Back at it

It's occurred to me today that I havn't updated this blog in a few months. I've been a bit busy with life and so have my toddlers! So here is an update on what we have been doing/ what's been added to the classroom!

One of my classes LOVE's to sing "We're going on a bear hunt". If you know the song, you know how fun it can be. Well, my awesome boss and I decided to make a real bear hunt and have the children go on a hunt. We started by going through the tall wavy grass made out of streamers.

Then we went through the thick, gooey mud which was made out of corn starch and water (other wise known as Oobleck to some of you)

This is what the paw prints looked like when we went on our hunt.

Tablecloths were added for extra protection for the carpet's sake :)

Then we went through the cold, deep lake.

This got dangerous. A few of us fell into the lake.

We then went to the cave and found beanie baby bears. 

But, of course, I didn't get a picture of the cave.

A few decorations/materials have been added to the rooms.

First, and my most exciting one, would have to be The Very Hungry Caterpillar

He is a little deformed here, but that's no big deal!

The next one is crayons with different shades to show each color.

They are just paint samples from Wal-Mart.

I didn't do one for white. Anyone think I should?

I also made a fine motor canister that does't look this good any more.

I need to make a new one...maybe later.

I used a pringles can, and I won't go into detail on how I got the holes in the lid....

Next time I'm going to use an ice pick. I also used pipe cleaners cut in different lengths, and used paper reinforcers that were colored to match each color of pipe cleaner. It's worked out great and the children love it! Also for next time, hot gluing the scrapbook paper onto the pringles can.

We have painted in a few different ways.

First is Giant Marshmallow painting.

I liked this one. It's hanging in the classroom.

Then we painted with toilet paper rolls with paper towels wrapped around them for extra textures.

We've walked on a road made of tape. Our cars also drove on it.

Water beads have been one of our favorites!

They start out this small:

Grow a bit to this:

Then after about 4-6 hours they look like this:

A couple notes on this one. Don't put pink water beads with green or blue. They will turn green or blue. 

These things are bouncier than a bouncy ball and you'll find them days later.

They also squish easily. And watch that the children don't try to eat them.

I did another crayon art for my friend Kelly.

Her's turned out like this:

If you don't know, I despise cooking. It's stressful, always fails, takes too long, etc.

But I did make stuffed avocados made with tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, onion and cilantro.

It was fantastic!

Moving on to the past two days, I've been a bit crafty.

Yesterday, I made an Easter Vase:

There are chocolate egg's at the bottom, peep bunnies in the middle, then the gigantic flowers!

Between yesterday and today, I worked on these two paintings since I had a few canvas's hanging out in my room. I felt the need to paint them.

Then my favorite one to make.

Alright. So this should hold everyone for the next couple of months, right?

I'll try to be better on showing all of my creations more often!

Have a great Easter!

By popular demand

By popular demand, I have been asked to put in detail how I made my beautiful rose wreath. (Thanks Emily!)
This wreath took hours upon hours to make but it is gorgeous!

I started by tracing and cutting out more than 150 circles in red and burgundy card stock. I did eight smaller circles on one sheet with a small glass, and then traced a solo cup for the larger ones. This is what the smaller ones look like

Then I cut along the circular lines to get this:

It doesn't have to be perfect, hence the not-staying-on-the-lines look.

Then you start rolling it towards the middle very tightly.

When you get to the middle, you squeeze it together.

See that area sticking out at the bottom? That's where you will put the hot glue to hold the rose together after you let it spring apart to look like this:

After it springs to life and you hot glue it together, you can spray-Spray adhesive onto the roses to help it hold its shape and it gets a little darker in color. I warn you, Spray Adhesive is super sticky and I ruined the binder I was using as a make shift desk :) 

After the spray adhesive dries (I gave it 2-3 minutes) can hot glue the roses to the wreath!

This is the pattern I chose to do and rotated the red and burgundy's.

After many, many, many hours you have this:

I absolutely love this wreath! So worth the time, paper cuts, and hot glue burns!

I will make more...just smaller ones! 

Super Bowl!

