Celebrate! Kindergarten Fairy Tale Day

Today was Fairy Tale Day for Kindergartners   Here is B with "most" of his Captain Hook costume (the sash at his waist is missing and literally only remembered after we were nearly gone. Check out the very cool shadows in this picture and the ones that follow- very Peter Pan appropriate!  The "breeches" are his normal black fleece pants rolled and tucked into Daddy's tube socks.

This project is totally DIY and not a thing bought for it (which is an unusual feat here, but we should do it more as the kids' loved it).  The hat is left over from M's birthday party and we added some cool paper feathers (I hand cut these based on many scrapbook blogs in the topic last fall). We made the hook from silver glitter pipe cleaners - there is a handle inside that is thicker to hold on to and prevents it from slipping through.  The black glove of the hook is made from some thick craft foam we cut and stapled. (M has a similar version with a brown/gray glove portion).  We also tacked on big cuffs to his shirt, hand sewn from felt we had in the craft bin. 

Here you can also see his shirt ruffle we made with a bit more stitching of some felt.  It is attached to his shirt, but can easily be snipped off later.  Technically, when he takes off the hat and hook he looks more like Benjamin Franklin than Captain Hook, but don't tell him that :)

The hook is fascinating, and funny--- We carefully discussed setting it down and rolling back the split in the cuffs if necessary for school work.  We also discussed not hooking people with it -- Yes, I tried to teach a pirate etiquette and kindness, but know the boy is in there listening. 

More awesome shadows! When I visited for our monthly lunch, he had the costume sans hat, hook or belt, but was having a great time.  He planned to put his accessories back on in the afternoon, but had left them in for recess.  There were lots of knights and peter pans among his friends to play with as well as many fairies and princesses in the girl group. 

Now, if you are Lady M and there is costuming to be done, you can hardly stand on the sidelines, right?

She designed this feather "headdress" and the mechanism to attach it to her headband.  (This pose she strikes when I try to take pictures of her outfits lately.... a bit more demure than reality).  We pondered her possible role as the Indian princess in Peter Pan and admired her shadow too. 

This is a bit more typical M. 

The feather didn't last til school, but it was fun to spend the early morning dressing up and creating costumes in Fairy Tale land. 

What was one of your favorite Fairy Tales that my kids might like to hear about?

Five on Friday

1. Last November, I discovered Deborah Geary's books on amazon and have since read all of them.  I finished the most recent one last night and as with each of the prior ones I was in tears at some point in the book.  They are sweet books focused on love, family, and belonging.  There is some magic, but the real focus is on the importance of the relationships between the characters. I highly recommend them.  (PS - I think most of them are free for Prime members or up to $3.99 for e-versions so quite the deal!)

Source: google.com via abbeyviolet on Pinterest

2.  This graphic just makes me smile.  Sharing for all my parenthood/crafting buddies.

Source: smittenkitchen.com via abbeyviolet on Pinterest

3.  These Raspberry Macaroons from Smitten Kitchen sound incredible.

Source: craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com via abbeyviolet on Pinterest

4. The above is a free spring printable for those of you that manage to change your decor with the season.  (We struggle with this, but I think this one would be cute and easy).

Source: soc.li via Nahil on Pinterest

5.  I thought this easter/geode craft combo via Martha Stewart was a great combination of fun and learning.  We haven't tried it yet, but is on my "to do" list this week.

Do you all have any other spring craft or activity recommendations for my crew? Happy Weekend!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Humorous moment today, B tried to tell me he was speaking Spanish--- proceeded to not speak in Spanish-- was astonished to discover that I "knew" that it wasn't Spanish.  Apparently all those years of language classes are paying off.

2.  In a perhaps related vein, tomorrow is kindergarten sign up.  I am strangely unsettled and obsessively gathering paperwork as it turns out that there are lots of checklists and paperwork involved.  The lawyer in me then seems to react by needing to be over-prepared with every possible piece of paper.  The mom in me thinks this is ridiculous and is trying valiantly to not be "that" mom.  In short, we have no idea what we're doing, but our primary goal is to get into a "full day" slot.  Secondarily, I'm hoping it takes less than an hour.... Is that unrealistic?

