Egg dying

     Last week was our first family egg dying experience. It was a blast! We let C have control in dropping the eggs in the cups with dye and checking to see if they were finished.

 After we finished, C said, "again, again."  She loved it!  Today she gets to decorate the eggs with stickers and jewels.  Whoever designed the princess egg dying kit is a genius because this girl cannot seem to get enough. 

Look what I found

I have been looking for cheap artwork for my playroom for over a year.  I usually find artwork I like at Homegoods but for $40 a picture I just cannot bring myself to pay that much.  So the walls have just been bare up until a couple of months ago.   My daughter and I were browsing the dollar section at Target when  I stumbled upon

this adorable giraffe

cuddly lion

happy monkey

The best part is not only do they fit the animal theme I have been trying to accomplish, but they were $2.50 each!   

What good deals have you found in the dollar section at Target?

An artist I am not...but I'll try!

We live in a quad level which means there are 4 floors to our home and actually 5 if you include our sub-basement. On the second floor we have the kitchen, 2 bedrooms, laundry closet (which needs HELP), and a bathroom.  When we moved in the bathroom was a dark purple that looked brown in some lighting.  It was not us and it definitely did not look kid friendly.  So I painted it     from Valspar.  I love how it is light and airy in there. I don't mind spending 5 minutes in there several times a day when I take my children to the potty and when we bathe C. 
I love free art.  My mom had given us a frame of a girl which I thought matched the bathroom perfectly but I husband is not of fan of other children in art besides his own, so I took it down.  I went to the store and bought 2 canvases one for C to paint her heart away and one for me to tackle a pin from Pinterest. The picture on Pinterest used 1 color which I really loved, but for our bathroom I wanted to use a shade of green, blue, and purple

 
via


I taped a white canvas with painters tape because that's what I had.  The problem was I thought I had thinner tape and what I had was 2 inch frog tape which was too big for the size canvas I chose.  I tried cutting the tape and it was uneven.  You can tell that on the art.  I still love how it coordinates with the room and helps it feel more complete.  One day when I feel $7 richer I will go to the store and get another canvas and try it again.  It was easy and cheap to make. 

I love it even though it has some ovbvious imperfections!  I hope to try it again sometime to see if I can get the lines smoother but until then it will be on our bathroom wall.

 And here was C's work of art!  She was so proud to show her daddy when he got home from work.

Here comes Peter cotton tail...

Easter is coming and I wanted to do a bunny craft with the children.  Over the past two weeks I have been singing Easter songs to the children and reading a couple of Easter books.  They cannot seem to get enough.  Today we made a bunny using a paper plate. 

Here is what you need:  a paper plate, 2 white bunny ears, 2 smaller pink bunny ears, 2 eyes, 2 ipe cleaners, pink pom, and construction paper

First get your materials all ready

Second, glue the pink ears onto the white ears

Third, Attach the bunny ears to the top of the plate

Fourth, have the children make 2 dots towards the top of the plate and put the eyes on the bunny

Fifth, I had to do this step with a glue gun because we tried normal glue and it was not sticking. (You could use a pink bunny nose made from construction paper or a cotton ball dyed to pink and whiskers made from paper as well to make it completely kid-friendly.  I would have done it this way if I would've known in advance that the pom pom and pipe cleaners were not going to stay on.  However, I love how they turned out.

Sixth, if you want you, can make a bow and glue it on the bunny ears.  The children were able to review their colors when they were selecting what color of bow they wanted.  You could also place the bow at the bottom of the plate for a bow tie for a boy bunny.



I love how the bunnies turned out!!!  After we finished, we practiced sorting Easter eggs by color into muffin tins and went on an egg hunt. 

Here is the song that they love!!!  I sing this constantly!!!  They are constantly asking me, "Will you sing the bunny song?"

I sing the chorus and then I use the children's names and what they might like in the verses.

Here comes peter cottontail

Hopping down the bunny trail

Hippity, Hoppity, Easters on it's way

He's got Princesses for C Bear

and jelly beans for K

and a baby doll for Tia

and a blanket for Emmaline

Here comes peter cottontail

Hopping down the bunny trail

Hippity, Hoppity, Easters on it's way

Please note: The names are fake to protect the children.

My favorite wall art

     Does anyone else have a child that cannot stop coloring or painting?  C LOVES to paint and color which means over 1 weeks time I can easily have 20-40 pieces of art.  I know I cannot keep them all, so with C's help we chose 9 pieces of art.
     Here's how I made it.  I had a 16 x 20 frame that was collecting dust in the basement so I went and grabbled that.  Then I took the 9 pieces of art and laid them out on the frame.  I rotated the pictures around until I was happy and then I used double sided tape to attach the paper to the frame.   After I attached everything, I could see the edges of all the paper and it looked incomplete so I  went to Wal Mart and picked up a roll of black 1 inch ribbon.   I then glued the ribbon to the art.

I LOVE how it turned out!

 I have seen the large frames with scanned artwork on it BUT I love how personal this is.  I am planning on making one for every year for the next couple and then  as she gets older going through the frames and picking my favorite to make one frame with multiple years of artwork!  Right now we have plenty of space in our current house to hang 3 or 4 of them.

Favorite snacks

Around here we snack often.  So I am constantly searching for healthy and affordable snacks.  While not all these option are frugal, they are delicious and I feel good feeding the children and myself these snacks.

Organic yogurt with granola

Strawberries and milk

Baked Oatmeal with Organic yogurt and fruit on top

Cheese and homemade whole wheat crackers

Freshly squeezed orange juice with crackers

Rice cakes with peanut butter or sunbutter

Apple muffins with milk

Energy balls

Homemade granola bars

Grapes and milk

Chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie

Carrot fries with milk

Hummus and veggies or whole wheat pita cheaps

Chocolate what??

     My daughter and I love sweets!  I am always looking for healthy or healthier sweet treats.  So when I ran across German-Chocolate Fudge Bites from Chocolate-Covered Katie here  I was hooked.  They are delicious, healthy, and easy to make.  After I made them, C kept telling me "I want a chocolate meatball."  At first I said "You what?"  She replied, "I want a chocolate meatball."  And then it hit me that she called the German-Chocolate Fudge Bites chocolate meatballs.  I made them a week ago and have made them 3 times since.  I love it when she begs me to make a healthy dessert instead of chocolate cake.  You should try it.  Their delicious.