It is Well

If all else fails, post music..... That's what I always say anyway.
Here's a new favorite. I hope you like it and your soul is filled with peace.

Wow! So almost a year since my last post... Let's see... hmm I guess it's been busy! Four kids, who are now 10, almost 7, 5 and 20 months.  Four kids... some travel here and there, crazy school year with lots of snow days, moving into a new house.. four kids.. and gosh summer is almost over. Maybe with school starting and getting into a new routine, I can hop on the blog wagon at least once or twice this year!  I might get crazy and try once a month to keep you on your toes. So stay tuned friends.

Sponge Fun

This summer we picked up some packages of sponges at the local dollar store. The initial reason for getting them was to cut them up into strips so we could use them as a "quiet" building tool to make towers. But, it didn't take too long before the girls took them and made long lines, put them in piles, and then took off with them to their play kitchen for some cooking. I was able to corral them for a little bit to do some counting, sorting, & patterning. Then, they were off again! Sometimes I find a random sponge piece under the couch or stuck in a shoe..... I guess the main point is do not underestimate the power of the sponge! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the water ball sponges too. You have to try it while the weather is still warm, or I guess you could toss them in the bath! Just check out the pics and links below.

Here is where we got our inspiration for building towers and sponge balls.
I'm sure as you surf the web and pinterest you'll find lots of ideas too! (and different types of sponges that you can use). Yes, please send more ideas my way and have fun!

Sorting

Patterns

     

Building

Water Sponges

10+ Mini Snack Cup Uses

The last year I've taken to using these little mini plastic snack cups for items like condiments & little snacks and putting them in lunches, taking them on road trips, picnics, or camping. Obviously, you could easily use little snack size baggies for most of these items, but sometimes cups are a bit more fun and less crushable for items like goldfish or cheerios.  And also, I'm not the best at always washing the reusable containers- or sometimes they just mysteriously vanish and are never to be seen again (maybe that only happens to me). Well, here are some uses I've found for them (food & nonfood).  I would love to hear your ideas too!

1- ranch dressing
2- peanut butter
3- salsa
4- hummus
5- nuts
6- cheerios
7- goldfish
8- raisins/dried fruit
9- chocolate chips/ m&ms
10-marshmallows

Hey, I didn't say it was all necessarily healthy!

Here are some more ideas.....

11- blueberries
12- peas
13- oyster crackers
14- any condiments
15- lego pieces/barbie shoes
16- pills
17- earring/rings
18- loose tea
19- coins
20- seasonings

Have fun thinking up ideas!

Blog Hop at Frugal Crafty Home Blog

Top 10 Link-up with Many Little Blessings

Thrifty Keyboard Fun

One of the libraries that I take the kids to has two old computer keyboards that kids can play with in the children's area. My girls were so excited to get their hands on them that we had to make a trip the thrift store immediately after leaving the library to get our own keyboards for home! It was well worth the drive and only $5 for two old keyboards. (I found some at our Goodwill, but the Thrift store had even more). They love to pretend to type, or they like to use them as a register and swipe "credit cards". I just cut the cords off so they couldn't get into trouble with those, and they were set. If I was still teaching, I'd probably even grab a few for the classroom so the kids could type letters, names, sight words, etc. I can see lots of possibilities! So don't just sit there, go make a trip to the thrift store so you can pull these out for a rainy day.  (You may even already have one stored away in a basement box- free is even better!)

I also ran across this blog post for making magnets out of old keyboard keys.  I might have to try that too!

Blog Hop with Frugal Crafty Home Blog