It's summer and for us that means time at home...all together! We LOVE it but I have to make sure my son doesn't watch tv and/or play video games all day long. Believe me, if allowed, he WOULD!
So, I try to make sure to give my kiddos plenty of things at their fingertips to encourage them. We made homemade sidewalk paint yesterday, today we are baking miniature fruit pizzas. We have something NEW to do/try for almost each day. Since I keep kiddos in my home (other people's kiddos for some extra cash), it means that we don't go running around, go swimming anywhere, ETC. That means that we find all the fun we need...here at home!

I decided I needed a little help keeping my kids encouraged. This is what I came up with. We are only 3 days in and it is working WONDERFULLY!
(Caleb wants to make sure you know that he DID earn 4 the first day, we forgot to check "read" after he read at bedtime...) :0)

Each category has a minimum time limit...30 minutes. That seems like enough time that they truly get going...for example....if there was no time limit and my son wanted to check off "create" then he would probably take the easy way and just make a quick card for a friend with paper/crayons/markers. That's not what I had in mind for "create" SO I knew I needed a time minimum. It works wonders! Caleb has stretched his thinking and come up with some CUTE things! Yesterday he made a "summer snowman"...out of my leftover styrofoam balls...the snowman was made with a puddle at the bottom and parts falling off of him (melting). Today caleb used colored craft sticks and space stickers to make "the solar system"!!! This is with NO suggestions from me! YEA!
Here are some flowers Georgia made....

For learning, the kids can work on anything...practice handwriting, do some pages from a workbook, read from the computer (guided), etc. Yesterday Caleb wanted to learn about insects (his favorite topic). He wanted to learn about "the most deadly insects, the most venomous insects, and the largest insects". So I googled it, saved the websites...and let him read all about it! I watched some of it with him and quizzed him after.

The exercising one is great for the minimum...it keeps playing as just playing and not exercising. They can't call playing on the trampoline exercise when it only lasts 15 minutes. Yesterday they both wanted to check off exercise so we took a family walk/bike ride for 30 minutes. It was wonderful!

Oh...the after part....my kiddos don't get their check over the category unless they: tell me about what they learned/read/etc. AND cleaned up any mess they may have made in the process. :0)

Another great part...it makes ME be more involved...less computer time for me and more interacting with the kids! That's ALWAYS a good thing!

I haven't decided on the "prizes" yet and I told them that I will pick the prize. It won't always be buying something...it may be going to get ice cream together or a special outing to a new park...

My new tip #2:
Here is my new found friend for limiting.......rubberbands! My kids can go through 8 plastic cups a day each of allowed. (one of the downfalls to all of your cups looking the exact same!) It was driving me crazy! SO, I grabbed some rubberbands. Caleb's is the thick one, Georgia's is the thin one. Each morning I grab a clean cup and put the rubber bands on them. Those are the cups they are to use ALL DAY! If they want something to drink they have to find their cup with the rubber band! I can't tell you how easy this is and how EXTREMELY WELL it is working! WOOOHOOO!

What are you doing differently for the summer? :0)

You are going to LOVE this summertime project! It's super easy and super fun! (and turns out GREAT!). And who doesn't love to tie dye?....this time without any rubberbands or buckets full of dye!

I first saw this here and knew I had to try it. My son's field day was coming up so I thought that would be a perfect time to give it a try (although we will be making more at our "First day of summer party" later in June!....we'll do more colors on those). So I decided to do just one color, his school color. I let my neighbor know that I would be happy to make some for her kiddos too.

This is what I did:
got the shirts wet and wrung them out
twisted them and put them in the jar (I thought this was kinda' hard, they kept untwisting when I would try to put them in the jar...turns out that's ok! All of mine that were super tight twisted had too much white on them!)

As you are putting them in the jar, sprinkle some dye on the fabric. There is no rhyme or reason to it, just pour a bit in and around on each layer of fabric.

I used Tulip dye. I thought it would be a pain because it requires salt BUT it wasn't! While you are working on the shirts, have a pot of water on the stove, heat it up and add the salt to the water. I didn't do exact measurements, I just added a bunch of salt (more than the directions said because I had more water than what they said...)

