Paper Bag Bird Craft {Bird Week}

 
I am totally in love with this fun craft we whipped up today, hopefully you and your kids will enjoy it too!  I completely spaced going to the store this morning so we had to improvise, but I love what we came up with.  Here are our simple and silly Paper Bag Bird Crafts!

All you need for this fun craft are paper bags, paint (I found some great paint brushes with the paint inside at WalMart the other day that we used), feathers, googly eyes, and orange paper cut into triangles.

Once you have your paper bags ready let the kids go crazy painting them any colors they want.  One tip-try and make sure your kids don't use TOO much paint, otherwise it will take hours to dry ;)  I had to get a paper towel and wipe off excess paint on most of ours after we were done...the other one I didn't wipe is still drying ;)

Once your bags are dry, just glue on googly eyes, an orange triangle for the beak, and feathers on the back for wings!  Your kids will LOVE their new Paper Bag Bird Puppets...mine sure did!

Thanks so much for checking out Blue Skies Ahead today, hope you have a great day!

Homemade Bird Feeders {Bird Week}

 This week we are learning all about birds at our house, and I found a fantastic idea from the gals at Eighteen25 that I knew would be the perfect activity for my kids...

Homemade Bird Feeders!

These were the perfect quick and fun activity to fill up our morning before my kids went to kindergarten, preschool and nap time ;)

All you need to make some of your own are bird food ( I got this bag at my local grocery store), gelatin packets, wax paper, twine or string, and cookie cutters.

To start off you simmer 1/4 C water with one packet of gelatin.  Once your gelatin is dissolved you take your pot off the heat and let cool for a minute.  Once its cool add one cup of bird seed and mix well!

Then you just put your cookie cutters on some wax paper and fill them up about halfway.  Cut a piece of twine and push it down in the middle, then fill the rest of your cookie cutter and pat it down hard!

This little cutie loved picking out her cookie cutters and packing in the bird seed...the hard part was waiting for them to harden ;)  The original post said to wait overnight...we were way to impatient so we only waited about 3 hours and then stuck them in the fridge for about 30 just to make sure they would hold together.

Once they were ready we popped them out, and ran outside to hang them up!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our homemade birdfeeders, hope you are all having a wonderful week where ever you are! :)

Conflict Resolution Family Home Evening

 Hello everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and great Mother's Day!  Today I quickly wanted to share a FHE I prepared, that we are actually going to be using tonight...so if its a total flop I apologize in advance ;)  

We could not be more excited for summer at our house, however, there is one thing that happens every summer at my house that drives me crazy.  The fighting!!  The kids seem to get bored easier, annoyed quicker, and it drives me crazy!  To try and combat this yearly craziness I thought we could do a family night addressing different ways to resolve conflict.  First up I found some great information on Pinterest, and put it together on a simple printable we are going to hang up permanently in our family study :)

One by one, we will go through the different ways you can resolve conflict.  Some are pretty simple, like ask for help, share, take turns and apologize.  Laugh means to just find humor in the situation and be able to laugh at yourself.  Chance means to either flip a coin or do rock, paper scissors to make a decision.  Avoid means sometimes there are fights that are just not worth fighting, and its ok to just walk away!  Finally, compromise is where you both give up a little, but you also both get something you are happy with.

Then for our activity we are going to talk about different situations that "bug us", and then decide what tool we can use to resolve that conflict.

I made these cute little bugs that we cut out and taped up on our big chalkboard.

On the back of each bug I wrote down a real-life scenario, something my kids have encountered recently.  The kids can then take turns hitting a bug with a fly swatter, and then taking it off the board, reading the scenario, and finally deciding how they can effectively and kindly resolve the conflict.  Some of the scenarios I used were:

My little sister takes my things without asking

My friends want to jump on the tramp, but I want to ride bikes

I do something silly on accident and everyone laughs at me

I lose my temper and say something mean

You get the idea ;)

To finish off the night we are going to read one of our families favorite books, Enemy Pie.  If you haven't heard of it, I totally suggest it!  It is an awesome story about a boy whose dad helps him find a creative way to resolve his conflict with a neighbor boy.  I love that if focuses on kindness, that is what I really want my kids to try and get out of this FHE.  No matter what, there is always a chance for us to be kind!

My green front door

 So about two years ago we bought a lot right next door to the home we were renting with plans to build a new home.  About six months later we actually got moving and started construction on our lot.  It was BEYOND overwhelming...mostly because I really didn't know what I wanted and there were so many choices.

Although I was really in over my head, there were a few things that I knew I wanted...basically a white kitchen with blue subway tile, a dark navy blue exterior on the house, and a bright, fun door!  My husband was with me on everything...except for that bright fun door ;)  It took some serious compromising to avoid another plain white door, but I finally got him to give!  (Just in case your are wondering, I had to give in to the ridiculously big shower he wanted that I thought was a total waste of space.  Now I absolutely love it so it actually worked out all right for me ;)

I remember posting the paint swatch I wanted to use on FB and asking all my friends what they thought.  Everyone seemed to love it, and really...I had already make up my mind and was just looking for some positive reinforcement ;)  For YEARS now I have been loving the blue and green combo, so I figured a funky lime-y, apple-y green would be a great compliment to my dark blue exterior.

Honestly, it turned out even better than I imagined!  I love how it brightens up my entryway and shows off a little bit of our family's crazy personality too.

