Monet

over the last 6 weeks we have been studying great artists during the impressionist period.  there is no one better to study than Monet.  we discussed how artists during this time period painted and the kids went to town creating their own impressionist painting!

buttermilk chalk art

i love doing art with my kids!   it's very relaxing to me and i love giving my kids the chance to be creative.  i think it is important to foster creativity in the home.  i may not do a lot of other things with my kids, but this is one thing i'm very passionate about.

i found this book at my library...Art Lab for Little Kids.  it's a great book to teach little kids about art.  there are 50 activities in the book, so if you lack ideas, no worries, they're all planned out for you.

this was our first art project out of the book...buttermilk chalk paint.

my kids loved dipping the chalk in the buttermilk.  it makes the chalk turn creamy instead of dusty.

Countdown to Easter Party

on saturday, we had our "Countdown to Easter" party. every year, we have a "Happy Birthday, Jesus" party for Christmas and i wanted to do something this year for Easter that really focused on Jesus. don't get me wrong i love dying eggs and hunting for eggs, but i wanted to have a party for our kids and their friends, that would focus on the real meaning of Easter.
we had simple food...muffins and cuties.
 
we also ate these cute empty tomb snacks.  i found the idea here. we read a few of my favorite Easter stories.   The Colt and The King is a great story about Palm
Sunday from the perspective of the donkey.

after the stories, the kids went to 3 different stations to make some fun crafts.  we also had chalk out for the kids to draw with. they each made a resurrection garden, a palm branch and a cross. 
lastly, my little guy stuffing is face with leftover food.

i'm thankful for all our wonderful friends that came!

a snowy day

we've had several snow storms. on sunday, it snowed all day.  my man is an expert at shoveling snow. the kids and i stayed inside and worked on some crafts and played games by the fire.  even church was canceled.
  they worked on an Easter nativity set that i found here.
i worked on these paper scrolls.
 
the next day, the sun came out and everything looked so pretty!

penguin-themed family fun

last weekend, the kids woke up to this... we ate penguin pancakes. i found the idea here. i love that they get so excited about having a special breakfast and really it's not much work on my part, but makes such a big impact.

i also made these penguin bags. we used them a snack bag. i put popcorn, mini marshmallows, m&m's, and nuts in the bag for them to munch on.

i found these cute masks here that we made.

weekend randomness

on friday night, we had friends over for dinner.  i made a ton of chinese food...egg rolls, fried rice and thai basil shrimp.   i hung up these vintage lanterns i bought last summer at the flea market to make our evening festive.   i made baked oatmeal casserole on saturday morning.  and on sunday, i made corn dog pie and guacamole and chips for snack.  can you tell we like to eat!

my little lady and i when to our local hardware store and bought seeds for an early spring garden. the kids also spent time playing with all their play dough toys.

we worked on valentine's boxes.  my little lady had to make a valentine's box for her party this week and we found this cute idea here.

i watched the grammy's and sat by the fire.  i can't get enough of The Lumineers!  Did you have any favorites?

shaving cream polar bears

what kid doesn't like playing with shaving cream???  my kids love it!

the other day we mixed white glue and shaving cream together and made polar bears. we used a paper plate, a few white circles for the ears and two black dots for the eyes.

it was a beautiful day for an outside craft. they can't wait for summer to come, so that they can have their annual shaving cream fight.

sharing ideas

there are two of the reasons i love to blog.

one, it's a way to preserve what is happening in our lives and to be able share with others that don't live close to us.

secondly, it's a way for me to share things i've tried, ideas that have worked and things that don't work.  not to receive praise or to brag or say look at me.  that's not me.   i don't like the spotlight to be on me.  i share because that's what we should do.  as women and moms, it's our job to help each other out.   i'm always in search of new things.   mostly, things i can do with my kids and things we can do as a family.  most of the the things i do, are not my original idea.  i borrow ideas all the time.

do you ever find that your kids get board or go crazy on a holiday?  maybe that's just me, but the other day my little lady was off from school and i knew that i needed to come up with something.  they were wanting to do a project and i wasn't too prepared.  but thank heaven, for pinterest.  i quickly looked up something i had pinned and set it into motion.

i borrow this idea from here.   it shows you step-by-step of how to make a packing peanut igloo.  go check it out...it's so easy!

first off, you need no glue.  yes, that's right..zip, zero, nada!  just dip the packing peanuts in a bit of water and they become sticky.

my kiddos loved it!  i'm kind of crazy and save things like...packing peanuts and was thrilled that it offered them a lot fun.  my little guy loved it and was thrilled to build his igloo.  i think there will be more packing peanut creations in our near future!

along with the igloo, we made a polar bear cutout for them to play with.  also, we spent time during snack, reading about the arctic and the life of a polar bear.

i'm so glad that another mom shared this cool idea.   i would have never of guessed that packing peanuts would stick together, without glue, just by getting them damp.