Loving the Lightbox!

The girls' grandaddy recently gave them a lightbox that he used to use for work, but no longer needs.  I was SO excited because I've been wanting to make a lightbox for almost a year.  The girls LOVE it, and we've all had lots of fun playing with it.  O(5) loves to make new creations each night while I'm cooking supper.

Here's a recent lightbox creation.




I love that there are so many different creative ways to use a lightbox, and I'm pretty sure that I'll be writing many more lightbox posts on this blog!

Bissell Power Sweeper Review

Bissell sent us a Power Sweeper to try and review.  We've had it for a couple of months, and it's great! We left out the middle section of the handle when we put it together, so it's the perfect height for the girls to use.  E(2) can even us it with one hand behind her back :)




And with a piggy bank in one hand!


The Power Sweeper turns on easily just by pressing your foot to the button on the base.  It is cordless and rechargeable. The girls use it to sweep the floor and rugs almost every day. It is easy to empty the dirt catcher. Overall, it's a great way to get kids easily involved in cleaning the house.

The Power Sweeper was sent to us to review at no cost to us. I was not paid for this review, and the opinions expressed are my own.

Fabric Scrap Paper Doll Kit

I was pretty excited to find  this Fabric Scrap Paper Doll Kit  (I added another link for the printable dolls at the bottom of this post) idea via Pinterest a couple of months before Christmas.  I put together a set for my girls and my niece.  The girls and I have had lots of fun with it so far.

I put the kit in these Christmas suitcases that I bought at Hobby Lobby after Christmas last year.  As soon as I can find a replacement suitcase, I'll switch the kit out, so that I can use this suitcase for something Christmasy next year.





Within the suitcase are several bags of scraps...fabric scraps, ribbon scraps, and yarn scraps.





 I printed the dolls on cardstock and cut them to fit in the suitcase.  I also included 2 pairs of scissors, 4 glue sticks, and a bag of buttons (for my button loving girls!).





This morning E(2) asked for "the suitcase work," and she got right to work after we opened the suitcase and bags.  She loves to cut the fabric, yarn, and paper.  She likes to place the fabric on the dolls and occasionally glues it down.  Usually, she just rearranges over and over and over again and never actually finishes a doll :)













This is the perfect kit to take when you have time to kill and space to spread out and make an easy to clean-up mess.  The girls and I had to go with Elliott to work on Saturday, so I grabbed this kit on the way out the door.   Thank goodness I did!  We were at his office for 2 and a half hours, and we worked on our dolls almost the entire time...perfectly content in our creativity!





I have to admit that I've enjoyed this kit as much as the girls have.  It's so much fun to play and create with my girls.






Evidently, she needs lips!  O(5) added thick pink yarn for her lips :)






Here is my finished doll.






E just couldn't decide what she wanted her boy to wear.






This is one of the easiest "handmade" gifts that I've ever put together!  And it's fun for all ages!  Here's another link to more printable dolls...click here.

Boxes of Fun!

I've been collecting large boxes and storing them in our garage for months for the girls and I to play in.  I envisioned us dragging them to the front yard and making some kind of giant box castle complete with lots of tape and paint.  I thought we'd leave it up for about a week and then recycle the whole thing.  However, things worked out much simpler than that!



We occasionally pull the boxes out of the garage for a few hours and play and play and play.  Then we drag them back in to save for another day.  We've had a wonderful time, but Elliott is not thrilled about his garage being cluttered with large cardboard boxes!

Snowflake Collage

E(2) LOVED putting plastic snowflakes on a sheet of contact paper that I taped sticky side out to our sliding glass door!  She kept saying "It's snowing! It's snowing!"



This was the perfect activity for E since we were finishing up our "S" week (that actually last a month).  Also, E has been obsessed with the Nutcracker Ballet for about 3 weeks, and she will only answer to the name of "Twara" (Clara) and I am her "Dancing Snowflake."  She's constantly telling me "I'm Twara. You my dancing Snowflake."  When she calls me, she calls "Snowflake!" instead of "mama."  I love this kid!



I love it when my girls get so excited over such a simple activity.  I also love it when I see activities like this, and I already have everything I need to do it!  Thanks to Amber for this fun idea!

Christmas Card Puzzles

I was so excited to find these Christmas card puzzles a few days ago (that I made 2 years ago).  E(2) had fun with this activity, but she needed a little help at first. 




To make this activity, just cut a square from each Christmas card and have your child match the squares to the correct cards.  It's fun, and it's a great activity for teaching attention to details and concentration skills!

A Christmas Eraser Work

I handed E(2) this basket of Christmas erasers yesterday morning and said "Here, play  with these."  I expected her to play pretend with them...she loves to play with tiny animals and people, and I love to hear her talk for them.
 
So, I was surprised when I heard her talking her way through sorting them into piles of like objects.  She really enjoyed this!



 



Then she started handing them to me and was saying "This one is for you. This one is for me.  This one is for dada...."  After that she said she was making a "patterin" (pattern), and she spent a long time arranging them in their basket.



When O(5) got home from school, she immediately noticed the basket of erasers.  She also got right to work sorting them!  The only difference was that she made stacks instead of lines!



Who knew that a basket of erasers could be so much fun???

Boxes of Fun!

I've been collecting large boxes and storing them in our garage for months for the girls and I to play in.  I envisioned us dragging them to the front yard and making some kind of giant box castle complete with lots of tape and paint.  I thought we'd leave it up for about a week and then recycle the whole thing.  However, things worked out much simpler than that!


We occasionally pull the boxes out of the garage for a few hours and play and play and play.  Then we drag them back in to save for another day.  We've had a wonderful time, but Elliott is not thrilled about his garage being cluttered with large cardboard boxes!

Snowmen at Night

Snowmen at Night isn't a Christmas book, but I decided to include in with our 24 books advent books since we love it so much, and I had a fun snow activity planned :) 





We made "snow dough"!  We mixed 12 cups of white flour with 1.5 cups of baby oil to make the snow dough, and it was SO much fun!  We kept adding in a little more baby oil, so we probably ended up with close to 1.75 cups of baby oil.




We put a few plastic animals in the dough, which E(2) really enjoyed.  O(5) loved "cooking" with the dough.


 




I had fun making snowballs :)  This was a pretty messy activity, so it's definitely one for the porch or yard!