I have also loved how easy it has been to decorate for the different seasons.  I just threw this wreath together a few nights ago with some hydrangeas, floral sprays, and ribbon from Hobby Lobby.  It took under 10 minutes to glue everything together and I love the finished product. 

According to Pinterest a green front door evokes feelings of peace, health and growth.  These are ALL feelings we strive for in our crazy, loud, and exciting family of 7...especially the peace part ;)

So what do you think about the painted front door trend?  Do you have a fun front door, or do you prefer something a little more classic?  Thanks for checking us out today and have a lovely Wednesday!

Cinco de Mayo crafts {Homemade Maracas and Eye of God Craft}

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  I know its last minute, but thats how we roll around here ;)  Today we are sharing two really fun and simple crafts your kids will love...young and old!

First up are these adorable Pinterest-inspired Homemade Maracas!  I saw a pin HERE and knew these needed to be a part of our celebration.

These maracas are easy, the kids can do them mostly by themselves, and they will love playing with them all day long. To get started you need some plastic spoons, plastic eggs, rice, and washi tape.

All you do is fill up your eggs with rice, and then place two spoons around your egg.

Then use your washi tape to secure your egg and you are ready for the best part...

To SHAKE IT!!

 

(And yes, this is how we roll.  Dirty shirt, no pants and a crumb-covered floor ;) 

The next craft we did was creating Eye of God's.  My older girls really loved these, in fact they spent an hour making them with their friends last night...after they had worked on them for an hour after school :)

All you need for this craft is popsicle sticks, tape or glue and yarn...easy-peasy!  To make them as colorful as possible I used multi-colored yarn and colored popsicle sticks. 

To show my kids how to wrap the yarn around your sticks to make this cool design we watched THIS tutorial, they explained it all beautifully.

I hope these gave you some fun, last-minute ideas and ways to enjoy your little ones today!  Thanks so much for checking out Blue Skies Ahead!

Salty AND Sweet Cinco de Mayo Snacks!

Happy Monday everyone!  We had quite the eventful weekend.  Let me just say it involved a two-year old plugging the tub and leaving it running for HOURS, and a disaster clean up crew ;)  Even though there is lots of damage, I am so incredibly grateful no one was hurt...and that we have homeowners insurance ;)

On a happier note, today we are sharing some tasty Cinco de Mayo snacks you can easily whip up to satisfy your sweet tooth OR you craving for something salty!

First up we have our Salty Cinco de Mayo snack.  All we did for this bad boy was layer salsa, sour cream, and avocado in a clear cup with some tortilla chips on the side.  Its a fun chance to teach your kids about the Mexican flag, and the perfect after school snack.

I would choose a salty snack EVERY single time over sweet...but I can't say the same for my kids ;)  The sweet version of our snack is just sliced strawberries, then a layer of whipped cream, topped off with a layer of halved green grapes.

The kids gobbled this right up along with their breakfast this morning, it would make a great side dish or dessert for your Cinco de Mayo celebrations tomorrow too :)

Does your family celebrate Cinco de Mayo?  If so, I would LOVE to hear your favorite traditions!  Have a great day!

Cinco de Mayo Tissue Paper Craft

So here we are again!  After a 4 month blogging hiatus I really thought we had put this whole blogging thing on the shelf, but then my kiddos changed my mind.  The other night we were looking for a recipe on the blog and we ended up spending over an hour pouring over past posts and remembering SO many fun things we have done together.  I realized what a blessing this blog has been, even if for NO other reason than I have preserved some wonderful memories I have had the chance to share with my kids.  

So there you have it!  I hope to be able to share with you just a tidbit of our lives, things we do that add a little bit of joy or laughter into the sometimes mundane world of a stay-at-home-mom.  There are good days, and there are bad days...but this blog is dedicated to focusing on the good, even with its imperfections and challenges!

Next week we are going to be doing a few simple things to celebrate and learn about Cinco de Mayo, so I thought today would be the perfect opportunity to make a craft we could display while we do all our activities, a Cinco de Mayo Tissue Paper Craft!

This craft was great fun for the kids, and took about 5 minutes of prep from me :)  All you need to make your own are a bunch of different colored tissue paper, some glue, and a 5 template cut out.

I just googled printable 5 template and then printed and cut them out for my kids.   

Once you have your supplies ready to go, let your kids go CRAZY ripping their tissue paper into pieces...my kids enjoyed this part.  Especially my kindergartner...what is it about ripping up papers and 6 year old boys?!  At least this time it wasn't one of my 9 year olds song lyrics or 7 year olds drawings.  Yeah, it happens a lot at this house ;) 

Once you have a good pile of tissue paper, you just spread glue around your 5 and squash those tissue paper slips down until your 5 is FULL of tissue paper. 

Did I mention this was a messy craft?  Well...it is :)  Luckily my kids still think sweeping is a novelty and something quite fun to do.

The kids loved the finished product and said they looked like number pinatas.  I thought after how cute it would be do some in the colors of the Mexican flag, we may have to make a few more later ;)  We hung them up in our family study and can't wait to enjoy them as we continue with Cinco de Mayo fun into next week!

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I have had so many wonderful comments, followers and friends over the years of blogging, it has truly been a wonderful experience for me.  I love sharing and learning from others as we navigate this crazy and wonderful stage of life...have a wonderful weekend friends!