I'm Back

Thanks for all of the comments on my Unintended Break post. My finger is on the mend, and I should be back to regular blogging soon. I was supposed to get my stitches out today, but I accidentally popped one this morning and my finger didn't look healed enough to have them all removed. I'll probably clip the rest of them tomorrow. I'm trying to talk O into helping me (since she loves to pretend to be a doctor), but she's not interested. She said "I'm just a little kid. I'll be a doctor when I'm bigger." I asked when that would be and she said "when I'm 6 or 7 or maybe 9 or 10."

Unintended Break

I'll be gone from the blog for a week or so due to my utter stupidity...I sliced my finger to the bone while removing a pit from an avocado with a knife. Sweet O was running around behind me cleaning the blood up off the floor while E just wanted me to hold her. Thank goodness our neighbors are down here for the week and came to my rescue.

Yummy Birds' Nests

O and I made yummy bird nests with chocolate malt ball eggs for Easter! We had fun, and they turned out even cuter than I expected.

The idea and recipe for the birds' nests came from The Artful Parent. The nests are basically rice crispy treats made with cornflakes and shaped to look like nests. We made several changes in the recipe, but nothing major...we used Total cereal instead of corn flakes, we didn't toast our coconut, and we used a whole bag of mini marshmallows. I think making (and eating!) these fun, little nests may be a new Easter/Spring tradition for us!

To make the nests, we melted a bag of mini marshmallows along with a 1/2 cup of butter. We poured in a teaspoon of vanilla extract. We then slowly mixed in 4 cups of Total cereal and a fourth cup of coconut. We pressed the mixture into mini muffin tin cups to make the nests. After they were set, I took them out of the muffin tin. We refrigerated the nests overnight, and then we put the eggs in the nests to finish the recipe.

Happy Easter!

Could she get any cuter?!!! I don't think so!

We've had a wonderful Easter, but I have to admit that I'm glad that we are done with holidays for a while :) I feel like I've been constantly planning around and making things for holidays for months...wait, I have! My goal was to finish making handmade Easter gifts by the end of February, but I was up finishing up last minute gifts until after midnight last night. It was worth it though because O was SO excited about her handmade gifts...more on them later.

Happy Easter!

Easter Baskets for Fairies

O and my niece had a fun time making fairy Easter baskets on this week!

To make the baskets, I cut 2 cups out of a cardboard egg carton for each girl. They colored the cups with markers. We twisted a pipe cleaner to make a basket handle and hole punched a hole in each side of the basket. We put the pipe cleaner through each hole, and we were done! The girls filled their tiny baskets with flowers...most people would call the flowers weeds, but O thinks they are "beautiful!"

String Art

Our 2nd Art Jar activity was making string art! O was VERY excited when she chose this activity from the jar, but she wasn't very enthusiastic once we got started on it.

To do this activity, you need string (or yarn), paint, and paper. We dipped the yarn into the paint, placed it on a sheet of cardstock, folded the paper over the string, and pulled the string out. Then we "danced" the yarn on the paper which was much more fun and had a cooler effect than pulling the yarn. However, O decided that she liked painting with her fingers best of all!

Marshmallow Bunny Art

O was thrilled to do another marshmallow art activity today!

To complete this activity, I drew a bunny on a piece of cardstock. I gave O a bowl of mini marshmallows, and she bit each marshmallow in half before sticking the other half on the bunny. She's looking forward to eating the marshmallows off of her artwork after showing it to her daddy. Silly girl!

Shape Windows

O and I had fun reviewing her shapes using these shape windows (via Confessions of a Homeschooler).

I printed the shapes on cardstock and used an x-acto knife to cut out the middle of the shapes before laminating them. After laminating the shapes, I cut them out of the cardstock (I like to do most of my cutting after laminating in order to have a cleaner edge). Now they look like windows, which is a fun effect :) O had fun running around the room and looking at different objects through her shape windows, and she's looking forward to using the shape windows to teach "baby sister" her shapes!

Sticker Resist Painting

Our 1st Art Jar activity was sticker resist painting. This activity has been on my to do list for a very long time. It was fun, but I was a little disappointed (but not surprised) with the results.

