Baby bath tub/ Play time!

Storage is forever in short supply and frankly, I tire of stuff! My husband and I are forever getting rid of stuff so as to not have mountains of things. Not to mention where to put all that stuff? So all of my baby things I try to find a multipurpose reason for existing. For instance, the jumparoo doubles as a dog gate and keeps Eutaw out of the dining room during dinner. haha However, the baby bathtub had me stumped for a while, that was until I thought of turning it into a play area!

As a tub:

As a play area:

It works for a little while to entertain her. And now it doesn't just take up space between baths! She had to be able to sit up on her own for this to work.

Dry Snow!

So we had snow this week, wonderful, beautiful snow!  I love snow so much! I dressed Joshua and we raced outside while Maria was napping.  We made snow angels and snow mountains, it was even 24 inches tall! It was a blast and 30 minutes that went way to fast! However, after a cup of decadent hot chocolate it was time to play and I suddenly had an idea! Just because the snow was too dry to make snowballs or snowmen didn't mean I couldn't figure out a way to do those things, kinda! So I googled papermache!  Feeling well prepared for the task I threw some flour and water into a bowl while Joshua set about tearing up newspaper.

After the stripes were torn and set aside we balled up some other newspaper to put the papermache over.

This is the messy bit. I suggest a linoleum floor, clothes on everyone that no one cares about getting gross and letting go of cleanliness for the next hourish. After the balls of newspaper were well wrapped in our papermached stripes they were put in the oven at 200 degrees for about 3 to 4 hours. You have to make sure that it is completely dry so that it doesn't mold!

We just put them on a normal baking sheet to "bake" in the oven.

Here they are before all the paint starts. So at our mommies preschool, one of our fab mommies did The Snowy Day book and for the craft we made snow paint. It was awesome and so I thought I could do this for our snowman!! So that is what we did. 

Then as you can see below there were googlie eyes, pom poms and pipe cleaners involved for the finishing touches.

 Then, finally, there was a top hat. Which we used construction paper and half of a toilet paper roll to construct. We made a snow man even though the snow was so dry outside two flakes would stick together!!
 

Mary, Mother of God!

In honor of the feast of Mary, Mother of God I made cake and decorated it with the oldest symbol of Mother and the Trinity. As this is the oldest feast for her I thought it was fitting. I printed the flur de leis onto cardstock and cut it out. Then placed the paper covering the cake top and sprinkled the sprinkles on the inside.

Snack Time!

Sometimes we feel like we are begging our children to eat. Which is hilarious because we are trying to keep ourselves from over eating. Anywho, I devised a way to make this fun for everyone. I make the snacks into ridiculous things and for some reason this makes Joshua want to eat!

Happy Imagining!

Treasures in Heaven

Since the dawn of potty training I have used stickers and candy to reward Joshua for a job well done. I have been trying to think of a way to separate the sticker/candy/good job connection but didn't know quite how to do that. That is until I read St. Therese of Lisieux's autobiography. She said that she had kids put the good things that they did on a piece of paper and put them in a box as a reminder of the treasures they were storing up in heaven. I started it with Joshua that day and he LOVES it. He has not asked for candy for doing something good since we started and is really excited about having treasures stored up for heaven. It is adorable! Thank you, St. Therese!