Friday, September 11, 2009
The boys were super excited when they saw a centipede outside a couple weeks ago so I came up with this idea to make them with an egg carton cut in half (similar to the caterpillar idea from Grandma Lizzie's website). It was definitely a fun project!
Luke wanted his to have "REALLY BIG" eyes! So cute!Friday, September 11, 2009 0
Monday, August 10, 2009
I haven't been successful in finding a preschool for Andy yet so I've started doing my own preschool with Andy at home during the week. (Ok, not finding a preschool was a good excuse to do it myself because I am loving it!) I'm trying to go for the "Letter of the Day" theme like on Sesame Street. I know I'm all crazy bargain shopper lately, but I have to tell you that I found like 20 preschool workbooks at the D.I. completely empty and ready for use and I was soooo excited since they normally cost like $8.00 each and I got them from $.50 to $2.00. Some of them are totally 80's but it's all the same stuff, right!
Andy and I have been anxiously awaiting enough empty toilet paper rolls for the letter "L" because we knew we'd have so much fun making Lions after we learned all about the letter "L"!
You will need:
Andy and I have been anxiously awaiting enough empty toilet paper rolls for the letter "L" because we knew we'd have so much fun making Lions after we learned all about the letter "L"!
You will need:
- paper cups (one per animal)
- toilet paper roll (one per animal)
- scissors
- tape
- paint and paint brushes
- hole punch
- pipecleaner (one per animal)
- wool or raffia
- permanent marker
Directions:
1. Paint the outside of a small paper cup and toilet paper roll with brown and yellow paint. Then paint the bottom of the paper cup yellow.
Directions:
1. Paint the outside of a small paper cup and toilet paper roll with brown and yellow paint. Then paint the bottom of the paper cup yellow.
2. Once the paint is dry, cut around the base of the paper cup about an inch from the bottom. Then cut slits around the cup and fold them up to form a mane.
3. Draw on facial features using a permanent marker. (I didn't use a marker that was thick enough and Andy got a little carried away with the nose, just to warn you!) I also added the wiggly eyes instead of drawing them because I am obsessed with wiggly eyes!
4. Punch 4 holes in the toilet paper roll where you want the legs to go. Cut a pipecleaner in half, then thread each half through two holes to form the front and back legs. Tape the legs securely in place on the inside of the toilet paper roll.
5. Wrap wool or raffia around the toilet paper roll to add fuzz and texture. (I hung some off the back to make a tail and taped it in place)
6. Carefully glue or tape the head onto the body.
Monday, August 10, 2009 0
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
My boys were so tickled to make these special fourth of July trees. They are still too young to understand the whole meaning of the fourth, but I thought introducing them to the red, white and blue colors and the American Flag was sufficient learning for preschool age.
Luke got a little carried away on the painting so I had to help him. How to Make a 4th of July Tree:
To make the trunk, trace your child's arm from the elbow up, including the fingers onto a piece of white construction paper.
- Paint the tree trunk brown and paint green grass at the bottom of the tree.
- While waiting for the paint to dry, cut out 1.5 inch square pieces of red, blue and white tissue paper. (My children were too young to do this part, but I'm sure an older child would love to participate in this step)
- Wrap a tissue paper around the eraser end of a pencil and glue to the trunk. Add as many tissue pieces as you would like to fill up your tree.
After I completed the project I thought it would have been fun to cut out the tree trunk and place it on a blue construction sheet and add white tissue paper clouds after I was done with the tree. Maybe we will do that next year!
We finished the evening making dirt dessert. After I get some ideas to do projects I can't just do one project in one day because I am so excited about all of them. Andy was spectacular at scrunching up the Oreo cookies and I even let him spoon up his own pudding in his cup. Mark was a little timid to try this concoction but then he and the boys gobbled it up with no complaint. This is such a super fun summer treat!
We finished the evening making dirt dessert. After I get some ideas to do projects I can't just do one project in one day because I am so excited about all of them. Andy was spectacular at scrunching up the Oreo cookies and I even let him spoon up his own pudding in his cup. Mark was a little timid to try this concoction but then he and the boys gobbled it up with no complaint. This is such a super fun summer treat!
I have to say that this past year of my life has been such a growing experience for me as a Mother. I feel like after Luke was born I suffered a bit from postpartum depression, or rather, I felt like I lost my individual identity. I don't know if this is something most Mother's go through, but if you went through it or are right now, I completely understand how you feel.
I remember a visiting teacher coming over to our house in Clearfield right after Luke was born and asking me what I personally liked to do for fun. It seemed like the longest minute in my life when I realized that I didn't have any interests of my own other than my children. My whole life, 24/7 was my children and my husband. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I realized that I had a lot of soul searching within myself to discover who I, RACHEL, was inside, without my children and how to incorporate that into being a Mother and Wife to make ME happier. You know that saying "When Momma ain't happy, no one is happy!" I whole-heartedly believe that saying.
Growing up I was always shy and afraid to express myself. I was excellent in school with all the technical things like mathematics but when it came to being a part of a group project, participating in class, or doing an art project that involved my own creativity, it was as if my whole brain shut down. I am still very indecisive when someone asks me a question and it is literally as if the thinking process turns off in my brain when I am posed with a choice, almost like I am afraid of making the wrong decision.
Doing crafts with my boys has uncovered a burning desire within myself that I've been holding back my whole life to be creative, express myself and to show who I am inside. It's such a silly thing, I know, but it has really given me so much strength as a Mother to realize that I don't have to be afraid of who I am, and that I don't want my children to be afraid of who they are. I built my whole childhood on my desire to become a wife and a mother and I never thought of what I wanted to accomplish beyond that. It was like I got where I wanted to go and didn't know what to do once I got there.
I'm not saying crafts are the answer to the craziness of Motherhood, in NO WAY do I believe that! In fact, I'm not really talking about crafts at all. What I am trying to say is that I have finally discovered within myself my own individual happiness and that without ME being happy, I wasn't enjoying my accomplishments of being a Mother and Wife. And I've also realized that having my own interests doesn't mean I am ignoring my children. It merely means I get to incorporate my children into my interests. I always kept a journal growing up but once I got married my journaling stopped. Being able to blog about my boys and my life, as boring as it seems to some people, is something that I really enjoy doing. And my love for photography growing up has only increased now that I have my beautiful boys to pose for me all the time.
It is all so clear to me now that it's not the destination that is so important...it is the journey!! Ok, enough rambling for now...
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 0
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