snow daysssss

Wonderful domestic bliss brought to you courtesy of  snow days, a whole bunch of snow days.   We discovered that the car thermometer does not go below 0, because it was actually -23 this morning.  I know it's colder in other parts of the country, but geesh.

There was sort of a theme running in the kitchen.  Carbs.  

With school this year, and me working full time, it's been awhile since I got my bake on.  

This cinnamon raisin bread was made using our fall back bread recipe- milk bread recipe.

I had been waiting for a good time to make this nutella braid bread after seeing it on Pinterst.  (Here are some pictures, although I just sort of figured it out).  I used the same milk bread recipe (as above) except we were low on  milk and snowed in and used mostly water.  It all worked out.  My braid was too long and ended up being a ring.  It was very average when warm, but was pretty good cooled the next day.
 

And cookies.  Add this to me not visiting the gym much and it's pretty much not a good combination.  Unless you like cookies as much as I do.

Poor Lou, we realized that his little apron was becoming just that, a little apron. 

So, there was some sewing too.  

One day we unpacked my old cabbage patch kids for the kids to play with.  Actually Mandy was mine and Andy was my brothers.  I'm sure he doesn't know I have him.  That's back when they had normal names.

I needed to replace all the old elastic in the pants.  I sent this picture to my mom to see if she remembered them.  She made me and my brother a bunch of clothes for our dolls back in the mid 80s.  They all needed a good wash, but most of them survived all those years in storage.

We've played about every game in the game closet.  Luke ended up with more kids than would fit in his car in Life. He says he does want a large family.

We got Suspend before Christmas.  It's Melissa and Doug, but not their traditional type of toy.  My brother, the physics teacher, introduced it to us at Thanksgiving.  Super fun. I've taken it in to school a few days and the kids really like it too.
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We pressed thimbles onto the frosted glass door.  I don't know how this one door frosts up so much and not the others.  We read about this when we read The Little House books but had not tried it yet.  I thought we'd have to warm the thimbles, but you don't at all.  The little circles added another layer of pretty to the already pretty pattern of frost.

 
The kids and I worked on every 'winter' craft we could think of.  Painting with Epsom salt is one of my favorite winter crafts.  I feel like I've written about it before, but I can't find it.  That little search button on my page doesn't seem to be working.

I've done with project with about every grade and group of kids I've worked with since college.  You just use a white crayon on black construction paper and draw whatever winter scene you want.  The salt will give the illusion of a frosted window, so I usually draw a window and whatever winter scene inside of it.  Mix a handful of Epsom salt -like from the pharmacy for cheap- in some warm water and stir.  I don't have a measurement or a formula.  In fact, I've done lots of experimenting with how much salt and water and temperature of water, etc and it doesn't seem to matter.  If I guessed, I would say we add 3 T of salt to 3/4 c water.  Then, you liberally paint it inside the window.  Liberally, don't over brush, don't be afraid to get that paper wet either.  Lay is flat to dry and walk away.  This takes awhile to dry and let the crystals form.  Do this in the morning and by the afternoon, they'll be done.  At some point, you'll think you've done something wrong and you'll be getting no crystals, I do each and every time.  They're coming.  Be patient.

We made 6 pointed snowflakes again, but my origami paper was at school so we used coffee filters.  We  used  the same directions for getting the 6 points from square papers.  Here are our directions from 2011.  Geesh.  I almost wrote 'last year.'

 This was our first time making prints with ink.  I remembered doing it in high school and my sister sent me with some supplies last Christmas she'd saved from a college class. 

 
The kids carved some drawing in clean Styrofoam.  I think I must have bought some fruit or something on these foams.  It's the same kind that meat comes on from the grocery, but I never want to use those.  So something clean came on these. We used golf tees to do the carving. 

The ink gets rolled on and then you just press the paper on top and lift it off.  Lou's print is the snowman and Bees is the snowflake with dots.  We talked about getting a blue ink the next time we stop by the art shop.

These pictures were left on the camera from the last snow days which were before Christmas.  We actually haven't had enough snow for sledding this time.  A little bit north of us has 2 feet, we have an inch.  Our 'snow days' this time have been for temperature mostly.  Lou and I went sledding with one of his friends.  Bee whined and wanted to stay home, she missed out.  It was the most fun I've ever had sledding!  Next big snow, I'm taking her kick and screaming. 

I also had time that round to do a bit of sewing.  Here's an apron I made my mom for Christmas.  Its uber long!  I must have turned the bottom skirt piece the wrong way.  She'll have to shorten it herself if she doesn't want it so long.  We were snowed in and I had to use fabric on hand.  It's pieced with more fabrics than I like to work with at once but turned out alright.

I've loved these snow days but seriously, if we don't get back to school soon, I'm pretty much going to loose my mind... and patience... and sanity. 

caterpillars

We hatched butterflies at preschool again this spring.  I've talked about hatching butterflies before (here, here, and here) but I wanted to share a new craft.  (Here are my plans from butterfly day.)

