WFMW

This week's Works For Me Wednesdays has a theme: Toys Worth Buying. What works for us is homemade toys. My husband is pretty crafty with a wood lathe and paints! My husband kept his old fisher Price play set, do you remember those? He has a bunch of his old Fisher Price Little People too but has been making his own to fit in the set for a while. The kids love to play with it and use their imaginations and they really love the homemade people because they are so customizable. My husband has made one for each of the boys that looks just like them and wearing their favourite clothes. They like that he can make all their favourite characters too. This year whe will make us some Christmas decorations too. Check out some examples he has done on his blog. He is almost done making a handful that he will be putting up on Ebay, so stay tuned for that. If anyone has their old Fisher Price play sets, this is a great gift for your children! If you are handy with a lathe or chisel set, try to make some of your own, you can even let the kids paint them.



Check out more Works For Me Wednesdays over at Rocks in my Dryer for hundreds more Christmas toy ideas!

**Edited to add: Jim now has some up for auction on ebay, you can find them here.

LOVE IT!! (WFMW)

Big shout out to The Apron Queen! I followed a link from Works for Me Wednesdays and it led me to her site. I was awed by the pictures in her post. She was gracious enough to share with me the info I requested (what camera she used, editing program) which I think she has been asked for a hundred times! Through her, I found Picnik! It is amazing! Here are some before and after pics to give you an idea what you can do with this program:


Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before: (not sure why blogger turned this picture!)

After:

This was actually quite fun. You can get your pictures from the computer, facebook, photobucket and many more places! These three pictures are my first attempts, so not the best but it was quick and easy and they look much better and that works for me! Check out Rocks in my Dryer for lots more Works for Me Wednesdays!

Wednesday nights we have a Bible study at our home. Jim does a fair amount of cleaning so when I get home, I'm not overwhelmed with the mess. I get dinner on the table and rush to get anything done that didn't get done, like the bathroom! Since yesterday was the last day of school, the boys are home all day, and I was anticipating a huge disaster waiting for me. I decided to write out a list of a few things I wanted the boys to do so that (in the upstairs at least) the mess is kept under control. I don't feel like I asked too much of them and they seemed alright with it (poor daddy is left to be the enforcer of my ideas!). The list looked something like this:

-Tidy up movies and Wii games

-Put shoes in closet and hang up coats, sweaters and ball caps

-Clean up papers, pens, crayons, scissors from the floor

-Make beds

-Put any clothes on the floor in laundry baskets

-Put all dishes in the sink or dishwasher.

Those are the current things that need to be done as I looked around this morning. I typically have some of these things as weekly chores but seeing they are home all day now, I thought they could pitch in daily. I may try to do this each morning, give them a new list based on what I see needs to be done. I hope this will "work for me" Time will tell!

For more Work For Me Wednesdays check out Rocks in My Dryer

Bend it Like Beckham?

Here is Joseph on his first day of soccer. He was quite pleased to be playing this year instead of watching on the sidelines! He kept stopping to give us a thumbs up or make a funny face like this one! All these sports the boys are in keep us hopping but it is worth it to see them enjoying them selves and keeping active. Unfortunately, this first day of soccer was so cold, we had to leave after 20mins. He was violently shivering in the ocean wind and the older two were staying warm in the car. On the plus side, the wind kept the bugs at bay, unlike the following practices where we are a human smorgasbord for the black flies!

I have been taking Jessica's advice and preparing some of the meals the night before so when I get home at 5, supper is pretty much ready and we eat fast and rush to be at the field at 6! It has worked well (made lasagna last night and it is in the slow cooker now, we'll see how that turns out. I've never tried lasagna in the slow cooker before!)The boys wanted to help me make the Potato Leek Soup so I designated them the "Official Stirers" (It was such an important title, it deserved a brand new made up word!) Between making some of the meals the night before and letting the boys help in the process, this has been a success and yes, it works for me! (you were probably wondering when I'd fit that in!)

And finally, here is a picture of the boys enjoying the finally spring-like weather! (even though it is only a few days from summer, still need sweaters here!)

Less than a week of school left, then their dad has to get creative in keeping them occupied all summer! Wonder what you will do with your kids home all summer? Click here to find lots of ideas over at Rocks in my Dryer, many other blogging mom's link up too so there are literally hundreds of ideas! I'll be checking it out and more Works For Me Wednesday!