Handymen

We have had this nice desk for awhile sitting in our basement. We couldn't use it because Steve's long legs didn't fit under the drawer that was in the middle.

Look at the awesome idea I had...

take the drawer off!

of course, I, myself would not could not knock a drawer out.

Luckily I have 2 dashing men who like to make my ideas a reality.

sponge paint

Sadly, Jonas is back at school today. However since Adylynn is just starting spring break I figure it is ok to keep sharing how we spend breaks around here.

Sponge painting with fun Easter shapes!

See the medal? He got that at basketball and wore it most of the week. He is very proud of that medal.

DYE TIME!

I am giving you the finished eggs and mess first! We had fun. Aunt Shel came over to color with us and (re)taught us how to tye-dye eggs.

Jaden and Daddy stuck to solid colors.

Jonas made some pretty solid colored eggs, but he prefers tye-dying. It is really easy to do. Just wrap a coffee filter around an egg and then dip a spoon into the color you want, let it drop off the spoon onto the egg. You can unwrap and reposition the egg until you get the look you want.

Adylynn like to tye-dye too. She, officially, ate the first Easter egg this morning.

There was a family picture here but something happened in transfer. Not that anyone wants to see me but it was a semi-ok picture so I figured I would share it. DARN!
I'm not sure how crazy this post is going to look. My blogger seems screwy and I don't have time to screw with it.

Art

Art by Jonas

"That's the farmer and his wife!" Steve eyes wide with amazement.


I don't know if there is a future in original artwork by Jonas Rigney but at 6 years old he can sure make one heck of a knock off! What do you think it would go for on the black art market?

She can write

This is probably one of those things that only a mother can make out BUT if you strain your eyes you can make it out. We made birthday cards for Aunt Shel's birthday last week. Adylynn was able to write "Aunt Shel" on the envelope, she only needed help with the S.

Trimming the Tree

We got our FAKE(GAG!) tree put up Saturday. As in the previous years we always do it with Jonas home but this year I realized that for him to truly enjoy the tree we really need to put up earlier. We decorated Saturday night, he went home after lunch on Sunday and won't be back until after Christmas.
The tree will remain up until he gets here to open his presents and have "Christmas morning" with us. This year he got special attention in trimming the tree. Ady slept through most of it, Jaden didn't care, I was unwrapping our treasures, and Steve was...hmm...I don't remember what the Awesome Hubby was doing but that left Jonas to hang 3/4 of the decorations himself.

He strung the bead garland. I know it doesn't look like much but he really put a lot of thought into which branches to use.

With the exception of the angel topper and 4 glass ornaments this is as high as the ornaments go.

After Ady woke up she did help in decorating. She likes to cluster decorate. She also likes to have the ornament friends near each other so they don't miss each other. There are several character and animal ornaments that are facing each other so they can talk.

The finished product!

~*~ Check the walls behind the tree! That is "Bayfront Palm" the most wonderful color of green EVER! More to come on the living room, after it is officially done. Lots more pictures and lots more to talk about!

SAVE ME! THERE ARE SPIDERS IN MY WINDOW!

EEK! Spiders in the window! 3 big huge long legged, big eyed SPIDERS! WE ARE CALLING THE BUG MAN IN THE MORNING! Wait a second. I think I recognize those spiders. Yeah. They look like the work of:
ADYLYNN

JADEN

JONAS

aren't they the cutest spiders ever!
We bought mini pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Painted them brown or black or both, glued on some googly eyes, and stuck in some pipe cleaners for legs. It was fun, and messy. Here are some pictures of the kids painting the pumpkins

Ok I have now shared every picture of last Saturday with you. It took all week but I am finally done and will be back next week with good long lengthy wordy posts, maybe...

More festivities from the weekend

since Steve had the pumpkin carving taken care of I was free to make potato soup and get to work on the pumpkin seeds. A pretty messy task! I am beginning to dislike this annual tradition.

This year the recipe I used called for butter, salt, and garlic. Roasting seeds in 300degree oven, for 30-40 mins, turning occasionally.

I must say they turned out much better than previous years. They are nice, golden brown and have just the right amount of flavoring on them. Much to Steve's protest I decided not to bake every single seed from each pumpkin. I am very glad I did too. As it is we still have a baggie full. He forgot to take some to his parents. He has only taken them to work once this week(and he didn't share them) I did remember to give some to Lana and Aunt Shel but have since forgotten to eat any myself. We can't seem to manage the 2 cups of seeds I did make, can you imagine if I had made all the seeds.
Oh...the soup was delicious! That is a different story entirely but I am curious of what base/broth you use or thought of when I said potato soup. I am finding there are lots of varieties of potato soup. Most people either LOVE it or HATE it. I assure you mine is perfectly wonderful! AND deserves love.

