Father's Day Gift Ideas

My husband likes to make fun of Father's Day by calling it the "Tie and Brute Aftershave Day." For the record, we have never given him a tie or aftershave for Fathers Day. But finding that perfect gift for Dad can be hard. So this year, I have decided to make a list of some out of the ordinary Fathers day gifts to surprise the dad in your life this year.

Make a dent in that "some day" purchase!
In our house, one of the reasons it can be hard to shop for dad is lack of money. If the gift is affordable and he really wants it, he will go and buy it himself. If the gift is more than he can afford, chances are its out of my budget too. So why not start a collection jar for that big purchase? Design it around the theme of the gift and add enough money to get him started.

Make something to keep forever!
For this Fathers Day card we had to kidnap one of his shoes. The kids helped to trace around it and cut it out. Then, starting with my biggest child and working my way down to the smallest, I made foot prints inside the shape of his shoe. I captioned it "We have big shoes to fill." Once it was done we covered the whole thing in Mod Podge and tied a ribbon to the top. Now he has a keepsake to always remind him of how his kids look up to him!

Make his favorite cookies!
Around here, when it is time to make treats, dad sometimes gets left out. The kids usually pick their favorites or I try a new recipe, and though he never complains, sometimes his favorites don't make the menu. Well Father's Day is the time to remedy that! Put his favorites on the menu all day, starting with his favorite breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Or you could take him to his favorite restaurants.

Share a memory!
My husband's favorite book as a child was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. For Father's Day this year our eldest daughter has decided to read his favorite book and have a long geeky conversation with him about it. As a book lover, it is always a gift find someone who is excited about the same books to pick them apart with.

 Some other ideas...

Have his car detailed, or have the kids help wash and vacuum out his car.

Give him a coupon good for one evening of uninterrupted video game time.

Take your favorite photos off your iPad and make a photo book for dad here!

Remind Dad he's a hero with these adorable super hero marshmallow pops by Critters and Crayons! <- Click for a video tutorial for how to make the pops for pop!

Remember, Dad doesn't need another pair of socks, but he will never say no to more hugs and kisses! (from mama too)

Gone Fishing!

Gotta catch 'em all!

That was the theme of the afternoon, when I filled the kids little plastic pool with water and these adorable fishy toys and gave them aquarium nets to try to round them all up.

They had little fish...

and big fish...

and all the fish were hard to catch! The big ones actually paddled with their little tails when you got them in the water.

This activity is great for cooling off on a hot day. It is also great for working on those motor skills and for discovering spacial awareness (the ability to judge the location of one object in relation to other objects.)

We love our little plastic pool and we will more than likely be getting lots of use out of it as the summer months progress. When we are all done playing in the water, the kids love to get their little watering cans and fill them up from the pool and water all the plants in their garden. Great fun!



What is your favorite way to cool off in the summer?

Small Hands Creating Hope: A Spring Bouquet

This is a fun and easy project that would be perfect for a birthday, teacher gift, or as a child made gift for a family member. We made ours as a center piece for a birthday party for my mother in law and I think they look perfect.

Start by taking plain Styrofoam cups. Cut the cup in to strips, you can see that we tried a few different shapes. Heat your oven to 350 and place your cups in 1 at a time. I don't know why, but it just seems to melt better that way. Styrofoam is a lightweight plastic, so when placed in the heat the cups will begin to melt.

Don't walk away, the cups will begin to melt almost immediately. If you have a window in your oven it is a lot of fun to press your face up to the glass and watch. When you pull the cups out you will have a few seconds to try and mold it before it cools again, but for the most part the cups just sort of curl up on themselves. The cups aren't hot so don't be afraid!


Once you have all of your "flowers" ready, it's time to paint. We used tempera paint and it worked great.

Once the paint is dry, use barbeque skewers to thread through your cups, then fill the bottom of your cup with glue and pack in your pom poms. When your glue is dried you are ready to display your flowers. We bunched ours up with fresh herbs from the garden.

