Crafts!

'Tis the season for crafts! Lovely temperatures after months of not leaving the comfort of air-conditioning combined with the upcoming holidays make this my favorite time of year. The little cold snaps bring fresh energy and opening windows, preparing firewood, spending so much time outdoors all unite to push housework to the side, cut down on heavy school work, and take advantage of quality time with the rugrats. I wanted to share some really easy, fun ideas, and the best part is you already have everything you need-no inconvenient trips to buy fancy craft store products. Even if you're not a stay-at-home mom, or your kids go to school there's no excuse-if you can spare 15 minutes to play on the internet you can spare 15 minutes to make a craft! :)

***Halloween Countdown***

This is kind of late, but you can always save it in your Halloween/Fall arsenal for next year, or go ahead and do it now since it takes all of 10 minutes:

Disney Halloween Countdown

***Play Dough***

Okay, yes, it is safe to say most mommies know how to make play

dough, but just in case..here is my favorite recipe:

It lasts until you throw it out, never dries up.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)

Mix all ingredients in pot over med heat until it no longer sticks to sides. When it cools down, you can color it with food coloring and make lots of choices. If you don't have food coloring I have used a packet of Kool-Aid to color, but be warned: it has an odor (not bad, just...there). I store it at room temp in ziplock baggies and it keeps forever! I know some mommies keep theirs in the fridge, but I don't want to give up the space, plus it makes the dough hard. Seems unnecessary to me.

***Bubbles***

Bubbles are fun, too. And sure, you can get them on clearance for next to nothing at the dollar store since Summertime is over, but where is the fun in that!?

Mix 1/4 cup of dishwashing liquid with a quart of WARM water. I always add some oil to keep the bubbles from breaking (not much, just a tbsp or so). Give each child some "tools" like straws and old bubble wands and let them play. Make sure they are outside. ;)

***Fall Leaves***

Need decorations for Autumn? Take your kids on a "hike" (a walk around your yard or neighborhood) and find colorful leaves. Sounds easy, but in Florida this is actually quite the task. All we have is brown or green. Finding yellow and red was really a task-it took two days of searching, and another added two days of searching because we didn't finish the craft right away and the leaves got too crunchy. Oops! After looking far and wide we finally scrounged up some red and yellow leaves. I imagine this craft would offer much more gratification if we had access to big,

colorful maple leaves or something comparable.

Ours were pretty pitiful, but despite our abundance of evergreens I still love Florida:

***Milk Jug Skeleton***

I was browsing the internet for ideas for Patrick's birthday party a few weeks ago and came across instructions for a skeleton made of milk jugs. It was a neat project that I would definitely do again. The biggest challenge was not what I thought it was going to be (cutting the small areas from contoured plastic). The hardest part was getting the stinking labels off. I soaked them in hot water, and managed to destroy two of the jugs right off the bat due to the water being a little too hot. I used soap and a knife. Nothing seemed to get the glue off; the labels yes, the glue no. I used my nails to scratch away at it, and after one whole jug I gave up. Who needs perfection!? I spread out all of my supplies on my back patio and let the kids play with the pieces while I worked. It took over an hour because there is a lot of cutting involved. The plastic can be pretty sharp so this was a craft that is better left to older kids, or for mommy to complete while younger kids do something nearby. I gave my kids the job of trash pick up and hot tubbing next to me.

The original idea came form FamilyFun.com, but I found these instructions, which I liked a lot better because they included illustrations. I didn't take the time to ask her permission to re-post, but I linked directly so I'm sure she won't mind. ;)

I ended up using the finished skeleton as a prop for the birthday party and he is currently on display for Halloween.

The Times, They Are A'Changin...

I remember when I was younger being outside playing for hours and hours. Literally not stopping for anything, even drinking from the hose and eating whatever my mom left on the porch if she decided it was time for us to eat. There were a few kids who lived somewhat near to us (my town had a population of 100 to give you an idea), and we would use our bicycles to make the journey to join forces and create enough bodies to form teams for various games.

If there happened to be an emergency-say we were terrified from running through the graveyard at dusk and needed to catch our breath-we would shout, "TIME OUT!", or "TIME!", or some variation, including making a "T" with our hands.

I remember when video games came out and to be honest, I didn't really understand Atari. It was lame. We handed it back to mom, the dust barely disturbed, and let it go back to where ever it came from. Then came Nintendo. Everyone got one for Christmas. Well, everyone except us. One of the following Christmases we were actually gifted with a beloved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). We were finally movin on up. Nevermind that there were already newer, better game systems. It didn't matter to us. My brother and I traded our hours outside for hours in front of the TV. Somehow we didn't wind up with tendonitis from holding the controllers so furiously for so long (God bless youth). None of our friends came searching for us-they were just as brainwashed by their video games. Our parents didn't seem to care, after all we were quiet and out from underfoot, right?

