Quiet game

I saw this idea for a matching game on toddler boredom busters a year or more ago, and finally got around to making it.  It was virtually free, since I nabbed the paint samples from Lowes, and I had clothes pins lying around (ok, I did have to go buy some more from the dollar store because I packed mine, but I did have them, and it could have been free).  I took it to church and it kept Brighton busy for a time.  If your toddler isn't a ping pong ball, it would probably work for longer.  It was pretty, nonetheless.  It got me wanting to paint a room or two. 

When spring is slow to come

...make your own.  After finishing my Easter mantle, I knew I needed something tall and springy to add to it.  However, we are still in winter.  I remember seeing tissue paper cherry blossoms somewhere once, and wanted to make my own.  I found this online tutorial and made my own.  I love them!  They almost look real, and were so cheap.  I bought tissue paper at Walmart for $1, and had the branches at home.  Can't beat a buck!

Here's a close up.  They really were so easy to do; I completed them while watching a movie one night.

H is for hats and hyacinth

Continuing on in working through the letters of Brighton's name, we studied the letter H this week.  We had cousins visiting, so we included them too.  We talked about hats and what each is used for.

Then we made some of our own hats.  Flower crowns for the girls... 

...and bowler hats for the boys.  Don't you just love the deer-in-the-headlights look on Brighton's face??!

The next day we made handprint hyacinth pictures. 

Another activity we did, which I didn't get photos of, was to "heart attack" the girls' rooms.  We made their beds and tidied their rooms and put cut out hearts all over their walls.  It was fun for them to find them at bedtime.  Don't we all need a small surprise from time to time?

The last thing we did was a Hawaiian dinner.  We were supposed to learn to hula as well, but it didn't happen.  I've never tried Hawaiian recipes before, but I found one I LOVE!  And it's SO easy.  If you like kahlua pork, you'll love it.  I'll share it with you so you can fall in love with it too.

Oven roasted kahlua pork

3 pound pork roast

2 c water

1 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 c kosher salt

Combine water and liquid smoke.  Place roast in crock pot (or roasting pan if you want to cook it in the oven) and pour water/smoke over it.  Sprinkle with salt and cover.  Cook for 6 hours on low (3 hours at 400 degrees in the oven).  Shred with a fork and serve over rice.  So good!!

E is for effort

Last month Irelynd was in the 3rd grade spelling bee.  She placed first in her class, and competed in the school bee.  She made it to round 2, when an unexpectedly hard word knocked her out, but we are so proud of her for making it to the competition!  Great work Irelynd!

She was awarded a certificate and chocolate bar for her participation.  She was even nice and shared it with all of us.  Even Harry Potter knows chocolate makes one feel better when faced with disappointment:) 

Grandma L. even came down for it.

Growing up

It seems like just yesterday that Savannah was reading this

But now she's reading this:

I'm excited to be able to share with her some of my favorite books, but I do wish she wouldn't grow up so fast {sigh}.

G is for gold

In finishing up our G week, we did our pot of gold activity today for Mommy Preschool.  I took 2 paper plates and a black pipe cleaner and we made pots.  They are supposed to be painted, but that was too scary with 2 2 year olds, so we just colored them with black crayon.  Here's the instructions for it. 

Then I hid some "gold" in another room (the foil from gold chocolate coins, leftover from St. Patty's day), and Rolos.  The kids took their "pots" and looked for gold to fill it with.  We did the activity 3 times before they lost interest. 

Easter mantle

With the end of St. Patty's day, I am on to the next holiday!  Next up: Easter.  Unfortunately, I packed all my holiday decorations from Easter on, so I have to get creative.  My mother-in-law will probably recognize several of her items here from around her house.  Thanks for the use of them, JoAnne!  I LOVE your spring pillow, by the way!  It's still not complete; I need some spring blooms, but as there are none as of yet, I will be making my own.  I'm going to attempt Japanese cherry blossoms.  But I love having a low mantel to decorate!  It's so fun!  I may have to pack some holiday decorations in my emergency supply stuff, or life just won't be worth living!

Samuel the Lamanite

Our ward did a primary activity last weekend.  It was so cute!  They had different scripture heroes come and tell the kids about their lives.  The kids were allowed to dress up too as their own hero.  Irelynd dressed up as Mary, but I didn't get a picture of her before she stripped it off.  Brighton insisted on dressing up before he'd stay at the church.  We threw together a very quick, 5-minute costume for Samuel the Lamanite, who Brighton named as his favorite character.  We were surprised; we haven't talked about him since Christmas time.  He originally chose Nephi, but changed to this.  I think he made a cute Samuel.  That expression is so Rambo-ish, dontcha think?

