Magnetic Playset

Of all the handmade Christmas gifts my wife has made, I think the kids will like this one the most.  I know the girl will love hers, because she can't leave the magnets on our fridge alone.  Most of the stuff for this project we had lying around the house anyway, so I think it cost us around five dollars to make this masterpiece.

Here's what you need:

Cookie Sheet
Fabric
Magnets
Stickers
Glue
Scissors
Index Cards
Duct Tape

We had some old cooking sheets that we were going to throw out, so we decided to up-cycle them into this project.  You can also purchase a new cooking sheet from Wal-Mart for 74 cents.  The fabric was under one dollar (again, at Wal-Mart) and the magnets were six dollars for a box of 50.  I think that works out to 12 cents a magnet.  We bought some nice, sparkly stickers for around two or three dollars and everything else we already had.   Putting it all together was pretty easy.  Easy enough that the girl helped us work on brother's gift.

The magnets are simple.  Place the stickers on index cards, cut out the cards, then glue them to the magnets.  Done.

The tricky part is getting the fabric to lay smoothly on the cooking sheet.  Apply some glue to top of the baking tray and place your fabric down.  Smooth it out from the center to the sides.  Wrap the fabric over the sheet and onto the back.  Glue the fabric to the bottom of the cooking sheet.  Finally, cover the seam where the fabric ends with some duct tape to keep it from pulling away and coming unglued.

Glue the fabric to the back.

Kids love to pick at things so you better tape those ends.

There you have it.  A homemade Christmas gift that cost somewhere in the neighborhood of four or five dollars.

Check out these Handmade Christmas Gifts.

100th Post!!! Messy Baby Photo Contest

As a thank you to all of my friends and family that have been reading the blog and plugging me on Facebook, I thought it'd be fun to have a little photo contest giveaway.  Here's how it works:  Correctly identify what is covering the baby and you'll be entered in to a drawing to win a free book of your choice from BiggerBooks.com.  Be sure to leave your answer in the comments section below.  Click the photo and zoom in for a closer look.  You can keep guessing up until Christmas Eve when I announce the winner.

Here are a few samples of the reads you can find at Bigger Books.  Click the cover for more information.





Good Luck!!!

Don't Eat Your Diaper

I had to enforce some diaper discipline awhile back when I caught the baby tearing at her diaper, ripping off little cottony pieces and eating them.

Apparently, her diaper was tastier than anything I had been feeding her that day.  She didn't like Daddy telling her that diapers weren't for eating.

Her reaction. (Photo edited to increase sadness)

 This has been a major problem we've had with the baby.  She puts everything in her mouth.  We didn't have this problem with the first two kids and I think it has come back to haunt us with #3.  The things I've seen this girl eat amaze me:  dirt, dog food, and a couple of times, I've seen her make a run for the litter box.  So, I guess it shouldn't have shocked me to see her eating the diaper.  That's probably one of the safest things she has put in her mouth.  But then it happened.

She ate another diaper.

But, it wasn't one she was wearing.

It's one she had worn.

And used.

To its fullest potential.

I'll spare you the horrific details and I certainly won't make you look at a picture.  But I will say this.  Never keep the dirty diaper pail next to the baby's crib.  If you have absolutely no other place to put it, make sure that all poopy diapers are wrapped up and that the lid is properly secured.

Frustrating Moments in Parenting #12

"Anything involving kid footwear"

There is nothing easy about kids' shoes.  Some of the most frustrating moments in parenting revolve around the presence or absence of footwear.  I don't understand how a child can own eight pairs of shoes yet you can never find a complete set when you need it.  Or, if you do find a complete set, it's not the right type of shoe.  The girl has her Christmas dress on and the only pair of shoes I can find are her Dora tennies.  According to my wife, that would be a serious fashion no-no.  I say Velcro up because we're already running ten minutes late to grandma's house and she'll take the stupid shoes off as soon as we get there anyway.

 You can barely see the shoes anyway.

 Besides, pink and red match anyway right?

 Even more frustrating is trying to teach your kids to get the shoes on the right feet.  It doesn't matter if they know their left from their right or not.  Those shoes are going to trip them up.  We finally had to resort to drawing smiley faces on the insides of each shoe.  The girl has watched enough Disney princess movies to know what kissing is now, so we just tell her to make her shoes kiss.  Her shoes are usually on the correct foot now.

These shoes were made for kissing.

 You would think that once your kids know how to get shoes on the right (and left) foot, things would go smoothly.  Sorry, but it doesn't.  You still need to teach them how to tie their shoes.  I'm not even going to get into that, because that's a whole different rant.