This project has been included as part of the Small Hands Creating Hope fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. This project is one of many from a team of talented bloggers that will appear in an ebook which you can receive when you donate $15 dollars or more to the America Cancer Society.

If you donate but do not receive an email for any reason, or if you have trouble with the download, email smallhandsproject at gmail dot com.

MaryAnne at Mama Smiles compiled this book as a way of celebrating thirty years of cancer survivorship! We are hoping to raise $3000 by July 4th, and we are running a blog hop from May 14th until July 4th to celebrate and raise funds so that, in the future, thirty years of cancer survivorship will be the norm, not the exception! Learn about each of the bloggers who participated in the book by visiting each blog on the assigned dates. A few blogs will even be running giveaways, too!
14 May Mama Smiles
15 May Artsy Craftsy Mom and Rainbows Within Reach
16 May B. Inspired, Mama!
17 May Rainy Day Mum and Imagination Soup
18 May Inspiration Laboratories
19 May Experimenting Mom
20 May Outlaw Mom
21 May NurtureStore
22 May Living Montessori Now
23 May Mess for Less
24 May Having Fun at Home and CraftoArt
25 May Mama Mia’s Heart2Heart
26 May Angelique Felix and Sense of Wonder
27 May Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
28 May Duck Duck Octopus
29 May Smiling like Sunshine
30 May Mommy with Selective Memory
31 May One Perfect Day
1 June The Educators’ Spin On It
2 June Kids Stuff World
3 June Rainy Day Mum
4 June Teach Preschool
5 June Dirt and Boogers
6 June Creative Connections for Kids and The Golden Gleam
7 June Montessori Tidbits
8 June Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
9 June The Iowa Farmer’s Wife
10 June Scribble Doodle and Draw
11 June Learn with Play
12 June Kitchen Counter Chronicles
13 June CRAYON Freckles
14 June Glittering Muffins
15 June Wise Owl Factory
16 June Crafty Maa
18 June Lessons Learnt Journal 20 June Growing a Jeweled Rose 21 June Growing Play 23 June JDaniel4′s Mom

Small World Play: Mermaid Lagoon

Funny story: When I was a little girl I was obsessed with mermaids. I drew them everywhere. One day my mother got called in to school for a conference by my first grade teacher. She was concerned after seeing all of my mermaid drawings on the sides of my school work. The reason she was concerned was because I never drew my mermaids with tops on. I thought it was just common knowledge that mermaids didn't wear clothes so I never bothered drawing clothes on them. Mrs. Powers was sure I was growing up to become some sort of deranged pervert. Luckily my mother recognized fine art when she saw it, so it was all good.

Illustration by Michael Hauge, one of my all time favorites!

My point is, I love mermaids, and I have always hoped my children would develop the same love for mermaids that I had as a child. I have been subtly pressing the issue. They share a mermaid themed bathroom. They have lots of books with mermaids in them and I even bought them the Barbie Mermaidia on DVD (which is awful if you have never had to sit through it.)

 It looks just like the Michael Hauge picture! Complete with jelly fish!

My latest mermaid themed activity has come in the shape of a small world tub. I found these two little ladies at the dollar store and had to snatch them up. I knew right away that I wanted to make a little world for them to play.

I filled the tub with aquarium rocks and waterproof sand. The sand was left over from a play set that someone had given us as a gift. The plastic set broke, but I saved all the sand (because I'm a hoarder shhh.) So I was able to re use it for our mermaid lagoon.

The plants are from the aquarium section of the pet store. The animals are from Lakeshore. The shells are from my private collection.

Birdy loved this tub! She loved it so much that she took parts of it in to the bath with her so she could keep playing, and when it was time to sleep she took her mermaids to bed with her. Maybe she will take after her mama in the end!

Park Review: San Gabriel Park in Georgetown

Time for another park review!


(long over due actually!)