3.  Limitations-- I actually pondered writing a whole post on this, but decided not to.  As you've probably already gathered I am not so good at limitations, physical, mental or other.  Usually, I just ignore them and move on to my ultimate goal rather than fixating on why it might not work.  I tend to treat pregnancy this way too and think I can do whatever just as well as when I'm not pregnant.  I was once again proven wrong when we attempted to plant our garden on Sunday in the 80 degree weather.  We did not finish and I ended up having to take a cold shower and take an hour and a half nap.  Sigh...

4.  M seems to be learning about gardening both from Grandma and from our planting day.  When left alone outside yesterday she planted one of the remaining plants in a large pot all by herself using only her hands to dig.  It "might" not have been the intended home for the plant, but we are embracing her initiative and after a little bit of scooting and tucking in leaving it in place.

5.  Fun scientist gardening moment,  I had us searching all over TLC for the pink double knock out roses.  Only hours later did Brent get the connection that I was actually talking about genetically modified plants and meant "knock out" in his geneticist way, not that I was just looking for ones named as "knockouts" because of their beauty.

6.  In search of a simpler, lower fat cupcake? This week we made some from a box mix and a 20 oz can of pineapple, including the juice.  They were moist and delicious.  I would recommend getting the smallest kinds of canned pineapple unless you are ok with the chunky texture with the other sizes.  Otherwise, just cook according to the directions.

7.  I am so in to fish right now.  I think I've had fish of one kind or another almost every other day this week.  Granted, a lot of it has been friend and probably not awesome for me, but tasty nonetheless.  Anyone have good fish recipes to share?  My kids were very fond of this Flounder Picata via Skinnytaste.  B also discovered that he likes chard even though he thought he would not.  (Victory!)

8.  We took the kids to the Big 12 Gymnastics Championships with a few friends and Grammy & Granddaddy.  I think a great time was had by all.  I am fairly sure that the popcorn and snowcones might have played a bigger role than the gymnastics, but it was quite fun and OU won!

9.  I had my 28 week OB appointment.  The appointment was fine and my Doctor even had some ideas for my still gnarly leg wound. The not so great news is that for the second time I was at the office waiting for about 1.5 hours before my appointment.  I guess the silver lining is that I had my work iPad with me and could work along for most of that time.  I am glad I live in an era of motherhood that includes iPads, iPhones, etc...as it certainly helps keep them and me entertained while waiting for our many appointments. (Yes, an iPad will likely be snuck in my bag for Kindergarten registration waiting time tomorrow).

10.  Today, I suddenly lucked into a hair appointment and Uncle Able helped out with some childcare.  The kids even got to go to the bank with him (which is a treat because there is always candy at banks for some reason).  I feel so lucky to have friends and family around to help with my kids and that my kids get to spend  time with so many awesome people.  (Not to mention cool family member who does my hair - thanks Janna!)

On top of all of that, we have been reading about and test driving cars...OK minivans... yes, we may soon become yet another cliche.  Thoughts or suggestions appreciated. 

Fire Balls & Friends

As part of the Mario Birthday Party fun, my mom brought this bag of loose balls to play with in the back yard.  The boys immediately labeled them "fire balls" (Is that a Mario thing?) Anyway, they have remained popular weeks after the first party and are generally carefully picked up each time.  It turns out fire balls are great for all sorts of fun.

First, the planning stage--- see them carefully consdering

Then, they head off with their own ideas of what happens next.  B tends to make up arbitrary rules like.  You can only throw them, not kick them or "only I can kick them." Sometimes the games are by color and sometimes it is just pure chaos.

The fire balls have lots of friends.  The rainbow soccer ball is back in Vogue

M is still infatuated with her hopping ball that Grammie and Granddaddy got her for Christmas, even if she sometimes struggles to stay on.

Ah, there it is.

Then right back to kick, running, throwing, sorting and generally imagining with a simple set of balls.  We have probably a dozen balls of our own spread around the yard and porch and in all the years and all the many alternate toys later they are still the hands down favorites, which I think is a very good thing indeed. 

