Thank You Card

The storm that knocked down our power lines also knocked down a tree in our backyard. Thankfully, before we really had to worry about it, our neighbors came over and offered to take care of it for us with the chainsaws they had. It was a huge job and deserved a bigger thanks than we were able to give them!

And now, thanks to them, we'll have enough firewood to last us a couple of years!

Thank You Card

My brother (who is an electrician) came over to fix some damage to our power lines after a huge storm went through our neighborhood. I made him this thank you card and, I have to say, I thought it was pretty darn cute! I just used a thin marker to draw the power lines on, but I think it would have looked a little better if I had used some black thread or something.

Lily Pad Game

I'm trying to make the process of learning how to read fun for my 4 year old. So, in my first attempt, I made up a Lily Pad game.
First, I cut a bunch of lily pads out of crafting foam.
Then, I hot-glued a word (written on white foam) onto each lily pad.

I used words that could be formed into several easy sentences in hopes that the game will grow with him. The way we play right now is only putting five words out and then he has to hop from lily pad to lily pad reading the words. Eventually we'll work our way up to me telling him a word and he has to find it. Then, hopefully telling him a sentence and he has to hop from word to word until he's completed the sentence.

Musical Birthday Party

For my daughter's birthday party, I went with a musical theme. It was a lot of fun to put together and the possibilities would really be endless! I focused mostly on percussion and beats.
For the party cake I made a xylophone! It was really easy, too! Just a regular 9x13 cake and frosted sugar cookies. I used Dum Dums as the mallets and tied a wooden bead onto a ribbon and tucked it under the cake to make it look like a pull-along toy xylophone.
This was the drum cake for my daughter to dig into all on her own! (It was her 1st birthday.) A tiny round cake with sour candy to decorate the outside. I also made sugar cookie drumsticks.

We played a couple games, too. The first one was Follow the Rhythm. I held my little girl in my lap and helped her pat/clap/tap out a rhythm on her lap/floor and then everyone else had to follow it. It didn't require any preparation and all the kids loved it!
The second game was March to the Beat. I made these numbered circles and the kids had to march around when music was playing. When the music stopped they had to stop on a number. I would call out a number and the person who was standing on that circle got to pick a prize! I chose percussion only music to play for the game and the prizes were mini-recorders.
Then, we had a jam session with all the kids! I made a bunch of instruments (that way I didn't care if they were destroyed within 2 minutes) so there were enough for all the kids and parents to play.
Margarine tub drums...
Baby food jar lid finger cymbals (say that 3 times fast)...
Paper plate tambourines...
Formula can drums and aluminum pie tin cymbals...And water bottle rice shakers! I also made one big bean shaker (which is in the picture with all the instruments) and wrapping paper roll didgeridoos (not pictured at all...oops!).

Mario & Luigi Hats

My son just loves Mario and Luigi so, for Easter, I made him his own Mario and Luigi hats! It was super easy. I ordered red and green hats online (since I couldn't find any plain kid-sized hats at a single craft store!) and just bought some thick white felt and regular red and green felt to match the hats. Then, I cut out an oval and a circle with the white felt, lined it up on the hat and then cut a piece off the bottom where it hit the bill of the hat. After that I cut out an M and an L and hot glued them onto the felt.Then I just hand-stitched the circle/oval onto the hats and voila! I also ordered some white kids gloves to complete the costume. My son loves them and wears one of them almost every time we leave the house and even more when we're not leaving the house!