Hello!

It's been awhile since my last post, but I promise I have good reasons.  I've been writing papers and tromping through Central Florida, only to find myself back home, mired in 45 loads of laundry.  Just as I came up for air, I realized I was a week off on Father's Day and missed it entirely. 

Not to worry, Mike got to celebrate his special day trapped between a stranger and the World's Most Talkative 3-Year-Old in a flying jalopy, and topped it off by hauling 3 car seats and a POD-sized suitcase over to Economy parking at the airport.  

 Ahhh, fatherhood.

The House of Brown has officially moved the celebration to any and all holidays back to mid-July, at which point I hope to have a clean pair of underwear and my lost luggage back.  Fingers-crossed!

Anyway, here are a few random pictures of what we've been doing for the past couple of weeks, as a little teaser for some bigger posts that are (hopefully) on the way in the next few days.

Another munchkin got this shot of my little comedian.

Downton, ahem, Down TOWN Disney

Apparently, we've gone without illness for too long.  Will sought to remedy the situation by licking some bus rails.

Never thought of Yoda as being particularly cuddly...

Selfies!

 I can feel the laundry readying for attack.  

Better get back to work!

New Towels for the Lego-Obsessed

Is it just me, or does anyone else like cool beach towels?  I covet the pretty ones in Target and Old Navy and drool over the selection at Pottery Barn Kids, but I'm cheap.  And addicted to making stuff.  So, year after year, we use the same boring ones I got for free from work, and nobody really complains or cares.

This year, though, I wanted a change.  My kids love the hooded towels made to look like ducks or hippos or monsters.  The possibilities are endless as to the embellishment on those towels, but, since I'm lazy, I had to figure out a simple way to construct the hoods.  I came across this tutorial, and it was on. 

Sarah and Will's current obsession: Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitsu.  I kind of love it too, because you really can't go wrong with Legos.  Plus, it's so easy to turn anything solid-colored into a ninja, like the Easter eggs we made this year with Sharpies. 

 So, here we go.  Let's start with the list of materials, shall we?

• 1 regular bath towel in preferred color (or terry cloth off the bolt)
• 1 coordinating hand towel (or 20" of terry cloth)
• scrap yellow terry cloth or fleece
• scrap white terry, felt, or fleece
• scrap black terry, felt, or fleece
• notions

Step 1: Place the pattern Mask piece along the fold of the yellow terry cloth and cut.  
           Set aside.

Step 2: Cut your hand towel to about 14" in length.

Step 3: Make an arc on the top of the hand towel from about 6" deep to make the hood,   like so:

Step 4: Sew along the arc line and cut off the excess fabric to about 1/4" seam allowance:

Set hood aside.
 Step 5: Applique your eyes and eyebrows onto your yellow mask pieces.  I sewed around them in a zig-zag stitch to prevent fraying.

Here's what they look like without the pupils:

Step 6: Applique your ninja mask onto the hood, centering the mask on the fold line.  Again, I used a zig-zag stitch, but you could serge and then sew as well.

Step 7:  Sew/serge the hood onto the towel.  Simply find the middle of your towel and hood (by folding them in half), and pin from the middle outwards.  Sew along the pins.

Step 8: You're done!  Admire your creations upon your swim-exhausted progeny and contemplate numerous other ways to improve upon your handiwork.

Take a bow!

Here's the link to the template for the Ninja mask, eyes, eyebrows, and pupils that I drew up by hand:  Ninjago Mask Template.

Goat Adoption

Hello! How the heck is it already Friday?!  Whew.  This week has been a doozy, and I don't think things are going to ease up any time soon.  I'm just going to tell myself that's a good thing, since I tend to get more done when I've got less time in which to do it.

Anyway, yesterday we went to the zoo.  We're there a LOT, so we don't usually get any surprises.  But yesterday we met up with some friends and ended up in the Petting Zoo.  Normally, I hustle my guys right on past to see the more exotic animals, like the red pandas and the alligators. Thank goodness we didn't do that this time because we found the next member of our family: Jewel.

Seriously.  My kids harassed adored that little goatling, waiting on her hoof and, er, hoof.  Will hand fed her hay.  And hairbrushes. 

He even tried to crawl in the pen to get more hay for her, and couldn't stop petting her little barrel-belly.  Sarah was fascinated with the low-rider goats (thank you to my friend for coining the phrase), who looked like a cross between goat and bassett hound.

