Oh the wonderful things you can make with......

Oh the wonderful things you can make with......
(February 2010)


This week we continued our homemade crafts! I got the coolest video from our local library called "50 Greatest Kid Concoctions". If you haven't rented or seen this video and you have a toddler you need to really go out right now and get it! We picked some of the coolest crafts to make this week, and will be continuing the homemade concoctions in the weeks to come! These are a few of our favorites (and very easiest) crafts!

Oh the wonderful things you can make with.....

KOOL-AID!!!

As any parent of a toddler might know, they love lip balm....my little guy seems to think that his lips are always chapped and that to apply this savior of lip moisture he must take his finger and dig out the tasty treat and slather it all over his lips/mouth/face! This although cute, can become expensive! So why not homemade lip balm! Here is the recipe!

Drink Mix Lip Balm
2 TBS of vegetable shortening, melted
stir in one package of any flavor kool-aid!
Pour into a small container and allow to harden!

Awesome lip balm!!!


The next thing we made with kool-aid was fruity play dough.
My little guy loves play dough and although it isn't expensive and I don't really have to make it at home, I thought this would be a great change in our play routine, plus Jacob loves to help me in the kitchen! Here is the recipe!

Fruity Play Dough
2 1/4 cups flour
4 TBS cooking oil
2 TBS kool-aid (about 2 packets)
1 cup salt
1 cup water
(you will need some extra dusting flour to knead after mixing all ingredients, I also added a little food coloring to make my colors more vibrant)



the final project we made with kool-aid was scratch and sniff paints! This one is really great because it makes a paint that is the consistency of water colors, but when it drys it smells nice, Jacob loved this one! Here is the recipe!

Scratch and Sniff Paint
1 TBS warm water
1 TBS kool-aid (about one package)
mix together, and that is it!!! Pretty simple!!!


Next week we will be making...."Oh the wonderful things you can make with....."

GLUE!!!

Seriously, those are AWESOME....just wait and see!!!

Snow coma!

Snow coma!!
(2/16/10)


Well we are two weeks since the two blizzards of 2010 and we are still digging out! Unfortunately we live in the boonies back a 2 mile DIRT road and we had a few days of strong winds that decided to blow 4 and 6 ft snow drifts over our road and yard. So what do you do when you have 6ft snow drifts you may ask???? Well you make a SNOW FORT!!!! Jacobs cousins came over and they even ate their lunch and drank hot cocoa out in the fort. It was too windy for a roof (we had a tarp but couldn't secure it good enough). The last picture is Jacob succumbing to the snow coma after getting some food and warm cocoa in his tummy! We had to wake him up and take him inside for a very loooonnnngggg nap!

We finally got out a few days ago and have been out every day since!!!! I can't stand anymore days at home so all of our crafts and projects have been put on hold until I can stand staying in my house again!!!

By the way, this is how we finally got out of our house!!!! We had to call in the big guns, the plow on the family tractor just couldn't make a dent in all the snow and the drifts! So luckily a neighbor farmer had a tractor with an 8ft snow blower on it!







In addition to this post, check to the right under blog archive and read all of the "Snow" posts. Titles "Enough Already", "Enough Already - AGAIN!", "SNOW-Mageddeon", "How to survive cabin fever with a toddler" and finally "How to survive cabin fever with a toddler - Part 2".

Cabin fever with a toddler - Part 2!

Cabin Fever with a toddler - Part 2!!!
(2/12/10)

Well we have been stuck in the house for exactly 7 days now (one week) and I have to say that I am about to go insane. In one week we got 43" of snow....now to put that into perspective for everyone the average counter top height in a kitchen is 36" so go stand next to your counter and imagine the snow being 7" taller than that!!!!! Add to that the gusting winds and 6ft+ snow drifts and the fact that I live in the boonies down a 2 mile DIRT road that the state seems to always forget about I don't think I will be getting out into civilization until at least Sunday!

Luckily I stocked up on craft supplies before the snow, so Jacob and I have been able to make a few things. Some of the crafts are from the "The Toddler Busy Book" and some are from my head, and then of course some are from other blogs that I read. Here are a few of the successes that we have found!

The snow is waaaay too high for Jacob to play in so why not bring the snow indoors! He played for an hour and a half with this snow, and is currently playing with another batch of "sink snow" while I sit here and type this post!



