Valentine's Day - Date Ideas

A few years ago we posted 60 Date Ideas as well as lots of activities to do together as a couple or with your family. Today I want to add to that list with some more ideas to help you figure out what to do this Valentine's Day and any day, really! 

Here are 25 more activities or date ideas to add to your date jar:

1. Brewing company tour (there are so many!) 
2. Take a pottery class
3. Plant Nite
4. Wine tasting 
5. Decorate cupcakes and have someone judge who made the best one
6. Kickboxing class
7. Try a ballroom dance lesson 
8. Go ice skating
9. Batting cage practice
10. Visit a nearby theme park/amusement park 
11. Try a woodworking class - there are plenty of free ones at Lowes and Home Depot
12. Go to a crafting class - Michaels and Joanns offer many different kinds
13. Host a game night - my favorite! 
14. Go to mall and buy eachother an outfit to wear out to dinner
15. Get a couple's massage or give one to each other
16. Visit dog park or animal shelter - many shelters let you come and walk the puppies 
17. Indoor rock climbing
18. Paintball
19. Escape the Room - grab some other couples to help you!
20. Visit a zoo or aquarium - there may be several in your area
21. Go to a sports game - high school, college, professional - whatever! 
22. Check out a comedy show
23. Go to an indoor pool or indoor water park
24. Horse back riding 
25. Go fishing or take a boat ride 

Build and Grow - Lowe's Classes for Kids!

Do you have a Lowe's in your area?
As you saw in our previous post, Crafting Kiddies , we are always looking for a creative outlet for our children... and honestly, it is even better if it is free!
My sisters and I were raised in a tight-knit family of 8 (6 children, 2 parents, and a few pets here and there). With there being so many of us, we were raised to make the most out of what you have and look for opportunities that are cost-effective. For most of us, this has carried on into our own parenting so when I hear of something fun to do and it is free or inexpensive to join, I try it out.

A few weeks ago, Maureen and I took our children to check out the Lowe's Build and Grow  program at our local hardware shop. Yes, we are fortunate to be in an area that has a Home Depot and a Lowe's close by.

This kid's class was a little bit different from the ones we had attended at Home Depot. With Lowe's, you must sign up to go to class on their website. Every store has a limited number of attendees so sign up early! Honestly, we had been trying to sign up for a few months but the local classes were always full. Once you sign up on the site, an email with permission slips is sent to the parents. You need to complete the form so that your child can attend. When we arrived, we needed to hand in our permission slips at the desk and were given our kits!

Lowe's did a great job, impressing us with the event! Every child was given a Lowe's apron, child-sized safety goggles, a small hammer to borrow, and a bird house kit with instructions and activity pages.

We took our kits to the tables that were set up and started our bird houses. It was great to see the children get excited about hammering in the nails. The birdhouse even had a hinged roof that allowed it to open and close. This was a great opportunity to teach the older kids about how hinges work too.

While we were hammering away, the manager of the Build and Grow program came by and introduced himself. He noticed that it was our first time and ran to give us an extra kit from a prior class so they kids would have a chance to build a little something at home. It was so nice of him!
Upon completion, we were given an iron on patch for our new aprons and a certificate of achievement!

The kids had a great time and so did the moms. It is always so nice to see your child have an opportunity to try new things! Thanks, Lowe's!!

The Gift of Adventure

Today, I will be sharing with you a gift idea. Every year, my family has a Pollyanna exchange at Christmas time. This year to keep things interesting, we chose Pollyanna’s as couples. This gift was a wonderful Christmas present but could be given year-round at a Bridal Shower or to your partner this Valentine’s day!

The concept of the gift Is simple—I sat down and brainstormed 8 mini adventures my sister could go on with her fiancé and 8 more adventures that she could do with her fiancé and son. We had a spending limit of $100.00 a couple so there isn’t anything in here that is bank-breaking. In some cases, the gift pays for a small portion of the date, all of the date, or the date is something that is largely free. I made sure there was a variety of activities—funny adventures, physical challenges, food-related, artistic… something for everyone to enjoy.

I started the gift with the carrying case. This helped to set the restrictions and realities for what we could accomplish. I purchased an Extra Large IRIS Photo and Craft Keeper, 16 individual 4x6 cases within at Michael’s (with a coupon!!). I knew I needed to make each adventure fit in to a 4x6 photo case and I needed to have 16 in total. Maureen has a ton of printed pictures so I was confident that she would use the case even if she dismantled the adventures. I did choose options that you can keep doing over and over again (aside from the couple needing to purchase more items), so she could use the case for years to come as well.

Coming up with gifts that would fit into the case—that was the fun challenge for me! Take a look at the printable (link below) that I have included in this post for more information. I have the date descriptions, what I included in each case, and the case labels for each all ready for you to peruse -- you can make your own!

The Gift of Adventure - Printable!

On a side note, my sister is an avid scrapbook enthusiast. I included Project Life cards, embellishments, and photo challenges in most if not all of her cases. If the person you are gifting this to is not a fan, it is best to leave that out and use the expense somewhere else. I recommend hounding your local Groupon and Living Social pages for deals. There were quite a few we looked at but passed up for other adventures. Do you know someone that wants to ride a Segway on an obstacle course or get family photos taken at Picture People?

