Feeling Crafty?

Valentine's Day seems to bring out the crafty in people, even non-crafty people like me. I signed up to help out with Will's Valentine's party at school this year, so the boys and I have been working hard on getting everything ready. This is what our kitchen looks like right now:

All those white piles are paper plates stapled together in heart shapes. They'll end up looking like the heart hanging from the chandelier when the kids are done. The teachers requested a "simple craft that the kids can complete in 10 minutes or less" and since I prepped twenty "hearts," it should be a pretty easy craft!

Will also had to make a box to hold all his Valentines. I know some moms go all out and make crazy-cool designs like monsters or robots, but we opted for a simple, covered box with some construction-paper hearts and heart stickers. Will decided to make a pattern around the base of his box. I don't think we'll win any prizes for our box, but it ended up being pretty cute, and Will even wrote "Will's Box" in the hearts on top. Next we had to get all our Valentines ready for our school friends. I just bought inexpensive fold-over cards at Target and Will signed his name on every card.
I tried to get Will to write his classmates' names on the cards, but the cards were just too little for my big writer, so instead I dug out some envelopes and he very carefully wrote out the names of all 15 of his classmates on the envelopes!
Then he put stickers on the envelopes. His best little girl friend, Chloe, got two stickers, but everyone else just got one.
Then I stapled the circus-themed cards to packs of animal crackers. I did the same thing for Henry's class, but Henry isn't writing just yet, so he just put stickers on the cards for me.

And our last Valentine's project was making chocolate-dipped pretzels. I bought white baker's chocolate, melted it and added two drops of red food coloring to turn it pink. I gave the boys small bowls of the chocolate along with some strawberries and pretzels for a snack yesterday.

Yum!!

I figured the boys were too little to really help me with this, so I just dipped the pretzels myself. They are supposed to look like hearts. Kind of?

Did Valentine's Day bring out the crafty in you?

Play

For my boys, the world is one huge playground. They are busy all day long pretending, exploring, investigating and moving. Here are some recent pictures of our play time.

Henry loves these magnetic boards that my parents got for the boys. He pretended that the snake was chasing all the animals through the rain forest and then there was a big storm that knocked them all down!

After our "ice day," Will and Daddy went outside to do some ice investigations. Will found ice in the sand table. And then he found two huge blocks of ice in the playhouse troughs! We took them out and placed one in the sun and one in the shade to see which would melt first. Will predicted the ice block in the sun would melt first. Unfortunately, we are not very scientific scientists and forgot to check on the ice blocks for two days and they were both melted by then!
Henry didn't care too much for the ice, but he loved throwing the soccer ball (see it at the top of the picture?)

and kicking it

and playing peek-a-boo.

These boys are so busy and they absolutely wear me out, but I love being their mom and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm just glad I'm along for the ride!

Lunch

Everyone in my family likes to eat. We love food so much that we take pictures of our meals all the time! I am not the best cook in the world but I do enjoy making yummy and nutritious meals for my family, and I have to admit that I actually enjoy packing the boys' school lunches. Everyone thinks I'm insane when I say it, but it's true!

Maybe it's because I only have to pack lunches twice a week. Or maybe it's the cute little bento boxes from Laptop Lunches that we use.
Or maybe it's the fact that my little helpers get up there on the ladder to give me a hand.

Or maybe it's because I know they smile when they eat their lunches (and their teachers tell me they eat it all up and don't even look at their classmates' Cheetos).

But wouldn't you be happy if someone made you this for lunch? I know I would be!

The Letter K

Henry was really sick for almost all of last week, so the poor letter K got very little attention at our house. It's a great letter, but we really didn't do anything with it besides turn the letters into kites and kings and read some books. Henry wasn't up for outings or cooking and no one was interested in making a kaleidoscope or doing the Kandinsky-inspired art project I planned.

So we just made a capital K into a sparkly, bejeweled king.

And we turned our lowercase k into a kite. We also read Kite Flying by Grace Lin and Let's Fly a Kite by Stuart J. Murphy. Will likes to practice his cutting, and he cut out his K all by himself!

The finished products:

We have loads planned for the letter L, so we're hoping that Henry's stomach bug is gone for good and that the rest of us stay healthy!

Ice Day

It was supposed to snow in Houston yesterday. The weatherman was predicting 1-3 inches and the boys were so excited to make snowmen! But it didn't snow. We just had ice, and ice is not even half as fun as snow. The boys didn't have school, so we tried to stay warm and enjoy our "ice day" at home. Unfortunately for us, ice day was our fourth day in a row stuck at home and the boys were getting antsy! We've been reading books and doing crafts and puzzles and watching movies. Yesterday, Will and I drank hot chocolate and played addition war by the fire while Henry napped and Gene worked. By the evening, Henry had had enough of being inside and he was heading to the closet to get his coat and shoes. These boys insisted on playing outside, despite the freezing temps! So we bundled them up and let them run loose for a little bit.

Will went on an ice hunt, and found ice in the sand table

and in the troughs of the playhouse (notice the icicles hanging from the eaves?).Henry was just thrilled to finally be feeling better and he loved being outside again. Will brought me an ice crystal "to add to my collection."
When we explained the ice crystal would just melt, Will found some leaves for my collection instead. We finally convinced everyone to come inside and I got lots of cold kisses from my littlest boy. And then it was into a warm bath and cozy, fleecy, footed jammies for the little guys. How did you spend "ice day?"

Groundhog Day

Yesterday was Groundhog Day, and while I hear that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow and is predicting an early spring, we are enjoying some bitter cold weather here in Houston! It's hard to believe that spring could be around the corner when it is supposed to snow tomorrow!

Henry was still feeling crummy yesterday, so we stayed at home and were lucky to miss the rolling blackouts that apparently hit the rest of the city. When we weren't watching more Toy Story movies, we did do some craft projects. Our favorite was making our own groundhog!

Watch him pop out of his hole!Will reported that his groundhog didn't see his shadow either!

Next we made some jingle bell bracelets and practiced our fine motor skills.

Our craft box was perfect for a chilly afternoon when we were stuck inside with a sick little boy, but these freezing temps are not for me. Punxsutawney Phil, we could use some spring weather here in Houston!

Henry

You would never guess from this picture of Henry

grinning and pretending to be an allosaurus

or this one of Henry making a sticker mosaic of a helicopter

that he has a really nasty stomach bug and spent most of yesterday like this, cuddled on the couch with Brown Bear, just drinking juice and watching the Toy Story movies.