Classroom Renovation!!

As a homeschooling family of 4 boys, we spend a large amount of time crafting, inventing, coloring, painting and learning in our classroom. Up until recently, the room was quite an eyesore of raveling, stained carpet, littered with play doh bits, paper scraps and everything else imaginable! 

A slight water leak finally necessitated an overhaul for the entire room. We had to pull everything out (carpet included) and redo the entire room! The boys had fun dancing in the empty concrete floor room!

Since we had everything pulled out, we decided to paint the classroom with fun colors (leftovers from the boys' rooms). The boys got in on the painting action!

The room in progress... notice my Young Living Essential Oils diffuser:) We diffused Thieves to clean the air and mold. You can also diffuse peppermint while painting to get rid of paint fumes!

 The floor is starting to go in! 

We're thankful for this hand-me-down flooring that was in awesome condition!

Renovation complete!

Now for the classroom organization!!

Already making messes!!

The little guys love their magnetic chalk board!

lots of books, manipulatives and craft supplies

He's ready to learn in his new classroom!

Starting to decorate!

The final product!!

Little guys' play/learning area

MFW ECC map & curriculum

school & art supplies station

The best motivator ever!!! My boys are eager to complete their "jobs" (schoolwork and chores) everyday!!

Thankful for this sweet place to learn alongside my boys:)

Summer bucket list

We're looking forward to a fun filled, busy, adventurous, family filled, exciting summer! These are a few our our plans and adventures for the summer;)
1. Vacation Bible School
2. Day at the Paragould water park
3. Fun at the Georgia Aquarium

4. Day at the beach in Gulf Shores, AL 

5. Swimming at Granny & Grandpa's new pool!

6. Bring home our new baby:)
7. Family reunion

8. Camping in the backyard

9. Slumber party with cousins!
10. Evan's Star Wars 7th birthday celebration!
11. Family Vacation to Mountain Home, AR

12. Celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary:)

13. Sports & More Camp
14. Nerf gun war at church
15. Growing a large vegetable garden
16. Make lots of blueberry, strawberry, & muscadine jam
17. Crowley's Ridge Nature Center
18. Many trips to the library

19. Swimming and water games in the backyard

20. Get muddy!!!
21. Sidewalk painting!
22. Lots of fun activities with HDBC Children's Ministry!

What activities are you and your family planning to do this summer?

Little hands painting!!

Evan and Ben have always enjoyed painting... the littlest one is no different! Samuel experienced painting for the first time today and had a blast!!

So excited to paint like big brothers!!

This is so much FUN!

He really knew what he was doing!!

Even used a paint brush!

Can you tell he's having FUN?!

Should I paint myself too?

Painting on paper is fun too!

Really focused on his masterpiece.

Painting belly & paper:)

All of my boys have to paint a goatee like Daddy;)

Getting messy in a dinosaur swamp!

Want to give little boys an activity full of creative, sensory, messy, imaginative fun?

 Have fun creating this dinosaur swamp for your little guys (or girls). 

You can use items from your kitchen, house and yard. This week I used green spaghetti (spaghetti cooking in water with food coloring), several types of beans/rocks (pinto, lima, lentils, split peas), rice, large rocks, mint leaves, and toy dinosaurs. Sometimes I add a little of the green pasta water to make it extra messy fun!

 Enjoy watching your little guys play and explore... or go work on those 7 loads of laundry;)

Looking for other ideas for creative indoor play? Check out these other blogs:
Indoor Activities for my stir crazy boys
Cooking like Mommy: Pretend cooking with real ingredients

Indoor activities for my stir crazy boys!

Anyone else super excited about springtime? Even though it is March, this freezing winter weather has made us a little stir crazy and ready to play outside, take walk around the neighborhood, plant our veggie garden, play in the mud, and have lots of fun with our boys OUTSIDE! Here are a few of our fun indoor activities that make these cold indoor day a lot more bearable... even FUN!

Pretend cooking with REAL food is one of the boys favorite messy FUN activities! I blogged about this awhile back, but we enjoyed this great sensory activity this weekend inside with our guys:)

Monster play dough is another great activity for the boys! My 5 and 6 year old guys enjoy creating monsters out of our homemade play dough! I give the boys a mound of play dough, toothpicks, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, buttons, and sit back to watch them create!

I made these felt dress up Mr. Potato Heads for a long road trip last spring, but the boys enjoy playing with these at home too! I glued a solid piece of felt to cardboard and glued the face shape and googly eyes. They each have a bag full of clothes, hats, and facial features to dress up their own Mr. Potato head.

 Dinosaur swap involves some prep by Mom, but is loads of fun!!

Dinosaur swamp

Painting or drawing is always a winner with my creative little guys! 

My boys have such a blast dressing up as one of many superheroes, fireman, soldier, race car driver, Mario & Luigi, and wild animals! I hope the boys never tire of playing dress up! 

And then there is always the option to get outside and build an igloo!! 

How does your family have fun indoors on cold winter days?

Cooking like Mommy!

When I was a little girl, my sister and I enjoyed pulling up chairs next to Mom while she cooked. We wanted to learn all of her incredible New Orleans recipes (crawfish etouffee, stuffed crabs, shrimp alfredo, seafood gumbo) as well as lick the beaters or spoon of anything sweet that was baking in our Louisiana kitchen. Even though we now live in Arkansas, I definitely carry out my New Orleans heritage in the kitchen! My boys love to help me in the kitchen when making bread, cakes and cookies! We also enjoy many picnics with their pretend food.

Recently I found an idea on Pinterest that combined the two activities... pretend cooking with real food! What an incredibly fun idea!!

I raided my pantry and spice cabinet and filled up a muffin pan with their "ingredients".

potatoes, pasta shapes, nuts, beans, rice, sesame seeds, rosemary, salt/sugar, oats, coffee beans

I also gave the boys a ball of flour & water for dough 

My little chefs hard at work!!

 The boys had fun measuring with measuring spoons, mixing and stirring up their own concoctions! 

The final result!!
I actually had to explain to them why we would not eat it... they begged to try it!!! 

Linking up with Let's Hear it For the Boys!!