Even with Velcro straps, "tying" shoes is frustrating.  For some reason, the boy thinks it is too much trouble to take an extra 1.2 seconds to unstrap his shoe before sliding his foot in.  Instead, he'd rather struggle to ram his Sasquatch-sized sole right in.  If he does manage to break through, chances are, his toes took the tongue with them.  Now he gets to pull his foot back out, pull the tongue up, and resume ramming.

When it comes to parenting, nothing is easy, especially kid footwear.

Frosty the Spoonman

The local Library wrapped up their Christmas events last Saturday with a party and some more easy Christmas crafts for the kids.  Before I get into the craft making, let me offer a little parenting advice.  If you want to get your kids to go anywhere or do anything, you have to be careful about how your presentation.

For example, if we would have told the boy we were going to the library, he would have cried, moaned, and said he wanted to stay home.  However, when we said we were going to a party, he was all about it.  He even shut off his favorite movie, put on his shoes, and buckled himself in the van without saying a word.  He was ready to party.

Imagine his disappointment when we pulled the van in here.

The dialogue that immediately followed:

The Boy:  "Dad, why are we going to the library?  I thought you said we were going to a party."

Me:  "We are.  The party is at the library."

The Boy:  "Why would anyone throw a party at the library?"

Me:  "Excellent point son.  Let's discuss it inside."

At least we managed to get him there.

Every time we go to one of these library events, I have high hopes that we'll make it through the thing without anyone crying, shouting, or calling DCFS.  Last week's homemade Christmas ornaments trip went pretty smooth, this week shouldn't be much different right?  Well, right actually.  It did go pretty smooth.  You thought I was going to have a good kids-melting-down-in-public story huh?  Sorry, it was a boring trip.  It is the library after all.

This week's craft was pretty easy for the kids, so easy that the baby made one too.

Guess which one the baby made.

Here's what you need:

Plastic spoon
Rubber band
Cloth strip
Hair ties
Pom-pom
Permanent Marker (Orange and Black)






First you want to tie the rubber band around the neck of the spoon.  This will help to keep the scarf in place.

Tie your cloth scarf around the neck and then draw Frosty a face.  The stocking cap is where the real fun comes in.  We used a hot glue gun, but you could probably just use some good old super glue too.  You will need three different hair ties for the cap.  Two of the same color and one different for the middle.  Glue each one on and then add the pom-pom to the top.  That's it.  Easy right?

You can also turn these into Christmas ornaments if you tie a string around the stocking cap.  That's actually what the librarian had in mind, but the kids decided they just wanted to play with the spoons instead.  Play, as in sword fight.







And, just because it was stuck in my head the entire time I wrote this post....

Marshmallow Gun

As far as inexpensive Christmas gifts go, my favorite one from this year is the Marshmallow Gun.  Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like pelting one of your kids right between the eyes with a Jet-Puffed mini-mallow.

 If only Ralphie would have listened.

This is ridiculously simple (and inexpensive) to make.  Here's all you need:

Six 5" pieces of 1/2" PVC pipe

One 8" piece of 1/2" PVC pipe

Two elbows (1/2")

Two T-Connectors (1/2")

Two end caps (1/2")



We found it was cheaper to purchase one six feet long piece of PVC pipe than to buy two smaller pieces.  It's also easier to have the guy at Home Depot cut the pieces to length for you.  Also, Home Depot is, without a doubt, a much better shopping experience than Lowe's.  Walk into a Lowe's and you're lucky if anybody that works there is around, knows what you're looking for, or where to find it.  Stroll into a Home Depot and there are three to four people waiting at the door to help you.  Moving on...

If you do cut the pieces yourself, use a table saw (a hacksaw can make the ends sharp).  Regardless of which method you use, sand those pipes down.  Once you have your pieces cut (and sanded), set up is a breeze.  Connect the eight-inch piece to a T-connector.  Make sure the T is pointing down.  Connect a five-inch piece to the other end, another T-connector (facing up), another five-inch piece, and an elbow (facing down).  Here, just look at the picture.

 Just do that ^

Now, insert three five-inch pieces into both T-connectors and the elbow.

Cap off the two bottom five-inch pieces, add an elbow and the final five-inch piece to the top.

Insert your mini-marshmallows into the top and rain marsh-mallowy hellfire on the kiddos.

Reasons the marshmallow gun is better than a Nerf gun:

1.  You can eat the ammo.  Although, the baby has proven Nerf bullets can, in fact, be eaten.

2.  You don't have to chase after your bullets and clean up when you're done.  Dogs love marshmallows.

3.  The shooting is more accurate...

BULLSEYE!

Learn how to  make more Inexpensive Christmas Gifts here.