G is for green grass and golf

We studied G this week, which made me happy, since "green day" fell this week.  We didn't make it through all the intended activities, as Brighton was happier outside helping his dad build a swing set than inside learning letters with Mom.  We did manage to do 2 activities though.  The first day we talked about grass, and made a grass guy, planting grass seed for his hair, when it comes up.  Waverly made a girl.  Keaton dumped them both out when he woke up from his nap before defacing Brighton's guy.

The next day I set up an outside golf course for him.  He putted 3 holes and wasn't a pro, so he got frusterated with it and gave up.  Too bad, cause I thought it was fun!  Savannah came home just in time and played with me instead.  Here's just a few of our "holes".

We used plastic baseballs and bats.

I had a fun activity planned for "garden" and "gold", but didn't get to them.  Maybe I'll squish them in next week before we move on to "h".

Round-up of St. Patty's day

Here's what we did for St. Patrick's day this year:

I found this idea for handprint leprechauns on Tip Junkie's site, though they looked a lot better than ours; I think the heads are too small.  Here's Keaton's 

Waverly's 

And Brighton's.

We also made leprechaun traps.  This time Brighton participated, though I may have done a little more than him.  I copied this hat idea from Family Fun, just miniaturizing it to fit around a hot chocolate can.  It turned out cute!  Unfortunately the little green men found a way out again, drat!  But they did leave behind some gold chocolate coins for Brighton, and a gold dollar each for the girls. 

Savannah's trap was copied from one we saw on the web. 

The bait was 2 shiny pennies, glued to a diving board kind of thing.  Too bad for us, though, Brighton left his "fishing pole" close by and the little guy pulled himself out with the rope. 

And this was Irelynd's.  She used our pot of gold to lure him in.  Like the antennae?  I'm not sure what function these were used for.  I'm sure she would though.

I packed the girls each a green lunch.  Savannah got a ham and cheese wrap on a spinach tortilla, and Irelynd a PB&J in the shape of a shamrock.

I went the easy route this year and did cold cereal instead of the green-tinted hot breakfast.  My kids have a hard time with green eggs:) 

Ok, I earned mega Mom brownie points for this one.  I bought a green shirt for Savannah and Waverly last year at Target when they went on clearance (expecting to find one for Ireynd, too, later).  Well, the older girls grew more over the past year than I expected, so Irelynd got the green shirt.  I hate to pay full price for a holiday tee, so I took a plain white shirt of Savannah's and embellished it.  I found this perfect green ribbon in my supply box and made roses from it, which I attached to her shirt.  I was so happy that it worked!  Thanks Sallie, for the ribbon, and the inspiration!

Here's the close up.  It was fast and relatively easy, once I got the technique down, but kept me up til 2am regardless.  If I'd had time, I would have liked to embellish the centers with white beads.

Those pesky leprechauns stacked cups, chairs, and created a train with Winnie, Minnie, and the Easter Bunny.

As per tradition, we had a green dinner.  This year we all wore hats, or green leis.

I almost had everyone smiling.  Brighton was in a royally bad mood before dinner, so I was doing well just to get him to sit for the photo.  The girls chose to wear their leis like crowns.

Keaton was lucky and got the silly headband. 

We had Thai cilantro chicken, broccoli, beans, green grapes, green lime punch, and green jello.  I made Irish soda bread, but it didn't cook in time.

I even got Scott to wear a hat for a short time. 

After dinner, we played the shamrock game.  I was very inspired by the Super Mommy blog this year, and she had this as an idea.  Check her blog out; it's full of amazing ideas.  I took 25 green plastic coins, and numbered them 1-5 (so there was 5 of each number, one per child).  Then I got 5 paper bags and numbered them 1-5.  In each I put 5 of something.  The categories were fruit, gum, mints, candy, and juice boxes.  I found all green items to go in the bags.  I hid the coins in the living room, and then called the kids in to find them.  They each found 5, and could choose a prize out of the bag that corresponded with the number on the coins.  The Super Mommy explains it better.  It was a fun activity that even the twins could do.

For dessert we had grasshopper pie: oreo crumb crust, hot fudge layer, mint ice cream, drizzled hot fudge on top.  Mmmmmmm!  No wonder I'm getting so fat lately!

Another fun idea that we stole from the Super Mommy and did today was a green bubble bath.  I turned the water green for the little one's morning bath.  {It did not turn the kids green, if you're wondering!}  The girls also found gold coins hidden in the drawers and cupboards this morning when they went to put away the dishes.  And the tricky leprechaun turned our toilet water and milk green, too!  I made a treat bag for Scott, too, filled with cheesy lines and green candy.  Can't forget the hubby!

I love this holiday, maybe because there aren't any heavy expectations like there is for Christmas.  And how easy it is to celebrate, armed with little more than a bottle of green food coloring!  Erin go braugh!