Pipe Cleaner Friends

Oh, how time flies! I feel like these last few weeks (OK, nearly a month and a half) have gone by in the blink of an eye! We moved. My son started at a new school. We had to trade in our summer ritual of eating a relaxed breakfast in our jammies for clock watching and lunch packing. We packed and unpacked a sea of brown cardboard boxes. And to top it all off I went back to work full time. To say the least it's been nuts!!

BUT, there's always a silver lining in everything. Even though our time was limited, we found a little of it here and there for some fun. One of the things we did was really quite simple, even amongst the moving chaos. I bought some pipe cleaners and pompoms at the store (they actually came all together, even included some googly eyes). And we got creative twisting and turning, gluing and giggling, and came up with some very neat creatures.

The one piece of advice I have for you if you find the same combo pack in the store is this: Directions for how to make the cute animals on the outside of the package are NOT included. I assumed they were, and it wasn't until we got home and I read the small print on the back that stated the pictures were only ideas... one of them even used products that weren't supplied in the pack. :( At least it was only a minor set back, but now I'm a little wiser.

 

Here's what our pile of supplies looked like. We used tacky glue.

 

 

End of Summer Summary

Wow, this summer has been a whirlwind! I can hardly believe that we're preparing for school to start soon, and many of my friends are already posting back to school pictures on their facebook wall. These last couple of weeks have been especially crazy for our family, and that is why I have not posted ideas on the blog. Just two weeks ago we made the decision to move to a new home before the first day of school. So in these last 12 days I have found a new job in a new city, found a house in this new city, and have been quickly saying good bye to all our friends here and packing boxes. The first day of school for my first grader is Monday, so we still have a lot to do in a short amount of time. All creative ideas have been put on the "keep in mind for later basket".

So what have I learned this summer? That summer vacation is not something to be afraid of. Yes, it was exhausting and we're all looking forward to school starting back up. However I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the freedom that the lack of structure gave us these last couple of months. If we didn't have anything planned we took our time getting dressed, ate breakfast on the couch, and enjoyed plenty of laughs being silly while brushing our teeth. These are things that will change in a week. "Stop goofing off and brush those teeth! We have to leave in 2 minutes!"

What does this mean for the future? I've really enjoying writing this blog over the summer. It's been a win-win situation. I liked being accountable to all of you to come with fun activities, my kids have enjoyed all of the cool things we've done, and I've gotten really great feedback from friends who've enjoyed gaining ideas. So I don't want this journey to end. I plan on keeping up with the posts over the school year. But my goal won't be nearly as ambitious. Instead of trying to post daily my goal is to post two to three times per week. That would mean fun Mommy/kid activities on the weekend, and once or twice in the middle of the school week. I think that's realistic for me.

I have really enjoyed the aspect of helping ideas spread, so if you have something you're proud of please feel free to share it on my facebook page, 104 Days of Summer Vacation. Maybe your idea is just what another mom is looking for.

Well, I'm off to pack some more boxes, then head to Target to pick up our school supply list I haven't even touched yet. I hope they still have a small selection of folders to choose from and we're not stuck with the ugly reject folder. ;)

Bead Bracelets

During the school year I was right on top of preparing a fresh and healthy breakfast for the kids every morning. As the summer has progressed on I've gotten more and more lenient about what can be classified as breakfast. Most mornings I've been able to pass off a banana or a bowl of yogurt as this most important meal. (Although I have those dark days too... like the one morning I let the kids open a box of crackers for breakfast.) But this morning I decided to get on top of it again and make a hot meal. Whole wheat pancakes (with white chocolate chips) was the winner.

While I was cooking them up my son busied himself at the table with a container of beads. By the time the kids were done eating and I sat down to eat he had already finished a bracelet.

Here's a tip: If the kids are stringing beads on a thin string (this is a stretchy material) in which it doesn't make sense to tie a knot at the end to keep the beads from falling off, use a piece of tape to hold the end down.

