Creative Kids
Hug in the Mail
Karlie sending a hug in the mail to Daddy!
When Jake was away on a trip the girls wanted to send him a hug since they couldn’t hug him in person. If you cannot read the card it says:
Since we cannot be there to “hug” you in person we are sending you a “mail hug”. I love you Babycake! Spread out the hands in the card and that is the biggest hug the person who did it can give you. XOXO
Laying down with her arms spread out as wide so she can give Daddy the biggest hug possible! I traced her hands on the paper and cut a string of thread the length of her arms and taped it to the back of the hands after she decorated it.
Karlie showing off her giant hug!
Karlie’s Message – “I love you Daddy. You are the best. Good is fun. I love you.”
Brina decorating her mail hug for Daddy!
Brina showing off her hug that she is sending to Daddy!
Sending my Handsome Man a hug in the mail!
Creative Kids: Color Spin Painting
Color Twist Craft – Brina adding a little yellow to her masterpiece
Karlie used some of her spending money to buy Brina this special gift. They both had a blast trying it out! It was a lot of fun watching them do their craft. This gift has been a great source of entertainment for both girls.
Brina’s turned out really well!
Karlie doing two colors at once!
Jake pushed the yellow knob on the side to spin the paper while the girls dropped some paint onto their papers. They were fascinated by it and there was very little mess because all the paint stayed in the holder.
Karlie’s masterpiece
Creative Kids: Edible Wildflower
Edible Flower
The first time we made this large “edible flower” was at the girls birthday party. It was a lot of fun to put together and was a big hit. The flower is not only delicious and healthy it adds to the overall decorations for the party. It is a great appetizer for any family or friend get together. The flower is about two feet long and covers most of our large cutting board. You can substitute items to make any shape, color, size or variety you want, here is what I used:
- 1 (8 oz) block Cheddar Cheese
- 1 Celery Stick
- 6 Snow Peas
- Handful Grapes
Slice the cheese into triangles (leaving an open space in the center, see picture below) and place in a layered circle on the cutting board or serving dish. Wash all the vegetables and fruit. Trim the ends off the celery and tuck under the cheese petals. Add the snow peas for leaves and place a handful of grapes in the center of the flower.
Kids in the Kitchen: Fruit Cars
Apple Cars
The kids loved these fruit treats. It was a fun snack and craft to do at the girls birthday party too. At their party we set out a bowl of apples, oranges, grapefruits, and grapes so the kids could put together their own cars. The cars we’re a lot of fun and you could even drive them (so cute with their wobbly wheels).
Orange Car
Cute little fruit cars made by the kids. All it takes is some fruit and toothpicks (broken in half for the wheels). If you have smaller kids you may want to help them put them together and take out the toothpicks for them before they eat their fruit car.
Creative Kids: Random Notes of Love
Cute little surprise note!
On one of our trips this year the girls hid a note in my backpack. I love finding fun notes from my girls. So who do you think put this note in my bag? If you guessed Brina you are correct! Jake got one in his backpack from Karlie. It’s the little stuff like this that makes me so thankful for my sweet girls!
Sweet note hidden in Daddy’s backpack!
Family Activities: Date Night Wish Lists
Found one of Brina’s Date Night Wish lists from earlier this year!
Jake and I try to routinely go on a Date Night with the girls. He’ll take one out and I will take the other girl out on a Date. Sometimes we’ll ask them to write out a list of some fun activities they would like to do during Date Night. As I was going back over some things I came across these two lists from earlier in the year. They made me smile reading them and remembering all the fun memories. Many of the activities are free they just require some extra time and attention.
Karlie’s Date Night Wish List for her Date with Daddy
We like to request these lists every few months because it gives us a good idea of what is important to our kids. So often we think the big elaborate activities are the most fun but after talking with them and reading their lists sometimes they would rather sit down and read a book with you, look through the telescope, picnic in the park, play ball, go look at animals at the pet store, or even a trip to the library. Just reading these lists again make me thankful for my girls and the little activities that make an big impact on their hearts and lives. Spending time together one-on-one and as a family is more important then all the trinkets in the world. These date nights are priceless memories that have opened up many wonderful conversations with our girls. They always look forward to their special date nights!
