Cardboard Playhouse Makeover

I don't know if anyone remembers this cardboard playhouse that I made for Bijou and Zion a while back.  While incredibly economical (it cost me next to nothing to make) and easy to move, it did not get used as often as I would have liked.  It get HOT here in Mississippi and playing out in a cardboard house that's been sitting in the heat was no one's idea of a fun afternoon.  So the playhouse got retired to the garage and there it sat for awhile.  I decided that all was not lost for our little playhouse and with some tweaking, it could still be a really awesome toy.  So, I scaled the size down a bit and attached some Velcro (to stand up to rough play a little better) and brought it in the house.  I have this strange obsession with paint chips from the hardware store, so I literally have every singe one that Home Depot has (thanks to a very patient cousin who helped me collect all of them one afternoon).  I used one stack (of many, many) paint chips to cut apart and make "bricks" for the outside of the house.  I also added a little chalkboard (actually just a rectangle of chalkboard spray paint framed with wood grain contact paper) for them the draw or write little messages.  Now it's cheery and colorful and when I want to free up the floor space, I can just take it apart and store it under their bed.

Bijou's Dinosaur Tea Party

Bijou is five years old today.  I know I say it every time a birthday rolls around, but I can hardly believe that she's five already!  She has had such a big year.  She learned to ride a two wheeler, tie her shoes, got glasses and learned to read.  So what better way to celebrate such a big year than to have cinnamon pancakes, scrambled eggs and hot chocolate for breakfast and then a dinosaur tea party? And that's just what we did.  The party is over and Bijou and her friends had a great time.  I'm tired and glad it's over.  Here are some lovely pictures for you to enjoy!

I made fossil shortbread cookies.  The cookies kind of puffed for some reason while they were baking, so the fossils weren't as defined as I would have liked.  I dusted them with a patina of cinnamon to make the edges stand out a little better.

Dinosaur birthday cake (white cake with raspberry lemon buttercream frosting) surrounded by chocolate rocks.

Thanks to our local Goodwill, we are now the proud owners of a bajillion tea cups.  I am sure they will be put to good use.

Dinosaur garland...

The entire spread.  There were cheese sandwiches, jam sandwiches, fossil cookies, chocolate rocks, peppermint tea, pink lemonade and birthday cake.  Oh and of course a multitude of prehistoric table dwellers.

The birthday girl.  We had a Cosby Show moment before getting dressed for her party.  Remember the episode where Rudy wants to wear the summer dress to the fall party and her mother wouldn't let her?  That was us this morning.  But just like the Cosby Show, it all worked out in the end and she looked perfectly cute in her sweater dress.

Last, but not least, I thought I would share the gift that I made for her.  She'd been bugging me forever to make her a wooden camera.  So I gathered a few blocks from her room, some other random wooden bits and some paint.  Voila, homemade camera.  Nothing like a present that doesn't cost me a dime.

Bijou is turning 5!

Bijou's fifth birthday is just around the corner and the addition of a full time job makes the time I have available for birthday party prep very limited.  This one feels like it's sprinting up on me way faster than I am prepared for.  BUT, I know that things will come together in time.  This year, Bijou is having a dinosaur tea party.  Yes, a dinosaur tea party.  The girl still loves her dinosaurs and what better way to turn five than with a tea party.  This year's party will boast fossil cookies, tea sandwiches, tea, pin the bone on the dinosaur and a variety of other dinosaur/tea party related activities and decor.  So, without further ado, here is Bijou's dinosaur tea party invitation. 

I got the floral frame from Graphics Fairy which I think adds a cute vintage, girly touch.  I also think it's super funny with the ferocious "tea-rex" in the tiara.

Little Girls' Room Do-Over

Not long ago, I posted about the girls bedroom makeovers.  All in all, their rooms have stayed about the same.  But the little girls' room seemed to become the bane of my existence every week.  It was constantly a mess, no one ever wanted to clean it up and things were getting broken and torn form being stepped on.  It was driving me insane!  A few weeks ago, I decided to take half of the "stuff" that they had and store it in the garage (to rotate out next summer).   Things were STILL constantly a mess.   So yesterday, I decided that today would be spent cleaning house and the little girls' room was my first stop.  As I was cleaning (mainly alone, because Bijou decided to spend this time laying on her back staring at the ceiling), I realized that it was pretty difficult to get toys in and out of the bins on the shelf. 

The only logical solution, of course, was to build a new shelf.  So, that's what I did!  I am going to insert a complaint here.  I love Home Depot, don't get me wrong.  But I was SO annoyed with HD today.  I went in to get wood for the shelf, found the pieces that I needed place neatly above a $5.98 price tag.  The very helpful HD employee even did some comparison pricing for me with a piece twice the size to see if we could cut a cents off the price by just cutting them in half.  We found that it would be about the same price, so I got my four boards.  The very helpful HD employee cut my boards and loaded them into my cart.  I get to the cash register with my plan to spend about $27 on wood and about $4 on nails.  The checkout girls scans the pieces and they are $8.40 a piece!  I mean, it's not a HUGE difference, but it added like $12 - $14 to my total cost!  I was so annoyed...ugh.  Anyway, complaint over...  The shelves were quick and easy to put together and the bins are much more accessible for small people who don't want to work to hard get their toys put away.

More homemade Montessori

So, on occasion the little girls come spend the day with me at work.  They love visiting the school and getting to use the materials.  I try to watch and see what things they enjoy and figure out if I can recreate them at home for little or no money.  Last weekend I made a decanomial.  It's made from craft foam (cheap, $5, and easy to cut).  Ashni (who HATES math) said, as soon as a demonstrated it for her, "Oh, it like multiplication."  I think the universe must have opened up and rained down joy on me!!!  It's like this method is what she has needed (particularly for math) for the last couple of years. 

Tonight I made some insets for Zion and Bijou.  They both love the metal insets at the school, so I decided to make a set from mat board to have here at home.  I traced the set at work to use as templates and the knobs are just wooden beads that are hot glued on.  Total cost of this project $0.

Bijou loves the object boxes at work.  She likes being able to read the words and match them to their object.  I could not imagine having additional tiny objects in the house, so I printed some pictures of objects and labels for her match. 

Today's Bijou-ism

So, I posted a picture a couple of days ago of Bijou sitting proudly with her list of words that she'd spelled with her letter cards.  Unfortunately, I forgot to share the great Bijou-ism that goes along with that picture...

Bijou:  I can spell "as".  A. S.

Me: Very good.  Now can you tell me a sentence using the word as?

Bijou: (looking very thoughtful and serious) Like, pain in the as???

Me: (falls on the flooring laughing)

Okay, so maybe I won't win mom of the year for that one, BUT I did let her know that it was not polite for little girls to say that and gave her the correct use of the word "as".

Goodbye to a friend

The girls pet fish died tonight.  He was their first pet, so everyone was very sad.  I think Jena took it especially hard because she bought him, named him and took care of him the most.  We had a small fish funeral in their bathroom before sending him to the big fish bowl in the sky (think Cosby Show circa 1984).  We'll miss you An.  The dining room won't be the same without you.