Sunday, August 16, 2009

Weekend Fun

You know those free helium balloons you get at grocery stores? Well they loose their buoyancy pretty quickly. So what to do with that sad little balloon? Max started holding the string in one hand and hitting the balloon with a Lincoln Log with the other. And then all of the kids wanted in on the action. Max got hit in the cheek almost immediately, so not the safest activity, but still worth trying before popping!

The most enjoyable thing we did this weekend though was Mice on Main. In downtown Greenville there are 9 or 10 bronze mice hidden on Main St between the Hyatt and the Poinsett Hotel. You can get a copy of the clues for free (and a copy of the book for $17.98) at Mast General Store. There are also clues on the Mice on Main website but they're not as specific as the ones from Mast. We had such a fun time looking for the mice. Everyone enjoyed it and since we skipped naptime, the kids were in bed at 7:30!

Our Sunday Surprise:

Lucy surprised me at church this morning by "walking the aisle." She accepted Christ before Christmas 2008 and we'd talked with her about joining the church and being baptized since then. There have been many times when during the week, she tells us that she wants to join and then gets too nervous on Sunday. This week, same story. She got upset when I told her that we were going to be at Grammy's house for the weekend because she wanted to join the church. Well, long story short, we ended up not going to Grammy's and were at church. I remembered during the invitational that she had mentioned joining and asked her. She shook her head no, but I asked her again, and she thought about it for a moment and then told me she did want to go. She started heading down the stairs, but stopped when she saw that Alan and I didn't immediately follow her. Most kids at our church talk to the pastor and then the parents are called up when introductions are made at the end of the service. We ended up walking down with her. Probably not the typical thing. She looked terrified the whole time. When we were walking out of the church, she finally started to get excited about it. She wants to get baptized immediately. We'll see when that happens.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Airplane Zip-line


Last week, I had two little boys (and their older siblings and moms) over for a playdate. I wanted to have an activity planned just in case. I found this great idea on Family Fun's website and decided to give it a go.

Easy concept: Attach a paperclip to the top of a toy airplane and send it down a length of fishing line. The official name is "Front Yard Flight School," but we did this activity indoors. The directions also say to tape the paperclip that has been unfolded into an "s" shape onto the plane but I used a hot glue gun. Although the glue pops off of the plane when it is dropped hard, it also means that the plane does not always have to be used for this activity. We had lots of fun with this one and even the older kids got into it.

A girl friendly version is to use fairies instead of airplanes. Lucy's 4" Tinkerbell doll had a ribbon loop on the back making attaching a paperclip a snap...or clip.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Back to School Countdown

My oldest Lucy will be headed to kindergarten in a few short weeks. We didn't go the preschool route, so she's really excited about starting school and a little nervous. To help count down the days until that first day of school, I took advantage of the great sales on school supplies that are out there. I spent a grand total of $1 for this easy little countdown.

Supplies:

Pencils (as many as there are days left until school starts)
Jar/can/anything that will hold pencils
Pencil Box

Directions:

Put unsharpened pencils in a jar. Every night before bed, sharpen a pencil and place it in the pencil box.

That's it. If you need a little more decoration, tie a bright bow around the jar. Or maybe even some marbles in the bottom. The possibilities are endless.

Got any other countdown ideas?

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Finger Puppet Theater

I love the cute little finger puppets in boutique toy stores. But I never really knew how to get my kids to play with them. Enter the Finger Puppet Theater. This crazy easy craft gives little ones some direction.

Supplies:

Cereal Box (the bigger the better)
Scissors
Finger Puppets (IKEA has 10 for <$5)

Directions:

1) Take out the bag of cereal. Shake out box into the trash.
2) Cut off top flaps with scissors.
3) Turn box upside down and decide where the window should go.
4) Poke hole in the center of planned rectangle. From the center, cut out a rectangular hole for the puppets to rise up to.
5) Hand it to your child and cheerfully exclaim that it's a finger puppet theater.

For those of you who have time on your hands and craft supplies a plenty, you can cover the box with paper or even fabric, make curtains, and interchangeable backgrounds.

For an educational twist for gradeschoolers, have them write out their plays before they act them out.