Birthday Books

I told the boys this morning that it was Papa's birthday and asked them if they wanted to make cards. They decided that they wanted to make books instead. I had these luggage tags that I had bought with the plan of making a cute mini vacation album. Instead I cut papers for the kids and then had them tell me their story for Papa.

Here is Ayden's story:

Once upon a time a big toy was outside and Santa puted a present on it. And then there was a hole in the fence and the new neighbor had a dog and the dog goed up the big toy and he got the present and he went back to the new neighbors house. The new neighbor was sewing clothes in his house and the dog came in with the present and then the new neighbor said, "BAD DOGGIE!" He told the Doggie to put the present back where he found it. He puted it back.

THE END.

Here is Ashten's story:

Once upon a time at the fair, there was a rollercoaster and the old neighbor went to the roller coaster and it was SO big. And then the old neighbor was going on a different one and there was none new different ones. And she found another one and they maked it smaller and it was fast. Then they got their camera out. Then them goed on it and it was fast!

THE END

I should have taken pictures of their illustrations they were so cute, especially Ayden's he is becoming quite the little artist. Ayden also made Papa a card with Darth Vader on it. Ashten's picture were all of rollercoasters...both of the boys have gone through the roller coaster phase...I suppose it IS the easiest thing to draw. You can see in Ashten's picture all of that pink coloring is the longest roller coaster in the world.

Gingerbread Houses

Ashten and Ayden building their houseGingerbread 2008Before we left on our walk we got the four walls and the roof put together. We let the "cement" dry while we were walking and the boys finished decorating it when we got home. It was cute to see how much they remembered the way their half sister Jazmin helped them decorate their gingerbread house last Christmas. We missed you, Jazmin!! After we finished up it was time for me to go to Girls Night out. Mom bought her three daughters and daughters in law tickets to see 7 Brides for 7 Brothers for Christmas. Before we went to the show we stopped by the Sheraton to see the gingerbread houses. This is what the boys and I will aspire to next year. hahaha

Josh V. this one's for you This one was huge! The theme was super heroes so most of the houses had Batman, Spiderman, Superman. This one was a tribute to the everyday heroes like firemen, policemen, etc. They were amazing!

Our Gingerbread group. Ashley, Kristy, Mom, Kristin, Britany, and Toni. We also met Diane, Becky, and Amber at the theatre

Craft Time With Grammy

Ashten -- what a goofball Ayden was so excited all day long he kept asking "Is Grammy home from work yet?" I would say when it's dark out she'll be home. As soon as it got dark he was saying, "It's dark!! Can I call Grammy?" He could NOT wait!
Anderson had some juice and snacks and then off to bed for him.

Ayden with his finished Nativity

Ashten (who can stand how cute he is?) with his finished snow scene

Mom promised the boys that she would get together with them and do a craft. They love going to Grammy's house, which we rarely do, and the love doing projects. So we dropped all three boys off after she got home from work. Afterwards, they got to watch The Little Mermaid and have popcorn. Armand and I went Christmas shopping and when we came back to get them, they did not want to leave. They had tons of fun and came home with some very cute stuff.

Thank you Grammy!!

Frosty and Boots

Ayden painting his keyhole stoneYou can tell by Ashten's excitement that we don't often paint
Putting the final touches on his snowman Ashten had a lesson about tracing before he started his snowman's mouth. He did a really good job.
Ayden and "Boots"
Ashten and "Frosty"

Last night it snowed! So today, nice an early at 8am we got three phone calls letting us know that church was cancelled...woohoo! I hope I don't get struck down for woohoo-ing. Anyway, I had planned to do this snowman craft with the boys during the week sometime, but today was a surprise and there's only so many legal things to do on Sunday...so we crafted. I found this idea in our new Family Fun magazine. It was the first issue since signing up for the magazine and already we're excited about it. Ayden and Ashten had way too much fun with this project (paint was flung everywhere) but it turned out pretty cute.

Happy Roof Over Your Head Day

We made houses out of cardstock just the way I made them in elementary school. It brought back lots of memories. Ashten was very excited to be allowed to use my tape.

Ayden with his finished projectAshten was way excited about his (semi-finished) house.

