$2 Tuesday

This week's featured product is Are We There Yet?! I thought we would kick off the summer right ;) So hurry over and pick up this great trip for all of your summer travels!!! You can pick it up for just $2 today only!!!! Don't forget to check out the other parts of this awesome collab too!!!

Here is some gallery inspiration. 

And make made an awesome QP freebie!!! You can pick it up by clicking on the preview.

Dinosaur Activities that make for great photo ops!

I have to admit that Ramona’s new kit ‘Rawrasaurus’ reminded me of one of my favorite units when I was teaching, DINOSAURS!! Kids just seem to love these extinct guys!  There are plenty of fun things to do and learn with dinosaurs.  I thought I’d share a few with you today.

Dinosaur Books

Any good unit of study is going to be based on some fun and informative literature! Children authors know how much kids love dinosaurs so there are TONS of both fiction and non fiction stories out there.  Check out your library for some of these awesome titles!

 

Books are a perfect thing to add to Easter baskets!! Photograph your child reading or being read to. Write down their favorite facts or favorite dinosaurs. Have them draw a dinosaur picture and take pictures to add to your layout.

 

Dino Land

One of the first things I always did was cover a table with green paper and let the kids create a prehistoric land that the dinosaurs would live in.  You can get some green wrapping paper for pretty cheap or a $1 green table cloth from the dollar or party supply store.  That and a pack of construction paper is probably all your little creator needs. But lets say you add some sand, grass and some other accessories, you can come up with a pretty awesome dino land!  Then once the kids were all done, we released the dinosaurs! They were so excited and spent HOURS playing over there when their work was complete.

 

Take photos while your child(ren) put it together and while they are playing.  Document some of the things they are saying and the stories they are acting out.

 

Dino Mask

Have your child create their own dinosaur mask!You can print out a mask here.  You can also just use a paper plate or paper. You might even get brave and delve into plaster of paris!  Take photos while your child makes and wears their mask.

 

Make Them Life size!!

Look up facts about how big the dinosaurs were or how big their foot prints were and draw them to scale using side walk chalk and your driveway or street.  This really makes the sizes come to life to older children. Take photos of your children drawing their dinos and standing beside them for size comparison!

 

I hope these activities get your imagination going on some activities to do with your own dinosaur lover!

What should you be doing in your garden now?

This warm weather is really getting me excited for summer time! This summer is going to be great because we are going to have TONS of fresh veggies from our garden. We're trying square foot gardening for the first time so I'm hoping we have great results! A few weeks ago we weeded, filled up our other bed we've never used and covered with trash bags:



Here in Oklahoma the official last day of frost scare is April 15 but the planting guide gave me the ok on a few different veggies. I noticed most of them were bottom growing plants.



So we planted carrots, green onions, yellow onions and turnips. For square foot gardening, carrots and onions are both 16 per square feet and the turnips are 6. I planted 2 seeds at a time in hopes that one of them at least would grow.



We also planted sweet peas and lettuce. I planted two sweet peas per square foot along the back so we can build something for them to grow up. And two lettuce across the front to take up the extra space.

After we planted everything, I covered everything back up until they sprout. The black plastic is supposed to help warm up the soil and help germinating.

It will be a month before we can continue our planting but for now, we're excited to see how our first batch of planting goes!

A fun (and easy) toddler art activity!

Its been awhile since I posted! Kids have been sick and things have been busy. Surprise, surprise right?  My husband is currently working a later than normal evening shift leaving me to cook dinner with two kids and no help.  So I’ve been looking for 20 minute art activities for Rett to do in the afternoon so I can clean up the kitchen and do some pre-cooking prep to make things go easier later on.  Here is a great activity that I ran across that I’d like to share!

Recommended age: 2.5+

Supplies needed:

paper

food coloring

eye dropper

small plastic containers filled with water

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directions: put 3 or 4 drops of food color into each plastic container. I recommend using colors that are brighter because there is some color mixing going on. Orange and yellow.. probably not a good choice.

 

After this its more of what your toddler/child does.  They use the eye dropper to suck up the colored water and drip it onto their blank paper. 

 

I did this with my 26 month old.  He did not get it. He LOVED stabbing the water with the eye dropped but couldn’t grasp the concept of having to squeeze the eye dropper to get the water into it and squeeze to get it out.  I had to help him a bit with his art.  He still enjoyed himself. This could also be a great mixing colors lessons for home schoolers.  Also great to work on fine motor and hand muscle building for special needs children or children with messy handwriting.

 

Here is before we started.

Here is our finished product!

Project 365- My Week in Photos!

I can’t believe March is almost here!  Just when the weather finally got warm enough to give me hope, its cold again today. Spring can’t come soon enough!

 

We went to the zoo with mom group.  Beautiful weather!  Rett had a fun time running around with all the toddlers. 

