Activity Day: SPA DAY!

If you have a little girl, it's likely you've read a Fancy Nancy book or two. Miss M received a copy of Fancy Nancy: Ooh La La! It's Beauty Day (affiliate link) from her auntie and absolutely loves it! She's been pouring over it for weeks and begging to have a Spa Day. We decided that in honor of our last week day off before starting second grade, we'd have a special Spa Day!

Fantastique Face Mask

Mash half a ripe banana in a small bowl. Add in about half a teaspoon of honey. Mash the mixture some and put it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Miss M had begged for this. She even got out the ingredients for me. But one look at that slimy, banana scented goop and she had an instant change of heart! She let me apply it to her in spite of her wails of protest and cackling laughter.

Little Guy's response was: "I'm ugly! I'm ugly!" until I wiped it all off of him.

Marvelous Manicure

The next order of business was to manicure their rather grubby little mitts. This involved the usual nail cleaning, trimming, and filing. We used Mama's Healing Salve for cuticle cream. And Miss M picked out pink nail polish.

While having her nails painted, Miss M said wistfully, "People always tell me I'm pretty, but no one ever tells me I'm fabulous." I guess she has high aspirations!

Soothing Sea Salt Foot Soak

Have you ever had a footbath? It's heavenly! Miss M and Little Guy perched on the counters and put their feet in the sink. This made for a simple cleanup! I added a handful of Kosher salt and a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil (the "recipe" in the book calls for lemon juice, but this was already in the bathroom, so I went with it).

Magnificent Massage

While we waited for little tootsies to dry, I gave each of them a massage. They must see Hubby give me massages when my back hurts now and then because both of them groaned and sighed and said, "Yeah, yeah, that feels goooood!" It was hysterical!

Perfectly Posh Pedicure

Our last spa activity were their pedicures. Little Guy had felt left out when he didn't get his fingernails painted, so I let him choose two colors for his toes: purple and yellow!

Miss M was so excited to finally get to use her foam toe separator. She asked me, "Mama, why aren't you more of a girly-girl?" I guess, sweet child, God didn't make me one. I have no desire to go get a manicure or pedicure. I would, however, like to get my hair done when spring comes.

Are you a girly mama? Or do you shudder at the thought of a stranger touching your feet like I do?

No More Quiet Time

I have always thought it sounded trite to speak of “falling in love with Jesus.” But trite or not, isn’t that what I want for my children? To learn to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). With that in mind, and having run across this blog post on Pinterest several months ago, I created a morning devotion basket for the kids and I to use. You see, up till now, I would typically find time to read the Bible and pray away from my children. Away from distraction, away from the demands of dust and dirty dishes, and away from the 437 questions a four-year-old asks every day. Then I realized I was doing them a major disservice by disallowing them to see me in the Word regularly. If I want them to love the Lord God, then I must show them how I love the Lord my God! Our new routine is to wake up in the morning, prepare a simple breakfast — usually cold cereal for the kids, toast and tea for me — and sit d...

She Made It!: the Get to Work Apron

This weekend Miss M decided she wanted to sew something. I was elbow deep in a sewing project of my own, so I told her that if she wanted to sew, she would have to do it all by herself. I set up my old sewing machine on a little table for her and answered her questions, but otherwise she did all the work herself! First, she picked a project from Sewing School . (affiliate link) She choose the Get to Work Apron. It's a cute tool apron that helps you carry your tools or supplies with you while you work. Then she picked some fabric from my stash. She cut out the paper pattern and traced it onto her fabric with a piece of chalk. (We had to have a little talk about placing your pattern near the edge of the fabric and not smack-dab in the middle!) Then she cut out her pieces and pinned them together, right sides facing. At that point I gave her a piece of plain white printer paper to practice sewing straight lines on. ...

Fire Drill

It's important to teach our kids about fire safety in a way that empowers them and doesn't immobilize them. To that end, I decided we'd have a mini fire-safety unit during our two week break. At the beginning of the week I warned the kids that we were going to have a fire drill sometime that week and not to be too worried when I started shouting that the house was on fire and we needed to get out. I planned to catch them at a time when they were both in their bedroom playing together. Then I'd go in, shut the door, and tell them there was a fire in the kitchen and we needed to get out, but we couldn't go through the hallway. We talked about how to touch the door to see if it was safe and how to block the bottom with rags to keep out the smoke. Then I showed them how to egress from their bedroom window. The kids loved that! We talked about what to do if there wasn't an adult to help (throw pillows and blankets on the ground and jump...

CHRISTEPHI

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