When I explain this idea to people they look at me like I am absolutely crazy… Then I go on to tell them that it kept my boys busy for quite some time…  Here you go, here is a sneak peak….

Water painting…  Here is the scoop… I just asked for a cup of water and let them go to town… It didn’t make a mess, they didn’t spill it was awesome…

THE CATCH:  So what do you do with their wet art?   First off, I tried to convince them to keep working on one picture rather than doing multiple…  I then just collected their papers and held them in my lap.  I figured this was more about “process” than product and so I just pilled the pics one on top of each other (yes  I stacked them) and by the end of the flight they could have cared less where their pictures were… I tossed them in the flight attendants garbage bag and called it a day.

THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE CATCH:  If you know your child would want to bring their picture home, just pack a gallon size bag in your carry on and stick the pictures in it after they are complete…

I promise it was a great way to keep them busy!  Happy Flying!

Last year I had a student who did one of the nicest things for me at the end of the first week of school!  She drew me a “fancy” picture (it is Kindergarten) and her mom wrote a little note saying something like “Thanks for making the first week of school so special” and then they attached a package of M&M’s (how they knew they were my favorite, I’m not sure).  It was nothing expensive or extravagant, but it was really thoughtful.  The first week(s) of school can be really stressful on a teacher for so many reasons. We’re trying to get the room ready, learn new curriculum, attend a ton of meetings, make copies, meet families, OH AND make the children feel welcome and learn all about them (the part we enjoy the most)!  A thoughtful little note really made my week!  Maybe you can make the week of a teacher you know, as well…   M & M’s not required, but teachers do love treats!

I know that packing a lunch can cause a bit of an eye roll for most moms out there… I also know that school lunches can cause an even bigger eye bulge.  Here is snapshot of a website a friend shared with me that might help!  There is a link on the site to “lunch ideas” that is fabulous.  It shows pictures of creative & healthy alternatives for packed lunches…  There are all sorts of fun links on this site, check it out! www.easylunchboxes.com

As you may or may not know, my husband is a professional photographer (as a side gig)…  I take care of much of the administrative side of booking his shoots etc…  I have noticed that a lot of people are trying to squeeze in family photos, senior photos, photos of their children, etc.. all before school starts and time becomes thin… All before they forget and get taken away by the craziness of fall…  All so they make sure they have their picture taken before it’s time to order holiday cards…  Even with a photographer in the family, we feel these same stresses.  We have very few family pictures together because my hubby is always behind the camera.  We don’t even really have that many pictures of our kids because, to be honest, we forget the camera most times!  Well, this past week we had an “impromptu” photo shoot… So impromptu in fact that our boys are wearing their grubbies…  I guess it just goes to show, it’s not about what you are wearing (which I do get asked all the time, what should we wear???) it’s really about catching a glimpse into our hearts… I love these pictures because they capture the essence of who my boys are… You can see their JOY ring out… That is, in my opinion, what makes a picture OUTSTANDING… Being able to see your true selves in them…

Photos by Ben Dodds

www.bendodds.com

The family and I were headed to the lake one morning when off in the distance we could see this ball of various colors floating slowly upwards in the sky…  My boys immediately asked, WHAT IS THAT?  We told them that it was a HOT AIR BALLOON and they were utterly confused… My husband, being the spontaneous man that he is, decided to take a detour and headed straight for the balloon which was popping in and out of our vision.  We finally caught up to the vessel as the suspense in the car thickened…  Much to our surprise we were able to talk with one of the owners who was following the balloon as it prepared to land.  My photog hubby snapped some awesome pics of the balloon and we got to see it descend right in front of us, pretty cool… As you can imagine, two small boys found this AMAZING so we decided to make our own H.A.B at home…  Here you go…

For the Balloon you will need;  1 inch squares of tissue paper, white construction paper, spray bottle with water, string or ribbon, black construction paper, white crayon

DIRECTIONS

1.  Cut out a balloon shape from white construction paper

2.  Cut out 1 inch squares of various colors of tissue paper…

3.  Have the artist (my 3 & 4 year olds) place the squares of tissue on top of the construction paper trying to cover all of the white… It’s OK if the tissue paper overlaps.

4.  Fill a spray bottle with water…  Have the artist spray the tissue paper/construction paper with the squirter..  THIS WAS FUN!  Try to have them hold the bottle 6 or more inches from the tissue so that the tissue doesn’t slide around on you…

5.  Let the tissue dry and then it will just fall right off and you will have a beautiful balloon (I think butterflies, flowers etc.. would be fun to do this way, as well)

6.  Cut out a “basket” and decorate it as you see fit… The balloon was the fun part for us so I just let them do what ever with the basket.  I added ribbon and now they hang proudly on our wall of art!

