I'm Dreaming of a White Winter!!!

It's looking like one very rainy/snowy weekend in our neck of the woods. Honestly, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a hefty load of snow! This has been one very strange winter with very little snow and oddly mild temperatures. I miss the winter days of my own childhood, living in Northern New Brunswick, where outdoor ice skating, sliding, skiing and snowshoeing were enjoyed all winter long. We've had a mere handful of days were our pond has been frozen enough for skating. Chi-Chi and Muffy have only built one snowman this season and the awesome snow tubes we received for Christmas sit idle in the barn. Sigh!

Enough about the weather! In anticipation of the dreary weekend ahead, I planned a few little fun crafts and activities for the boys. I've been meaning to try Mary Beth's recipe for celebration sugar cookies for quite some time. Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect occasion. I love how she uses these cookies to celebrate anything from holidays to birthday to seasons - mixing in lots of fun shapes. It's a nice sturdy sugar cookie recipe, which is great when little hands are getting in on the action.

The boys aren't the only one who have been playing cupid around here. I've been informed that I "better get to work" on filling up that Valentine mailbox sitting in the living room! I've been trying to think up some fun homemade ideas and treats for the boys. Since we are heavy into ukes, guitars and music these days, I came up with these funny little cards that include a few spare guitar picks. I swear, there is a black hole in this house that seems to be hungry for picks. I don't know where they disappear to, but it seems I can never have enough on hand.


On the 15th of February, the boys will be celebrating the 100th day of school. I found this great idea for a hilarious 100 eyed monster t-shirt to add some fun to the day. I picked up some old shirts at the thrift shop and had the boys draw their monster/alien head. They helped me count while I worked away on the task of gluing the googly eyes with my trusty glue gun. Surprisingly, it wasn't too tedious of a task and was actually a bit of fun. Chi-Chi is currently learning the numbers from 1 to 100 in French so it was a nice exercise to reinforce what's going on in the classroom.

Just a bit of fun to beat the winter blahs... (:

Love Letters

The arrival of February inevitably brings a flurry of creative activity by my two little secret admirers. I know a lot of people lament Valentine's Day as yet another commercialized holiday, but I always enjoy the fun it brings. I think it adds a bit of much-needed love and light to the dreariest, coldest month of the year. While the boys were at school today, I pulled out the craft supplies and designated half of the dining table as "Valentine Central". Glitter glue, stickers, doilies, stamps, sequins, markers....Chi-Chi and Muffy have all the necessary supplies on hand to express their love!





On this very chilly day, they were both so happy and content to work quietly on their creations for the bulk of the afternoon. Our family's Valentine mailbox is already filled to the brim. They even completed all the cards for the upcoming class parties! It's always fun to give something sweet and simple with a handmade touch. I really wanted to avoid candy or sweets of any kind. I came up with some super easy friendship bracelets. A while back, I had dyed some chunky yarn in a rainbow color scheme. I dug this out of the wool stash and in no time, I had crocheted enough little bracelets for both classes. I simply chain stitched for 24 counts - easy peasy and super speedy to pull together. The pretty yarn makes them look more impressive than they are!

Happy Friday (: