Indoor Games!

Back in August I started a project I had seen on...you guess it...Pinterest! I needed a HUGE piece of fabric and thankfully I had one on hand. I had bought this giant piece of fabric back when Owen was a baby and I used it as a baby wrap carrier. I never really got the hang of it though so I just put away in a container for another use down the road. So happy I kept it!!

 

In the above picture you can also see my most awesome purchase ever!!! I got that rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat on sale for $26!!! It was normally $53! Now that I have this I seriously don't know how or why I ever did certain crafts without it! It's a total time saver!

Here's the layout for our indoor hopscotch! I had a bunch of felt leftover from making the kids quiet books so I just cut them to size and laid them out.

 

 

I used my Cricut to cut out numbers, pinned them to the felt, traced them and then cut them out.

 

 

Sewing around all the felt and the number cutouts was quite a long process that involved a bunch of pins...have I ever mentioned I hate pins!!

 

 

Since there was another side I decided I didn't want to just leave it blank so I came up with this flower/bean bag game. I just free handed the petals and the numbers and then sewed them on.

 

 

I used left over fabric from the main piece and filled it with dried peas and secured it with a rubber band and then wrapped a piece of felt around the band. I made 6 of these with different colored felt...one for each member of our family.

 

 

I also added a starting point.

 

On Monday when it was pouring outside I decided it was the perfect day to bring the game out for the kids. They had seen me working on it, but every time they asked to play on it it wasn't finished yet.  

 

 

I had fun teaching the kids to throw their rocks and then hop down to them.

 

 

 

After playing hopscotch for a while I showed Owen how he could start at the end of the mat and countdown from 10 - 1 and then blast off onto the couch...he thought that was cool!

 

 

Of course soon it was time to turn the mat over and play the bean bag game. The kids LOVE this! We each get one turn and whoever gets the most points gets to be the first in the line for the next round. When play time is all over I turned Ella's old diaper bag into the storage bag for this. It even has a little mesh pocket on the side to hold the kids rocks. I have a feeling that this game set will be getting a lot of use this fall/winter!

Toilet Paper Tube Turkeys!

Yesterday was nasty outside and we are on Thanksgiving break from school so I thought I would sit down and do a craft with the kids. I looked around and found this craft on Pintrest....seriously what did we do before this website?!?!  

 

 

Jack is thankful for - Ga-Ga & Pa - Papa Martin - Grandma Martin - Buzz & Woody - Skittles

 

 

I'm thankful for - God's Love - Heat - House - Food - Family

 

 

Owen is thankful for - Playing on our phones & crafts - People who share - Surprises - Robotic Arm Garbage Truck - Daddy & Mommy

 

 

Ella is thankful for - Daddy & Mom - Zeke - Ga-Ga & Pa - House - Clothes

 

It was fun working together with the kids on this and it was definitely interesting to see what they are thankful for!

To The Rescue!!!

Last week I made a stop at Value Village to pick up 3 t-shirts for a craft project.

 

 

 

First thing I had to do was cut the sleeves off.

 

 

 

Then I cut a slit up on either side from the bottom to the hole where the sleeve used to be.

 

 

Then I snipped the neck hole and cut a section out making the hole smaller.

 

 

Now to add decoration...I used my Cricut to cut out a large star, then pinned it to the shirt and sprayed around it with bleach.  

 

 

There you have it...a super easy super hero cape. This one is Ella's...she's Word Girl!

 

 

Jack wanted to be Batman so we printed the logo from the Internet and enlarged it. Then I pinned it to the shirt and sprayed bleach around it too.

 

 

I turned out so good!

 

 

Owen's was the easiest since I actually found a Superman shirt. All I had to do was cut it out.

 

 

At first Owen was too busy to try his cape on, but then once Ella and Jack had tried it on he decided he should give it a go.

 

 

Off to save the day!!!

 

 

I didn't actually finish Jack and Ella's until after they went to sleep so they just got to play around with Owen's.

 

 

Cute super hero girl!

 

The very last thing I did was attach Velcro to the neck hole enclosure so it can go on and off easily. I might try to use the sleeves that I cut off to make masks or cuffs for their arms. But that's for another day!  

Another First...Actually Two!

Zoom in on this picture and what do you see???

 

 

Not one, but TWO teeth! This cute little over achiever broke his first and second tooth through on November 15th.

 

A few days before I had started feeding him baby food since I though his crankiness was due to hunger. He didn't care much for baby oatmeal so after two days of that I gave him butternut squash. Oh my word this kid was born to eat! He is already eating baby food 3 times a day and LOVES it. In fact during his second feeding of squash in between bites he would hang his head and cry his little head off. When I finally got the next bite ready he would see the spoon and all would be right with the world again. According to my parents he is EXACTLY like me.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of food Zeke Man!

Family Visit

Last week Uncle Ry and Aunt Stephie came over to see the kids and have dinner with us. Uncle Ry had fun holding and smooching on Zeke. Unfortunately Zeke did not enjoy the scruff on Uncle Ry's face and he sure let him hear all about it. :)

 

 

 

So off to Aunt Stephie's arms he went....she doesn't have scruff on her face!

