Decorating for Valentine's Day

So far we have been doing lots of decorating for Valentines Day and I’m sure there will be more by the time February 14^th rolls around.  It’s basically my goal to only decorate my home for the holidays with homemade decorations.  Of course Pinterest gives me a whole bunch of ideas and in my mind it’s a win-win because I get to enjoy a fun activity with the boys and then I get beautiful decorations as well.  So, here are some of the things we’ve done so far.

Wax Crayon Hearts

Liam (2) was very good at twisting the crayons through the pencil sharpener to make our wax crayon shavings and Sam (4) carefully helped me use the hot iron to melt the wax.  
For this craft, you simply place a thin layer of wax crayon shavings between two pieces of wax paper with the edges folded over.  I used thick paper towel but you can use a cotton dishtowel as well to put on both sides of the wax paper. 
Run the iron over the towel to melt the wax.  Keep checking on it and gently push the melted wax out to the edges to create a thin layer of blended colors.  Let cool and cut out your shapes.  I used a needle and thread for hanging them. 

 

Heart Flower

Pretty self explanatory, nice and simple.  

Color Filters

Super simple!  Water colors and coffee filters.  Away you go.  It was also a great craft that Liam could do well for his age.  It’s not messy and once they are dry you can cut them out into hearts.  We used washable white glue to glue them to the windows. 

 Window Painting

We just used washable Crayola paints.  You can add a tad of dish soap to them if you wish but it’s not necessary.  Wash it with a slightly soapy wet rag and then glass cleaner for the final touch and your window will be nice and clean again.


 

Lego Letters 

The boys played Lego...I made this. 

20 Indoor Activities with the Kiddos

It’s been a crazy winter so far with lots of weird weather that has kept me and the little ones indoors a lot.  So I’m taking a moment to share some of the indoor activities that we have been doing to keep ourselves busy.

1.      Fizzy Painting – A Pinterest find, this has become a family favorite.  I spread a thin layer of baking soda on a baking sheet and pour a bit of vinegar in 4 small bowls with a drop of food coloring in each.  I have old droppers that I kept from baby medicine bottles and the boys use these to put the colored vinegar on their baking soda and watch it fizz and bubble.  Even Liam figured out the dropper after a little practice.  They love it!  Make sure you cover your table though because that vinegar will destroy your wood.

2.      Egg Hunt – We do a version of an egg hunt all the time.  Whether using plastic Easter eggs, blocks, or pictures (I even made egg shaped cut outs and had Sam decorate them and then put packing tape over them to keep them from ripping), I find something to hide and they find them.  It keeps them moving when they are getting a bit lazy or bored. 

3.      Hide and Go Seek – Classic!  It always makes us laugh and I can even run around and hide or seek with Skylar in my arms.  Sometimes I can do a small chore like wipe the table while I’m counting or I wonder around saying “Where on earth is Sam?” while I tidy up toys and listen to him giggle under a blanket downstairs.  Sneaky!

4.      Hot Cold – Sam picks something to hide (usually a stuffed animal) and we take turns hiding it.  The seeker walks around while being told if s/he is cold (far away from it), getting warmer (closer), or hot (really close to it).  Sam is so creative in his hiding spots and it amazes me.

5.      Playdough – My boys LOVE playdough.  Liam especially.  We have a box full of stuff and they take turns with the different sets.  The favorite is the Zoo set with lots of cranks, animal molds and cutters.

6.      Holiday Decorations – Sam loves decorating for ALL the holidays  and we rarely buy our decorations.  A lot of our ideas come from Pinterest.  At Christmas I made so many batches of clay ornaments (made with cornstarch, baking soda and water which can be found on my Pinterest account on my Kids Crafts board) that my hands were cracking from handling the dough so much.  For Valentine’s Day we have made lots of multicolored hearts with wax crayon shavings melted between wax paper sheets.  Liam helped make the crayon shavings too.

7.      Baking – Sam especially loves to bake with me.  He helps me measure, pour, stir and mix.  It’s great quality time while Liam is napping.  The boys also discovered how much they love graham crackers at my Mom’s awhile ago so when I saw this recipe on Pinterest I was super excited to make them with the kids.  I roll out the dough and the boys use cutters to make a whole bunch of shapes and then we bake them and enjoy them together.

8.      Bowling – Now we actually have bowling pins but before we did we used cups or anything else we could stack.  That crashing sound never seems to get old with the boys.

9.      Race Track – We create an imaginary race track with a start and finish line and grab some cars and the race is on.  Sometimes we use train tracks or put tape on the floor too. 

