• Recycled Bottle Top Tank

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    On her own my daughter decided to start recycling the bottle caps for a craft.  The other day she pulled out the recycled bottle tops that she had been collecting and put together this bottle top tank .  With a little bit of construction paper, tape, and bottle tops you can make a lot of cool items for fun!

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    She put this  Bottle Top Tank in the living room so it can “guard” our front door (not sure it is the most welcoming sight for our guests, but at least it is harmless).

  • Creativity & Honey Pot Awards

    Creativity & Honey Pot Awards

    Brina’s was picked by her teacher for the Creativity award!

    Brina recently earned the “creativity” character trait award at school.  One of the perks of winning the award is she got to go on a trip to Fatz Cafe during the school lunch and celebrate.  She was so excited!

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    Brina’s honey pot prize!

    Every week kids will be entered into the honey pot drawing for doing great things and getting noticed by school faculty.  At the end of the week they draw one name from each grade and recently Brina was the lucky winner.   Each winner gets a cup full of goodies.

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    Brina also got a coupon for a free Kid’s Meal from Fatz for winning the “creativity”  award!

  • Halloween Rice Krispie Treats

    Green cat with a “K” on it….wonder who that one is for?  We also found a purple cat with a “B” on it too! 🙂

    While Grandma Penny and Great Grandma Willa were here visiting we made some delicious rice krispie treats.  I made regular rice krispie treats and cut them out with Halloween (pumpkin, ghost, and cat) cookie cutters then the kids and Grandmas decorated them.  It was a lot of fun making these tasty treats together.

    Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treat

    Someone ate a Black Cat…….Karlie!

    Brina enjoying one of the rice krispie treats after she finished helping decorate!

    Colorful pumpkin!

    Spooky green rice krispie ghost!

    Decorating rice krispie treats with Grandma Penny and Great Grandma Willa.  The decorating team was MUCH faster than the cookie cutter, ha! 🙂

    A plate full of decorated rice krispie treats!

    Another tray full of pumpkins, ghosts, and cats…….

    After the girls got a chance to taste test one cookie we sent some of the treats home with the Grandmas, 1 went into each of the girls lunches for the next day, and the rest we brought to Community Group to share with friends.  This was a fun and easy Halloween activity for everyone to do.

  • Curious Kids: Swing Experiment!

    Notice anything odd about the jungle gym?

    The girls are always asking questions and trying new things.  As parents we get the privilege to answer these questions and teach them more about how things work.  Occasionally, they come up with some interesting ideas on their own.  I love how they use their creativity and are able to pull together some fun experiments.  Not every creative moment ends up perfect but glad to see them thinking outside the box.

    We were outside playing one sunny winter afternoon when I looked over at the girls playing on the swing set and noticed something a little odd.  They had taken their cherry red lawn chairs from the front porch and put them on top of the swings on the jungle gym.  It was hilarious watching them swing on the lawn chairs.  A piece of me was thrilled that they figured out how to “invent” something silly yet not dangerous.  They had a blast swinging on their “redneck” swings.  It was great hearing their bursts of giggles as they watched each other swing.

    They came up with this creative Redneck "swing" all on their own!
    They did pretty well swinging on their little red lawn chairs!

    Karlie and Brina Swinging on their silly swings!
    So proud of their little experiment!

    It was pretty funny watching them swing on those little red lawn chairs.  They were so excited their experiment worked out so well.  As Jake and I moved around in the yard the girls would just rotate their chair swings to face us.  They make me laugh with some of the things they come up with but I am glad to see their imaginations running full throttle!

    What started out as mere curiosity ended up being a fun new way to enjoy time swinging on the jungle gym.  Encourage your kids to be creative and curious, you never know what you’ll see when you come around the corner!

    Curious Kids is a series of posts on various questions kids ask as well as creative things they come up with on their own.  If you have ever been around a toddler you know they will have a season when they start asking all the “Why” questions.  Then as your toddler gets older you begin to see them start experimenting with objects, becoming even more creative, and trying to figure out new ways to make things work.  As a parent of Twins my girls hit those stages at the same time!  I was (and am) determined to not answer….”Because I said so” to their questions and allow them the freedom to be creative (as long as it isn’t dangerous) but there there are days when it is difficult coming up with all the answers to their questions and the mess behind their “creative” experiments sometimes gets a little too crazy for even Mom.  Most days I love having the opportunity to teach my girls and encourage them to use their curiosity to be creative when they play!