Kids busy, mommy cooks

The hardest part of the day is getting the kids to not be crazy and wild while I cook dinner. Here are two activities we did to give me some sanity and time to make a good dinner!

Melanie was upstairs at her desk with dry erase letter cards and a dry erase marker, Easton was playing on our chalkboard, and Skyelynn was coloring a picture with paper and crayons. It gave me at least 10 minutes of kids staying busy. :)

The next activity started with the kids drawing on tin foil with crayons....

And then it turned into tin foil hats, tin foil balls and other things. This activity gave me about 20 minutes! Foil is something they do not usually get to play with so you can imagine how exciting it was for the kids. :)

Take Ten!

I scream, you scream

The kids are up from a nap, they are hungry, but it is SO close to dinner. I want something light, but fun for them to eat. Too much snack and they will not eat dinner...Soooo...

He couldn't even hold it still for me to photograph the treat. He was too excited!

Here it is, not too sweet, not too heavy, not very healthy, but really fun...2 big marshmallows put into an ice cream cone.

Take Ten to be creative with snacks!

Trace a cookie..

I have a HUGE box of plastic cookie cutters, and like I said in my last post, I've been using them for more than just cookies lately. The other morning the kids did a project with them that they seemed to enjoy a lot.

We used crayons and traced pictures from our cookie cutters that we could color and decorate. Easton chose a dinosaur and trophy.

And of course Melanie chose a heart, with lots of glitter!

Make the ordinary a little different.  Crayons and paper, add something unusual (cookie cutters) and you will have happy kids!

Take Ten!

Heart obsessed...

With Valentine's day just around the corner, I've become a little obsessed with my heart cookie cutter. I've used it multiple times for different things. You know what it does? It makes the ordinary just a little more special.

Exhibit A: Just an almond butter and jelly sandwich?

Oh no, it's much more than that...

This sandwich made a 4 year old REALLY happy.

Check out her cute and little pink nails!

And for the boy that prefers cheese and crackers over sandwiches...

Look at how cute it is!

And when company comes for dinner, homemade dinner rolls with hearts? Yes, please!

And the appetizer tray is always better with a little love...

try it!
Take ten!

Simply cute...

Everyone was napping except for Melanie and me. I came up with a cute, quick, and fun art project for us to do together.

What you need:
~Beads (we use beads from necklaces that have been broken--I've saved them for projects like this)
~Glue
~Cute, little, picture frame (we got ours in the dollar spot at Target for 25 cents on sale)

Valentine's day is a month away, so we did something Valentiny. Take your frame and remove the glass but leave a piece of paper for the backing. Use the glue to draw a heart.

Take your beads and glue them to the heart. I found it works best if you use little beads to outline the heart and then place any bigger beads in the middle. Cute, easy, and pretty little Valentine decoration.

The best part is that it doesn't have to be perfect to be pretty, in fact I find it to be more endearing if it is a little imperfect.

This same project also works well for a baby shower gift. Just do everything the same but make the first initial of the baby's name.

Cute for mommy to put in baby's room!

Take Ten~

The B-I-B-L-E

I've been trying to come up with ways to add a little more Bible into our days...and it just so happened that I stumbled upon this unused coloring book while cleaning up our art supplies.

Little Bible stories with a picture to color...PERFECT. We did our first story this morning during breakfast. Everyone got to color the picture afterward and I asked questions about the story while they colored. It worked really well.

Try it! I'm sure you could print something like this out from the internet. :)

Take Ten!