Boys and Their Cars

As does any house of boys, we have a lot of cars, car tracks, etc. running around here.  I saw this cute idea on pintrest and it was a hit at our house! Sorry I couldn't find out who the original source was, but THANKS to whoever came up with this idea!  We connected our masking tape road to some of our existing car tracks.  I also incorporated a fun idea for a sight words parking lot, to help S work on his sight words for preschool, found at Juggling With Kids.

Cricut Creations

My sweet hubby surprised me and spoiled me for Christmas with a...CRICUT!  Needless to say my crafty heart has come alive again and I've been making some signs.  My hubby cut some two-by-fours for me into the appropriate lengths.  (Frugal Tip:  I love using 2x4's because they are so cheap!  It was $2 for 8 ft!) Then we had a girls' night and made these to honor those brave military men in my family. 

Step 1:  Cut the wood.

Step 2:  Sand the wood.

Step 3:  Paint the wood.

Step 4:  Use sandpaper to stress the edges of painted wood.

Step 5:  Cut letters using scrapbook paper and Cricut.

Step 6:  Modge Podge letters and whole blog to seal it.  (Also could use vinyl letters)

 I also made this fun sign for my mantel.  As I was sitting down to make it, S and L wanted to paint with me.  So my mother-in-law found some scrap wood and I just let them paint.  S insisted on turning his into a sign with letters.  He came up with the phrase completely on his own...so that dinosaurs can see it and know that they are not allowed in his room!  It was an easy way to craft my own thing while the boys did their own thing.

At the Table: Pipets, juicing, marshmallow shapes, and rice

It's always handy to have something the kiddos can do while I'm cleaning the kitchen or cooking.  These are a few activities we like:

1.  Juicing:  The boys always want to squeeze limes with a lime squeezer...not my favorite activity to supervise.  So I cut up some green sponges and let the boys fill them with water and squeeze their own "limes" into a pitcher.  Lime squeezers can be found almost anywhere...Walmart, Targets, etc.  I also give them measuring cups and bottles to practice pouring with.  We call this a pouring job (from the Montessori method).  Go into it knowing you're going to be cleaning up water and changing clothes...and it ends happy!

 2.  Color Mixing with Pipets:  Use food coloring, water, and a plastic cup or baby food jar to make each of the primary colors. Let kids explore mixing colors into empty cups. Also could try this idea by mixing colors in snow!  I've seen this idea in plenty of places on blogs, but I was too cheap to go out and buy pipets for $3 each from the hobby store.  So my frugal heart showed me a way around it.  I found some Infant Triamenic on clearance for $1.79 at ShopKo.  Then I combined that with my $3.00 off 2 Triamenic coupons.  I bought 9 things of Triamenic for $.29 a piece.  I will use the medicine too, but what I really wanted was the pipets!  Yes, I LOVE couponing!    (See other pipet activities here).

 3.   Marshmallow Shapes: discovered this by accident when we were making gingerbread houses.  S came up with his own idea by creating things with marshmallows, toothpicks, and graham crackers.  Provide the materials and let them explore!

4.  Rice and Popcorn Kernels:  Put a tray underneath to catch some spills.  Mix rice and popcorn kernels and have kids sift through a colander.  They also like to scoop with an ice cream scoop and practice transfering from one bowl to another (another Montessori job). 

Everything Thanksgiving

 THANKFUL POSTER:  Every November I hang a poster in our front room and through the month we write things we are thankful for on it.  When people come to our house, they also get to contribute to the poster.  It was especially great when we hosted a family party and now get to have record of what my extended family is grateful for.  I think I'll start typing up the list each year and then we can read our thoughts from years past.

SALT DOUGH TURKEY HANDPRINTS:  My mother-in-law saw the idea for salt dough hand prints on pintrest and did these with the boys.  I was in need of some more Thanksgiving decorations, so I had S & L paint their's like a turkey instead of Christmasey.

 HEADBAND NAPKIN RINGS:  S & L helped me make these cute and easy decorations for our Thanksgiving feast.  We cut a cardboard paper towel tube into rings and decorated them with crayons and some confetti scraps from another project.  The book also suggested gluing a feather to the ring.  Idea came from "Crafts for Thanksgiving" by Kathy Ross. 

MAKING BUTTER:  These are my little helpers who are shaking the butter as we waited for Thanksgiving dinner.  We opened a carton of whipping cream, added some salt and a marble.  Then taped up the carton really well.  Many muscles were used to shake this cream into butter. What we learned was that the cartons still leak, and one marble is not enough.  So next time, thanks to the suggestion of my sister-in-law we will pour the whipping cream into a pint mason jar with 4-5 marbles and shake. 

KIDS TABLE:  This was our first year of having a kids table at Thanksgiving.  From the "Family Fun" magazine, I found the idea to cover the table with paper and let the kids color during the meal.  We did this, turning Christmas wrapping paper backwards and the kids LOVED it!  So simple.

Busy Mommy Binder

This is something EVERY mom needs!  It is an idea I found on an organizing blog found here.  Basically, all of the important things that we need to keep track of are all in one place. (emergency info, receipts, budget info, trip packing lists, menus, chore lists, random ideas, etc.)  My binder could use a little organizing (now that we have bought our house, I don't need a "house buying" divider).  (FRUGAL TIP:  Find a binder from a thrift store and decorate it.  In the summer when school supplies are on sale, stock up on cheap dividers and page protectors.) 

Recently we made a binder for my sister-in-law who is a military wife and constantly moving and traveling.  The "cuteness" of this binder turned out not-so-hot but it will still function.

Another "Busy Mommy" tool I use is my "Brain Down on Paper" sheet.  I cut these in half and put them on a clip board using one each day, it helps me get my to-do's organized as inspired from here. 

What are your "Busy Mommy" survival tricks or helpers?