Blueberry Dyed Shirts

A few weeks ago we were doing a history lesson and learning about the ancient civilization of the Phoenicians (who also provided the base for our modern day alphabet apparently... Phoenicians... phonics... *lightbulb*... lol). Anyway, when ancient civilizations wanted to dye their clothes they had to use natural things to do it; in their case a type of slug that they boiled for a particular purple color that was so strong it even dyed the workers so that they became known as the "purple people". Now, as much fun as finding and boiling slugs sounds... *gag*... we decided to go with an easier (and less disgusting) approach and use blueberries! Of course blueberries aren't the only things you can use, blackberries are another good option, but Wade wanted to eat a few when we were done so blueberries it was. We made a special trip to the store (which of course included a jaunt by the park...), got our blueberries and got started.

I forgot to look at the label before I threw it away, but I'm pretty sure we used about 8 oz of blueberries in a pot of water. All we did was put water in the pot, added the blueberries (at the rate of two 6 year olds...) to the pot and let it boil about half an hour. Once time was up, I (in the name of preserving my kitchen from being dyed blue) strained the blueberries out of the pot (keep the water of course) and the boys put their plain white t-shirts in. We let the shirts soak for at least 5 minutes, probably closer to 10 honestly, and then pulled them out and let them drip dry over the sink until they stopped dripping and then finished drying in front of some fans. Once they were dry I washed them once in cold water, hoping the dye wouldn't disappear, and they turned out pretty great! They fade a little bit after washing them over and over, but they're still purple and the blueberries did a great job!

Blueberries in the pot

Shirts soaking in water

After dyeing shirts

After washing them. :-)

So far in 2016...

Apparently I have some sort of mental block about remember to update this... but here are some pics to catch up with things that have happened so far this year! :-)

We made some delicious sugar cookies that they iced all by themselves. :-)

We read a ton more books and earned more Book It coupons! 

We spent as much time as possible playing and snuggling with our buddy Ringo!

And after our biggest snowstorm of the winter (so far anyway...) we went sledding and they had a blast and went by themselves over and over for the first time. :-)

More updates to come! (Hopefully soon!) :-)

Cutting Firewood

     This year, instead of trying to find someone nearby that has wood that doesn't cost a fortune to burn in our little woodstove/fireplace, we got ourselves a permit and went and did the work ourselves. We've already gone once this fall before it snowed, but we wanted to get another load of firewood since it was a nice day on our day off. So, we drove up the the forest, and got to work. The boys love doing it, and have a blast lugging logs out of the woods! I remebered to take pictures this time, so I figured it was worth a short post so people could see them. :-)

Leaf Glitter and Handprint Turkeys

     We've done a few craft projects lately, and since we were sending them to people as surprises I didn't want to post anything until they got them! Now that everything has arrived, I figured I'd share these, at least for next year since they're really cute ideas.

Leaf Glitter:

One day while we were at the park, (of course this was while it was still really "fall" and there were leaves on the ground instead of snow...), and there were a bunch of really pretty red leaves. I had seen the idea on Facebook of doing leaf glitter, so we collected a bunch of them to take home and use. I put them in a container and we let them finish drying out before we crunched them all up and made leaf glitter. So, when we started the activity I told them they should pick out different shapes, like leaves, a pumpkin, you know...something "fall", and I will draw the shape in glue and they sprinkle the "leaf glitter" on the glue, knock off the extra leaves, and then let it dry. Well... instead of wanting to do fall shapes, they wanted things like circles, triangles, a W, Pacman, and even a smiley face... so we went with it...lol! They had fun, and did a good job, so I figure that's what matters anyway.

Handprint Turkeys:

     I wanted to do something fun for Thanksgiving, so I went with an art project that we'd never done before; Handprint Turkeys! They're cute, the boys get to paint, and they make fun little gifts/surprises. So, I found a template on Pinterest and got to it! Here is the link to where I got the template if you want it: http://littlegiraffes.com/teaching-ideas/385/thanksgiving-turkey-art-activities-and-crafts/. I painted their hands the first time to show them what we were going for, and then they took over. Some turned out better than others, but they did great and didn't turn my kitchen into the Paintpocalypse so no complaints here. Now, the really fun part is that when they were done I took a picture of two of them to see the completed product... and somehow the picture magically disappeared from my phone. Ugh. But I have a picture of them before we put the beaks and eyes on and wrote their names. I think you'll get the point anyway, and the link above shows you the finished product a bit bettter...haha...oy. Anyway, here you go! 

Celery Rainbow Fish Art!

      I was surfing Pinterest one day when I saw a really cute idea for a fun art project; Celery Rainbow Fish! The basic idea is you take pieces of celery and cut them into short sticks that you use to dip in different colors of paint in order to make what look like fish scales. It's a really cute idea, and a good way to use up some of the last celery we have that we picked from Miller Farms a few months ago. The intention was for them to actually try to make them look like real fish scales do... but honestly I like how they turned out this way too! They had a ton of fun doing them (which is what I'm REALLY going for), and they are colorful and pretty. We sent our beautiful works of art to some people we love, and we hope they love them too! If you want to see the original Pin where I got the idea from, here is the link to the site: http://www.craftymorning.com/celery-stamping-rainbow-fish-craft-for-kids/

Camping/Archery Trip

Last week we decided to go camping for one last time before it got too cold, so instead of doing the normal beach trip to the lake at the campground (it was closed for the season... and brrrrrrrrrr anyway...) we decided to let the boys try their bow and arrows at the archery range by the campground instead. We found the bow at a thrift sale for $5 last year sometime, and it's been sitting around waiting for the chance to use it. We bought a few cheap target arrows to go with it and we were ready to roll. We went once, the day we arrived to see how they liked it... and they LOVED it! They actually did a really good job with it too; I was impressed for sure. They ended up loving it so much that we went back the next day again instead of going fishing. They are already looking forward to going again soon!

The boys also had a blast during this trip because; A. There is a park RIGHT next to the camping spot we always try to get, and B. There was another family next to us camping with 3 other kids their age that homeschool! They were SO excited! LOL! I only took pictures of the boys at the park since it's always weird to creepily take pictures of kids you don't really know... but the point is they had a blast. :-)

Kindergarten Book List

     I think I've mentioned in a few posts about the ridiculously long list of books I wanted to read in Kindergarten, and how I got through most of it, and I'm finishing it up this year before I start on the ridiculously long First Grade book list... Anyway, I kept a list of all "my" books that I read with the boys this year. Now, if you remember, by "my" books I mean the ones that go in "my" shelf on the bookshelf. It's books that I've chosen either before going to the Library, or while we were there. If it wasn't a book based on a TV show or superhero; I included it. Well, I finally got around to taking my list and making it into a bunch of jpg images so that other people can enjoy some new, different books for a Kindergartener or even younger! If you have any questions about a certain book, or the list at all, feel free to ask! There are a lot of great ones on here, and many I'd never heard of before! Enjoy!