I'll let you in on a secret: I don't go to the Petting Zoo because all of the poop on the ground.  And the ensuing drama when a goat eats our maps.  I'm pretty sure I won't be getting away with that anymore, since we'll have to check in on our friends Jewel and Ramone (a low-rider goat Sarah and I are partial to). Isn't it nice to have friends who make you ignore the poop and just enjoy the moment?

Archery

Sunday's trip to the Renaissance Fair had an unexpected side-effect.  See, I figured Sarah would be into the fancy clothes or the fairy wands, and Will would be into the swords and armor and stuff, and they were, to a certain extent.  But the real surprise has been their mutual fascination with learning to use their bows and arrows. 

As soon as they got out of the bathtub Sunday night, they begged Mike for archery lessons.  Being the kind of dad he is, he readily obliged and soon, 

arrows were whizzing all around the den. 

Impressed with my husband's hidden (to me) talent, I asked where he learned to shoot like that.  Unimpressed with my complete lack of coordination and inability to get an arrow to go more than an inch without throwing it, he replied simply, "I'm a boy.  That's what we DO growing up." 

Geez, Daniel Boone.  Make fun of the city girl, why don't you.

Sarah is a natural, so she and Mike are all Hunger Games about their skills.  Will and I need a little more practice, but it's hard when you're 3 years old and refuse to admit you're a lefty.

Anyway, we decided we needed some target practice.  But, since humans are off-limits and the critters in our yard refuse to cooperate, it soon became clear that we needed targets. 

Sarah got to work on hers:

By the way, I have no idea how Sarah knew what a target looked like. 

 It's crazy what that girl observes and picks up on.

And here's Will's target:  It says "BLAM!" in the middle.

Next, we hung our targets on the clothesline that's STILL up, despite the hubs' grumbling. 
This thing is so darn useful, it's going to have to stay up all summer. 
Do you hear me, Miguel? 

Sarah helped me shoot a little how-to video on archery, 

so get ready to be the next Merida or Hawkeye.

Here's Will at point-blank range: 

We bought these bows, but they're just PVC pipe, twine, and duct tape. 
 I am going to figure out how to make some more of these,

 plus the crossbows that we didn't buy at the Renaissance Fair.  

That's a lot of italics right before Memorial Day. 

Happy Thursday!

Carnival Weekend

Sarah has declared this past weekend : THE BEST WEEKEND EVER.  So, apparently, it's all downhill from here.  It was busy and super-fun, but I am tired.  And I didn't even host anything.

We kicked it off with a PTO-sponsored carnival at Sarah's new school.  I whined the whole way there (around the corner), but I perked up after a few slices of Papa John's.  

Sarah had an agenda:

 games prizes, cotton candy, and face painting. 

Mission accomplished.

 This weekend I learned some things:

1. The pointy things on top of an owl's head are not ears.
2. TOM's don't go with shorts (on me, anyway).
3. I love winter. 

Saturday, Mike decided to host his own kind of carnival with games and activities including Take the Kids to Home Depot, Force Your Wife to Work Out at the Gym, 

Let's All Clean Out the Basement, 

and the real crowd-pleaser: Draft a Neighbor to Move Furniture. 

Here's how we felt on Sunday when the drill sergeant wasn't around to make us do chores:

"Walk the plank, you scurvy knave!"

Huzzah!

Actually, Sunday was a day filled with learning about history, engaging young minds, 

and experiencing new things at the Renaissance Festival.

Aw, who am I kidding?! We were there for the food, toys, and costumes.

Sarah wore her wings and crown, even though it was Pirate Weekend at the Fest, but, apparently fairies are a thing with the Renaissance Fair-regulars.  

So are corsets, but I'd rather not think about that.

Camel-riding was first up on the to-do list. 

Will was a trooper, even though I could tell he was scared to get on at first. 

 He was smiling by the time the camel got moving.

A big thanks to the dad who volunteered to ride with the kiddos.  I know my offspring wouldn't have been as brave if he hadn't taken one for the team.

This camel-wrangler had to remind me to get a picture of the camel's head or else a picture of kids on the back of some hairy beast wouldn't make sense.  But... I still didn't get the whole camel + kids in one shot.  
Oh, well.

I know this knight was hearkening back to the good ol' days of the Little Ice Age in his full suit of armor. 

My guys were scared of him and his cronies until he pulled a giant purple "gem" from his pack. Then it was all good in the 'hood.  

Take a picture with two scary knights and a Friar Tuck with devil horns? Sure!

(These gentlemen were so nice, though, despite their intimidating appearances.)

No Faire experience would be complete without the obligatory "head-through-a-picture-with-a-strategically-placed-hole" photo op...

...And unicorn petting.

