Bound and Determined

The teacher in me always wants to be doing something fun with my kids. I love when I can come up with new activities, cook, let everyone get messy with paints, and simply watch my kids become excited about what we are doing. This is why I was so excited when a friend introduced me to Pinterest. All these fun ideas right at my finger tips. I have a ton of pins, just not enough time to try everything (or lately anything)!

  This is why I was feeling a little sorry for myself the other day. I was looking back at my week and I discovered I hadn't worked on any projects with the kids, there was way more TV watching (for the kids) than I cared to admit, and I frankly just wasn't creative. So, after allowing myself to feel sorry for a little while, I realized that going about my old creative ways was going to be difficult with 5 kids. However, being creative is what makes me happy so I just needed to find a way to make it happen! I am bound and determined to try my Pinterest finds and be the creative person I want to be!

Here are a couple small ways I got myself back on track!

D and our new baby love to get a hold of the wipes. I took an empty wipe container and filled it with felt rectangles. Now they can pull away and not waste anything. When its empty, I just put the felt back in the box and they start all over again! A was inspired to bring out her baby dolls and start changing diapers. Now I had three entertained children.. Works for me! 

For a Saint Patrick's Day treat, the girls and I made green fruit dip (cream cheese, vanilla yogurt, a little cinnamon, and a few drops of green food coloring). They loved stirring it together and watching the color turn from while to green. They also cut up all their own apple pieces to use with the dip.

My first cooking projects with the 3 "big" kids were corn muffins for a family BBQ. We made 3 batches so each child got to do everything equally (one thing we are learning- triple of everything if you want to keep everyone happy!) They were all so good at listening and helping. It was cute to see them excited to tell our lunch guests that they had made the muffins!