 

 

Oh speaking of face...bring that closer so I can gnaw on you!!!

 

 

Okay I guess your finger will work!

 

 

 

Oh wait I can chew on this! If I could just get it...

 

 

Closer!!!

 

 

This cute boy is getting so big and he's chewing on EVERYTHING!!!

 

 

Zeke Russell Martin - 5 months!

Open Wide!

Once we got to Ga-Ga & Pa's house on Halloween night we made a little bite to eat. Michael was trying to hold Zeke and eat at the same time, but that cute little boy is just reaching for everything these days.

 

 

While sitting on Pa's lap he kept trying to get his feet.

 

 

Cute, chubby, cheeks!!!

 

Zeke is also teething so Ga-Ga let him suck on a piece of beef jerky (something all my kids have loved to do) and then I decided to let him suck on a banana. Of course the banana was so soft it just broke off. So I decided to mush it up and feed it to him.  

 

 

I was super surprised that when I brought the spoon to his mouth he opened right up. He had a few bites...of course most of it came back out. It reminded me a bit of Jack Jack from The Incredibles.

 

 

In the next week or so I'm going to go out and get Zeke some baby cereal so he can start on that...I love the baby food eating phase.

Halloween 2012

On Halloween Michael had a dentist appointment in the afternoon so we were able to leave early to head down to my parents house. This was both a good and a bad thing...good in that we didn't get stuck in the really bad traffic and bad because that means we had to wait until dark before it was time to trick or treat. That was tough!

 

My rule is always that we don't get to go out until Ga-Ga & Pa get their first trick or treater's. For some reason this Halloween people got a later start. Finally at 6pm I looked outside and saw other kids walking down the street so it was time.

 

 

Ella had fun twirling around for Pa...she even did a curtsy!

 

 

Beautiful golden shoes! Ga-Ga found Ella's Belle dress and shoes at a garage sale for $10. I hope it still fits her next fall...we are planning on taking the kids to Disneyland.

 

 

 

Jackson was a bit out of his element on Halloween. I tried to have him take a nap since he has a cold and I knew that all that walking would tire him out. No such luck though...he wouldn't nap. I think we were at the fifth house when we heard him say, "I'm getting tired" for the first time.

 

 

Silly Owen boy...he was in the lead most of the night running up and getting candy before Ella and I even got to the door. As he was running by me he'd say, "I said Thank you!"

 

 

Sweet little stinger! By the time we went out Zeke was super tired so I wore him.

 

 

Ready!

 

 

 

First stop Mr. Tim's house...there were no robotic spiders this time though!!

 

 

It wasn't long into the trip and I looked down and Zeke was out.

 

Checking out his bounty!

 

Usually we go down the street behind my parents house, but all the kids were done so we just stuck to the one street. Thank goodness too...my mom had bought a ton of candy and they just didn't get as many trick or treaters as they normally get so we went home with probably 10lbs of candy all together.

 

Lots of yummy treats!

 

 

Ella was so cute posing with her hands in her lap. She did really great she did get a bit scared at a couple houses and Daddy had to carry her every now and then. The only really bad thing that happened was she felt down at the last house. It was kind of ironic because that very same thing happened to Jack two years ago as well. Maybe we should just start skipping the last house!

 

We ended up being getting home at the normal bedtime. Jack had of course fallen asleep in the van. You'd think they would all crash and be out, but that wasn't the case. They weren't all hyper from candy though. Poor Jack and Owen both woke up crying from nightmares and Zeke had a terrible time going to sleep...poor baby can not keep himself from rolling over onto his back!

 

Unfortunately it was a bad night for Michael too...it was his turn for the stomach flu! Sicktober sure went out with a bang!

Paper Pumpkins!!

This year we didn't make it to pumpkin patch since on that day we had MOPS in the morning and then I needed to get the three younger kids down for nap as well as do home school with Owen and Jack and then Taekwondo. Needless to say we couldn't squeeze in one more event that day. Also October has been the plague month for our house so we haven't felt up to really going out in the elements.

 

So on Halloween morning I decided it would be fun to just make paper pumpkins with the kids. At first I figured we would just cut out black triangles for eyes and circles for noses, but then I remembered I had these cool stickers. They came with the helium balloon set my SIL Stephanie got for Zeke's baby shower. They were perfect for this craft with the kids.

 

 

 

 

The top pumpkin is Jack's he named it Zeke. Tonight he said that the nose looked like broccoli. Ella's is on the bottom right. She placed everything except the ears. She did a great job getting everything in the correct place. The one on the bottom left is mine.

 

 

Owen put his pumpkin up higher in the window. For some reason every time I look at it I swear it reminds me of some of the pigs from Angry Birds.

The Anatomy Of Playing A Smartphone Game!

First hold the phone within 6 inches of your face.

 

 

Moving your one leg is highly recommended!

 

 

Making funny faces by opening your mouth is absolutely required.

 

 

If the leg move didn't work the last time then move it farther to the right to the point where you actually kick whoever is sitting next to you.

 

 

Lastly perfect the serious gaming face!

 

 

Seriously watching Jack play games on my phone is by far the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. He simply CAN NOT sit still!