How to Draw

I checked out a how to draw book from the library and Mason was very excited to draw the airplane. I was very impressed how good he did with something to look at while drawing. He then added a roller coaster and a rocket.

Easter Egg Coloring

We didn't get too crafty with decorating the eggs this year, we were just brave to do it with 6 kids. Scarlett didn't have that much interest, but Bryson wanted to be a part of it! Proud to announce no tears or stains from adults or children. In my opinion that is a successful egg coloring experience at the Keith family house!

The Tooth Fairy Pillow

Since we have such a wiggly tooth I decided I better get busy on making a tooth fairly pillow. I found a monster picture online and showed it to Mason along with a pillow with an M on it. I wanted to make the pretty M pillow in matching colors of his room, but Mason fell in love with the monster! It has a lot of endearments, and it doest look like the one I showed him online, but I had fun making it one afternoon!

Dr. Seuss

Toady is Dr. Seuss Day! The kids got excited this morning and decorated the hearth will all the Dr. Seuss books and then got dressed for the big day. Mason wore his shirt to school, his class didn't do much to celebrate, but Ellery had crazy dress day. We put her hair in pig tails and braided in a pipe cleaner so we could bend her hair in place. Next time I will put a pipe cleaner in each strand so I have three rather than one to bend. It worked out well, but three would have been even more fun and bendy! She enjoyed wearing different socks and shoes for the day. Grandma Ellen made an appearance at her school and read her class a book. 

I was inspired by a craft she made in MDO the week prior. It was a cute hand picture made into Thing 1 and Thing 2. I decided to try to do it on t-shirts, but bought red color shirts and I should have bought white. The project was already in progress so I adapted to make it work on red. They could be better, but still make me smile and I enjoyed making them!

Ellery Coloring Valentine's Box

I think Ellery got bored with today's craft project and decided to color herself instead?

Mason had to make a Valentine box for school, so we had Ellery make one as well. My friend Ann had a brilliant idea to use a cereal box. Since Mason has a large class, they are cramped for space, so this worked out great. I did struggle letting the kids decorate the box, I wanted to make them what I consider pretty, but their pretty is open to interpretation. I wanted to make it into an animal or keep a theme, but I was overruled with stickers and coloring. These are the hard days for my perfect decorating skills. I must remind myself that it isn't my box, and making it a perfect pretty doesn't bring my children joy like it does ME!

Lowes Build and Grow

I am still impressed by Lowe's Build and Grows. The kids love them, and for the most part I tolerate the toys they bring home! I am also impressed by the kids skills at using a hammer and following directions. I think they actually read and look at them because they correct me on when we should be using a long or a short nail!

No Ellery

I need to draw with Mason more, but I really don't enjoy it so I seem to put it off. He doesn't give a lot of detail and I think it is the fact that he doesn't ever see us draw to pick up on those details because if you say add some feet or clothes he will do it, but he doesn't get into the details without prompting. I found this family portrait hysterical. He didn't want to confuse me for Ellery so he specified that this picture had NO ELLERY! I couldn't get the reason out of him, but it gave me a good chuckle!

Painting

We are really into making calendars and crossing the days off as they go by. I should clarify, I have the kids make calendars every month so we practice writing letters and numbers along with filling it in with highlights that happen that month. The kids enjoy it and have no idea that they are practicing or working! We then had the idea to make writing utensil holders because I kept finding pencils and markers all over the upstairs. The down side of having calendars upstairs. Usually no writing utensils are allowed out of the the kitchen area. We made fun holders out of toilet paper rolls with what I call tongue depressors (wooden sticks?) hot glued on. The new rule of the house is if I find a writing utensil upstairs that isn't in the hold it goes away for 2 big sleeps. This method has worked well! We had a few days that no one had a writing utensil to use to cross off the day, tears were shed, but when they got them back they keep them put up!

We then got out the paint and everyone was thrilled. Even Bryson was excited to paint.
I did make the mistake and left the painting area to switch over the laundry while everyone was into their project. I could hear the chatter going on so I got greedy and started a load as well. I came back to a painted blue faced baby! Bryson will carry around small barbie pieces and legos and never eat them or put them close to his mouth, but leave him alone with paint and he eats it? This is one I will never understand, and thank goodness is states it is non toxic, but really what is this kid thinking?