Lego Week: Fun Lego Photos

I am having fun documenting Lego Week and making sure I get a lot of photos so I can scrapbook them. 

I wanted to make some props for fun and made this Lego head using simple rounded rectangles:

I printed a few and let my son color faces. He came up with some pretty cool monsters! Then we attached them to colored Popsicle sticks with some glue dots.

Here are some links of amazing Lego Photos I've seen around the internet:

Warm Hot Chocolate has some printable Lego eyes so you can still see who's under that face. Adorable!

No Bad Days talks about making this adorable cardboard cutout for pictures.

Free Stylin' talks about these super cool Lego bricks on the wall, bet you could make an entire back drop out of those!

Stop by your local movie theater and see if they have one of these cutouts. We took quite a few pictures here.

Do you have any cool Lego photography ideas? Please share in the comments below. 

Lego Week: Creationary Review!!

The geniuses at Lego created a game titled, "Creationary."  It is just like "Pictionary" but you build objects with Lego blocks instead of drawing pictures.  This game is for ages 7 and up and is definitely fun for the whole family!

Inside the box, you will find several shapes and sizes of Lego pieces!  There is a variety of colors as well.  There are also three difficulty levels you can play.  For the easiest creations, choose the single question mark cards to play with. 

Some of these cards and categories are quite challenging.  The categories seem to be transportation, buildings, nature, and tools.  Depending on your skill level with the use of Lego blocks, your results will vary greatly!

 My seven year old made this creation:

He drew a "?" card (which is the easy cards) and rolled the dice that chooses your category.  The dice gave him the "building" category in red.  He thought the greenhouse SOLD plants.  The "man" is working at the register.  Those little buttons are plants :)

Just for fun....I looked on Instagram under #creationary.  You should check that out!  There are so many creative builders out there that really know how to use Lego bricks and build masterpieces.  Way to be crafty!

Personally, I am a fan of the game.  You can only improve on your building skills and people of all ages will have fun playing together.  You can't take yourself too seriously with this game.  I am not as skilled as many "Creationary" players, but it was nice to be creative while spending quality time with my son laughing at how silly I made a row boat look with Lego pieces. Good times and family fun!  Enjoy!

(Preparing for) Lego Week: Lego Store Outting!

Living near a major city graces us with the chance to shop at all kinds of neat stores. A few of us took the 20 minute drive to head to our local Lego Store in preparation of the coming Lego Movie and all the fun crafts we are bringing you this week. Well, we needed supplies and the kids wanted to have some fun.

Our local store has a lot of cool features that the kids (and adults) enjoyed.

 

There are several build-stations all over the store. You can build a Lego Man just like you at the Build-A-Mini Tower or you can use the tables and create a home-- there are such a variety of bricks to choose from and work with!

 While the kids got busy making mini creations, the mamas went brick hunting at the Pick-A-Brick Wall. This wall is covered with little bins. You can buy a small or large size cup and fill it up with anything your hearts desire. We made sure to pick up all of the elements you need to make cars. I took a handful of pink bricks (since we only own bricks from the 80's in my house) and flowers -- you can never have too many lego flowers.


While we were in the store, the staff gave us the latest copy of Lego magazine and a WyldStyle poster for the upcoming movie! We will be making it a point to go back the week they are giving out Lego Batman posters-- we are BIG Batman fans in our household.

As Caitlin has already pointed out in our Kid's Crafting post-- there is a free Lego build on the first Tuesday of every month. Search for your local store to see what events are coming up!

The Boss Applesauce!

Linvilla Orchards is a beloved orchard in our county.  I absolutely love it there.  They have fresh fruits and veggies that you can even pick your own.  They also have hayrides, the cutest little park, face painting, caramel apples, animals, and a little train on a track you can ride.  I have always enjoyed the time I have spent there and now that I am a mother, I enjoy it even more.

They are celebrating their 100th Anniversary this month.  Last weekend, they posted on Facebook that they were selling their apples for 5 cents a lb while supplies last!  I had to jump on that deal immediately!!  I got around 45 apples for one dollar!!!  You better believe it!  After getting home, I had to decide what to do with it all.  I decided to make homemade applesauce for the first time.

Recipe:

      4 Large Red Delicious Apples (skinned, cored and cut into chunks)

      3/4 cup of water

      1/4 cup of granulated sugar

      1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon

You just need to mix your ingredients all up in a pot and cover with a lid.  Put the oven top on medium heat for 20 minutes.  The apples should be soft when done.  Let it cool and then mash it all up with a fork...you could even blend depending on what texture you prefer. 

My son now calls this my "famous" applesauce.   ENJOY!  Yummy!!!