 

My Coke replacement.  I started drinking Crystal Light instead and dropped 3 pounds. Then Mom stocked me up in Coke again later in the week.  I refuse to buy it for myself so unless she enables me, I don’t have it.  Luckily my mom is a GREAT enabler!

 

We got the garden ready for planting! Rett loved to watch Daddy shoveling.  He thought it was hilarious.  I also baked some clearance Valentine’s brownies. .80 well spent!

 

Finished Sissy’s easter lamb hat.  This pattern also has a jumper that goes with it so it may transform into her Halloween costume if she can still fit into it.  The yarn is rather stretchy so I think we should be good! I attached one of her bows to the ear to make it even cuter.

Sissy sneezed while eating.  I absolutely hate baby food. So annoying.  She started eating pancakes for breakfast the last two days so hopefully the gross cereal phase is over!

 

Went to the zoo again. Twice in one week? Of course!  This time with Jenna, Lucas and Joseph. Jenna also brought her friend Molly and her two boys.  It started off pretty cool but it warmed up and ended up being a great day. 

I left the window open because we had a thunderstorm and wanted Rett to see the rain.  Sissy wanted to watch too so she climbed onto the drums.  Its amazing how much faster she is doing things than Rett did.  I’m not sure that’s a good thing either!

 

So that was our week!  Today we are going to a bounce place so that should make for some fun photography! 

Let them eat cake.. or anything else!

 

Every time I see a photographer using food within their photos and everyone is talking about how clever that was and wow what a nice pop of color, I just snicker. Because I know the truth.  Eating food keeps kids still.  No one REALLY expects kids to smile while eating.  Kids are happy when eating things that are full of sugar.  I haven’t seen many photos of children eating carrots or broccoli. I suppose out there somewhere they could exist. 

Honestly food photography is ingenious.   When you are photographing babies (especially after they start smiling) you have the easiest job in the world. Babies are naturally cute, they don’t move much and they LOVE attention they gain from smiling. Then they start moving. And they never want to stop.  Give the same kid a cake to smash when they turn 1 and you get this:

Of course broadening your horizons is always nice.  I had a session the other day and it was a 1 year old.  The mom didn’t want to do a cake smash. Its funny how moms NEVER think cake smashes sound like a fun thing.  Messy, cake mess.  That’s what the moms think about. Or maybe the purple poo that follows.

Of course then you miss out on this.  And if you ever wondered why my fake flooring is died blue, mystery solved.  Noah was totally worth it though.

 

Well since this mom (like all the other sane mothers) didn’t want to do a cake smash,  I decided to use some of those yummy strawberries we had in the fridge.

Sometimes those quick ideas turn out very cute.  And she kept still.  Isn’t she a doll?

 

I have yet to try ice cream, cotton candy, popsicles or glasses of kool aid but they are on my ‘to photograph’ list.  Along with carrots and broccoli.  So if you find yourself having a difficult time getting your toddler to sit still, bring out the goodies.

 

Just remember to take the white shirt off first.

How does your garden grow?

Two years ago.. ok maybe 3 I lose count, we built some raised beds relatively cheaply with some lumber from Lowe’s.  Honestly we have yet to have a great gardening season. We’ve grown TONS of tomatoes but not much else.   While its really cold outside on some days, the sneak peaks of spring weather have been showing their lovely heads reminding us that planting season is right around the corner.

So this weekend we tackled our garden beds.  Last year I was pregnant during planting season and I had a toddler so we didn’t even ATTEMPT a garden.

So here’s what our garden looked like at this point.  Right now is a great time to weed out those gardens before the greenery comes through and you’ve got to really use some muscle.  We pulled all the dead grass, weeds and tomato plants out of the garden.

Not really sure why but Rett thought Tom’s shoveling was HILARIOUS. He cracked up every time Tom jumped on the shovel.  So cute.  After we pulled up all the mess, Tom went ahead and shoveled up the dirt and then raked out the huge clumps of roots and to stir up the soil.

We also found some worms!  Yay for worms!

We went ahead and added about eight bags of topsoil to the bed. We over bought top soil last year so that was convenient.  Then we used trash bags and stapled them to the sides and weighted down the middle with rocks and sticks to keep the weeds and grasses from getting their seeds started before we’re ready to plant.

Right now is a great time to start seedlings indoors.  Egg cartons make great plant starters and they also sell those cheap starter kits at Lowe’s.  You can also plant onions, potatoes and radishes right now!  We’re planning on having an above ground garden and an under ground garden so time to get that one started! 

I know in Oklahoma we cannot actually plant most veggies outdoors until mid April because of late season frost being a concern. There are tons of sites out there for growing and planting tips specific to your area. 

When planning out what you are going to plant this year, consider things you often buy at the grocery store. You can save tons of cash by providing your own fresh produce.  Your meals will be healthier and you can also give some free produce to friends when you’ve got too many goodies.  There are also programs to plant a garden for the homeless and donate your harvest. 

I’m excited to see how our garden grows this year!