Big Bear snow play 2013

We had such a great time sledding last year that we decided to go back this year. And we had another awesome time :)

 

Lauren was intent on eating the snow,

but thankfully Jake was much more all about the ride!

Lauren warmed up to the adrenaline rush quickly and soon she and I were flyin' down the hill!

Our girl wanted to snap a picture of her 'rents, so we obliged before headed inside.

Once inside, we downed some hot chocolate and it was goooood.

 

 

* Funny story I have to share before I forget it; We were inside getting a drink, surrounded by pinball machines. Suddenly Lauren gets teary eyed and says, 'mom, can I please move?' I told her sure and then asked why. The pinball machine was a Simpson's one, and it looked like this:

 

Well. Homer was stepping on the cat and that VERY much bothered Lauren... so much so that she began to cry. Poor girl has such a heart for animals... even the cartoony kind :)

PreK and Kinder cooking; Pumpkin Yogurt

A couple weeks ago, the PreK and Kindergarten classes were on letters 'P' and 'Y'. So I racked my brain and came up with a snack idea that combined BOTH letters... Pumpkin Yogurt :)

With fresh spoons, the kids were in charge of scooping 3 scoops of vanilla flavored yogurt into their bowls. Then they scooped two scoops of canned pumpkin puree, added a shake of cinnamon  and a dollop of whipped cream. Finally, they counted out 4 graham cracker squares for dipping:

This cooking lesson was a huge hit... it was yummy, letter friendly and heavy on the math. Score!

Valentine's Day heart garland

I love a festive house in preparation for an upcoming holiday. And I hate 1) spending a lot of money on things that I only use for couple weeks out of the year and 2) on generic store bought items with little sentimental value, so we tend to make lots of homemade items around here :)

 

So with some coordinating Valentine's Day colors, I traced some hearts on some cardstock and had the kiddos cut them out. Actually, Jake cut them out while Lauren made and cut out her own hearts... no surpsie there ;) 

 

 

Once we had about 30-40 hearts cut out, I got a needle and then threaded the hearts onto a piece of thread.

We hung them up on the mantle and now we have some sweet Valentines Day decor,

with some reminders that little hands helped ;)

Valentines Day Conversation hearts

I LOVE Valentines Day and I have been planning and creating some arts and crafts in preparation of February's arrival. But because we spent 4 days in San Fran at the beginning of the month, it screwed up my plans to post a Valentines Day craft every day leading up to the 14th. But whatever .. I wouldn't change our impromptu trip so I'm gonna work with what I got :)

With my Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon in hand, I headed to Hobby Lobby to pick up these wooden beauties:

Then I came home, painted them Conversation Heart colors (using acrylic paint),

and then added our names and some coordinating Valentines Day ribbon.

And now we have some custom valentines Day decor :)

Spray bottle craft and activity

I love the dollar store because they have super cheap craft activities for the kiddos... like $1 spray bottles! So for a whopping $5, the kids had a great old time creating some artwork and watering our flowers :)

I had them fill up their water bottles with water and food coloring, creating a bunch of pretty colors: 

Then we pulled out some water color paper and made designs using the spray bottles (it dried soft, pretty hues):

And while we waited for them to dry, the kids watered the lawn, the windows, the flowers, the dog's coat, etc ;)

Gotta love fun, cheap fun :)

Paper Ring Toss craft

I feel like I've been blogging about the house a lot; crafts for the house, upgrades, etc. The things is, I have so much to blog about and I've had comments saying that readers (hello to a few of you! ;)) are enjoying those home improvement posts, so that's why it's been a little house-heavy on the blog.

Of course, we're still doing crafts and experiments around here, but they don't get blogged as often as before. I'll probably just share some favorites while we're in money-pit fix up mode ;)

So. I found this idea here, and we proceeded to create it. So much fun. Really.

First, I traced a circle on paper plates and the kids cut them out:

Then we poured out a bunch of paint colors,

and got to work making these 'discs' pretty:

Finally, we painted a paper towel holder,

and we were set for our game!

The kids played with this for a good few days, on and off :)

Seriously, consider doing this craft with your kiddos. It was sorta messy (which kids love), cheap and fun :)

PreK and Kinder cooking; letters O and W

For my preschoolers, we made Octopi (the plural form of that word looks weird- just sayin'). Anyway, using peanut butter Ritz crackers, stick pretzels and raisins, we made Octopi:

And then, my littlest girl and I headed over to sisters class where we made Whales with Watermelon. Two W's! :)

Since these kiddos are a little more able bodied and mature, they got to practice with butter knives. (Lauren knows how to use knives but I wasn't sure if the other kids had been taught yet and since it's an important skill to learn, I went with it!)

Hard to see but the circle is the whale (with the raisin eye), the triangle is the tail/fin, and the inside is the stomach, after the whale ate a bunch of goldfish).

Lazy artist

It's hard to be her...hence laying down to color.

She's definitely my child ;)