Crafting Kiddies

There are so many wonderful businesses that allow our children to be crafty for free or for a very low price! I was a single mother with very limited income when i googled "fun things to do with your kids in Delaware County." This AWESOME blog popped up and changed my single mom life forever (and for the better!). www.kidsdelco.com

My favorite thing to do with my son, suggested by that blog, was the Home Depot's free monthly projects (every first Saturday of the month) geared toward kids ages 3-12 year old! My son has made some of the coolest, most useful items. Best of all....IT'S FREE!! The children are given all the supplies and instructions needed, their very own personalized Home Depot orange apron, a certificate award for completing the project, as well as a pin to place on their apron representing the project! Some of the items Dylan has made include: coasters, a race car, airplane, pencil case, shelf with a hook, jewelry box, and a desk calendar. I love them all!!! 

Lowes also does a similar thing with children. Theirs happens to be every two weeks instead of monthly! 

Now this next one is SUPER exciting! LEGOS!!! Who doesn't love Legos? Every month, your local Lego Store will have "Mini Builds" which are free for kids to build and keep! Mini Builds are strictly for ages 6-14 years old. This event takes place on the first Tuesday of every month. Check your local store for accurate dates and times! 

Michaels Craft Store (where some of us LIVE), also allows our children to be more creative and get their hands dirty! There may be a small fee to do these projects @ $5. 

This next crafty thing to do with your kids in not free but SUPER COOL!! I never heard of Color Me Mine until Maureen told me about it the other day. I am definitely checking this place out! On Sundays, they have a "Family Day" where up to two of your kids are free to paint while you paint. Bonus! I do not have to watch or "help." You can pick what you want...paint it...fire it up....keep it!

Also...Check out their project ideas! oooo INSPIRATION!!!

As always, KEEP IT CRAFTING!! 'Til next time! :)

Christmas Book Countdown and Activity Advent Calendar

I'm excited to share some things I'm doing this year for the Holiday Season. In the past few years I've noticed that Christmastime wasn't the same as when I was young. It feels like Christmas sneaks up on me and I'm thinking, "is Christmas seriously this week? Definitely doesn't feel like it!" Then I feel panic and stress trying to cram traditions and shopping all in one week. This year I have a plan. I am going to make every day special by making some advent calendars! I've planned a Book Countdown and an Activity Advent Calendar. I'm also doing Elf on the Shelf for the first time this year.  I'm going to photograph everything and make a scrapbook album of the holiday season. 

Book Countdown:

Beginning Thanksgiving night, we are going to read a holiday book each day until Christmas. I gathered all of my Christmas books and went to the dollar store to purchase a few more. 

I wrapped all of the books and using a paper punch and some extra Thickers (alphabet stickers), I made tags so you can clearly see which books go with each day. I then put all of the books on an empty book shelf in the living room where the tree will go in December. I think my son (4 yrs) will really enjoy it and he's already been staring at the packages wondering which book will be first! 

Here is the list of books I have for this Book Advent Calendar: 

1. Elf on the Shelf

2. Thomas' Night Before Christmas

3. The Polar Bear Express

4. Sesame Street Snowy Day

5. The Sweet Smell Of Christmas

6. Frosty the Snowman

7. Un Nino Dios 

8. Woody's White Christmas

9. Disney's Christmas Dreams

10. The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas

11. If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

12. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer- Santa's Big Day

13. Land of Snow and Ice

14. Dora's Christmas Carol 

15. The Little Christmas Elf

16. King of the North Pole

17. Jingle Wheels

18. Guess Who's Coming to Santa's for Dinner?

19. The Animals' Christmas Eve

20. Dora's Counting Christmas

21. Elmo's Night Before Christmas

22. Beauty on Ice

23. The Christmas Story

24. I've Seen Santa! 

25. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Rudolph Helps Out

26. Dinosaur VS Santa

27. The Night Before Christmas

For the Activity Advent Calendar, I used a ton of my Christmas Scrapbook Stash that has been sitting around begging to be used. I also used a lot of envelopes. Basically, I came up with different activities that we can do throughout December, starting on the first. Some of the activities are small, free, and don't require leaving the house. Others are events that we've planned or places to go. I'm excited to give this a try and really make it feel like Christmas all month long!

Here is the list of Activities:

12/1- Decorate the House and Make a Decoration

12/2- Write a Letter to Santa using the Mega Monkey Mash Printable

12/3- Take a Family Photo

12/4- Make/Order Christmas Cards 

12/5- Hot Chocolate Day

12/6- Make a Christmas Craft 

12/7- Visit Santa at the Mall

12/8- String Lights Outside

12/9- Christmas Family Game Night

12/10- Watch Christmas Movie

12/11- Dinner Date 

12/12- Go Ice Skating

12/13- See the light show at the farm

12/14- Decorate Tree (we get a real tree so we do this in the middle of the month)

12/15- Bake Cookies

12/16- Check out the Lights in the Neighborhood

12/17- Watch Elf

12/18- City Date 

12/19- Christmas Carols and Dance Party

12/20- Decorate Gingerbread House

12/21- Winter Walk in the Park 

12/22- Make a New Ornament for the tree

12/23- Wrap Gifts

12/24- Cookies and Milk for Santa

I hope this gives you some ideas to make your holiday special this year! Do you have any holiday traditions?