Planet Activity

Lights ~ Ornaments ~ Planets!

Not quite sure how I stumbled upon this post from Play At Home Mom (http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2014/04/outer-space-orbit/ )

But, I followed her links to Amazon, purchased the globes and the lights, and today dragged it all out along with paints.

Perfect timing, as they finished learning the phases of the moon (because of the blood moon) and planets at school over the last 2 weeks.

We all had fun trying to make our visions come to life.  The 4 year old basically wanted them all blue, I talked him out of it, and we got a silver, red and pink one out of him.

 


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 You'll need Paint - we had a lot on hand in our art cabinet. Some of the tempura (silver) didn't stick well, sort of separated..but it looked cool when it dried.


You'll need these globes (which can be found at JoAnne's or Amazon.com)
ours came in a 12 pack

Then we bought these finger lights (half didn't work, but they were only about $3 so no complaints)

Paint, allow to dry.

Place a turned on light in globe, see planet come to life.

The 7 year old was focused on making his "look like planets" naming each one... Earth, Mars, Tatoine (ok that one is Star Wars related)

We had a great time making these, hope you do too.

Top 10 Favorite Pinterest Finds of 2013

None of the photos are mine.  The credit goes to the link provided.

10. So, I had to make these 3 times in 1 week, as they kept getting gobbled up by my family, and of course, me.  EASY ~ delicious, and fun!

 (link Peanut Butter Frosted Brownies | Plain Chicken )

9.  My mom used this for the entire year, and asked for another one this year.  I made a few modifications, added a notes side bar, so she could write down appointments etc.   We used card stock, glue sticks and printed photos on photo paper.  Any present that gets used for a whole year is a big WIN!  (link An ounce of creativity ~Tutorial: 2011 Star desktop calendar )

8.  Brilliant.  Just needs no explanation.  Do it. a solution for bottles and travel mugs!  obviously this is not the original post - but, again, needs no tutorial.

This is great - no more searching for water bottles, no more avalanche of bottles from the cabinet.  Best $7 I've spent for a shoe rack (not my photo)

7.  Organizing my kids school work (and other "What do I do with this" stuff) Destination Domestication: Boxes  I store them in my walk in closet, and about once a month take a pile up and put in the boxes.  My best guess at the end of 1st grade we will have to start a new box, or I'll have to sift through and see what I can thin out.  I even started one for my husband and I.

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6. This idea, from rainbow themed birthday partyDomestic Goddesque I used this for my oldest birthday party, and the kids thought it was AWESOME that they got to take home balloons.  I loved it because I didn't have to deal with all the leftover balloons floating around my house!

5.  Lego's on the GO! : lego travel box we have used this handy trick so often, I bought another set of boxes last time I was at Ikea.  We have even used it for small super heroes, race cars, man I wish I'd thought of it, but SUPER glad someone pinned it!

4.  Cork circles.  Gorgeous way to display kids art, and when not in use, no ugly cork board to stare at.  -- my post Pinterest Again. | My Life on Standby  ~~> original pin Tablón de notas con salvamanteles de ikea | Muy Ingenioso  For mine, I bought fabric squares at JoAnn's then glued them over Ikea cork circles.  About 10 minutes of work for 1 year of use. 

3. NO more begging your kids to eat "just a few more bights"  We've used this trick quite often.

Dice as Vegetable Counter

Decide how many more bites of dinner your child has to eat before being excused. Let your child roll so he’s the one controlling his fate. You'll end up with a more peas-ful family meal.
Collette Mather
Teaneck, New Jersey

2.  Simply the tastiest Mac and Cheese Ever.  Bacon Mac & Cheese Recipe | Savory Sweet Life   I'm not going to lie, this took some effort.  But, hey every now and then a little effort gains big rewards. 

