our bedrooms

Since we had some company stay with us last month when Josh graduated, I did a major cleaning and organizing with the help of Justin. I thought I'd take some pictures to remember our house for the future when we move away. The four years in Harvard student housing have been the longest we have lived anywhere as a family. Here is Josh and my bedroom with the floor model, Charlie.

 This is the kids' room. Noah refers to it as the museum of kids' artwork! Presley and I made a giant chalkboard with an ugly framed painting from Goodwill, some acrylic paint, and some chalkboard paint.

 I have stacks of canvases that I painted over white and let Presley creat some of her own beautiful paintings. Her current specialty is butterflies. Charlie is making a Noah face in this one! 

Valentine Ideas

I love Valentine's Day with kids. I am really excited about it this year because Presley, my little craft queen is in school. She will have the chance to pass cards out to all her class mates. Noah for some reason never wants to do it! We bought cute Star Wars Valentines one year and he refused to pass them out! When he was 3 and we lived in Maryland, I was able to coax him into the v-day spirit, but not now...

Here are a few things we did in Maryland. we had a fun party with all the little kids.

Aren't home made Valentines the bomb? I'm trying to come up with a cute idea for Presley's this year. (I'm totally assuming Noah won't be into it again). Here are some great ideas from a post last year in the katie did journal that I always have in the back of my mind because I loved it so.

Finger puppets!

The previous year was my fave. She first made these cute headbands for her girls.

Then the valentines are felt bracelets:

From mer mag this year (she is on the ball!) Merrilee did these awesome color cards with her son. They kind of remind me of Eric Carle:

So, with that, I've got some more thinking to do. Incorporating candy most likely will be a must for Presley. I'll let you know what we come up with.

A Homemade Halloween

Homemade Halloween costumes are the BEST! I'm so glad my kids let me put theirs together this year. It was so much fun. Last night we went to a Halloween event at the school and took the costumes for a test drive!

Doesn't he look freaky?! For Noah's Joker costume, I just got a can of the green hair spray $3, a tray of halloween make-up $1 at the Dollar Tree, and some purple fabric dye $2. The rest of the stuff we had at home. We dyed a cream colored blazer that didn't really fit anyone and it took super well. Costume Total: $6

For Presley's spider costume we got two pairs of men's dress socks from the dollar store $2, filled those us with all the grocery bags I needed to recycle, and made the cool legs! I used safety pins like crazy so I didn't have to sew. We got some wiggly eyes at Michael's for $2 and the black beanie from the dollar store $1. Total for whole costume: $5

Charlie wanted make up like Noah so we made him a dead pirate. We had the pirate accessories in our dress up bin from Disney World (thanks grandma and grandpa!). I just cut the bottom of some old pants to make him a look more authentic. That idea came from my brilliant friend Kate and her little guy's costume. Charlie's costume Total $0. Priceless!!

Then I wore Presley's over sized vampire dress. Ha! I'm a geek, but I love getting into the spirit of the season. Pres later wanted her face painted black! She looked hilarious!

Then here's another shot of Charlie in our neighborhood. It was 80 degrees yesterday and the colors were amazing! Today it's back to the high 50's, but it's still so pretty outside.

Note: giant bag of snacks :) Pirate's booty, Argh!

Grass

My mom had the cutest corny sense of humor. She would say "spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the flowers is!"

We got these cute little grass pots at Enrichment the other night. I think I'll tie a ribbon around one and give it to my neighbor as a little Easter gift. These little grass pots are such a great decor addition. You just get potting soil and wheat grass seeds at your local Whole Foods or hippy store, water every day and in one week whalah! So pretty. My friend got these little pots at IKEA for $.29. Can't beat that. The catch, though is that the pots don't have holes in the bottom so the grass won't last too long. You're supposed to cut it off and throw it in your smoothie for some added nutrients!

Crystal Gardens

after one hour

after 24 hours

If you're looking for a rainy day activity for you and the kids, I highly recommend making a crystal garden.

You need:

salt

ammonia

liguid bluing (near the bleach at the grocery store)

a paper towel

clear plastic cup

food coloring

Here's what the bluing looks like. If you just get a bottle of this, the instructions are on the bottle. Or go here.