Fresh Snow = Snow Painting

Last week we had a surprise snow day. The local weather called for less than 2 inches to fall, we woke that morning to about 4 inches. I was woken at 0500 with a recorded message from the girls school about the closure and a text message then followed 2 minutes later. I am really happy to see how on top of the phone calls the school is this year. I remember last year twice the girls and I standing outside waiting for a bus that never showed. Only to call a friend and find out that there was a 2 hour delay. I really could have used that info before hand..lol

So with a bunch of new fallen snow what could we do? The day before I saw someone of Facebook pin an idea for "snow painting". I glanced at the picture and knew right away what the concept was. So how perfect that the next day we had a snow day and were looking for something new and fun to do.

So I gathered the squeeze bottles I use for making pancake art and filled them with water and a few drops of food coloring. Now when I got to the yellow food coloring, I just couldn't do it. I kept hearing the "don't eat yellow snow" we used to joke about as kids. So instead I made them purple which I am pretty sure they enjoyed more.

The girls got dressed in their gear, I handed them the bottles (reminding them not to squeeze) and we headed outside. M decided she was going to layer colors and shapes while C wanted to create a scene.

The girls had a blast. They painted all over the yard, all around my house, my steps, the deck and even found color on the BBQ...lol Luckily with the melting snow, the color goes with it and does not stain, that I noticed. The only downside is that I had to keep running inside to refill the bottles. Granted my bottles are very small so I will definitely be looking for much larger ones for future snow days. Such a fun and easy idea and it kept them busy for hours!

Halloween {handmade} Surprise!!

A few weeks back I received a wonderful surprise package from my spectacular bloggy buddy Katie @ Katie's Nesting Spot. It's a belated Halloween handmade mini album! She is so crafty and in the past has honored me with wonderful surprises like this. She knows how much I love Halloween so to think of me...well, I am truly honored. She is so amazing crafty I am often jealous in awe of her. Her blog is full of crafty ideas and tutorials, so if you've never visited her before...your missing out!

Thank you so much Katie for this amazing book, I will be filling it soon and will treasure it always!

Valentines For A Teacher {craft}

Teachers can not survive on apples alone, they also need HUGS!

Last week I posted about the cute 3D Lolli Valentines I did for my girls classmates, today it is all about the teachers. I wanted to do something cute and crafty so I found a wonderful blog called Little Pumpkin Grace. The inspiration for our Valentines gifts came from her post about teacher appreciation week.  I love mason jars so I used them for the Hersheys Hugs, and I changed the quote to make it more me but still have the same effect. I also personalized the lids with card stock cutouts with the teachers names. Easy!

I love the way these came out and apparently so did C's teacher. I happen to call into the classroom during the party and she told me she was just showing off the gifts and 3D valentines to all the other teachers and mommies...awwww.

100 Days Of School Projects

My family the past month and a half has been wrecked with illness. It just passes from one to another and I can not get a handle on it. I think it has finally come full circle and over the past several days has had C down. Today is her "100th day of school" and her class is doing some fun activities. She was none to happy when I told her she could not go because she was only 12 hours free from of fevers.

Knowing how sad she was about missing school, I decided we could celebrate her 100 days at home together.  We sat down decided on what type of stuff we could do and then got to it. We made a whole day of it and both girls had a blast!

We started off our day with breakfast of course. But not just any breakfast...a 100 pancake breakfast. Both girls took turn making their own pancakes and they did a fabulous job!

We found this cute coloring page from Twisty Noodle....

Found these adorable printable glasses via TipJunkie that they colored and cut out...

Also via Tip Junkie we found this super fun activity worksheets available from Fun In First..

C had a blast with the math page from abc teach, it is a fill in the blank..she was so proud at how fast she did it.

After all that it was time for lunch....

M's lunch in our Easy Lunchboxes container.

C wanted mac and cheese

 Our last project of the day was snack time. We went through the pantry and found 10 items that the girls count 10 each of. We made simple place mats with circles so they could organize their snacks as they counted them. At the end they loaded everything up in baggies and sat enjoying their reward while watching cartoons.

C is feeling much better and will be returning to school tomorrow. She is very excited to take all her crafts and worksheets to school and share them with her class. It was a wonderful day.

Pancake Fun!

This past Saturday I tried something fun for my breakfast. Day after day I am so inspired by the pancake art at Jenni Price Illustrations, but have been kind of intimidated to try. After she was sweet enough to guest post on my blog and shared a tutorial for making a Christmas Angel, I knew I had to try.

I planned on making the Angel on Christmas morning, but thought I needed a trial run before I dive in. So what else is more festive than a Christmas tree complete with a star and presents! 

C's first present and bow pancake art!

After several attempts I finally did it! The creating is easier than I thought, it was adjusting the heat to keep the pancakes from browning that was the hardest part. After about 4 (tasty) browned pancakes, we finally had the right recipe.

This was a special surprise pancake I made for my hubby. 

C decide after trying her hand at the above mentioned present and bow she wanted to create 100% by herself.

She was very proud of herself as you can tell.

Thank you Jenni for the fun inspiration! This is easily going to become a weekend family fun event and we can not wait to try the Angel on Christmas morning!

Hello Kitty House..So Cool!

Wow, could you imagine if this was your home? I wonder what the inside looks like if the outside is so detailed. This picture comes from a Tweep I follow susan_teo. I saw her profile picture and just had to share it with all you HK fans!

Just found the answer to my question! The house is in Taiwan and here are a few pictures of the inside...p.s. you can apparently rent this home according to Apartment Therapy.com. 

Cupcake Liner Lights - So Smart!

Picture courtesy Maddycakes Muse

Today I have but a few minutes before the soon to be bride wakes and the rush to get hair, makeup and dress on begins. While browsing some of my favorite blogs I stopped by Maddycakes Muse and what I found today is just perfect on so many levels. Here at APFOB you know we do yummy foods in muffin/cake tins for Muffin Tin Mondays and use them for our bento lunches, but what about using these same tins for lights! That's right, something non food related? It can be done!

Michelle at Maddycakes Muse has done just that and they are fabulous! Stop by her post Dollar Days Creation ~ Cupcake Liner Lights and read more on the how to of making your own adorably festive lighted decorations. I know I will defiantly be doing this soon!

Husband Annoyed But I Had Fun

Michelle of Muffin Tin Mom turned me onto this Japanese dollar store called Marukai Value Plus. It's just down the freeway from me so while I was out running my errands I stopped along the way. Wow what an awesome store! I got tons of stuff for Muffin Tin Mondays and some fun little things for the girls to play with. I could have bought a ton more, all their glass and stoneware was beautiful...and so cheap!

I saw these adorable little sticker cards at the checkout with little girls and accessories. My girls love playing with dress up stickers so I bought them each a pack. When I got home and opened the packs I noticed the card was actually a little scene for you to make. While the girls were not interested at all in the cards, I was all to eager to play with it.

So while I am at the kitchen table trying to cut out and tape these little things my husband is trying to talk to me about our budget this month. He's asking me questions and I'm giving him the "sure", "okay" and "ah ha" answers without really paying any mind to him. Needless to say he was not amused when I had finished and was so pleased with myself.

So this is how it comes, a card with things to actually cut out (do not recommend for the scissor challenged), and a card with the clothing/accessories and your little girl.

..and here they are all cut, folded and taped up....

It will be more fun when the girls are old enough to do it with me, but for now I had my fun and annoyed my hubby in the process...lol