With some containers purchased, it was time to get this garden started.
We now have two tomato plants started.
I want to purchase a couple of plant dolly’s so I can easily move them if necessary.
Three hanging baskets of strawberries.
I promise there are strawberry crowns planted in those baskets. I’m hoping hubby can help me get them hung this weekend and then we’ll keep our fingers crossed for successful growth.
I also planted Serrano pepper seeds and Marigold seeds in a couple small pots. Hopefully they’ll take root and I’ll transplant them into bigger pots in a few weeks.
We also bought some terra-cotta pots and spent a few hours of our afternoon sitting outside painting them.
Lili planted some Impatiens seeds in one of the pots she painted. Naomi has picked out a couple different flower seed packets and we’ll be planting those in the next few days. I will also be planting some herbs in the smaller pots.
We really enjoyed the painting project and will soon make another trip for more pots in a variety of sizes.
Now that we have started our container gardening project, I seem to have more and more ideas. I love the splash of color the pots add to the landscape and the thought of some fresh fruits and vegetables in our future makes me happy.
For Christmas, we gave each of the girls a monthly subscription to Kiwi Crates. For those who don’t know what Kiwi Crates are, they are kits shipped directly to your child which include everything needed to create multiple craft, science, art and game projects. Each month there are different projects to complete.
I wasn’t sure how much Naomi would enjoy hers, but knew Lili was going to love Kiwi Crates and Naomi was not going to be happy if she didn’t get one as well. I’m thrilled to report that both girls love them and so do I.
Their first kits included everything they needed to make their own window clings (seriously, I would have never thought of this project on my own).
Can you see their clings on the window?
They made polar bear mitts out of felt and yarn then added the little Velcro circles to the little ping-pong ball in their kits and have played several fun games of catch. Each of their kits included a snowflake cookie cutter along with recipe for making sugar cookies.
We made the cookies last week.
As a mom, I’m particularly pleased with this company. Not just because they send all the supplies needed for some fun projects, but because the box everything arrives in is also a project. There is a picture to be colored and cutouts so they can create their own story and scene.
The project for this month was Special Agent. They had everything needed to make their own masks and periscope. They also received a pad of paper and pen that allowed them to draw or write secret messages that could only been seen with the little light at the opposite end of the pen. They also received instructions on another project using lemon juice to decode message.
I can certainly understand why Kiwi Crates has received so many awards and am almost as excited when they receive their boxes as they are.
I decided that this year the girls and I would work on some fun crafts projects for the holidays. Pinterest is full of wonderful craft ideas, so I went to Hobby Lobby, armed with a list of items we would need to create all I had pinned.
My hope was to complete several different crafts during the week. It hasn’t quite happened that way, yet we have created some fun things this year.
First we took Styrofoam balls and hot glued small craft pom poms and ribbon on it to create a pom-pom ornament. It’s a pretty simple project for kids, although I think it would have been better had I bought smaller balls.
Naomi with her pom-pom ornament.
Then we created snowmen using small terra-cotta pots and wooden balls. First the girls painted the pots and balls white. Using our hot glue gun again, we glued the wooden balls onto the bottom of the terra-cotta pots and drew eyes and a mouth to create the face. The girls each chose a small button and glued it onto their snowman to create the nose. Buttons were glued down the front of the snowmen and fun sparkly yarn was used as a scarf. To complete the ensemble, I cut the heel and toe from a pair of Naomi’s outgrown fuzzy socks. We glued the top of the socks onto the snowmen heads, stuffed with a little fiberfill and tied it at the top with sparkling elastic string.
I happen to think they turned out pretty well and the girls are very proud of their snowmen.
Lili with her snowman.Naomi with her snowman.Snowmen taking their place among the snow globes.
Over the weekend we tried our hand at creating some fun ornaments.
First we cut festive tissue paper into small pieces, then put the pieces into clear glass ornaments.
Word of warning . . . . .
Sometimes, there are sharp pieces of glass inside the neck of the ornaments, so please check carefully. Fortunately, no children were injured during this project, but an adult may have received a tiny cut.
Cutting and stuffing ornaments with tissue paper is more time-consuming then we thought, so we switched to another ornament project.
This time, I cut up small pieces of crayon and we put the pieces in ornaments. Using a blow dryer, we melted the crayon and rolled the ornament around to create different color combinations.
The girls were in charge of the blow dryer and I held the ornaments using hot pads because the ornaments get really hot when melting crayons.
I’m not sure, but this may have been the girls favorite Holiday project, although the snowmen ranked pretty high as well.
If our schedule permits, we hope to complete a few more projects over the next week. This is such a wonderful way of way of building up the girls stash of holiday decorations that they can take with them into adulthood. And even more important, we’re creating lasting memories that we will carry with us throughout our lives.
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