10.  Paint in a bag – The boys pick some colors and we pour some paint in a plastic freezer bag and seal it up really good with tape.  Then they just squish the paint around and have fun.  It’s simple but they seem to enjoy it for a little while. 

11.  Balloons – It’s so simple and is loads of fun!  Balloons entertain the boys for hours, even days. 

12.  Color Sorting – I do this with Liam a lot now that he’s learning his colors.  I usually grab his mega blocks or some cars or spoons and we sort them in piles by color.  Sometimes I put a colored piece of paper on the floor and have him bring anything that he can find that matches that color.  It’s been fun and he’s very proud when he gets it.

13.  Dance – Put on some music and watch them go.  It’s the best way that I can get them to burn off energy while indoors.  We also have lots of fun songs that we sing that have body moving actions to it.  Sam loves filming it all so he can watch our dance parties over and over again.

14.  Mega Blocks /Duplo – Build a tower!  Knock it down.  It never gets old for them.

15.  Fort – Sheets, pillows, some clips and chairs et Voila!  A new play fort!  It’s loads of fun until Liam gets bored and tries destroying it and then we have problems...

16.  Bath – Water is just fun and the boys tend to play really well in the bath together.  We have this little race track that sticks to the sides of the tub with suction cups that the boys love playing with.  They’ll stay in there until they are wrinkled like prunes.

17.  Grocery Shopping – For real and for pretend.  Sometimes just a quick stop at the grocery store for a free cookie at the bakery and a few necessary items gets us out of the house but also out of the cold.  I get the boys involved in gathering the things we need and we have some laughs along the way.  At home, we have some pretend food and a pretend cash machine that we play with.  Sam picks up the microphone and talks into it mimicking things he hears at the grocery store and it always makes me laugh.

18.  Basketball – The other day I made a hoop with my arms and the boys starting launching balls at me.  It was fun for awhile until I got a few shots in the face so I switched it up with a bucket on the floor and they had a blast throwing balls of different shapes into it.  We learned together which balls bounced, or made a “thud” sound or were easy to throw or not. 

19.  Remote Control Race Car – When I’m too tired to run I get my stunt double to step in.  The remote control race car.  I control – they chase it.  Then I hand the remote off to one of them and the fun continues.  Gets them moving and laughing guaranteed.

20.  Booger Monster – A game my brothers and I used to play when we were little.  We make a “path” on the floor with cushions and blankets that connect the two couches.  The boys jump from couch to couch staying on the path only.  If they touch the floor the Booger Monster will get them (sometime me and sometime imaginary)!  My favorite moment while playing this game is how Sam will heroically jump from the safety of the couch to help Liam up off the floor quickly before the Booger Monster gets him. 

A little fussy with ice on top

This morning was crazy.  Sam woke up fussy.  Oh my fussy child.  When Sam is not fully rested he fusses.  When Liam is not fully rested he gets pushy and loud.  Luckily, Liam was having a good morning.  Sam began crying about this, then that, then this again, then something new, then something irrelevant, then whatever he could think of that seemed like it was a good enough reason to put up a stink about.  Skylar was getting tired and wasn’t too keen on waiting on the sidelines while I get the boys ready for daycare.  She began to call for me quietly and it got progressively louder within about 3 minutes.  Not even enough time to change Liam’s poopy diaper and get his clothes on while he attempted to run away from me and hide.  Two crying, one on the run.  I caught up to Liam – got him dressed.  I tried coaching Sam to get dressed but he just kept saying “but Mommy...it’s just....but mommy...it’s just...”  Nothing followed.  Just repeats.  Just fussing.   He couldn’t even remember why he was upset.

I lost my cool and sent him to his room.  He cried even louder up there.  I chatted with him on his bed later and asked him to cooperate.  I thought we had turned a new page.  I was wrong. 

“I want to play games.” 

“There isn’t enough time, Hunny.  We’re late getting to Sandra’s and Skylar is tired.  We need to go now but you can play games as soon as you get back.”

“Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Buuuuut Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

Good Lord, here we go again! 

So I get all 3 of the crying children dressed in their winter clothes.  Sam wants to stay home and I keep saying no not today but tomorrow you can.  That doesn’t help.  He cried and cried.  But I kept moving forward.  Breathing.  Staying calm.  But...then I opened the front door to discover that those dark clouds were pouring down ice pellets.  I can’t walk the kids to daycare with Skylar in my arms when it’s pouring ice... so I turn around tell the kids we’re staying home.  Sam jumps for joy.  Liam collapses to the ground crying that we aren’t going outside. 

Sigh.