Saturday the kids and I spent the morning in the Georgetown park along the beautiful San Gabriel River. This picturesque area was a joy to visit. It is covered with huge oak trees that provide shade from the Texas heat. There is a small playground with slides and climbing structures, and lots of open green spaces to picnic in or just run around the place.

But the main attraction for us was the ducks. We came loaded with bread crumbs and the kids loved tossing them to the hungry ducks. Logan kept calling "Here go, ducks! Lunch!"

There are several hike and bike trails running through out the series of parks along the San Gabriel River. The longest trail is 5 miles. The shortest is 1 mile.You can find a link with a map to the hike and bike trails here.

Birdy's favorite part of our visit was standing on the bridge that stretches over the San Gabriel and watching the fish and ducks swim by. Bugs favorite part was finding fossils and shells in the rocky bed and dipping his toes in the water to cool them down.

The kids had a lot of fun at this park and they are already asking to go back.
The Sense of Wonder family gives the San Gabriel Park in Georgetown 3 out of 4 stars.

Small Hands Creating Hope

I am thrilled to be a part of the Small Hands Creating Hope fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. A wonderful and talented group of bloggers have come together to bring you a beautiful full color book filled with gift ideas that your children can create to give to someone fighting cancer.

This project was inspired by Mama Smiles to recognize the 30 years since she was diagnosed with cancer. You can read more about her story here. The following bloggers have all contributed to this book. You will have a chance to see all of their post over the next month in this month long blog hop!


14 May Mama Smiles
15 May Artsy Craftsy Mom and Rainbows Within Reach
16 May B. Inspired, Mama!
17 May Rainy Day Mum and Imagination Soup
18 May Inspiration Laboratories
19 May Experimenting Mom
20 May Outlaw Mom
21 May NurtureStore
22 May Living Montessori Now
23 May Mess for Less
24 May Having Fun at Home and CraftoArt
25 May Mama Mia’s Heart2Heart
26 May Angelique Felix and Sense of Wonder
27 May Sun Hats & Wellie Boots
28 May Duck Duck Octopus
29 May Smiling like Sunshine
30 May Mommy with Selective Memory
31 May One Perfect Day
1 June The Educators’ Spin On It
2 June Kids Stuff World
3 June Rainy Day Mum
4 June Teach Preschool
5 June Dirt and Boogers
6 June Creative Connections for Kids and The Golden Gleam
7 June Montessori Tidbits
8 June Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
9 June The Iowa Farmer’s Wife
10 June Scribble Doodle and Draw
11 June Learn with Play
12 June Kitchen Counter Chronicles
13 June CRAYON Freckles
14 June Glittering Muffins
15 June Wise Owl Factory
16 June Crafty Maa
18 June Lessons Learnt Journal
20 June Growing a Jeweled Rose
21 June Growing Play
23 June JDaniel4′s Mom

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the American Cancer Society. For a donation of $15 or more, you will receive links to download both the e-book and to purchase a paper copy of the book at production cost.

 

If you donate, but do not receive an email or if you have trouble with the download, you can send an email to smallhandsproject at gmail dot com.

Fun With Toddlers!

Bug and I spent an entire afternoon playing with the sticky wrappers off of a pair of socks. He would step on them then march around the house in a lopsided way until it fell off, then he would start all over again. I think he enjoyed comparing the texture of one foot to the other. He also likes to walk around with one sock on or one shoe on and compare the feelings in his feet. Funny babies!

Big Messy Art

I have a secret confession. I don't normally do this. In fact, I try really really hard not to do this, but yesterday I made a total impulse buy. I stopped by the drug store on the way home and while standing in line for the cash register I spied these little guys.

How could I say no? I stuck my hand in to the bin and just squished and played and then, I loaded up my basket and bought the bunch. What can I say? I am a total sucker!

I walked in the door and announced to my children that we were about to have some serious fun! The stars were aligned because as I looked in my front yard, I saw that some one had left a huge piece of cardboard just sitting there in front of my house. I nailed it to the fence, added a few bottles of paint and my invitation to play was complete.

