craft thursday #1: tissue paper luminaries

 i'm back today with another fun summertime activity!

we had some friends over last thursday, which is craft day at this house. the kids were over the moon excited to have someone else to play with and i was very thankful to have another grown-up to talk with for a couple of hours. i know you know what i'm talking about!

like lots of kids, my children love playing on the wii gaming system. i enjoy it, too. but sometimes it seems like that is all my kids want to do. "can i play on the wii?" when that question starts to sound like nails on a chalkboard, the answer is always "NO!" and usually "don't ask me again!"

our summer list, which i will share soon, has lots of fun activities, like craft thursdays, to help mix it up a bit. i'm fine with my kids playing wii as long as that isn't all they are doing.

with our friends over, the kids broke into two teams and had a little healthy wii competition. this game had the kids sitting, standing, jumping, twirling, and all of us were laughing like crazy. it was a lot of fun!



today's craft comes from four flights of fancy.

the link takes you to her "how-to" about making mason jar luminaries. the examples look very similar to my halloween mason jar luminaries, but are made with mod podge and tissue paper, instead of paint. the end result looks very similar when you are using a solid color, as in her examples. what caught my eye, was another picture of a mason jar luminary that i saw using tissue paper and mod podge, only the tissue paper was layered to create a patriotic decoration, so layers of red, white, and blue. you can view those luminaries at for the love of. i think they are beautiful. both links are to blogs that are written by the same person.

i thought creating tissue paper luminaries would be a fun craft to start the summer off with. and once again, i had everything on hand and didn't have to make any extra stops with my rowdy rugrats in tow. (and i mean that with a mama's sincerest love and affection).

we also had some friends join us for this craft and it was easy to pack up the finished luminaries and transport them home. 

to make the luminaries you will need the following:



we used half pint jars with a regular mouth. these were two samples i made to show the kids that you could cover the whole jar or only part of it. i also find i need to do the craft first by myself, so i know how to best guide kids in crafting and i am better equipped to anticipate and help with areas that might be tricky.

 
(not the best picture, sorry)

when i gave the directions to the kids, i made sure to emphasize the two most important rules (after i remembered what they were!):

1. use minimal mod podge--you don't want a drippy, cloudy mess
2. paint the glue only where you immediately need it--basically, paint as you go!

i do not think you can over-emphasize these, because chances are they are going to go in one ear and out the other!

i also modeled how to paint and add tissue paper. my sample jar with red, white, and blue was only half way complete, so i modeled adding to that. just a quick little demo, because i had anxious crafters waiting!



the kiddos were free to make what they wanted. we talked about who they were making this for--was it a gift or for their own house? what colors did they want to use? if it was for someone, did they want to choose colors that person liked or did they want to go with a theme? i really wanted the kids to have fun with their crafting, but to also be intentional with their planning and creating.










(loudon was done so quickly, i didn't get a picture of him!)

in the end everyone made a luminary for themselves. some were a little more intentional with their planning and creating than others. :)

bristol cut out shapes from the tissue paper to make items that represented hobbies her family members have. loudon used only his favorite colors. taylor, zach, and ben just picked different shapes and colors and glued them on. zach covered the jar, taylor and ben left spaces.

no matter, i enjoyed watching the kids working on something other than getting to the next level in a video game!

if you are nervous about putting a candle in these, you could use the battery-operated candles. I saw a photo somewhere of this same type of craft, but they painted the metal lids of the mason jar with acrylic paint and closed the top. inside were battery-operated candles and the result was very pretty... like a stained glass lantern.

what kind of luminary would you make?

watercolor wednesday

this summer we've added a new activity to our calendar. welcome to watercolor wednesday!



i love watercolors. they are so simple to use and easy to clean up. i find that when we watercolor, it's such a stress free activity that i can actually sit down and watercolor with my kids. i call this watercolor therapy, because when we are done, we are all happy and relaxed! well, maybe we are just happy :)

watercolor projects are easy to find. a quick search on pinterest and you will be up to your eyeballs in lovely, fun, color. this was by far the easiest list to make when planning our summer activities.

today's project comes from my favorite blog, where i get most of my ideas and inspiration... whatever. when i saw this on pinterest, i had already bookmarked a different circle painting project, but i liked meg's much better, so we went with it.

it was fairly easy to set up. i only have small sheets of watercolor paper, so i prepped enough paper for the boys to each make two. i used the rim of a half pint mason jar, watered down black acrylic paint, and a paint brush to make the black circles. i just painted and stamped, painted and stamped. i'll admit, i was a little stressed in the beginning... smudged lines, paint splatters, incomplete circles... but it's art and it's all good. soon i was in a groove and enjoying this part of the process.

