Archive | August, 2011

Sidewalk Birthday Card

23 Aug

 

Simple, Sweet, Sneaky, Silly and Spontaneous!  Today it was our neighbor birthday…    We spontaneously decided to make him a birthday card….  SO we tiptoed over to his house and quickly drew him one on his sidewalk!  The boys loved the tip-toe part!  When we were done we pushed his doorbell about a million (or maybe 4) times and ran as fast as we could… We stood around the corner and watched as Mr. Peter and his little girls came to the door!  They had very big SMILES on their faces and my boys were giggling up a storm.  Of course we had to reveal ourselves, which was like a mini surprise party with a loud HAPPY BIRTHDAY attached to it!  If you are ever in a bind for a quick birthday card, try sidewalk chalk!

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Penguins at the ZOO!

22 Aug

I’m not sure about you, but my boys L-O-V-E the Zoo… We are actually members of the zoo because it basically pays for itself in two visits.  They love the zoo!  I love watching them learn about new eating habits, ask questions, and laugh at funny animal bums.

At our zoo we have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the penguin exhibit.  We would come in the winter and see the construction signs with the cute little snowy creatures featured all over them.  The exhibit finally opened this summer and with all of our traveling we just now got there!

My boys were beyond excited… Asking things like “do we need to wear or winter coats, did they fly on a cold airplane, will they be sliding on their bellies?”  They went as far as to learn some facts about penguins and share them with everyone they know…  So we finally made it to the zoo, twice in the past week, in fact!  AND we saw the penguins…  A couple of surprises.  #1, the exhibit is about an eighth of the size that I assumed it would be with all that construction.  #2, it’s tiny in there, #3 and the best of all…  THEY ARE AFRICAN PENGUINS, SO THERE IS NO SNOW… HAHAHAHAHAHAAHA  They are in the sand and water… swimming and playing and looking all cute, but there is no snow.  There is no need for our winter clothes.  They probably came over on a heated jet. They do not slide on their bellies.  They do not  throw snowballs…. BUT, My boys loved them!  They don’t care that there is no snow, they don’t care that the exhibit is small.  They Loved them… They loved that they could climb on rocks to see them, they loved that they swim up and down, they loved that the penguins followed their feet as they kicked them up and down…  Moral of the story…  Sometimes our expectations let us down as adults, but as kids, they just learn to see the good in everything.  A good lesson to learn….  so go out and see the penguins!  

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Published….

18 Aug

Mommyapolis had a couple ideas published in an online ebook called,  Classroom Party Guide, Fun Ideas for the Whole Year!   The book is exactly that, fun ideas for special occasions.  There is an idea or two for each month of the school year and Mommyapolis is featured in December!   I feel very honored to be included in this book!  I think this book is a fantastic resource for mommy’s, teachers, room parents, and classroom volunteers.  If you’d like to check it out, click here :  http://www.volunteerspot.com/ebooks/ClassParty     Thank you Amy from Teach Mama for suggesting us for this book!

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Adorable Back to School Ideas, NOT FROM ME….

17 Aug

As I spend my nap time today checking out some blogs,  I am just shocked at the amount of AMAZINGLY talented people out there…  I mean amazing… One blog that I stumbled upon today (via Oopsey Daisy) is called Brown Paper Packages… She has some WAY CUTE things for Back to School.  Here are some examples… I’m hoping to do one or two of these with my boys for their teachers.  I’ll let you know how they turn out…

Please check out her site, it’s adorable! I mean really adorable!

The Icky Sticky Frog

10 Aug

What can I say, I’m a sucker for Frogs… Even our nursery is “frog” themed…   I love them, well kind of… I love pretend frogs :)…  But being the mommy of boys I think I better learn to love the real kind too… Lately we’ve seen a ton of little frogs and toads out and about in our lawn!  The other night we were sitting on a friend’s deck around 10:00pm and all of a sudden my husband screamed and flailed and jumped and squirmed all at the same time.  Come to find out a frog had jumped on his shoulder…  It must have been on the table umbrella, roof or tree in order to land where it did, but it did provide us with a few giggles on Ben’s behalf!

