Pinterest project- Jan 2013

This was not what I imagined for my first post of 2013. But right now this is what is on my mind. My one new year's resolution thus far is the following. I want to work on completing at least ONE project I've posted to my pinterest boards. The way I see it, I've pinned lots of cool crafts, recipes (which I actually do use), games, etc, etc. But half the time after I pinned them I forget what I pinned. Until I'm trying to look up some other pin and see it again. The whole thing is silly really. So my goal: complete one of those great ideas a month. The whole thing will feel less silly. And pinterest as a whole will hopefully feel like more than a time suck. Although to be honest I'm not on all that much. My time is wasted reading fictional stories, either online, on my kindle or in a physical book. ;)
Anyhoo, for Christmas I used one of my many pins to make a gift for my nephew Josiah. When I saw this pin I immediately thought of my large motor skills, very active nephew. It was perfect. This hopscotch mat looked like something I could easily put together and Josiah would love.

Hopscotch mat for Josiah

 And hopefully it would be good for my sister-in-law, who like me needs ways to direct play in a productive manner while still allowing for those large motor skills to be used. (They are going to run all over the house unless you give them something else to do with their bodies. Sit down games only last so long)
In the end, it really wasn't to difficult. I bought 2 yards of canvas from Walmart and cut it in half. This was great because then I could make one for my boys as well. I cut numbers our of blocks of felt and used the numbers on the second one.

Mat made from extras for my boys. I used fabric pant to draw the boxes 

Using a zigzag stitch I sewed around the edges to hopefully deter unraveling. Unlike the blogger who originally posted the idea, I used fabric paint in addition to felt.

Tic-Tac-Toe outline

 For the back tic-tac-toe game I cut out rectangles and painted x's and o's on them instead of adding felt letters. I also used paint to write the numbers for the dart/bomber game on the back.

Bomber/Dart game

Because there is snow on the ground and I had no desire to dig for rocks, the bomber bags double as both bombers and hopscotch rocks. Josiah seems pleased. And the boys played with it some last night after we exchanged gifts. All and all I too was pretty please with the results. I sadily didn't take any pictures of the tic-tac-toe pieces or the bag I put it all in. It was one I made a few years back, but it was brightly colored and the right size. I wrote hopscotch in fabric paint on the bottom.
 My boys now want me to add a tic-tac-toe game and bomber game to the back of ours. We'll see. For right now thought the hopscotch mat seems enough for them.

On a side note, we have hard wood floors and canvas sides very easily across the floor. While places heavy books on top of the canvas can work it doesn't work well. I have been using the double sided tape from our plastic window coverings used to winterize the house. I have used these sheets for several years now, with the exception of this one (I decided after last year and the cats slashing every single one it was not worth the work). Because the tape is meant for the wood trim around window I figured it would be safe on my floor. So far it has not caused any problems. Of course by the end of day two the fabric decided it does not want to stick anymore and you have to replace the tape. But that's better anyway. If it doesn't stay long on the floor it has less potential of ruining the finishing.

Gifts for their teachers

Last year I had wanted to make the boys' preschool teachers gifts for Christmas. Sadly it did not come to fruition. This year I was determined to get it done. So the day before the last day of school I sat Aiden and Cai down to work on teacher gifts in the morning.

Aiden unwrapping candy canes

 I had decided on making hot chocolate mixes. We followed this recipe, although I"m not sure we used as much peppermint bits. We added mini chocolate chips and mini marshmallows to the top of the jar as well. The boys had a great time hammering the candy canes to make the tiny bits.

Cai helping or just being impatient for his turn. However you want to look at it. 

 I then hot glued Christmas fabric to the top and added a candy cane to each jar. For most of them I used old sunflower butter jars. I think one was placed in a salsa jar, a few in plastic peanut butter jars and Ian got to use canning jars cause I ran out of the others.

