Wooden Sunflower -FOTD November 8

Since I haven’t been getting out much to take new pictures, my FOTD for today is this Artsy wooden sunflower colored by our 5 year old. It’s not the usual fresh flower that we normally post but our daughter had a great time coloring it and she insists it smells sweet. The piece was a gift from our neighbor. She said it was purchased at Michaels. 😉

Cee’s FOTD Photo Challenge

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Happy Halloween! – DIY Monster Game

I found the idea off of Pinterest but I used what craft items I had in the house plus a bunch of plastic balls from our daughter’s ball pit stash.

It took me a few days and lots of paper and glue to put it together but our daughter is happy with it. I added a return tunnel to the front for easy access to the balls and a little door just for fun.

His eyes are drawn on plastic balls with paint pens. His teeth and the leaves on the “pumpkin” and “apple” balls were cut from foam sticker sheets.

I’m quite sorry I didn’t make instructions to this. As usual, I winged it.

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Our Artsy Fartsy Pumpkins

We had fun decorating our pumpkins last weekend. They are all different and quite Artsy Fartsy.

Our son was the only one who felt like carving. He said it’s of  the name of game he plays online called “Among Us”. Our daughter happily painted her pumpkin face. My husband drew his pumpkin face with a sharpie. As for myself, it gave me a reason to bring out the paints and brushes. I went all out on the ocean theme.

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Kindergarten Workspace

Our daughter starts Kindergarten tomorrow. Although she is starting school from home we are quite excited for her. Here’s the little workspace we made for her to help create a zone with little distraction. We have just a few more things to add like the month and the day sections and we still need to create some weather cards. We also left space for reminders (Post-it notes).

This board will also help to buffer the noise from her online class. My husband sometimes works from home and our son also has his high school classes online. It’ll be interesting to see how these online classes will work out with everyone home. Keeping an open mind that it’ll all work out and hoping the kids will be able to return to their schools soon.

http://www.calendar-to-print.com/2020-calendars.html

Here are some of the supplies we repurposed for this project. Disclaimer: The 6-pack beverages were consumed by “Mommy” and “Daddy” over the Summer and not by the child. Off topic: What were some of your favorite Summer drinks? *Wink*

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Clear Creek Trail (Photos) – Silverdale, WA

It’s been a few years since we’ve been to any part of the Clear Creek Trail in Silverdale, WA. It’s great system of trails to get some exercise in. There are almost 8 miles of trails. This Saturday we just walked a small portion of it and it was just enough.

The part of the trail we were on was a little newer than the rest of the system. Lot’s of blackberry bushes and scotch broom. I imagine once all the trees are grown it’ll be a much more serene and relaxing place to walk through.

Garter snake in the grass.

We didn’t get to see many birds out but we did see a garter snake in the grass and several dragonflies.

A beautiful dragonfly hanging on to some dead branches.

There were many families on bike rides and a several people out for a walk by themselves and others with their dogs. We also saw a few people blackberry picking. It’s a wonderful place for families and individuals to get out and about. Especially those trying to get out while the weather is still nice.

Clear Creek Trail

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“LOVE” Painting Kid Craft

Here’s a fun activity for a kid’s craft. You just need a canvas, painter’s tape, paint brushes and whatever paint medium you want your child to use. Washable kids paint work great but we chose to use acrylic paints since I already have a lot of it on hand. Our daughter loved this project!

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The Little Things – FOTD August 16

Our little daughter pointed out these pretty purple flowers in the grass while she was running around getting some energy out. Boy she has lots of energy. It’s really nice to see that she doesn’t skip the little things. I was trying to get close up shots of it and it was windy. She offered to hold one still without me asking. Again. The little things make it all better. 😉

Cee’s FOTD Photo Challenge

Snail Mail Love for Little Ones Part 1

Having to deal with Covid-19 in the beginning was really rough. We have a daughter who was in pre-school and a son in high school. They both had a hard time adjusting to doing online classes and not being able to see their friends. It was the rainy part of the year for Washington so we weren’t able to do a lot of outdoor playing in the beginning. We had to find activities to do indoors.

One of the activities we were able to do with our daughter to keep her occupied was sending out mail to our friends and family. She was also able to send a few out to her classmates since they couldn’t see each other in person and she was also able to send a few to some residents of the assistant living home where my mother-in-law resides.

We made different types of cards and letters to send out. It also allowed her practice writing her name and basic greeting words. This is such a great activity to do together. We still do this during the summer months but on a smaller scale because we get to spend more time outdoors now. I hope this is an activity that will inspire her to continue writing mail as she’s growing up.

She loves walking to the mailbox to place her cards in and put the flag up. She also absolutely loves going to mailbox to find mail addressed to her.

Here are a few of the mail we worked on. She’s quite the artist and loves crafting so this was right up her alley.

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2020-Making cards 6 Artsy

2020-Making cards 2 Artsy

She painted coloring pages and addressed them and signed them. When folded up in to quarters it fits nicely into a 4 3/8″ x 5 3/4″ envelope. The coloring books in the ad below are our favorite for painting with watercolors because the pages are really thick. The pictures are very simple and big which makes it much easier for little ones to paint.

          

2020-Making cards1 Artsy

My college aged son and his girlfriend also drew some pictures for our daughter to paint. They used thick watercolor paper and a black sharpie to draw the pictures. The papers were cut with a trimmer to 4″ x 5 1/4″. We later glued the painted pictures to colored cardstock that were cut to 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and folded in half. We love using the watercolor papers below because of it’s thickness.

We later used the supplies and the same process to make other greeting cards. We made some for Easter, a few simple “Hi!” and “Hello!” ones, and we also let our daughter use her creative side to create drawings and paintings of her own. The cards were well received and she got a great response from family and friends.

What are some of the indoor activities you did to help keep yourself or your children busy during the beginning of lock down?

A Visit to Lynch Creek Dahlia Farm – FOTD

I’ve always dreamed of having a flower farm. We’re about 20 years past when we should’ve started one. It would’ve been crazy to start a farm with my husband’s past work schedule and little ones in tow. So the dream never came to fruition. We are very fortunate to have farms that we can visit in the area. We can just enjoy what our local farms produce and the little flowers I grow in our garden.

We absolutely enjoyed our visit to Lynch Creek Dahlia Farm. It’s a cute 3 acre farm full of color. There were so many varieties of Dahlia to choose from. You can pick your own flowers or you can purchase already-made bouquets. It was so fun to pick our own flowers. It was really hard to stop picking and clipping. I loved it! We shared what we brought home with our neighbors.

Here are some photos of the lovely Dahlias growing at the farm.

img_2118IMG_2121IMG_2128IMG_2149IMG_2156IMG_2163IMG_2174IMG_2206IMG_2211IMG_2215116604902_3074058002710823_6198019005389035111_n (1)IMG_2210IMG_2243IMG_2241IMG_2234IMG_2235IMG_2310IMG_2305IMG_2312Cee’s FOTD Photography Challenge

Lynch Creek Dahlia Farm

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Mr. Bumble Bee Visits Our Garden – FOTD Lemon Sedum

Our daughter loves seeing bees, butterflies and birds flying around our garden. She insists on calling each bumble bee that she sees Mr. Bumble Bee. I was happy to catch this shot of Mr. Bumble Bee on a Lemon Sedum Flower.

How Doth the Little Busy Bee

Poet: Isaac Watts

How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labors hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labor or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthful play,
Let my first years be passed,
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.

Cee’s FOTD Photo Challenge