Flowers

We have been reading a lot of books about flowers, so R made two different kinds of flowers with paint this week.

She began with hand and arm print tulips.  First, she painted her forearm green and pressed it down on the paper to create stems.

 Then she painted her hand and fingers (except the thumb) pink and pressed it down at the top of the stems.

She also used a small water bottle and dipped the bottom in purple paint and then stamped it on paper to create flowers.

I saw this technique on Valerie's Frugal Family Fun Blog.  R LOVED doing this!  When the paint dried, R used a dot marker to add yellow centers to her purple flowers.  You can find a link for Do-a-Dot markers at the end of this post.  We use them often and they last a long time!  We love them!

R created quite the garden!

The books in the photo above are:  Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert (We are big fans of Lois Ehlert!) and Rose: A Flower's Story by Joanne Randolph.  I definitely recommend both books.   

Collage Box Flower

Shannon from Welcome to our Wonderland is now hosting a collage box linky.  Collage is always fun so we decided to try it this week.

R cut pink and purple pipe cleaners and ribbon with flowers on it to add to her collage materials.

She also used pom poms and bug stickers.  I cut a piece of clear contact paper in the shape of a flower and R added all of her materials.  When she finished, I covered it with another piece of contact paper.  She used a hole punch to make a hole to attach the green pipe cleaner stem to the flower.

To find out more about Collage Box, click here to visit Shannon's blog!  While you are there, tell her I said hello!

Marshmallow Chicks

We have been enjoying two books about marshmallow chicks, and I have been waiting anxiously for the right opportunity to revisit the salt paint technique we used for our Texas cactus painting.  Marshmallow chicks have the perfect texture to recreate with this technique.  The finished product really feels like a marshmallow chick.  I love this paint.

The books we read are:

Max Counts His Chickens by Rosemary Wells - R LOVES Max and Ruby and this book is really cute.  The Easter Bunny has hidden ten pink marshmallow chicks and Ruby finds all of them while Max just makes a mess.  When it looks like there are no chicks for Max, Grandma makes a phone call and the Easter Bunny comes to the rescue.  R likes to help Max count the right way when he gets the numbers mixed up at the end!

Owen's Marshmallow Chick by Kevin Henkes - We have owned this book for years, and it is definitely for younger children, but R still loves it.  Even though she has progressed to longer picture books, she still enjoys listening to toddler books! 

For the craft, I drew chicks similar to those in the Rosemary Wells book.

I then mixed up some salt paint.

Here is the recipe:  1/4 cup liquid laundry starch
                             1/4 cup water
                             2 TBSP paint
                             1 cup salt
                             Mix it well and paint!
                             This recipe makes a lot of paint and R continued painting with it long after she was done    painting the marshmallow chicks.

R had a blast making pink marshmallow chicks!  Then she enjoyed one or two of the real thing!

Easter Egg Hunt

We went to an Easter egg hunt yesterday.  It was a lot of fun for the kids.  Unfortunately, it was the coldest day we have had in a few weeks and it felt brutally cold compared to the warm weather we have had recently.  They certainly did not mind at all though!  

Egg hunts are so funny...the kids wake up in the morning and keep asking, "Is it time to go yet?", everyone gets ready, we head to the hunt and wait anxiously for it to begin.  Then it is over in less than a minute.  C took off immediately and gathered lots of eggs and candy, while R was looking for the perfect egg - she wanted pink!  Luckily, she found a pink egg; phew!  C was very generous and shared his candy with R (proud Mommy moment)!

Then we waited in a really long line to see the Easter Bunny.  We tried to convince the kids that we could go visit the EB at the mall, but they really wanted to see THIS bunny, so we waited.

We couldn't get pictures like this at the mall, and we could never beat the price (it was all free).  It was worth the wait.

Have you read these?

We are in love with these books right now; you have to read them!

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch has a wonderful message: if you don't love me for who I am, then you are not the man for me!  I love this book.  C and R really enjoyed the story too; there is a princess, a prince and a dragon, my kids were hooked immediately.  I have to admit, however, that R is a big fan of  marriage and weddings so she was a little disappointed that the princess did not find a wonderful prince to marry.

The other book we are enjoying tremendously right now is How Much is a Million? by David M. Schwartz.  My children are always asking about large numbers, and it is so difficult to explain one million, but this book does just that.  There are fun explanations like, it would take twenty-three days to count to a million and that a goldfish bowl large enough to hold a million goldfish could hold a whale. Great book!

    

Batgirl and Spiderman

Flowers and Books

I hosted another coffee shop story hour this week.  The theme was flowers.  I had so many books that I wanted to read, but three is definitely the limit with the preschool story hour group.

I read:

Song of the Flowers by Takayo Noda - This is a great bedtime book.  There are many varieties of flowers in the story and each kind asks to be sung a lullaby.  This is a nice way to introduce children to different varieties of flowers.  R (my Wizard of Oz girl) was happy to see poppies in the book!  The artwork is bright and cheerful, and the lyrical text is perfect for quiet time reading.

Jack's Garden by Henry Cole - This is a garden version of the rhyme, "this is the house that Jack built".  Follow the progress of the garden from seeds to flowers, and notice all of the tools, weather, and creatures that help the garden grow. 

Big Yellow Sunflower by Frances Barry - As you read this book, each stage of the life-cycle unfolds until you have a big, yellow sunflower!  Kids love this book!

After story time, each child made a flower to take home.  I had flowers ready for them to decorate.  To make a paper plate flower, I folded a plate in half and cut a hole in the center and flower-like edges around the outside of the plate.  Folding the plate in half makes it easier to cut the hole in the center and it also makes the flower symmetrical.  This is what it looked like after I cut it:

I gave each child a paper plate flower to decorate with crayons, markers, and dot stickers.

I didn't notice this until now, but R's dress matches her flower!  R made a few paper plate flowers, and we are going to tie string around them and hang them in her room.

        

I like Clouds on my Rainbows

The Sweetest Smelling Garden

We have painted with Kool Aid many times, and this week we decided to make a sweet smelling garden.  I drew some crazy looking flowers on watercolor paper (I used watercolor paper because it is more forgiving when it is wet!).  Then, to make the Kool Aid paint, I mixed 2 TBSP of water with one packet of unsweetened Kool Aid powder. 

We used different flavors of Kool Aid powder in little plastic containers so that we could have a colorful (and fragrant) garden. 

R painted all of the flowers to her liking and when it was dry, it smelled so sweet.  We cut out the dry flowers and glued them onto green construction paper that we cut to look like grass.  I love the way Kool Aid paint looks when it is dry; the colors stay so bright!  It smells wonderful too.  If you have never made Kool Aid paint, add this to your MUST DO list.

We also love to make Kool Aid play dough.  Click here for our favorite recipe!

The Rainbow Fish

We have read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister many times, and every time we read the book, C insists on making his own rainbow fish.  This is the first time that R made one though.  I think they both came out great!

I drew the outline of the fish, C and R colored their fish and added details, and then they glued on a few pieces of aluminum foil to make the sparkling silver scales. 

Birthday Highlights

R loves the Wizard of Oz.  That was the theme of her family party.  

She also had a party with a few friends, and that party had a princess theme.  A friend of mine (hi Robin!) made this very cool castle cake:

If you didn't know already, R has two very silly brothers (the superheroes of the house):

R received some wonderful presents, and looked oh so fashionable wearing a few of them!

We had a lot of fun celebrating R's fourth birthday! 

Giveaway

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for Hint water!  Click here for details.  Time is running out!

Happy Birthday R!

My baby girl is four today!  I have no idea where all the time went.  I also have no idea why tears are rolling down my face as I try to write this post.  Emotions!  R has always been a joy to be with.  She was born happy and has also been the most independent and easy-going of my three children.  As she turns four, she is still all girl.  She loves pink and purple, princesses, jewelry, dresses, and shoes!  Her favorite activity is shopping, especially if it's shoe shopping!  Even though she is all girl, however, she can mix it up with her brothers and will probably be the first of the three to climb a tree!  

Why do we get sad as our children grow older?  I guess it isn't really sadness, just pure love and the knowledge that as our children grow, they become more and more independent. 

Here are just a few photos as I stroll down memory lane:

Happy Birthday my beautiful girl!  I love you more than you could know!