Easy Kid's Craft Display

Does your refrigerator look like this? 

If you have a little one in school it just might! Amelia goes to school two mornings a week for an hour and a half for a pre-k speech class. Part of their morning is doing a craft or two that relates to the sounds they are working on. I put all of her projects on our refrigerator and she is so proud of them. She shows them to us and tells us "coooooo" which is "school." 

We started to run out of room for her masterpieces so I started brainstorming. I had seen online somewhere (no idea where, of course) how someone used an old picture frame, removed the glass, hung picture wire across the frame and clipped a craft or two to the wire and displayed them in the frame. I thought that was a neat idea but I put my own twist on it. 

Neat, huh? All I needed to complete this was picture wire (I bought 50 feet because that was all they had but clearly we only used a fraction of that), command hooks of some sort and clips. I chose binder clips. 

We hung two lengths of picture wire, with loops made at each end, between three hooks.

I love the result! Now it is easier to enjoy her art projects and the bare wall in the kitchen has some decoration on it! Most importantly, the refrigerator is much less cluttered which makes the kitchen feel less cluttered! 

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What are some other fun ways to display kid's artwork and crafts? 

Friday Fun

Tonight my sister came to hang out with us! We hopped in the car and went to a new park. It is within walking distance but since rain was on it's way we decided to drive so we wouldn't be stuck out in it! Joey spent most of his time swinging and watching all the big kids run around and play. 

Amelia explored the small beach and found several seashells! 

(yes mom, I do realize she needs a haircut!) 

One of Amelia's favorite things tonight was "driving the car." 

In fact, before we could leave she had to run back to "drive the car" one last time! We left the park at dinner time and decided, what the heck, we'd eat McDonald's. Amelia was so, so excited when she realized where we were going. During dinner she asked me to "cheese" her and snuggled up with my sister. 

Since she ate her whole Happy Meal we decided to get some ice cream on the way home. Dairy Queen was a zoo and the one here is notorious for being very slow so we headed to the grocery store for dessert. Across from the grocery store we noticed a little sweets shop. When we pulled up they were closing (they close early - at 6!) but the owner let my sister go in and get us ice cream to go. It was our favorite, Cedar Crest, ice cream! Amelia was in heaven with her cookie dough ice cream!

Between the park, McDonald's and ice cream baths were in order. Amelia had a ball cleaning Joe. 

She is in charge of washing his tummy, knees and feet. I am in charge of his hair - with the watering can. She's the boss and I just follow orders ;) 

 Joe was so interested in the bubbles tonight. He just kept examining his hands. 

We needed this good night tonight. Hopefully the weekend will be just as good!

Snacking

What do you do when your mom falls asleep nursing your brother? 

You help yourself to some yogurt!

Jason has told me that twice now she has helped herself to yogurt when he dozed off or was not in the room.  I woke up (keep in mind I was "asleep" maybe ten minutes) and heard, "oh nummy!"  I got up and walked into the kitchen to find her chowing down.  

I also found two towels on the floor, covered in yogurt.  And the lid to the trash was also covered in yogurt.  The positive is that she knew to throw the lid away and she knew to clean up her mess.  That's really all you can ask for.  The negative is that Jason had mopped this afternoon and she used one of our only nice towels to clean the floor.  The latter is really no big deal.  It's just a towel.  Towels are replaceable.  I just wish that maybe we might have had a more tattered one out since her yogurt was pink ;)

Butterfly Friend

Tonight we went to my parent's house to get some items ready for a garage sale in two weekends. Before we left, Amelia was running around trying to catch butterflies. I ended up catching her a very tiny one and she was so proud! 

She kept looking at him closely, trying to pet him through the net and was just in awe. Butterflies are a big thing to her right now. 

Sadly, I don't think her butterfly friend made it... I suggested we let him go because I was noticing her crushing him a little. I got him out of the net and he was moving but he wouldn't fly away. Maybe he was stunned? I'm not sure if butterflies get stunned but let's just pretend that that was what was going on ;)

Welcome

Welcome to the new blog!  

Why the change?  When I first started blogging it was an avenue to keep in touch with our families.  We were living in Milwaukee, had just had a baby and we wanted to make sure everyone was able to see her grow!  Now we live within thirty miles of our immediate family members so there isn't as much urgency behind keeping the blog updated.

With that being said I should also add that I like to blog!  I like to share our family and the things that we do but the old blog just didn't fit any longer.  While we were living with Jason's grandpa we didn't have regular Internet access and it was kind of on the back burner for those 15 months.  Once we were out on our own again we didn't get Internet for a few months.  Now that we have it I am struggling to post regularly even though I have tons of post ideas!

So, I'm starting over.  Sometimes all someone needs is a fresh start.  So, from now on look for updates on our family and more here! 

Great-Grandparents

This weekend my grandparents came to visit!  They live down in Indiana and don't get up this way too often so it was nice that they could make it.  I didn't take too many pictures because we were on-the-go a bit more than I am used to.  

I did manage to get a picture of the kids with their great-grandparents:

It's not perfect but everyone is looking at the camera which is quite the accomplishment - trust me!

Chair of the Day

Amelia's chair choice of the day was her mini Poang Chair from Ikea!  We let daddy sleep in this morning because he let me sleep most of Sunday.  Seriously, all I did was eat sleep and nurse Joe all day upon returning home from work.  I felt lazy but I needed it!  We've been passing some sort of bug around our house and I am just barely keeping it at bay.  Jason hasn't been so lucky so we let him get some extra sleep today.

I was a softie this morning and let Amelia eat her breakfast in the living room while she watched Bubble Guppies.  She had a " baby blueberry cake" which is just a blueberry muffin.  I am totally fine with her thinking that it is cake :)

My choice for breakfast impacted dinner - which I had not counted on...

When I told Amelia that it was time to eat dinner she drug her Poang chair into the kitchen and placed it at the head of the table, sat down and started drinking her milk. When I asked her how she would reach the table to eat her hot dog she made it very clear that she had a plan. She just stood right up and started to eat. I am hopeful that she doesn't try this tomorrow because this isn't something we will allow long-term! It was cute for today though :)  

Just for fun - a picture of the kids at the park this evening :) I am so glad the warmer weather is back so we can spend time outside again!