Secret Friends

The week of Easter we decided to pick Secret Friends. Each of us picked a name out of a bowl and that was our friend for the week. I think the secret of one friend was spoiled within seconds of picking and we had to pick again, but overall they did pretty well. We all did little things for each other throughout the week. This is one of the things that I did for Lincoln. The boys would do each other's jobs or leave pictures and notes on each other's pillows. It was really great. I won't talk about who had me, or the fact that he didn't do anything for the week....at the end he told me that he loved me and that was what he who will not be named did for me for the week. I guess that is good :)
I think it was really a great experience and got us all trying to be a little more like Jesus.
After I made Lincoln's bed and left his little treat this is what I got from him. It says "Thank you. Thank you. You R the best secret friend I ever (had). From Lincoln Nelson". I tell you what. That was the CUTEST note and I will keep it forever!

Spring Break Day 4-Magic milk and Paper Easter Baskets

The sun finally came out on day 4 of our spring break. The boys were dying to play outside. We set up a blanket and let them have a picnic. They were rained out, but it was fun while it lasted.
I babysat some cute girls this day and we made Easter baskets out of paper plates. It was so funny to see the difference between the girls' Easter baskets and the boys. The girls were patient and took a long time with their baskets. The boys also did a great job, but it was a lot faster of a process.
They came up with some pretty great designs.


Later we did "magic milk." I got the idea from this blog. We took a tiny bit of milk. Really I just did enough to cover the bottom of the bowl. I hate wasting milk. Then we put in a drop of food coloring. The kids took turns with a tooth pick dipped in dish soap. They would stick it in the middle of the food coloring and the colors would all scatter. It was so cool!
You have to get a new toothpick every time or it doesn't work.
Savanna was my helper with the "magic toothpicks".
I love science! So cool.

They loved it.

I am heading to BYU women's conference today so my posts may be a little rushed :)

Spring Break Day 3-Jumping Cups and Bubble Art

I loved spring break because it gave me a chance to do a whole bunch of activities with the boys that I have been wanting to do for a long time. During the school year there just isn't time for a lot after the boys get home, do chores, homework, reading, piano, dinner, baths and when we are playing a sport that just cuts into everything too. Usually the only time we have for crafts or activities is on the weekends and even those seem to be very full. Spring break was snowy/rainy pretty much the whole week, so we had a lot of inside activities going on.  Any time the boys saw it clear up, they ran outside to play for a little snatch of time until it started up again.  Our house got very "lived it" (messy) during the week :)  I am glad that I had a bunch of crafts that I wanted to do.  I saw these jumping cups on this site.
I decided to go with the rocket as I knew the boys would love it. I made the rocket on the front although I am sure the boys would have liked to have done it with me. Next time I will let them help.
I cut a smallish slit on each side of the cup. Then I cut a rubber band and tied off the ends. I put two rubber bands in each cup. We found that the thinner rubber bands were better. They had more spring than the thicker ones and didn't break as easily. We definitely broke a lot of rubber bands during the coarse of this activity, but it wasn't too big of deal to put in a new one. Then you get a second cup (you don't have to do anything to the second cup) and put the first one on it, and let go.
The boys loved it and played with it forever. I am beginning to wonder why I ever by toys from the store. They like the homemade ones so much more!
McKay was enthralled with this toy and wanted to play with one so bad!

They got them going really high. It was fun to see them adjust their rubber bands to be tighter or more loose depending on how high they wanted them to go.

We seriously had cups flying all over the place.
I finally made one for McKay and he had no idea what to do with it. He didn't want anyone to help him with it, but he wanted his own cups. He was so funny with them.
Later that day we did this fun activity to make bubble art. I got this idea from this site. It works best if you have watercolor paper, but as we have done lots of water coloring lately, we were out. It was still fine with scratch paper/computer paper. You
paint - lots of colors (I just used some acylic paint that I had)
dish soap
water
cups
straws
watercolor paper

Directions:

1. Pour some paint, a little dish soap and a small amount of water in a cup. Mix it up. If the color is too light, add more paint. If not bubbly enough, add more soap.
2. Put the straw in the cup and blow until bubbles come up over the cup. Make sure your child is old enough/able to do this. If you don't think your child can do this, or are worried about them accidentally sucking instead of blowing you may want to do this step for them.
3. Grab your watercolor paper and pop the bubbles on your paper. Repeat with whatever colors you want.
4. Allow to dry.
I think the boys loved being told they can blow bubbles. They try to get away with that at most meal times, but it is a no no. This was fun for them to get all of their latent bubble blowing desires out :)
This boys went especially crazy. Make sure you have a lot of newspaper down. Any time his hands would get all painty, he just stuck them on his paper. Good idea huh? I think he actually went through quite a few papers. I also made sure they didn't get it on their clothes as I am sure this isn't washable (we used Josh's running shirts...)
It was a lot of fun!

