Summer Fun!

I ran across this crafty idea for keeping track of the fun things to do with your kids for summer. While I admit this probably doesn't fall under "how best to spend your time," it was fun to do rather than clean. :) I just cut a bunch of strips of coordinating scrapbook paper and then at the top titled it "Summer To Do List." Then I put it in a frame and wrote my list on the glass (you could write directly onto the scrapbook paper) and hung it on my wall where I will see it often. And in case you were totally curious like I was as to what was actually on the list, I'll share mine with you. This is just a random list - I don't plan on doing everything on this list (especially with a new baby), but sometimes you just need a reminder in front of you and you can throw together a really fun evening or weekend for the family! Summer To Do List Day Camp at Pioneers Park Nature Center, Swimming at Union Pool, Movies in backyard (I'm hoping to borrow a projector and put a sheet up on our house for this), Visit library/work on reading with Roman, Grill out at lake, Visit a new park, Art projects, Go strawberry picking, Picnics in backyard, Camping in backyard, Fly a kite, Family bike rides, Bake summer treats, Visit Omaha Zoo, Visit Botanical Gardens (Omaha), Swim at Star City Shores, Go on a family hike, Make homemade ice cream, Redo boys' room, Outdoor game night, Go out for slushies night, Kansas City mini-vacation, Date nights with each of the boys separately, See play at Pioneers Park, Paint pottery, Have Roman write a letter to Grandpa and Grandma, Water balloon fight, Czech festival, Go to a movie, Make popsicles, Plant flowers, Splash Pad, Music and Mozzarella (Children's Museum outdoor music).

Non-existent sewing skills

A couple of my very talented friends motivated me to try my hand at sewing. I had to borrow my mom's sewing machine so I don't think I'll be doing this on a regular basis, but the one pair of pants I made for Titus was really satisfying! :)

What got the ball rolling was one day my hubby came home from work and the sleeve of the dress shirt he was wearing had ripped. The material was just perfect for a little pair of dress pants for my youngest. So after visiting this tutorial about a bazillion times to get the instructions right, I started hacking away at the material. I didn't have a pair of sewing scissors and "hacking" is an accurate word. My mom used to make a lot of our clothes growing up and she can attest that my cutting job was less than stellar. :) BUT, it all thankfully worked out.

I don't have pictures of us sewing the pants because my mind was consumed with trying to figure out what to do next (even though my mom was right there telling me what to do the whole time). :)

The pants turned out super cute though! They are going to be Titus' Easter pants with a bright polo and his little Converse shoes. :)

He had taken a spill on the sidewalk if you were wondering what happened to his nose and forehead. Poor kid.

I'm obviously not that confident behind a sewing machine, but these were super easy to make and turned out great...therefore giving me the confidence to try it again!

Birthday Boy!

Today is Roman's actual birthday! We got him a bubble rocket launcher. He's had loads of fun with it inside this morning. Roman woke up to warm muffins and his daddy being home! Unfortunately, it's because he is sick, but that doesn't stop a little boy from being excited that his daddy is home for his birthday! Excuse the underwear in the picture...:)

Raspberry lemon muffins...yum!

The birthday boy's new shirt. Cute patootie.

St. Patrick's Day

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and I wanted to pass on my ideas to you since we'll be running around tomorrow and I'm not sure when I'll have time to post.

I messed up the living room tonight (left the vacuum laying on the floor, stretched a blanket between two chairs, laid the boys' toolbench on its side) and left a trail of coins. I used real money because Roman LOVES putting coins into his piggy bank. So when the boys wake up in the morning I will tell them the Leprechaun came to visit during the night and messed up the house! And now they need to look for the "pot of gold" that he left behind (candy). Hoping they'll get a kick out of searching the house to find the pot of gold.

I found this cute St. Pats mobile that you can print out and have your child assemble.

Sometime tomorrow I want the boys to help me make Irish soda bread. I've never made it but the recipe seems easy enough. We don't have much Irish in us, but everybody is Irish on St. Patrick's Day, right? :)

Roman has his 4 year doctor check-up tomorrow so I told him after that we'd go visit the UNL Dairy Store to pick out some mint chip ice cream to make Shamrock Shakes for an after dinner St. Patty's Day treat. Our shakes will just be mint chip ice cream blended with milk.

Menu for St. Patrick's Day
Breakfast - shamrock shaped pancakes, kiwi
Snack - Irish Soda Bread
Lunch - sandwiches cut into shamrock shapes, green veggies
Dinner - Tilapia (sorry, just can't bring myself to do the corned beef & cabbage), green veggies, green jello with pears, maybe some more Irish Soda Bread, shamrock shakes for dessert

As you can tell we really aren't Irish. :) I just have fun making the holidays special for my boys. So enjoy and I hope you have a Happy St. Patrick's Day! I would leave you with an Irish Blessing, but instead...