As the day unfolded we ended up going out to Hobby Lobby to get some more beads. My daughter was in heaven! She found seed beads and thought they were just great. She thought they were "shrunken" beads. After looking at small beads, and sparkly beads, and dark beads, and giant beads, and swirly beads, and shiny beads we picked out some that my son wanted to make a torch necklace out of.

We didn't actually have time to finish the torch (we had to run off to the eye doctor). But I'm sure he'll finish it before breakfast is over tomorrow.

Baked Clay Pots

While we were at the fair yesterday, sitting and watching the people doing the pottery demonstration, I mentioned to my son that I think I know how we can make some pots at home. Well, I think that's all he thought about from that moment on, because when we got home last night, as tired as we all were, he asked again and again if we can make pots. I told him we'd talk about it tomorrow.

Well, rise and shine first thing this morning and he's asking me when we can make some pots. I got him to hold off until after breakfast, and after getting dressed, and then I couldn't hold him at ease any longer... the pot making began.

The recipe is really quite simple.
1/2 c salt
1/2 c flour
1/4 c water
I used whole wheat flour so they turned out brown, but if you use white flour you'll have a white "clay".

Mix everything together until it forms a ball.

Shape as desired. We cut out a circle using the top of a scoop.

Then coil some clay snakes around the circle. We smooshed the sides together with our fingers.

Bake at 200 degrees for about 3 hours. The bottoms of our pots were kind of thick so they were a little soft still. We turned them upside down, exposing the soft part, and baked for another hour.

They have a little sparkly look to them when finished. We haven't decided yet if we're going to paint them or not, but chances are good that we will... everything seems to end up painted in this house.

County Fair

It seems like I've made so many outings lately, but there's just so much to do over the summer that it's hard to stay home! And I realized this morning that we hadn't been to the county fair yet, and there aren't that many days left to make the trip.

I piled the kids in the car at around 10am, stopped at the ATM to make sure I had cash just in case I needed it to park (which I did), and about a half hour later was going through the entry gate. I thought we'd only be there for about 2hrs, but there was simply so much to see and do that we didn't leave until over seven hours later!

We saw lots of different animals; in petting zoos, livestock show barns, and educational farm mock ups. By far my sons favorite was the baby pigs. He could have spent the entire seven hours petting those pigs if I let him!

We found a mini circus that had shows every hour and a half, so we had to watch. I was really amazed at the quality of those performers. They had good tricks, were fast paced, and very entertaining. Well done!

We found a pottery wheel demonstration. They even let the kids take a little dollop of clay to shape. Unfortunately they didn't get to keep it, but add this one to the list of things my son wants to learn now.

There was an area that explained how weaving works. They had a large table set up that let you feel how different fur feels from different animals. The other side of the table had tufts of plant based fuzz to feel, like bamboo and hemp. I thought this area was really interesting, I liked how hands on it was.

A guy selling knives was demonstrating how sharp they are by making some really cool vegetable sculptures. I'm going to have to try some of these for myself.

There was an area set up with all sorts of good info for people to grow their own plants at home. There was this really neat picture frame box to make a vertical garden. This is another thing I want to try and make now.

I still can't believe that we stayed there over seven hours! But it was well worth it because we all had fun. My feet ache now, and the kids stayed up way too late, but oh well. That's what summer's for, right?

Neighborhood Bike Ride

Thinking back to when I was a kid I have so many fond memories made on my bicycle. I rode that thing everywhere, it was attached to my hip (ha ha). I'd ride it around town to get from point A to point B. I'd ride it with my family to the park. I'd ride it down to and along the river, and I'd ride it through the country roads where I wouldn't see a car for miles. I even competed in bike rodeos as a child, and still have a trophy I won one year. As a teenager I rode it on weekend bike tours, completing 300 miles in a 3 day weekend, stopping to camp overnight. It was fantastic.

Even now a-days I bike when I can. I've made several trips to the grocery store with the kids in the bike trailer (I can fit three bags of groceries in there along with the kids). And I took my son to school many times this last year riding in the trailer. But I had to stop. He simply got too big for it. And he wasn't a strong enough biker to ride alongside me yet. So you can imagine my excitement this summer when he finally decided to leave his training wheels in the dirt and become a two wheel riding "expert".

He's been practicing hard, and today I felt he was ready to try a "real" bike ride. With my daughter in the trailer, my son on his two wheeler, and my husband next to me on his bike we rode all over the neighborhood. We went passed three different parks, stopping in at one so my Olympian in training could show Dad a trick he can do on one of the play structures. We found a new bike trail, but the sign alerting us of the coyotes made my son nervous. The thought of climbing back up the steep hill that sloped downward at the trail head made me nervous. So we kept to the sidewalk and made our way back home.

It was so much fun. I'm really looking forward to many more family bike rides, and I'm so happy that I'm helping my children build their childhood memories with this kind of summer fun.

Round Cereal Bars Recipe

I'm only human after all. This entire week has slipped past me with out posting our activities! I usually sit down to type after the kids go to bed, but with the Olympics on I've been glued to the TV and have left my computer to sit and collect dust.

Here's a recap of some of the things that happened this week. There was a guys fishing day, where the boys went out to the lake to see what they could catch (which ended up being nothing, but the bonding was good).

While they did that we had a girls day in which we made heart shaped purple cookies, painted our toe nails, played with the princess dolls and watched a girl movie uninterupted by big brother complaining about it.

This week we also went to a street fair and shared a funnel cake, went swimming, rode our bikes, spent even more time at the park, and watched the sun set.

To refuel ourselves today I made a batch of cereal bars. They're kind of like a Nutrigrain Bar base. There are several variations you can make from this recipe, based on your taste, what you have on hand, and how nutritionally packed you're trying to make them. I've tried to include all these options in the easiest to read format.

Round Cereal Bar Recipe

Combine
     1 c rolled oats
     1 c whole wheat flour **or 3/4 c white flour + 1/4 c wheat germ**
     2/3 c brown sugar
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp salt
     **optional add 1 scoop protein powder or 1/4 c powdered milk
Add
     1/4 c oil **or 2 T oil + 2 T unsweetened applesauce**
     1 egg **or 1 T milled flax seed + 2 T water**
     1 tsp vanilla
     1/4 c apple juice **or white grape juice**
     **optional add 2 T pureed veggies, yams work well with recipe
Optional (but highly recommended) Stir In
     1/2 c to 1 c any combination of nuts, seeds, dried fruit &/or choc chips
          (I personally like to add mostly healthy add ins, what ever I have handy, and then
          just a sprinkling of choc chips to make the kids think they're getting a sweet treat.)

There's two options to bake the treat. My favorite is #1 because it is easy to transport so this snack can be taken on outings without falling apart. Option #2 is better for at home snacks.

#1. Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin. Fill tins 2/3 full. Depending on how many fruits and nuts you added it might not fit nicely in 24. You can either bake it in 2 batches, or put the remainder in a random dish and bake one big treat, or fill them all the way full and just have big snacks (they're harder to get out when you do this). Bake at 325 for about 20.min, until set and browned. Cool for about 5-10 min before removing, and then let cool completely before storing.

#2. Spread mixture evenly into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 325 for 30-40 min until golden brown. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

I over filled my tins a little and you can see in this picture what happened. You don't want them spilling over the sides like that. It makes it harder to take them out.

And you get crumbling like this.

Crumbled or not this recipe is a winner. It never fails that when I take this snack kids gobble it up and moms want to know how to make them. I took a batch to a play date at a friends house today and there were none left over to take home.

Art Festival

I'm pretty sure that most cities have art festivals during the summer months. I love them. There's so much to see and so many beautiful and interesting things to look at. I love supporting artists, and keeping creativity alive in the world. There's a pretty big art festival that comes every summer here and lasts for about 2 months before closing. I didn't make it out to see it last summer so it was a definite must do this summer. Today was the day I took the kids to see it.

I was pretty amazed at the set-up. It was like other "art in the park" kind of set ups I've been to, with artisans varying from glass ware to painting, from leather to jewelry. The difference was instead of pitching camp under a quick shade for a weekend these stands were uniquely crafted permanent looking structures. They were laid out along a meandering path of wood chips under a beautifully landscaped canopy of trees. 

We had a nice surprise of finding a glass blower making some pieces on site. I love watching glass blowers work, it's very mesmerizing. But this was the first time my kids had seen the art in motion. My daughter was only interested for a second, and then something shiny far away caught her eye. My son, however, could have watched that guy all day! He thought that was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen and now it's topping the list of things he wants to learn how to do. I told him about a friend of ours in Michigan that owns a studio that I'm sure would show him some cool things. Now he can't wait to visit our friend and watch this art some more!

It was hard to get a good picture through the safety bars. It didn't feel like it while watching him, but this picture sure feels like one of the zoo pictures I just posted a few days ago.

We finished the day by stopping for ice cream on the way home. I think it's really special that my kids could see such wonderful things today. I think exposing them to all different kinds of art the world has to offer is so beneficial.

This was a really cool fountain in the back.

Magician's Secret Bag

Today's project turned out so cool! I'm giddy with my excitement about how neat it is that I hardly know where to start my story. I'll begin with saying that whenever the library offers a magic show we're there sitting front and center. My son is very intrigued by magic, and as cheesy as these school performers are they know their audience... grade school age boys are in awe. As we left he couldn't stop talking about doing magic when we got home. My mind went into overdrive to come up with a trick he could do. The library magician did a trick with bag that I was pretty sure I could duplicate. Here's instructions for my version of the magic bag.

Start by cutting 2 pieces of black fabric 9.75"x11" & 2 pieces of decorative fabric (the blue star fabric) 9.75"x12". You'll also need a 5" hoop, a 7"-8" zipper, and a strong magnet (you can buy these at craft stores, or save the ones from the backside of refrigerator to-do lists... they're great... super strong).

With right sides together stitch the black fabric along the long sides using a 5/8" hem. Do the same for the decorative fabric.

Attach the zipper to the bottom. Start by sewing the zipper to the decorative fabric, right sides together. Do this for both sides.

Bring the black fabric over the decorative fabric, wrong sides together. I hemmed the end first, or you can hem it at the same time you sew it to the zipper.

Stitch the black fabric to the zipper, sealing in the raw edge.

Turn bag right side out. Hem the tops of the fabric. This can be done by folding over the top just 1/4" to seal in the frayed ends, or by surging the ends like shown in the picture.

If using a refrigerator magnet cut it into 2 equal pieces. Sew one magnet onto the wrong side of one of the black pieces, using a small square of black fabric to hold it in place. It will actually go UNDER the square, not on top as shown in the picture. It's just there to show placing and pieces used on this step.

Sew the other magnet into the wrong side of the decorative pieces, again using a small square of black fabric to hold it's place. Put it where it lines up with the other magnet.

Use the hoop to measure how far to make a casing with the decorative fabric. Remove hoop and sew the casing, leaving a gap 1"-2" wide to insert hoop into later.

On the side of bag that does NOT have magnets stitch the black fabric to the decorative fabric along the same stitch line you just made in the casing. Leave the other side of the bag open.

Take the outer hoop and fold over the metal pieces that stick out. (I used some needle nose pliers for this part.)

Then thread hoop into the casing.

I left the gap open. You can close it up with some hand stitching. And you're done!

Now here's how to use the bag. Before performing trick take a piece of play food from the toy box and put it in the secrete pocket you've made in the bag between the black lining and the outer decorative fabric. Close the secrete pocket with the magnet. Open the zipper.

When ready to perform the trick say, "I brought a snack to share, it's just right here in my bag." Put your hand in the bag and it sticks right out the bottom. Act surprised that your bag has a hole and now you lost your snack. Close the zipper. Say some magic words, wave a magic wand if you have one. Reach back in the bag, only this time you secretly put your hand in the secrete pocket, and pull out the toy food. Ta-Da!! Take a bow and soak in the applause.