Tropical Beach Day in the Winter

Last week I posted about having a fun snow day. But you might be sick of the snow and dreaming about a warm tropical beach. I know I am! My parents are leaving tomorrow on an 18-day cruise to Hawaii. Here are some fun activities you can do if you are snowed in and dreaming of an island adventure. Choose a few of these activities the next time you and your kids are about to kill each other with cabin fever.

1. Decorate for the Sun. Lay out lots of beach towels and a beach chair or two.

2. Wear your best beach attire. Dig out the shorts and swimsuits. Crank up the thermostat. (Just don't tell Dad!)

3. Put on some Beach Boys Music and have a dance party!

4. Take some pictures pretending to surf on the couch, the kitchen table or the chair!

5. Paint in the Bathtub while wearing your swimsuit

Bathtub Painting with a recipe from the Artful Parent.

6. Decorate some sunglasses

Here is a tutorial with free printables: Make some sunglasses


7. Make a sun catcher

Sun catcher with Crayon Shavings from Buggy and Buddy!


8. Eat some summer fun food

(Don't you just love those flip flops! It looks like they are made with sandwich cookies, frosting, licorice rope or fruit roll ups along with an M&M or Skittle in the middle.)


9. Make a tropical smoothie and stick a little paper umbrella in it for added fun!

Here is a great recipe: Fruit Smoothie




10. Read a summer book. Here are a few of my favorites.

11. Watch a summer movie. Here are some great choices. I particularly like Sandlot and The Original Parent Trap!

Or have you seen this classic?

12. Play Beach Volleyball by putting up some string across the living room and getting on your hands and knees in position for a crab walk. To play, kick the beach ball over the string with your feet.

Pin It

Super Hero Capes for a Cause

I saw this activity in Family Fun magazine around Christmas time. But things were crazy and I knew there was no way to fit this in during December. It is, however, the perfect activity to shake those January Blues.

Family Fun has partnered with Craft Hope and Enchanted Makeovers to bring super hero capes to children living in homeless shelters. They want to empower children to believe in the hero in themselves, to believe that they can rise above their circumstances and change the course of their lives. I love this philosophy and wanted to have my elementary school class participate in this service project.

Each cape cost about $5.00 to make and took about 45 minutes to an hour. It is the perfect project to do with a cub scout troop or an Activity Days group or for family night. I know the kids in the homeless shelter will love their capes because my students WERE CRAZY ABOUT THEM!

They had to put on the capes and run around the school. They were so proud of the finished product. There is no sewing involved so it is something that anyone can do.

The Deadline to mail the capes is January 31, 2014. Here is all the information that you need about the project.
Craft Hope: Super Hero Capes
Here is a super tutorial about making the capes.
Simple Instructions for Making Your Capes. We did the iron-in emblems with our class.

We made 12 Capes. I purchased 1 yard 3/4 of each color knit fabric and was able to get four capes out of each piece. *Note this is a little different from the instructions to buy 1 yard of fabric in the tutorial above. Buying one yard would have resulted in wasted fabric as you cut the cape down to 27 inches by 30 inches.

First cut the pre-washed fabric.

Then use fabric glue to create a casing for the drawstring ribbon.

While that drys, cut your emblem out of fusible web material. Then peel off the back and iron the fusible web onto the back side of the fabric you want to use. I purchased some fat quarters for our emblem designs.

Peel off the other side of the fusible web and iron it to your cape. Gather the cape and glue the cape to the ribbon. Then attach some self-adhesive velcro fasteners.

You are done! Now watch the powers of these capes in action before you send them off with your love and good wishes for success. I can't wait to see how many capes are collected by Craft Hope. I love joining with others to make even a small difference in the world.

 

Pin It

Super Fun Snow Day

Whether or not school actually gets cancelled, you need to plan a snow day with your kids. Pull them out of school if you need to and spend the day learning and playing in the snow together. *I'm a teacher. I can't believe I said that!!

Here are some ideas to get you started.


Watch this amazing TED Talk by Paul Nicklen. You will die laughing as you watch this huge leopard seal try to feed Paul some penguins. My students loved it!

Then test out your own Blubber Glove to see how seals and other mammals survive in Arctic temperatures. All you need is some shortening, some ziplock bags and duct tape. We had so much fun trying this experiment out.
Steve Spangler Science Blubber Gloves

Cut some snowflakes. This is such a great skill to reinforce small motor development.
How to Cut Snowflakes

Make some snowmen snacks.
Olaf the Snowman 

Frosty the Bagel

Defrosty the Snowman

Read a snowman book.
Snowmen at Play

Snowmen at Night

Share some Calvin and Hobbs snowmen comics. These are our favorites. My brother-in-law and his kids even created their own snowman crossing this Christmas!

