Being Outside

Well it is a nice warm 75 degrees here in Texas. It is March, and that means it is almost summer, we even played in the sprinkler yesterday. Well not summer yet, because I think the next few days are going to be in the 60s. Regardless it is time to be outside more. Yesterday we (me and the girls) were outside for the entire afternoon. I love watching both girls just kind of do their own thing, and yet come together to do something. I have been trying to make a conscience effort lately to get my kids outside.

I've also been trying to take it more seriously that Ruth asks me everyday when she gets to go to school. She is 3, not even 3 and a half yet. But I know 5 is coming quick. So we make the most of our days together and every now and then the teacher in me throws in an educational activity but mostly we just play. That is school for her age, just play.

Two resources that I have been using a lot lately are .....

Play at Home Mom 

Full of ideas and activities for preschoolers and toddlers and even infants. Focusing on the power of play.

Fifteen Minutes Outside by Rebecca Cohen

365 activities to do outside to get out of the house and connect with your kids.

So here is a few pictures of what we have been doing outside lately.

R with her Rollie-Pollie Habitat and M with her bubbles

Just putting rocks from one bucket into another, later we put water in the bigger one, and wow she was excited!

Creating a house out of a cardboard box, complete with a mailbox. She is decorating at this point.

So I hope you fellow Texans are enjoying this beautiful weather. I do not look forward to the days of 100 degree weather, so I am going to enjoy this and go outside as much as I can.

A little yarn and a little felt....

So I have seen these cute little things circulating the blogoshphere, and when my sister told me she would love one for her birthday I was so excited to try them out. This was my inspiration here.....

Nest of Posies

So I headed out to look for some striped ribbon, and felt and began.

Below is the one I made for Mel for her Birthday in December.

Easiest thing ever to make! I made one for my sister in law for Christmas. We actually had that family Christmas after Christmas, but hopefully she can put it out for Christmas next year! I am brainstorming colors for a Spring one.

Some more felt craft ideas I love.....

Felt Heart Garland

Felt Food - I really need to make these for the girls

Felt Baby Booties

Banging Wall

I posted this picture awhile back

From Soule Mama

Our library had her book called The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections

The Creative Family

Some awesome ideas on really letting your kids create meaningful experiences. My favorite idea was the banging wall, and since my girls like to make some noise. We went for it. Well I spent like 3 months collecting old pots and different metal and plastic "stuff." Then I was finally able to convince my husband to pull out the power tools and that pallet that had been laying around the yard. It took 30 minutes!

Ruth loves to dance while making music. Marie loves it because it is loud. Ruth wants to show every kid that comes over. I look forward to incorporating more creative things outside and inside for our kids.

It has been in the upper 70s all week here in TX, so we are outside most of the day. I am trying to find some fun crafts to do for the birds that are hanging around. Yesterday we saw two blujays and a cardinal. What are you doing outside?



Random Acts of Kindness

I grew up in a house where you were dragged along to volunteer. You really didn't have a choice. I remember organizing donated items for March of Dimes probably at 7 or 8. I probably complained about it, but my mom did an amazing job of instilling that passion to help others in my heart. So now that Ruth is 3 and getting a little more "eduacated" on the whole Santa thing, I feel pressure to keep her in the true meaning of Christmas. We have started doing a Advent countdown. We do this every year along with a Jesse tree (post on that later), but this year I mixed in some RACKs (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness). I am not sure she gets it really this year, but hopefully it will be a great tradition to continue on.

Here are some awesome sites with more information on this idea. It was not something I came up with for sure.

RACK Advent Calendar Some of her ideas are things like

- purchase toys for kids in need

- donate blood (parents of course)

- take goodies to the firefighters working on Christmas day (I hope to do this one this year)

- buy hot cocoa for the person ringing the Salvation Army bell.... we bought them a coke because we are in Texas and it was like 77 degrees that day.

Create Something Inspiring

Some of her ideas ...

- leave a gift for the mailman

- make treats for the dogs

- find the home with the best lights and write them a thank you card (want to do this one too)

Anyways, we have had lots of fun so far. I told Ruth we were going to buy a toy for a little boy. Of course she asked why and what is his name, and what is his mommy's name. After a discussion on giving to those in need, and pretending that I knew the name of this kid, I picked a boy so she could pick something she might not want herself. So she then told me he might have a baby sister too who also needs a toy. So we picked out something for the baby sister too.

Hair

My hair is getting longer.... YEAH. And I am really inspired by all the awesome hair I have been seeing on Pinterest. Yes Pinterest, if you haven't seen it yet my advice is DON'T.... no just kidding. But really you will probably lead a more productive life if you do not discover Pinterest.

Ok but in case you haven't checked it out and you want to, here is a link.... Pinterest

So back to my hair...I am for sure someone who throws my hair in a pony tail way to many times. Now that it has gotten longer I have been trying to do more with it. Here are some ideas I have gotten from Pinterest. I linked them to the original website.

Link

And here is my hair. By the way it is hard to take a picture of yourself in a mirror.

Here are some more ideas I love and look forward to trying....

Link

Link

So happy Pinteresting......

Technology and Robots

So our family is not the most advanced in technology. Travis and I do not have smart phones, Travis doesn't even have texting! We use our portable DVD player as our house DVD player, we do not own a GPS, and we use a desktop. BUT we stepped right in and bought a Toshiba Thrive Tablet thingy. Just the fact that I called it a thingy should let you know I am really not sure what to call it, I called it an IPad at first but was corrected.

Anyways, Travis loves it, the girls love it, I love it. We pretty much fight over who gets to use it in the evenings. But with all the shifting around I decided we needed a case for it, and not one that cost 30 bucks at Best Buy. I made one.

Here is the tutorial I used, I must admit all the numbers and measurements at the top confused me, I know me a self proclaimed math person was confused, but the pictures made so much sense to me. It is actually for a labtop but of course mine came out smaller.

Labtop Sleeve

So here is mine... Travis said, "no girly fabrics please."

And so I walked into the back room and looked at this large fabric stash to find that I have A LOT of pinks and purples and flowers and swirls and polka dots.

But I did find some ROBOTS!

So now to go to the other side, this is my next project, just looking for some old pots and pans to get us started.

Banging Wall

via Soule Mama

How do you balance technology and good old outdoors fun with your kids?



Rainbow Party

Since the kids are finally catching up on their sleep (they will probably wake up now since I just typed this) I decided to share some pictures from R's rainbow party. It was a blast, and I actually tried to not "work" the whole time, but enjoy myself. I am reading this book, "Smart Martha's Guide." Relating to the story in Luke 10: 38-42. Trying to be like Mary instead of Martha while getting stuff done around the house.

This was the first party where we actually invited several kids that are Ruth's friends. They consisted of kids who's parents happen to be my friends, but that's how it is when you are 3.

So here are some pictures from the event....

Mackenzie made the cupcake cake. And it was so easy to serve, no plates, no forks, just grab and go. And check out the inside....

We got the idea online you should check out some of the awesome rainbow cakes  here.

Everyone was invited to wear their favorite rainbow color. Pink and purple were popular among the little girls.

I made Ruth's skirt. It had been awhile since I have completed a sewing project, but I was determined to make her a birthday outfit. This skirt was SO easy to make, I can't wait to make more, maybe even one for me, not rainbow of course.

Here are some tutorials for this style of skirt....

Chico and Jo

Kuky Ideas

I honestly just kinda winged the whole thing and it turned out lookin good, so it would probably look great had I followed some directions.

Anyways everyone had a blast. I even made everyone try to line up in rainbow order to take a picture, the people at the bottom are a cloud.