Fun in February

Yikes...it's almost mid February!  This month is already short enough with it being 28 days.  It just hit me yesterday that I have seven weeks left until our little precious Violet is born...seven weeks unless she comes early.  I don't think I could be that lucky.  My babies are all SO big and Isaiah was one week overdue so my chances of having our new little love come early are slim to none. 

 

We've had a little bug going around our house lately.  Ava had a fever for one day with some headaches and Andy hasn't been feeling the best either.  Isaiah and I have lucked out and haven't gotten any of it...knock on wood.  I must say that a short fever isn't much compared to what's going around out there.  I had five kids gone from my class one day this past week and these kids had the four day fever thing.  I guess we're just lucky we caught a little strand of it.  Everyone is well now and that makes me smile! 

 

I just LOVE months that have holidays.  You know what that means...crafts, projects, and fun cooking!  In this post are a few of the neat things we've been doing together.

 



This isn't Valentine's Day related...unless you count the fact that red cups were used.  The kids found some of these in the pantry and did this all on their own.  Andy snapped a quick picture of it...they were sure proud.  If I remember correctly I think Isaiah started this structure and Ava helped too.  Who needs toys when you have tons of red cups on your hands.  Since these have been used so much no one will be drinking out of them...we just keep them in case the kids want to build some more.

You may not understand this picture unless you've seen the movie "Despicable Me."  We got our new baby swing the other day and this was one of the oddly shaped cardboard pieces that came in the box.  When Isaiah put it on I told him he looked just like Gru...the main character in the movie when he was little and would say, "Look Ma, I'm going to the moon."  I know...you probably don't get it...but if you've seen this movie you'll know what I'm talking about.

In the movie, Gru also makes a HUGE rocket out of pasta pieces.  This cardboard piece made Isaiah think of that and he wanted to make a rocket out of noodles too.  So into the pantry I went to find a variety of pasta pieces that he could use.  In this picture he was hard at work!

He put a lot of thought into where he wanted to put each piece.

There you have it...an "R" for Richardson or rocket was added and I loved how he used the bow tie pasta for the fire coming out of the bottom of the rocket.

Last weekend Ava went to her friend Payton's birthday party.  Here she is with one of her best buds Reagan...they were having some play time downstairs before the party started.

Here's Ava playing air hockey with her friend Izzy.

The kids were competing in a little balloon and paddle contest.  Payton's mom, Sue, made these simple paddles with a large popsicle stick taped to colorful paper plates.  The kids used those to hit balloons back and forth and they had a contest to see who could keep their balloon in the air the longest. 

Next they went upstairs and used baking clay and could create whatever they wanted.  Ava made the letters in her name with different colors.

Present time...every time Ava is invited to a party she insists on getting her friends a "My Generation" doll from Target.  It was a hit again because Patyon loved it. 

Speaking of birthdays...we celebrated Great Grandma Richardson's birthday last Sunday too.  We watched part of the Super Bowl, ate lots of yummy appetizers, and had a homemade angel food cake for dessert.  She got a kick out of the candle that Dan and Janet put into the cake.  Once it was lit the heat would trigger the song "Happy Birthday" to play.  Whoever invented that was pretty clever.  Happy Birthday Grandma...we love you!

Now onto some Valentine's Day fun.   Instead of store bought valentines we decided to make our own this year.  This may be something that I continue to do because I absolutely LOVE doing stuff like that and there are a million cute ideas out there.  In a previous post I talked about these bubble gum machines that we were in the process of making.  Here is Ava working on those...and yes...all the pictures you see of the kids on the weekend feature them in their pajamas.  Who doesn't like to stay cozy!

For this Valentine...Pinterest inspired...you need these cute little machine cut-outs ran on fun colors, baggies that don't zip...the fold over kind, ribbon, tape, and small gumballs.  Pretty simple, right?

This part takes a while.  Scoop out some gumballs and put them into the baggies, tie with the ribbon, and then cut off the extra pieces of ribbon hanging off along with most of the baggie top.  You want about a 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch piece of baggie at the top still.  This will be the part that you tape to the back of the machine template.

