super bowl sunday

No big party. No junk food. Just one kid working on her origami valentines, the other making some rubber band bracelets, the Seahawks trampling the Broncos, and a healthy dinner. It was a quiet, pleasant Sunday at our house.

class valentines

Sweetpea decided to start reading the Harry Potter series last December. She's eight, and was a bit concerned that they would be too scary for her (as was I, because she's a delicate little flower), so I've been reading each one first before handing them over to her. It's been great to be able to talk with her about them as she reads.

On a hunch, I looked on Amazon to see if the Jelly Belly version of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans were still around. (They're probably the same batch from ten years ago, right? Ew.) I thought they'd be fun for Sweetpea's class valentines, and perfect this year because she's reading the series. We ordered them, printed up some quick wrap-around labels, taped them on, and were done. I think it took us thirty minutes. Quickest valentines ever!

They did cost a little more than we usually spend—about $1.50 per valentine—but it was worth it for the novelty. And Little Mister's valentines cost nothing more than some paper and a box of Goldfish, so it evened out.

I got the idea for Little Mister's fishbowl valentines from the Backless Shirt blog. I had the cellophane bags leftover from a baby shower (or actually from the leftover cocoa from the baby shower favors), and I bought a big box of Goldfish crackers. For the fishbowl, I set out to make my own. 

I'm teaching myself to use Adobe Illustrator, one little project at a time. This was a great lesson for me. It was the first time I added and subtracted shapes to create something new.

We printed the fishbowls on card stock, and Little Mister wrote the names of his kindergarten classmates on them, four at a time over several days. (He has very little patience for writing.) Then we gently rolled them to fit them in the bags, added a big spoonful of Goldfish to each, and closed with a twist tie. It was pretty fun, and he got to help every step of the way.

 Did you make your own class valentines this year? Leave me a link—I'd love to see them!

valentine decorations

I watched her meticulously cut out each individual heart of this little garland. I told her that when she was done, I'd show her a faster way. I know part of her growth is finding her own way, and it's hard for me to watch her struggle with something when I could make it easier. But how will she learn to be independent if I come to her rescue every time? Ah, the joys of parenting.

Once I folded her scrap paper, accordion style, and showed her how to cut the heart so they'd stay attached, she went on to make garland after garland.

 And then she invited her little brother to help her tape them up around the house.

Such a sweet girl.

354/366 snowflakes for sandy hook

 I read on All for the Boys yesterday that the Connecticut PTA is collecting paper snowflakes to make a “Winter Wonderland” in the new building when Sandy Hook students return in January. I'd been meaning to make paper snowflakes with the kids, and this gave me the motivation I needed. My kids still don't know about the shooting. I told them that something bad happened at a school in Connecticut, and that we were going to help decorate a new school for them. They were happy to help!

We made quite a stack. I'm excited to send them off. I want us to make a little drawing that represents where we live, to let the kids know that people all the way across the country in Washington state are wishing them well.

If you'd like to send snowflakes by January 12, 2013, send them to:

Connecticut PTSA

60 Connolly Parkway

Building 12, Suite 103

Hamden, CT  06514

For other ways to help, visit the Connecticut PTA's Helping Sandy Hook page.

347/366 cardboard trees

Remember the cardboard birds? And how I said the kids wanted to make cardboard trees? We finally did. 

For each tree, I cut two tree shapes out of cardboard, and cut a slit halfway up from the bottom on one, 

and halfway down from the top on the other. (The slit should be the same width as the cardboard.)

 The kids painted them, we let them dry, and then I slid them together—gently so the paint wouldn't scratch.

It was a fun, easy craft!

And for Cathy, pictures of our real tree.

It's not our usual tree. We bought it from a school fundraiser, and it was decorated by a middle school class. It came covered in beautiful sparkly blue ornaments with sparkly blue tulle. We wanted to make it our own, so we hauled out our favorite ornaments and replaced a few of the blue ones with our sentimental ones. 

The tulle is not something I would normally have, but I really like the added sparkle. 

The red birds (you see one, but there are three) are also not something I would normally have. They were added by Sweetpea. I figure when the kids are out of the house, I'll have full reign over the tree and can decorate it any way I like. For now, it's fun to see their personalities on the tree.

324/366 cardboard birds

We made cardboard turkeys the other day, thanks to Joel's idea and templates on Made By Joel. Hooray for us finally using up our eight year old bag of colored craft feathers, but boo for me not realizing we only had twelve tiny ones left. I may encourage the kids to make some more feathers out of paper to fill in those bare turkeys a bit.

Or they could just draw some on, like Sweetpea did with her peacock. Of course she'd make a peacock, right? He's a keeper. I'm sure he'll be proudly displaying his plumage in her room for a long time.

(The one on the left is sporting a string of twinkle lights.)

This would be a great way to keep kids occupied before dinner is on the table Thursday! And Sweetpea has an idea to make a similar interlocking cardboard project in a tree shape next month. I'll let you know how that goes.

homemade/recycled wrapping paper

I was cleaning out some boxes today and found some brown packing paper. Whenever we have some, we smooth it out and I let the kids go to town decorating it for use as wrapping paper. They decided to make Christmas wrapping paper this time, and it was so fun and festive, we opted to hang it up until it is needed. Our first Christmas decoration of the year!

247/366 butterfly mobile

I made these butterflies out of cardstock and tissue paper when I was pregnant with Sweetpea. I used a template from Martha Stewart (I looked, but can't find it online anymore) and painstakingly cut out the pieces and selected tissue colors. Boy, I had a lot of free time back then.

