rounds of the cake walk.
Mister J and Miss M also enjoyed several other games before decided it was time to move on to our next stop. On the way to Great-Grandma's house, we passed a fire station that was also holding a small Halloween festival. Since Mister J was dressed as a fireman, we had to stop. Guess who got to cross the caution tape and have his picture made in the fire truck? He felt like a super star!
Remind you of anything?

It was hard to get the kids away from the games at the fire station. There was no waiting, so they wanted to play over and over and over again. Miss M was getting extra help with basketball - that's the only way my 3-year old could have dunked on the 6-foot-high goal!

Although Halloween is a particularly worrisome time for PA families, Mister J and Miss M understand our "No Candy until Mom or Dad check it out" rule. I'd considered Trick-or-Treat for Unicef this year, but since we went to the festivals instead of door-to-door, we opted to take a pumpkin to collect a few treats. It's also tough (on my heart) to take the candy out of a holiday when I know it just takes a little effort on my part to sort out the safe from the unsafe. We were also very clear about what was ok (or not) when given the choice of treats - which happened more often than not at the church festivals.

It's November now, so we will take down our Halloween decorations. The pumpkins (which we didn't carve) become our Thanksgiving decorations. Planning for Mister J's birthday begins now - I've got just over a month!

The "Kid Office"

One of the projects that's been keeping me away from the blog. Bins in the corner hold all sorts of supplies - paper (drawing, construction, coloring books), crayons, markers, glue, things to glue onto paper, stickers (regular and foam), pipe cleaners, and more. Each kid has a supply box on the table. Covered canisters hold regular and colored pencils. Still need a place to hold Mister J's homework and reading packets each week, a trashcan, and a place to safely store scissors and a pencil sharpener.

The Many Days of Summer

This is just a small portion of the paper chain we put together how to help us count the many days of summer - and mainly to countdown to special events - swim lessons, camps, and vacation, to name just a few. It's hanging on the 'art wall' in the breakfast area. Home to our number chart and various other artwork that gets switched in and out as the kids bring home new works from preschool. Now that preschool's over, we will be filling it up with our own art again.

A Good Reason to Be Up Late

I was going to go to bed at a decent hour tonight. Really, I was. But after dinner, I sat down with the kids so they could draw pictures and write notes to their teachers. And Big J had the excellent idea of giving Mister J some lined paper for his notes to his teachers. (Really, it was such a good idea, and I'm feeling a bit silly for not thinking of it myself....) And then the kids drew some really cute stuff. Mister J drew a picture that I scanned before I finished up all of the cards. Then I wrote a few notes, stuck their drawings into the cards, and sealed up all of the envelopes. I put all of my scrapbooking/cardmaking supplies away, tucked the cards into my purse for delivery tomorrow morning, turned off all of the downstairs lights, and went upstairs with a copy of Mister's J's drawing of "Flying a Kite with My Dad" to show Big J. As I was telling him about all of the other cute drawings, it occurred to me that I should have just scanned them all. (Tonight's artwork was that memorable. They don't draw stuff that like that everyday. At least not for us!) So, I came back downstairs, turned some (but not all) of the lights back on, opened all of the envelopes up (glad I have some extras...), and scanned all of my kiddos' artwork. Now I'm going to write new envelopes, stuff them, lick and stick them, put them with my purse ... you get the idea!

I know that you just might want to see that artwork, but I don't think it's fair to let you see it before the intended recipients. So you'll have to wait. But I promise it will make an appearance on the blog, perhaps with another bit of art by Miss M, who seems to have a tiny interest in outer space (so she's definitely her father's daughter!).

Also, I'll try to post pics of the garden we planted this weekend, but only if you will promise to ignore my pasty whiteness. (Yes, thanks to Grandma RL, I'm actually in some of the pictures!) I do go outside, but with sunscreen, since I'm a "burn, don't tan" kind of girl. Also, ever tried to get your kids to wear sunscreen without putting your own on? If you need better self-care habits, I promise you that having a child is a great motivator. Especially one that's old enough to question your every move - but more on that later. See, now you have a few good reasons to come back!

Chocolate Monster

In addition to the room-moving and toy-wrangling this weekend, we had some fun, too!

Miss M had a blast when Daddy gave her a chocolate ice cream sandwich!

Look out - it's the chocolate monster! Roar!

After the kids were in bed, I had fun with my scrapbooking tools and some beautiful paper. I made some gift card holders for an event later on in the week. I can't wait to see the response when they are given away!

They look a little more yellow in the photo than in
real life. The colors are very vibrant and lovely.

I'm looking forward to a little more paper-crafting time later on in the week - I need to make some anniversary and birthday cards!

Busy Thursday!

It was a busy day, but we also had a lot of fun! After dropping Miss M off at preschool...

Painting with her teacher, S

we headed downtown to the kids' new school for Mister J's kindergarten assessment. He had a great time, and we saw some familiar faces - something we weren't sure would happen since it's a magnet school (admission is by district-wide lottery). Once we finished there, it was back to the preschool for a special event - an ice cream social and guitar music to help celebrate Week of the Young Child. The kids enjoyed the ice cream, and we all enjoyed trying to dance and keep up with the motions to the new songs we were learning!