Calvin and Hobbs Snow Art Gallery

Try out some snowman jokes.
Snowman Jokes

What do you get when you cross Frosty with a baker?
Frosty the Dough-man!

Play out in the snow.
Snow Fun

Have an indoor snowball fight.

Indoor Snowball Fight Kit

Snuggle with some Hot Cocoa.

Hot Cocoa Bar

Pin It

Ronald McDonald House

One of our Christmas Traditions is to serve dinner at the Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City. We do this in honor of my husband's sister Sabrina. She spent many months at the Ronald McDonald House in Portland during her childhood. Her birthday is December 23rd so we do this every year in her name. The first time we went, the amazing staff took us on a tour of the facility and I watched tears stream down my husband's face. Even though this wasn't the building that Sabrina called home for so much of her life, he could picture her in every room.

This year we didn't manage to get onto the calendar until January 3rd. We bundled up our grocery supplies and headed to Salt Lake about 4:30 in the afternoon. You can fix anything you want for the residents but the food must be cooked in their kitchens and it needs to be ready by 6 p.m. All of us rushed around the kitchen, cooking together. Then the residents began to arrive. We met so many sweet young couples with babies in the NICU at Primary Children's Hospital. One beautiful family from Ireland was there with their young son who had heart problems. I spoke with one Aunt who was there with her teenager niece. She had gone into a diabetic coma on New Year's Eve and they didn't know if she was going to live through the night. Each of these children and their families have been in our prayers since that day.

If you haven't ever done this before with your family it is an amazing experience. Just check to see if you have a Ronald McDonald house in your city. All I did was go to the Utah Ronald McDonald House website and click on the volunteer button. When that tab opens I have the option of choosing to Adopt-A-Meal. Then I can scan the calendar and see available dates and submit my request for one of the dates available. You can cook breakfast, provide sack lunches or serve dinner.

Within two days I heard back from the meal coordinator and we were good to go. At our Ronald McDonald House we were expected to be prepared to serve up to 50 people. Any age child can come help with the meal but they recommend not more than about 8 people in the kitchen. They provided all the paper products for our meal and the kitchen was well-stocked with every pot, pan and kitchen implement available. It seems like so many volunteer opportunities require that children be at least 16 years old to participate and it is hard to find something that a whole family can do together.
How about making this a new Valentine's Day tradition in your family!

Pin It

New Year's Resolution: More Family Dinners

(Whew! What a crazy week. Good thing I had all the ingredients for these meals on hand. )

Maybe you are like me and want to have more family dinners in 2014. If so,  here are a few of my go-to meals when I am too busy to put an elaborate meal on the table. These dinners come together in 15 minutes or less. They are fantastic for those nights when it is tempting to go get fast food or throw some cereal on the table!

1. Baked Potatoes with Chili and Cheese- Yep! That is all there is to this recipe.

2. French Bread Pizza- Buy the french bread from the grocery store. Save even more time and let your kids top their own!

3. Ultimate Grilled Cheese- This is our copy cat recipe from Cafe Zupas. It is amazing how adding pesto can make you feel like a fantastic mother!
Bread- Cheese- Tomatoes- Pesto- Grill it up and you are done.

4. Big Daddies- This is the name that my kids gave to loaded Quesadillas. You can put anything you want in there. We usually do refried beans, lettuce, tomato and cheese, but heck, try some peanut butter and jelly with cinnamon sugar and it will still feel special!

5. Chicken Chili Quesadillas- This is the only real recipe in the bunch and it is another variation on the Tortilla sandwich mentioned above. I found this recipe in Desperation Dinners and it has been our favorite ever since.

Open two cans of White Meat Chicken. Dump in microwave safe bowl with 1 TBSP chili powder and 1-2 tsps. minced garlic. Heat on high for 5 minutes. Lay 5 tortillas out on cookie sheet. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Top cheese with spicy chicken mixture. Put a second tortilla on top. Do the same for all the tortillas. Cook in a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes until crisp. Cut into wedges and serve with salsa and sour cream.

Pin It

Favorite Posts of 2013

Here are a few of our favorite posts from 2013 that you might have missed.

JANUARY

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall

FEBRUARY

Storming the Castle with a Catapult

MARCH

The Old Grey Cat Activity Song

APRIL

Potty Training in a Day

MAY

Last Day of School QR Code Challenge

JUNE

DIY Souvenir Scrapbook

JULY

Balloon Race Cars

AUGUST

First Day Conversation Snacks

SEPTEMBER

Harry Potter Party Posts

OCTOBER

Top Tips for Doing Disneyland with Little Ones

NOVEMBER

Gratitude Challenge with QR Codes

DECEMBER

Pop Up Christmas Card

Pin It