Quick Craft -- Colorful Window Display

I thought our front door needed a bit more..... color.

So we broke out the paints and markers.....

Super-Easy Cool Comets

Faced with yet another hot afternoon, we made up some comets, dipped them in a bucket of water, and the girls had a blast hurling them at each other until they were soaked!

It started off innocently enough with Emily tossing a comet at Clara.....

Sunday Snapshot -- Home again, home again!!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy 4th of July holiday!!

Vacation 2010 Highlights

We just returned from our favorite frugal vacation spot -- a cabin we rented in beautiful Montebello, Virginia! Here are some of the highlights from our week-long trip!

We enjoyed lots of fishing and swimming (well, more like splashing) in the lake.

We went exploring on several nature hikes together.

We had to visit the local drive-thru zoo and feed the animals. It isn't very frugal, but it was definitely a highlight of our trip! Emily was a bit stingy with the food at first.

This fellow was a bit more friendly!

We spent some time picking the clover flowers.

....and Clara turned 2 right before our very eyes!

We stopped by Big Spy Mountain's Overlook....

....and caught lots of breath-taking sunsets!!

...and every night ended with a special story time of passages from Shel Silverstein's Falling Up.

It was a lovely trip, and now it's great to be back! This week we'll be sharing some fun ideas for the garden, a cute nature craft, tips for frugal picnics, and a super-fun giveaway! You won't want to miss it!!

Hurray for Playgrounds!

After driving to nearby Lewisburg, PA -- We are all suffering from a serious case of playground envy! Seriously. My skull still hurts from trying to wrap my brain around the size of this GINORMOUS playground.

The girls wasted no time! 

Sunday Snapshot -- Flying Fun

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Shop Update! And the winner is....

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has been voting for me this past week!!! The results should be available in the next couple of days. However, I just couldn't wait any longer to announce that the winner of the Kid's Travel Kit Giveaway is.... Heidi!!! Congratulations!!

I received so many requests for these, so if you didn't win, don't worry! There are now a few Kid Travel Kits available for sale in our Etsy Shop! That was quick! Thank you, Lindsey!

If you're planning a road trip with the kiddos this Summer, you will want one of these.

We took ours for the road trip to Pittsburgh last weekend, and I'm so glad we did. Mark and Emily played several rounds of this Roadside Scavenger Hunt game, switching cards in-between rounds. It made the trip go by a lot faster!

Plus, they are super-cute!! To check out the shop, click here.

Sunday Snapshot -- On Your Mark, Get Set...

......Go!!!

Wishing everyone a fun weekend! I'm still trying to catch my breath from all these races!!

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Please help send me to Vermont for the Stonyfield Barnstorming Tour by voting for me here! As an added bonus, if I make the top 3, Stonyfield will make a $5000 donation to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. ((fingers crossed!))

You are allowed one vote per day per valid email address, and voting ends May 25th @ noon EST.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who is voting for me!! I truly appreciate it!

Photo Puppets

These photo puppets were so much fun to make, and I think the girls will enjoy making scenery to act out plays with them. What little girl doesn't like to imagine herself as a flying fairy? For boys, try this same technique, but turn them into superheroes instead. Not that there's anything wrong with boys who want to be fairies or anything... I'm just sayin'.

This is mostly a Mommy/Daddy craft, but you didn't think we let the girls have ALL the fun, did you? Heavens, no! Mark took some photos of the girls playing with magic wands and I cut them out.

Pretend Play on a Dime -- Garden Center

Emily loves to pretend that she works at a garden center. She can spend hours arranging and re-arranging the flowers (as seen here), planting pretend seeds, and caring for her pretend plants. So Mark and I put together a little store front for her about a year ago, and she has been playing with it virtually every day since!

Mark put together the frame for the store front using inexpensive PVC pipe (thanks, honey!), and I sewed a banner from an old bed sheet. I painted the lettering using a freezer paper technique. 

Easy City Scape Mural

During taping for a segment on today's 10! Show, I had the pleasure of meeting Eren Cannata, a very talented singer/songwriter who was today's musical guest. Eren performed his title track from his latest CD "Blame it on the City" -- a fantastic song, and it was the inspiration for our lovely city scape mural!

Emily and I put the mural together using inexpensive masking tape, construction paper for buildings, and Post-It Notes of various sizes for the windows. I love how bright and colorful it looks in our living room!

Added bonus -- it makes a super-fun backdrop for spontaneous jumping on the couch sessions!!

Mother's Day Gifts Kids Can Make -- Personalized Pendants

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and we have been crafting up a storm in our household! Emily made a whole tray of these personalized initial pendants for her grandmothers and several friends, and I made a bunch too. They are lots of fun to make!

First smooth out some oven bake clay to about 1/4 inch thickness between two pieces of waxed paper. One package of clay can make a LOT of necklaces!






Next, we used alphabet stamps for the letters! If you don't already have these, they are worth investing in as we have gotten so much mileage from them for various craft projects and for handwriting practice. We use Melissa and Doug's set, found here. Melissa & Doug Deluxe Alphabet Stamp Set

Sunday Snapshot -- Happy 30th Birthday, Sesame Place!