Jack O Lantern by Ady

Ady scooping out her pumpkin guts. She had fun with the pumpkin but is still alittle young to do as much as Jonas. She told me what kind of a face she wanted, I drew it on and carved it out. The entire time I was carving she colored her orange pumpkin green with a washable marker.

Here is the finished product! Yeah the eyebrows were totally her idea. Wierdo! Hopefully this green and orange jack-o-lantern, in need of a waxing, will stay happy until Halloween.

Fall Nature Collage

Materials:
glue
large fall pattern
nature items
bag for collecting

This is the bag Ady used on her field trip to collect some nature goodies

Spread nature items out for everyone to see. Using a paper plate helps catch leave crumbles.

Make copies of fall pattern on construction paper or card stock.

Everyone's favorite part---GLUE TIME!

The First of Many

Ady had her first field trip yesterday! I have a sinus infection so Aunt Shel went with her in place of me. I was sort of disappointed in myself for having to skip out but I was feeling really blah. There will be other trips.

They went on a nature hunt

explored the bark on a tree

enjoyed the view of the lake from a fishing area

played at the playground

Ady really enjoyed herself. She brought home a bag of nature goodies for us to make a collage with today. She loves school so much but I have been noticing some weird habits since starting this year. She is very bossy while playing school at home. She is also very mouthy about EVERYTHING. She didn't do this last year but she was still shy. This year she has already has a best friend and doesn't want/need me to walk her in and kiss her goodbye:(


*back of head pictures to protect the innocent...idea stolen from one of my favorite blogs The Cheaty Monkey. She just had a new baby boy on Sunday September 23rd! Congrats to Haley, her husband, and especially the Monkey, she will be a great big sister!

My husband thinks he's funny with his dumbass comments--I'LL SHOW HIM!!!

The kids had a great time playing with shaving cream today-and if it wasn't for Steve's comment on my last post I would be sharing more of the details but now I am just in it for revenge.

If you were ever wondering why I stay home and Steve works HERE IS YOUR ANSWER

The mess may be more than he can handle but I imagine Jaden wouldn't have gone 2 days with glue in his hair.

Valentine time!!!

Paper Plate Turkeys

What you need:
paper plates
brown paint(or mix your own)
paintbrushes
craft feathers
glue
turkey heads


What you do:
Paint front of plate brown
allow to dry---


color and cut out turkey face---

After plate is dry
glue feathers to the top edge of plate (semi circle)
glue on turkey head.

GOBBLE! GOBBLE!

















This is the finished product.

Thanks to Steve for thinking of these cute birds:)

Paper Plate Pilgrims

We made these cute pilgrims last week. It was really easy and the entire craft took about 20 mins, including mixing the skin colored paint. Ady followed the directions perfectly and did a great job glueing the pilgrim pieces in the right areas, even if they were upside down.

Ady learning her letters

Adylynn is learning her letters. She has been able to tell me O and W for awhile but she can spell her name completely and when she sees an A she asked "Is that my name?" We were doing "homework" Tuesday night and had to do the page with the Little Mermaid on it. She did a great job on her F making. When I first showed her how to make anuppercase F she said "That is REALLY COOL"

Handprint Turkeys

Jaden enjoyed finger painting. I haven't decided what I am going to do with these little turkeys, yet. I was able to get 2 GOOD handprints from the 4 we made:)

Tent Fun

When I was a kid my tents would be held up with chairs, book, clothespins, and any item we could find that might help us hold the sheet down. Nobody ever suggested that I use I fitted sheet. It took 2 mins. to get the kids tent up and the corners of the fitted sheet fit snugly on the rounded backs of the card table chairs. The middle was kind of saggy but when you are making a tent for kids who are 4 feet and under that really isn't an issue:) 

Bat Mobiles

The kids made these cute little bats this afternoon. I attached them to some string and hangers to make mobiles. They are very cute hanging in the toy room.

What you need:
Construction paper(blue,black,purple)
googley eyes(optional)
markers,crayons
tape
string
wire hanger
stickers(optional)

What you do:
Cut out bat shapes ahead of time
allow children to decorate bats
tape string to bat then tie on wire hanger.


Very easy craft to do with little ones. Jonas really enjoyed using glow-in-the-dark stickers on the bats. Be Creative! You could use glitter, buttons, sequins, etc...on the bats.