My kids love to help me in the kitchen. Lately, I’ve been letting them take turns helping with meal preparations. It’s a little more messy and takes me twice as long, but I’m learning to let it go. I want them to enjoy cooking when they’re older and I think having them in there more is a good start. Last weekend, Jacks and I created this cookbook together. It’s made from brown lunch bags and has pockets for storing his favorite recipes. I’m sharing the full tutorial today on at I Heart Nap Time. Go check it out!
Savannah and Annie Were Here…
I stockpile craft supplies! I used to keep them put up, out of their reach. I didn’t want them to waste anything or make a monster of a mess. But, if they are not within their reach, then they are not being used. After a while, it seemed pretty pointless to keep everything up, when it was for them in the first place. So, I brought it all down, where they can easily access it. They are free to do anything they want, so long as it isn’t damaging and they clean up their mess. A lot of it does get wasted..like all this tape. Eventually, it’s just going to make it’s way to the garbage. And you know what? That’s fine with me. It wasn’t doing anything sitting way up on a shelf. They had fun and they weren’t fighting with each other. If an hour of peace costs me a few rolls of tape, I’ll take it!
Live Shelling on Sanibel Island…
We hit the jackpot last night when we went to Sanibel Island. There was a full moon and the tide was extremely low. It made perfect conditions for live shelling. I’ve never seen so many!
Sanibel is renowned for shelling. We have buckets of them we have collected over the years. But, I’ve never seen as many live shells as I did last night. It was amazing! The tide went back and you could walk out a good way and still only be ankle deep. They were everywhere. It was like a giant touch tank. The kids were having the best time picking up the shells and seeing what creature would expose itself. They didn’t want to leave, so we didn’t, until well after sunset.
We came home with several dead sandollars and a bunch of other shells. Somehow, two of the tiniest little guys made it home hidden amongst our loot. It’s against the law to remove any of the live shells from the beach, which is why I’m pretty sure my foot was impaled with the pointiest shell ever as we were leaving. Ouch!
Paper Bag Mushroom Bouquet…
In preparation for Father’s Day, we made a mushroom bouquet for Daddy, because he’s a fungi. Get it? He’s a “fun guy”…hahahaha! I’m not sure my kids could really appreciate the play on words, but they laughed anyway. Sweet babies. This was the simplest of projects and required minimal supplies. Savannah and Annie especially loved painting the mushrooms. I think they painted about 5 each. They picked their favorites and we tied off the bouquet with a card for Daddy. Who says bouquets are just for Mother’s Day? He’ll love it!
You’ll need:
Brown lunch bags
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Tag or small card
Instructions:
Open brown lunch bag and turn upside down.
Gather the bag just under the bottom to form your cap.
Begin twisting bag to make the stalk.
Fold the four corners under to finish the cap.
Have fun and paint the mushrooms.
Tie a simple tag to your bouquet.
The Tree Lady…
Growing up, I was never particularly outdoorsy or truly appreciated nature the way my kids do. Especially, Savannah. She’s never been big into baby dolls, barbie dolls, or princesses. Except for this tree doll I made her a couple of weeks ago, she doesn’t really have any dolls. There might be a couple lying around here, but she never gives them a second look. She has River Otter, her pride and joy, but no dolls to speak of. She would much rather be in the garden collecting snails and leaves. I just love that about her.
The other day, I was ordering books for our upcoming school year and I stumbled onto The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever
Savannah, my very own tree lady, is smitten with Kate Sessions and what she accomplished. She’s also tickled they share the name, Kate. It’s a wonderful, inspiring book for little nature lovers!
We Made Postcards…
In our homeschool, one of our daily subjects is copywork. I usually prepare a sentence from a book we are reading and the kids have to copy it as best they can. It allows them to practice their penmanship and grammar. It’s definitely not their favorite thing to do. Today on I Heart Nap Time, I’m sharing a fun way to keep in touch with friends and family over the summer months with kid made postcards. I also love, that my kids are utilizing their writing skills that we have practiced all year, but in a way they can get excited about it. Sneaky! Get the full details here.