A big thank you to Mom Bloggers Club and Sesame Place for organizing such a fun Tweet Up and allowing us to take part in Sesame Place's 30th Birthday celebration during opening day yesterday by providing free admission tickets for our family and a complimentary lunch!! We all had a wonderful time! Sesame Place is the only amusement park featuring all of the fun characters from the much-loved PBS program Sesame Street. Emily LOVED meeting Grover!

Of course, there were plenty of big hugs to go around to Zoe too!

Sunday Snapshot -- Look Who's into Sidewalk Chalk!

Wishing you a fun and frugal weekend!!

LIVE and in HD... It's FFFB!

I was interviewed for two segments LIVE this morning on 69 News at Sunrise to share some of my ideas for family fun on rainy days!

In case you missed today's show, here are the clips:

Next, Eve Tannery and I had LOTS of fun gettin' crafty!

Special thanks to Eve and the crew over at 69 News WFMZ for such a FUN morning!!

Fun Fossil Dig

Mark and I took the girls to a local park for a fun "fossil" dig! Since there are no beaches near us, we settled for the park's outdoor sand volleyball court. The girls love to dig in the sand!

Our "fossils" were made up of small toys (i.e. Happy Meal toys, game pieces, toys from the dentist, or from party goodie bags). We counted them to make sure we knew how many there were, then Mark and I buried them (partially exposed) for the girls to find. Clara was so excited to find her own treasures!

Emily used our old salad shaker to sift through the sand. That salad shaker was from when Mark and I started dating, and we would joke that we weren't quite ready for the "salad spinner" stage of our relationship.

There were LOTS of fossils to find!

When all the fossils were found, we all took a nice long walk through the park. What a wonderful (and frugal) way to spend the afternoon!

So much fun!!

12 Ways to Boost Happiness (for FREE!)

In need of a little pick-me-up? To help prove the old adage that the best things in life are free, here are a dozen quick and easy happiness boosters that our family has enjoyed -- and they won't cost a penny!

From Left to Right:

1. Make a card for someone you love using paint chips. Doing nice things for other people is a great way to boost your mood.

2. Play with bubble wrap. Bubble wrap is so much fun, and so hard to put down!

3. Volunteer. It doesn't cost a thing, and you'll feel better knowing you are serving your community.

From Left to Right:

4. Make story stones and sidewalk scenes. Not only is this free, but it's a fun imagination builder too!

5. Play a game of invisible basketball. Even those who aren't athletic can join in this sport.

6. Build a fun reading nook. Never underestimate the power of the indoor fort!

From Left to Right:

7. Create a family drawing night. Fun for the whole family!

8. Have a fun time with indoor ice skating. The kids can burn off some of that extra energy (and you can too). Be careful, it is slippery, but LOTS of fun!!

9. Start a tea ritual. A great way to unwind and focus on daily gratitude.

From Left to Right:

10. Jump on the bed. I highly recommend jumping on the bed for a quick mood lifter!

11. Visit with family and friends. Chat and get caught up with the people you love.

12. Go for a nature hike. Spend some quality time outdoors, and breathe in the fresh air.

Quick Craft -- Bunny Handprints

Emily loved making this adorable bunny handprint this afternoon, and I think Clara will want to do one when she wakes up from her nap too! It was a super quick and easy project. I'll be making color copies of them to turn them into Easter greeting cards!

To make your own, you will need blue and green construction paper, white paint, a paint brush, and a black marker. Have some baby wipes or paper towels on hand too!

I tore a piece of green paper to form the grass for the picture, and invited Emily over to glue it down on the blue background. I didn't have to twist her arm!

Next, I painted the palm of her hand with white paint. This forms the body of the bunny. Emily pressed this down firmly on the paper to make a good print.

To form the bunny's head and ears, I painted Emily's palm, first, and ring fingers with the white paint.

Press down to make a good print!

Once the paint is completely dry, with a black marker, add the bunny's eyes, nose, and mouth.

Add an outline around the entire bunny, and don't forget to sign your artwork!

Why buy greeting cards when making your own is this much fun??

Felted Easter Eggs

The girls and I had so much fun making these CUTE felted Easter eggs! To make your own, you will need some wool roving. If you have trouble finding wool roving, you can purchase it online here.

Start by filling a pitcher with some very warm water, and add a few tablespoons of dish soap.

Stir up the water in the pitcher until the soap is well-combined.

With a small amount of wool roving, get it wet and start rolling it into a ball in the palm of your hand. Clara was eager to keep up with her big sister, and with just a tiny bit of help from Emily, she was able to make a few eggs of her own.

Add more wool roving, bit by bit, until the egg is the desired size. Add stripes or dots to your eggs, make them multi-colored! Go CRAZY with your wild egg designs!

Once your felted ball is the right size, gently shape it into an egg shape.

Wow!! This is so much fun!!!

I see some felted Easter egg hunts in our future!

So pretty! Added bonus -- kids with clean hands!

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