A few months ago I received a email from Shutterfly with a 50% off photo book offer. Around the same time my son asked if we could write down the names of all his stuffed animals and where he got them from. So I decided to put these two ideas together and make an animal story book with my son.

The first thing we had to to was pick out which animals were going to be in the book. We concentrated on his favorite and newest animals. Next we had to set up a photo shoot. My son was excited about this he loves to take over our camera every chance we let him. For the photo shoot we used a simple white paper roll as a backdrop. We followed some instruction from The DIY Mommy photo backdrop post. I then downloaded all the images onto my computer and did a little photo editing.

Now we were ready to upload the images into Shutterfly and start the book. I used the custom path book option so I could have the most control and add embellishments. I then asked my son to help me tell the stories. He sat on my lap and we went page by page and he told me what he wanted to say about his animals.

Last step was to send it to print. My son waited anxiously every day for the book to come in the mail and it is now one of his favorite to read at bedtime.

I love this ideas of taking a simple picture book and turing it into a story book that my son will always have even after his stuffed animals are long gone. Maybe next we will do a lego story book or an action hero. The possibilities are endless.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Spring is one of my favorite season. It renews my sprit and prepares me for the long Texas summer. One of our families favorite spring activity is strawberry picking. We go to Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls, Texas. In addition to lots of strawberry field they have train rides, a berry bounce and my favorite homemade strawberry ice cream.

This year we picked cups and cups of strawberries. The first request I got was to make a strawberry pie, which turned out delicious but I really wanted to make strawberry rhubarb crsip. I love the combination of strawberries and rhubarb. I placed some of the strawberries in the freezer so I could use them in the crisp when I could get fresh rhubarb. You can certainly make this recipe with frozen rhubarb and it will taste just as good. Happy Spring and Enjoy.

Ingredients:

for the berries

2/3 cup white sugar

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups sliced fresh or frozen starberries

3 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb

crisp topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

11/2 cup quick-cooking or old fashion oats

2/3 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons butter (softened or metled)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In a large bowl mix white sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, strawberries and rubarb. Place berry mix in a 9 x 13 baking dish

In a medium bowl mix all crisp topping ingredients; flour, oats, brown suger and butter. Mix to a crumble consistency then sprinkle over berries

Bake 45 minutes or until crisp is lightly browned

Cooking with kids tip:

This is a great recipe to make with your kids. Let them dump all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix everything toegther. They will love all the bright color and the sweet and tangy taste of the crisp.

Valentine - Mommy and Me Book Club

My son has been asking for weeks when is Valentine's Day? So this week I decided we should do a Valentine Mommy and Me Book Club. We read books, made valentine hugs to send off to friends and mixed up glue and dish soap to make some great heart window clings. Supplies and directions follow - Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day!

Book Inspiration
Who wants a Valentine? by Linda Lowery
Valentine Mice by Bethany Roberts and Doug Cushman

Valentine Hugs

Supplies
pink paper
red paint
ribbon
hole puncher
scissors
tape
a valentine hug printout (download here)

Directions 
Print the valentine hug saying onto card stock then cut them out. If you don't want to download the file you can simply write it on a piece of card stock. This will also make it more personal. The saying is as follows:

A Valentine hug for you!
Wrap these hands around you whenever I am not there, so you can have a hug from me anytime!

Have the kids make handprints on the pink paper with the red paint. When the handprints are dry cut them out. Punch a hole in each of the hands and in the sides of the saying. Thread the ribbon through the saying and through the handprints, secure with tape on the back.

Heart Window Clings

Supplies
heart printout (I used this one from spoonful.com)
school glue
dish soap
food color (we used pink and red)
paint brushes
bowls
sheet protector
glitter, optional

Directions
Place the heart printout in a sheet protector then in a bowl mix some glue with a few drops of dish soap and food color, add glitter is you want. Have the kids use brushes and paint in the heart shapes. The glue needs to be painted on pretty thick. Let the hearts dry for 24 hours then peel off and apply to a clean window.

Notes
The Valentine hug was adapted from the Tons of Fun blog post Long Distance Hug.
The Heart Window King was adapted from Babble's Valentine Window Art.

ICE - Mommy and Me Book Club

With the New Year upon us it finally turned cold in Texas and I decided to do a Ice Mommy and Me Book Club day. We read some fun books about ice then painted with colored ice cubes and finally made a ice bird feeder. All the supplies and direction follow. Enjoy!

Book Inspiration
Mice on Ice by Rebecca and Ed Emberley
Diamond in the Snow by Jonathan Emmett and Vanessa Cabban

Painting with Colored Ice Cubes

Supplies
ice cube tray
water
tempera paint
straws, cut in half
white paper

Directions - To make the colored paint, simply mix your tempera paint with some water and pour it into the ice cube tray. Freeze them for about an hour, then stick the plastic straws in them, and freeze until solid. Once the colored cubes are totally frozen just pop them out and let the kids start painting on the paper. More and more color will come out as they melt.