Cai hammering the candy canes

 Ian made his own batch when he got home from school that afternoon. I think at that point we left of out the peppermint bits cause he was worried about being done so he could watch Clifford. Of the priorities of a 6 year old. I did make him write "Merry Christmas from Ian" on all his cards. I figure he can do write and I'm sure the practice is good for him. :)

All but Ian's done

 I was kinda proud of these. One with the month we had in December I'm proud I even got them done. I figured in the span of a week we dealt with strep throat (Ian), lice (all of us but Mark) and pink eye (Cai).  The fact I actually got these done and given to all 8 teachers is kinda amazing. Note about the 8 teachers. Ian made gifts for his teacher and the two aids. Cai has two classroom teachers and a art aid. Aiden's speech therapy class has a teacher and aid. So we had 8 total to gift for. Plus I made two extra for our pastors at church. :)Number two reason for being proud: I thought they all looked nice when I was done. It is always nice to make something that looks nice when it's all finished.
 In addition to teacher gifts this year, Ian made gifts for his classmates. His class had a stocking exchange where they were asked (if they wanted to participate) to bring in a small gift for each student. The point was to not spending more than a few dollars for the whole class, so the suggestions were to bring candy canes, stickers, pencils, etc. We made recycled crayons. I had a ton of broken crayons that I cut into small piece. We then melted them in silicone penguin molds that I had gotten a few years ago for free. The shape didn't turn out great but that's okay. I still felt good about it. And who doesn't like mystery crayons with several different colors swirls around? I'm not sure exactly what all the boys got out of all this. My hope was they could experience the joy of giving. If we continue such traditions, I hope they can learn not only the joy of giving but that it's possible to give something fun without spending alot. That making it is just as fun!

How to make a Bowser costume

 Cai wanted to be Bowser for Halloween this year. I looked up some ideas on google but mostly decided to do it myself. Fair warning right now you need lots of toilet paper tubes. :)

Supplies: (I think I listed them all)
thick cardboard -big enough to make a shell for your back
thin cardboard (think cereal box)
15 empty toilet paper tubes (or 9 paper towel rolls cut in half)
Yellow felt
Green hat (I used fleece)
White duck tape
Red feathers
pair of old socks (preferably white)
white, green and yellow pant
scotch tape
Elastic
Hot glue and glue gun
scissors
needle and thread- either yellow or white

 Take your big piece of cardboard and draw your shell shape- big oval that will fit your kid's (or your own) back. Cut out shape. At this time I also drew marks as to where my spikes would go. I placed 10 spikes on the shell. I suppose you could add more or less.

 Make you spikes. I took my toilet paper tubs and cut three triangles into the top. Then I used scotch tape to take them together to make the point. At the bottom I cut slits to allow me to glue the bottom to the shell.

 Hot glue all your spikes onto your shell.

 Cut the elastic to the size you'll need to go around your shoulders. I poked holes into my shell and threaded the elastic though the shell and tied the ends together to make one big loop. Then I hot glued this down to the shell under spikes. I felt this make the elastic more secure. I'm sure you could just hot glue it to the back if you want.

 At this point I used white spray paint to cover the whole shell. It did not coat the spikes very well. I ended up going back over all the spikes with white acrylic paint. The boys helped me with this part and the green paint as well.

 Use your green paint for the shell. I had to use two coats. Then I used yellow acrylic paint around the base of each spike. The yellow band is probably about 1/2 inch.

To finish I added white felt around the edges. You could just paint a white boarder around the edge and have similar results.

 For the horns on the hat I used thin cardboard (an old coca cola box), toilet paper tubs scotch tape and a pair of old socks.

 I cut out the shape of the horn on the cardboard. Taped this together at the narrow end. Then taped the tube in between to give it a 3D shape.

 I slipped a sock onto each horn to help give it shape and have something to wrap my tape around. I then used white duck tape to cover the horns completely.

 For my hat I cut holes into the side of my fleece hat. I liked the fleece because it didn't fray when I cut into it. I slipped my horn into place and hot glued down. You could add yellow band with pain at the end of the horns to make them looks like the spike on the shell. I didn't bother though.

Mark was my model :)

Taking my hot glue gun I glued down the feathers over the eyes for eyebrows and along the top and over the back. I looked at images on google to give me an idea of how Bowsers head looks. He has a sorta red mohawk going on. So I tried to recreate that. 

For his tail, I first made three more spikes just like I did for the shell. I then took my yellow felt and folded so that it created a triangle. Using some thread I hand stitched it together. I then made three cuts where I wanted my spikes to be and pushed them through the inside out. I hot glued them in place. Rather than attempting to figure out how to attach the tail to his pants, I hot glued the tail to the shell. Making the shell and tail all one piece. Hot Glue is my friend. Really!!!

Viola! You now have a shell, tail and hat for Bowser. Wear yellow top and bottoms. Add spike bracelets and you're done. I found black spiked slap bracelets at Dollar Tree. Other idea I saw in my searching online where the metal and leather ones. I couldn't find any when I was looking. To be really authentic you would need bracelets at the wrists, around your biceps and then a spiked choker around the neck. We only had the two so around the wrists/forearms worked for us. :)  I'm pretty proud of this costume. Hope you enjoy it as much as us!!!