while the paint circles dried, we made a starbucks run. i may or may not have had paint splatter in my left nostril, unnoticed until after we got home.

the kids were very happy to sit and watercolor.











they like watercoloring as much as i do. in fact, natalie goes a little crazy for the watercolors. the boys were having a (mostly) nice discussion with each other and natalie starts taking my supplies and when i tell her no, those are mine and i point to hers, she demands i give mine to her saying "that's not a good choice mom!" when i don't give in, my sweet two year old called me "stinky." seriously?! i wish i were kidding.




all in all, watercolor wednesday was a hit, it's always fun to see how everyone creates such different pieces, even when the canvas is so similar.


ben's pictures


zach's pictures


taylor's pictures


the girls' pictures


beautiful colors

i hope you will be inspired to add a little color to your life today!

treat tuesday#1, 2013 GF series

our hands are clean and we are ready for some summer treats! this summer my boys wanted to bring back treat tuesdays. who wouldn't, right?!
 
i've read a lot about how the food we put in our bodies can effect us, mentally and physically... short-term and long. i find that it's pretty easy to locate supportive evidence that eating a certain kind of diet can do this or that... pretty much whatever you are hoping to cure or make better, there's a diet out there to make it all better! it can be difficult to sort through fact and fiction, and being that i am not a dietary expert and don't always get the science behind the claims, sometimes i just have to try out something that interests me.

cue this summer's treat tuesdays.

this summer we will be making all things gluten free (GF).

i have been eating gluten free on and off since october and then consistently since march. honestly, i just wanted to see if i felt better for it. i wasn't feeling poorly to begin with, but i was curious to see if i would somehow feel better. i can't say that i feel any different eating a gluten free diet, but i can say that i now feel downright miserable if i eat something with gluten. enough so that i just may be gluten free for life!

i am also curious to see if a gluten free diet will have any impact on the behaviors of my son with ASD and my son who is possibly likely ADHD. having been GF for so many months, my family already gets at least 50% of their meals without gluten. the biggest challenge isn't finding or preparing GF products, it's paying for them (so expensive!) and then there is the convenience factor--eating out GF is especially challenging. try  convincing taylor (autism spectrum disorder) that eating a hamburger without a bun is acceptable, because in his brain, it totally isn't! i can buy GF hamburger buns for home, but when you are out and about and want to spontaneously stop by in-n-out burger, i would be setting myself up for a world class tantrum. no thank you!

so that is the back story on how i came to plan for GF treats this summer... just in case you were wondering!

finally, i am no top-chef. i am handy in the kitchen, but i do not create my own recipes. i scoured pinterest high and low for delicious-looking GF treats. talk about torture during my late night snack-attack hour! i have not previously prepared any of these treats, so i will provide recipes, links to the original sites where they are posted, and provide you will some honest and fair evaluations. let me know if you try something and how you liked it. OR if you have a suggestion for an upcoming treat tuesday, leave a comment and tell us what you would like to see us make!

i hope you enjoy my GF series!

today's treat is not only GF, but dairy free, as well. it's  nothing fancy, but a family favorite. chocolate chip cookies! it also happens to be the only treat i filed away that i had all ingredients on-hand for. no shopping with four kids required. bonus! it comes from michelle at i heart wellness. check out the site for lots of other healthy recipes and more!

Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cup Brown Rice Flour

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Xantham Gum

1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil

1/4 cup Earth Balance Soy-Free Vegan Butter (melted)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Maple Syrup

1/2 cup vegan Chocolate Chips (or more!)

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

In separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well.

If the dough is too crumbly add a bit more melted Earth Balance.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes at 350 F.

 

with lots of little helping hands, i like to have everything pre-measured and set up assembly-line style.


natalie is the youngest, so she helped first.


ben helped next. i also plan out the easiest tasks for the youngest helpers. i really try to keep it as clean as possible! i'm not a neat-freak, but we have plenty of other messes all over the house!


zach started adding the wet ingredients. note: we did not use a separate bowl! it worked out just fine this way. he looks very nervous holding the full cup of oil.


i was happy taylor joined in to help. he said "i'll help if i get a sample." ha! taylor is adding the earth balance spread, which is not melted, but at room temp. this also worked out just fine.


watching the kids helping each other melted this mama's heart. just what we needed after a day of what seemed like non-stop bickering, yelling, and throwing things at each other (them, not me!) 


i showed the middles how to make a cookie ball and let them go at it while i cleaned up the dishes.


fresh cookies from the oven. these came out looking just like they did when they went in.


cooling off for that sampling i promised taylor.


zach suggested we flatten the second set, so they'd look more like "real" cookies. hehe!


