Video Game Battle

It's that time of year again.  Things calm down, there is no school schedule to mold our daily activities.  The video game battle has already begun.  What I mean by that is that my boys only want to play video games all of the time.  Mostly my 9 year old.  On one hand,  I feel like he deserves to do that on some days because he has earned it.  On the other hand, I feel like he will miss out on other things and it's not healthy.  When I get bored, I bake.  (See that peach bunt cake? It was my first, not bad.)  When my son gets bored, he follows me around looking forlorn.  We found a solution.

He's a smart kid.  In desperation, I told him that he should learn how to make koolaid.  Every kid should know how.  So that took up all of .... 5 minutes.  Having a friend over wasn't an option that day. 

We have a "Truth Or Dare" game book in the house.  I decided to flip open a random page and present him with a dare. 

"I dare you to spit water up into the air and catch it again in your mouth."  He was up to the task. 

He threw it using the cup instead, but he caught some!

Feeling accomplished, he moved on through some other dares.  We also have a "Scavenger Hunt" game.  Each card has four tasks or items to complete and collect.  The next time he gets bored and video games are not an option, I will give him a card and a few minutes to complete it.  Hopefully it will keep him coming back for more.   He knows that he is NOT allowed to sit and vedge in front of a video game all day.   It's pushing him to find some more creative outlets, and I'm glad.

These boys, too.  (Mine is the shirtless one who loves to play his hand held video games, too. ) He has to put them away for most of the day and it forces him to play games with people and engage. 

It can be so hard when the rain has been here for so long! 

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Rainy Day Fish

A friend gave us some craft sand that was perfect for our art yesterday.  It was raining!

In fact, it is pouring really hard right now!

I am ok with the rain.  The air smells wonderful, and it is creating a muggy heat.  Warm muggy air is better than cold windy air in my opinion!

We decided to create our own fish tanks.  The kids spread out some elmers glue along the bottom of their tanks.  We sprinkled some sand.  It really turned out neat!

The kids then added some tank plants and some jewels for the fish to poke at.

I thought it would be fun to attempt a clown fish.  Kids LOVE to have their hand painted!  The hard part is to get the younger ones to hold their hand out straight, and to get them to keep their fingers together. 

Add one eye! 

The kids used a marker to create some bubbles. 

I think they turned out great!  I particularly like the sand. ♥

It was a great rainy day project that took about 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, Steph baked cookies.  I'm so glad my daughter can bake!

The kids' sunflowers are ready to go home and be planted.  

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Camp Fire

Would you look at that grey Washington sky? True to itself, the minute school lets out each year, Washington turns into a cold drizzly mess for several weeks straight.  EVERY YEAR.  It has been just pouring on us this week.  It makes me feel like we missed summer and it is now early Fall.  We are in the low 60s as far as temperature goes.  Whatever.  WHATEVER.   I'll just keep taking my vitamin D pill every morning. Just to survive. 

I have looked at this project in a book for a couple of years now and hadn't gotten around to implementing it.  Torrential rain forced us to do something yesterday! 

To prepare, just cut out a bunch of fire shapes.  I used yellow for the taller shapes, orange for some medium shapes and red for the small ones. 

The idea is to begin with the yellow, layer on some orange, and finally the red. 

This took some time!   I don't usually show the kids an example because I like to see how they create their art individually, but this was one of those projects that I don't think they could envision what it was supposed to be.  So the book stayed on the table to show them what they were creating.  It helped.   The entire time, "Ouch, that's hot!"  and  "Oh no, I'm burning up!" 

We got out some oil pastels to add some color to our flames.

See?  Just a bit more color.

The kids also added stars because our camp fire was at night, and some cotton ball smoke.  

I liked that effect!

Finished!

This one looks like the wind was blowing it.

