A Mutiny

That moment when you realise that your children are plotting against you and refer to you as 'SHE' and you don't know if you should be offended or proud that they are working together on something.

Having an Adventure

My children have media limits.  We do our best to enforce them, allowing for an hour of screen time a day.  We also know we aren't perfect and have slipped from time to time.  Recently we re-doubled our efforts to make the hour stick.  Here's what we have noticed as a result.  Our kids have been so creative!  They have been playing together better, getting along more and sharing.  Here are some of the activities I've seen them take part in recently:
-making orange juice from oranges as an experiment
-packing a backpack, taking a walkie talkie and going for an adventure in the back yard
-sledding
-Lego creations
-car races (hot wheels)
-reading to each other
-learning to cook/assisting in the kitchen
-pirate swashbuckling
-stuffed animal vet clinic
-snowman building
-fort building
-paper airplane building
These were all self started activities that they thought of when I wouldn't give in to extend the family timer on the X-Box.  I love it!
 

A Penguin Party

These cupcakes were a hit!

My dear daughter turned 4 in January and we had a penguin party to celebrate!  Here's how the party played out!
1st the Decor:

This banner was really easy!  It's a long black plastic tablecloth from the dollar store gathered in the middle.  The bow is a long white plastic table cloth tied into a bow.  I just draped it and pinned it up over the living room window.

These penguins were made out of black poster paper, white poster paper, orange (for the noses) and marker drawn eyes.  I just drew the shape of it and cut them out.  (Layer two papers on top of each other to get two identical penguins).  The triangles in between are also white poster paper, cut and pinned.  I drew the zig zags on top with the happy birthday message.

The food table.  The Happy Birthday in the window is from the dollar store. The penguins are my daughter's.  The goodie boxes were a super-cute find from Michael's.  Inside were Hello Kitty pencils and stampers, some bracelets, a couple of chocolates and a few other treats.

This penguin is a black piece of poster paper with the white shape cut out and taped on top.  Same with the orange beak and eyes.  This little guy would be the basis for feed the penguin game later on.

Let's get this party started!

We had a little craft to colour while everyone was arriving.  These frame kits I found at Michaels.

This is the "Eat the Doughnut off the String Game".  My daughter apparently just wanted to play by her own rules and used her hands.  We had another string of doughnuts set up in between our kitchen and dining area. 

My favorite moment from the party.  O's friend J tried and tried and just couldn't get the doughnut so she held the string and said, "I'll help you J".  So Sweet!

Penguins eat fish, so here's another food game with no hands.  Each child had a plate of Sweedish Fish to eat.  My daughter once again used her hands, but the rest played along and thought it was fun.

This blur is a take on musical chairs that we called Musical Icebergs.

Pin the Fishie on the Penguin - trying to get it to the beak.

No penguin theme here, just another fun food game.  Toss the mini-marshmallows into the mouth.

Cupcakes are ready!

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

DIY Minecraft Costume

I first saw a costume like this on Pinterest without a tutorial attached.  Ideas started to go round and round in my head of "if I ever made that, how would I do it?"  The idea that stayed with me the most had to do with using paint chips to be the pixels.  I collected a bunch and hit up Kent (our local hardware store chain) for a couple of boxes that would be the right size for the head and body.  I was all ready to go when I decided to look up some tutorials for a Minecraft costume, seeing if anyone else had done something similar.  What I found was a very snarky tutorial that judged what she considered to be inferior costumes and that her way and her downloads were so much better to do it right.  Can I just say that this is the evil side of Pinterest?  I love it so much for the ideas, but really people, can we not just accept that crafts and costumes are not going to be (and don't have to be) perfect?  A homemade costume made with love is something most kids will never know the joy of.  Can we not just celebrate that they were made with love and the kids who wore them loved wearing them? Sorry, I know I could go into a longer rant, but that post I read really put me off!
Anyway, I decided to forge ahead with my own idea.  Here's how it played out:

Materials

-2 large boxes, one for the head, one for the body
-paint chips in skin tones, browns and blues.  The ones I collected were similar enough in tone that the could create that pixel-y look that Minecraft is so known for
-dark brown (or black) spray paint
-blue spray paint - make sure your spray paints are good quality - see my Lego costume post as to why
-glue (I used Elmer's white glue)

How I did it:

The Head
1. Cut the bottom flaps of the box off
2. Cut out eye holes - make them large enough to see out well, keep them rectangular to fit in with the design
2. Cut out the paint chips into rectangles (I also cut off the paint numbers and names)
3.  Lay out your face design to make sure the layout will work
4.  Spread glue all over the box and lay down the chips in your design - they will curl up, don't panic!
5. Once all the pieces are on, turn the box face down to dry.  I put several heavy cookbooks inside the box to put weight on it and let it dry overnight.
6.  Once dry, take your box outside and place it face down.  Spray paint the rest of the box in dark brown or black to be the rest of the hair

The Body
1. Cut the bottom flaps of the box off
2. Use an exacto knife or serrated knife to cut out a head hole and arm holes - make them large enough that the head and arms can fit through comfortably
3. Spray paint the box blue.
*Now, you could stop there and it would look great.  I did carry on with the next steps because I had gotten the paint chips
4. Cut the paint chips into rectangles as you did with the face ones
5. Spread glue over the front of the box and lay the chips down in your design.
6. Once again, place your box design side down and place heavy books inside to weight it down and leave overnight to dry.

If I had any doubts about this costume being 'inferior', the look on my son's face the morning he saw it made them all drift away.  He really, really loved this costume and thought it "tres cool" (his words, not mine)

DIY Lego Brick Costume

This costume was a lesson in "don't cheap out on spray paint!"  Fortunately, I had lots of green tempera paint in the house, so I was able to fix the mess and the costume worked.  Best of all, my son loved it!
The first step to this costume was finding a box large enough.  One kind person suggested Indigo book store (which I never would have thought of).  Sure enough, they had it (one more reason to love that store).  Once I had the box, the rest was just figuring it out and actually taking the time to make it.

Materials
-large cardboard box
-moving tape
-paper bowls (think Royal Chinet or similar)
-paint - a good spray paint would work as it did with my other son's Minecraft costume, but I cheaped out and ended up painting several coats of tempera over top.

How I did it:

1. Cut the bottom out of the box.
2. Use an exacto knife, or a serated knife to cut a round hole large enough out of the top that the head will fit comfortably through.
3.  Also using an exacto knife, or, serated knife cut armholes out of the top sides.
4. Place and tape the bowls (placed upsidedown, spread out to look like the Lego brick bumps)
5. Paint - and continue to paint until it is coated well

Now, I know this is not the picture perfect Pinterest example of a Lego brick costume, but I think it's a pretty good example of what the rest of us can do.  He absolutely loves this costume and got great compliments at the Trunk or Treating even we went to.  I thought it was a lot of fun and I had fun making it for him too.

 

And they are off!

Yes, my kids started back at school too. Apparently it's a new tradition in New Brunswick that it will rain on the first day of school so my pictures are all early morning indoors with dreary lighting.

My oldest suggested this Beatles circa 1963 shot on the stairway, I think of it more as a Brady Bunch 1970's pic.

Don't ask me how my lovely daughter got this cool hairflip to match her model pose at 6:30 in the morning.  She started at her new daycare.

My 6 year old was pumped for grade 1.

My 9 year old really didn't want to smile for any pictures, but I made him laugh and caught it.  Look out grade 4.

My 3 ready to go

On the way to the bus stop.  Charlie wants to go too.

First day of daycare.  Her new daycare has preschool elements to it and she is loving it.

It was a little weird sending the boys off to school.  Their school is the one that I have taught at the past couple of years.  There are pros and cons to both.  It is nice to not have the dual role of parent and teacher on staff at the same school, but I miss seeing my teacher friends and being part of that community.  My new school is in town so there is a little commute and slightly different hours. The kids' school runs from 7:45 to 1:10 (K-2) and 2:10 (3-8).  My school runs from 8:30-3:00 (I teach grade 4). My school has been very welcoming to me and I do feel right at home there too.
My oldest is in an intensive french program (it's a grade 5 program for all NB students not in French Immesion.  He's in a 4/5 split so he will get it for 2 years).  He is loving it.  My husband was really amazed at how much french he was rattling off during the Open House night this week. 
My 6 year old is loving grade 1.  He's in a 1/2 split and tells me about all his adventures on the new school playground.  Apparently they have nicknamed the merry-go-round the puke express.  Lovely, I know.  My 3 year old is thriving in the preschool based daycare that she is at and is excited to go each day.  So far, a great start of the year.

 

Movie Themed Birthday Party!