Pre-ice cream - notice the lack of chocolate syrup drips on my children

Mister J found a friend to dance with and got away from us in the (small) crowd. Miss M stayed close and I was able to get a few pictures. She was a little slower to warm up to the dancing, but eventually made her way through the crowd to find her big brother.

While Miss M took an afternoon nap, Mister J and I turned these...
into these! With the addition of a soccer ball, we are bowling in the backyard!

I can't take all the credit for the idea, but I do love that we were able to take some 'trash' (which we would have recycled) and reuse it to make something fun without spending a dime! It took a little trial and error to decide just how much sand to use (1/2 cup per bottle, in case you were interested), which was part of the fun.

Lest you think our sandbox will run out of sand, we have plenty left over from the sandbox birthday party of '08.

Let's have some fun!

The weather was nice on Sunday, so we spend some time outside. The kids played in the backyard for a while, and then I brought out some supplies for a get-your-hands-messy project. We made bird feeders!

They were pretty easy - empty toilet paper rolls with holes punched for some string, soy butter (or other nut/seed butter), and birdseed. I helped a bit with the soy butter spreading - and the kids had great fun with the birdseed. They were very proud to hang them on the trees in the front yard - we made four of them!

The kids worked on today's project while I was doing some paperwork. They love Play-Doh, play fairly well together with it, and it keeps them occupied for a long time relative to coloring, tv, and puzzles. Here's Miss M posing to show off her Play-Doh necklace:

It's too bad the photo doesn't do justice to the cute ponytails she was sporting today!

The necklace waas made with great pride by the creator of the following self-portrait:

What an awesome smile - and what great aim for someone who was looking into the lens of the camera! And what a sweet boy to make something for his sis - they were both so proud, and so was I!

Catch-Up Post - Valentine's Day

Here's the post I promised you with the photo of the cute pencil critters we made for Mister J's classmates. See? Aren't they cute?


I strayed this year from my typical 'special love-themed book' as a Valentine's gift for the kids. It's pretty hard to find an appropriate book for a boy beyond age three. So, this year, the kids got something else I knew they would like - rain boots! I will not tell you how many stores I went to in my quest to find rain boots (n.b. - shop online, and early enough to account for shipping time). I will only tell you that there should now be no more fighting over the too-small-for-him, too-big-for-her, formerly-only-pair-in-the-house rain boots that will make their next appearance at the upcoming clothing exchange at our church. And now, check out my cuties as they got their gifts!


Mister J was way excited about his. Miss M wouldn't even try hers on until the afternoon. It's supposed to rain later this week - we will be taking a walk when it does!

What We Did on Friday

The kids and I spend all day together on Fridays. Sometimes we have a day full of errands and chores, sometimes we are packing to go out of town (but not so much while the price of gas was so high...), and sometimes I find a special activity that I think the kids might enjoy. More often than not, we stay in our pj's for breakfast - something we never do on a school day! And, if Miss M is so inclined, she might let Mommy sleep in for 15 minutes or so....

We had a couple of late nights (well, late for the kids) last week, so Miss M (the really early riser in the family) let me sleep about 20 minutes late on Friday morning. When she was ready for me to get up, we left Mister J in bed and tiptoed downstairs. As I opened the blinds, we saw a light dusting of snow on the ground (yes, snow!). After breakfast, we snuggled on the couch and rubbed noses (which Miss M thinks is hysterical), and tried to be quiet so we wouldn't wake up Mister J. It didn't work, so Mister J joined us for some snuggles, snow-gazing, and breakfast a bit later. (No, I didn't let them go out in the snow. It was cold, y'all! Besides, it wasn't enough to really have fun in...)

A little while later, Miss M discovered some Dora the Explorer coloring pages that I'd printed out the night before. While she was coloring, I pulled some supplies together for a cute Thanksgiving craft. After some cutting, gluing, and a little bit of drawing, here's what we made:

Aren't they cute? If you want to make some, here are the directions. I would suggest cutting all of the paper the night before, when the children are in bed. Miss M hasn't yet developed a healthy respect for cutting tools, so that was a little, um, scary. Plus, some of the pilgrim "clothes" and the indian "feathers" are cut freehand - which is a skill that I have yet to perfect in my 30+ years. So, I repeat, cut the paper the night before. You may even want to make one of the people just to get a little practice. Then, let the kids make a whole village full of pilgrims and indians the next day - without a pair of scissors in sight!

Mister J and Miss M have hauled these 'people' up and down the stairs and played with them until the hats and feathers are bent and some of the clothes are coming unglued. I never imagined they would have that much fun pretending with toilet paper tube people! I shouldn't be surprised, since these are just fancied up 'stelescopes' (which they 'make' from paper towel tubes). Once again, my mom was right - whether cardboard boxes or tissue/towel/wrapping paper tubes - the packaging tends to be more fun that what comes in (or on) it! And when these toys wear out, I can just recycle them!

That's not chocolate!

Notice that Miss M is painting herself brown? She painted my hand brown, too. That wasn't part of the plan. The plan was to start working on some holiday crafts. We actually made some (messy) progress, and had fun in the process. Stay tuned....