This summer one of my favorite outings has been to watch “The Okee Dokee Brothers” at the Centennial Lakes Pavilion in Edina.  We joined some of our BFF’s there with picnic in hand.  We ate, danced, clapped and sang our way through lunch.  The adults burned some calories with belly laughs as we looked on at our preschoolers dancing their little hearts out.  Centennial Lakes offers children’s concerts on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at noon.  Click HERE for a schedule of upcoming concerts.  Staring Lake Park in Eden Prairie has an Amphitheater that also offers children’s concerts on Tuesday’s at 10:30am.  Click HERE for a schedule of upcoming concerts and events.  Huber Park in Shakopee also occasionally offers children’s concerts in the evenings.  Click HERE for a schedule of tthose events (tonight the Okee Dokee Brothers are there at 7pm).  I am sure there are concerts offered in your areas, as well.  These are just the ones I found close to the our city!

My friend Jen was asking me for some fun drink recipes as she is hosting party this month… I was looking through some old recipes and this was one I found that I remember being pretty fond of…  I am not sure where I got the original recipe, sorry!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups 1/2-inch Cubes Watermelon ( I just balled them)
• 12  Mint Leaves
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 6 Tablespoons  Lime Juice
• 6 ounces, Light Rum

To Make:

Place watermelon cubes in a blender. Blend until smooth.

In a small pitcher, combine fresh mint leaves, sugar, and fresh lime juice. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, muddle the ingredients together, but not until the leaves fall apart. Pour rum and the watermelon puree into the pitcher and stir gently.  YUMMY…  I am going to have to make these “rum free” so I too can enjoy a fun summer beverage!

OH and I also heard a recipe on the radio where you blend watermelon cubes with lemonade for a fresh spin on lemonade…  I have not tried this, but I think it sounds awesome!

This morning we continued the tradition of attending the Edina 4th of July Parade… I thought it would be cute if the boys made hats to wear this weekend to all of the many “patriotic” events we are attending…  We also made them for our little friends and believe me the four of them got almost more attention than the parade.  I don’t think it was because of the hats, but rather their cute little selves…

Directions:

You will need red, white or blue construction paper, stickers, markers, tape or staples.  For each hat I used a sheet of 12×18.  I cut a 2 inch strip off length wise of each of the papers to use as an “extender” to fit around their heads.  I then cut one inch strips of “grass” down each of the papers until I had about 2 inches to go (for the headband)…  I then added the extender and let the kids do the rest…  I had some glittery letter stickers that I let them stick on for their names and then I flipped the paper over and let them put the star stickers on the other side (only so that when the grassy strips fell down you could see the stars…  For some reason wording this description is a lot harder than it actually was.  You can probably tell exactly what I did by looking at the pictures!  I did make the littlest peanut a “Frilly” hat by cutting zig zag strips instead of straight… Once the kids are wearing them you can fold the strips down so they dangle a little.  It was windy today so ours were kind of blowing in the wind, which was pretty cute too!  Have fun and happy 4th!

This is a project that so many people know about, but if you have not done it I highly suggest it, it was so much fun…  All you need is some sort of sticky food (peanut butter, sun butter, almond butter, honey etc..) some birdseed, string or twine and some time to get messy…

Step 1:  Tie string or twine to a pine cone and/or a bagel (through the middle)…

Step 2:  Spread peanut butter, sun butter, almond butter or honey on a pine cone or bagel.  Make sure to take a few “licks” for yourself…

Step 3:  Sprinkle the bagel/pine cone with birdseed and hang it in your favorite tree…

Step 4:  Stand back and watch for birds…

We are officially on summer vacation and we thought we’d kick of our first week with a bird theme…

Here is my plan…

Monday:  Paint a birdhouse for father’s day…  I bought one of those wooden bird houses and let the boys go to town on painting it…   I let them each paint one side and one of them painted the front and the other the back.  I think the birds are going to love us after this week!

Tuesday:  We take a class at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (little pea pods class, amazing) and this week the theme was MUD.  I figured I could work birds into mud somehow and save myself an extra project for one day!  We made mud pies filled will all sorts of things birds love during class!  SO, on our way home we talked about how birds use all sorts of sticks, leaves, mulch and MUD to make their nests…  We thought we’d leave our mud pies outside and see if the birds want to borrow any of our “supplies” for their nests (genius right, now no mud in the house)… I think it takes a brave mom or dad to make mud pies at home, but I promise my kids LOVED it… I was just lucky enough to get to do it away from home!

Wednesday:  Homemade Birdfeeders

Bagels, Pinecones, Sticky Food (Peanut Butter, Sun Butter, Almond Butter, Honey, etc..), birdseed, twine..