Tie-Dye with your kids!

Happy Friday!!!  I hope everyone has had a great week.  It was Spring Break for my kids this week and since we were going to be stuck at home I was a little worried about how the week would go.  At least during our school weeks half of the day is taken up with school work, but this week actually went by really fast. We kept ourselves entertained around here and managed to squeeze in some fun activities, too!

One thing that we all loved doing was tie-dye!!!!  Now, it is a MESS, but totally worth it and we all had a lot of fun.  I did a tie-dye birthday party for my daughter a few years ago and learned a lot during that process.  If you are looking for a fun activity I would totally recommend doing some tie-dye at home with your kids.

I bought this tie-dye kit on Amazon for under $15. It comes in a bunch of different colors and some are available right away, but others are not going to be available until a few weeks. I also found kits by the same brand HERE and HERE. These kits come with all of the dye, plastic gloves, and rubber bands needed to make the different designs.

I ordered a few packs of white t-shirts (these do shrink!) and also some plain white sweatshirts (only $8) for us to dye.  The directions say to wash all of the items you are going to tie-dye so I did that the day before. Then it was time to prep our shirts. I set up a table outside and the girls and I cut some of our shirts to make tank tops, crop tops (them, not me!), and I distressed my sweatshirt.

Then we looked up ideas online for how to fold, twist, swirl, and tie up the shirts.  After we got all the shirts done we were ready to dye. I used plastic bins and would 100% recommend finding something around the house you could put the shirts in before putting the dye on.  Plastic tubs, a bowl or something like that.  After each shirt was done I put it in a plastic bag with their name on it and we would rinse the containers out so the color didn't absorb into their next shirt.

This is definitely an outdoor activity. It made a huge mess inside and I can't imagine doing this indoors.  My kids were pretty good about keeping the color on the shirts, but we had a few mishaps here and there and my hands ended up looking tie-dyed in the end!

The directions say to let the shirts sit for 6-8 hours, but we left ours in the bags for 24 hours.  The next step is to rinse out all of the excess color.  This takes WAY longer than you would imagine.  My kids like doing a lot of the dye!  The last time we did this I rinsed the shirts in my laundry room sink, but this time I decided to let the kids help do it outside with a hose.  It took a lot of spraying/rinsing/squeezing. We all got totally soaked and at one point my son went to put on a bathing suit.  They had a blast!

Once the water is mostly clean it is finally it was time to take the rubber bands off and see how our designs turned out!  This is the MOST fun part because I feel like you never know what it will look like!

The last step is to wash each of the items in hot water. I washed in groups of like colors because there is still some bleeding of the colors that happen.  We couldn't be happier with how all of ours turned out.  I was most surprised about my sweatshirt because I was expecting it to just be green and white. However, it turned out to be this really pretty green and teal color.  Never could have planned that if I tried!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend at HOME!!!  See you all back here next week. :-)

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Coronavirus Daily Schedule for Kids

This past week has been a whirlwind.  It is honestly hard to even wrap my head around all that has happened and changed with the new developments about Coronavirus.

Last week I began getting emails from just about everyone regarding their new policies with regards to the virus and what measures they were taking to keep everyone safe and healthy.  Anything from my pediatrician's office to the place my son gets his hair cut to Old Navy.  Yep, even Old Navy sent me an email about it.  Honestly, that one just made me laugh.

On Wednesday I had stocked up on groceries for the Mr. and younger two kids because I was set to head to Orlando on Thursday for a cheer competition at Disney World. With all of the growing concerns about the spread of this virus we were notified on Wednesday that our gym was still going.  Thursday morning we had another email saying the gym had pulled all of the teams from the competition and that was the news I got to wake my daughter up with.

"Good morning, honey...instead of going to Disney with your friends and teammates to compete, you get to go to school."

She was crushed, mad, disappointed, confused, and annoyed about life at the moment, but I knew it was the right decision.  Later that day our schools were cancelled, baseball was cancelled, soccer was cancelled, basically our entire life was put on hold.

The reality started to sink in a little bit and we all tried to make sense of what this was going to mean for us.  "Digital learning" is the new catch phrase as far as their schooling goes and that is one of the biggest unknowns.  They all went to school on Friday to get final assignments, directions, and guidance for how to navigate these next few weeks and I have a feeling the majority of my day is going to be helping each of my 3 with their online work and assignments.  Just the logistics of logging into different programs, who gets to use the laptop, who is going to work where, etc. has me a little nervous, but we are going to make it work!  I've set up a small workstation for each of them in different parts of the house so they can hopefully concentrate and focus during their digital learning times.