Gingerbread House and Santa Train

While we were having fun in KC, the kids were having fun making our annual gingerbread house with the neighborhood association. They also went on the Santa train. I hear everyone had a good time!

Listening Ears

We made some listening ears!
If only these worked!!!

Eyes for you

Oh, I love doing crafts especially with the kids! I can incorporate googly eyes into any craft, probably because the kids love them! I am helping Ellery with her craft when Mason says mom look at me! Nothing but smiles here!

Crayon Fun

I love doing crafts and fun day projects. I was inspired by this crayon artwork because I had to stop by office max for some items and they had crayons and rulers for a penny. I of course had to buy the max amount and then figure out what I was going to do with them! I was going to give them to the kids, but then I thought of this project for my friend Anne. Technically she is a music teacher, so this is kind of lame. Regardless I had fun making it. It didn't turn out as cute as I wanted, but not as bad either. It's borderline from a craft project gone bad, but I think it will hang for a school year?

Artwork

All inspired from my card from Mason. I painted this canvas. If I do any more painting I think I might have to enroll in a class. I also bought a cute saying on canvas that I am hanging with this that says "Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land in the stars!"

LEGO Decorations

So we also made some LEGO decorations out of boxes and paper card stock. The kids loved helping with the crafts and were really excited to help put the decorations out and up!

Pin the Mason Face on the LEGO Mini Figure

So we might be going over board on the LEGO theme, well maybe it is just me, but I am having a great time in the process! One of the games we will play the day of the party is Pin the Mason Face on the LEGO Man. I drew out a LEGO man as a blue print planning to paint it on the poster board. The blue print man turned out so cute that I decided to just have it laminated and our game is complete!

Lego Pinata

Give me a trash bag box, sting, milk tops, hot glue gun, and spray paint, and I will make you a LEGO pull string Pinata! Rob is disappointed that no one gets to beat anything with a bat!

Lego Goodie Bags

Oh how I love to make crafts. Here are the LEGO goodie bags. We made some hanging decorations that we put in the kitchen and on our mantel. I let Mason help me write LEGO on those, but I just couldn't let him write LEGO on the goodie bags. I know that is terrible of me, but he had no idea! We were doing a craft together!

Lego Mold-Soaps

More lego themed previews. I bought silicone lego molds and made bar soap. Ellen had given me the alphabet silicone molds for Christmas one year, so we used them to make names and numbers. Mason felt compelled to show his hand in the photo. He insisted on it being in the picture of the soap! The kids were really excited over this craft. We are going to put them in the bathroom for the party, and we also put them in gift bags for our goodie bags. We did have to make a sign for them that says "Rub a Dub Dub, Lego Soap for Your Tub!" They are so cute they look like candy! We didn't want anyone eating them!

Lego Mold-Crayons

Oh my, I am on a roll. I have now made some Lego crayons. I have been saving all of our broken crayon pieces, and have been meaning to melt them in my small muffin tins, but I just never found the time for it. Give me a theme party idea and I will make time for it. I am not as impressed with this craft, but they turned out cute. They kids loved ripping off the paper on all the broken pieces and matching up the colors in the molds, so I guess we can say it was a success.

It's A Lego Theme

Oh, I am just starting to plan Mason's party and we have decided upon a LEGO theme! I am excited and a bit obsessed and out of control! I consider this my first party planning experience for my kids. All our other parties have been destination parties and we did have a Cars cake and Toy Story cakes in the past with coinciding goodie bags, but nothing like this. This year it is an all out LEGO theme and could be a start to new traditions! We are making decorations, games, goodie bags, soap, crayons, pinata, etc. I did the math on destination parties and it is about $7-$15 a kid depending upon what kind of destination party you choose. It doesn't include the cake, cups, napkins, drinks, goodie bags, or decorations. We were going to let Mason have 10 kids at a destination party and then I said wait a minute, I could throw a great party for that kind of cash and have fun in the process. I love using my creative mind, and love having a project to do!

I made this lego sign using lego font from typenow.net. Lego is #270 I think I might have to make an Oreo or Snickers sign for my party someday!

http://www.typenow.net/themed.htm