Eric Carle Inspired Pictures

Today the boys made pictures with the papers they painted yesterday. When Eric Carle is putting a book together he takes sheets of papers that he's previously painted and he cuts them into the shapes that he needs and will add the details to it. He says that "He makes paper more than paper." It's really cool to watch him. If you ever get a chance to watch his documentary DO IT. Or check out his book You Can Make a Collage: A Simple How To. Hes's pretty awesome. This morning we went to the library and stocked up on Eric Carle books. We got The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider (this is a really cool one because it is a touch book), 10 Little Rubber Ducks, and "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly" said the Sloth. 
      While the boys were playing I laid out all of their supplies that they would need on the table. 

I then read them a story and explained how the pictures were made. I told them to make their own pictures and walked away over to the counter to clean up lunch. I helped Ollie with cutting when he needed it but other than that I didn't interrupt them. 

This is Miles' picture of centipedes and a leaf.

This is Max's self portrait. His shirt, eyes, sky, and
 sun are made out of the paper we made.

This is Ollie's picture snakes. We're working on his scissor skills
 this summer. I'm not sure what the red things are. 

 This activity kept them busy and quiet for a whole hour and I got the kitchen and living room picked up. That's like a miracle around here! Check back in tomorrow for the last day of Eric Carle Craft Week!

Painting Like Eric Carle (Part One)

It's Eric Carle craft week!!! OHHH Yeah!!! There's something you should know, my mom and I have a slight obsession with Eric Carle. We love the way he illustrates his books and the stories. My Pintrest is filled with stuff inspired by him. So I have dedicated this week to 

Today is part one of a two part craft. Today we painted our papers to use to make storybook pages tomorrow. If you don't know how Eric Carle illustrates see this video. I thought the boys would have a lot of fun with it and there were really no rules just don't paint Sophie (the dog) or yourself. <- That rule was barely followed. 


I put paint on paper plates so that we can use the plates tomorrow when we make our storybook pages and no paint was wasted! I then handed each boy a paint brush, paper, and some plastic forks. I also showed them that they could get a cool design if they pressed the painted paper in the grass (That led Miles to believe he could paint with the grass as a brush...). And then I walked away and checked in on them every so often. I wanted them to do what they thought looked best. 

Tomorrow we are going to make cut outs and turn them into storybook pages! 

I'm Home!

(Have you seen the movie "The Pacifier?  Remember the scene where the older sister is driving and the little sister gets out of the car and falls to the ground and says "LAAANDDD" Well that's how I want you to read the following!) I'M HOME!!!

Sorry I've been gone for so long. I had to unpack all of this to my room that is smaller than a walk in closet. Yeah there wasn't much room. :( 

But I'm back so let the blogging begin!

Too Much Stuff, Too Little Car...

Today was my last day of exams!! (Jump up and do a little dance. I did and it was great!) Now it's time to go home. Almost. As of right now I'm waiting for my parents, little brother Noah, and my boyfriend to get up here. In the morning we will pack everything into the cars and go back to Iowa! As I am packing the pile keeps getting bigger and I keep hoping it's all going to fit in the car. Let's keep our fingers crossed. I'm going home tomorrow!!!! (I'm excited if you can't tell.)

Please fit!!

Let the Summer of Crafts Begin!

I may be jumping the gun a bit but I've lost all interest in making another note card. So on that note... 

Okay, back to more note cards... But only because my mom will read this and tell me to get a move on! :P

All Hail the Mighty Chip Bucket!!

    I have been searching for and compiling ideas for time management for kids (if you want to call it that). I wanted try something new this summer and let the boys be in charge of how much time they got to have for TV and video games, yet I wanted to limit the amount that the total amount that  was given to them. Eventually I came up with this idea - The Chip Bucket. The boys will get a certain amount of chips each worth a half hour. The chips are labeled with their name and what activity they can be redeemed for.  This way the boys have the responsibility and freedom of choosing what they do and I can limit the amount of time they play on the Xbox without them being able to say "Nuhh-Uhh, we didn't do that yet!" 
    I wanted to make The Chip Bucket for under five dollars. I did it for FREE! I up-cycled with things in my dorm room. Originally I wanted to make each boy their own bucket and use wooden chips but I couldn't find the wooden chips in my budget and I didn't want to haul and flower pot full of dirt and dead flowers. For the bucket itself I just used a flower pot that I attempted to grow flowers in and failed at. As for the chips I turned to all of my used up notebooks. It's almost the end of the school year and there are going to be plenty of old used up notebooks floating around the house. Here's how to make your very own Chip Bucket!


Step One: Find a bucket and clean it out. Find a notebook with a plastic cover (I'm kinda picky about the type of paper I use and I love Five-Star notebook and they happen to have plastic covers) or notebook with a hard cardboard cover and cut the it off. 

 Step Two: This step is optional. I was wasting time before studying again so I found it absolutely necessary! :P I traced the bottom of my pot on the gray plastic and glued it to the inside of my pot. That way if their was water on the counter the chips wouldn't get wet since there are holes in the bottom of my flower pot.  

 Step Three: I used the cap of my calcium vitamins (the milk up here at school taste like plastic) as my template and traced it onto the back of my notebook cover. 

Step Four: Cut out the plastic shapes and label them. I labeled mine with their names and TV, video game, and bonus. The bonus is for is they do something really good and earn extra time. 

 Pretty Chip Bucket!