The pictures turned out really cool (I want to do this again on watercolor paper.)


After it all this was our snack for the day. I have decided that these are my very favorite chocolate chip cookies (I have tried a million recipes!). I have found out that I usually have to add more flour than is called for and cook one to make sure it isn't going to be flat. They all turn out pretty and they are so good (as is the dough, which-let's be honest, is consumed as much as the cookies).

Spring Break Day 2 and Edible Play Dough

Day two of our Spring Break the boys woke up to these scrumptious Cinnamon Bun Pancakes. I have been dying to try the recipe out and it did not disappoint. For lunch later that day we met Josh in Bountiful. He took us to a place called "Salt City Burger." I have a weakness for a good hamburger and these were definitely GOOD! They had ESPN playing on a T.V. right above our table. The boys liked it, can you tell?
Even McKay was watching it.
The boys always love doing the activities that they get at restaurants. This picture of Josh and Lincoln was too cute not to share.
Once again McKay LOVES fries.
I LOVED the burgers :)
And we got some cookie ice cream ditty for dessert. It was a lot of fun!
Later that day we had a bunch of friends come over to play with the boys and we made "edible play dough." I got the recipe from this site.

Recipe:
Peanut Butter Playdough
1 C creamy peanut butter
2 C powdered sugar
1/2 C honey
Directions: mix mix mix. I use my stand mixer to make it quick, clean and easy, but if you prefer to make it long, messy, and not-so-easy, let your kids mix it up by hand :)
A lot of PB playdough recipes you’ll find include dry milk powder, but I really don’t like the grainy texture it creates so I use straight powdered sugar. Plus, it tastes better.
This makes plenty for 2-3 kids to enjoy. Just give ‘em rollers, cutters, molds, etc.
I gave them marshmallows and chocolate chips and they had a great time and snacked on it as they went.

My niece Savanna was great with it. She made the cutest butterfly.


Could this girl be ANY cuter! This is another one of my adorable nieces.
That night we let the boys have a "sleepover" with their sleeping bags in the living room. I was worried that they might be wild as that is what usually happens when I let them do this. I just had them get in their bags while I read our nightly reading to them. They all fell asleep and it was smooth sailing.
I think they thought it was pretty fun :)
Once again a great day of Spring Break!

Cereal Box Marble Run

Last week was Spring Break for us and it was SO MUCH FUN! We had TONS of activities, crafts and treats. I will be posting as much as I can (and a few left over Easter ideas...sorry I didn't get them on here BEFORE Easter, it was a crazy week), over the next week. This was one of the boys' favorite things that we did. I made them all a marble run. I got the idea from this blog.  This idea takes marbles (obviously), but I couldn't find any.  They guy at Walmart assured me that they carry them, but they were nowhere to be found.  I robbed one of our games to get our marbles and the boys PROMISED me that they would return them all.  I got 0 back.  So now we have 20 little choking hazards all over our house for McKay to find. 
First I cut out the front of a cereal box.
Divided it into thirds and cut that too. I had a little cut out of the top of one because I cut off the box top for my boys' classes, but it didn't matter.
Take the strips and fold them and cut out ONE square that is going to go against the back of the cereal box.  Make sure the squares you cut out are big enough for the marbles to fall through on their own.  I had to keep cutting ours bigger with my X-Acto knife.  Oh well, we got there in the end. 
Then I duck taped my cardboard strips in. I added a piece of duck tape along the whole length of the ramps so the marble didn't fall down the sides. The only place that I didn't add duck tape was to the little square that the marble falls through.
Then I got a piece of a different cereal box to balance my marble run. I folded it over a few times. Each marble run took me 1-1/2 boxes to make.
Then I duck taped it to the bottom.
You want your marble run to lean a little backward so the marble doesn't fall out the front.
Then I took and X-Acto knife and cut a small hole in the top of the cereal box where my boys would put the marbles in.

Seriously they used these for HOURS. They had a great time with them and that was so worth the time it took me to make the three of them.  They held races with the marbles and their imaginations actually went crazy.  It was funny to listen to. 

They were also excited to decorate them. This is Lincolns (he is very into Star Wars right now).
Palmer's marble run.

Hunter's marble run.
We took a small snack break. I saw this idea somewhere and the boys loved it.
Day 1 of our Spring Break was a success.