I know my kids view this as a "break" from school, but I have a feeling that they are all going to be eager and begging to go back to school as soon as they can. That is the hard part though. We have NO IDEA when they will be heading back.  Just like schools all over the country, we would hope to go back in 2 weeks, but my guess is the likelihood of that actually happening is very slim.  I've read articles and reports with recommendations that could have us out the rest of the year.  I'm praying that isn't the case, but if it is, we better get used to this new normal.

I'm obviously no expert, but thought I would share what I'm going to be doing to try to keep my kids entertained, engaged and off of their phones/ipads all day long.  I think one of the biggest things to help us all get through these next few weeks is to create a schedule.  I have to admit this made me laugh though:

There have been a ton of these ideas floating around.  Some seem great if you could really make them happen:

Others that I'm sure my kids were hoping for:

My guess is ours will end up somewhere in-between those two. I know ours will be flexible and we will probably have to adjust what we do by the end of the week, but at least it gives us a starting point.  My kids are 8, 10 and 12 and my goal is for them to have an idea of what our days at home will look like while still keeping a little structure. This is the one I made and what I'm aiming for:

Sports play a HUGE part of my kids' lives so along with keeping their school going I also hope to keep their sports going.  I figure if I can be their teacher while they are at home I can also be their coach! We will be practicing drills, hitting off the tee, stretching, throwing, juggling, tumbling, conditioning and anything else we can think of. I can't imagine them going back to school having done nothing over these next few weeks and I feel the same about them going back to their sports having done nothing.

I also wanted to share a few ideas that the kids and I came up with for ways to stay entertained while they aren't working on their school work or sports practices. We're going to keep adding to this list as we think of new ideas!

make bead bracelets

science kits

learn calligraphy

learn to sew

clean out their closets

organize playroom

clean out old toys/books

chores to earn money

watch movies

silly string

jump on trampoline

paint

learn to do laundry

baking

family walks

How are you planning to survive these next few weeks (or longer) at home with your kids???

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Painted Rocks

Unless you've been living under a rock (see what I did there :-)), you've probably heard about the painted rock project.  It started as a way to help bring inspiration to others that may need it and has turned into a huge movement that swept across the country. The basic idea is you paint rocks with any sort of design, quote or saying and then "hide" them for others to find.

Simple, right?  Well, just imagine the smile it might bring to someone's face to find a rock with a word of inspiration outside of a doctor's office or for a child to find a cute painted rock on a playground.  The possibilities are endless.  We've found a few painted rocks around town and and it is always such a pleasant surprise that brings a smile to my kids' faces.

Last summer this seemed to be gaining popularity and I kept thinking I wanted to make some painted rocks with my kids.  I kept putting it off, but now we've painted rocks a few different times and the kids love it!

We collected rocks from several different sources.  Some came from our yard, some I bought in a decorative set at the dollar store and some were left over from my in-law's landscaping project.  You can order decorative rocks to use for this kind of project or pick them up from your local landscaping store.

One time I let the kids paint the solid colors first and let them dry before adding their designs.

It took a while for them to get completely dry though, so the next time I spray painted a lot of them to have a solid background before they started. I did find that spray painting them ahead of time was better and less of a mess.

Then we invited some of their friends over for a painting party and they got to work!  I used plastic tablecloths under where they were working to save my furniture and then one time we painted them outside!

We used paint pens because it was easier for them to get the designs they wanted by just drawing on the rocks rather than trying to use a tiny paint brush to do it.

After they dried we stuck them in the car with us and started hiding any place we could think of.  When we went to sports fields, when running errands around town, at the playground, school and park.  The kids loved finding special places for the rocks and hoping that someone would come along and be excited to find their creations.

It was such a simple and easy little project to do, but so much fun.  I know it brought a smile to my kids' faces and we're hoping that whoever found their rocks would be smiling, too!

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Good Luck Goodies

Just as our fall sports are dying down, winter sports are gearing up. Yesterday, Jen mentioned about some of the Mini-Magnolias playing basketball and that also means that competition cheer season is starting!  Little Mama's team had their very first competition of the season this past weekend and it was SO much fun.

They have worked so hard since the summer conditioning, training and learning their routine, but no matter how much preparation you put into it ahead of time, there is always last minute stuff that arises and there was a lot of last minute stuff this year.

Everyone was excited, but nervous also and I wanted to give them team some sort of little treat that helped get them excited and prepare for the big weekend!

I was on Oriental Trading looking for ideas for our winter class parties and saw all of the snowflake stuff and that got me thinking.  Her team name is ICE and the snowflake stuff went along with the team perfectly!  I decided to come up with some sort of little good luck goodies with the snowflake stuff.  When I started looking a little more and realized that I could do personalized team support items also. I had NO idea Oriental Trading had those types of products, but was so happy to discover them.

