Flower Craft

I promise this picture isn't posed, though it totally looks like it.  I came down the stairs and found Micah like that, waiting to go to the office to get his dad (and deliver his flower craft).  So I of course told him to stay like that while I got the camera.  The craft was cute, from some Family Fun magazine or something.  You cut edges on a paper plate (an odd number), then start on the back of the plate with the yarn (tape it) and make the spokes (then tape the other end of the yarn on the back).  Get a new piece of yarn in another color and tie it in the center, then start weaving over and under each piece of yarn to gradually coil outward.  we switched colors partway through, twice, actually, 'cause we're exciting like that.  Anyway, Micah could do it himself and Jesse could tell me that he could do it himself.  It was a nice stay-at-home-day craft.  Thought I'd share in case any other crafters out there want to try it.

Beach in a Bag

This is a less than impressive craft idea, but it was fun for the kids to make and got them excited for the beach!  My oldest son wanted me to think of a craft, and for whatever reason I came up with this.  We took a small amount of sand from our sandbox and then put it into ziploc bags.  Each child chose a color of food dye and we put in a few drops to make red and yellow sand.  I sent Micah into the backyard to pick sea shells out of the sandbox (we always stick some in there when we get back from the beach each year) and find some seed pods or pinecones.  We added these.  Then I gave them each a cork and a pile of noodles and beans (the noodles and beans are less thematic, but they were thrilled to color the noodles with markers and pretend that they were little crabs or sea dwelling I-don't-know-whats).  I then sealed the bags and put packaging tape on them. 

Crafty Trellis for the Garden

This was an idea that I actually took from a kid's magazine.  I usually like to come up with my own ideas (aka: reinvent the wheel).  But this was an idea I've been meaning to try for a long time.  Last time I bought paint I took an obscene amount of paint sticks, so we should have some more of these for some summer climbing vegetables.  I spent a really long time tying it together, then got into a fight with hubby when he picked it up and it fell apart.  The staple gun solution was a great idea of his.  The kids colored the paint sticks with crayons (I didn't want paint in the garden) for the decor.  I think it came out well.  :)

The artists are posed with the trellis below; I'm really excited about the raspberries starting to leaf out behind Jesse's head.  I'm less excited about the lily-thinning I'm going to have to do.