Bienvenue à Paris!

At our house we love learning about different countries and cultures. Although we would LOVE to travel around the world right now, it's just not feasible for a family with four pretty young children. Plus, I want them to actually remember the experiences they have, so what's the rush, right?

In the meantime, I have given them some experiences to help gear them up, and we had a blast!
A few years ago we went to Paris. We started with a visit to a café, where we spoke some français and ate baguettes et tartes! C'était magnifique! Of course we had to dress up so we didn't appear too touristy:

We then visited some of the hot spots, such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. A photo shoot was absolutely necessary (via pulling up a picture on our television). There were many, many, many pictures taken of these little hams:

To finish our little tour, we watched a lovely (and very child appropriate) version of the can-can and we tried our skills at doing some kicks.

Simple, cheap, and so fun. We made some wonderful memories without leaving home! The possibilities are endless with a little imagination. Happy travels!

My Son's Dream Bedroom

   Do you have a little boy who has an obsession with all things car related? Well, I do. My boy lives and breathes cars. Sure, he loves trains, planes, and other modes of transportation, but nothing compares to those beautiful automobiles.
   My boy is also a lone wolf in that he has 3 sisters and no brothers. With that, I decided he needed a place that was special for him. That led me to paint him the bedroom of his dreams.

  
  "What?" you say, "that looks like a car mat on a wall!". Yes, indeed, that's what I was going for. I had noticed that my dear little boy would take one of his many, many, many Hot Wheels cars and drive them along the walls in our house. That brought me to an "aha" moment. Why not put a "car mat" on the walls for him to drive on? Some of the roads are out of his reach, but he doesn't seem to mind at all. He stands on his bed for some or brings in the stool from the bathroom. 

    For the roundabout I used a large bowl to trace. I attempted it freehand initially and it was very lopsided and awful.

   I even added a little parking lot on one of the walls. Although this room painting was a bit time consuming, it wasn't all that difficult.

   First off, I painted 3 of the walls green.

   I left one wall blue (I said it represented the ocean), so that I could hang some pictures up without it ruining the effect of the car mat look. 
   
   I then taped off where I wanted the roads to be and filled those in. Being precise with the taping saves having to touch up in the end, so I took my time there. 

   I then added the water areas and the tree areas.

   Finally, I put in the lines for the roads. This took the longest, and in hindsight I would have made the spaces between each line far bigger. Oh well. I used a ruler for this and painted along it. If you ever try this, be sure to have a paper towel or rag handy to wipe off the ruler before you lay it in a new spot.

   And that's all there is to it.
   If you don't like the idea of having your kid drive cars all over the walls, another thing we have done is printed off paper cars and laminated them. We put stick tack on the back and then he can put them all around his room however he likes. It adds to the look and it's a cheap way to get some cars going in the room.

Let Me Tell You About Piñatas...

A few years ago I discovered something amazing. It happened when I was planning my daughter's birthday party. She wanted a piñata, so I looked online. I found some decent ones, but I just couldn't bring myself to actually pay $20 or more for something that was going to be smashed to pieces. It just didn't make sense. So what did I do? I decided to make my own.
And guess what?
I enjoyed it! I've always loved papier mâché, but I hadn't considered the possibilities of what I could do in terms of piñatas. Ever since it has become a staple for our birthday parties (there will be more on those at another time). The joy of making your own piñata is that you can do exactly what you want for your theme:

  

 My daughter wanted a cat Beanie Boo party. Pretty obscure, right? This was made using 2 balloons for the head and body, bunched up newspaper as the ears and muzzle, and some toilet paper tubes for the legs. Finish it off with acrylic paint and tissue paper. Bam! You have your own piñata.

  Of course my other daughter had to follow suit a few months later with the whole idea of a Beanie Boo. Same concept. Add a horn with bunched up newspaper as well.

Don't want a giant piñata? No problem. For our Pokémon-themed birthday party I had something else planned....

 That's right. Individual piñatas that look like Poké Balls. For these I used water balloons (and no, there was not water in the balloons before I did the papier mâché). I actually put little souvenirs inside and we had the kids go outside and throw them in order to break them open. I made a second set with nothing inside so that the kids could take one home as well.

Are balloons the only option? Heavens no! My son is a big car fanatic, so I have done a car and a monster truck for him. Check these out:

 

I learned some things about this car one here. It was my first attempt at building a cardboard frame first. Notice how the sides caved in. It didn't matter because the thing was smashed hours later anyway, but I like to learn from my mistakes.

A year later, I attempted what has become my favourite piñata: the monster truck!

 

 Here it is before the paint job. I built the frame out of cardboard like last time, and I used dowel rods to attach the wheels. While it was drying I stuffed it with plastic bags. That was the key to preventing the sides from caving in.

 And there's the finished product. I had to remind myself to not spend too much time painting this baby because it would be destroyed. It was hard. I genuinely enjoy making these though. Do my kids ask me to make them elaborate? No!!! Something you need to understand about me. I LOVE making things. This is my stress relief. So don't go thinking my kids are spoiled punks with high expectations. It's just not so.

If you have any questions about making one of these guys, let me know. I'd love to offer tips, ideas...whatever I can. I'm no expert. This post sums up my experience with piñata making, but I know there will be many more to come in my future.

Just have fun!!!

Welcome!

Welcome, dear reader, to a glimpse inside of my mind!
My brain never seems to stop. No really, it doesn't. It goes and goes and goes. Especially when I'm trying to sleep at night. This can be good and it can be bad. 

It's good because I never run out of ideas and we are certainly never bored around here. If my kids are wondering if there's a new game we can play, BOOM! I've thought up a new one, often incorporating what we are learning about in school. I have a million ideas for puppets and toys for my Etsy shop too, so that stays fresh and new. 

The downside is that I don't have enough time in a day to bring all of these ideas to fruition and that gets frustrating. I also can't shut off this marvelous mind of mine! That's where this blog comes into play. I hope to put many of my ideas and resources up here to share with whoever needs them. That way my mind will not go to waste because of something silly like having so few hours in a day... Perhaps then I will be able to sleep better at night rather than lying awake wondering how I can bring all of these things to pass. So I guess I should be thanking you, my readers, for taking these ideas off of my mind. Thank you!!!

Now off I go to see what I can share with you. I hope you enjoy. Check back often. There are many things to come!

Mari