Jello Playdough in Art

The best thing about jello playdough? It smells aaaamazing!

Your whole house will smell marvelously yummy while you cook this.

I hadn't intended to make more playdough so soon, but our art lesson with professional artist John Lasater required play dough in primary colors. And, wouldn't you know it, Wal-Mart had only blue and yellow. Being in this little town, with no Target or other means to search for red playdough, we decided to make our own! 

Below, my amazing Jello Playdough Chef.

He poured, he mixed, and he was the first to try out the goods. 

~Jello Playdough~

 •1 cup of flour

•2 Tbs salt

•2 Tbs cream of tarter

•1 cup water

•2 Tbs oil - (I used canola oil, but I'm sure any edible oil would work!)

•1 3oz. pack of Jello in the color of your choice (the off-brand will work fine)

I doubled this recipe, for our group.

First, mix all your ingredients in a pan or pot.

Mix in your jello and watch it turn a bright color! This is the strawberry flavor.

After it's mixed, turn the heat to medium-high and stir constantly. Works those arm muscles!

It will start smelling great. It will also start slowly thickening and clumping together, after about 2 minutes. It's done in about 6-7 minutes. Just make sure there aren't wet areas, and it's in a ball.

Let cool. If it seems a bit sticky, add a touch more flour. It should be smooth and pliable.

Store in an airtight container or plastic bag, and it should last quite a long time.

It was a hit with the little artists!

A huge thanks to our guest speaker, John, for the lesson he shared about values, hues, and color mixing!

Our homeschool group has so many wonderful opportunities and so much support!!!

I love watching kids take such joy in art!

When I grow up (ha) I'm going to be an elementary art teacher!! --

....wait, I already get to do that!

I live such a great life! :D

Elementary VDay Par-tay!

One of my favorite things about being the elementary coordinator is party-planning!

We had our Valentine's Party at the  local bowling alley again this year.

We had roughly 65 bowlers + parents and babies. Nice fun crowd!

As always, it's open to everyone, but geared to elementary kids (what with the exchange boxes and stuff, although some adults *ahem* still enjoy this part, too!)

My lovely girl, although a middle-schooler now, still regularly participates in our parties.

Love this kid.

 We encourage everyone to get creative and make their own containers to bring.

This year I helped my Littlest Guy create his "face to eat candy," below.

 Turned out fairly well, I think. One box + one oatmeal container, an 8x10 print (and a 4x6 print for extra skin to lengthen the jaw) and some clothes. He added the fedora, which was a nice touch!

 Love this adorable light saber valentine! We're big Star Wars fans over here.

 Hope your V-Day was as fun as ours,

filled with love from family and friends,

and creative delights.

~One of my favorite holidays!~

Fitness Friday Color Love

Our homeschool group is extremely active, and there are a ton of opportunities around us. One activity that we always try to attend is Fitness Friday, every other week. It is so organized, so-oo fun, and soo-ooo great during the cold winter months. We were given access to the John Brown University gymnasium, and have plenty of space for our group there. This past Friday, the group played volleyball and, in addition, the younger groups had parachute time, which is always a favorite.

I'm so thankful for Fitness Friday and the amazing lady who leads it!

Obviously, we all need physical activity to stay healthy and get our hearts pumping. Getting a good workout in also boosts endorphins, so it helps with moods (and who couldn’t use a little help with that?) Staying active increases a child's strength and helps with his body image as he grows, too. I don’t know about you, but on days when I get a great workout, I just feel better and more comfortable with my body in general. I want my kids to feel that way, too! Plus, childhood obesity is really a big problem for our country. It's important to form good habits early on. If they LIKE biking, running, jumping on the trampoline, skating, swimming, and other sports, from a young age, they're far more likely to keep up many of the same things as they get older. Start young!

As I wasn't signed up as a volunteer this time around, I chatted with other mamas and snapped pictures of random cuteness, like these little snugglers, below. Dots, stripes, pink sneakers and red sweaters. Plus, ya know, balloons are always wonderful. I'm a sucker for bright colors and patterns.

My energetic little bopper...

And my other energetic bopper, streaking by...

Then there were these two cutie pies (and my dear friend Bridg, in the background.)

Oh, boy, she's chewing him out for something!!

Mama Moments

You see that, up there? That's my boy, about to catch the ball.
I should make it very, very clear to you that we are not a "sports family." Sure, my husband is obsessed with football.... but me?
I couldn't even tell you how many points a touchdown is.
(Yeah, he's ashamed of me.)

