Chalkboard Tree house Sign!

I have been seeing all the things to do with chalkboard paint. I am excited to try some out! First, it of course is about the kids so Carter made a sign to put up on the tree house at Nana's. Great Project for a 9 year old!
We found a scrap piece of wood, he painted the edges, sprayed Chalkboard paint in the middle and back, added rope and fasteners and up it went! He loved it. Now him and his cousins can rename the fort every time they are there! For now...since no one else is here it is Carter's Castle!! :) Main tip is 2 coats! Other than that, fun and easy and good result!

Gnome Sticks!

Poppop was talking about hiding gnomes and letting the boys find them in the lot, we did not want ceramic as a 2, 3, 7 and 9 year old would be messing with them. I did some checking and found these gnome sticks on shaktidove.blogspot.com via pinterest. We did them a little different and did not whittle. We just found sticks and broke them. A few we smoothed the edges and painted! They are currently in Nana's front garden awaiting to be hidden and drying. Carter even made a smurf one and a Spanish one with a sombrero on. I didn't get the final pictures of his as he refused to leave them! :) I think we will try to get everyone who visits to do one so that way we end up with a ton! They will be hard to find in the mountains but will keep the boys busy as the painting did too! Love them! Hard to see the ones with the knob noses but those are my favs! I will try to take better pictures of the noses!

Giant ice cube fun!

We had been waiting for a warm day for this one! It is AWESOME! We found it on pinterest with this link http://www.crumbbums.com/?p=2476 It was a surprise for the boys, I made them and surprised them with little treasures in them!

I used foil pans from the dollar store and food coloring and made 3 levels of ice each with little plastic animals also from the dollar store including fish, shark, gators, and even little compasses which Carter was excited about and immediately launched into pirate land and finding treasure! Such imagination! I love seeing their faces light up with excitement! The kids and even the dog had a great time with these! They tried to figure out the best way to get the treasure out and tried a hammer (kids one) warm water, salt, rocks, an decided the best was dropping it over an over so chunks broke off and let out some aggression! I immediately refilled them with other treasures from the house an they are in the freezer for the next time! Quick, easy activity that kept the kids cooled off in the summer an busy having fun with each other for over an hour! Recommend!

CALLEN CHECKING IT OUT AT FIRST

EVEN THE DOG HELPED!

Calming Jars and Reading Time

Today was a day to catch up on rest from the last few days of fun! We implemented a mandatory reading time that I hope to continue if not daily then at least 5 days a week. Everyone picked a book and had 30 minutes of reading, writing and or resting. This was needed as both boys have issues sitting still and reading! It was nice!
We also made Calm Down jars. I mean come on, who cannot use one of these. We saw this idea on pinterest in many places and I think it is a great mediation tool to calm down your overstressed, overwhelmed, overstimulated upset child! I think I need one too!!Some call these time out jars. Really simple! 

Calm Down Jars/Time Out Jars

Things Needed:

Jar

Hot Water

Glitter

Glitter Glue

Food Coloring

Super Glue (to tighten cap after so kids do not open it!) 

Here are your instructions from www.herewearetogether.com and tips below on our experience! 

 1 tablespoon of glitter-glue with about fill with hot water leaving about 1/2 inch from top, then added  food colouring and a tiny tub of glitter.
The glue makes the water so thick and gooey that the glitter just slowly and gently swirls around, it takes 5 minutes to fall to the bottom!

These Photos are from the first set. We plan on making more with pearlized glitter, and in plastic jars. Here are some tips! 

• Pearlized glitter glue makes all the difference!
• If you want "swirls" in the colored water, make sure to use some pearlized glitter glue or pearlized paint to color the water.
• You can not substitute Elmer's glue in place of glitter glue -- it just makes the water all foggy and white and doesn't help suspend the glitter at all.
• The finer the glitter you use, the better.  
• Chunky glitter will fall much faster, but finer glitter will stay suspended for quite awhile.
• Food coloring or liquid watercolors work to color the water.  
• Leave some room on top but not as much as in the photo! Trial and Error!!! Will Post 2nd set once we get pearlized glitter glue!

Slingshots, Explosions and Puppet Shows

OH MY! Day 7 brought a ton of activities in the mountains. Some fishing, a carousel, rock stores, and some pinterest fun. SLINGSHOTS, EXPLOSIONS, and puppet shows!! They boys were excited about these ones!

We figured since we were in the mountains with lots of land the boys could try out homemade slingshots. We sent them to find their own sticks and used a rubber band. There are many ways to do this to make it more professional but we were looking for something cheap and fast. The nice thing about it was the boys were not great at it they could only hit things within 5 feet so we did not have any accidents! They used pine cones and pebbles to let loose!









BIG EXPLOSIONS!!! CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WE EXPLODED?

Soap! This was another super easy project! We tried to keep them easy in the mountains as we had so much other stuff to do!! This is ivory bar soap. Put it in the microwave and it blows up to a huge sculpture! Make sure you place it on a plate or wax paper!! We put it in for 2 minutes and watched it go! Very neat! and Not Messy! It looks like it is but that mass of soap is really a big chunk. You can reuse in the tub! Or let it snow on your kids in the tubs. It flakes! 

You must use Ivory! The soap that floats! They are the only one who infuse air into their soap enabling it to enlarge and expand like this! Next time we are thinking of adding food coloring to see what that looks like!! Even Poppop had fun with this one!!! 

At the Carousel of Happiness there is a spot for kids to give their own puppet shows. I thought this would be fun! The boys were not so great at it! They just made the puppets fight....boys...

Great fun in the mountains!!! We also went to the rock store and let the boys pick some rocks out, they really liked the magnetic ones.