The kids loved squishing the rubbery little guys around in the paint. They loved hurling them at the cardboard. They loved the cool sound it made when it splatted down to the ground.

I loved the squeals of delight, and the beautiful, flower like shapes that were left from where the flailing tentacles of the critter as it hit the surface. I loved that when they decided paint wasn't enough they ran and got the shaving cream to add to the bucket. I love that they always take it a step further.

The neighbors even started to venture out to see what madness we had going on.  One girl  yelled with glee as she grabbed a hand full of critters and flung it at the fence, "I'd never be allowed to do this at MY house!"

Score.

Wesleyan Quadrilateral Wind Chimes (or how to make a wind chime)

A few weeks ago during our Wednesday night service at church a woman began talking about something I had never heard of before. I was born and raised in a Baptist Church. So until this woman came to speak, I had never heard of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. If some of you readers are Methodists, you may just skip over this part while I try to explain.

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral describes a method for reaching certain spiritual conclusions. When faced with a question the Wesleyan Quadrilateral suggests that we use:

Scripture-What does scripture tell us?

Tradition-What does the tradition of my church tell me?

Reason-What can I discern from this?

Experience-What has happened in my own life that would have bearing on this?

Someone later compared these elements to a wind chime, suggesting that this can not work on its own. But when each of these is touched by the Holy Spirit (wind) the result is musical.

I loved the metaphor of the wind chime and I knew that we would have to make one to hang at our house to remind us.

And Now For The Tutorial

We began with items we had on hand, which happened to be canning lids and rings. Birdy and Bug painted their rings in bright colors. The lids are metal, so they need an acrylic paint to stick. (THIS WILL NOT WASH OUT) if you don't want to deal with the stains, get a smock or take it outside and strip them down.

Once the paint was dry, the kids used a hammer and nail to punch holes in the tops and bottoms of the can lid. We used a block of wood to place underneath so we weren't hammering in to the concrete.

Once we had all of our holes ready we strung all of our lids and rings together and hung them on a thick stick we found in the yard. We made sure we had enough to have four parts hanging down from the stick to represent each of the four parts of the Quadrilateral.

And when the wind blows it sounds amazing! Truly beautiful!

It also fits right in to our 5 senses garden and I can say it is truly a joy to work in the garden and hear the wind blow across the chimes. If you are doing any gardening with your children this spring, link up below and let us know!

Photo Editing for Kids

Have you ever invited your child to edit a photo? Birdy loves to watch me edit photos and has been begging me to let her try. She told me that she could do all the editing for me so I would have less work to do. Isn't that sweet?
So I let her have a shot at it. She went through all the photos and picked the perfect one of her little brother. We uploaded it on to Picmonky and...

I think the girl's got talent!

We Get It: Determined Teens

Are you like me? I am the mother of a very determined and inquisitive 13 year old. Some have described her as head strong, stubborn, and disobedient. I have been given lots of advice on how to “deal” with her. I have been told that I should “make her obey” or I should “show her who is boss.” Even the less direct advice has been some variant on the theme.  Well meaning people have given me the advice that I should force her to obey, crush her spirit,  bend her to my will to mold her into a docile and well behaved young lady, or to somehow force her to be less than who she is. I confess, at times, I second guessed myself. I wondered if I were doing enough for her. But whenever doubts are raised, she does something remarkable to remind me that she was wonderfully made just the way God intended her to be.

My daughter is very determined. While it can be challenge to manage this as a parent, I have found that determination is a helpful coping skill.  She tries and tries and tries again to do what she is passionate about. She lets failure roll off her back like water off a duck. With every disappointment, I think, “Is this the one? Will this be the time she throws in the towel? Will this be the one that stops her from putting herself out there?" But each time, she dusted herself off and tried again. Thank God, I never crushed that determined child. Thank God, I never taught her to accept the final word, or blindly obey.  At 13, she has more backbone than I could ever have, and that will take her far in life.

