Weekend Rewind — Paint the Snow!

Hope everyone is having a fun Sunday! Here’s a post from last year’s archives, and an activity we would love to do again while there is still snow on the ground — snow painting! Enjoy! This afternoon, Emily and I took some spray bottles filled with a few drops of food coloring and some water […]

Cute Marshmallow Snowman

I have been wanting to make marshmallow snowmen with Emily for some time now, and when I mentioned it to her, she instantly adored the idea of making a snowman out of marshmallows! We used jumbo marshmallows and pretzel rods. Push three marshmallows through one end of the pretzel rod, and stack them together to […]

Handmade Holidays — Scented Bath Salts

It’s not too late to make some last-minute handmade gifts for that special someone on your list who is in need of a little pampering… (hint, hint). Mark and Emily whipped up a batch of lavender scented bath salts and it only took a few minutes! To make your own scented bath salts, you will […]

Cheap Thrills — Holiday Light Show Edition

We were delighted to see Danita’s girls at From the Land of Pleasant Living and Joyful Mommy and Joyful Child having fun while making their own salty snowman pictures! For a fun (and free!) activity this Winter, wait until it is almost time for bed, then dress the kids in their PJ’s with winter coats […]

Loving…

I mentioned a few days ago that we took a trip to a local plant nursery to prepare for our next activity from our Gratitude Jar — Flowers: Make a special flower delivery! Emily and I had so much fun with this! At the plant nursery, we found bags of fall bulbs that were 30% […]

Today’s Gratitude Activity

We have been enjoying all of the wonderful things to come out of our Gratitude Activity Jar! So far some of the activities we have done include: donated Jared Boxes to the hospital, invited a friend over to play, and visited the library. We are loving this little jar, and have even added more cards […]

Gratitude Activity Jar

Around Thanksgiving we try to do crafts and activities that promote gratitude and focus on the things we have to be thankful for. Last year we did gratitude journals, but this year we’re trying something a little more active — Gratitude Activity Jars! I asked Emily to name some of the things she was thankful […]

Super Easy Marshmallow Pumpkins

Emily and I did some Halloween “baking” this afternoon. She thought these marshmallow pumpkins were the coolest thing, and they were super-easy to make. Each marshmallow makes two pumpkins. Very frugal! She made these with very little help from me whatsoever. For a slightly healthier option, try slices of banana instead of marshmallows. I say, […]

Fun Autumn Treasure Hunt

We went on an Autumn treasure hunt at our local nature conservancy! It was so much fun! Emily used a clipboard with the list of treasures we were looking for. In mind were these playground scavenger hunt cards. We used our own non-illustrated version, since Emily’s working on her reading skills. Here are just some […]

Creative Rainy Day Fun

We are forecasted to have at least four days of non-stop rain here, and the girls were getting a touch of cabin fever. We did what any normal parents would do when faced with a similar situation…. placed both of them in our sound-proof anti-gravity chamber with padded walls and let them burn off some […]

Cheap Thrills — Cardboard Box Edition

For a fun time, place a preschooler inside a large cardboard box. On the box, draw eyes, a nose, and mouth. It helps if it looks angry. Pretend to eat things!! Nom nom nom! Pajamas were just the beginning…. this box was hungry! (Burp!) On to The New Yorker….. Oh no…. he can’t be stopped! […]

Rainy Day Fun — Reusable Art Mat

Emily wanted to draw with sidewalk chalk this afternoon, but Clara was taking a nap so I didn’t want one child outside while the other was indoors. So we compromised using a shower curtain liner as a reusable art mat. It worked beautifully! The vinyl shower curtain liner was only $1 from Big Lots, and […]

Laundry Day Fun!

While I was tackling the laundry this afternoon, Emily did some of her own. Somehow her laundry was a lot more fun than mine! Special thanks to Elise of Inspiration Surrounds… Creativity Abounds for reminding me of this fabulous activity. When I was a little girl, our family gave my cousin a play laundry set […]

Picking Peaches

We were blessed with beautiful weather here today, so Mark and I took the girls to go pick peaches this afternoon. It was so much fun and the peaches were delicious! I can’t wait to make some yummy peach cobbler with them… Mmmmm…. It doesn’t get any fresher than this, and at $1.35/lb. it was […]

More Fun with Post-Its

Inspired by Color Me Katie, we did our own version of a fun photo shoot. Emily loved this! Who knew Post-Its and a wall could be so much fun??

Pink Popcorn Balls

This recipe is very frugal, and lots of fun (especially for the kids). It is, however, a messy project. Please note that our family is not afraid of messy projects. As Emily would say, “Messy project? Bring it ON!!” Also, it is not in the least bit healthy. My advice is to let the kids […]

Pretend Play on a Dime — Movie Day

After Emily and Clara went off to bed last night, Mark and I got to work on this ticket booth made from cardboard, masking tape, a tension curtain rod, an old curtain, some scraps of gold wrapping paper, a foam meat tray, and some LED Christmas lights. When Emily found it this morning, she was […]

1 Second Time Machine

One of the advantages of being married to a tech-geek (who also happens to be a pack-rat) is there is never a shortage of old computer equipment for pretend play! This afternoon, Emily asked me if there was a way to stop time, which reminded me of a clip from the movie The Science of […]