Eventually the novelty wore off, puberty set in (which freed me from the gaming addiction while at the same time sadly trapping my brother for life), and I became too busy with real life, homework, and teenage melodrama to care about Nintendo.

Flash forward 15 years and I am all grown up with kids of my own. My son plays an online game. He is 5, doesn't read, and has no attention span. It never really crossed my mind that he would get addicted, but I see it now. I have had to set limits ("in 30 minutes you have to turn it off and come eat"), use bribery ("if you want to play later, you'd better pick up your clothes"), and threaten ("unless I see PERFECT behavior at the store..."). Very recently I have hidden the laptop cord and left the house in favor of the playground because once he knows the game is not an option he doesn't care about playing it. I need to remind him there is a beautiful world that God gave us to enjoy and the weather is too nice to be cooped up inside. The limitations have become more strict, and I will delete his character if it becomes a real problem. Now why didn't MY mom think of that!?

Yesterday we were at the playground and I was sitting there counting my blessings (okay, really I was totally beat from pushing three heavy kids on swings simultaneously), and the kids were running around chasing each other up and over, under and through all the equipment...they were completely breathless and red-cheeked and happy. Sarah stopped in her tracks, spun around, looked at her younger brothers, and yelled "PRESS PAUSE!".

Just Another Ordinary Day

This morning we were all woken up to the sound of thunder and lightning overhead. It sounded like it was trying to get inside. Just a few minutes before 6 am the house became an eerie quiet and black dark as the power lines couldn't take anymore abuse.

Many candles and tears later we decided that alternating locations to watch the rain fall wasn't cutting it (how did they do it "back then"!?) so we went for a drive around the neighborhood to see where the power outage was coming from. We were so happy to see wonderful cable guys out there in the still pouring rain working hard to restore our electricity.

Later in the morning I remembered Luke had an appointment with the pediatrician. Since Rick didn't have to work until the afternoon he stayed home with the older kids so I could have a peaceful trip with my youngest. (In Rick's words: this was my "alone time". THANKS.)

While I was signing Luke in he went into the little playhouse in the waiting room, and I turned around to go sit nearby. He had that look on his face-sure enough upon closer inspection I saw he peed his pants. As nonchalantely as I could, I took his hand and asked for paper towels (since the bathroom didn't have any-grrr), cleaned up the puddle, and wiped it with Germ-X from the handy container they so considerately place on the counter. After that was cleaned up it was time to clean up the child. By that time he was saying, "Cold!" and walking like Frankenstein so I was pretty sure my nonchalance wasn't fooling anyone. Oh...did I mention it was still down-pouring rain? Yeah.

Luke and I got completely drenched while we were at the car trying to change him into clean clothes. Clean clothes? Why, yes, I always have spare clothes in the car for such unfortunate circumstances. However, as I searched in the rain for said clothes I realized my super-duper helpful hubby cleaned out my car for me. I looked for anything, and to my relief there was one solitary diaper leftover from before underwear days. I "nonchalantly" strolled back into the office, soaking wet, hair matted, and half naked child. Luke actually seemed quite happy and relaxed sitting in a waiting room surrounded by people in nothing but a t-shirt and diaper.

When it was time for his shot, the nurse remarked, "See, you already have your pants off for me", and I responded, "Yes, I planned it that way".

After Rick left for work I got to work on some decorations for Patrick's upcoming birthday party. This is no easy task with three eager helpers whose definition of "help" is thoroughly destroy all of my hard work. I actually managed to finish one project so while I was cleaning up I decided to let the kids go outside (since they have been cooped up for days due to the rain). It was merely sprinkling at this point, and no lightning. Everything is okay, right? Wrong! They got the brilliant idea to add the water hose into the mix and came gut-wrenchingly close to ruining 3 1/2 hours of work on the party prop.

Fortunately for me it was late enough to corral them inside and feed, bathe, and ready them for their "camp out". They camp in the living room when Rick works at night and stay up late watching shows they normally don't get to watch. Finally-at 9 they are passed out...which is exactly what I am about to do! Tomorrow will be another day; better get rest! ;)

No Need For Post-Its Anymore!

I've always had problems remembering things. Ever since I had multiple children it has gotten worse; if it hadn't been for those magnetized shopping list pads which stick to the refrigerator I would have missed countless appointments, made many more trips to the store for forgotten items, and flaked on important commitments.

I have finally figured out a way to remember! I want to share my discovery:

I ask my husband to call me and remind me of something. I may not remember the task, but I will darn sure remember that Rick didn't call me to remind me! See, all you have to do is figure out a way to blame your hubby. Ta-Da-instant ginseng!

I'm waiting on the photos for my next post-it is a tutorial on birthday party planning. Stay tuned! :)