September Family Fun

First Week of September Fun

When baby’s due date came and went with no sign of baby, I decided that I was going to try to get as much fun in as possible with Hannah and Ella.  

The weekend before (Labor Day weekend) we spent Saturday morning at the Cow Chip Festival and then they took off for the cottage with Grandma and Grandpa the rest of the weekend.

Ella's throw

Hannah's throw

Protecting their hearing during the parade

Yarn Bowls

On Wednesday, we decided to try out yarn bowls.  I had a number of different colored partial skeins from previous projects that the girls and I could choose from.  We also had a few different shaped bowls to experiment with.  We initially tried to accomplish this with a glue-water mixture, but it did not work out.  The yarn was still soft the next day.  We re-did the craft with only glue, and while it took two days to dry, it worked! We followed the directions from Pretty Prudent http://prudentbaby.com/2009/10/prudent-home/diy-spooky-yarn-bowl-2/ and really enjoyed the craft.

Yarn Bowl Supplies

 Cutting their yarn

Bowls covered in plastic wrap and cut yarn

Finished Bowls

Fireworks in a Jar, Dance Recital, Park

On Thursday, we decided that the Fireworks in a Jar from Money Saving Mom (http://moneysavingmom.com/2012/06/4-weeks-of-frugal-family-fun-fireworks-in-a-jar-day-10.html#_a5y_p=650674) sounded like a fun idea.  We had plenty of jars and put our oil and food coloring in a bowl ahead of time like the post said.  However, the food coloring all stayed in the bowl when we poured the oil out.  It worked out much better for us to pour the oil directly into the jar after putting the water in and then dropping the food coloring on the top of that oil.  The food coloring eventually sank to the water to produce the “fireworks” but we also found that we could help it along by pushing it down through the oil with toothpicks.

The girls also decided that they wanted to put on all of their dance gear and perform some wonderful dances for us when their Daddy got home.  Hannah starts dance class next week and is very excited. 

Ballet

Tap

After their wonderful dance recital, we decided to have some family time at one of the local playgrounds.  I’m not sure who had more fun, Daddy or the girls!

Glitter Sidewalk Chalk

The girls have been looking forward to trying this out since I first found this recipe on Pinterest from The Imagination Tree http://theimaginationtree.com/2013/07/rainbow-glitter-sidewalk-paint-recipe.html .  They enjoyed mixing in the food coloring and, of course, picking out and mixing in the glitter.  They had so much fun painting in on the driveway.  I think we will definitely try this again, but with fewer colors.  We ended up washing quite a bit of it down the drain.

 

 

Supplies needed

Soccer Game, Origami Cats

On Saturday morning, Hannah had her first soccer game of the year.  It was a hot one, but she had a lot of fun.  Last year, she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep playing anymore, but she seems a lot more into it this year. 

After soccer, we were pretty low-key.  I even managed to get in a long nap.  We worked on getting ready for Hannah’s Daisy troop meeting the next day by reading through her Journey’s book and found directions on how to make origami cats.  We decided to make it a family activity and the girls got us to cut out different sized paper so they could have kittens too.

International Crane Foundation

Sunday afternoon, Hannah’s Daisy troop took a trip to the International Crane Foundation https://www.savingcranes.org/ just north of Baraboo.  I had never been there before and Christopher hadn’t been there since middle school, so we and Ella decided to tag along.  It was so interesting!  I definitely recommend anyone in the area who hasn’t done so yet to check it out.

Now, I don’t know for sure if it was walking around for a couple of hours there on Sunday that did it or not, but it definitely didn’t hurt.  Baby Olivia was born the next morning!  We’ve been off schedule as you can imagine all week, but I am hoping to get more projects done with the girls – although they won’t be every day.

Purple Birthday Party

Purple Party

Miss Ella likes purple. 
Maybe I should clarify that, she LOVES purple.
Everything must be purple.
So of course her birthday party this year must be purple.

Party Invitation

Back of Envelopes - I used a stencil and paint from our wedding

Front Door Decor

Cake Table

I only made cupcakes this year so it would be a little easier

Gift Table

Table Decor

Crepe Paper Wall and Ribbons on Chairs

Hard to see - but I put purple water in the vases

Create Something Purple
I also had purple crayons and coloring pages that said Color Something Purple, but I can't find that picture!

Silly Sisters in their purple outfits at the party