instead of packing
I haven’t put a single thing in a suitcase.
I’m working on all kinds of other details related to our trip, but I am just not all that worried about the packing. My mom and mother-in-law had some suitcases we can borrow, so we are good there. It is hard to really pack or even prepare with 4 kids in the house. I can’t pack clothes because we have to wear them. Though nothing is in suitcases, the mounds of piles around the house are growing. My house looks like a bomb went off and it is making me CRAZY. I like order. Unless I opt for putting my kids in front of a tv all day, I just don’t get much done during daytime hours related to our trip.
We’ve been doing a few different art projects over the last few weeks. Normally I would have probably done a post on each of them, but that just isn’t happening right now. I thought I’d share a few pictures in case anyone else is looking for some fun indoor projects with kids.
The boys and I had been talking a lot about rainbows last week, so our first two projects were related to that topic.
We started with the famous melted crayon rainbow (I have no idea where this idea originated, but Meg has a beautiful post on it)
It came out beautifully. All the kids got to participate.
Then I left it outside laying down on the deck ledge…which apparently is not level. All the blues and purples melted together and ran over the entire canvas.
Not pretty.
Not happy kids.
Bad mom.
BUT….I won points later with this book:
I picked it up at the library. I’m not going to share the contents because it is not my book. I will say, it was easy, fun and the kids learned some science along the way.
I had to really overexpose the background of this picture to see the colors. Ours did not come out quite as perfectly as the book cover, but it worked. And – it was another project that all the kids were able to do together.
We also made some boats for lego men out of salt dough. They later painted the boats and added sails. There are a ton of salt dough recipes online. It is a fast thing to make if you don’t have modeling clay on hand or don’t want to buy modeling clay. You do have to make sure you plan ahead – it takes a while to dry. I usually put our stuff in the oven on low heat for a few hours to dry out if they are really thick (like boats). If you use acrylic craft paint on salt dough, it wears off easily. I usually spray a clear coat over the acrylic if I want it to last longer.
Yesterday morning we headed outside to look for beautiful details in nature. We weren’t 5 minutes into our adventure when my oldest got stung by a wasp. We cut the adventure short and headed in with a few items to draw and paint. My oldest wanted to paint a wasp – yay for Google images so I didn’t have to put one in the cage with the grasshopper they caught. FireCracker is being…herself.
One of the many things I love about him is how intent he is. The boy can be so focused on what he is doing the house could fall apart around him and he wouldn’t notice. I love it about him, but there are times it makes me crazy too!
I really like the f/2.8 aperture setting on my camera lens.
..because it blurs out that sink full of dishes I am totally unmotivated to tackle.
She made this for her sister.
And when boredom strikes again…they have Poppy. I’m thinking Poppy would like to experience a day with uninterrupted nap times. I don’t see that in her future.
And on a totally unrelated note…those of you that have kids that have lost their teeth…do you see that sweet smile? He has so many loose teeth. He wants to lose them so badly, but I wish they’d stay. Little baby teeth smiles just melt me. Big awkward adult teeth in little mouths….well, I am going to miss those sweet baby teeth of his. I know a lot of you know what I am talking about!
