Be Inspired

- Cutest pancakes ever! (Thanks to Amy for the original inspiration.)

- Sandwich bag magic looks fun to me.

- Free play food.

- Toddler stained-glass craft idea.

- Tape collage for toddlers.

- Paper bag painting with water (free and fun!)

- Writing in sugar is simple but fun.

Successful experiment of the day

Yesterday's experiment of the day was playing with dried beans! And oh boy did we have fun with this! I happened to have some dried pinto beans on hand (frugal experiment ditched for convenience of canned) so we headed out to the deck with some bowls, spoons, and measuring cups. My 18-month old had an absolute blast with this super easy activity. By playing with the beans outside we avoided having a major clean up session too! We will definitely be doing this activity again sometime soon!

If you want to try this inside check out extraordinary mommy's post and give her tablecloth idea a try! Let me know how it works for you!

Multi-task or single-task?

The Simple Mom ponders which is better, to mutli-task or single-task.

Even though I’d love to single-task most of my day jobs, it just isn’t going to happen. What mom doesn’t multi-task all day long? You’ve got to change the diaper and answer the phone. You oftentimes need to read to your older one while you nurse your younger.

Motherhood does force a person into multi-tasking doesn't it? I like her attitude of accepting the multi-tasking instead of fighting against it to try to get that one job done. Let's see what I can multi-task today!

Be Inspired

- Teaching homemaking skills to your daughters: HomeEc101 and For Better or Worse.

- I never would have thought of making pizza on the grill!

- Tooth fairy jar!

- Mining for gold at home is super creative!

- Amy and Monica hosted Olympic Family Nights at their houses!

- Rice play would be fun...maybe outside to prevent the mess!

- Door hanger helper.

- A Pringles can solar cooker!

- Cheap and free toys for young kids.

Teacher Luncheon

I found this idea shared by Shannon Popkin in the July 2008 Focus on the Family Magazine and I absolutely adore it!

Over the summer your children plan, prepare, and serve a luncheon to last year's teachers, with your help of course! This can include school teachers, music teachers, Sunday school teachers - whoever they want! Kids get to practice hospitality and learning to serve others with a cheerful heart while getting a chance to see those beloved teachers again. Teachers get a chance to have a nice lunch and relax!

Busy Family Activities

Family photo in front of Chicago's skyline and Lake Michigan

We've had a couple of days of super fun family activities taking place here. First of all we celebrated father's day for Grandpa (just a little late) and headed off to a local historical farm, Kline Creek Farm with Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Lisa. We had an enjoyable time learning about farming in the 1890s.


Luke exploring the living history farm.

The following day we went downtown and visited Chicago's Shedd Aquarium with Aunt Beth. We were lucky enough to go on the day Chicago's Air and Water Show was also starting. We had the bonus of being able to enjoy some of the show!


Shark!


Chicago's Air and Water Show

Simple Water Activity

Pour The Water

- Find different size containers in which to pour water. You and your child experiment with pouring the water and stopping before it overflows!

From It Takes Two to Talk.

Be Inspired

- Homemade ice cream without a machine! (Thanks to Carrie for helping us find a recipe!)

- Bare-bones baby gear guide

- Beautiful butterfly crayons

- Ways to guide our children in contentment.

- Spending minutes to save hours.

- Preschool Olympics, Backwards Olympics, and Itty Bitty Olympics

Walgreens Bounty

Yesterday I just had to head over to Walgreens to get this deal! If you hurry you can make it today and get an awesome deal on Kellogg's products. Thanks to some coupons I had saved and the current special Walgreens is promoting, I got all this and actually will make some money after I send in the rebate!

BIG TIP: If your family is looking to save money head over to Money Saving Mom's blog. She keeps up with all the current deals and does all the work for you!

Experiment of the Day

Today we tried a little experiment out. The experiment entailed a toddler, a small dish pail of water, a towel, and the kitchen. Somewhere awhile back, I read about someone doing this to keep their little one occupied while in the kitchen. As I recalled it made a bit of a mess but was easily wiped up with the towels resulting in a happy baby and a clean kitchen floor!

Well our experiment ended up being somewhat of a wash...

Here's what happened:

- Happy and occupied baby lasted 10 minutes and allowed mom to get some dishes done
- Big mess of water on the floor that was easily wiped up with 2 bath towels
- Water was literally poured out of the dishpan onto the floor multiple times
- Baby ended experiment crying after slipping on wet floor :-(

Will we try it again? Perhaps, though with even closer supervision by Mom and it'll probably be back to outdoors!

Be Inspired

- Salad Spinner Art is so cool!

- Babies can help with thank-yous too!

- Paint your own clay dough beads

- My glider is still in great shape but maybe in 10 years I'll consider a glider transformation!

- Pretty newspaper hats

- Cupcake pops are oh so cute!