Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sunday Snapshot -- Little Eskimo

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Cheap Thrills -- Tea Time Edition

For a fun time, take photos of your child (or yourself) jumping around. Print out the photos, cut them out, and attach to the end of the string of a tea bag.

They make fabulous tea tags!!


Lucky for us, we have plenty of aforementioned photos, since Emily is constantly in motion! In mind were these tea tags from a café in Turkey. We found they were easy (and so much fun) to make ourselves.


I think they would be the perfect gift -- with a personalized touch! They would be great for grandparents, aunts, uncles, and of course, teachers. Basically anyone who loves tea! And who doesn't love tea??



And for us, tea time just became a whole lot more fun!

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Friday, February 26, 2010

$5 Friday -- Dollar Store Smiles Edition

When will the snow ever end??? I don't know about you guys, but all this whiteness and being cooped up in the house for far too long was enough to drive us all a little coo-coo. So this afternoon I took Emily with me to the dollar store for another $5 Friday adventure! This time we focused on only buying items that made us smile.

We learned many things along the way! For example, did you know that curling ribbon makes for excellent pig tail holders?


Or that a five year old can fit one candy lollipop ring on each finger?


I think these shoelaces are AWESOME! But it wasn't until much later that Mark pointed out to me that they glow in the dark! Now I think they are even MORE AWESOME!


Of course, we love flowers of all kinds! These bunches of fake flowers even had fake butterflies on them.


Blowing bubbles is always fun, but we managed to find fruit-scented ones that were even more fun! (Although I don't think they would taste very good at all.)


Here's the breakdown for how we spent our $5 today:

Curling Ribbon (3 pack) = $1.00
Shoelaces = $1.00
Lollipop Rings (6 pack) = $1.00
Fake Flowers = $1.00
Scented Bubbles (3 pack) = $1.00

Total Spent = $5.00!!

Having a fun "snow" day with my girls = Priceless!!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Psychedelic Snowman Sculpture

Who says you can only build a snowman outdoors? And while we're at it... why can't he be a bit more colorful?

After gathering some snow from outside, we made our sculptures with it....


...and we brightened up our designs using some sheets of bleeding art tissue paper! [Note: This is different from regular tissue paper.]


Our snowman was treated to a psychedelic makeover!



Groovy, man.... Groovy!

To add some color to the snow outdoors, mix some food coloring with water in a squirt bottle like we did here. Have fun!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sunny Day

We made our own sunshine today! There was lots of sunbathing....


...jumping around in our bathing suits, dancing to music by The Beach Boys...


...reading trashy novels (or library books)....


...and what beach day would be complete without ice pops?


Now, if you'll excuse me.... I think I hear my piña colada calling.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Kid-Made Wooden Word Blocks

Ever since I first saw these blocks, I knew Emily would love to make a more kid-friendly version of them for her little sister. We had so much fun working on these while Clara was napping, and now both of the girls are enjoying this adorable new set of blocks!


To make your own set of wooden blocks, you will need: a package of 2" x 4" labels, a 2" x 36" x 1/4" piece of balsa wood cut into 4" pieces, a rubber stamp set, a pencil, sandpaper, and a fine black marker.

Begin by sanding down all of your cut pieces of balsa wood. Emily loved this part!


Stamp the words onto the labels...


Apply the label to one side of the block.


Draw a matching picture on another label, and apply that label to the other side.


PLAY!!!

This one is my personal favorite......


.... isn't it sweet??

Have fun!!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

A Quick Update

We wanted to pop in here to thank you for all of your caring and supportive comments. Your powerful thoughts and prayers are working! My father is home now and is recovering remarkably well from surgery. Much of the girls' artwork was proudly displayed in his hospital room, and we printed out all of the wonderful comments from this post for him to see.

Our local MOMS club was also a huge help, and many members dropped off meals for the girls and Mark while I was away. We are very grateful for all of their help and support! And someone... we still don't know who.... even shoveled our driveway during the intense snowstorms we had here. We feel truly blessed to have so many people looking out for us!

Yesterday was Mark's birthday, and we went to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate! Hence, the photo above.

We'll be back Monday with our usual adventures in frugal fun!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Feel Better Soon, Grandpop!

Feel Better Soon, Grandpop!




(edit: switched video so that it works with mobile devices)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

500th Post -- We'll Be Away For Awhile

Today's post was going to be about how happy I was to see this.....


... pictures of some of the projects Frugal Family Fun Blog has helped to inspire from around the world. I was going to write about how much joy it gives me (and Emily) to see children from Turkey, Poland, China, Australia, Hungry, and Italy (to name a few!) all creating wonderful works of art!

But this morning I received a phone call because my father is very, very, very sick. He is currently hospitalized. We will be away from this space for awhile, but please send lots of powerful prayers, good thoughts, and positive energy his way. And thank you for understanding. We hope to be back to our normal happy blogging selves shortly.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Valentine's Past

Putting together this post was a fun trip down memory lane! Here are some of the Valentine's Day activities we did last year... Enjoy!


Heart-shaped Felt Cookies -- Almost good enough to eat!


Chocolate-covered Strawberries -- These are definitely good to eat... yum!!


Volunteering at a local assisted living center -- This was one of Emily's favorite activities!


A not-so-sweet Valentine treat -- A good alternative to candy for breakfast.


Heart-shaped Garland -- Made from tissue paper. Looks almost like stained-glass!


Valentine's Day Felt Mail Set -- Emily still plays with this much-loved felt mail set... and now Clara does too!
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