Ice Bird Feeder

Supplies
tray, we used a shallow frozen entree tray
water
bird seed, leaves, herbs, berries, anything you think the birds might like
string

Directions - Put water in your tray then add in the bird seed, leaves, berries... Once you have your items in the tray put the string on the top so it will freeze in the water. The string is used to hang up the feeder. Freeze until solid then pop it out of the tray and hang it up outside.

SNOW - Mommy and Me Book Club

A few weeks ago me and my son did another Mommy and Me Monday Book Club. We read stories about snow, even though we do not get much of it in Texas, and did some fun science crafts to go with it. Hope you enjoy!

Book Inspiration
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt

Borax Snowflake Ornaments

Supplies
Borax (in the laundry section of grocery store)
water
large container
pipe cleaners
pencil, paint stir stick, or rod to hang the snowflakes
string

Directions
Mix 3 tablespoons of borax with 1 cup of hot water. For the ornaments we did, we ended up needing about 3 cups of water. Simply scale the recipe up to make sure you have enough solution to cover your ornament.

Shape you pipe cleaner into a snowflake, make sure you form a hole to attached the string. Tie your string to the ornament and the other end to a pencil or rod. Completely submerge the ornament in the borax solution, make sure it does not touch the sides or the bottom.  Leave it in the mixture undisturbed for 24 hours. Let it dry and hang it up.

You can find additional information about how it works at Steve Spanger Science Borax Crystal website page.

Snow Sensory Play

Supplies
make you own snow science kit (I found a small box of this at the Dollar Store but you can also get a big jar of Insta-Snow on Amazon)
container to mix the snow in
lots of scoops, containers, trucks and other material to use in playing with the snow

Directions
Follow the directions on the box, you basically add water to the powder snow mix and watch it expand into snow. Then let the kids play.

The Dollar store box did not make that much. I recommend getting the bigger jar of Insta-Snow if you are doing this for a group of kids.

You can find additional information about how it works on Steve Spanger Science Insta-Snow website page.

24 Days of Christmas

This year I decided I would do a 24 days of Christmas Bucket with my son. I saw the idea on Pinterest (link to original pin) and felt it was a great way to celebrate Christmas all month long.

I filled the bucket with mostly fun stuff to do like make cookies, play games and take a ride and see the holiday lights. I did add a few small gifts. Most of the gifts were purchased at a discount book store and the dollar spot in Target. Below is the list of the items I included.

24 Days of Christmas Bucket List
Write letter to Santa
Small gift
Donate a gift
Have breakfast for dinner
Make red and green playdough
Small gift
Play board games as a family
Read a holiday story
Watch a holiday movie
Go out for ice cream
Make teacher gifts
Small gift
Make an ornament for the tree
Make ice cream cone christmas tree
Small gift
Take a flashlight walk
Play Christmas music and sing along
Cut out paper snowflakes
Small gift
Wear your PJs all day long
Bake cookies
Small gift
Take a drive to see the holiday lights
Go see a live nativity

If you don't have time to make up your own list check out the iheartorganizing Blog she has a FREE Holiday countdown printable. Simply print it out and put them in some envelopes or you can hang them up like in the following images and make them part of your holiday decor.

mommy and me book club

I can across the preschool book club blog a few months ago and thought it was a brilliant idea. The blogger runs a mommy and me book club that meets once a week to read stories, do art, play games, make snacks and more.

Ever since I saw the site I had wanted to start this with my son. Today we did our first mommy and me book club. Since it is Thanksgiving week we read Thanksgiving stories and did some crafts to go with them. It worked out great and next week we are planning on doing books about snow. The books and crafts we did are listed below. Enjoy!

Books
I know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson and Judith Schachner
Twas the Night before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey

I know an Old Lady Swallowed a Pie Craft

Supplies
print out Old Lady and what she swallowed
crayons
sissors
tape
zip lock bag

Directions
Have the kids color in their old lady then cut a whole in the middle of her belly. Next have the kids cut out the items she ate and have them place them in the zip lock bag. Lastly tape the bag on the back of the old lady picture. Now she has a belly full of pie, turkey, cake and lots of other interesting things from the book.

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving Craft

Supplies
paper
brown circle cut out for the turkey body
orange circle cut out for the head
yellow triangle for the beak
feathers and/or leaves
glue

Directions
We went on a short walk and collected some fall leaves then glued them with feathers onto our paper. Next we glued on the turkey's body and head. Lastly we added the beak and drew on eyes.