1. Blessing Bags: KWAVs: Blessing Bags How To This simply has changed the way I look at homeless people.  Having a bag ready in both cars at all times, makes it easy to do a good deed.  Giving money to beggars never felt right to me.  It teaches my kids the wrong message; throw money at the problem.  Instead, we all have learned a bigger lesson; be prepared to help others.  Whenever I am at the grocery or target etc., we keep an eye out for travel sized items.. soaps, razors.. for girls or boys, as men aren't the only homeless.  Also, we add a small bottle of water, apple and a pop top soup (obviously you don't want to include something that requires a can opener.)  Anyway... it's been a Blessing to us as well.  HIGHLY recommend this if you have homeless in your town.

Monster House

Monster House

I decided to make our house into a monster house today.  It was something I had seen on pinterest.  We bought 75% of our supplies from Michaels with 20% entire order coupon.  The foam (20" x 30") were 2 for $3, and I had the paint and duct tape we had at home.

 

I taped 2.5 pieces of the foam together with clear packing tape.  Then I drew the outline on with pencil. With an x acto knife to cut out the teeth.  I'm not going to lie, it was a pain in the ass.  I hope to never try doing that again.

In the end, I was decently ok with the result.  It obviously does not look like the perfection of the pin, but hey, I didn't have plywood and someone to hang the stuff up for me.

The kids liked it. That, in the end, is all that counts.

Original pin (web link http://sublime-decor.com/2013/07/30/decorate-your-front-entry-way-as-a-monster-for-halloween/)

Pinterest Again.

The link for the project is below.  I found in on Pinterest a while back and finally completed it.

http://www.muyingenioso.com/tablon-de-notas-con-salvamanteles-de-ikea/





I used Tacky Glue & Quilting squares from Joann's.
The cork circles were a 3 pack from Ikea.


    Then I used the command strips to hang them on the side of my cabinet in the kitchen.  Pretty and a convenient place to post the kids art work.

There was some sort of error and the second post was lost. :(

Pinterest in real life

Last weekend I decided to open up my Pinterest boards and find stuff for the kids to do.

We made puff paint, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup water

Then add your tempura paint or food coloring.

It worked.. But I suggest using recycled ketchup bottles, so you can squeeze the paint out.

NEXT we tried the "car wash" baking soda and vinegar.

 Let them play in the baking soda as loooooong as possible, because the next step fizzles quick.

  

 The kids say their cars are cleaner than ever. So there is that. I'd rather do the old fashioned volcano with the baking soda and vinegar... Because it seemed like a huge waste of both products.

Home made pizza night (yes scratch dough)

I purchased a big bag of fresh spinach from Sprouts on Sunday.

I tossed it in Olive oil and some Italian seasoning and steamed it for a few minutes... Just to soften it.

My 6 year old sang Popeye The Sailor man with me as we ate it. 3 year old wouldn't even taste it. 

While the boys played in their room, I threw pizza yeast, just under 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 tsp sugar 4 tbsp canola oil, and quite a few seasonings (Pensky Italian, oregano, garlic and herb...) whisked that all together and poured 2/3 cup water that I'd microwaved 1 minute.

Kneaded the dough for 4 minutes (ok, I didn't time it, but it seemed like 3 minutes minimum)

Then stretched the dough out pretty thin. Used my pizza cutter, divided it into 3 parts. I reshaped the boys pizzas into circles.. God forbid they aren't round, then it isn't pizza, of course.

They put the sauce and toppings onto theirs and I did for mine (meanwhile the ovens getting to 425’)

11 minutes, bam - dinner is ready

Maybe 30 minutes in all to have a completely fresh, homemade, everyone is happy - meal.

 Mine is a combo of yellow peppers, fresh spinach, cheese, olive oil and sauce.

Perhaps less corn meal on the pans or more olive oil on the crust... Other than that.. Tasty!!

1/2 of my pizza is left over, bet my husband eats it before I can get to it.

Peanut butter & bacon sandwich

My six year old asked me to post his latest creation.

It's Sarah lee whole wheat 45 calorie bread

Trader joes crunchy natural peanut butter

And Oscar Meyer turkey bacon.

Surprisingly tasty.

Any time I can add any source of protein into their lives, the better.