You probably think I'm kidding but today is National Roof Over Your Head Day. I was simply looking for a fun holiday craft to do today and up popped a list of all kinds of interesting holidays: Here's the link if you want to celebrate some of them yourself: http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/december.htm
NROYHD is "a day of appreciation for the things we have, starting with the roof over our heads. For most of us, a roof over our head signifies living in a house that protects us from the elements, keeping us warm, dry, and cozy. Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as you and I. There are millions of people around the world who live in poverty or disaster areas, and do not have a home to keep them comfortable and safe."
I am actually very grateful that I stumbled upon this. I have been having a bad attitude about our house and all of it's problems (and I've been especially missing our previous home) when I should be thankful for what I have.

Salad Spinner Art

Ashten and Ayden getting ready to take their turns Ayden giving it a good spin
Ashten kept spinning and spinning.
"I don't like it yet"

Ashten's "turkey feathers"

Ayden and Ashten with their finished projects

For our craft today I looked online for something new to try out and I found salad spinner art. I am mostly glad I found this because I have a salad spinner, which I never use, but now I have a use for it. haha I cut out large circle out of cardstock and let the kids squirt paint on it. After that we put the lid on it and let it spin. Then I cut out the head and body and had the kids decorate with crayons and googly eyes. I think salad spinner art is going to be very popular in our house, it was surprisingly clean and took less than five minutes for me to clean everything back up.

"Are These Real Turkey Feathers?"

Ayden lining up his favorite feathers for his turkey feather hat Ashten liked the straight and bent feathers Ashten and Ayden and their finished projects I found some cute ideas on the MSN website for Thanksgiving crafts, I love doing Holiday crafts with the kids during the week. It makes the day go by fast and the kids have lots of fun. My Mom had some feathers for us to use. After she dropped them by this morning, I got the kids set up. They loved this craft and it was clean and easy for them. I think they look great!

Thank You

Ayden working hard to sign his name One of his completed cardsOne of my finished cards Ashten made his own thank you cards for when it's his birthday

I decided that Ayden was old enough this year to make his own thank you notes for his birthday gifts. I got out my dinosaur stamps and put him to work. He did really well considering he had to make 12. I ended up making 3 and he did 9. I asked him what he wanted to say in each card and wrote it down for him. Then, I had him sign his name in each card. I hope by starting him young he will always remember to thank people properly.

The Itsy Bitsy Spiders

Ashten playing with the "Googly Eyes"Ayden building his spiderAshten with his "dancing spider"

Ayden liked using lots of colors for his spiders We were supposed to go to the Pumpkin Patch today, but all week I have been preparing for Super Saturday and after a stressful week and a long day we decided that it would be more fun to go on Monday for Family Home Evening. Luckily we did, because I had planned to have the kids make these little spider candies to give out to their friends and teachers and today was pretty much the last day to get it done so that we could hand them out at church on Sunday. The kids did a lot of whining! They really didn't seem to want to do an activity, which was very frustrating to me cause I would have been fine taking a nap or watching tv. After awhile, they... well Ayden anyway, got into it and made all of the goodies for his class, his "3" teachers (I think he only has one), and two for himself. We had a pretty good time...well I did anyway. Just a little side note: On Thursday, I picked up 30 of these peppermint candies for their project and I came home later that day after some other errands and found that the three kids had eaten all but 3 of them!

Turkey Feathers

Ayden picking his leaves Ashten was a little confused as to what he was supposed to do at first. He came in the house with a bunch of huge dead leaves from the front porch the first time
Ashty strategically placing his tail feathers
While Ayden cuts out his turkey body
Anderson really wanted to be a part of the activity
Ayden and his finished project Ashten was so proud of the circle that he cut out for the body and the circle that he made his background paperAyden and Ashten helping AJ hold his turkey picture

AJ was sitting on my lap watching the boys color, or so I thought. I looked down to see him coloring the table so I traced AJ's hand and let him color it. He's growing up so fast.

Yesterday, Grandma Acheta came over and visited. While outside picking black berries, I saw that the blueberry bushes had turned red and for some reason that reminded me of turkey feathers. The crafter in me immediately thought about what we could do with them. So today, after a long day of doing mostly nothing, I got the kids outside to pick some leaves from the bushes, pulled out the hot glue gun, paper, scissors, and crayons and the kids got to work. I think they did an awesome job and they came out exactly as I had pictured in my head...well almost... I hadn't exactly imagined blue turkey heads.