Warm Fuzzies

Despite the fact that February has been declared the month of love, last month’s sibling rivalry record was at all time high in these parts. Tearing two children apart from one another as they are in a battle to determine who has been given the most granola in their yogurt cup can be a little tiring.

In an effort to recognize the good deeds that take place in the home (because surely my children express their love for each other on occasion) and perhaps as a subtle attempt to instigate sibling bonding as opposed to sibling demolishing, I decided to start documenting daily acts of kindness in a way that my children would be known participants.  So, we started a warm fuzzy jar.

Each warm fuzzy in the jar represents an thoughtful act performed by a member in the family. For instance, say Hendrix offers to share his skittles with Avi without being asked; warm fuzzy. Or say Avi brings Hendrix a blanket after Drix expresses he is cold; warm fuzzy. Make sense? OK, good.

Warm fuzzies are reserved specifically for those from-the goodness-of-your-heart moments. I don’t add a warm fuzzy to the jar for any expected good behavior like taking dishes to the sink after a meal or brushing teeth. I also don’t remove warm fuzzies from the jar for any reason, once a fuzzy is granted, in the jar it stays. Although warm fuzzies are “earned” it’s less a reward system and more an attempt to acknowledge our efforts in loving more. That being said, I thought it might be a good idea to do something fun together as a family when the jar is full because I do want to show my appreciation for simple acts of kindness.

Before introducing the warm fuzzy jar to my kids, I had them help me glue googly eyes to colored pop-poms and afterwards I told them the warm fuzzy story I was so fond of in my grade school days. The version of the story I have (to paraphrase) chronicles the lives a of happy and loving townspeople who express their love to one another in the form of warm fuzzies. The fuzzies are given and received freely until a false rumor is spread about a shortage of warm fuzzies. The rumor causes the townspeople to become greedy and self-seeking as they begin to hoard and lock up their warm fuzzies. The tale ends in good moral, when a young child offers a warm fuzzy to a friend in despair which reminds the townspeople of the strength and love that was once a part of their village and the fuzzies are given freely once again. (This is my favorite adaptation of the fable but I was unable to find it online so if you email me, I’d be happy to send you a digital copy.)

What about you, what kind of things do you do to decrease sibling rivalry in your home? I’m seriously asking here—please don't tell me I am the only mother who has children that fight. Thanks in advance for your great advice!

Thumb-Body Likes You

Well, last weeks posting didn't exactly go as planned considering there weren't any. Shorty following my commitment to share our valentine-y projects, we all became incredible ill—like stuck-in-the-hospital-for-a-good-part-of-last-week ill. Since we are finally on the mend I thought I would share a few simple activities for you to try out this month that aren't necessarily specific to Valentines Day.

The first thing I wanted to share with you is an activity book that Hendrix received for Christmas; a fingerprint drawing book by Ed Emberly. Did you have any Ed Emberly drawing books when you were little? They've been around for quite some time. These thumb print books are adorable and have gobs of how-to's for creating little characters using your fingerprints and markers or pens.

You can use any washable stamp pad for fingerprint making but we found a great little finger pad and sponge kit at Lakeshore that works quite well. Hendrix has been creating thumb and fingerprint creatures on a weekly basis since Christmas.

If you don't already have this book, I highly recommend it for your little ones. (We have an Ed Emberly drawing book too that is equally adored).  

Because this activity has become a household favorite as of late we decided to incorporate this craft in Drix's Valentines by making thumb print hearts with the slogan: "Thumb-body likes you."

Hendrix wanted to give out home made heart crayons again this year so we wrapped up a small bundles of crayons in tissue paper and then attached two tags with bakers twine.

One tag said Happy Valentines Day and the other tag had Hendrix's thumb (or finger) stamped message. These Valentines were simple enough for Hendrix to help me through the entire process and it was cute that each tag came out a little different.

V is for Valentine

We made this Valentine-y V using:

Chipboard cut from a cereal box for letter base

Red scrapbook paper

Doily and scissors

Origami paper

Letter stamps and ink pad

Glue: stick and white Elmer’s

Valentine-y books we like:
Odd Velvet by Mary Whitcomb and illustrated by Tara Calahan King, tells a story of a little girl who certainly has a different way of doing things in comparison to her classmates in school. She doesn't wear the coolest, newest clothes and instead wears side braids with large round glasses. The kids in school think she is rather odd and start to wonder where she came from. Fortunately the children have the opportunity to discover Velvet's skills in art and they begin to appreciate her differences. I love this book so much as it teaches to appreciate the differences in others and in yourself—a perfect valentine message if you ask me. Super cute illustrations too.

Another book I really like to read to the kids about appreciating/respecting/loving their self is called, I Like Me by Nancy Carlson. This pig in this story doesn't let her failures get her down and instead works on learning from her mistakes. She loves her body from her curly tail to round tummy to tiny feet. She controls her feelings by doing things that bring her happiness. A great message for any child (or adult).