Jacob just loved the contact paper craft we did a few days ago so thought of something new! I took a paper plate and cut a heart shape out of the middle of it. I then took a square of contact paper and stuck it to the underside of the plate so that the sticky part was facing up. Then Jacob took red/white colored sugar and red/white sprinkles and put them on the sticky contact paper. Once he was done, he colored the outside edges with his paint pens and then I put another square of contact paper over the exposed sprinkles so that they wouldn't fall off. It makes for a great suncatcher!!
This next idea is a combo of two or three different ideas that I have gotten from all over the place including the book mentioned above and from other blogs. This is Jacobs treasure box. I went to the local warehouse shopping center and bought a 10lb bag of rice, went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of small "treasures" and voila!! You have yourself a treasure box. Now please keep in mind if you do this to put this box on a sheet or something to catch the mess! I turned this into a learning game as well. We are working on our colors so the other day I made a piece of paper with the color purple on it and it was Jacob's goal to find all of the purple balls and put them on the paper! It worked pretty good, and I bought these balls in 5 different colors so will be able to do this color paper project many more times!


Finally I got this idea from another blog (and for the life of me can't find the link for it, sorry!) but this was done using a pack of $.99 cent wooden beads and a $.99 heart ice cube tray from Target. Jacob uses a big spoon to scoop the balls from the bowl into each of the openings in the tray. It took him awhile to get the hang of it, but it is building his patience and fine motor skills!

Last but not least, does any toddler NOT love a box fort! Need I say more???

Snow-mageddon!

Snow-mageddon
(2/10/10)


So we are in the middle of our third Nor'Easter since December 20th. We got 33.5" of snow last weekend, and woke up to Blizzard conditions and another 4-8 inches of snow with final total predictions of 8-14" inches of snow. There is another system that could possibly come and hit us on Monday...I will see you all in August!

How to survive cabin fever with a toddler!!!!

Cabin Fever!!!
(2/8/10)

So we have officially been stuck in our house for 4 days now and although that doesn't seem that bad, add a 2 1/2 year old to the mix and WOW!!!

So I have been checking out all of the other blogs that I read for ideas and I have also been reading through a book that another blog mom suggested (The Toddlers Busy Book) and there are some great ideas of cheap and free things to do with a kid from 1.5-3 year old range. Here are a few things we have done to keep our sanity!

By the way....they are calling for 8-10 inches tomorrow night into Wednesday and we aren't plowed out from the last one yet!!! OH BROTHER!!!

So one of the things in the "Toddler Busy Book" was to "Paint the Snow"....Jacob just loved this. He ended up having Green, Red, and Blue colored water but Mommy was too cold to stay out with him, plus his little brother woke up from his nap so I only got this one pic of his coloring the snow green! This was just food coloring and water in a spray bottle...cheap and he LOVED IT!


Next we made a Valentines Day craft. A lot of the other Mom's blogs that I read (in the left column) have been making Valentine Sun Catchers. They are made by taking clear contact paper in which you cut out into the shape of a heart and then you get your toddler to rip up pieces of tissue paper. I taped the heart onto the window and Jacob stuck all of the pieces of tissue paper onto the sticky side of the contact paper. You then take another piece of contact paper cut into a heart and "sandwich" it together. I had to trim up the edges, and then you get the below picture!


Is there a toddler alive that doesn't love to play in the water? I think Jacob has played in the kitchen sink every single day that we have been snowed in, and it looks like we are going to get snowed in for a few more days! Luckily I have the "learning tower" that allows him to safely stand at the sink and not fall.

The final craft we did this weekend was to paint on the windows. I had bought some window chalk from the store last week, but the "Busy Toddler Book" gives directions on how to make your own window paint. I of course painted this little beauty as a way to remind myself that soon we will be able to go outside and not freeze to death! This evening I am going to wash this off and let Jacob continue to scribble all over the door with the paint!

Of course in addition to these things we have read a lot of books, watched cartoons, and played with toys!

Enough Already......AGAIN!

Enough Already....AGAIN!
(2/6/10)

So I woke up this morning to 25 inches of snow and still about 8+ hours of the storm left to come through!!! HOLY MACKEREL! I think we are going to hit 30 inches of snow with this storm! Considering that Jacob is on 39.5 inches tall....if we would put him out in the snow it would come to his shoulders!!! CRAZY!!!!!!


***Update at 5pm, we are done with the snow and the unofficial total from my house is 33.5 inches of snow.......so I will revise my original post and say that it would now come up to Jacobs mouth if he went out and stood in the snow....and there are drifts that would completely cover him!!!!

Enough already!

Enough Already!
(2/5/10)

Well we are just starting the SECOND blizzard in less than 2 months, and I have to say that although I LOVE LOVE LOVE snow, I think this just might be too much. We had 22 inches back right before Christmas, 3 inches last Saturday, and 5.5 inches on Tuesday. Now we are in the bulls eye for this next Nor'easter with between 20-30 inches of snow! I will keep you posted, I think Jacob is going to LOVE this! It is going to be a heavy wet snow which means AWESOME snowmen and snowball fights! Lets just hope the power stays on and we can keep warm. I battled everyone else yesterday at the stores stocking up on all of the necessities and "not so necessary" food items! Hmmmmm.....I think some chocolate is calling my name......I will report back soon!

Current shot at 2:30 pm EST: