Back in March one of my favorite bloggers Lier from ikat bag, wrote this great post about cardboard. If you read her blog, you know the AMAZING things she has made with cardboard for her kids. I read the post and knew that it was a bit beyond my abilities right now... however it did make me take a second glance at the cereal boxes I was regularly throwing away.

So when my 3 year old asked me to turn the baby's bathtub into a car, I thought "Ahhah! Cardboard!". So I started cutting and by the time we were done it had gone from Car to Boat to Rocket Ship!

This year we got 2 Flat Stanleys in the mail from cousins. If you're not familiar with Flat Stanley- it's a book about a boy how gets flattened by a bulletin board, and then goes on trips around the world via the mail.

If you should happen to host a Flat Stanley, please show him around your town, take lots of pictures and send him back to where he came from. The girls had a great time "hosting" Flat Stanley- and wanted to make their own. So with a little help from Costco, we brought home some huge sheets of (free!) cardboard and made our very own life-size Flat People! Presenting:

We traced the girls' body shapes onto the paper, and then let them decorate (or in this case I decorated according to the 3yr old's instructions). The best thing about cardboard? When the playing is done it goes in the trash!

Summer Break

Our summer break starts in just a couple of days. It's hard to believe our 6 year old is finishing up Kindergarten! In preparation for the 66 days of vacation coming up, I've been trying to plan some activities for us to do. Here are some of the fun things I'm looking forward to trying out with the kids this summer:

Fun games to play outside:

1. Tin Can Telephone as posted by Childhood 101.

2. Outdoor Color Match by FrugalFamilyFun Blog.

3. Taking our sidewalk chalk playing to another level with Story Stones again from FrugalFamilyFun Blog.

4. Some pretend camping with this A-Frame Tent from My Cakies.

5. And finally just some flitting about with these cute Dress Up Wings by Eri via Prudent Baby.

I also came across good ideas in 15 Fun & Frugal things to do with your family by Keeper of the Home via Simple Mom.

And some fun things to do indoors:

1. Suminagashi as posted by FrugalFamilyFun Blog.

2. Fabric Scrap Paper Dolls by This Mama Makes Stuff.

3. Monster Boxes as posted by No Time for Flashcards.

4. Maybe a few science experiments like these from Momtastic.

Add in some swimming lessons, trips to the beach, and our local library's summer reading program... and I think we'll be keeping busy!

Hello!

Not sure if anyone is still out there, but I've finally decided to stop neglecting this blog. Things have been a little busier around here since he came along in March....

...but it sure is fun having a sweet new baby in the house again!

The Wizard of Oz Medley

The Wizard of Oz Medley: "

(YouTube link)

The class of 2013 perform a medley of songs from The Wizard of Oz for the annual Nykerk Cup competition at Hope College. Sure, they sing well, but where are they hiding all those props? You can also watch the performance of their competition, the freshman class. -via Buzzfeed

"

Guess what? It's November! The days and weeks are flying by way too fast! Christmas is fast approaching...which is why I love Sew Mama Sew!'s gift guide. Check it out- every day this month they have a theme with gift ideas. Here are some of my favorites:

The Gathered Clutch from Noodlehead

Silhouette Pillow by Homemade by Jill via Ucreate.

Monogram Stencil Canvas Bag by TidyMom

Sewing Caddy by How Joyful.

Super Cool Boys Belt by The Mother Huddle.

Fabric Luggage Tags by Skip to My Lou.

I will definitely be sending some of these out for Christmas!

Halloween Countdown

One costume down and two more to go....

No idea who she's supposed to be? You must not live in a Backyardigans-obsessed home (like ours).

She is Uniqua as the Flower Girl with Flower Powers.

"Flower POWER!"

Halloween Kiddie Crafts

With Halloween coming up soon, we've been getting in the spirit with some of crafty projects.

First up is Mini Pumpkins:

It's still too early for us to buy a big pumpkin (it's hot here, it would be mush by the time Halloween actually came around). So... to hold off the girls for a little while, I bought a bunch of different baby pumpkins. Then I gave them each a sharpie and let them decorate the pumpkins. OK... I couldn't resist decorating one or two... It's kind of fun.

Next up is our Spooky Mobile:

This was actually a present from my friend Joanne. Last year she sent us this great kit with everything you'd need to make Halloween masks (think Zorro not Scream). This year she sent the girls a kit to make this spooky mobile. I love these kinds of crafts because it works well for both girls. Plus who doesn't love bats with sequins and stars glued on them?? It would be pretty easy to recreate with your own bat and pumpkin cut outs. It would also be cute to do bats, pumpkins and ghosts. Just don't forget the sparkly decorations!

And finally is the Ghost Prints:

We actually did this at a community playgroup program that I take our 2year old to. It was super easy, and fun- just trace the hand and foot prints on construction paper, and cut them out, and decorate like ghosts. Our other daughter did something similar to this last year in preschool- except they actually stepped in white paint and made a print on black paper, and decorate with those googly eyes. I love crafts that use hand prints and footprints... without them I would never have a record of how they are growing.

Slowly but surely our house is getting decorated for Halloween! Now if I can just get started on Halloween costumes...