So, anyway, my kids did a stint with Tball and soccer
(I am NOT a sports mom, and have no desire to do that again.
We prefer bicycling, running, swimming, tennis, hiking, rafting, caving....)

I'm quite sure that, going into this game, my son had no idea how to play football.
All that to say, you can be thoroughly impressed with his catch and amazing play!

 I think he's even holding it right! Right? Who knows. But it worked!

Also, I should note that this is our Homeschool Fitness Friday class, organized and led by an amazing woman. This is not the screaming-parents, yelling-coaches, crying-children kind-of sports that we had previously experienced.

THIS I can do. THIS my kids enjoy. :D
This may make me rethink my position on team sports.

At the same time, my Middlest played Wiffleball. Before Friday, I had no idea what Wiffleball even was, so I'll explain briefly, in case you are as ignorant as I.

It is baseball.

I'm sure there's a difference, but not one as far as my untrained eye could detect!

Add to that, I was the assistant coach.
Go ahead and laugh.

More than anything, I let the "real coach" do his job, and I stood around yelling encouragements,
and generally embarrassing my son. 

He turned 8 today!!! WOOOOOOO! Happy Birthday, My Speedy Son!

I'll get the obligatory Halloween trick-or-treating pic out of the way, too.

My Papaw managed to get a picture of my family trick-or-treating

(while following us around from house to house, camera in hand. Serves me right!)  

I had no idea just how well my yellow and white cardy shows up! Wowzers!

 

Okay, now that my proud mama moments are out of the way, I'll dig deeper on the next post. ;)
I have stuff to say, y'all!

Fall Days of fire and bacon, gaming and crafting, pumpkins and cats!

Follow @wendylivingcreatively

We started a fire the other day, when it was crisp and cool...and the wood was barely dry enough to burn. Since that initial fall success, we've had a fire at least once every day.

I.Love.It.

We've been doing hot dog roasts, foil pack dinner, s'more dessert time, you name it.

What else is new? A bunch of random happy moments.

My Man's Dad came over last Saturday, for some wii-sports time with the kids. He's a pro wii-golfer. I hear most firemen are?

(Their attire cracks me up. My Girl and Oldest Boy, snuggled in appropriate cold-weather-clothes...and then you have the barefoot kindergartner & 2nd grader, who didn't want to slide with golfing and bowling...and then there's Middle Boy who also took off his shirt because "that's what you do when you're playing sports.")

We've also been paper-crafting over in these parts.

These projects were 100% the kids-- the idea, follow-through, creation.

They amaze me.
Here, My Oldest Boy's Captain America paper costume.

Below, My Middle Boy's paper home, complete with basement.

Yeah, I have awesome kids!

We also went to the University's Insect Festival last week. It was crazy-crowded, but very interesting.

I'm glad we went, but we'll choose a different time slot next year!

And to the Pumpkin shed after that...

Boys!

Following my Random Update theme for this post--

I also tried my hand at bacon weaving! Yes, I found the idea on Pinterest.

I'm here~~ ~~

Just weave the bacon raw, put it in a glass pan, bake at 400 degrees until it's as done as you want it. I flipped mine over a couple of times, and baked until good and crispy. I think it took about half an hour. YUM! We have burger BLTs without any bacon falling off.

I'm still having fun with snail mail art. Love experimenting with lettering and whatnot.

Yeah, I blurred out Suzanne's address...I don't know if she wants snail mail from everyone! ;)

Last but not least-- my precious fat cat, Calvin. This is the coziest, cuddliest, sweetest kitty I've ever owned. I know I've talked before about not being a "pet person." I'm not. I don't like yappy dogs, or anything that jumps on me. I don't like cleaning up poo, or being tripped by leashes. It's just not my favorite thing.

Yeah, all baby animals are cute, but then they get big and tear up siding.

Sooo, I wasn't thrilled when My Man wanted to get a cat.

But this guy-- he stole my heart. :)

Better late? Valentine's

My Littlest, preparing cupcakes for the homeschool party.


klingon hand sign, below

Our Homeschool Valentine's Day party took place at the local bowling alley again this year.

Okay, I was going through a hard time that week, with my parents in the final stages of their divorce, and I don't have a lot to write about the party... so you get pictures and smiling kids instead.

Hope your V-Day was filled with love and happiness!

University of Arkansas Discovery Zone

We visited the University of Arkansas Discovery Zone last week to learn about nanotechnology.

The place is small (and very hard to spot!) but packed full of wonderful interactive displays! The exhibits change every few months, so I plan to go back fairly soon.

Below, my "mad scientist"!

And my itty scientist!

I think it was way over the little ones' heads, but they still enjoyed the activities!