Do you plan one-on-one time with your children? If so what activities do you enjoy doing together?
Kids in the Kitchen: Easy Parmesan Chicken
The girls have started making dinner for the family once a week. It has been fun coming up with easy and fun recipes for them to put together. My husband actually came up with this idea after the girls suggested they make chicken nuggets for dinner one night. This is a super easy recipe to put together and the only thing you really need to help the kids with is taking the hot pan out of the oven. It is really neat to see them get excited about cooking dinner!
Easy Parmesan Chicken:
- 20 to 25 Chicken Nuggets
- 8 slices Provolone Cheese
- Small can or bottle Pasta Marinara Sauce
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 9 x 13 pyrex dish. Line the bottom of the pyrex with one layer of chicken nuggets. Place the slices of cheese over the chicken nuggets. Spread the pasta sauce over the cheese slices and bake uncovered in the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Creative Kids: Fun Pixos Craft
The girls are having fun building cool designs! The globe like object holds a variety of colored balls that swirl down and pop out when selected. The red topped bottle with a lid on the right side in the back is a water spray bottle to dampen the balls which makes them stick together. You use red pen shape tool in front of the spray bottle to pick up the balls and place them on your tray. The purple hose on the left side used is to blow air on the balls to dry and seal them together.
Karlie was excited to make a United States Flag!
Even though it’s a skunk it looks pretty cute! 🙂 Love watching the girls do a craft, not to mention that it’s great for the hand-eye-coordination!
Sweet little snail!
Creative Kids: The Best Part About a Cardboard Box
The best part about a cardboard box……is playing with it after its been emptied!
Karlie quite proud of her box!
Who ever said you needed to give kids a bunch of toys? Half the time if they have a box they are content to play for hours. Or is it just my kids?! When the girls spot a particularly big box come through our front door they are almost more concerned with whether or not they will get to play with the box after it’s been emptied. If it was up to them they would confiscate every box that came into the house for their box creations, however, I have informed them that only large boxes are available for creative redesign! This is a great rainy day craft if you have a big box already hanging around!
How many monkeys can fit into this box?
This is just after we told them that they could play with the boxes for a few days before they get thrown away. They are almost giddy with excitement as they come up with creative ideas on how to play with this box. They have built houses, tunnels, forts, barns, castles, cars, rockets, and more out of recycled boxes. I am positive that we would have house full of box creations if I didn’t get rid of them myself because the girls have so much fun playing.
I see someone peeking!
It is neat seeing them have fun and get creative over something as simple as a box. They usually color, sometimes tape, reshape and make the box into a “treasured” item. This is the planning phase of the box give it a few more days or a couple of weeks (if I can handle tripping over it for that long) and it will be all decked out! Do you let your kids play with the big boxes and what fun creations have they made with the boxes?
Creative Kids: Lego Fun
Karlie’s Lego Rocket
One of the best parts about legos is that pretty much all kids enjoy playing with them…..boys…..girls……toddlers (with the bigger legos) all the way up to grown ups. It’s one of those toys you can have in the house and pretty much any kid (or kid at heart) will have fun playing with and building cool items. Even though the girls are twins they have very different tastes when it comes to what they like which isn’t a problem when it comes to legos because they have all kinds of sets, styles, colors, and more. I love watching the girls sit down, follow the directions and put the legos pieces together until they create a master piece.
Brina’s Log Cabin
Above are just two of the ones they have done over the past few months. Karlie did the rocket one and Brina did the log cabin. The neat part is the first time or two they put together their lego creations when they were younger we had to help almost every step of the way. As they continue to put together different ones we have to help less and sometimes they’ll completely surprise us with a new design which is fun too. I think learning to follow directions, using creativity, and skills are just a few benefits of playing with legos. I have found the legos can keep our girls entertained for quite a long time too! Do your kids enjoy playing with legos? What was one of their recent creations?
