Friday, February 27, 2009

Our Egg Safari

So here we are hunting for dinosaur eggs. I went and hid them in the back edge of the yard (we intentionally leave it pretty natural back there), and then we teamed up to explore the yard. Here's their little "nest."

Discovery!


Anybody in there?

"Helping" the baby dinosaur hatch. Funny how my son firmly believed that there would be a dinosaur in that egg, rather than the empty balloon we built it around.









Tada! (I say that a lot, don't I? Maybe that's why M says it...anyways) Here's our busted eggs with one of the dinosaurs. The other one had already stomped off through the "woods."
We put the eggs in the recyling. Oh, and our dinosaurs were a simple dino shape cut out in three layers. The middle (white) layer was taller than the others and had spikes. I laid them all together and blanket-stitched around the edges.
Happy hunting!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Dinosaur Egg Tutorial

So for our study of the Letter E I thought it would be fun to make Eggs. You could put anything that hatches in yours, but we used dinosaurs. Be sneaky - I slipped our baby dinosaurs into their eggs in the wee hours of the morning, once the eggs were totally dry. Anywho...

You will need:
- newspaper (rip it into smallish pieces)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 5 cups water
- one balloon for each egg
- a pot (for heating the paste in)
- tape
- bits of string
1. Make your paste. This recipe makes more than enough for several eggs. Mix the flour and water in your pot until flour is disolved. Slowly heat the mixture on your stove top (a grown-up's job). The paste will be very watery. Allow to cool before using (No heat option: just use more flour and warm water).
2. Inflate your balloon to an egg-ish shape. Knot the end and tape it to the table.
3. You can let your kids dip straight out of the (cooled) pot, or you can give them small bowls of it. Whatever works for you. Show them how to dip a piece of the newspaper and then slide it between their fingers so the extra-paste runs off.

4. Stick the wet paper to your balloon. Continue dipping and sticking, overlapping the paper until the balloon is nearly covered. There should be a small opening at the bottom (you will need this to sneak your hatchling into later).

Little ones can have fun with this too, though they will need help finishing!


5. Use your string to hang the eggs up to dry. They will drip! Hang them outside or put something under them to catch the mess. This will take a lonnnnggg time to dry.

6. When the eggs are dry you can put a second layer on them if you want to. Just make sure the thing is solid so paint doesn't leak through to your hatchling. Course, if you make it too solid you may end up needing a baseball bat to get it open... When it's totally dry, pop and remove the balloon. Secretly put in your hatchling and seal the whole with newpaper pieces and paste (you can use regular glue if you pitched the paste while waiting for the eggs to dry).


7. Now it's time to paint! You can do whatever colors you like. Be accurate if you want, or use your kids favorite colors (who knows what color dinosaur eggs were anyways?).

8. Find a safe place for the eggs to dry (leave them on top of the bowls to catch any trips).

Check back tomorrow to see what we did with our eggs!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Fun in the Sun (ha, ha)

We bundled up Nana and headed outside for some fun in the sun! Here's M sharing his icy find with L!

And here's L showing M how to SMASH DE ICE!


Nana becomes part of the climbing equipment...

Finally winding down, M decides to take a break and chill, just before we head in for lunch.

One last ride...

...After lunch we had some fun reading.



Later we made some picture frames. I'm not sure M understood at first...

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

So happy together...

Man, we have been having fun! These pics are all from the Nana Cam! M freaked out when Nana let L use it to take a couple of pictures. Man, was he mad!

He got to sit on her lap and take a picture. Of himself. Isn't that hysterical?


And this is us having some fun with sword practice! M likes to hold out his sword and yell "Aaaagghhh..." as he charges.


Two against one.

Getting ready to go see the fish at Bass Pro Shop. They have a massive tank, and it's a real fun trip, because the mall also has a Medieval Times, so we get to check out the castle too!

Moose alert! Bass Pro is always full of strollers. That's what happens when your store is decorated with life-size bears, moose, raccoons, fish, airplanes and mannequin men running over rickety bridges.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Fishing on the Brain

One minute my husband is thinking I'm odd, and the next minute he's won over to the weird side, "That is kinda cool." Here's some shots of the finished fish hat I made.







And here's the boys, enjoying a shoe box. Kids are great, aren't they?!



And yay! Nana came for a visit! She came in after they were in bed, so when they woke up in the morning, they were so excited because I had told them she would be here!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Fun Stuff and Letter E

Well, I've been feeling a bit sick, so we haven't had much to share lately. But here's what we did get shots of over the last few days! Daddy brought home dinner so I wouldn't have to cook. The result is M's new "HHAT!"

M giving me a hope-you-feel-better snuggle...


At some point I had to get some laundry done, right? That's Panda Panda, she's going to be 27 years old this April!





E is for Elephant! M's is on the left, he colored it, but it's so light you can't see. He also smeared on the glue. L's is the purple elephant on the right. He cut out the pieces all by himself and did most of the gluing!

I also somehow managed to finish the maps I was working on - mostly because L asked me to sew him something else, and I wanted to finish these so I could put them in my shop.

Here's what L asked for: a crayon wrap. Well, he calls it a crayon roll. I was flipping through Etsy he saw one and immediately asked me to make him one. It was quick and fun, and a good test run. I think if I ever put any in the shop I'll have to make sure they have a layer of interfacing. But he was really happy with it, and it was great timing since the box is starting to get pretty tattered.
Tada!