They look nice on the art wall. :)

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Quiet

Preschool has ended and it FEELS that way at Henle House.   It is quiet around here.  I am finally done dwindling down the size of my group so that I am in compliance with the state regulations.  My licensed number right now, with just me running the show and the ages that I have, is eight. With Adam, it was 12.  All of the kiddos who left were using spots at Henle House that should not have existed when Adam went back to work.  I just worked on through because all of them had a last day in mind, and it worked out perfectly!  I hate to see kids go.  It's hard to build relationships and then say goodbye.  Deep down I know that it's always a possibility, and I guard my heart for that reason!  The house feels empty this week so far- and I pray that I don't get TOO bored this summer.  I need a bustling house to keep me busy.

Look who came to visit?  I was sitting outside reading and it took me a while to notice.   Poor Petra was scared!  She hadn't seen a deer up until this point.  She ran straight inside the house and watched from behind the glass door.   Things have already slowed down here,  our schedule will be much more relaxed in the coming summer months.  I might be blogging a bit less.  It's time to catch our breaths, run through some tall grass, read stories under the apple tree, blow bubbles and use our imaginations! It's time to stock up on popsicles and sunscreen.

♥

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Beading

We got out the beads yesterday. :)

Simple and productive.  It's always nice to create something to wear.

We added names.  This is particularly helpful because we all have to take the necklaces off at nap time, so this prevents ownership confusion.

They worked diligently.  Even the youngest two in our group beaded their own laces, all by themselves for the first time!  

"Cheeese!" 

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Caterpillar

I have to thank my sister Valerie because she gave us some eggs from Costco a while back.  For those of you who don't know, the large pack is cushioned by large egg carton sheets.  Each sheet can be used to create five caterpillars!  We used one sheet yesterday.

To prepare, I just cut the egg cartons into strips of egg carton cups.  Then I snipped some pipe cleaners into small strips and poked them through the underside of what would be the caterpillar head to create antennas. 

The kids just painted away.

The kids usually paint on a flat surface, so it was fun to paint something with some bulk.

Add tacky glue and googly eyes!  I forgot to take a photo of one with a smile, but they all had smiles. 

I hope that my need for clean is not wearing off on the kids.  Every time they git a little paint on their hands several of them seem to be unable to continue until it is clean.  Oops!

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Holy Mackeral!

We completed the rest of our preschool learning yesterday!

We got out some sticky collage boards for fun.

Have I ever told you how much I love a project that involves self stick stuff?  No glue=minimal mess.

I have bins and tubs full of random art scrap leftovers.  These sticky boards are perfect for using up some of the excess supplies.

Each project ends up looking like a 3D pile of stuff.  

I love feathers. :)

Also, someone very dear to me blessed me with this Cadillac of a teapot- a Kitchenaid pot in the same red as my mixer.  I am in love with it!  It was quite a surprise! 

It is the last day of school for our kiddos.  Please pray for sunshine!  It's cold and rainy.

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Do Nothing Day

Yesterday was a "do nothing day".  We just weren't feeling like doing preschool.  Maybe it was just ME who wasn't up to the task. :)  We had a very busy weekend, and truthfully, yesterday and today feel like my replacement weekend.  We just sort of hung out all morning.  I should've known that I could only take that for a little while.  The kids were happy.  I got bored.  So I made peach jam.

Why not, right?  I had a house full of kids, there was free time.  I used the last 6 large mason jars of peaches that I canned a while back.  I now have an excuse to can more peaches.  They are so good!   So this is what I did yesterday.  Doors open, children running in and out, their basic needs met.  It was a great day!  My jam turned out fine, I think it could've been a bit thicker but it's perfect to spoon onto a biscuit.  

Smudge and George had some snuggle time.  We placed George there.  Smudge kept him.

On another note, when a child gets bored during outside play, try bringing something that is usually played with inside, OUT.  For some reason kids get amped up seeing their inside toys outside.  I think they feel like we are breaking the rules and it gives them a rush of excitement. 

♥We will see if we can't get through the letter Zz today!♥

(Not the nap Zzz..)

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