My oldest child turned 9 this past week. 9! A 9 year old boy's birthday party is a little bit trickier to plan than birthday parties of years past. In some ways it is easier. He has outgrown most party games (variations of pin the tail on the donkey and pass the present etc.). He still has a group of friends he wants to invite over and celebrate with. He wants the party to be cool. Cool to a group of 8-10 year old kids has to be cool in their eyes, not the eyes of the birthday boys mother.
We looked into options beyond hosting something at the house. We have a set budget of $100 for everything - food, decorations, party bags, activities - everything. We looked into going bowling with just a couple of close friends and having a pizza after. He liked the idea of that, but didn't want to leave any of his friends out. We proposed going to the movies. We knew we could get a Costco Kids Movie pass for about $10 each, they could see a movie and have the kids pack of popcorn/drink/candy. He really liked that idea, but there weren't any movies playing the day he wanted it that would work. (Cartoons being too babyish and nothing really tween in theatres that day).
My husband came up with a movie alternative. We could have a movie theatre party at home. We could borrow an LCD projector and screen and turn our living room into a theatre. He could invite more friends too. He loved the idea! Chosing the movie was the next tricky part. We searched out New Releases on iTunes and again, nothing really Tween oriented popped out. We figured that we should try to find a movie that most of them hadn't seen too. I teach at the school my son goes to and remembered how we had shown National Treasure for movie night in the spring as that age group's target movie. The kids had really loved it. It is a slightly older movie that is clean, but still adventurous enough for them to enjoy. Plus, most of them hadn't seen it before. I tried to think of another movie that would fit that description. Night at the Museum came to mind. We showed our son the preview and he thought it looked really funny and approved the choice.
Once we had the go ahead, I went to into Planner Mom mode! Here's how the party played out:
First, the setup - 

The Concession table

I bought most of this at the Dollarama - I gave tickets out to each guest to spend on their movie treats.

The bowl of popcorn cake

 I wrote directions on how to make this cake on my foodie blog Whatcha-Eatin?  You can find them here.

The snacks ready to purchase

Concession Pricing

Now Showing...

The entrance to the theatre

The Hollywood Star wall with all the kid's names

And now the party:

It was a beautiful hot, sunny day so we spent the first hour outside playing water games.  I gave them all water guns and let them go - they loved this!  I did have some ideas for indoor games if needed but the forecast was cooperative.

Our second game was a bucket race.  I had a large bucked of water at the front of the line and a bowl at the end of the line.  Each child had a cup.  The first one had to scoop water into his cup and pour it over their head into the cup of the person behind them, continuing on until the last person poured it into the bowl.  So much fun!

Each child got to pick a "prop" (funky party glasses from the Dollarama).  I did take individual pictures of the kids each as well.

Opening the gifts

Enjoying the movie.  I did rearrange my living room furniture into movie theatre rows.  We served them pizza for supper to munch on as they watched.  My friend Jen (thank you Jen!) made popcorn too which we served to them in individual popcorn containers (from the Dollarama) that they got to take home.  The kids also used their tickets to purchase drinks and candy from the concession.

We had a movie intermission for cake

Overall, the movie themed party was a success.  I'm very glad we pulled it off!  What surprised me the most was how much the kids loved the tickets aspect to buy their concession.  They really, really loved it!  Instead of goodie bags, the kids took home their popcorn containers, water guns and funky glasses.  Most important to me is that my son loved it and that he and his friends had a good time.  (And yes, we did it all for under $100)

Fingerpainting Art - Name Tutorial

I saw this very cute idea on Pinterest. Here's how we did ours.

I used painters tape to make the letters of my daughter's name.  The canvas we used was smaller, so I cut the width of the tape in half before fashioning the letters.  The straight line letters are much easier to create than the round O and a.  I bought the canvas at the Dollarama - 2 for $1.25

I set my daughter free to fingerpaint over top of the whole canvas.  We used Crayola's fingerpaint.

We then set the finished product to dry.  I know this is upside-down, but you get the idea.

Once dry, I very carefully removed the painters tape.  That's it.  Super cute!

Footprint Art - Butterfly

 

This Butterfly art idea was found on Pinterest and super easy to do.  My daughter chose the purple and blue colours.  I painted her feet one at a time and pressed them to the canvas.  You can find cheap canvases at the Dollarama.  I drew in the butterfly middle with a Sharpie marker and used her thumbprints for the ends of the antennae.  Super cute and she loves it!
 

Lego Quest Week 2 - Monochromatic

This week's Lego Quest was Monochromatic. Here's what my kids came up with:

My 3 year old's blue hammer

My 9 year old's green secret swamp base, complete with trap doors and random hidden catapults.

My 6 year old's Black Tank

Lego Quest Kids is a worldwide non-competitive challenge and can be found here: Lego Quest Kids