Mexico!

I wish I had pictures to post--they're coming soon--but we had to purchase a disposable camera (think swimming pool, lazy brains, and a small mishap with our digital camera!) and haven't taken it to be developed yet.

We did have a wonderful time...more for me to remember, here's a little of what we did:

Monday: Flew into Cancun and took a shuttle to Rivera Maya where our resort was located! It was an adult only, all inclusive, little slice of paradise sort of a place!

Tuesday: Spa---ahhhhhhhhh!! We had an hour long "hydrotherapy session" that was all in the pools, steam room, sauna, and showers--it was a unique, relaxing experience. We then had a couples massage that ended with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. Dreamy!

Wednesday: We floated around the pool on floats and sipped our favorite drink of the week--Banana Momma! Mmmm! We also took a taxi to Puerto Morales, a small, non-commercialized town that gave us a taste of what Mexico is really like. Even though we were just "south of the border", I got a bigger picture of the world at large from this trip. The people there are so hard working and willing to serve and most live a life that none of us will ever know.

Thursday: More floating and relaxing and nothingness!! We did kayak briefly and took a paddle boat out--we didn't last long--deciding it was too much work for vacation!

Friday: Flew back into the Atlanta airport and made the drive home to find four sleeping kids and two exhausted grandparents! Thanks Mom and Dad, and Mom and Dad, and Rick and Liss, for keeping our kiddos happy, healthy, and loved while we were gone--it was a gift to us that we can't express our gratitude for!

Pictures soon...I promise!!

Make-It-Monday: Better Late than Never!

Wouldn't you know that my husband took me to Mexico last week to celebrate our 10th year of marriage and then put me to work today? We spent the day painting our living room with the goal of getting much, much more painted in this house before summer's end!

On to Make-It-Monday...a "better late than never" edition!

The kids and I spent the morning at the zoo several weeks ago and the big interest for them on that particular visit was the reptile house. After naps, they made a few snakes of their own:

Materials:

~1 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper

~a large plate

~crayons/markers

~google eyes and

~a scrap of ribbon

1) Trace the circle shape of your plate onto the white side of the scrapbook paper and cut out the circle.

2) Draw a "swirl" shape on the circle (see picture above)

3) Have your child color on the white side of the scrapbook paper and then cut along the drawn "swirl"

4) Glue on an eye and a scrap of ribbon for his tongue

5) He hangs well from a piece of yarn strung through a hole punched in his head

Sorry I don't have any pics of the finished product! Would love to see yours!!

Make-It Monday: Paper Dolls

Materials:

• paper grocery bag
• old magazines
• scissors
• glue sticks

Process:

1. Cut a simple person shape out of paper bags (I got four out of each paper bag by folding accordian style and cutting them all at once).
2. Flip through a magazine cutting people parts: eyes, noses, mouths, and pretty patterns for clothing (and hats which we cut onto our girls). Note that we couldn't find all the parts that we needed, so we settled for things that were shaped as circles for eyes and noses.
3. Glue the body parts onto your shapes, color on shoes and fancy socks. Wa-lah!

Things I wish I'd known:

1. One person (maybe two) would have been enough. Four each was a little time consuming and the girls lost interest after a while.
2. Plan on vacuuming when you're finished!
3. My girls loved this craft and won't throw their "dolls" away. For now, they are hanging in the windows of our playroom.
   

Wacky Stats

All three girls had well child checks this month:

Ella Grace's 5 year old check up!

Annabelle's 3 year old check up!

Katie's 15 month check up!

Here are their stats:

Ella Grace: 42 lbs./42 inches

Annabelle: 37 lbs./37 inches

Katie: 24 lbs./24 inches

Weird.

Funny Things People Say

Since I can't capture every funny look we get, I thought I'd share some of the funny (or insulting or ignorant, etc.) we've heard from people since Little Man has come to live here in the past week:

In the McDonald's parking lot where a creepy man (who was sitting alone in the play area watching my kids play) approached our car:

Him: How old are your kids?
Me: 1, 3, 3 and 5.
Him: (in an enlightened voice) OH!! They're twins!
Me: Have a nice day!

A custodian walked by while we were having lunch with Eric at school:

Her: Well, you don't have to tell me whose boy that is; he looks just like his daddy!
Me: Oh, you know his daddy? Uh-huh.

I had a tube put in my ear this week. The ENT's take on our Foster Parenting:

Him: Well, you're a glutton for punishment!
Me: Wait, you can't say that to me! Some people could say that to me; you're not one of them! It feels like that sometimes.

Annabelle & Ella Grace also had ENT appointments this week (genetics, I guess!):

Receptionist: Three girls and a boy!
Me: Yup!
Her: It's amazing how different he looks than they do!
Me: He has a different daddy. He's a foster child.

