Two years is a really long time not to post. I had the best of intentions too! 

 

I do have an excuse though, I really do, aside from blogging no longer being an in thing. As my kids have grown up and gotten older (they range in age from 15 to 30 now ... I have no idea how that happened) they've started moving out and being all adulty. I love it, I really do, I'm amazed at the awesome people they've all become and I love interacting with them on a whole different level (they're all really, really cool and each is so unique).  As they've left the nest the house has started to feel big, I've had empty bedrooms in this house that raised six children. I turned one bedroom into my sewing room. 

 

As I looked at the remaining empty bedroom I realized it was finally time to embark on a new adventure - foster parenting. It had always been in the back of my mind as something I wanted to do but the timing was never right. Until now. 2 1/2 years ago I began the process to become a foster parent and two years ago, right after my last post, I accepted my first foster child, a wonderful energetic 15 month old boy named Aaron. About a month later I accepted a 5 week old little girl, Annie. My foster son stayed with me for about 10 months and my little girl was with me for almost 23 months, she headed home just over 2 weeks ago the day after she turned two. 

 

I'm now taking a break from fostering, I'm not sure for how long - it's going to be a while before the hurt of Annie's departure heals. I'm staying busy now sewing and trying to catch up on everything (yard work, yikes!) that I didn't stay on top of the last two years.

The stars have been listed in the Jude Harbor Etsy shop. There are more new listings to come. I've been doing local and not-too-far-away markets with so, so much new stuff - now it's time to get it online too.

While this was not the messiest project I did with the daycare kids (that'd be this), it is certainly the second messiest. And one of the best days ever (actually the messiest project, while a pain to clean up, was also a very great day).

Messy = Fun.

Fun and creative. Give kids space and simple "stuff" to work with and their minds will let loose. Paint, chalk, tools and treasures from the recycling bin, whatever ... their minds get to exercise as much as their bodies. Total win.

For this project I did use washable paint, which cleaned up with nothing but the hose. 

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Good and Messy

Facebook status, early one morning: Today is a fine day to lay a big roll of paper out on the lanai and let diapered babies finger print like maniacs. That folly will be followed by water play, I do believe.






And that sums up that day's afternoon.

We've all heard of walking ON water, but what about walking water?

Well, once we heard about this little science experiment we had no choice but to give it a try and see for ourselves if water could really walk from one cup to another.

To begin we filled a cup with purple colored water. We set it up on a box and put another cup on the table below. We dipped a paper napkin (paper towel was suggested, we didn't have that) in the cup of colored water and then into the empty cup.

And then we waited.


Sure enough, the water started moving up the napkin from the full cup. Interestingly, the food coloring in the water separated a bit and the blue traveled first. It was eventually followed by the purple.


At first the water in the empty cup was blue, from the separating of the colors.


The purple caught up after a while. We started this project in the morning and by the next morning all the water had moved to the other cup! It really worked, but it was a slow going process, so plan to do other things ... sitting and watching really wasn't very exciting.


What to do next? Flip the cups and start over.


The food colors I used are incredible. Super vibrant and a wide variety of colors. They are made by AmeriColor and come in a variety of color combinations and size packs.


I bought them on Amazon.com and I paid about $20 for the twelve large colors. Because they're so vibrant it takes just the tiniest amount. Once I priced regular food coloring at the store buying these was a no-brainer (and I love the variety!).


I also used these colors to color the rice we've been using for tactile letter writing. This was brown rice, so the colors have a little less "pow" than they'd have with write rice, but we're pretty darn happy.


FYI - I'm in no way affiliated with Amazon or this food coloring ... I've just fallen madly in love with it and look forward to using it every chance I get ... and I want the same for everyone else.

I recently tried moving a coffee table into the kitchen for art time.  So easy for the little ones, and for me. I keep bowls of crayons, markers, colored pencils, and stamps for them. At art time the bowls go right on the table and they're all set.  When they decide they're finished they just move on to the next project.

