Bunnies and Eggs...Spring is Springing Up on Me!

Found this robin's egg soap at Pottery Barn this weekend and thought it would go perfectly with this little bunny soap dish. Reminds me of The Golden Egg Book!

The January Banner is Done!

I made our "Banner of the Month" for the mantle this week using snowflakes from the dollar store (packs of 6/$1) and felt. January is snow themed in our house, since this month lacks any great holiday decor. As soon as the Christmas aisle is cleared out, they bring out Valentine's Day decorations! We're not ready for that yet!

We brought the snowmen down out of the attic when we put away our Christmas decorations and I got a can of spray snow at Walgreen's 50% off after Christmas (paid $.99). Our windows are nice and frosty now here in Central Florida!

I'm beginning to lose touch with how hokey my "theme months" are, which is just fine with the kids...they love it!

Note: The quilted piece behind the banner is up on my mantle. It was created by my sweet friend, Kay, over at PrettywithRibbons.com. I love it!

Homemade Advent Calendar

This is the Advent calendar I made over the weekend using dollar store finds. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Find out more over at MotleyMoms!

Easy Advent Calendars

I've posted some of my Advent calendar activities over at Motley Moms. Go check it out!

In the meantime, I've seen some really cute ideas for creating your own Advent calendar. You can use mini galvanized buckets, numbered 1 - 24 to hide little treats in. Hang them on a ribbon or cord to create a garland. You can even hang them out of order so the kids have to search for each day's treat.

Another cute idea is to use mittens (use mismatched or find them at thrift stores). Add numbers using felt or stitch them on and hang on ribbon or cord.

I found some really cute examples online by searching for "bucket advent calendar" and "mitten advent garland"...there are lots of ideas out there, both simple and elaborate. Have fun!

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Happy November! I'm sharing my super-secret recipe for Pumpkin Pie Playdough to celebrate (okay, it's probably not that secret, but it was new to me and has gotten rave reviews everywhere I share it).

Start with this basic playdough recipe, but add a teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger or use several teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. Put orange food coloring in the water before stirring it into your dry ingredients.

Mmmmmmmmm! Everytime the kids play with playdough, the house smells like pumpkin pie!

Folk Tale Fun for Halloween

Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, Woodcutter, and Grandmother

The kids loved that we dressed up with them. They were fascinated by the way my powdered hair and drawn-on wrinkle lines made me look really old!

We had everything we needed for our costumes except the red cape and hood. I used the leftover gray fur from KID 1's Max costume (Where the Wild Things Are) to make ears and stapled them to his hat.

The cape and hood reverse to a green, scaly dragon...why just make a boring red cape and hood, right? ;)

Hope you had a fun Halloween (or Fall Fest) with your kiddos!

Books We "Fall" For!

Bring in the pumpkins

Fall Fun with Sight Words

Found these leaf doilies at the dollar store and just knew I'd find a way to use them...

This is KID 1's placemat:

He was so excited he started chanting, "I've got leaves for sight words! I've got leaves for sight words!"

Gotta love Kindergartners!

Kid-Friendly Way to Celebrate the Season: CUPCAKE LINERS!

KID 2 was hungry before school, so we broke out the cute fall cupcake liners and filled one with raisins for her to nibble. They make great snack cups! I'm brainstorming other ways to use these cute seasonal papers:

• Craft Corral: great for holding glitter, googley eyes, pom poms, or whatever we're working with

• Same and Different: I have the kids sort and categorize little items like coins, beads, M&M's, etc.

• Lunchtime Helper: perfect size for corralling chips or pretzels on their lunch plates

• Flower Power: flip inside out and snip down the sides to make a paper flower for a seasonal collage.  Glue a button or pom pom in the center.

• Handyman special: hold the little parts, nuts and bolts in one spot as you assemble those awesome birthday and Christmas toys

Any other ideas? Kids love seeing the season reflected all around them and take joy in the small reminders we incorporate into their day.

Earth Day Activity with The Lorax

We read The Lorax by Dr. Suess this week, enjoyed an ongoing discussion about the importance of trees, and followed up with this art activity today, making our own "Truffula Trees."

I cut toilet paper rolls in half lengthwise and the kids painted them brown. Then we glued them to a piece of construction paper. Next we put some cotton balls in a plastic container with some green tempera powder, popped the lid on and shook. The result was a variety of shades of green puffs, perfect for truffula trees! (Or thneeds, if you're familiar with the book!)

