Another St. Patrick's Day Craft

We are on a roll with our crafts in the Aston-Reese household!

Today we made rainbows with Froot Loops (another idea I found online), and we did it at snack time so that we could eat all the broken ones!

First Jocelyn sorted the froot loops by color.

Reagan preferred the eating part of the project...

Then I helped Jocelyn form the top arch of the rainbow with school glue and she began placing the red froot loops on the glue.

After each color, we added more glue and a new color.

Jocelyn also made observations about the froot loops. Some were bigger than others, and she also noticed that there were more green froot loops than any other color.

When she finished all the colors of the rainbow, she added some cotton ball clouds!

Here's the finished project! I think she did an excellent job!

This craft also went well with our recently read story about Noah's Ark!

If I was to do this craft again, I think I would use a heavier paper, or even cardboard--we used card stock. I would also use a craft glue, like tacky glue, rather than a school glue. It took a lot of glue to keep the froot loops down, and I had to squirt glue into each hole in each piece of cereal as well. Now that it is drying, the froot loops are soaking up all that glue and shrinking like they are in a bowl of milk. The craft is still cute, but I think those minor changes would have helped it stay looking it's best through St. Patrick's Day.

Our next craft is one I thought up myself! Our chandelier looks barren without the hearts from Valentine's Day, so I think we will make some rainbow colored paper chains with mini pots of gold to hang there. We will see how this one turns out! In my head it sounds like a good idea. At least I know Jocelyn will have fun cutting again...her favorite!

P.S. Don't overlook Jocelyn's choice of clothing as of lately--lots of layers with her favorite polka dotted short-sleeved shirt on top. ;-)

Shamrock Craft with Jocelyn

So, Valentine's Day was over and Jocelyn was super upset to have to take all her heart decorations down, so I had to find another idea to keep our house from becoming too boring between holidays. St. Patrick's Day is the next holiday in line, so I found a cool shamrock craft here and decided to "give it a go" with Jocelyn. She did a great job!

First we got an old magazine and looked for pictures of things that were green.

She was excited when she found anything green!

Then she cut it out. Anything that requires cutting is popular with Jocelyn.

After she found plenty of green things and cut them into pieces, she used a glue stick to glue them onto a piece of cardstock.

I pre-printed a shamrock pattern to the back of the paper so that when she was done gluing, we could simply cut the shamrock shape out and have our finished product. She was sick of cutting by this point and wanted me to cut the shamrock out.

Here's how it looked!

She was pretty proud of her first Shamrock craft!

More Valentine's Day Fun

Jocelyn is really big on making crafts lately, so I have been searching the internet and Pinterest for ideas of things to do with her. I found this idea on pinterest and we decorated more than one room of our house with Valentine's Day heart garland.

I lined the back of some scrapbook paper in Valentine's Day patterns and colors and Jocelyn and MeMe cut on the lines to make strips of paper. Then, then each strip was folded in half and stapled into heart shapes. After I punched holes into each heart, Jocelyn strung each onto a piece of pink yarn and we hung them from our dining room light, Jocelyn's ceiling fan in her room, and also in our living room. We even made one for MeMe to take home! It was a pretty fun activity and Jocelyn really enjoyed practicing her cutting skills!

For Jocelyn's Valentine's Day party at school we made some gluten free rice krispie treats, covered them in melted pink candy wafers (also gluten free), and sprinkled them with Valentine's Day sprinkles. We cut them into heart shapes, added a stick--because everything is more fun to eat on a stick--and then put them into little bags tied with heart ribbons. Jocelyn told me they were a big hit!

I love Valentine's Day. I find that I enjoy the "smaller" holidays more than the "big" ones. I think it's because we can do a few simple crafts and decorations, make a couple of treats, and it's perfect. There's not too much planning or preparation, which leads to less stress and a more enjoyable holiday! Todd would just look at me and say, "Bah humbug", but I just can't help the way I feel! I guess I should try harder to make the bigger holidays come with less stress--All I can do is promise to try!

Jocelyn's 1st School Valentines

I saw this idea in Family Fun Magazine .
I thought it was a really cute idea, and really wanted to try to do it for Jocelyn's Preschool valentines.She's getting so big, yet she is still smaller than a Tootsie Pop! ;-)

Reagan's 1st Haircut!

Today I gave Reagan her first haircut! It's awkward to keep letting the back of her hair grow since the front is so far from catching up. So, today I trimmed those crazy stray hairs that were making her little baby mullet look a little wild.

Those little pieces of hair in my hand are the first hair Reagan grew, and now they will live in a little envelope in her baby book.

Now she has a more put-together looking baby mullet! ;-)

Congratulations Reagan, on your very first haircut! You did an amazing job keeping your head still for mommy!

Messy Fun!

Jocelyn BEGGED and BEGGED to paint the cardboard playhouse that Santa brought for Christmas. After days of me trying to get her to settle for markers and crayons, I finally gave in. We moved the house to the basement (a much more paint-friendly environment than the carpeted living room)and I got out the paint.

They both enjoyed the experience immensely!

Reagan made a much bigger mess than Jocelyn did--especially on herself!
The really fun part for mommy came when it was time to clean up and I had to get the two paint-covered monkeys UPSTAIRS to the bathtub. We made it without covering the rest of the house (minus the bathtub) with paint. The girls were intrigued with the color the bath water turned and I was intrigued with how the "washable" paint stained their skin! After soaking and scrubbing, Reagan looked like she was covered head to toe in bluish bruises! Oh well, nothing a couple more baths won't take care of! The girls had fun painting their playhouse and that's all that matters!

Jocelyn's 4th Birthday Party!

On January 8th we celebrated Jocelyn's 4th birthday!

This year, Jocelyn wanted to have a dress-up party for her birthday. She was diligent and her desire was unchanging over many months, so I moved forward with the party plans. Her birthday was on a Sunday, so we got to celebrate with her friends and family on her actual birthday!

The party was WONDERFUL! Jocelyn picked out a Belle dress and she was truly the "Belle" of the ball. She looked like a real Princess! She was so excited for her party and to see all of her friends come all dressed up.

As her friends arrived, all the little girls (and one little boy)gathered together. They looked like a beautiful splash of every color of the rainbow. They were all excited and ready to party!

I created several different dress-up stations. One was for hair, where they got to pick out a colorful hair extension to pin in their hair. The next was Make-up, where they applied eyeshadow and lip gloss. Then there was a variety of jewlery available to chose from: Earrings, braceletes, rings, and necklaces. The last station was for their nails. Each girl was able to chose two different colors and paint their nails. All of their "goodies" could then be stored in their very own purse goody bag.

After getting all dolled up, the kids had a little bit of time to eat before it was time to read some stories, play some games, and do some movement exercises with Jocelyn's favorite Librarian, Miss Dolores. Miss Dolores really did a wonderful job. All of the children were actively engaged, interested and having a "ball" the entire time Miss Dolores entertained them!

Afterwards, it was Jocelyn's big moment! Cake time! The kids gathered around and everyone in attendance sang "Happy Birthday" to Jocelyn. Cake and ice cream was passed out, the kids got their sugar high, and then Jocelyn began opening presents! Jocelyn received so many nice gifts from everyone! It was like Christmas all over again. Jocelyn truly love each and every gift.

After this, the party concluded. The kids all seemed to be nice and ready to get home and take a long nap after so many festivities!

Birthday party #4...SUCCESS! Jocelyn even thanked me without being prompted. Now that will make any mother's heart melt and make all the stress of planning worth every second!

Happy 4th Birthday J-Bear!!! We love you!!!