A Shrinkydink Teacher Gift!

The end of the school year is next week for us in this area. Although three of my kids are homeschooled, one is in public school in kindergarten this year. His teacher has been wonderful, and she is retiring at the end of this school year. Everyone is contributing to a group gift, but I wanted something a little more personal for her. 

 

So, I broke out the shrinky dink plastic, and copied the school mascot to make a necklace for her.

 

Now, if you have been following this blog at all, you would know that I cannot draw like that on my own!  Luckily, my son had a school t-shirt with the mascot (a tiger, or maybe a leopard??, named Jaz) on the back.  I dropped the t-shirt onto a copier, and reduced the image size to 2" x 3".  Then I traced the image onto the shrinky dink plastic and followed the directions on the package to shrink it. 

 

Am I the only one who is completely fascinated by watching shrinky dinks do their magical shrinking?  It amazes me when they curl up and then flatten out again, all in seconds. 

 

I rummaged around in my bins of junk until I found some beads and some waxed cord to string it on.  And then I hit the jackpot and found some necklace closures, too.  You never know what you will find when you search through my bins of goodies. 

 

Then I decided it was just tons of fun and I wanted to keep playing with shrinky dinks, so I made a keychain, too.

 

 

I know that this is just the type of gift that the teacher will love, as she is always sentimental, and even more so as retirement approaches.  I hope that this will help her keep her school days in her mind and heart, even as she goes on to new exciting adventures.

Springtime evening walk

Tonight I had just the littles home with me, so we went for a walk on the canal.

 

 

She started out strong...

 

but she fell behind quickly...

and gave up before we reached the next yard...

And then she cried.

But it is dandelion season, so she perked up again.

 

Oh, those faces!  How I love those faces!

 



You know it is spring when the lilacs are in bloom!

The graffiti under the bridge asked a good question, but the answer is obvious.

 

Nature Journaling in the Snow

I don't know about you, but here we are starting to get a little sick of the cold weather!

The calendar says it is spring, but it feels like winter.

Joseph was so cold that he pulled his hood up and his hat down, and I could only see his nose and mouth!

He was having fun breaking through the ice on the puddles.  It was probably a third of an inch thick on this sunny day in late March.

  

Since it was at least partially sunny, we took our nature journals out for a walk, looking for signs of spring.  First, he found some deer footprints in the snow.

We found some berries -- not a sign of spring.  Leftovers from Fall.

We found a clump of moss with some new green growth on it.

We found a daffodil poking up through the snow.  That is definitely a sign of spring!

But then we were freezing and had to head for home.

I got a few smiles out of my boy on the walk home. 

All in all, a successful nature walk on a snowy spring day.







Face paint makes every day special!

My brave and bold tiger!

This week is my spring break. 

So I have been home all week spending time with the kids.

She said, "Surprise me!"

We didn't have anything special planned.

No vacation, no special occasions.

He was very specific about the stars and the size and the color and the placement.  Whatever. 

But I did have an unused package of face paint hidden away. 

And, of course, lots of inspiration on Pinterest.

A happy teddy bear!

Girls In Black

I don't know what it is about black and pink, but I love it!  I love to dress my preschooler in black.  And my nine year old daughter looks great in it, too.  Here are some new creations I made for them.

This pattern is the Mamu Sabrina.  I like the pattern.  It has tons of options.  BUT the instructions are incomprehensible (due to translation problems, I think).  I find this is true of all Mamu patterns.  So you have to be able to sew the entire garment with no instructions.  You even have to be able to figure out which pattern pieces to use all on your own, too.

Best picture ever of Hannah!

This pattern is from Ottobre, issue 4/2012.  I love the placket on here.  I think it ends up very professional looking. Again, the instructions are not great, and it helps if you already know how to do this!

It happens to perfectly match a pair of pants she already owns!  Win!

Yep, that's right -- the stripes are matched up in the lined hood.  You're impressed, right?  :P  It doesn't always work out that way, somehow!

Right now, they still think it is fun that they match (even if they are different styles with the same fabric).  I know it won't last much longer, so I am taking advantage of it!

Another Castle Cake!

My kids are in a rut!  Hannah wanted a castle cake for her birthday again this year.  Noah says he wants Lightning McQueen again this year for his birthday.  I think I am doomed to make the same cakes again and again. 

The castle cake was pretty easy.  I made a few layers in different sizes, decorated the whole thing with dots of buttercream frosting for stones, and then made marshmallow crenellations with sour patch soldiers behind.  The flags made of lollipop sticks with fruit by the foot flags.  And the windows are the tops of the lollipops.  The towers are just a combination of 3 ice cream cones stuck together with frosting and covered in sprinkles.  And the drawbridge is a cookie.   

Every kid who ended up at our impromptu birthday party (8 guests plus my 4!) wanted a tower to eat.  They were very popular.   

And here's one picture of Hannah with her favorite gift -- a camera of her very own!  What a lucky girl!

Learning Letters on a Light Table

Today during our preschool time, Sarah and I played on the light table.

I squirted some orange paint in a gallon size ziploc bag, which I then sealed again with a line of duct tape.

Sarah used her finger to draw letters in the paint.  Then you squish it around to "erase" and try again.

We were working on the letter M today. 

We've tried this before as a fun, tactile way to learn letters.  Today was even more fun on the light table because the letters you draw seem to glow. 

I'm so blessed to have such a little cutie to play with. 

Then I left and went to work -- and I have to tell you, teaching college was not nearly as fun as teaching preschool today.