Day 52: Penguins, Christmas Trees, and Names

Wow, can we say hodgepodge?  I started today looking for a craft.  This was the first day in a long time that I have had to whip out Pinterest, but I was stumped.  So, I started searching and I found some really adorable penguins.  IF you know our family, you know that we have a slight obsession with penguins, so any opportunity to make a penguin is going to be a big hit.

This was the easiest penguin ever too!  It was supposed to be made with construction paper but I changed it to foam at the last minute which made it a little more difficult honestly.  I need to get foam glue, i think is what it boils down to.  But, hot glue works, it just makes it stressful when I am trying to do a craft with the kids and have to grab the high temp hot glue gun.  I am always fearing little fingers and melted glue.  But once again, I digress... So, i had half sheets of foam and i cut them slightly uneven, it worked out to be a 2.5 inch strip of foam and a 3.5 inch strip.  We glued them into tube shapes then glued the small one on top of the larger one.  Then it was just as simple as cutting out a beak, 2 feet, 2 wings (we ended up having to use construction paper because I didn't account for wings when i used ALL of my black foam, oops!) and a white belly.  With a little glue, and the help of googly eyes, we have the cutest little penguins ever.  I also found this awesome website with a ton of penguin ideas... I sense a penguin week in our new future! http://www.squidoo.com/best-penguin-crafts

So, onto "craft" 2.  It is actually totally related to craft 1, but I just want to take a proud mommy moment because sometimes, I feel like I don't celebrate the little milestones enough at times.  Iris asked me if she could write her name on the back of her penguin with chalk.  She started with the I and then I asked if she could make an R and she managed to make a very nice R without any help.. but then she ran out of room.  So i grabbed the scrap of black paper and wrote her name on the top and asked her if she could write it.  Well, this is what came of that.  I was so proud of her that i was clapping and cheering her on and I could see how excited she was in her face.  Well, I was so proud, that I wanted to save it for her, and of COURSE it was written in lime green chalk.  So, the first thing that runs through my head is "$#@!, this is done for." but then i remembered that I had spray on clear coat in the basement.  So I went running down there, grabbed the clear coat, and sprayed it on the construction paper.  I had this brief second where I thought I ruined it because the chalk completely disappeared.  I was convinced that it was gone forever and I was getting ready to kick myself in the butt and suddenly, the chalk reappeared!  So, now I have Iris' first ever written name, clear coated, on a sheet of construction paper, to save for her.  One day, in 20 years she is going to look at me and say, "Mom, you were absolutely ridiculous  you know that???" and I am going to smile and remember how happy and excited we both where.  And I hope I remember her standing there in that pink princess dress-up gown and tiara, jumping up and down and smiling ear to ear.

And, that brings us to craft #3.  Totally unrelated to #1 and #2.  I started this with the girls before Christmas, and just never got around to finishing it.  I don't know why, because it took me all of 30 seconds to get it finished, but I guess it was just easier to procrastinate.  Mike actually did the hand prints with the girls before Christmas, then I didn't have a star stamp for the top and oddly, it took me almost 2 months to find it.  Then, all I had to do was stick Coraline's feet at the bottom of the tree before her feet grew too big to fit on the canvas... yeah right, i think she'll be 6 before her feet get that big lol.  But, I did it today, and it looks adorable!  I can't wait to hang it in our office :)