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! Since about 2:15pm this afternoon our life has been nonstop. Aiden, Cai and I got dressed in our costumes (with lots of layers underneath to try and keep warm) and went to pick up Ian at school by 3. We stopped at Mark's office. Ian changed. I came up with a paper mustache since the felt one seemed to disappear. We then said goodbye to Dad and headed out to main street for trick or treating downtown.

Bowser, Waluigi, and Wario from Nintendo

 The boys had a great time. It was crowded and crazy. We did run into Ian's teacher and a few friends. I heard a few kids say "Hey that's Bowser." Feeling pretty good about that.

Check out his spikes!

 Poor Ian and Aiden got mistaken for Luigi. It frustrated Ian, but he was usually too shy to correct people. Aiden got lots of comments on his mustache. He does look mighty adorable.

growling faces

 In addition to lots of candy, the boys got cars at one store and a book at the bookstore. And I got a complement on my TARDIS dress by someone who recognized who I was. Made my day. I'm still smiling thinking of it.

The black spikes are a slap bracelet which Cai loved

After we decided we had had enough cold and wet, we headed back up to Dad's office to enjoy a couple of pieces of candy and check in.The hurricane is causing all sorts of work for Mark, so he was crazy busy. We quickly said goodbye again and headed to Aunt Rachel's.

The wind made keeping the had on hard

 Had a quick dinner (peanut butter or soynut butter tortillas with honey) and then headed out to trick or treat with the cousins. Josiah's cheetah costume is awesome. All the boys seem to be obsessed with Cheetah Power off of Wild Krats (PBS kids). It's mostly cute. Although there are afternoons here at home I"m ready to ban the words. In door races can only be handled for so long.

Four out of Five boys- the youngest didn't want to walk

 While it was cold this afternoon, the temp dropped after 5pm. It was freezing by the time we called it a night at about 6pm. I'm not sure how the boys handled it. But they had a great time. We adults couldn't walk fast enough and spent most of the evening tell them to wait up or just yelling STOP! Sigh.

For about two blocks they all held hands while walking/skipping down the sidewalk

 After warming up for a bit at Rach's, we went on to a Halloween party at her high school friends house.  Mark was able to join for the party and help me get boys to bed. Now he is back to work. :( All and all it was a good Halloween. Now if only I could warm up.

Dr Who and Halloween Parties

Every Halloween a friend of ours throws a Halloween party on the weekend closest to Halloween. This year it was Saturday Oct 27th. While kids are more then welcome to come, the last two years we have chosen to have someone watch our boys. Being that the party starts around 7pm and that is bed time around here it's just easier. Plus it's nice to hang out with others without worrying about tired kids. This year when I asked Mark what he would be, his response was The Doctor. Then of course came the decision as to which Doctor he should be, as there are 11 Doctors. Have no clue what I'm talking about. That's okay. I'll look over that and explain.
For those who are confused, the Doctor is the main character of the BBC TV series Doctor Who. Originally  running from 1963- 1989 (according to Wikipedia) it was relaunched in 2005. Mark and I started watching it alittle after moving to Goshen on Netfllixs. Although to be honest after about the first 4 episodes I have to stop watching. It was alittle to creepy for me. Mark really enjoys the series. I started watching again with him at the start of season 5 and the introduction to the 11th Doctor. It still is creepy at times. And I often read while the TV, paying only enough attention to know what's going on but tuning out when my brain can't handle the images. It works and I'm enjoying getting to partake in the love of Doctor Who. Anyway I digress.
 After looking at pictures of all the past Doctors, Mark decided he wanted to be the 11th. Sadly he cannot pull of the hair. But at the end of Season 5 the Doctor wears a fez. Problem solved. Of course that meant we needed to come up with a fez. But a quick google search and I'm done. While there were several links for making a fez, I liked this one the best. Tally's Treasury had not only a tutuiral for making a fez, she also had Doctor Who drinks. I so want to try them out. We decided against it for this party, but I'm thinking I might just need to come up with a reason to try them. ;)

We had ordered a tie and sonic screwdriver from ThinkGeek.com. Due to some complications it never made it here and is now on it's way back to the company. Take about a frustration. I love ThinkGeek and will probably continue to love the site. But right now I have not forgiven them. All was not lost though. Mark ordered a sonic screwdriver flashlight from Amazon.com. Not as cool as the one I had ordered for him as it doesn't open up, but it still is neat and looks like the Doctors. I made him a bow tie. I found this great tutorial for making bow ties out of old straight ties. Mark happened to have a maroon tie he never wears (the tag was still on) that was similar in color to what he needed. Add a mop from the Dollar Tree, a new shirt, and a tweed jacket from Goodwill and he was set to go. Of course then we have to explain to everyone who he is. Sigh.