There is a little bit more supervision required, as I don't allow them to wander out of the kitchen with paint or any art supplies, but it's worth it for them to have the freedom to create as they wish.

Toddler croquet lessons with Ian.

No posts last week. Such is the way the world turns.  It was a busy week though, which explains the lack of posting.

Reading, reading, reading. A good book and he'll be busy for ages. Not a good quiet activity, though, River is a loud reader.

Sailing, one sick child in bed for two days, scouts, a screamed "ouch" from oldest daughter who'd mis-stepped going down the stairs followed by big tears followed by big foot followed by ER visit followed by big pink cast for a big broken foot, new ride-ons and kitchen toys for the little ones, a bit of sewing and relearning how to sew a blind hem, a wonderful women's clothing swap, two mug rugs almost completed ... that's all I can remember. Doubtless there was more, as the week flew by.

Breakfast date with two of my favorite gentlemen.

I hope your week was wonderful too.

I want to learn to knit just to make this.



Simple and wonderful (and on my to-do list).



Boy Fabric Round-up (seriously, cute not-too-themey boy fabric is hard to find, I'm thrilled to have someone else do a bit of the hunting!)



Oh honestly, just "duh". What an incredible, simple idea!






Enjoy.

This is the best craft ever. Today.



This is the paper towel heart craft I mentioned the other day.  I got the idea from this wonderful tutorial.

The little ones who made these ranged in age from 1 to 4. I put different shades of red paint on paper plates and let them have at it with their heart shaped toilet paper rolls (I shaped the entire roll, so they could use the top or bottom). They had absolutely no problem at all dipping and painting on their owns. Every once in a while I'd switch the plates around so they'd have different colors to work with.  Most of the time, though, I had the pleasure of just sitting back and watching them create.

My oldest son turned from his schoolwork at one point and said, "That's really very cool."

Tomorrow we'll cut them into big hearts and glue them on red paper for their parents.

Just for fun I thought I'd post about a typical day in my home ... especially since I've been carrying on and whining about having so little craft time.

Maybe this will be of interest to someone ... or leave you pining for my grand, luxurious life of rest and relaxation.

Here goes:

6:30 Wake up

6:45 Daycare kids begin to arrive


8:00 My kids are all awake now, the oldest is either at school already or getting ready, breakfast is served for everyone at the house - usually cereal and milk (because at 8:00 am I am very creative)

8:30-11 Daycare play, reading, art, hanging on the lanai time, most of the kids are 2 years old so free play, reading, and talking are pretty big, we do art often but really no other "schooling" (yes, I do ABC's and 123's, colors, naming, etc. but it's done as a casual part of play, not as a "lesson" ... oh, and I sing too ... these poor little kiddo's have a teacher who slaughters the ABC song on a daily basis)

9:00 My kids start schoolwork, my time is divided between the family room, where the little ones are, and the kitchen table, where the big kids are. The older kids have computers in the breakfast nook so I can see them doing school and the younger two sit at the table. I can see both the family room and lanai from the table, and the table from the family room or lanai, so no matter where I am everyone remains supervised


11:00 Art or play time for the little ones while I make lunch for all, lunch is a project as some kids won't eat certain things or are on restricted diets ... I line the little ones plates up in order and fill them that way, rarely are two the same (I don't mind, I'm used to it and I'd rather serve them what they'll eat, as long as it's healthy), my kids often make their own lunches if they don't want what I've made - they are all pretty good cooks


11:30 Lunch

12:00 Nap time for the little ones - break for me, right?  Nope. I spend nap time hanging out at the kitchen table with the boys, doing math and history lessons, checking work, answering questions. It's also a good time to straighten up a bit or take care of any business. When there's no school to do I might get a bit of sewing done, but we do school Monday-Friday so that rarely happens outside of summertime


2:00 Nap is over, back to playing and reading aloud while everyone wakes up, big kids are either done with school and hanging with the little ones or still working on schoolwork

3:00 If the big kids are done with school the little ones and I (and any big kids who wish to) will head to the playground or for a walk. Lately it has been the playground daily


