Foam Easter Wreath

 This morning the boys and I made an easy foam Easter Wreath.

Materials:
Two packages of foam Easter egg stickers found at Walmart for .97!
A paper plate
Foam letter stickers
A hole punch and ribbon

 I cut the center out of the paper plate, dumped out the stickers and let the boys have fun! I encouraged them to cover all the white on the plate.

 I love to watch them work on their fine motor skills by peeling the back of the stickers off. Once JP said, "This is awesome Mommy!" I love it when they love an easy, yet purposeful craft!

I also had JP help me with the sounds of the words "Happy Easter" and they both helped put the letters on the wreath.

 I have to say I am enjoying our new colorful, Easter wreath on the front door!

I consider this activity thrifty, frugal, fun and educational! What a win-win for us all!

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My 1st Muffin Tin Meal

This week we worked on a few Spring activities when we actually did "preschool stuff". To be real honest, as we get closer to meeting blessing #3 in about a month this mama is losing steam. Overall, I feel great, just getting a little tired. Thankfully my boys are flexible and roll with the punches.

One thing I did get really excited about this week is Muffin Tin Meals. I have seen a ton of great ideas that my fellow blogging mama friends are doing with their kiddos and food. So I thought I would check it out. I found this great site called Muffin Tin Mom where this awesome blogging mama hosts a weekly linky party with great ideas to make meals for kids in muffin tins.

On her blog, you'll find:

• Easy snack ideas for kids
• "Cute food" and "food art"
• Official Home of Muffin Tin Meals/Muffin Tin Monday: (the American version of the Japanese bento box meal) - a meal served in a muffin tin (or cupcake pan) for kids.
• Crafty and creative ideas, projects, and activities to do with your kids
• Activities and posts are primarily for parents of young children, but adaptable for all ages
•  Easy recipes

So I decided to give it a whirl! At the time I didn't have two muffin tins to use for both of the boys, so I decided just to use muffin liners. The boys LOVED it! They both gobbled up both of their lunches, especially the m &ms for desert. I love the idea making meals more fun and a way to introduce new foods in a fun way.

Here is my 1st muffin tin meal! In honor of Spring related activities I used one of our 101 cookie cutters to make their sandwich in the shape of a flower. I included cheese, cheerios, craisins, whales and m&ms. I presented lunch this way numerous times this week and each day both JP and CA seemed to enjoy it.

This weekend I hit the Dollar Tree and found two muffin tins with six sections. I also found Easter muffin liners. :) Yea! I also got a major surge of energy one night this past week and reorganized my pantry. Now all of the items I need for baking, crafting, and muffin meals are all in one place! I am looking forward to making more Muffin Tin Meals this week for the boys.

This awesome container needed a new purpose, so off to my pantry it goes. I like to label things with masking tape as it does not leave a sticky residue.

This is the drawer with all of my muffin liners! I am excited to use them in the future!

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Orderliness during Spring Break!

This week has been different at our house as the Daddy has been home with us for Spring Break! Yea! We love it when Daddy is home! This week we worked on the character development of orderliness. I chose orderliness for this week as we transform our house to get ready for blessing #3 who will be joining us in about five weeks! Wow! How is that possible? We are so excited to meet him!

Orderliness

“But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”  - 1 Corinthians 14:40

Orderliness (noun)

1. the quality of arranging things neatly

2. the disposition of things done in sequence

3. arranging objects in a harmonious way

4. observant of law, rule, or discipline

We discussed the definition of orderliness together numerous times this week. We also talked about ways to keep things orderly. I am teaching the boys a few new rules in our home to keep things more orderly:

• You may play with one item/toy at a time.
• You need to put that item away in the appropriate place when finished playing with it.

Both my hubby and I are organized, neat people for the most part. This week I've had to remember that to get to the neat, orderly, newly painted, rearranged rooms we have to have things out of order and in disarray first. There were moments this week where toys, furniture, clothing and all sorts of items were in different rooms. I had to remember what the end result would be. Keep reading to see. :)

JP and CA will share a room together now. So in preparation of new furniture coming and turning the toddler bed back into a crib, CA slept on his mattress on the floor a few nights. The first night he rolled off of it numerous times! So what does any sweet, blogging mama do?!!?! Grab and the camera and LAUGH!  I thought this was too funny! You'll be happy to know that right after snapping this shot I scooped him up and placed him back in the middle of the bed!

A couple of nights this week the boys slept side by side with their mattresses on the floor. Sweet sleeping boys!

Then later in the week the boys went to my parent's house for an overnight stay while we finished the transformation and got the new furniture and room ready for them. Then the Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a date night and getting the house more orderly. We even purged a few toys in the playroom while the boys were gone. Please tell me we are not the only parents who do this while their kids are away?!?! :)It felt great!

I am so very grateful the role my parents play in our children's lives!  I am also very grateful for their help! This transformation of rooms couldn't have happened without them!

JP and CA were so excited to see their new room when they got home. They immediately  ran to their new room to see it all put together. The smile on their faces made it all worth it!

I am very grateful for my sweet hubby who painted two rooms this week, rearranged furniture, and basically did so many things that this pregnant mama cannot.Whatever I asked of him he did. He has such a giving heart to our family!


I had a few St. Patrick's Day and Rainbow activities planned, but honestly we only played this one awesome M & M Rainbow Game from Criss Cross Applesauce Learning.
Hopefully we can do more rainbow activities this upcoming week. :)  

JP wasn't in the best of moods for this pic. :)

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