Also, have you read the book, I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, illustrated by Jacquline Chwast? I received it from the hubs long, long ago. I highly recommend it as an any-time valentine gift for your loved one or BFF as it talks about the simple pleasures of enjoying your relationship with one another. One of my favorite lines from the book is, "I like you because if I am mad at you then you are mad at me too, it's awful when the other person isn't—phooey. They are so nice and hoo-hoo and you could just about punch them in the nose." OR "I like you because if I think I am going to throw up then you are really sorry, you don't just pretend you are busy looking at the birdies and all that." It's a book for all ages, really and a must read slash gifting.

(More about Project ABC)

K is for Kindly Kisses

We made our Kind Kisses using:

Chipboard cut from a cereal box for letter base

Red construction paper

Glue: Stick

Kiss stamp, embossing stamp pad, pink embossing powder and heat source

Kiss books we like:

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn and illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M Leak is a story about little Chester Raccoon, who is nervous about his first day of school and tells his mother that he’d prefer to stay home with her. To comfort him his mother passes down her tradition of “the kissing hand” as she gives his hand a kiss right in the middle of his palm. She explains how with her kiss in his hand, he will be able to have her comfort wherever he goes. This book is definitely saturated with sweetness but my kids really love it and since reading this book we have adapted the kissing hand tradition in our own home.

Audrey Penn has two other kissing related books that make up a series with the first book although there is no requirement to read them all or to read them in order for comprehension. Both books present objectionable change for Chester the raccoon as he becomes a big brother (A Pocket Full of Kisses) and when his family has to move to another forest (A kiss Goodbye). My kids liked these books as well but it may have been partly from the fact that they were familiar with the characters. These last two books are illustrated by Barbara Leonard Gibson.

(more on Project A-B-C)

Very Literal Love Notes

We pulled out the origami paper, alphabet stamper and ink to create some very literal love notes for Valentine’s Day.

This was the easiest valentine project ever since Hendrix (age 4) was able to create these notes all by himself by stamping the simple message, “love” on some pretty paper.

In each envelope he also added two heart shaped crayons which we made from old broken crayons, a silicone heart mold and oven.

(For our size of mold it took about 35 minutes for the crayons to melt down entirely with the oven set at 250 degrees).

Although valentines is over the message and crayons live on. Send your sweetie a love note today!

Sweet Talk: DIY Conversation Hearts

After purchasing our customary bag of conversations hearts for this month of love, I began to wonder how much research it would take to come up with a homemade version of these little candy treasures.

I decided to ask internet to help me investigate the possibilities of this task. As usual, Internet came throughand provided me with the perfect recipe and photo tutorial for making these famous treats from scratch.

I helped Hendrix and a little girlfriend of his make these over the Valentines weekend but I think it would make a fun anytime kitchen activity.

To MAKE THESE at HOME you will:

Mix ½ cup of water and 2 tsp of light corn syrup to one packet or 2 tsp of unflavored gelatin until the gelatin is well-distributed. Microwave the mix for 30 seconds to dissolve the gelatin, stir well.

Add gelatin mixture to a mixing bowl along with 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix ingredients using the paddle attachment (you can also use a handheld mixer). When the sugar is well blended you will add another cup of powdered sugar and mix until well-blended again. Continue this process until you have added 2 lb of powdered sugar. The dough should be stiff at this point.

Next you will knead the sticky dough on a generously-dusted powdered sugar surface. Roll the dough over itself adding powdered sugar as needed to decrease the stickiness.

When the dough is the right consistency, you can add color and flavoring. We separated our dough into 5 balls for 5 different colors and flavors. We added the color first (lightest color first) and then we added the flavoring extracts using what we had on hand; vanilla, coconut, bubblegum, banana, and cinnamon. The flavoring possibilities are endless.

Finally you will roll your dough and cut using small heat shaped cutters. You can make as thick as you like but you may want to roll out a thinner version of the store bought candy if your cutters are large.

You can place cut out candies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Leave treats uncovered on cookie sheet overnight to dry—NO baking necessary!

Once dried you can add you own special message to each heart using food writing makers which you can find in the baking aisle at most craft stores.
If you didn't notice, the ingredients and supply list for this project are the items are in color above. For further details see recipie HERE.

There you have it, your very own conversation hearts!

(top image credit: Brittany...my sister!)

Valentine Love Mitts

Hey there friends! I just shared a valentine tutorial with the readers over at FaveCrafts.com. You can read all about how to make your own I-Love-You-This-Much Love Mitts right HERE.

Oh yeah, and I am also sharing my current 5 favorite blogs on the Fave Crafts blog right HERE.