"If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?"

Stadium Tour

Our homeschool group toured Memorial Stadium this morning - Go Huskers! It was fun for the kids to see all of the big practice fields and see some of the athletes working out.

Roman was watching some girls and guys conditioning here.

This football player came out of the locker room right as we were passing it and shook the kids' hands.

Husker Power. :)

Roman out on the field with his football.

Roman running down the sideline.

Titus making his way down the field.

Both boys had fun running around on the field and pretending to be future Huskers! :)

Birthday Party!

We had my son's 4th birthday party last Thursday evening. I love planning parties so I thought I'd share some of the fun ideas I used. First, I found a blog that had a whole rocket-themed birthday party so I used several of their ideas. The "Rocket Fuel" sign above was made by a graphic designer friend of mine along with the thank you tags you'll see below. I LOVED how those turned out! Thanks AJ!

Then I made a "Happy Birthday" banner with a rocket in the middle and hung it in our basement where most of the party took place.

These rocket cookies turned out super cute. I looked all over for a rocket-shaped cookie cutter but I ended up just making a template out of cardstock and cutting out the rockets from rolled out sugar cookie dough. I bought red Wilton Cookie Icing and it turned out perfect. It dried so I could put the cookies into bags and they still looked nice.

I put a rocket cookie and a packet of Pop Rocks into each goodie bag. They were a hit!

Roman had so much fun opening presents. He loved everything from toys to shoes to sidewalk chalk. They are so easy to please at this age.

Last, but not least, is the rocket cake! I made a 9x13 cake and froze it. Then, while it was still frozen I cut the top off so it would be flat, then I turned the cake upside down and cut out the rocket shape. The leftover pieces worked great for the fins. I watched a little tutorial online on how to crumb coat your cake if you are just going to chop up a cake and have exposed sides which makes for lots of crumbs getting into your frosting. It's not perfect, but I love how it turned out! Roman has a pair of rocket pajamas and that's what I went off of for a template and even the colors.

I happened to go to Party America for a couple items a day before Roman's party and found a #4 that was a sparkler! I originally wanted to stick regular sparklers in the bottom of the cake so it looked like it was taking off, but this was perfect! Especially since I couldn't find any regular sparklers this time of year. :)

All of Roman's cousins blowing out the candles second time around!

Little brother loved the cake!

Even if it is at night, in the basement where the lighting is horrible, I've got to have a family picture at the birthday party! :)

Mat Man

Have you met Mat Man? My mom introduced us to Mat Man. He's pretty awesome. :) The teachers use it at the school where my mom works. They are usually made out of wood, but my mom cut this out of cardboard for us and it works great.

You put all the pieces together and sing a little song while you do it. You can watch this video to see how teachers use it and to hear the song. You can also have your child practice making letters with the different parts of Mat Man.
The great thing about Mat Man is that teaches the child body awareness so when they go to draw a person they know how to draw each body part.

Chalk drawing by Roman age 3.

Celebrate Dr. Seuss!

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday! My kids' favorite Dr. Seuss book is Fox in Socks. We are heading to the library for storytime at 10:30 a.m. and then we'll check out some more Dr. Seuss books to read at home. Call or check your local library's website as they just might have something planned for Dr. Seuss' birthday! Our library has a story and craft time this evening from 6-7 p.m. to celebrate.

Here's a link that gives you lots of fun activities to do to celebrate Dr. Seuss today! You can also go to Seussville.com to find games and other activities for your kids.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

...In Like A Lion!

Welcome March! Always so happy to see this month arrive! Park here we come. We celebrated the first day of March by doing a few lion activities. As pictured above we headed over to Starfall and did the calendar. This is such great practice for learning days of the week and how the calendar works.

Then we did a lion dot to dot. My son really likes mazes and dot to dot. I found a great new site with printable dot to dot.

Next we did a little safari collage just for fun. Some cutting and pasting practice.

We traced his hand prints to make the top of the tree. Then we pasted animal crackers on the picture. Roman was really curious how we would eat these animal crackers once we glued them down. :)

Next came his favorite activity! I painted his hand with a paintbrush (he loved the sensation!) and then he stamped it onto a piece of paper. I just used some scrapbooking paint I had.

Cut out a little round piece of construction paper, cut around it to make a mane, draw a cute face and there you have it!

Our last activity (which I ended up putting together because he was still having fun with the paint!) was a lion paper bag puppet.

Roman played with it for a little bit...but little bro was the one who had the most fun!

Happy ALMOST spring everyone!