 I put a little message in there for them.

 All finished at the cost of $0.00! I happen to really like that price tag. I guess I'll see how well it works in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know!

Now I really need to get back to making psych note cards!! Two more days!!! Two more days until I can go home!

Finals are Starting to Get to Me...

Today I found sticky notes on Anna and Erin's floor. I made Erin's leg into a road... And then I drew  cars on her leg, which looked like turtles. And then I drew a person walking a duck across the road. Like I said finals are getting to my brain. So much information in such a small amount of time. Ahug! 

Only three more days. Three more days. Three long antagonizing days. And then I get to go home! Yay!!!

Finals... You're Killing my Brain

I think it might be possible for my brain to die of boredom. Ok, maybe not die but I am having a hard time focusing on actually studying. It's not good :(. Some good news? Last night Anna, Erin, Alex, and I went out to dinner and a movie. Anna and I like to dress up so we went all out.  

Stylish right? And then Anna walked out.

I swear it wasn't intentional! IT JUST HAPPENED! So did Erin's outfit. But that's because we raided her closed while she was in the shower... And created a genius outfit for her. (We found different shoes after the fact from a friend.)

We had a lot of fun. Anna and I shared Chicken Alfredo. It was AMAZING!!! And then we saw Dark Shadows. It was pretty good! I highly suggest it. 

We're Alex's "Charlie's Angels" according to Anna so we don't have to be a street gang. :P We had a ton of fun. But now I HAVE to get back to working on my notes. Maybe I'll do Anna's hair or something later and give you a how to video. Anything to not study :) 

Have a Great Saturday! 

Finals Are Starting!!!

Today was the last "free" day I had before finals. It was really nice out, so we sat outside and I made note cards for my psych class. I got a little burnt... 

I maybe might do a post this weekend if Anna and I get a free moment. So until finals are done and I have moved home have a great day!!!

It's Been a Long Day :)

I thought you should see these. 
Erin's had a long day...

This is Erin trying to get out of bed (in order)

Erin giving up and just sitting on the floor.

 Anna using her head as a tripod. 

 Erin "nesting" on her pillows. That's it. Ignore her hand :)

These girls are my favorite girls at college! Without them I would be lost and probably insane up here at school. I'm going to miss them tons this summer!

            Good night!! 

It Must Have Been a Man's Idea!

Today was loft returns. I don't leave school for another 2 weeks! Who's idea was it to have us to take down our lofts two weeks before we leave for school? It was a big mess and hectic! But thank the Lord for Anna's parents. The came up to help move lofts, so instead of us having to carry them all the way to the return we were able to load them up into the truck.That made it a lot easier! Josh also helped. When he was up here a few weeks ago he helped me take down my loft so I wouldn't have to do it by myself. So my room progressed in this order...

I was doing laundry that day :)

The Corner... This is only the start of it. All of  my bedding

and more was added after a bit but I forgot to take a picture. 

To finally this! 

And it rained. The lofts are cursed... It rained on move in day to. Ick!

Being Productive!

Okay, today probably could have been a little bit more productive school wise but I got a lot done today! For starters I finished my English 102 article for my final and I CLEANED! Well not super power clean but I picked up to move my loft out tomorrow. Then I went shopping with Miranda to take back/find shoes that fit for my cousin's wedding. We also hit a few garage sales but we didn't really find anything we had to have. Smart buying right there! We hid Joann's and got Mod Podge and the hot glue gun pad that I wanted (which I got for $2 rather than $5!). Plus the cashier guy gave me 50% off since I didn't have my 10% student discount card (I know love him!). After which we bought glitter for an upcoming project. I came back to my dorm and worked on said up coming  project. I continued working and finished ANOTHER project. I tried to redye the pink peek-a-boo strip in my hair (which didn't really work). Washed the dye out of my hair and straightened it and then taught myself how to curl my hair with my straighten. IT WORKS GREAT!!! Now I need sleep because I have to move my loft out tomorrow. But more on that later. Night! :)

Virtual Eating...

Even though I'm in college, I call my mom at least once a day and she will call me at least once a day and then there are some texts thrown in there.

Tonight would be a perfect example. I called her to tell her about something that Noah told me earlier. She calls me about 10 minutes later and we had this conversation:

         Mom: "Katelyn, you did you watch Where did You Come From?"

         Me: "No! I was watching Phineas and Ferb because Noah told me I had to."

         Mom: "Oh well I meant to call you when it started. It's really interesting. It's about the                          

           Holocaust." She then went to explain the show while I watched the last 10 minutes. 

         Me: "I'd like to go there (Germany).'

         Mom: "I'm not flying to any other country sorry."

Then I sent her this picture of my dinner of popcorn. 

Which led to the following conversation about popcorn over texts: 

                  Mom: Yum. That's my kind of supper.

                  Me: It's delish.

                  Mom: Umm I am trying to lose my freshman 15 here. (This is a joke in our house 

                    because I lost 10lbs when I went to school and Mom gained my freshman 15 :P)

                  Me: Well I am visually feeding you!

                  Mom: You're making me crave butter (Our weakness)

                  Me: Well just think how good you'll look in our family pictures. 

                  Mom: Yeah...

Usually I call her during my break from class and then we sit on the phone and gossip for an hour. My mom and I are really close like that. Being 5 hours away hasn't stopped us from discussing what's for dinner and how my brothers are driving her crazy. :) 

Love you Mom!