Summer Fun Day 9

Day 9: Wands

Today we made magic wands out of chopsticks, beads, gun, and paint. Check out the Tutorial Wand Photos. They made some interesting wands. Here are a few photos of our wands.

Chopsticks with hot glue and beads on them. 

 Painted 

 Do you like the bubble gum wand?

Summer Fun Day 7 & 8

Day 7: Bringing Life Back!

The daughter wanted a veggie garden. She worked hard to pick what she wanted to grow, started her seedlings inside, and talked her dad into it. 23ft long and 6ft wide. Someone has their daddy wrapped around their pinky finger. LOL! Then Mummy put her seedlings outside for the day while she was cleaning and forgot to water them. They died in the direct sun. Only the corn and tomato seedlings made it. All the other 50 plus seedlings bit the dust. We went to the gardening center to pick up some new seedlings since my daughter was crying over the death of her hard work. I think my husband wanted to cry with her because he had already helped bring in the organic dirt by the dirt load, twice. I tilled it so I understood their pain. :-) Here are some photos of the veggie garden.

There are over 50 of these containers and some other starters in pots.

 Ella started to dig the outline. I helped her.

Stopping to save another worm for her compost bin.

 Now it has been tilled, boxed, caged, and covered.

Dirt has been added.

 Starters and seeds planted. It looks bare but some of the seeds started to show after three days.

 Starters and seeds planted.

 The first pepper from the garden. Ella was thrilled!

 Day 8: Lazy Father's Day

After a child made breakfast for Big Daddy, we did nothing but play video games and watch movies because it one of the last days of Daddy's mini vacation and Father's Day!! The kids liked the unlimited screen time with their father. I am not sure anyone even got out of their night clothes. :-)

For my crafting friends:
Here is a photo of the blanket I am currently working on.

SUMMER FUN DAY 4, 5, & 6

Big Daddy took a few random days off to spend with the kids. This sort of changed our summer fun days plans but in a good way. We were able to get some things done around the house that winter wouldn't let us complete.

Day 4: Strawberry Jam

We made strawberry jam from fresh strawberries. They became bored during the cooking process but loved tasting it later. This was our first time making jam. It was EASY!! You just cut up the berries, throw them into a pot with some sugar and lemon juice, and cook until it turns into jam. You will need to stir it a lot and skim the foam stuff off the top. Super easy but sort of boring to the kids.

 You can still see the strawberries in this photo.

It is almost ready!!

Yummy!!

Day 5:  Errands 

We ran errands. Very exciting. :-) The kids were happy to find some deals at the stores we shopped. We did find this neat farmer's stand near our home that fits how we are trying to eat. 

Day 6: Flag Day

We hit a few yard sales, made flags and went to the ribbon cutting ceremony for Creative Banners & Flags.  They even gave the kids a nice flag for coming. Ella was thrilled to meet Zombie Dogz. My daughter is into anything to do with ZOMBIES, food, and animals, esp. dogs. This was right up her alley. My son enjoyed the weird names they have for their hot dogs. Here is their menu. Check out the names and the toppings. The kids and I had a Calling  In Dead, and my husband had a Juan of the Dead. I completely forgot to take a photo of the hot dogs. They were huge and yummy! Here is a photo of the kids by their truck.

The USA Flag on the left was given to the kids.

My husband bought the Union Jack for my shelf.

 Ella's flag for her room.

Alex's flag for his room.

SUMMER FUN DAY 1, 2, & 3

Today kicked off our 77 days of summer fun! The kids are on break for roughly 77 days. I would love to do something special or a little different for each one of those days. Hopefully I will update the blog nightly so you can try some of the ideas as well! Please share any ideas that you may have!!

Day 1:  Vases

 Alex's, Daddy's, Ella's

It was Daddy's day off. The kids wanted to do the summer fun craft with Daddy. They used the eraser end of a pencil to make acrylic paint dots on vases from the Dollar Store. Once you are finished with your masterpiece, place it in a cool oven, preheat to 350, and  turn off the oven after 30 minutes. Leave the vases in the oven until they are cool. 

Day 2: Giant Cookie Day. 

I asked the kids for a few ideas for the Summer Fun List 2013. My son wanted to have a GIANT Cookie Day. I asked him why and he replied "Why not?" So, why not have a giant cookie day! :-) 

We ran errands, hit the library, and watched a movie called, Parental Guidance. It was a cute family movie.

Day 3: Homemade Butter

We made butter. It was not as fun as one would think. We put heavy cream in a clear jar and shook it for 20-25 minutes. It tasted great. We added cinnamon to the second batch. It was very yummy but I knocked down the drain. Bummer.

For my crafting friends: I finished the July 4th Blanket. Here is a shot of the edging.

As always, happy crafting!

First Day of Summer Break 2013

Today was the first official day of summer break. I decided that is would be a relaxing and lazy day with nothing planned or organized.

I made a sign for the kids last last night. The plan was to place it across the doorway of the hallway leading to the bedrooms but it ended up over a couch in the living room instead. It is the simple things that make a child smile the brightest.

We started off the morning with waffles. The kids have been asking for them. I haven't bought a waffle maker YET and couldn't find any organic ones until last week. Check these out!!

I was surprised to locate ORGANIC waffles at Krogers!!  It was pretty awesome to find the USDA Organic seal and the NON GMO Verified Logo on the box. The kids didn't notice a difference in taste. 

We ended the day with smores over a school work bonfire. We burned old worksheet to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer. The kids look forward to this all school year.

Smores Goodies & Worksheets

The start of the fire. 

The bunny was asking for it. 

Last Day of School 06-07-2013

Yesterday was the last day of school! We eschool at home through a public school using computers. My kids, Alex and Ella, both have teachers and a full course load. I am also their teacher which is called a Learning Coach. Here is my Facebook post from yesterday.
                 "Giggle...today is the last day of school...giggle..... I was so happy thinking about this morning until the kids started singing, "No more pencils, No more books, No more teacher’s dirty looks." hmmmm....... the teacher was not amused.  One child is happy not to have to deal with his "real" teacher anymore this year. The other child has been crying off and on because she will have a new teacher next year and will NEVER EVER get to talk to her teacher again. LOL! Who said kids can not love their virtual teachers just like a B&M teacher. This teacher is going to return to issuing dirty looks at the kids. I do not want them to miss it too much. hehehehehe"

Once we finished up all the paperwork for the school year, we played the board game, Doctor Dreadful Scabs N' Guts Board Game. It is an educational science board game with gross facts. The kids loved it and giggled through the whole game. The rest of the day was free time. They did their own things.

My husband and I thought it would be sweet to end the day with a special treat. We took the kids to Ritter's for some frozen custard. We normally follow a strict bedtime routine and going out after bedtime was neat to them. You have to try their frozen custard if you have never had it. 

For my crafting friends

Here is a photo of a blanket that I am crocheting. I found the pattern on Pinterest. It is so simple. You just hold three strands of yarn while doing a simple/basic crochet stitch using a P hook. That is it. Happy Knitting, err....Crocheting! 

Rapunzel Hair

Rapunzel hair that slips over a ponytail. My daughter loves to wear this while watching Tangled. It took 2 skeins of yellow and less than half of a skein of pink.