Side Note-- Yes, these pictures were all taken February 3, 2012 when it was randomly warm enough to be in short sleeves and soppy enough after the rain to make rain boots a very good thing too. 

How to Train A Young Jedi to Scrapbook

Didn't see that coming did you?  Well, the thing is, our little Jedi may love Star Wars, but he also likes crafts with his Mama.  Doesn't everyone?  I love to scrapbook and have so hoped that eventually the kids would get old enough that we could do it together. Not, I suppose, unlike his Daddy enjoying playing video games with him.  I, in no way, think I'm really a pro at teaching them to love it yet, but here is the basic progression we've worked through so far.  I am very open to suggestions or ideals of how to continue to build our joint creative fun so please leave me your thoughts in the comments.

1.  As with all kinds of learning it is great to start young with the basics.  In November 2009, I wrote this basic kids crafting post.  From my perspective with an almost three-year old.  In those days, we focused on collages with random punched and torn shapes haphazardly adhered and layered at his whim.   We still keep a jar of punched shapes, glue and scrap paper within easy reach so we can make our collages anytime.

2.  The next steps were making more concrete things out of paper and embellishments (fancy word for googly eyes and pom poms).  Last October, for example, we made all sorts of fun Halloween stuff for his door (with a lot of help from Grandma and our Glue Dots).

3.  Crafting often and in a variety of mediums really helps.  For example, our young Jedi has been going to Mother's Day out 2-3 times a week since the summer of 2008.  They do an unbelievable amount of crafts of all kinds - stamping, painting -- including using any manner of things for brushes, collage, lots of hats, and things centered on letters, textures, numbers, feelings, colors, etc.... You would not believe the quantity and quality of things he brings home.  Yes, I know his teacher does a  lot of the work, but he has made great progress, particularly at getting his hands in there and messy.

4.  Easy access to crafting fun:  We give both our kids access to ALOT of craft supplies and put them out where they can easily reach them.  This used to be a disorganized mess, but we have a tower of supplies now that is typically out in the dining room so it is very accessible.  They finally got some Do-A-Dot  markers from the Easter bunny (after much encouragement from Chrissie) and our crafting time greatly increased.   Recently, I've been trying to make sure that he has access to really cool supplies not just the cheapo kids version (you'll see what I mean more below).  If it looks or feels cool I know I am much more likely to use it and he/they are too.

5.  Expose him to arts (and making crafts).  I consciously do some scrapbooking and crafting out in the open with them, not just tucked away in my office at night.  As with our thoughts on teaching kids to love reading we think that showing them us doing and enjoying it is good.  In the last year, the amount I've actually scrapbooked has skyrocketed and, I think, the pages have improved.  During this time, our ritual has become that in the morning, everyone takes a look at the page(s) I've made the night before.  Sometimes this is an everyday thing and sometimes I haven't made anything, but it keeps him seeing my craftiness (and I like the positive reinforcement too).  We also always have a book of recent layouts and photobooks out too for them to peruse (they do daily).  Not to worry, we also so show them other art and other crafts so it is broader than just my efforts.

6.  Involve them in adult projects - I try to keep B involved and active in projects I'm creating when possible. For instance, we recently made invitations to our upcoming 10th anniversary party and he was involved through nearly every step.  His favorite, of course, was supervising the Silhouette while we cut out the shapes,  but did well with glue dots, stamps and envelopes too. I made sure his tasks were generally "real" tasks just not busy work.  He got positive and negative feedback as appropriate to help as we worked through the stack.

7.  Give them freedom to create how "they" want to and value what they make:  I am clearly a type A personality using arts as creative therapy at this point in life.  I spend plenty of time perusing blogs and learning about design elements. So I have a feel for what "works." I have learned to let that go and that he is the expert in what works for him and makes him happy.  I do put a few boundaries on his scrapbook pages--- like that it needs to fit in a 12x12 page protector so elements on at least 3 sides need to be within in that dimension, but generally let things be crooked, mismatched, illogical etc as it is HIS project.  I think the most important part of my role here is to value what he creates for what it is - his own unique expression of their creativity regardless of whether it matches the adults sense of "good" art.

