Posts Tagged ‘Mom Fun’

Can you believe 4th of July is only 6 days away?? Time to share some of the 4th of July things I’ve been a-brewin’ the past couple of weeks! I’ll start with a fun family activity!

We had SO MUCH fun BOOing at Halloween I thought I would put a 4th of July spin on the idea and here’s what I came up with…

Red, White & Blue on YOU!!

I bought loads of American Flag magnets (I got mine from www.flagsoncars.com) then we snuck around the neighborhood and parking lots and stuck them on cars with this little note:

I was just at the 99 cent store today and they had 3 American flags for 99 cents! That would be super fun to pass along… or maybe a 4th of July wreath or cupcakes with lil’ flags on top or red white and blue candy or… you get the idea.

Feel free to copy my note and modify it with what you are gifting. (I know I should have made the note non-specific to my giftie in an adorable poem… maybe next year!) Let’s make this a “thing” together!

Eli thought we should be disguised as bushes to “flag” people, so… (washable markers)

Cora Jane decided she wanted to be a kitty cat that hides in the bushes and she wanted her daddy to be a kitty too.

That girl has Hot Hubby wrapped around her little finger! (yes, the whole fam-damily got in on the face painting action!)

You should practice hiding in bushes every time a car goes by…

Be super sneaky and run a lot… (Eli’s face in this pic is priceless)

Tomorrow I’ll share a tutorial for this awesome wreath…

There is a lot of power in being a mom! I’m not talking power trips or the power to do good or evil. Though being “mom” certainly does allow opportunities! I’m thinking more along the lines of the power to be a fun mom. Maybe power isn’t the best word… choice? Yeah, the choice to ignore the messy living room for a day and have a water fight instead! I have a feeling my kiddos won’t remember a few months days in a cluttered house but they will remember the fun of spraying the heck out of each other with H2O on a hot day. And the flip side – they probably would cringe at memories of a mom whose need for a spotless house kept the family on pins and needles every time a toy was pulled out.

Maybe one of my favorite family buzz words, intentional, is the best to describe our Mom-power. Being intentional about my mommy decisions is key in my daily mom-ness. I’m intentional because I know that what I teach them will have long lasting effects. Now, I’m not saying I always make the best mom-choices (that’s unintentional, of course) and I most definitely won’t be the “fun mom” that buys beer for her 16 year olds, but sometimes I get it right. Like letting a certain lil’ fellow use a stick he found on a walk as a fork for his snap peas.

(pics from June 2010)

Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow!

I’ll be at the beach enjoying my annual Mother’s Day picnic.

How to totally forget about Saint Patrick’s Day but still pull off something…

I cannot believe I forgot about Saint Patrick’s Day! Usually I would have sent Brad to work in a green shirt (perhaps with a green lunch!) and we would all be decked out in green from bow to toe (with a dash of orange)! I also couldn’t wait to use some of the tips my friend Andrea (from BYOG) shared with me last year about the mischief leprechauns cause around the house in the morning.

None of that changes the fact we started out the day in non-green attire and without green eggs… sigh. I did have corn beef so I thought I would redeem myself after naps and with dinner. The idea of leprechauns mixing things up around the house was nixed because my house looks like this at the moment… (REALLY!)

So the children would have no clue what the leprechauns messed up. The thought crossed my mind to have the leprechauns clean up the house during naps – but that was also nixed for obvious reasons.

Instead the lil’ fellows turned the potty water green. The kiddos thought that was pretty silly but at that point my Mom-holiday-awesomeness was, well, in the toilet.

Brownies!

When you’re feeling blue, bake brownies!! (last stitch effort)

We got the brownies in the oven and I started with dinner searching for for green food to serve, all the while hyping up how leprechauns sneak around and turn things green. Two snap peas are now leprechaun legs (morbid?) and celery with peanut butter a leprechaun boat (stretching it, I know). I slipped a drop of green food coloring on the bottom of their cups so when they got their water it magically turned green. The water was a HUGE hit! Whew! I had them help me with the potatoes and then while they were playing, leprechauns turned them green! AND when I took the brownies out of the oven the leprechauns had covered them with green sprinkles.

The kiddos were smitten and when Eli noticed some green on my cheek (stray food coloring smear… oops) he said it must be a leprechaun kiss!!

I know St. Patty’s Day isn’t a big deal as far as holidays go. It’s not like I forgot a birthday or Christmas. But the reality is I only have 18 St. Patrick’s Days out of 6,570 normal days (6,570 = the small amount of days we have w/ our kiddos in 18 years!) to make memories with these awesome lil’ humans!! I want to make the best of it… it’s my job.

Next year I’ll (hopefully) be ready with leprechaun mischief and this awesome Leprechaun Trap Cake I fell in love with!! (Check out not martha for how to make it here. All the details are adorable and the rainbow technique looks like so much fun!!) I think the inside of the cake would be a lot of fun to make anytime.

We REALLY do wear our Lids all the time around here, and of course I’m always snapping pictures. Somehow they just don’t make it to the blog… till now! We’ve added Lid-Tastic Tuesday! Every Tuesday we’ll do a flashback post of pictures I never got to put on the blog.

Flashing back to May 2010… (a short 1.5 months before Cy joined the family)

We popped the kiddos in the wagon and hopped on our bikes for a spring picnic in a local park.

I forgot plates so we used the Lids of the containers.

It doesn’t take much to make a simple dinner memorable for your family.

the end

…as in Frosty!

Frosty day consisted of creating the snowfamily above (lil’ marshmallows, chocolate chips & peanut butter) and learning the words to this song…