4:00 Afternoon snack, check remainder of schoolwork (hopefully they're done), big kids have usually hooked up with friends and are out and about, oldest is home from school and doing her own thing

5:00-6:00 Daycare kids head home for their family time

6:00 Usually dinner cooking begins, the kids have activities at 6:30 3 nights a week, so sometimes dinner isn't served until later. I prefer to have us eat our meals together and most of the time we do. While I often cook dinner (not always, the older 4 either volunteer or get drafted on occasion) the kids do the dishes and tidying, allowing me to get a little break time


6:30 Take kids to activites, returning home around 8:00, if no activities we hang out and talk, play, watch tv, whatever ... our family time, one night per week I spend gathering my coupons and deals and heading to the grocery store

8:00-8:15 Home from activities

8:00 River goes to bed

9:00 Next two boys to bed


10:00 Next two kids to bed, I get my computer time in, blog posts, check mail, read blogs, etc. This would also be when I'd sew if I were done with other things

11:00-12:00 Cassie and I to bed

And in the morning it begins again!

**This schedule changes more than it stays the same ... without notice ... without reason ... without a back up plan ... and I wouldn't have it any other way.

And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust

Another week, that is.

I've (finally?) realized that the weekdays are just plain busy.  Between home school, childcare, and running a family I just don't have the free time I'd like to have. most days it's hard to find time to use the restroom.  And to post more I need more free time and more crafting (or at least something to post about).  And to craft more I need more free time. The solution is to either drop everything and sew or to sew when I can and post when I can.  I'm thinking the latter might be more practical. Practical rarely seems to be the fun choice, huh? Ah well, that's the way it goes.

Target has some camping and sports stuff at 75% off.  Little kids tents and ball pit-type stuff too. I scored.  Good thing too, as I'm going camping.  Because that seems fun and relaxing. Yup, me and 6 kids in the wilderness. Heaven help the rest of the campers. Any "must have" suggestions would be most appreciated.  Currently I have a tent, some sleeping bags, and no idea how I'm going to get a 2 year old to sleep.  That's about it. Thankfully we'll only be out in the wild for one night - good for initiation, or whatever they call it.

I have signed up for a "mug rug" swap.  The practicality of a mug rug eludes me, but the opportunity to create a 10" by 6" micro-mini quilt entices me very much.


The last two days have been spent cuddling and snuggling with my whiny littlest son.  He has a cold/bug/low grade fever and has been feeling quite under the weather.  He's also male, and, I'm afraid typical:

"When men are sick they tend to lie on the couch or bed and turn into a giant lump that might not move for hours while watching reruns of old cartoons and bad sitcoms – all while groaning, moaning, and whining about being sick."

In his defense, he watched Thomas the Tank Engine reruns, not old cartoons and bad sitcoms. I'm hoping he'll be on the mend really, really soon so we can get back to the important business of jumping and running.

Oh, and the last bit of excitement around here this week was finally making homemade microwave popcorn. The bag of regular old popcorn was about $1.80 at WalMart and will make about 20 servings ... at a cost of $.09 per bag.  Orville Redenbocher can't touch that. And it's easy peasy ... like so easy I'm smacking myself in the forehead hard for not doing it sooner.

Seriously, the easiest idea ever.


I wrote big letters on a sheet of paper, made a few copies, taped them to the outside of a sliding glass door (facing in), gave the kids some dry erase markers, and told them to color the letters, while naming the letters and saying their sounds.  When they were done they erased their masterpiece and started anew ... or moved on to a new project and gave another child a chance to color.

This doesn't have to be a letters project ... anything would work - draw a picture frame and ask them to draw themselves in it, use it for a 1st or 2nd grader as a silly way to do math facts, color in shapes. 

Most certainly, the biggest enticement of this project was the awesome opportunity to write on the door with markers and then erase (why is erasing so wonderful?). The letters and their sounds are totally secondary, as they should be at this age.