8.  Let them pick out supplies and photos that they want to work with.  I took B with me to Paper Crown (my LSS) in April to help me pick out my supplies.  He was quite the enabler and actually a lovely shopping companion.  He picked out just a couple pages that he wanted to make his project out of.  The below was his favorite piece and the base of his first two independent layouts.  I cut out the individual elements and he selected the placement and other components of the pages.

More recently I saw this completely perfect collection from October Afternoon entitled "Rocket Age."  I cannot think of a more perfect fit for our young space-obsessed Jedi.  Everything is perfectly childlike, delightfully vintage looking and visually just my style and luckily his too.  We were both so excited and I knew we had to have it.  This is not a cheap line and not yet locally available.  Furthermore, I almost never buy more than a piece or two of a line, but here I bought many pieces, including all the paper in a collection pack and I was totally fine spending my June scrapbooking pennies on something I knew we would both love so much.

I mean, look at this page, how perfect for all our space collections, toys, books and adventures?  They also have tin pins and rubber charms of all things! I particularly love the miscellany and B thinks the included tickets will get us to actual outer space. (That required a bit of explaining....we've agreed it will at least get us to the space exhibit at the Science Museum).

True love - he begged repeatedly today to "make his project" and completed two different layouts and painted chipboard for another.

Layout 1 of 2 - "Space Patrol" featuring one of our family pictures from January- Photo by Tracie Simard

9.  Which brings me to-- its ok to get messy.  A year ago, I almost never used paints, ink, mists, stickles or anything like that on my layouts.  Now, I do daily.  I made all of these available to him as well as his own craft paint stash.  He loves it and it is a bridge between the crafts he is doing at school and scrapbooking with me.  In this instance, we took a couple pieces of chipboard from the miscellany package and went to work.   It absolutely pro-scrapbooker fashion he added layers upon layers of paint, mist and glitter to create his very own very cool chipboard accents.  I think May Flaum would be proud.  (It did make me wonder if the pros are learning to embrace their natural child-like tendencies or if kids are just less restrained than adults that lack confidence). After many layers of many different mediums we called it good, but agreed to mist again another day. 

10.  Have fun.  Part of the point of this is to give them a creative outlet, and certainly we're both creating and preserving memories.  However, the biggest goal for me is to just have fun together.  I want to share with my kids something I love and savor that moment together.  

I hope he continues to love to craft with me for a very long time and that you and your kids can find something you truly love to do together, whatever that might be. 

Seeking the Stars

As you can guess by now, the theme of B's 4th Birthday parties was outer space. Brent and I took this theme into his gifts as well and bought him his first telescope. It is way less serious than it looks, but promises to be a lot of fun. One warm evening, just before all the crazy snow began, the two boys stayed outside late trying to figure out how it works while I distracted our overly curious M inside. They tried to track airplanes while it was light and then moved on to planets and stars. It is still a little tricky for B, but he hung in there and had a great many tales to tell when they came inside.  I am so excited for our star-gazing future and love watching Brent explain how to use cool tools like this and how great the boys are together. Hoorray for looking beyond the everyday.

Science Anyone?

Shockingly, several people have recently given B little science kits. Its as if they think there's a scientist at our house (oh wait, there totally is). We recently broke into our two spiffy science kits and set to work. The kids and I started on our own one day, but by day two Daddy was right in the mix as well. Our first kit, started with lots of observations about color and light and the way colors mix. The results of some of our custom color blending are below.

The second kit delves a bit more into Phs and includes the classic baking soda volcano trick as well as the underwater volcano in the first picture. We had hours of fun and have only made it through maybe half of the experiments. I think one of the best parts is that each one is short enough for kids attention and that they build on each other so the results of experiment one are often part of the next few observations or experiments as well. One of my other favorite parts was that each kit of tools smells just like all the labs of my life. Yeah for authenticity and for getting kids interested in the joys of science early! Thanks to Tracie, Sarah, Erik and Kelli for the science fun!