My Budding Photographer…
Last Christmas we got the kids this camera. It’s virtually kid proof and it does videos. Before they had their own camera, they were always hijacking my phone. I got tired of deleting hundreds of pictures of the floor and the top half of Annie’s head. Jacks has really taken to photography lately. He loves setting up scenes with his Legos. He’ll disappear for hours taking pictures and making movies with his Lego cars.
We went to the beach for Memorial Day and we always come home with shells. We have a huge 5 gallon bucket full of shells from previous beach trips and vacations. Every now and then, he’ll ask to get the shells and he’ll spend hours categorizing them by likeness, then dump them back in the bucket. I snapped the top picture of him taking pictures of his shells he brought home that day. The bottom picture is the one he took with his camera.
I love that he has found a little hobby all his own!
Annie Was Here…
I was having a day this week. Lucky for me, I’ve got three kids at the ready to sketch me out. Geez, I’m looking really strung out these days, thank you Annie. I have a stack of mean mommy drawings. I’m saving them up to make a picture book….of which I’ll be the star, because there are no Mean Daddy pictures. Jacks wanted me to tell him which one of them is the most annoying…in number order. Sweet boy…you all annoy me equally.
Of course, I always feel bad when I lose it. Lately, I’ve been walking out to the garage and screaming into a pile of beach towels. I’m trying to be more patient, but sometimes it just spills out of me before I can get a grip. I’m so glad I’ll have these pictures to look back on and remember what fun I used to be!
We Made a Tree Doll…
Those times when you are so busy, you don’t know how you’ll ever fit it all in. Then suddenly, you’re days free up a little, since homeschool is finished…but not really. You still have 3 kids to entertain and you find yourself with even less time than before. That’s my life right now. And of my 3 kids, Savannah requires constant entertainment. So, I recruited her the other day and we whipped up this little tree doll together.
At first I was going to make a tree pillow, because Savannah, my little nature girl loves trees and anything outdoorsy. Actually, all my kids do. But, I was feeling jazzy so I added arms. Savannah quickly asked, where are the eyes? I told her, don’t be silly, trees don’t have eyes!
She painted some fabric and “carved” her initials into the tree. Love her little backwards S! I did some detail stitching and sewed all the pieces together. She helped stuff and then I closed up the opening in the trunk. She loves it and has affectionately named him, Tree. I love that she helped make him!
Simplify: Family Card Journal…
I am still working hard to simplify things around here. I am a purger by nature. The purging wheel is constantly cranking at my house. My husband doesn’t get why I have to constantly weed through his things (in secret of course). It’s like it just calls to me…Krisha…throw me away…Goodwill me. Don’t hate me…hate the disease, I say. However, despite this overwhelming need to rid my house of extra, I have sentiment when it comes to cards, letters, or handmade gifts from my babies. I still have a file folder full of notes and cards from my best friend. I love reminding her how dramatic she was back in High School. I even have a fax from her, because faxing was all the rage in the day. It’s on thermal paper, so the writing has faded over the years and I can barely read the words. Yet, I still have it. I have saved all my babies birthday cards. They keep special ones from their Gigi and Papa in their drawers. I have an Aunt, who has never forgotten a birthday, an anniversary, a holiday since I was a child. She has carried on the tradition for my kids. They love getting her cards. I have many cards from my husband, that were so eloquently written by the card designer and he thoughtfully signed it Love, Chris. Even those will stay. They could all pile high as the sky and I’d never throw them away. Never. 
So when a friend posted this on her Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, I was immediately smitten with the idea of having all my Mother’s Day cards contained in one place. I much prefer a homemade card to store bought card. I loved this idea so much, I thought, why not make this a family card journal? With 5 birthdays in the house to celebrate, plus special holidays like Mother’s Day, there are always cards floating around. I thought it would be great to pass the book around on these special days and make cards within the pages of our family card journal. We could make a collective card or separate ones. When one journal fills up, make another, and another. Different volumes of family card journals to look back through…on days when you are feeling nostalgic. I don’t just love this. I luuuuuuurve this! 
I bought a plain kraft journal and had Savannah decorate the front with her artwork for our first family card journal. That’s me on the cover next to a giant cherry tree, under the bright blue sky. See how happy I am? That’s because, I no longer have to stuff cards and papers into drawers!