Once you layer twisted shirt and powder dye all the way to the top, pack it in pretty good..you don't want things super loose.

Then pour the hot salty water in and fill up the jar. Put the lids on tight and put them out in the sun for at least 3 hours.

Then I rinsed them off in my driveway with the hose, brought them in and threw them in the washing machine. Dried em and that was it! :0) They turned out great!

After that I knew I wanted to make a stencil and paint something on the back of the shirts. I had high expectations of elaborate wording (much like the jar I made for Caleb's teacher). I used freezer paper and my SD and gave it a try....six times...!!! AHHH! it was horrible. Little letters were a nightmare. SO I decided to go simple....a huge pawprint. It was VERY easy and worked wonderfully. I ironed the stencil onto the shirts, painted with fabric paint, and pulled the stencil off. Super easy and quick.

I think they turned out pretty good and the kids loved em'. It was my first time doing freezer paper stenciling and it won't be my last!

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I was so excited to do this project! I made a really simple frame in February but it didn't turn out great. I was ready to give etching another chance.
I grabbed some contact paper I already had on hand and a jar I already had as well (I bought a few the last time I went to Ikea) :0) I wanted to make something special for Caleb's teacher.
Here it is!
I used my Silhouette SD and cut out the name of the school and the paw print. Then I put the contact paper on the jar. It was a bit tricky...curved items aren't nearly as easy as something flat. I actually made two of these..the first one turned out OK but had quite a few little places where I didn't work hard enough to get the creases out. There is NO WAY you're going to get the contact paper completely flat but the goal is to get out as many creases/folds as you can that are connected to an open area.
(this photo is taken before I finished working on it...you have to get out more folds than that and don't forget to put little pieces back in...like inside the "e" I just forgot to take another photo later)
Then paint on LOTS of the etching cream.
let it sit for 5 minutes
Scrape the cream back into the bottle (just with my sponge brush..most of it...I didn't try to get all of it, just some...the cream isn't cheap!)
Rub off all the cream under regular running tap water.
When it's all off, peel off the contact paper.
Clean it with glass cleaner.
***the first time I did this I didn't think it had worked! I thought I was rubbing it all off!...until it dried and then I saw it! hee hee hee***

Voila!

I made the jar and two little glasses for "pens" and "pencils". I added a bit of ribbon, then filled them all (forgot to take pictures of the glasses filled). the jar was filled with cookies made especially for her with her favorite candy, the glasses with...well...pens and pencils!

**the glasses were adorable square glasses, they were a nice size, and SUPER thick/heavy..yet they came from the DOLLAR STORE!!!! YEA!

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Here is another idea for a teacher gift...this one for your child's main teacher. My previous post here showed the ones I made for my child's enrichment teachers. This is the one that I made for my son's teacher a couple of weeks ago for Teacher Appreciation. I love how it turned out and I think she did too!
It's super easy.

I got a large jar...I got this one months ago at Ikea but they have ones like it at Hobby Lobby and Michael's (and don't forget...Hobby Lobby has glassware on sale half off right now!). I found this adorable label for the top here....isn't it wonderful when people share their talents! She has some other ADORABLE ones too, absolutely perfect! YEA! I simply printed it out on my printer, cut it out, and then modpodged it to the top of the jar!

then I checked at the school to see if they had lists for the teacher's "favorites"...these are usually in a binder at the front office of most schools. They did so that made it even better! I found out her favorite candy, favorite drink, and the best places to get her a gift card.
That's what I used to fill the jar. (the coke can is one of those miniature ones, super adorable and it fit wonderfully!)

I added some ribbon (regular ribbon, not gift wrap) and some beads to make it a little cuter.

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I am having so much fun making teacher gifts! These are for my son's enrichment teachers... Spanish, Music, PE, Art, and Librarian. I wanted something nice but affordable.

This is how it happened:
Hobby Lobby has glassware on sale (they do this week too! Until June 4th!) so I grabbed some of these ADORABLE jars! I thought I was going to use baby food jars but when I saw these, I couldn't resist. On sale for only $1 each made it even sweeter! :0)

next I measured the top of the jar. I used my Silhouette to cut out a circle and a pawprint that I thought would fit on top. I first cut them out on regular white paper to make sure the size was right. You don't have to use a Silhouette..you can trace something the right size (such as a little cup, the lid itself...) and print out a pawprint and then trace that. :0)

Once I knew they were the right size, I loaded the yellow/gold cardstock into my silhouette and had it cut out enough circles.
I modpodged the circles to the tops of the jars. I let it dry and did a couple more layers of modpodge.