As for the food: we regret not having a giant turkey leg, but that 1/16th of a millimeter of pretzel that I begged my kids to eat was apparently really filling.  At least, that's what they told me.  

The toy situation got a little complicated when Will became dead-set on a rocket. 

I'll just let that thought marinate for a little bit.

But, everybody perked up when we noticed the wide variety of weapons made just for kids!  My little archers chose some very cool bows and arrows.  Will did experience a twinge of buyer's remorse when he noticed the awesome swords on display.  I, however, did not.

Highlight of the trip home:

That's a horse on a barn roof.

This is how they spent the ride home:

Passed out, clutching their very own starter weapons.  How sweet.

All Systems Are GO!

Ever since the Mars ROVer thing last year, my peeps have been super-interested in outer space.  But, other than looking at some pictures and video of meteor showers and planets online, we really haven't done much in the way of exploring the final frontier. 

I finally got around to doing a bunch of loosely-related space stuff with my wee scientists this week.  Most of the ideas came from other blogs, but I came up with a couple on my own.  

The first thing we did was to read Berenstein Bears on the Moon.  Even though this isn't an informational text, it sparked discussion about gravity and how we get to space, 

and we practiced counting backwards.  

Next up was a space-themed busy-box.  

A pack of black and neon aquarium gravel and one of those astronaut-themed Toob sets were all that was needed to get my little guys talking and asking questions about satellites, moon-mobiles, rockets, and chimps in space.  

 Yes, you read that right.  A chimp in a space suit is included in this play set. 

In keeping with the kinesthetic theme of things,

 I also made them some space play doh (recipe found here).  

I really was going for a deep rich blue, but after emptying two bottles of blue food-coloring, I had to settle for more of a dark sky-blue.  Nobody really noticed or cared since I also dumped to containers of glitter in as well.  Sarah immediately pointed out that the glitter was like stars and started rolling her dough into "planets". 

We also have constellation lacing cards (fine motor), constellation connect-the-dots (numeric sequencing), and planet matching that we've been working on. 

Check out some other space-themed tangram activities we did. 
 I made my own tangrams by cutting out a pattern from several sheets of foam 
I got at Joann's, and they worked fine, but, man, do I miss the diecut machines at school! 

Here's more math-y goodness using star stickers and black construction paper.  This is not my original idea, but the point of it is for kids to recognize the number written on the paper and to stick that number of stars on the sheet.  Easy setup, big impact.  

I picked the one sheet where the stars don't match the number.  Doh!

For some fine-motor work, we strung some star-shaped beads.

My favorite part? Painting some watercolor planets!

We still have several other activities on tap, like going to the planetarium, making our own meteor shower (in the sand box), creating a meteor with dry ice, 

and stargazing during a backyard camp out. 

They got so into the space-stuff that they put on pool floats and pretended to "orbit". 

Her expression really reads "After picture of an alien abduction",

 but I promise, they really did have fun.

DIY Silhouettes

Is it just my mom, or are all moms hard to buy gifts for? 

Sure, I can use my offspring for various projects and sentimental gifts.  Shoot, I can even get them to make something, and no matter how sludge-colored and lumpy it is, my mom will dutifully ooh and ahhh over it, proudly displaying it in a place of honor on her mantle. 

But sometimes I want her to make a big deal over my ugly creations. 

That's why I set out to make her a silhouette of the kids holding hands.  Not because it's ugly, mind you.  Silhouettes are classic and graphically modern, and my kids are a-DOR-able, if I do say so myself.  Win-win. 

* I don't think my kids' creations are ugly, either.  They're priceless works of art.*

So, here's what I did.

First, I gathered my materials:

• Black cardstock
• Photo
• Xacto knife
• Self-healing cutting mat
• Tape 
• Pencil
• Watercolor paper
• Picture frame

1. To begin with, carefully cut your photo out.  Make sure you cut around any details in the photo: curls of hair, the corner of a dress, any of these types of things make a silhouette more unique.

 2.  Once I cut my picture out, I put some tape on the front and placed the photo face-down on the card stock. 

 3. I drew around the cut-out with pencil...

 4.  ...lay the paper on the cutting mat, and carefully cut along the pencil lines with my Xacto knife.

 5.  Pop it in a frame, and you're all done!

Here's the finished cut-out, right-side-up.  Even though it turned out well, Will looks like a chunky-monkey compared to Sarah because he's in the foreground of the photo.  Next time, I would probably use a picture in which they're standing the same distance from the camera.

 Here's the final result, looking pretty professional, I might add.  Ready for it's place of honor on the mantle.

Sorry it's late, Mom!