Cub Scout Day Camp Hat Makeover!

So the 10 year old had Cub Scout Day camp all week... Monday evening he came home with a super cheap wickery-woven hat. Since it's outdoors, they gave everyone one... Well, if you live here, nothing stays boring for long! It was just a stiff wicker cowboy-esque hat. Dad mostly initiated the hat decorating spree...but we all joined in. Spray painted it lightly with black. Gathered random supplies...he is a cub scout after all! Dan and dad carved up a leather name plate... And the decorating began! Swept up and tacked side like an Australian hat...cool 2 tones! Horns, eyes, a lego guy...the flag has is troop name for the camp on it... a peacock feather, jewels... scrabble letters--9 points! And a watch... It was a big hit on day 2! :) On day 4 (yesterday) another boy came with a  blue spray painted hat with a lego guy tied on!   What a leader!  :)

Spray paint NERF guns!

We are cool with guns. Child #3 loves guns. As in, everything becomes a gun. A stick, a rock, a cheeto...so instead of  freaking out and panicking about guns, my husband teaches him how to properly use a gun. They clear the house together, it's pretty adorable. Well, dad got a pretty sweet nerf gun for Jare. And they decided to spiffy it up! Spray paint is magic! They took it apart, masked all the light up parts...high quality paint job! Here's how it turned out!  Since dad doesn't have a crafty blog...he doesn't do before pictures... so here is the back of the box...this gun was very orange and green. Now it's ready!  Now other guns are getting cooler too... *updated* Some people are wondering why you would want a nerf gun to look like a real gun. Well, because you can!  To each his own. Just don't carry it into a bank or the post office.  

Summertime daily Job/Chore Charts!

I had to keep my kids on track, and frankly my memory is a disaster these days... so we made magnetic job charts!  Pink for my girl, blue for my boy...  I printed out their jobs--and basically their school.   Some are easy like "hug and kiss mom"... Some are more time consuming. I punched them out with a circle punch...glued them  to a larger circle of kraft paper...then adhered a  cheapo piece of magnet strip.  We just used painters tape to split the magnet board in half. (I'll change it up to some cute washi tape one of these days!) When they are done with the chore, they move it over... It's good for me to have a visual... Somedays are lazy and I tell them to just do 10 of them! Hopefully we will stay disciplined all summer long!  ;)

Paintchip Bookmarks!

 Paintchip cards into bookmarks! Cut the paint cards, glue a line image  on and let kids color! We used The Greeting Farm stamps  Super fun and glitzed with glitter!

Lollipop Firecracker!

Patriotic Lollipop Firecracker! First, you will need some eager helpers! We use metal sucker molds and metal clips. Secure a lollipop stick in each one. Lightly mist them with cooking spray. Lollipop or Hard Candy recipe: 2 Cups sugar 2/3 Cup corn syrup 1 Cup water Boil to hard crack 300* Remove quickly and add: 2 drams of flavoring food color Pour the hot liquid into the molds. Allow to cool, then remove molds and wrap in packaging! Wrap with cute washi tape or a twist tie! Cute like this...or Create a firework centerpiece! Hot glue a styrofoam ball onto a cardboard tube... wrap with washi tape and set in a glass jar! Stick in lollipops for the perfect firecracker explosion! Perfect centerpiece for parties or patriotic celebration!

1,000 Words

“ I always thought good photos were like good jokes.  If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good.  ~Anonymous This is usually how photo shoots with  the kids go around here. We tried so hard to get a great pic for Father's Day! Someone not looking at the camera... kids being silly...at least they are happy!  Someone (#3) always gets hurt or grumpy...  There are always tears...   Or the wind picks up!  and 435 pictures later...a good one.  Sometimes things like this just happen...   I love my kids.