Shaving Cream, Food Colors, & Card Stock

We did this really neat project a while back. I took two large baking dishes and put about an inch of shaving cream at the bottom. First I let the boys play in the shaving cream a bit...such fun...then we added drops of different colors and mixed with a stick. (Food coloring stains your fingers so you don't want to mix with your hands!) The lay a piece of paper on top of the colored cream, remove, and wipe off shaving cream. Wa-la! You have beautiful paper...for framing or using as stationary. It's really cool!

Valentine's Craft

We made Valentine decorations today :)
We took coffee filters and cut big hearts...then made some little cuts (like snowflakes) on them. We painted them with watercolors and hung them in the window. SO cute! These pics don't do them justice because the lighting wasn't right.

Dad-Play

Many Moms complain about the way Dads play with their children - or worry that they DON'T play enough with them. My hubby is really good at engaging the kids ~ especially creatively. He is the jack-of-all-trades with many artistic talents. He plays lots of musical instruments; he can sketch, paint, sculpt; he even has great dance moves :) One of my complaints is that he's SO good that the kids can't do what he does. So, if he is drawing with the boys all I hear is, "Daddy, draw this. Daddy, draw that." and I worry DADDY is doing all the drawing. However, on other occasions he is able to really teach them...about playing songs on the piano, drawing animals, or (note picture below) making clay objects. He will go step-by-step and model for them, they copy, and everyone creates something beautiful. I ask him to tone-down the talent just a bit so the boys won't feel too inferior...and the flower on the left is DADDY'S - and the one on the right is DREW'S.


Sometimes we need to back off and let dads be dads...and play as they will. Beautiful lessons are learned from Dads ~ especially those who truly engage their children, as mine does. Embrace dads' differences and let the kids (and dads) have fun!

Teacher THANK YOU gifts

Of course I want to give Drew's teachers something special for holidays and end-of-year presents. Typically the gift is a gift card or present for the home along with a Drew-made picture. Well, we went a bit further this year. Drew painted frames for his teachers (and I inserted pictures of him with his teacher)...

and he painted shells he found on the beach...

He drew pictures on his "cards" and wrote the words all by himself!


I also included the typical "personalized gift" from me and a gift card to a nice restaurant, but what I'm sure really warmed their heart were the great presents my son made! He grew so much over the year and they were partly responsible for that growth. To see how he draws, writes, and thinks now is awesome. I'm sure they were as excited -and proud- of these gifts as I was. AND my son is learning the valuable lesson of showing appreciation for his teachers.

The little caterpillars we found, put in the bug jar, and intently watched...have turned into MOTHS! We were happy to see them emerge from their cocoons and release them. We released a few and are caring for a few babies in the jar. Soon they'll be set free as well. Who knew that trapping little caterpillars would turn out to be such a fun 4 week adventure!

Tweet, tweet

Have you ever noticed how much joy BIRDS can bring? We see all sorts of birds every day - cardinals,blue jays, chickadees, geese, ducks, seagulls, swans...and even hummingbirds! (Sure beats the pigeons of NYC!) We have a couple of bird feeders, but this year my husband had a genius idea: to put a bird feeder just outside our kitchen window. Not only do we all get uber excited to see a bird while enjoying our breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner...but it works marvelously at distracting the kids, redirecting them back to the table, summoning them, etc. LOVE it! And our sand/water table (now holding just rain water) makes a lovely bird bath :) Birds are all over our property. And while I might not appreciate their 5am wake up calls, I am delighted to share my land with them.

I'll try to take some pictures this Spring/Summer of ALL the different bird we see!

Go get a feeder and see how many bird you attract!!

Take a Hike!

In our little state, there are so many beautiful places to take a hike - and most trails are very family friendly! Each month, Rhode Island Families in Nature offers a guided hike for Rhode Islanders. However, if you don't want to participate in a group hike, then why not explore some trails on your own? I've taken all three kids on trails in south county *by myself* and find it's a wonderful way to pass an afternoon. Where is your favorite place to hike?