• Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

    The best part of warm weather is outdoor activities, like drawing rainbows with chalk!

    Brina’s chalk person

    Colorful sun

    Brina’s rainbow name

    Karlie’s rocket ship taking off

  • Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

    I just finished reading the book Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls.  They were a little confused when we first started this book because they expected the next book in the series to be about the little girl Laura and her family, not about a boy named Almanzo.  Although they were unsure about it at the beginning it only took a chapter to get them hooked and back into the series.

    Farmer Boy is book three of the set we are currently reading through with the girls.  The book introduces Almanzo, Laura’s future husband.  While Laura growing up in a little house on the prairie with her parents and two sisters Almanzo was living on a big farm in New York State with his parents, one brother, and two sisters.

    The book is written from Almanzo perspective and goes through many of the things he did as a boy from chopping wood, cutting ice, planting corn, raising a prize pumpkin, training his steers, and much more!  The girls found it fascinating reading about Almanzo’s days.   They especially liked that he was found of horses.

    If you are looking for a fun book to read to your kids (both boys and girls) or have your children read themselves this is a great book.  I know the girls will be going back and reading these books again on their own after we finish with the series.  They have really enjoyed this series and learning a little bit about how Almanzo grew up fueled their excitement even more!

     

  • Super Easy Way to Make Hard Boiled Eggs

    I am all about finding ways to help make cooking even more efficient in our household.  Our refrigerator typcially has a carton with hard boiled eggs in it for making a quick egg salad sandwich, to stick in a smoothie, make deviled eggs, salad topping, or many other uses we find for it.  Several years ago my husband started putting the eggs in the steamer to hard boil them.  I LOVED it!  It is super easy and my eggs don’t crack (once or twice an egg has cracked if it already has a weak spot or was knocked when put into the steamer)!

    Steamed Hard Boiled Eggs

    • Eggs
    • Steamer
    • Water

    Stick the eggs in the steamer (we usually do between 10 to 12 eggs depending on how many we have in the carton).  Fill the water level up to high.  Steam for 25 minutes.  Once it is done steaming remove the lid and allow eggs to cool.  You can run cold water over them if you need them to cool quicker.  Use hard boiled eggs or place back in the carton to use for later.

    If you come to our house and open up an egg carton you may encounter something like the picture above.  I make sure to mark the eggs that have been hard boiled with an “X” so anyone that wants to grab an egg whether regular or hard boiled it is easy to decipher which ones are which.  This especially comes in handy with kids who like to help in the kitchen! 🙂

  • Would You Rather Hold A Scorpion, Spider, or Snake?

    Karlie was so excited to hold a scorpion!

    I was going back over some pictures from a few months ago and came across these…..pictures from the Critter Keeper event we attended.  The girls are fascinated by animals, bugs, and any other kind of wildlife.  I love animals too, but I like to keep a safe distance between myself and certain critters like large scorpions, spiders, and snakes!  One of the biggest highlights for them was being able to hold, touch, and learn more about a variety of different animals.  They LOVED it!

    That’s one big spider!

    Do you see the huge yellow and white snake?  Yikes!  Can you find Brina and Karlie in this picture?

    So proud of her “I held a Scorpion!” sticker

  • Go Ape by Patch

    I picked up the Go Ape game by Patch at the grocery store on clearance for the girls for Christmas.  It was a huge hit!   Our family has already played this game several times since Christmas.

    The Go Ape game adds a fun twist to the traditional game of Go Fish!  Instead of asking another player for a card you act out the funny monkey picture on the card!  The person who collects the most monkey matches wins the game.

    It is hilarious watching the girls act out the various monkey faces!  The girls is for 2 to 6 players and for ages 4 and up.

  • Tissue Paper Bleeding Art

    Do you have some crumpled tissue paper laying around?  At the next birthday party or gathering make sure to keep the colorful, crinkled tissue paper for this craft or if you already have some on hand that works great too.  It is super easy and loads of fun!  Our girls loved these and had a blast doing this craft.

    Colorful tissue paper in one of the kids bowl

    Tissue Paper Bleeding Art

    • Variety of colorful, crumpled Tissue Paper
    • White Paper (we use a heavier paper or poster board)
    • Small Bowl of Water
    • Paint Brush

    Gather some brightly colored tissue paper. Tear the tissue paper into a variety of pieces (small to several inches).  Put a piece of tissue paper on the white paper and use a paint brush dipped in water to wet the tissue paper, you will see the colors start to bleed.    Continue putting the tissue paper pieces down and painting with water until your white paper is full.  Set aside and allow to dry over night.  Once the tissue paper has dried, remove all the pieces and throw away.  You can use your new tissue paper bleeding art paper to cut out shapes and use them for thank you notes or display (see picture at the top of the post).