For the lollipops and clappers I designed the stickers with the gym logo and it was shipped on a sticker sheet so all I had to do was put the stickers on the items.

It was so simple and super cute! The items came in every color and I could personalized the sticker color also so it was perfect and matched her team and gym colors exactly.

I found pencils that could also be personalized and was going to do a solid color until I saw the snowflake ones and knew those would be perfect.  Their team chant is a throwback to Vanilla Ice days and they end every practice with "Ice, Ice Baby" so I knew that was what I had to get on them!

I used these buckets and also got the snowflake keychains for them to put on their cheer backpacks and these snowflake stress balls.  I added Ice Breakers mints to the buckets and they were complete!  

I could not contain my excitement about how cute these turned out and I was so excited to give it to them at the pep rally before the competition.  

Little Mama had been out of town for a school field trip so when she saw them when she got home she was over the moon with excitement and couldn't wait to help pass them out to her teammates. 

All the kids (and coaches) loved the personalized details on the treats and it must have done the trick because her team did amazing!  

They had zero deductions and were only .07 away from first place which was great for their first competition! We have another one this weekend so I can't wait to see how they improve each week!

These goodies were such a hit that I know Oriental Trading will be my new go-go for all of our team support treats.  Between soccer, basketball, baseball and more, I know we'll be able to come up with all sorts of variations on good luck treats like this! 

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***Thank you to Oriental Trading for providing the items for these good luck goodies!  All thoughts, ideas and opinions are my own.*** 

Cinderella Della at the Center For Puppetry Arts

Last week we were invited to see the new Cinderella Della Circus show at the Center for Puppetry Arts. I've always wanted to take the kids to the Center, so I was so excited to go. The Cutes didn't know what to expect, but they loved it!

It was day five post vacation of nothing but rain, so this opportunity came at the perfect time. After a week of playing in the sunshine on sandy beaches to being trapped in the house, they were going a little stir crazy. We were all ready to get out of the house. 

We arrived just as the show was starting, and the kids were in awe of the whimsical stage. 

The Cinderella Della Circus show is part of the Center's family series. It follows the classic fairytale of Cinderella, but with a fun circus themed twist. It was cute and funny, and all around a great family show. 

The show runs until July 23rd with several performances each day. If you are in Atlanta and want a little break from the heat, or if you are visiting Atlanta this summer, I would highly recommend it. 

The Cutes loved it, and already have been asking to go back and see another one of the shows in the family series. Now knowing how much they enjoyed the whole experience, I definitely am planning to bring them back sooner rather than later. 

After the show, attendees were able to head upstairs to the workshop area to create their own puppet character from the show. 

The kids were so in awe of all the puppets hanging on the wall, and we learned that you are able to actually purchase several of the puppet making kits in their gift shop. 

The Cutes couldn't wait to create their very own Stretcho rod puppet, and got to work right away. 

All the kits, directions, and tools were already set up for the kids as they walked into the room. There were a ton of craft supplies available for the kids to use. I loved seeing how each child in the room decorated their Stretcho puppet. Cute felt his needed a little football/ninja twist. (That would be a helmet on his head and a ninja star in his hand. #boymom)

After the kids completed their Strecho puppets, they were able to put them to work. The workshop room has a little curtain and stage set up for the kids to create their own puppet show. They had a blast doing this, and I had a hard time getting them to leave the room when time was up. 

After their Stretcho shows had taken their final bow, we took advantage of the free time to check out the museums on site. 

The Cutes loved walking through the Worlds of Puppetry Museum and checking out all of the different puppets throughout history. They enjoyed the hands on portions and being able to interact with several of the exhibits themselves. 

The Jim Henson Collection might have been their favorite - if only because it was filled with characters that they recognize. 

It was fun for both the kids and I to learn about Jim Henson, and see how much work, effort and creativity goes into each every one of the characters that we have all grown up with. 

Some of the puppets on hand were life size. There was a large Big Bird, and my personal favorite - Miss Piggy. 

This section also had several interactive exhibits. Their favorite part by far was the area that let the kids learn how puppets were seen on the big screen.

They made up different scenes, played different characters, got to interact with other children, and of course, see themselves on camera. They loved every bit of it. And I'm pretty sure would have stayed until closing time if I let them. 

The whole experience at the Center for Puppetry Arts was so much fun. The Center has a little something for every interest and for all ages. They are always putting on fabulous events, fun camps, and great shows. I can't believe what all we have been missing out considering how close to home this is for us, but now that I know, we will definitely be back soon. 

What has been your favorite show to see at the Center for Puppetry Arts? What should we see next? Or do you have a puppet theater in your town - share with us!

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**Thank you BravePR and the Center for Puppetry Arts for hosting us. All thoughts and opinions are our own. **