My 5-year-old son is very intent on realism in his artwork right now, so he needed the book to look at as he painted the Lorax next to his tree. The two 2-year-olds had no such requirements and went to town painting yellow suns and Loraxes all over their pages:

Happy Earth Day!

Snapshot

Our back yard was the perfect setting for a casual, low-key breakfast on Easter morn.

KID 2 enjoys a bit of coffee cake while the dog enjoys the crumbs!

Bon Appetit!

Happy Easter!

My mom raised four kids all by herself for most of our growing up years. I love finding little ways to honor her dedication (blood, sweat and tears, but also a lot of fun throughout the years!).

Here is the little Easter token of gratitude I put together for her. I also did one for Paul's mom, who had three little chicks of her own:

Happy Easter! Have fun with your little chicks today!

Fun Little Bunnies

This cute little book reading bunny makes a

sweet centerpiece on our Easter table! ($10 at BIG Lots!)

We've filled his basket with our special decorated eggs. It could also hold a small potted plant.

KID 2 uses the captain's chair, so I had to modify the bunny cover to fit.

KID 1 really likes his special chair!

The bunny covers turned out really cute! I used Elmer's bonding spray to adhere the pieces. If you let it dry for a few minutes, the bond is repositionable. This means we can make other holiday/seasonal pieces for the same covers. When Easter is done, we'll put these bunny pieces in a zip bag for next year! I like the Birthday Throne cover idea at Family Fun!

Playdough Resurrection Cross

Favorite Lent Activity: The Resurrection Cross (in playdough!)

Homemade playdough, small cookie cutters and white birthday candles are all the supplies you'll need to create this countdown cross. Each Sunday we light one less candle leading to Good Friday (when our Light went out). During Sunday dinner or devotional time is a good time to incorporate this activity. Turn overhead lights off for good visual effect and note how it gets darker each week as you light fewer and fewer candles.

Do a special lighting on Good Friday and let the kids blow all the candles out. Light them all again on Easter Sunday, symbolizing Jesus's resurrection. His sacrifice enabled his light to shine all over the world and right into our hearts.

Note: It's not too late to create your resurrection cross. Just pick up with this coming Sunday's lighting and blow out all but one.

Celebrating Easter with Preschoolers

Easter is hopping up on us, so this week we thought we'd share some of the ways we celebrate this season and holiday with our little chicks.

Easter Decor

Speaking of chicks, our little barnyard babies (stuffed lambs, chicks, ducks, and bunnies) adorn the house to remind us of the new life of Christ.

Check out this cute Nest O' Fluffy Chicks craft over at Family Fun. We'll try this one this week!

And the Bunny Chair Covers look so easy! I'll make these myself this week and surprise the kids when they come out for breakfast one morning...they'll love it!

Eggs - Once a pagan symbol, the egg became a Christian symbol of the empty tomb left behind when Christ rose from the dead. At MOPS last week, we decoupaged eggs using Mod Podge and decorative paper napkin cut-outs. They were pretty cute! The detailed project how-to is over at Martha Stewart's site.

Glittered eggs are always fun and easy for preschoolers. Just let them paint the entire egg with thinned-out glue and then roll it in a bowl of glitter. Dazzling!

Books, books, books - Several weeks before Easter, we pull out all our Spring and Easter books. We have quite a stack, but a few rank among our favorites:

Three Ducks Went Wandering

by Ron Roy, pictures by Paul Galdone

We love the illustrations. Directional phrases like "RIGHT IN FRONT OF..." and "RIGHT UNDER..." are educational and fun, letting the kids guess what's coming next. Paul Galdone is a gifted illustrator.

Seven Little Rabbits

by John Becker, Illustrated by Barbara Cooney

Fun, repetitive story of seven silly little rabbits who never make it to Toad's house. Barbara Cooney's illustrations are so lovely!

The Golden Egg Book

by Margaret Wise Brown

The author of Goodnight Moon writes a cute tale of a bunny who finds an egg and wonders what could be inside. He falls asleep after his great efforts to crack open the egg (unsuccessfully), at which point the baby duck emerges from his egg and wonders what this furry little brown sleeping thing could be.

Home For A Bunny

by Margaret Wise Brown

A Time to Keep:

The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays

A lovely illustrated book of holidays

and traditions of old...very nostalgic and sweet!

We also have a couple of children's bibles and bible storybooks that tell the Easter story. We read this during devotional time before we make our resurrection crosses. I'll post more details about the playdough resurrection cross tomorrow!

Do you have any favorite Easter books or traditions?