My daughter is very inquisitive. She asks tons of questions. This can be especially difficult to deal with when she questions something I have instructed her to do. If I ask her to clean her room, and she asks me ,“Why?” or “Does it have to be right now?”,  it can feel like disrespect.  My daughter has taught me that questions aren’t always bad. A little negotiating may even be okay. 

One evening we had a discussion about room cleaning. It went something like this…

“Why can’t you help me clean my room?”

“Because I have the rest of the house to clean, and laundry to do and dinner to make.”

“If I helped you do all those things, you could get them done faster.”

“Yes, I could.”

“And if you helped me, I could get it done faster.”

“Yes, you could.”

“So let’s help each other.”

The result was a lovely afternoon spent with my daughter. We worked together, laughed together, and talked about school and boys. By the end of the day, the house was clean, the laundry was done and dinner was made, and I spent the afternoon with my child.

Having a child who doesn't automatically follow directions can seem challenging, but it shows that she has her own thoughts and feelings about matters. It means that she is not easily persuaded and not easily pushed around.

Last year, she told me of a boy who was being picked on at school. One of the people picking on the boy was a friend of hers.

“What did you do?” I asked

“I told her to back off!” She said, “I told her that if I ever heard her picking on that boy again that I wasn’t going to speak to her anymore.”

In the words of Albus Dumbledore, “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.”

My strong willed child will be less likely to bend to peer pressure. She will be less likely to lose her inner voice in an attempt to impress others. She will be less likely to allow herself to be mistreated by a romantic partner. She will approach life with passion and zeal.

Do you have a strong willed child? Here is my advice.

• Be mindful of why you want your child to follow your directions and obey. Are you trying to impress others? Are you afraid it will reflect poorly on you? Try to let go of all that to see the bigger picture.





Avoid power struggles. You will both just end up tired and exhausted and unhappy. If your child is young, try to rely more on routine. If a child knows what to expect, there will be less conflict. Anything new will probably be met with resistance.
Don’t make your child work for your approval. Avoid commentary on what they do, positive or negative. Their triumphs can’t earn your love, any more than their failings will lose your love. Don’t make them feel that it is the case by over doing it with praise or criticism. Allow them to be self motivated and make sure they know that you love them regardless. (some might disagree with me on this, but your attention and unconditional love will build your child up much more than empty praise ever could.)
When something is not negotiable, take the time to explain your reasoning. Try to be patient when they ask why.  Avoid phrases like, “Because I said so” or “That is just the way it is.” Imagine yourself in their place. If your spouse was asking you to do something, how would you like to be asked? If you had questions, how would you like them to be answered? How do you expect to be spoken to by someone who loves you? Are you speaking to your child that way?
Remember, your child is a person too. They will have their own feelings about things; they will have their own reactions, fears, frustrations, and even their own plans.  Respect their feelings.  Don’t ever try to squash them. 

Thank you for joining this week's We Get It: Support for Difficult Childhood Behavior. Every Tuesday in the We Get It series you will read about a challenging behavior and find advice on how best to handle that behavior.

Up coming topics 

April 24th-Kids who Touch Everything @The Golden Gleam

May 1st -Determined Children @ Sense of Wonder

May 8th - Night Terrors May 15th - Self Centered May 22nd - Perfectionism May 29th - Jealousy June 5th -Strong Willed June 12th - Clingy June 19th - Anxiety June 26th - Toy Gun Play July10th - Temper Tantrums July 17th - Anger

Contributors to the Series

Host: The Golden Gleam  Mama Smiles;  Hands on as We Grow; Creative with Kids; No Time for Flashcards ; Glittering Muffins; AngeliqueFelix.com; Mommy Labs; Awesomely Awake ; Sense of Wonder; JDaniel4sMom ; The Educators' Spin on It; Smiling Like Sunshine ; Kitchen Counter Chronicles; Childhood Beckons