So I've explained what Mark went as, but what about me. I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to dress as. But when I was looking at pictures of Dr Who costumes online I saw several costumes for the TARDIS. Again for those who have no clue, the TARDIS is the Doctors time machine. It looks like a British Police Call Box, think telephone booth for emergencies. Armed with a list of possibilities  I decided this on this option while out shopping for the boys and Mark's costumes.
 I found a blue dress, well actually it is a sleep shirt but it works as a dress.

 I then painted on the windows and front. I used printable iron ons for the notices. I ironed them on white felt and glued them to the dress.

 I then got black ribbon and iron on letters for the Police Call Box sign. Add a belt to give shape to the dress and make it look nice and voila! I'm done. :) Sure it took time, but I'm pretty pleased with the results.

The harder part of the hat. The TARDIS has a light on top that flashes when it travels. Mine doesn't flash but it does light up. I took a small canning jar that didn't have a lid. Used the cardboard off the top of a pizza box to create a base. But a circle in it to put the jar through

 Covered that in blue felt. Cut another base from the cardboard and a circle big enough to get to the bottom of my LED tea light, but small enough that the light could be hot glued to the cardboard and not fall through.

 Then hot glue the jar to that base around the tea light and glue the felt down.

 Add a felt top and paint to make it look like a lantern. Oh and don't forget the elastic to go around my head. Hot glue is my friend. Really it is. :)


 I'm pretty proud of this hat. All and all I think we look great! And despite having to explain our outfits, we had a great time at the party. I love Halloween.

Dinosaur Train

For Halloween this year, Ian and Cai wanted to be characters from PBS's Dinosaur Train.

 If you have never had the pleasure of watching this kids PBS show, you are missing out. ;) My boys love it. And why not. dinosaurs and trains together? What's  not to love? Actually in all seriousness, its not a bad show. The main characters consist of Buddy,  a T-Rex, who is adapted by a Ptreranodon family which includes Mom, Dad, Tiny, Shiny and Don, and Mr Conductor (the train conductor) who is a Troodon. Just about ever episode has them riding the Dinosaur Train to meet and learn about different dinosaurs in the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous time periods. It's amazing what new things I've learned about dinosaurs from watching this with my boys. Anyway, Ian wanted to be Buddy

 and Cai wanted to be Tiny.

So I made it happen. With an XL orange sweatshirt, baseball cap, hot glue, foam balls and paint for Ian. Oh and lots of plastic bags as stuffing.

 For Cai I used a M green long sleeve men's shirt, a foam visor, foam balls and paint.

They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. The boys loved them for sure. And there were even a few people who recognized who they were without prompting. :) Score for Momma!

For Aiden I had gotten a brown 2T sweatshirt and money ears that I had planned on pairing with his brown sweats and a red T-shirt. Instant Curious George. Sadly, Aiden did not like the ears. So then he was going to wear our Elmo costume that was giving to us by a friend in KS.

 But after wearing it around the house all afternoon he did not want to put it back on after I took it off to change his diaper before heading out. So I laid the Elmo, the Curious George, and Cai's Thing 1 costume from last year on the couch and had him choose. Thing 1 was picked.

Can't complain too much, I spent alot of time on that wig last year, it was nice to see it used again. :) We went trick-or-treating with Josiah in my sister-in-laws neighborhood.

 One up and down her street is just long enough for the kids. Two, I happen to know many of the people living there from church and other places. And three it's fun to trick-or-treat with your cousins. I felt alittle bad that we didn't go in our own neighborhood, but by the time we got home they boys were way past tired and done. Next year, there is always next year. Right?

 By the way isn't Josiah's zebra costume great? Rachel made it with black sweats, white duck tape and felt. She wanted to be able to use the sweats after she was done since they are actually Ian's and I'll want them back for the other boys later.  So impressive. It was a great Halloween. Fun was had by all.

Next year Ian tells me he wants to be a ghost. We'll see if he remembers that a year from now.

Taken by Ian while I was making dinner. I was a ballerina if you can't tell. 

Me I'm thinking Miss Piggy for myself. Any excuse to dress up I'll take.