Mardi Gras 2011!

On March 8 we did a little celebrating in our house - Mardi Gras! I searched the internet for ideas, and here's what we came up with...

First the kids colored some coloring pages of kings and people in fun masks.


Then they made their own masks! I used small paper plates - cut out the centers to see through - then stapled them together. Popsicle sticks were attached for holding up the masks. I tried to show them how this sort of mask has just one stick, but they both insisted on having two. :-) First they painted their masks...


Then they attached all sorts of feathers, pompoms and glitter!


I should have taken a photo of them holding up their finished masks, standing in front of the wall we decorated with their coloring pages, but alas, I did not.

We rounded out the afternoon with the baking of "king cakes" - but I was too lazy to make REAL king cake so instead we did some cupcake decorating. Here's Courtney with her super sugary creations!


Laissez le bon temps rouler! Or as us non-Cajuns would say, let the good times roll! :-)

Playdate with Rachel & Derek!

Our good friends Rachel and Derek came over for a playdate, yay!!! We don't see them much anymore, now that our preschool time is on opposite days. So it was GREAT to have some time with them!! First we did some playing in the playroom, mostly building tracks on the train table, but that quickly deteriorated when a certain child who will remain nameless (but hint, he was not one of the sweet, well-behaved guests!) decided to keep destroying the tracks instead of building them. Sigh.So next I got out the paints! Paints are always a great distraction!! And here are our cuties painting...That distraction lasted for about 15 minutes. So then I got them to all sit on the couch and watch a little bit of Mama Mirabelle while I fixed their lunch. Here are all the cuties lined up on the couch! Notice a little hand-holding going on to the left of the photo!!! SO SWEET!!Thanks for playing with us Rachel & Derek, we hope you'll come over again soon!

Carter's Weekend Art Exhibit

This afternoon Carter wanted to do an "art project", so we pulled out the crayons, construction paper, scissors, tape and glue. Carter spent a little time coloring on the paper, but mostly he just wanted to play with the tape. He decided to tape his papers to the windows - Mommy said it was ok, we'd leave it there until Sunday - Carter's weekend art exhibit!I'm hoping next time he actually draws something on the papers before hanging them up on display. :-)

Lakeshore Learning Store

Today we took the kids to Lakeshore Learning Store, a relatively new store in Austin that has supplies for teachers and all kinds of educational toys. On Saturday mornings they have crafts for the kids to do - so it CAN be a fun, free outing, as long as you can get out of there without buying anything. We couldn't. :-) Here's Courtney making the craft.They also have a lot of the toys out of the packaging, so the kids can try them out. Carter had fun fishing for a bit.I really loved this store. I could easily spend a fortune there. It's probably best that I avoid it. LOL!

Rainy Day Fun - Making Crayons!

After a long, hot summer of complaining about the lack of rain, I'm now on the verge of complaining about too much rain!! Boy, we sure have had a lot of it lately! But then I drive past Lake Travis, and see all the "islands" that are still there, and remember that rain is good. Especially when you have fun things to do with the kids on those rainy days - like this idea that I got from my friend Jenn! We turned Carter's old broken crayons into funky new round crayons!! Here's how:

Step 1: Remove papers from the crayons and break into small pieces. Carter was such a great helper!!Step 2: Fill a mini muffin pan, sprayed well with Pam, with the crayon pieces. Fill each cup all the way to the top.Step 3: Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. This is how they looked when I first pulled them out - VERY melty!Step 4: After cooling completely on the counter, pop them into the freezer for a few minutes so they come out of the muffin pan easily. Voila! Funky new round crayons!! :-)