B Made a Christmas Memory Journal Ornament This Morning from The Library Adventure

The Library Adventure has this great free printable ornament for kids, a Christmas Memory Journal.  B completed the ornament this morning and we really like it.  It was simple to put together, thanks to the instructions.

I just wanted to share these two pages with y'all.  B is thankful for NERF, Apple, Family, Food and Friends.  And I just love what he wrote and drew on the What I Want to be When I Grow Up page - a movie maker.  His drawing of a director is so adorable!  But I am kind of prejudice…  ;o)

Easter Egg Decoration with Craft Club

Last week I hosted March's Craft Club and we did Easter egg decoration.  We had so much fun!  We had some younger sibling present, so the kids ranged from 4 yrs - 10 yrs.  After decorating eggs as characters, I don't think I can go back to just plain 'ole egg dying.  However, B says that his favorite egg was the Smiley Face, where he could just free draw on the egg.  So, I'll have to wait and see what he's in the mood to do next year.

There were four kinds of eggs that the kids created:

• Smiley Faces
• Snorkelers
• Toy Story Aliens
• Phineas & Ferb's Perry the Platypus

I hope you and your family have as much fun as we did decorating eggs this year.  And I'd love to hear about or see your pix, too!

Presidents Day Crafts

B and I hosted February's craft club for our homeschool group this past Friday.  Since tomorrow is Presidents Day, we did five, Washington- and Lincoln-themed crafts.  We had so much fun!  Thank goodness for the internet and other crafty folks sharing their creative ideas.  From left to right in my pictures, here are the links to the crafts we did:

Paper Plate Abraham Lincoln Hat With Beard

George Washington's Powdered Wig

Washington and Lincoln Finger Puppets

Abraham Lincoln's (Pretzel) Log Cabin

George Washington's Hat

I hope you have as much fun with these crafts as we did!

Upcycled, Children's Christmas Crafts

Yesterday was supposed to be the November meeting of our homeschool group's Craft Club.  Unfortunately I had to cancel the meeting because B was sick.  But that did not stop us from doing the crafts, ourselves, at home.  We had 2 crafts to do, making gift boxes and pencil cases out of cereal boxes and making an Advent calendar.  Both crafts took a lot of time, but we had nothing but, so we put on the Christmas carols, spread everything out on the family room floor and had a great afternoon together.  B was really upset that I canceled Craft Club.  He didn't think everyone needed to be disappointed just because he couldn't go.  He asked me to leave him home and go do the crafts with the other children without him.  Such a big heart on that boy!

This is the link to the gift boxes we made.  This is the template for the pencil case we made.

I originally planned to make this Countdown to Christmas Calendar with the Craft Club.  But since B was sick, I hadn't been able to get to the craft store to get the necessary supplies.  Then I found this Advent "Calendar" idea using toilet paper rolls and I knew this is what we should make.  October's Craft Club meeting included making these spooky eyes in the bushes and I saved waaaay more toilet paper rolls that I needed to!  So, we made the toilet paper roll Advent calendar yesterday and used up 24 toilet paper rolls.  I still have tons of TP and paper towel rolls left, so I need to keep searching for craft ideas for them...  Inside the TP rolls, I placed a piece of leftover Halloween candy and one of these 24 printable Christmas jokes.  We went through magazines and cut out numbers for the days, 1 - 24, and B still plans do to more decorating on each roll.  He has placed the rolls in our Christmas tree.

I plan to add some other activities to these toilet paper rolls after reading Creekside Learning's great Advent Calendar activity ideas.  Julie at Creekside Learning has inspired me and I will include the following activities: my dad likes to take B to see Santa every year; my mom has B over to bake Christmas cookies (I do make food gifts for people at Christmas, but not cookies), we're going to see a holiday performance at a local high school; I found a gift card worth 2 movie tickets so I'll take B to see Rise of the Guardians one weekday; etc.  As the wise Julie at Creekside Learning does, I'll put those special activities in each day as the month rolls along, just a few days ahead of time, to ensure it fits in with our schedule.

Halloween Decor

Inspired by Pinterest, B and I decided to decorate our front door for Halloween this morning.  So fun!  He decided how he wanted the face to to look and I pulled out the door sting from the basement, rolled it up and used it for the hair.  We have no overhang on the front door.  So, if it rains between now and Halloween we'll have to remake the face.  But we're OK with that!

Letting B Handle Disappointment

Last month, I posted here that B and I were going to start a craft club in our homeschool group for the older elementary-aged kids.  He and I have had so much fun looking for and pinning craft ideas!  Yesterday was the 1st craft club meeting and we were so excited.  I cleaned (and sweated) for 2.5 hours, printed out templates, gathered supplies, set up a name tag station (because I have the worst memory), B made our name tags, we stuck them on our shirts and we hung a "WELCOME CRAFTERS" sign on the mailbox at the curb so everyone would know which house we were.  Then, we eagerly awaited the arrival of our fellow crafters.