    Tip – if the kids are not able to get all the tissue paper wet you can use a spray water bottle and lightly mist the art piece before putting it away to dry.

    Putting down the tissue paper

    Water in a bowl and a paint brush

    Tissue paper covering the paper now just need to wait for it to dry

    What the paper looks like after the tissue paper dried and removed.  The tissue paper die bleeds onto the heavy paper underneath and this is what it looks after it has dried, really neat!  You can use this paper to cut out shapes and use for thank you notes or something special for the kids to display.

  • Roper Mountain Science Center – Animals and Activities

    Wow!  Look at all those tiny legs on this one!

    Our girls love any trips we take to Roper Mountain Science Center!  There is so much to see, learn, and explore.  Whenever possible we try to go to their second Saturday events because they are a big hit with our kids.  The second Saturday events have a theme and the kids can do anything from holding animals, crafts, participate in events, and much more.  They have everything from animals, ocean life, space activities, farming, cultural events, and more!  I have even learned a few new facts about history, animals, and space too.  🙂

    Karlie holding a snake

    Jake holding the snake.  I am not a big fan of snakes so I was okay with not holding this snake, although I did touch it briefly…very briefly!

    Look at this cool guy!

    Yes, that is a huge spider that she is holding in both her hands!  A tarantula actually!

    Brina holding a box turtle

    Karlie wanted to hold the box turtle too

    Super soft……Chinchilla!

    Is it a baby pig, baby squirrel, or baby chipmunk Brina is holding????  None of those,  it is actually baby mouse (the mouse is only 1 day old)!

  • Creative Kids: Sidewalk Chalk Paint

    With the warm weather just around the corner (it was in the 70’s here this past weekend).  I want to share one of our family’s favorite outside crafts with you.  Sidewalk Chalk Paint is super easy to make and can entertain the kids for hours.  The sidewalk chalk paint can take the place of traditional chalk and is inexpensive to make at home.  You can make whatever colors you want; we’ve done all the colors of the rainbow, including Charleston Green (which was requested by the girls).

    We’ve had kids from 1 years old and up play with this neat paint and love it!

    Sidewalk Chalk Paint

    • 1/2 cup cold Water
    • 1/2 cup Cornstarch
    • Food Coloring
    • Jumbo Muffin Tin
    • Variety of Old Paint Brushes

    Stir the cold water and cornstarch together until you have a smooth consistency.  Mix in 3 to 6 drops of food coloring.  Repeat the process until you have filled your muffin tin with a rainbow of colors.   If you want to make less you can do 1/4 cup cold water and 1/4 cup cornstarch.  You can make your sidewalk chalk paint darker by adding a few more drops of food coloring.

    My niece Noelle and I were having fun doing her name together!

    This works on any sidewalk or driveway, although smooth surfaces may be a little better.  Our driveway is rough but the kids always have a blast doing this activity.  When Jake’s sister and family was here a few months ago we did this activity with the kids.

    Brina painted her name on the sidewalk

    The sidewalk chalk paint will wash off your sidewalk or driveway and is safe for your grass and plants.  If you have leftovers you can put them into empty yogurt containers and store them until the next time the kids are ready for sidewalk chalk paint.  You may have to add a few drops of water if the paint has become a little dry but it should revive well after adding a little more water.

  • Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

    I just finished reading Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls.  I have an older version of the book (from when I was a kid), but the story is exactly the same.  They have a picture every few pages that the girls enjoyed looking at as we read together.    Brina and Karlie really enjoy these books and are always begging me to read…..just one more chapter. 🙂

    Little House on the Prairie is the second book in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series.  We read Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder first.  In this book the little girl, Laura, that we met in the first book traveled with her family out Midwest to the Kansas area.  Her Pa found a place out in the wide open space of the prairie where they built their new home, barn, started farming, trapping, and explored the area.  In this book Laura met Indians for the first time, saw a papoose, and experienced many new adventures.

  • Creative Kids: Invisible Writing

    The girls love to do crafts and all kinds of fun activities…..(so do I)! 🙂  As I was getting ready to leave for a few hours the other day I left a “secret” note on the girls bar stools.  They didn’t realize it was a note because it was invisible .  The night before the girls had asked if they could paint again soon so I decided that since the paints were going to be out anyway I might as well leave an invisible note for them to discover the next morning.

    These invisible notes were a hit and super easy to do.  Take a white piece of paper, write a message in white crayon, and have the kids paint over the letters to decode the message.  Once the girls figured out it wasn’t just a plain white piece of paper on their bar stools they quickly decoded the message.

    They decided it was pretty neat and the next spent hour writing invisible notes back and forth to each other.  I love it when I start a fun activity and they run with it.  Thankful that the girls get excited over the little stuff.

    These would work really well for younger kids too.  You could do a picture instead of a note as well.