HOW TO MAKE A MARIO HAT

Daddy and I decided we were going to make the kids costumes this year. Lil’ Jerry wanted to be Mario from Super Mario Brothers.

Daddy had the brilliant idea to go to the Salvation Army to look for the pants and shirt. There we found blue jean overalls and a red turtleneck. It all cost about 5 bucks.

Then we went to Joanne Fabrics and bought red polyester fleece. Daddy also got a white wood circle and traced an “M” on it, which he glued to the hat.

Daddy cut out the hat and I sewed it with my sewing machine. Here’s how we made the hat:

Fold the fleece in half so that you are cutting out two pieces at a time. My husband used the lid from a 5-gallon pail to trace a circle on the fabric.

Cut out the two circles and keep the corner that is left over - this is going to be the bill of the cap.

Round off the corner and cut off the thin ends.

On one of the rounds, trace a smaller circle. It should have about a 4.5″ diameter. This is going to be the head hole. It seems small, but fleece is stretchy.

These are all the parts cut out.

Sew the two rounds together about 1/2″ from the outer edge. Sew along the outer edge of the bill.

Turn both pieces inside out.

Place the open edges of the bill along the edge of the small circle and stitch all 3 layers together. 


ONLY MY NICOLE!

Do you remember your parents telling you stories about the old days when teeth were extracted by pliers… well my Nicole must have thought that was a good idea because today she ended up with pliers in her mouth...not for her teeth though!

Before I explain what happened let me ask you this: “Did your kid ever get his/her lip stuck in a marker?” Yup, “their lip stuck in a marker? Probably not right?

Well, my Nicole did! She was watching Toy Story with her brother and sister. Somehow she ended up with her lip stuck in a ZhuZhu Pets marker.

Her dad and I were going through the black Friday fliers looking for deals when Nicole all of a sudden comes crying holding a marker in her mouth… we were looking at her with a big question mark and wondering why she was crying. That’s when I noticed that her lip was stuck in the marker.

“ARE YOU FOR REAL?” I said. REALLY???

“How did you do that Nicole?” we asked.

My husband had to get a needle nose pliers and another set of pliers to get the lip out of the marker.

Once we took out her lip from the marker I just couldn’t stop laughing because - how do you get a lip stuck in a marker?! ONLY MY NICOLE!

Has your kid ever done anything like this?

USE THEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

When the silly bandz craze started the first thing I thought was: “Why didn’t I come up with this... it’s just an elastic band.” Kids were going nuts over them, you couldn’t find them anywhere because stores couldn’t keep up with the demand.

My kids thought they were cool and because their friends had silly bandz they wanted to have silly bandz too. I checked them out and found them at the dollar store.

I decided to use the silly bandz to my advantage… as a reward system. I told my kids that they would earn a silly band for good behavior and that they would lose one every time they did something bad.

It worked! My kids were too funny. Nicole and Jerry were competing with each other to see who would end up with more silly bandz. They even started asking us to give them chores, like washing dishes and cleaning so they could win a silly band. My daughter Nicole has almost 200 silly bandz.

The silly band reward system lasted about 3 months.

(Now… apparently grown ups are using them to flirt in bars (as a pick up line.) The NY Daily News has an interesting article on that.)

Do you use a reward system? What is it?

TRY EXPLAINING IT TO A 3-YEAR-OLD

“Break a leg” is an idiom in theatre, which means “good luck”. It is typically said to actors and musicians before they go out onto stage to perform. The expression reflects a theatrical superstition in which wishing a person “good luck” is considered bad luck.

Well, try explaining that to a 3-year-old!!!

I went and auditioned for a show this week and when I left home to go to the audition my husband wished good luck by saying: “Break a leg.” Well, apparently, as soon as I left the house 3-year-old Isabella gave daddy a hard time.

“Daddy, you gotta tell Mommy sorry." daddy asked why. She said: "Cause you told her to break a leg. That's not nice!"

Daddy explained to Isabella and her brother and sister what "break a leg" means, but Isabella was not satisfied with the explanation.

Can you imagine what was going through her head.

HAVING FUN WITH DOUGH...

You must try this project, it's so much fun. My kids had a blast and I did too.

Yes it is a little messy but who cares. It’s fun and it’s flour, you can easily clean it up. I would recommend doing it in the kitchen though.

I discovered this project because my little man brought home a book called “Salt Dough Fun.” The book is so cool. Besides teaching you how to make the salt dough it teaches you how to shape the dough into different animals.

I’ll write up the recipe for you and then just let your imagination go wild. I made a hamburger and a pizza. I was really into the dough. LOL. Little Jerry challenged his creativity; he made a Puffle from Club Penguin. Kids loved this project.

You try it and share your experience on my blog.

Things You'll Need:

• 2 c. all-purpose flour

• 1 c. salt

• 3/4 c. water

• Mixing Bowls

• Acrylic Paints

Instructions

Step 1
-Mix flour with salt and water in a deep bowl.

Step 2
-Knead it until it's doughy.

Step 3
-Make shapes by hand.

Step 4-Dry the objects in the oven at 200 degrees F for about 10 minutes.

Step 5-Paint them.

QUICK, EASY AND AFFORDABLE DINNER.

Who doesn’t like spaghetti and meatballs? My kids love it.

Don’t even say you can’t cook. I met a mom last week who said she can’t cook, she said she doesn’t know how to.

It doesn’t get easier than spaghetti and meatballs.

I buy them at BJ’s. They come in a frozen bag fully cooked and you get about 160 meatballs. It costs about $14 a bag. My kids eat about 6 meatballs each.

All you have to do is put some red sauce in a pan and put he meatballs inside. Let them absorb the sauce for about 10 minutes.

In a separate pan, I cook pasta.

About 15 minutes later it’s done. Grab a plate, scoop out some pasta and plop the meatballs on top. There you go!

Kids love it!

What do you think?

ARE YOU RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS?

If you are running out of things to do with your kids this summer check out this book: “501 TV Free Activities for Kids.” by Di Hodges. I got it from the library but I saw it at Barnes and Noble last week for $5.50.

The book has every activity that you can imagine. From cooking to playing outside, there are lots of party, family and group games. Remember playing “Humpty Dumpty” when you were a kid? It’s in the book, pretty cool.

The first activity that my kids and I chose from this book was the “Finger Puppets”.

What You Need:

-Old Gloves

-Permanent felt pens

-Strong Glue

-Wool, sequins, small buttons, other decorations

-Shoe box

What To Do:

Cut off the fingers of a pair of gloves (I found a pair in my garage that I thought were old, until daddy saw them. LOL. Oops.) Use the felt pens to draw faces or glue on small buttons or sequins for facial features. Make beards with cotton wool.

We had lots of fun with the details. My kids wanted to make aprons.

Once you are done you can get a cereal box or a shoe box and perform with the puppets. Cut out a window near the top for the puppets to perform in. Have your children decorate the puppet theatre too.

It’s lots of fun. Check out our puppets. Don't they look cute?