I'm sitting here watching the super bowl, my team is losing, and the commercials are disappointing. So I figured I'd catch everyone up on the past few weeks of my life. It's been pretty busy and pretty exciting...at least I like to think so. Have you ever needed a good excuse to get rid of a bottle of shaving cream? Well next time you find yourself in that situation, do this! I took my sensory tub for my toddler friends and filled it a little less than halfway with water. Then I put the shaving cream on top of the water. My toddlers LOVED it! My friends who normally don't like sensory things, stayed here for a good half hour laughing and keeping their hands in the "water". You are supposed to put food coloring in the water but I didn't have any that day and it didn't make a difference. We will be doing this again soon!

I babysat my little cousins the other day, which I loved! I have to start my "Things kids say to me" jar, since I was told a baby doll died from a dog bite. I had a lot of vinegar and baking soda in my cupboards, so I brought it with to make a volcano. I've done this before with my preschool friends a few years ago, and this was even better! Again, we could have used food coloring to add effect but it didn't matter. They got a kick out of especially when it looked like this:

For Christmas, my parents gave me tickets to see Lady Antebellum. A few weeks later my dad informed me that the seats were not actually seats, they were on the floor, next to the stage. I got a little more excited. The day of the concert, my friend Heather and I went to Olive Garden--slowly getting excited for the evening. When we got to the concert, I realized that Thompson Square and Darius Rucker were both opening for Lady A. I about fainted. I've been wanting to see Darius since Hootie and The Blowfish. When we walked onto the floor and got near the stage, its safe to say we were beyond excited!

Thompson Square opened first and they are just gorgeous.

My pictures of them turned out worse than the other ones. When they sang "Are you going to kiss me or not?" they had giant lips blown up.

THEN Hootie came on...greatest moment of my life!

Then he got closer...

Oh yes...so close!

Then Lady A came out.

In the words of Kris Jenner, it was "delicious".

A little thing happened to me this week where I am FINALLY credentialed as a Developmental Therapist!! It's pretty exciting. But I really need to celebrate it, thank goodness I can do that this coming weekend with great friends in Champaign!

I've made a few things this week, and of course they are all from Pinterest :)
The first was mini Snickers cheesecakes. It took two hours to make. All from scratch. I hate cooking and that totally showed me why. But I made them for a few colleagues of mine who had birthday's on the same day. Everyone loved them, but I'm not doing that again. It's the taste that matters, not the look....

For the super bowl, I made brownies with Diet Coke. You take the brownie mix and the diet coke,

Mix them together...no eggs, no oil, and bake like normal. I thought they tasted nasty but everyone else seems to think they are good.

I've also made my lunches for the next three days. Salads in a mason jar. You put the salad dressing on the bottom, then the vegetables, then cheese, then salad. If you keep salad in a mason jar, it stays fresh up to 10 days. So tomorrow I can shake it and eat, or just pour into a bowl and eat! We will see tomorrow if it works.

I made a rose wreath too. I've been working on this one for a long time and I finally finished it. There are paper roses all over the wreath that I made. I think it looks awesome.

Well that's about all for now. My team just won the super bowl! Thank the good lord! Go Eli!

Motivation

Another weekend, another project. I made another wreath! And now I'm selling them! I got my first order last night and I and taking more! The one I made this weekend was very simple, but its cute! If anyone wants one, let me know! You get to choose colors and how many flowers you want. I can even do argyle.

I was painting our upstairs hallway this weekend and I never know why I volunteer to help on things that need to look nice. There were a few close calls to the newly painted white doors with yellow hand prints. There are lovely white splatters on the floor, {Thank the good lord that we are ripping that up next} and there is also a dog foot print since dog #1 felt like exploring the paint. But it was nice to have two friends keeping me company and a watchful eye out for me while I worked.

Kelso {dog #2} & Payton {dog #1}

I finished Week one of Couch to 5K on Saturday!! Today I got the bright idea during short circuit {8 stations-3 minutes at each station} to see how long I could run during the whole 3 minutes. Surprising to me, I ran the whole 3 minutes. Week 2 starts tomorrow and it sounds like a fun time!

"The longest journey begins with a small step taken by a brave person."  

Never underestimate a hot glue gun...