Then I cut the pawprints out of blue vinyl. (the school colors are blue and gold) I simply placed those on top.

I also cut out blue circles (a bit smaller than the ones for the lids) and yellow/gold tags that say "Just for you".

I modpodged those together and did a few coats of modpodge. After they dried I wrote "Thank you for a great year! Love,...." on the back of each one.

A few strands of curling ribbon and some M&Ms and they were finished!
I LOVE how they turned out!

Cost breakdown:
$1 jar
$1 worth of M&Ms (I got the party size bag for $7, filled all 5 jars and still have some left)
approx. .75 cents in paper and vinyl...(vinyl being the most expensive part but I got mine with a coupon for half off)

around $2.75 each
Super sweet!
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Sometimes it takes me a while to post things....like this time. :0) Here are some little crafts I made for Mother's Day for the kiddos I keep during the week.

They are both super simple and could be made for Father's Day!

The first one is a bucket of love. I simply traced the little boy's hand (which wasn't easy... he's only 8 months old and did NOT want me to trace his hand) and then cut it out. I used that to trace a bunch more in various colors. Then I taped them to long skewers...they were green ones, I think they are actually some sort of garden stakes. I cut a piece of foam (just the cheap white kind...not floral foam) and put it in the bottom of the bucket. I pushed the stakes in, cutting them to various heights, until I thought it looked ok. I simply used stickers I already had on hand to make the "i love you" on the front. You could put anything there. Then you could attach a cute note that said "A bucket of love"...or whatever you wanted. :0)
(sorry for the horrible photo, I forgot to take one until I was on the way to deliver it!)

The second one is one of my all time favorite things to do. It is super easy and I think they are beautiful! For this one, I let the older son (he's 3) paint a plain frame. (Be sure to remove the glass first!) I got it at Michael's for $3 (I think)... We just used kid's washable tempera paint...nothing fancy. After he was finished I took it outside to spray paint a few coats of clear lacquer on it to protect it and give it a finished look. I had previously traced his and his brother's hand-print onto regular white cardstock. Now that I knew what colors the frame was, I chose two coordinating papers from my paper stash. I traced their hand-prints onto the cardstock and cut them out. I used another piece of cardstock for the background and taped it all down. (You can't really tell in the photo, it was a pearly white cardstock for the background, really added some sparkle). Then I simply wrote their names and Mother's Day on it.

i think it turned out GREAT! :0) The Mom has it in her kitchen in a beautiful black picture stand and it looks really nice!

Thanks for stopping by!
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There are some things that are wonderful about your kids getting older...one that I am recently experiencing is their ability to help clean...really clean. My kids have always been responsible for cleaning their room (that usually meant picking up all toys, dirty clothes, etc) and cleaning their "area" such as the table after eating or craft table after creating.
NOW though they can do so much more!

They still have to do their basics and we don't give any sort of allowance
BUT I'm ok with offering $ for doing "extras" if they want.
Caleb's new choice for earning money is cleaning up the "mess" that the dogs leave in the backyard. This is my LEAST FAVORITE CHORE ever so I happily give him a few bucks each time he does it (which is on Saturdays).
Georgia is not so fond of that chore so she wanted to do something else. I decided to have her clean the bathroom (heck, if you're going to find extra chores for your kiddos AND pay them to do it, it may as well be the ones you like least RIGHT?) :0)

It was actually really fun to truly teach her how to CLEAN a bathroom, really clean it.
She did a great job too! She learned to take everything off the counters first then clean the counters and sink, then clean the mirrors, the toilet next, and be sure to empty the trash.



We didn't go as far as mopping the floor or cleaning the tub but I was thrilled with how well she did! :0) It was wonderful!
The fact that she enjoyed it too is a bonus.
and it only cost me A BUCK!

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(I look forward to them being able to really fold clothes...I may love my laundry room now but I still despise laundry!)