The kids so enjoy this activity.

 
This year we got to write about them in our preschool journals.

Here's the craft.  We painted the kid's first hand green with blue fingers for legs and stamped that a few times on a large paper.  The on the other hand, we painted the hand red and the pointer and ring finger a purplish brown color.  The eyes and nose were added later.  I think they turned our super cute.

Easter Eggs

 I have a hundred photos ready to go.  All computers are up and running, and appropriate software.  We're in business now!  Here's the first items:  Ukrainian Eggs. 

I've written about them before.  
eggs in 2010
more 2010 eggs
eggs in 2011

 
I must not have gotten them out last year, but the kids were begging to make them this year.

The kids are getting good!  Here's Bee's purple egg.

 
 And Lou's orange egg.

 
And my eggs.

 
For a full explanation on these eggs, see my post in 2010.

Other Christmas- preschool style

 Here are some last minute Christmas goodies from preschool this Christmas.  I guess they'll have to save for next year.

Candy cane math.  This is one from my co-teacher.  She gave the kids each a white paper candy cane and access to bunches of red stripes.  She led them through math equations, helping them solve both addition and subtraction.    "Add four red stripes, good, now add two more...  how many stripes are there now?" 

 
Here are the pretzle wreath treats that Bee passed out to her classmates.  There are just 13 of them in her class, it wasn't a big commitment.  We used this recipe from a few years ago.  2009 actually.  No wonder Bee and Lou didn't remember them.  That's not technically preschool.

 The preschool kids made these lovely ornaments this season.  We used this recipe that we made last year.   I made up the dough and sealed it in ziplocks.  One doubled recipe made enough for 18 prek kids and 15 3-year old and few extra for my kids.  Each child made one ornament.  I baked them at home and the kids painted them with regular watercolor paint the next day.  To help prevent cracking, which I had so much of last year, I baked them at a really low temp for longer, my oven goes down to 170 degrees.  You need to dry them really, not bake them. 

I shared these Nativity pieces/blocks recently.  They were a nice addition to our morning table activities.

I think these stickers are from Oriental Trading.  We've used them at preschool the past few years to have an easy no mess craft on party day.   The kids used them to make cards.

We did have a little bit messy craft for party day, it was saved from a different day and it just worked out to do it during our party.  

The stars are tongue depressors.  The stars were already glued together and the kids just glued buttons to the front.  The white glue the kiddos used was the only mess.

We sang this cute song one day Christmas week.  It's to the tune of Bingo.  After each line you sing, "J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S, and Jesus is his name."   Bingo style. 

Here's another game we played.  The kids were handed cards with these letters, all the letters we've worked on until now.  There is a paper candy cane/J behind the cards.  There are lines drawn on it to show where the cards go, but there are no letters.  The kids had to pay attention and follow along with getting the cards up and in order. They are getting good at recognizing the letters.  Mostly. 

Here's a craft from early in the week.  The kids put their brown handprint on the page and added the pre-assembled baby Jesus in the manger.  We (or someone, not me) turned the handprint into a camel when it was dry.   I like the words around the edge, "I am the camel who followed the star with three wise kings from a land afar."

 On party day, we played this bingo game, which really isn't bingo, but it tells the Christmas story in order.  The clipart is from Prepared Not Scared.  I made up the bingo cards (all the same) using a table in word doc. and made a larger set for me to show the kids and I told the story. I liked it because it offered another way for me to tell the Christmas story.  Again.

We also played a bow toss game with a sheet as a parachute. I apparently have no photo of this, but we just had about 40 regular present bows on a bed sheet.

We read through the kids' Christmas story books .  The parents watched as the kids flipped through each page (and glitter and sequins flew everywhere).  These were sent home as well.  I wanted the kids to be able to have a chance to 'read' the book to family and friends at home. 

and then went to play some games in the hallway.  

First, we played a game where two kids at a time shoveled ping pong balls and carried them on their snow shovels to another bucket. 

The kids wore scarves while they did it.  Snow is cold.  Two players went at once. 

There was a 'bow in the box' toss.

Something was tossed at this little foam core tree.  It's been like a week and already I can't remember.  I used to have a really great memory.

Wooden balls were 'bowled" at these fancied up 2 liter bottles.

The stars were walked on in a 'cake walk' fashion. 

Here's what our tables looked like.  They always look so sweet on party days.

Here was our gift to the kids.  The whole school is the same, the teachers don't have to worry about that at all, which is nice.

They are sweet little J for Jesus candy cane ornaments.

I hope that is all the Christmas preschool related things I wanted to get posted. I still have many photos to go through.  I am showing my kids the James and the Giant Peach movie, so I have an hour and a half to get as much done as I can! Ready, set, go.