As I sit here watching Teen Mom 2 (Can you tell I like reality TV yet?) I realized that I still have a Christmas tree up in my room. Craaap. I didn't leave it up because I'm one of those people that love Christmas trees, no, it's up because I forgot about it and don't feel like putting it away. Maybe tomorrow.

Today was the first day of Couch to 5K. And I must say....I rocked it!! As much as I hate running, it didn't bother me today. I tried this once in the summer, but the humidity of Southern Illinois got the best of me and I quit. But my cousin's Brian and Jamie won't let me quit this time! Ask me how I feel tomorrow.

I am really becoming quite the crafter this past week and it's a bit strange. I finished a wreath that I started last night. I worked on it for about 3 hours last night and fought with the yarn for about a good hour of that 3. Then I finished it today and it took probably an hour or less. I got the idea from pinterest yet again. But more specifically http://thirtyhandmadedays.com/2011/03/yarn-wreath-tutorial-from-angel-face-designs/
The process started with taking a trip to Hobby Lobby. So tough right? I should never be allowed in Hobby Lobby. My mother realized after walking through with me the other day, that she now knows where I decorated my apartment from. It's not my fault that they support my "Live Laugh Love" and Fleur de lis obsession. :)  I bought I Love This Yarn- yarn and felt and Styrofoam circles. Once I got home I hot glued the beginning of the yarn to the circle.

  Then I wrapped the yarn around the whole thing.

 Once it was done, it looked like this:

Then I got to make the flowers! I burnt my finger making the circle gray ones. That was fun.

When I was done it now looks like this:

I was pretty proud of it. 

My brother laughed at me and asked why I would make that. 

And why would someone want that.

Loving sibling.

I found another quote that I just LOVE and I feel like it fits me perfectly. Hang in there, its a long one.

"This is your life. Do what you love and do it often.

If you don't like something, change it.

If you don't like your job, quit.

If you don't have enough time, stop watching TV.

If you are looking for the love of your life, stop;

They will be waiting for you when you

start doing things you love.

Stop over-analyzing, life is simple.

All emotions are beautiful.

When you eat, appreciate every last bite.

Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things.

And people, we are united in our differences.

Ask the next person you see what their passion is,

and share your inspiring dream with them.

Travel often; Getting lost will help you find yourself.

Some opportunities only come once, seize them.

Life is about the people you meet, 

and the good things you create with them. 

So go out and start creating.

Life is short.

Live your dream,

And wear your passion."

Weekend is over?

This weekend has been an interesting one for sure. But if you all know me by now, you will know that it is Kardashian Sunday!! 30 minutes until the show begins and I can't wait. It might be sad to some but everyone has their quirks! I've been tested this weekend in a few different ways. One, was an actual fit test that I think I sorta rocked! Except for one item...which my abs still hurt from. The second, is that people like to use words to hurt your soul. It wouldn't bother me as much if it wasn't family using the words. But I stumbled upon a few quotes on my favorite website today {pinterest} and I think they best fit my weekend. The first is:

"Just keep moving forward and don't give a shit about what anybody thinks.

Do what you have to do for you." ~Johnny Depp.

The second is from the bible: 

"How can I say "I can't" when the Bible says, "I can do anything through him who gives me strength."

Philippians 4:13

I've realized that you really do make your own family as you grow. But I'm moving on from this experience and going to continue to enjoy my life and the gifts God has given me lately.  My trust factor in people may be low again but I'm sure I will bring it back up in due time.

I kinda stumbled upon a side job this weekend and I'm kinda excited about it. I started making some canvas art for fun.

I started by gluing crayons to a canvas. 

Then I took a blow dryer to the crayons and melted them.

They turned out like this:

It was super easy to do. It did stink up the kitchen. I would advise to do it when no one is home other than you and that way no one can complain about the smell! :)

I ended up posting this picture on facebook and a friend ended up wanting to buy them from me. I've decided that I'm going to start selling my home-made items on etsy.

I'm working on making wreaths. Here is a sneak peek of what I'm working on now:

I would also advise any one who decides to use glue adhesive to use it in a well ventilated area...

Hopefully this will be done soon! It's taking longer than I thought!

Well, its about that time for the Kardashian sisters to grace my TV screen. Have a great week friends!