time for a taste-test! i had already sampled my cookie, to make sure it wasn't still too hot, and as i expected these are quite crumbly, so the kids ate them outside! yummmm!



here is what the kiddos said about these cookies:

taylor: "edible. tastes like a chocolate chip biscuit."
zachary: "a little crumbly, but not too crumbly. i like them the way they are!"
benjamin: "perfect."
natalie: she wanted more, what more can i say?!

taylor's comment sounds a little rude, but it wasn't intended that way. it was important to him that i use the word "edible" in his review, and while you might be thinking that is a criticism, it's totally not coming from my very literal young man, who is just trying to say "you can eat them!" i thought his description about a chocolate chip biscuit was perfect. these are not sweet or chewy cookies and do have a biscuit quality to them. also, he is a huge fan of biscuits, so this is a pretty nice compliment coming from him.

so this week's treat was a hit! if you plan on making these, i suggest you add more than the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. we used 1 cup. while that seemed like a lot when the boys were making cookie dough balls, i think the warm, gooey chocolate chips are what binds this cookie together! while we haven't tasted them cool, i'm guessing they are best when eaten warm. i am dreaming about a 2nd cookie served with a scoop of my vanilla coconut bliss ice cream tonight after the kids are in bed. mmmm! i also have a little extra dough that i saved for serving as a topping over vanilla ice cream... homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream! since there are no eggs in the batter, this is a safe cookie dough to eat. love that!

now, go make some cookies!

new year's flashback

 

even though i took a rather long blogging hiatus, i often had blogging on my mind.

i would think about day-to-day events and think about how they would make great blog posts. holidays came and went and of course, those are always blog-worthy. i took pictures and videos that i had every intention of using on my blog.

but i didn't.

for today's post, i have visited the vault and have pulled out our new year's 2013 video.

each year on new year's eve, i make rainbow cake (in some form) and at midnight (EST) we sing "happy new year" and blow out the candles on our rainbow cake.

 



this year's rainbow cake was in the form of "cupcakes in a jar." they were cute and SUPER easy. can't beat that!



it's a tradition we started in 2011, so as a bonus, i will include video footage from each year.

new year's 2011

new year's 2012


i always enjoy looking back and watching old videos.

how a year can change things, but some things always stay the same!

monkey in the middle

with three boys, there is usually someone on the outs.

the other day i heard from another room, "put it the pee corner!" this was followed by two different devious giggles.

in case you are not a parent of boys, are fortunate enough to not be the designated bathroom cleaner of the house, or your boys have good aim... a pee corner is the area in the bathroom that is next to the toilet and backs up to a corner... it is the result of boys who are careless and have poor aim. enough said?

when i questioned the two boys, who were at this point beside themselves with laughter, they said they were putting the third brother's toy in the pee corner. just because.

not even an hour later one of the gigglers is screaming at the other two brothers, because he wants to play and they are not including him. meanwhile they are laughing and having a great time, just the two of them.

day in and day out, the monkey in the middle is changing, but it's still there.

that is why i take pictures like these...









... to remember that conflict builds character and problem solving skills... and it's all worth it :)

father's day 2013

we had a wonderful day celebrating the man of the house on sunday.

tradition states we must go out for donuts in the morning. "donuts for dad!" the kids chant until it's time to go.

this year the big car was in the shop, so we had to take the little car. the little car does not fit six people. so dad stayed home with a grumpy boy and four of us headed to the donut shop down the road.

either donuts for dad is not a novel idea or the donut shop was under-staffed on this particular day... there were hardly any donuts to choose from! like, zero sprinkle donut choices. that is shocking to me! thankfully dad's favorite kind was in-stock. the boys didn't seem to mind that there weren't sprinkle donuts, probably because the only donuts that were left were the ginormous kind or the bars that could be filled with goo. they were pretty happy about that!

i have no pictures of getting donuts or eating donuts, which may or may not be a good thing! natalie was beside herself in the donut shop... "CHOCOLATE!!!" it was pretty cute.

after we came out of our sugar coma, we had spent a little time just hanging out with dad and having fun.

observing insects

the princess in her tower

pulling the rocks out of the rock tumbler

later in the day we had a dinner of chicken and veggie kebobs on the grill with rice. then we played a game of croquet.

 the boys got their games faces on.



playing croquet takes focus and concentration...

 



and a little bit of body contortion!





awww!



there were some tears. there always are.



we gave dad a fire pit and the job of building us a fire :)



then we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.





the day ended with a little basketball for the boys. unfortunately, there is only this shot of zach, but they all had fun playing "horse" together.



it was the perfect kind of day to celebrate dad!