I chose the letters "m" and "s" for this idea this week because this is the first time we've learned about specific letters and those are the first two letters used in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  It's easy to start teaching with A, then B, and so on, and then move on to the next project ... never quite making it to the end of the alphabet (well, easy for me anyway!). I thought this would give us a chance to at least introduce different letters, knowing that the book goes through all the letters eventually. Next week we'll leave "m" and "s" up on the door, or we'll color them more permanently and hang them somewhere, and add two more letters.

The book itself is a standby in our house, having been used, successfully, to help teach three of my kids to read (I hadn't heard of the book for the first two kids). We've never actually gotten past lesson 50 or so with any of the kids, they're usually reading reasonably well by then and have moved on to easy readers, though I wouldn't hesitate to use the book in its entirety.

I read this post on Monday and got excited, and busy.  Honestly, I should have been more excited ... this was an awesome, easy, free activity for the kids, and one we'll do often during the hot Florida summers.

I started by freezing layers of food-coloring colored water with magnetic letters in them.  The layers allowed the letters to be disbursed well throughout the ice and I hoped it would give the kids a chance to notice and talk about the various colors.


Once the concoction froze I flipped it over onto a sheet pan and tapped it out of the original pan.  It came out very, very easily.

I gathered all the toy hammers I could find and a good solid mallet and we headed out onto the sidewalk.


 The mallet was given to a 4 year old who loved, loved, loved doing the pounding.  The younger kids got the toy hammers, which worked quite well for removing the letters from the ice chips.



We discussed each letter as they were freed from the ice and talked about the colors. 


But let's be real ... the fun was in the pounding, which continued long after the letters were removed.




The food coloring had an interesting effect on the ice, which sparked the curiousity of the older kids, who will be doing a little research on that.


Do I need to say that we'll be doing this again soon?  The pan went back into the freezer, letters and all, as soon as went back into the house.

I haven't had a "Fun and Free" post in quite a while even though we do a lot of fun and free stuff. I am going to make a dedicated effort to post more free activities for both kids and grown-ups as they cross my path. I've got another Fun and Free post planned for later this week, assuming we all survive the activity (and the mallet).



This is not a new idea, not even a new twist on an old idea. But it's a good idea, and a great way to use up crayon bits and all those broken pieces the kids find so unappealing.


I've attempted this before, using the microwave, and failed miserably. So miserably that I've never ever wanted to try it again. Yesterday, however, I came across this post and decided to give it a shot, figuring if it was a complete failure at least I could toss the crayons out in the paper liners - much easier clean up than the last attempt at this (it was so bad I've blocked most of it from my mind).



I won't go through the steps, the linked post does that very well (with super pretty pictures), but will add a few notes.

The only ingredients/materials needed are crayons of any shape, size, condition, and color, muffin tins, and muffin tin liners (might work without the liners, after freezing the crayons peeled off the paper very easily), an oven, and a freezer.
Our melted crayons cracked and broke in half after they went into the freezer.  That was just fine, they were easier to grip and and to color with. I'm not sure what caused the cracking but I'm guessing the sudden change from the heat of the oven to the cold of the freezer. We used too much black, which we won't do in the future, it overpowers the other colors.  We didn't pay too much attention to what crayons were being mixed together, which I would certainly do differently next time - I'd love to have a pink/yellow/orange mix and a green/blue/turquoise mix. One of the kids did an all blue mix and, while it sounded kind of humdrum, it was really neat to color with because it changed shades often and unexpectedly.


While we were finding crayons in the bottom of our bucket and then peeling a bunch I talked up the colors as much as I could, "Look at this little pink crayon tip", "I wonder who took the wrapper off this big bright blue crayon", "How many greens pieces have you found?", and "Let's read the label and see what they call this blueish purple". The same held true when we colored at the end - lots of color talk and comparisons.

The little ones helped as much as they wanted to - they were welcome to try to peel the crayons, crack them in half, and/or place them in the muffin tins ... one of the blessings of this project is that there is no right or wrong unless you really want it done a certain way, giving the younger ones a great opportunity to do what the big kids are doing.