 

Here's an example of one Ava made today.  Her teacher gave her the names of the kids in her class and they were to cut them out and glue them on the valentine.  I just put about 2 or 3 pieces of tape along the back to hold the bag in place and this is how it turned out.  Ava is just like me...she loves crafts.  Isaiah started making these for his class but made it about 5 minute until he wanted to go play with Daddy.  I have to remember...he's ALL BOY...it's okay that he doesn't want to make things.  Hopefully this week we'll finish them together. 

Here is the batch that Ava made for her class, Isaiah is making them for his class, and I'm making them to hand out to my students too.  That's almost 60 of these babies.  I thought they turned out really cute...and they're so much more fun to make than the store bought kind!

Ava's other project was to create a valentine box or bag to take to school.  She wanted to make a box that looked like a cat.  So we got some fun pink wrapping paper for the box and I have tons of valentine scrap booking paper.  She cut out two pointy ears, eyes, a heart nose, whiskers, a tail, and paws...we added one last bow to one of the ears...and then she said that was good.

Here's the finished product.  I loved how she wanted the eyes to be looking off to the side.  You really can't see the paws either but they are attached to the bottom and stick out.  Ava really liked it. 

If you search back in our blog to last February you will find posts about "The Sweetheart Snatcher."  This mysterious creature comes into our home for the four nights before Valentine's Day and leaves clues and small gifts for the kids around the house.  How do you get the Sweetheart Snatcher to come to your house??  Leave a trail or hide little candy hearts all over the house every night.  That's what this creature loves to eat.  The kids both wanted to write him a note...funny that they both think it's a boy.  Ava wrote hers on a sticky note and put it by one of the hearts.  Isaiah wrote his on paper and was so proud!  I helped him spell the words of course but he was working so hard to write his best!

He wanted his note to say, "Leave candy and presents Candy Heart Snatcher.  Love, Isaiah." I get a kick out of hearing the conversations between the kids about this little heart man.  Ava was trying to think of places to hide her hearts in her room and she asked Isaiah, 'Do you think it will be able to get on top of the dresser if I put it up there?"  Isaiah then said, "No, but it can use the handles to swing up there like this."  He then proceeded to demonstrate how this mini heart could make his way up to the top.  I wonder what clue the Sweetheart Snatcher will leave and what gift he will bring tomorrow morning...we shall see!

 

 

My Three Happy's:

1) The kids came to school with me for a bit on Saturday and played while I basically gutted out my classroom.  I'm trying to gradually get ready for my long term sub.  I know where I stash everything but I want to make sure things are organized and ready for when she comes.  I went through every cupboard and drawer and organized, organized, organized.  Some of the stuff I wanted to throw away the kids found and wanted to bring home to play with.  Both trash cans are filled and it felt so good to get rid of some things.  If only it were this easy for me at home to get organized...someday...someday!

 

2) The kids were so busy playing this weekend that they are beyond exhausted when they go to bed.  The other night Isaiah wanted me to read him seven stories...so I thought, why not.  The poor guy made it through one and a half of those books and he was out.  Ava's been the same way.  They are so easy to put to bed if they keep busy during the day.

 

3) The laundry is caught up...everyone knows what a good feeling that is!

 

My Favorite Thing:

We had a wellness day at school a few weeks ago and each grade could choose a healthy snack to promote to our kids.  Our grade chose smoothies and let me tell you....they were GOOD!  Super easy, healthy, and delicious! I made them last weekend at home for the kids and today also.  Four easy ingredients is all you need:  1 cup vanilla yogurt   1 cup frozen strawberries or peaches  

                                             1/4 cup orange juice   1 banana cut up

                                         *Then just turn on your blender and that's it!

 

Today I used extra yogurt, less orange juice, and added more strawberries because we didn't have bananas...and they were just as good.  The peach ones were yummy too but strawberry was Ava and Isaiah's favorite!  Maybe next time I'll try adding frozen raspberries instead.