I figured that since we’ve seen so many frogs around and about we might as well do a frog project!  We’ve had this book for some time and really love it… It’s simple, sweet and a little bit silly!  I think you’ll enjoy it too… I noticed it’s priced under $5.00 at Amazon if you are interested!  It’s called The Icky Sticky Frog, by Dawn Bently  The book features a frog with googly eyes and a long sticky tongue that stretches out from the cover…  There is a cute little surprise ending that your kiddos are certain to love!

I also found the book on the  Moving Picture Books website for $0.99 if you want to download it and watch it that way… Either way, it’s adorable!

You don’t have to have the book to enjoy this craft, however…   There are a couple variations so choose what is best for your family…

Here’s what you’ll need…

Green Construction Paper for the hands, feet, and eyes

Paper Plate (you can either use a green paper plate or paint the plate green) for the body

Red Construction Paper or party horn for the tongue

Googly Eyes or white paper for the eyes

Glue

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Paint both sides of the paper plate…

  

2.  Cut out some hands, feet and eyes (if desired) from the green construction paper

3.  Once both sides of the plate have dried, fold the plate in half….

4.  Glue on the hands and feet and eyes (either google right to the top of the paper plate or eye buds)


5.  Cut a strip of red paper and roll it around your finger or a pencil to make it “curl”

6.  Glue the tongue to the inside of the plate…

7.  TADA  your frog is complete… My boys were running all around the house trying to “snap” bugs up with their tongues.  I think maybe we should make some bugs for them to eat!

***** You could even research frog facts and write them on a small piece of paper and put them inside your frogs…

RIBIT  RIBIT RIBIT…

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Cloth Diapering

4 Aug

Do any of you use cloth diapers?  We used cloth with our older two boys for a couple months and then I went back to work.  With S Brother #3 we’ve done a much better job using them and we actually like it…  I think I’ve even converted my husband over to cloth…  Needless to say I think that using cloth diapers is a big step and if it were not for my good friend Jen I probably wouldn’t be so “pro” diapering.  She taught me how to wash, get out stains, dry and keep my diapers… I think having her support really has helped me learn and grow more comfortable with cloth…   We have even started using cloth swim diapers!   So I’m wondering if any of you use cloth???  If you do use cloth, what kind do you use?  We are currently using Gro Via, Fuzzibunz, and Charlie Banana…  I have friends who love Bum Genius, Thirsties, and Kissaluvs.  What do you wash with?  We use Bio-Clean to get out stains and we use Rockin’ Green and Country Save detergent.  We never use bleach, never use dish detergent, dry them in the sun or in the dryer and wash them every other day…  We use disposable liners (sometimes) and I still put him to bed in a disposable diaper (just incase)…  We have not had any issues with leaking (we did have leaking issues with my first born, but we were using Dreft and I’m sure that is why).  Really they are great… If you are considering cloth and you have more questions I’d be happy to answer them…  They have saved us some money and we feel we’re helping the environment a bit too…  Let me know your thoughts…..

Check out Mommyapolis on Oopsey Daisy….

2 Aug

The boys (Ben helped too) and I made a fun little back to school project for a fellow mommy blogger… You can see the post on Oopsey Daisy’s Blog……  Here is the link….    http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2011/08/apple-lollipops-mommyapolis.html

A Hidden Gem…

1 Aug


Our family values time together more than anything. Both Ben and I must have “time spent” in our top five Love Languages… One way that we try to exercise our time spent is by taking summer vacations. This summer we decided to take a ROAD TRIP to Michigan. Ben was shooting a wedding in a tiny little town called Northport and the boys and I decided to tag along. Our final destination was about 13 hours from home (this traveling with a 5,4 and 8 month old) and really it was not that bad at all… We piled everyone in the MINI VAN and off we went. We made our trip out here up through the UP of Michigan, which was amazingly beautiful… We drove about 6.5 hours to a little town that just happened to have a hotel with a water park (of course this was planned). We arrived safely in our resting spot of Traverse City the next afternoon and have been enjoying Lake Michigan ever since. This area really is a hidden gem. The water looks like you are deep in the caribbean and the little towns are adorable. We’ve ventured to several beaches, parks, and restaurants. We’ve had our share of homemade ice cream, fudge, and pizza (all things I love to get “local” while on vacation). Whether you venture an hour away or 13 hours from home, time spent is a wonderful way to create memories and strengthen your family bond… We are going to have some great pictures to put in our summer memory books when we get home!

PS… This is at the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes…. A workout on the way up and a tumble of a time on the way down!  FUN FUN FUN…..

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