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....