To do this activity, O decorated a piece of white cardstock with stickers. She then painted the cardstock. After the paint was dry, we peeled the stickers off the paper. Unfortunately, the stickers tore the paper, so the effect was not what I had hoped. Luckily, I thought this might happen, and I warned O that her painting might tear. I was so glad that I forewarned her because I'm sure she would have been very upset if I had not. O had a lot of fun painting, and we are looking forward to our next Art Jar activity!

The Art Jar

We've needed something to jumpstart our art activities around here lately, and I decided that an Art Jar would be just the thing to do it! The idea for an Art Jar came to me when I was making my Pregnancy Journal Jar (a year ago!).

To make the Art Jar, I cut strips of card stock and put an idea for a simple art activity (using supplies that I have on hand) on each strip. I'm hoping that we'll do an activity from the Art Jar at least a couple of times a week. The ideas for the activities have come from library books, activities we've done in the past, and eventually I'll go through the starred items in my google reader and add more strips.

O is VERY excited about the Art Jar. We've completed one activity so far, and we are looking forward to our 2nd Art Jar Activity on Friday.

Since several people have asked what's in The Art Jar, I'd thought I'd share a list of a few of the activities. I don't actually have the jar with me now, so these are just from memory...

painting with marbles
painting with feathers
pop paper prints
leaf prints
string painting
make a sculpture with packing peanuts
make a sculpture with straws and tape
contact paper collage
medicine dropper art

Egg Word Match-Up

Since O is really enjoying sounding out words lately, I'm trying to provide her with lots of opportunities to do so. This Easter cvc word match-up game from My Montessori Journey was perfect (via Walk Beside Me)!

We've had wonderful weather lately, so we've been having circle time, work time, and picnics on our screened porch. See E's sweet little hand? She was trying to help her big sister with her work :)

Easter Egg Word Family Activity

Cara at The Peterson Party posted about this fun Easter egg word family game a couple of weeks ago, and I knew we had to try it! It was simple to put together and fun to play. To make the activity, simply write the word family endings on one half of the egg and initial consonants on the other side. O had trouble turning the eggs (I did, too), but she really enjoyed sounding out the words. We've spent a lot of time in the car over the last week, and this was a fun new activity to do while riding. Thanks, Cara, for this fun activity!

New Blog

I've started a new blog, and I wanted to share the idea with you (but not the blog!). I've always kept handwritten journals for my girls, and my goal has been to write in them weekly. That never seems to happen, and I'm lucky if I write in them once a month. I realized that keeping journals for the girls would be much easier to do on a more frequent basis if I started a blog of letters to the girls. So, that's what I did!

Every couple of days, I'll write a letter to each girl or one to both of them. I tell them what's going on in our lives (boring details that I wouldn't include on a public blog) or my feelings about them or things they have done. This blog is completely private, and it's freeing to write and know that no one is reading it (yet! I'll print copies for the girls one day). I've always kept a journal, and this blog feels very much like journaling to me since it is private. I'm still going to write in their handwritten journals, but now the pressure is off and I can write in them when I have time and don't have to feel obligated to keep them up weekly. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to get Elliott to write letters to the girls, too. I'm not holding my breath, but maybe he'll at least write to them on their birthdays (and I think that once he does it once he'll be hooked).

So, now I have 3 blogs to keep up with...I wonder if I can do it :)

More Freezer Paper Stenciling

I love E's elephant shirt! I love to make matching shirts for my girls, and this time I made pink elephant shirts and blue horse shirts. I'm addicted to freezer paper stenciling :) I realized that I'd forgotten to set the stencil with an iron when I made the butterfly shirts, so I'm hoping that these shirts will last up a little longer.

Easter Egg Word Hunt

O has had a wonderful time finding Easter eggs with cvc words hidden inside! Thanks to Walk Beside Me for this fun idea!

As soon as O finds an egg, she opens it and sounds out the word. After she sounds out the word, she "says it fast." I sometimes have to remind her to "say it fast." O has had a reading explosion this week. It is amazing to watch, and she is having so much fun and is so proud of herself!