While at Chick-fil-A (don't judge me for all the eating out this week; we've had five doctor's appointments!); the girls returned from the play area to get a drink of their lemonades, Little Man and Katie were seated at the table with me:

Man at the table next to us: Those four kids aren't all yours!
Me: Yes, sir.
Man: You're not old enough to have that many kids!

Thanks, mom...genetics again!


Side note: the slashed statements are what went through my mind, not what I actually said aloud!

Father's Day Frosty Weekend

This Father’s Day Weekend (June 20-21), Wendy’s is helping you treat Dad and help local foster children.

During Father’s Day Weekend, Wendy’s will donate 50¢ from every Frosty product sold to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national, non-profit public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing the number of adoptions of foster children in North America. So make this weekend sweet for everyone! Stop by and get a frosty, say "Thanks Dad," and help support Foster Children in your area.

Make-It Monday: Feathers For Lunch

My kids love the library, but I must admit that I have have no system when it comes to picking out books. The books I pick out have to meet one main criteria: they can't have too many words! A few weeks ago, we picked one that quickly became a favorite: Lois Ehlert's Feathers For Lunch! The book is filled with beautiful pictures of several different kinds of life sized birds. At the back of the book, each picture is repeated and facts about each species of bird are given.

After our first read, I printed a template of a simple bird shape found here. The girls then picked the birds they wanted to replicate and colored the bird outlines to look like the birds pictured in Feathers For Lunch. They loved picking out the colors and doing the best they could to replicate each bird. As hard as it was, I tried to let them have the freedom to use as much or as little of the colors as they wanted. Their interpretations were fun to watch!

A few tips:

Write down the name of each bird on the back, so that later you'll remember which one it is supposed to be. Because they have a "loose" interpretation, sometimes the bird looks nothing like it is supposed to!

Once they are finished coloring, you have a lot of options as to what do! We punched holes and tied ours with yarn to a wire hanger for some mobiles. Other ideas: make puppets by gluing/taping the birds to popsicle sticks; glue them to a tree your child has painted or a blue background as if they are flying through the sky...the possibilities are really as endless as your imagination!

Be ready--your kids will be looking for different types of birds for weeks to come!

Hummingbird, Oriole, and Blue Jay (l-r) by Ella Grace.

I'd love to see pictures of your finished product! E-mail them, or, better yet, post them on your blog and let me know!!

Have fun!!

Happy Birthday, Baby!

This Daddy and this Momma sure are proud of this girl!

Junk Basket Creations

Had to post this pic of some Junk Basket Creations from this morning. I had my suh-weet nephews for the morning and we need a little time filler. I pulled out the junk basket and the five bigger kids created for an hour or so...here's what they came up with:

Introducing: Make-It Monday!

Alright, friends and strangers!! Here it is--a summer long of what I'm calling

"Make-It Monday"!

You all know that I'm all about making your life a little easier, so each Monday, you'll get a taste of some "crafty-ness" the kids and I have been up to. I decided to post on Monday so you'll have time to get your act together...I mean...your stuff together so that you and yours can work on it during the week. Look forward to your comments and questions and pictures of your work as we get started...

Speaking of getting started, I thought we'd start today with a little info about supplies. Here are some things that are currently working for us:

Storage: We have a closet in our kitchen, intended to be the pantry, but used instead for storage of all things crafty (and a lot of other stuff to)! Each bin is labeled and some are put in kid's reach and some are strategically, well, not in kid's reach!

A closer look at a few things:

These are vertical files that I bought at Target for a few bucks each. They house our coloring books, activity books, and notebooks--I love that they are all in one compact place!

And, these, are holding crayons.

Each kid has one labeled with his/her name, they're easy to grab and even take places if needed. These are old Crystal Light containers, if you're wondering, and the shorter one is a sample size of baby formula covered in shelf paper.

One other essential in our house when it comes to crafts is what we've termed our "Junk Basket". It's an appropriate name because that is exactly what is there--junk! Stuff we'd otherwise throw away, but instead save knowing that in there somewhere is the potential for craft magic to take place! Some things that are in ours: toilet paper and paper towel rolls, bottle caps, cereal boxes, egg cartons, tissue paper, shelf paper that I no longer need, an oatmeal carton, an old formula container...this is such a green idea, don't you think? One other use for the junk basket: at times I pull it out with no craft in mind, the kids just play with the junk, making up their own games, or just adding the junk to a current toy to give it a different twist.

Is that enough to get your creative juices flowing?? To wet your crafty appetite? Stay tuned--next Monday--an actual craft!

What about you? What has worked for you in storage, display or practical day to day when it comes to creativity with your kiddos??

World's Worst Blogger Award

I'd like to first of all thank my family who keeps me so busy that I don't have time to record memorable events!

Also, to my loyal readers: Thanks for checking even when there are no updates. I promise, more will come soon...er...someday!

And thanks, lastly, to the Academy for noticing my lack of blogging over the past few weeks and giving me the well deserved recognition that I deserve!

I love you all....