Anyway, we used the butterflies as a baby mobile, and have asked her several times if she's tired of them, but they keep moving with us. They've been over her bed for more than eight years. They're starting to tear, though, and some have faded, so I told her she should consider parting with them soon. 

Isn't it always the simplest things—paper and thread, a cardboard box, ribbon from a gift—that captivate children?

243/366 paper vader

Quality time, Day 2. We put together this Darth Vader—a punch-out craft on a birthday card from his uncle. He had a blast putting Tab A into Slot B. It was a craft just his speed. I may need to find some other characters so he can have a set.

167/366 artwork

This is what an entire year of second grade artwork looks like. It took me an hour to photograph it all (past years have taken much longer), choose three or four keepers, sort the rest into recyclables and non-recyclables, and say goodbye. It's tough for Sweetpea to let go. 

We figured out tonight that if we'd kept all the art she had ever made, it would stack from floor to ceiling at least once, probably twice. We told her she's probably used an entire tree worth of paper. 

If she hadn't learned so much and enjoyed it so much along the way, I'd feel pretty bad about losing that tree.

123/366 tissue paper flora

Sweetpea chose a Rio theme for her birthday party this year. We spent today making a table full of tissue paper flowers and leaves in bright, saturated colors. I use the word “we” loosely—she helped for approximately four flowers before leaving to play cars with the little guy. We were working on these stacked tissue hibiscus-type flowers, and I showed her how to separate the layers to make them fluffy.

“You're hired!” she said.

Seriously? Where does an almost 8 year old get a line like that?

51/366 hidden messages

What do you do when you first wake up? Do the zombie walk to the coffee pot? Exercise? Make breakfast for the kids? Most days, I wake up twenty minutes before the kids so I can check email and browse Google Reader for some early morning inspiration. Sometimes it helps give me direction for dinner. If I'm lucky, I get inspiration for something new to do with the kids. Today was a lucky day.

I read Ashleigh's post about making “secret message” paintings with her kids, then jumped right up, grabbed some white construction paper, and scrawled messages to my kids with a white crayon. After breakfast, I asked them if they wanted to paint. You can see the rest for yourself.

(Hers said, “Hello my lovely. Thank you for painting me! ♥”)

super easy valentines

The little dude is not crafty. He saw his sister meticulously crafting her mailbox valentines, and wanted nothing of the sort. So he chose a box of valentines from the store, and some cute little bubble accessories. (We were going to do the bubbles with an attached tag + stickers, but the box of valentines was actually cheaper!) Super easy, quick, but still fun and a little more exciting than the valentines alone.

We began by assembling the boxed valentines. (They came with temporary tattoos that needed to be separated and attached.) My little guy is a big fan of order, so he spent some time matching the tattoos to the corresponding valentines. There weren't enough for all of them to match, so we had five or so at the end that didn't match. He was surprisingly ok with this.

After writing names on all of them, we punched holes in one corner, cut some ribbon, and used the ribbon to tie on the bubbles. Easy peasy. Still a little crafty, but he actually enjoyed helping. He got to pick the color of the ribbon and bubbles—he likes having that control. I was thankful for the time we spent assembling. :)

This photo borrowed from the other day. 

22/366 mailbox valentines

Today was hopefully our last day trapped in the house. We weren't really trapped today, but freezing rain prevented us from attending my nephew's first birthday party in Gresham. Boo.

Sweetpea and I figured we'd get a head start on her class valentines, since we had time. We ended up finishing them! It took us about two hours to put together 30 of these mailbox valentines. I've never had valentines done this early. It feels so strange. Good, but strange.

I found the idea on Pinterest, and tracked it back to Gigi's Creative Designs blog. She has the materials list on her Valentine Mail Box post, and the dimensions for the card stock strips. So head over there for the details.

She did not, however, have clear assembly directions. So I played around with the strips and photographed they way we assembled them.

Note: Sweetpea is seven, but she needed quite a bit of help with assembly. The strips need to be pulled tightly around the Hershey Nuggets for a secure hold.

 

If I were concerned with these looking perfect, I would have used hidden double sided tape. But since they're for a class of second graders, the paper mailbox will probably be ripped apart immediately to access the candy. So we went the easy—and less expensive—route and used regular transparent tape.

Aren't they adorable? Oh, and since Hershey Nuggets are processed in a facility that also processes tree nuts, we used Starburst (three, stacked, then turned on their sides) for the kids in the class with nut allergies. Happy almost Valentine's Day!

a week on san juan island

Goodness. Where to start? I have so many things I want to share with you about our trip last week. We had such a lovely time. We stayed on the west coast of San Juan Island, in a lovely home overlooking Haro Strait (or as I like to call it, the Path of the Orcas). Seriously, look at this view.

Right outside the living room window. I was pinching myself all week.

We at fresh seafood all week long

(more on that in another post),

 browsed around adorable Friday Harbor,

visited our favorite kinetic sculpture artist Anthony Howe's fabulously fun outdoor gallery,

explored tidepools,

and hung out together, just the four of us.

I loved the living roof on the neighbor's house,

the ironwork on the sidewalks downtown

and this paper-cone-filled store window display.

I could do that, right?

Totally.

More to come.

Next up, the food.

We ate like kings.

Local veggie- and seafood-loving kings.

Stay tuned.