Back to Scrapbooking!

So many of my friends that used to scrapbook, have quit.  Is scrapbooking passe now?

I used to LOVE to go to crops, enjoying all the paper and stickers and glue.  But I hadn't scrapbooked in a really long time.  I was inspired by something my friend, Amy Gretchen showed me once when we were together.  She showed me this little notebook where she writes down cute things her girls say, things that the family does, and she spoke about "documenting her family's life".  She doesn't even know it, but I was so inspired by that!

As a stay at home mom, I take this job very seriously and I love it.  In that moment, I felt that part of my job was to document these years that go by oh-so-quickly.  When I am in the weeds of it all, I don't get around to scrapbooking.  Not only is it highly enjoyable to scrapbook, but the family will be so grateful for the memories preserved for later.  It was like AG gave me permission to scrapbook again:)

Soleil's choices on the left, mine on the right.  

For the last two days, I have been back into it.  I am sad that there are no longer scrapbook stores to wander, but Hobby Lobby was there for me:)  I went and bought new stickers, paper, and paint to coordinate, and I have been spending about 2 hours a day working on my book.  I tend to keep my nose to the grindstone all day, and I have to say, this permission to create has made my other chores much more enjoyable!!

I am doing Project Life, and I have lots of extra cards.  If you could use some, comment below, and I will mail some to you :)

The FLU

I hadn't gotten a flu shot since I got out of the military in 2000.  They always made me feel weird, and I would ALWAYS get sick afterwards.  I never got the flu from not getting the shot, and I didn't love the idea of being injected with God knows what.

But this week, I got the FLU, and it sucked beyond all belief!  I have never been this sick in my life.  I think I have changed my mind, and I will be getting that flu shot next year.  Soleil and Paul had gotten their shots, and did not get sick.  Tate and I wasted our Spring Break on fevers, and headaches, and we want a do-over!

The good news is, I am caught up on every single tv series that you can imagine.  I was actually sick of TV by the end of it, which I didn't think was possible!

Also, I am grateful for simple moments of NOT feeling sick.  I feel like these experiences are a reminder to stop complaining, and appreciate the doldrums of the every day. :)

Preschool Activities #Obsessed

"Mom! Please play with me!!"  We play together all the time, but sometimes... Mama needs a moment.  I set up little activities for Tate all the time when he was little, but that was 5 years ago.  I have forgotten what they were!  For this reason, I went to the almighty Pinterest for inspiration.

I fell down the "Kids Activities" "Busy Boxes" "Quiet Time Activities" worm hole on the Pinterest, and became obsessed.  Most of the stuff for these activities, I already had on hand (but that was after I convinced myself that I didn't need every sensory bin pictured!)   This is a good way to clean out your kid craft stuff, while presenting it in a new way.  We also made a few activities to share with Soleil's friend.  

Beads and Pipe Cleaners

Kinetic Sand+Table Cloth+Sand Table

Homemade Playdough (SOOOO Many recipes online!)

**In case you were wondering, homemade playdoh will turn totally to mold if you leave it sealed in a rubbermaid container for a few weeks.  Don't put it on a bookshelf and forget about it like I did!

Travel Sticker Kit inspired by THIS POST

This was a travel hit!

Fairy Garden using most things found in the yard.

Melissa and Doug reusable Stickers

Other activities include:

Mandala using little bits of fabric and yardstick cut into pieces.

PlayMais

Beads+Pipecleaners labelled with numbers

Tiny Clay Kit

We went to Meijers today (kind of like a Walmart, but better) and found a few things that would be fun.  I like when the activities are surprises, so I took photos of things to get on a visit when the kiddos were not with me.

These are pool LED lights that float.  These would be fun in the tub or in a water table.  These were only 2.99, and you can also wait for them to go on sale at the end of the season.  The animals below are the also floating LED lights.

 I saw a tutorial for turning a baby pool into a ball pit, and for turning into a giant Easter Nest using paper bags.  I won't have time before Easter, but maybe I'll do it over the summer during Animal Week.

 And you can't go wrong with some of the Melissa & Doug activity books.   These are a few that Soleil does not have.  They have them at Michaels craft store as well.