No one showed.  Even though I had received RSVPs, no one emailed or called to say they weren't coming.  We moms are famous for committing to something and have every intention to go to the thing we've been waiting to go to and then the day of, all hell breaks loose in the house.  Someone's sick, someone gets punished, a repairman needs to come to the house, there's a family emergency, etc.  I get it, I've done it.  Life happens.  But I wish they'd have let us know.  At least the hubs was mighty grateful to come home to a clean house!  ;o)

B was so disappointed.  He's a very sensitive kid and cries at the drop of a hat.  Has a history of crying over everything, just like his mama.  Although, I don't throw myself down on the floor, gnashing my teeth, rending my garments and screaming while I cry.  I'd like to sometimes, but I don't.  B has gotten much better, especially over the last year.  He doesn't melt into puddles over every disappointment or every single thing that goes wrong now.  He can hold it together for about the 1st 17 times but when the 18th thing happens...puddles...gnashing...rending...etc.  But none of that happened yesterday.  He wore his emotions on his dejected face and was quiet (for once!), but no tears.  He asked to ride his bike, so we went outside.  We also played catch, basketball (I hate that sport) and golf.

I was the one trying to hold back tears, watching my boy silently keep it together, but knowing by his expression and hung head how he really felt.  Him being silent kinda freaked me out.  I wanted to do something for him to make up for it - take him bowling, to a movie or out for ice cream.  But I had to resist.  Disappointment is a huge part of life and life rarely hands out bowling, movie or ice cream consolation prizes.  I had to let him feel it, deal with it, learn from it.  It was one of those terribly hard, sucky parts of parenting that hurt my heart.  I'm tearing up right now, reliving it!

But kids bounce and my kid does not hold grudges.  His PopPop took him to his handwriting class this morning and they go out to lunch afterwards.  His Nana asked him how craft club went and he matter-of-factly told her no one showed and then wanted to confirm that he would be back in time for our weekly, group park outing this afternoon.  That boy teaches me so much.

"See a need, fill a need!"

The homeschool group I belong to has been abuzz the last week or two, planning and discussing activities to commence next month.  I noticed a common phrase in emails - "early elementary ages".  That means kindergarteners through 2nd or 3rd graders.  B is a 4th grader.  He gets along with and enjoys the company of kids of all ages.  He wants to go on field trips and he loves making crafts.  These picture are of things he made this Summer at Michaels craft events.  But outside of these Summer events, B has very little craft opportunities.

I emailed a friend and asked her why the elementary aged kids have to be broken up.  Why are activities planned for "early elementary" and not all of them?  She responded with a rather long email about the age difference, what a 6 year old is interested in/capable of is quite different from what a 10 year old is interested in/capable of, blah, blah, blah...  She went on to say that there are plenty of activities and field trips out there for the older elementary aged kids and I should "...take that bull by the horns and round up our older elementary kids."  @@  I responded to her with, "I don't want to take the bull by the horns; I want to sit here and complain! ;o)"  But even though I put a winky emoticon after that sentence, I really didn't want to do anything.  I wanted someone else to coordinate field trips and set up craft dates because I can't do that.  I'm not that type of person.  

Then I realized I sounded just like I did 3 years ago when I told myself I could never homeschool B.  And if I wasn't going to do it, no one else would.  As Mr. Big Weld in Robots said, "See a need, fill a need!" so I decided I am going to start a craft club for the "older" elementary aged kids.  I cannot believe the number of craft ideas I found online for B's age!  I wasted a couple of hours this afternoon going through the options on one website alone and pinning them.  I finally had to stop because the pages kept going on and on.  

B and I are excited but I need to make sure I don't get carried away and that I define "rules" and contributions.  Wish me luck!

Gift For My Parents

I took several pictures of this, all over my house, trying to avoid any reflection of my house, me or the camera in the glass.  I was not successful, but this had the least reflection in it - just my camera, my wrists and my hands.  ;o)

I found this beautiful idea on Pinterest for a gift for your mom.  You really should go and look at the original pin because it is so nicely/professionally done!  I wanted to make one for my parents as a combination Mother's Day/Father's Day gift.  I had such grand plans for how I was going to do this.  Pinterest makes me feel like I can be Martha Stewart but I continually prove that I am only Larry the Cable Guy.  I had different pieces of wood in my cart.  I was going to use letter stencils in different sizes and fonts.  Then I decided to paint a piece of wood white, put letter stickers on the white to spell the words and then paint black over them.  When dry, I would peel off the letters and the color would show through.  But all of those supplies were so expensive and, as usual, I left this project until the last minute; I was going to see my parents that night!

So, my poor, creative side started looking around Michael's and I found the supplies that I ended up using: 16"x20" black frame on clearance; black poster board; Sharpie paint pen in white; Sharpie paint pen in gold.  I was able to cut the poster board into 3 pieces to fit in the frame so I could practice or if I make a mistake.  And, believe me, the one that actually went in the frame was the 6th and last side of those 3 pieces of poster board!  LOL

As a woman, I, of course, am my own worse critic.  I was disappointed in the final product because it is not all spaced nicely, there was not enough room to capitalize "Nana & Pop-Pop" and my printing is not "pretty, female" printing.  I was wishing I had waited until the hubs came home because his handwriting is beautiful.  But then I realized, this is a gift for my parents.  They made me the great parent I am because of their example.  They love me unconditionally and whether I am 4 or 40, they love every thing I make or do for them and are proud of it.  Just like I feel for B.  And I was right; they loved it.  My dad immediately took "real" art off of the living room fireplace mantel and replaced it with what I made.  He said, "I'm not saying that this will be the final place for this.  We may find a better spot in the house to display this.  But for now, I want to put it here."  They are the best parents in the world!