Pretty Paper

I love homemade presents. I really do. I think that it shows creativity, inspiration and determination. Over the years, I’ve made scrapbook albums (where the pages are done, all you have to do is add your pictures), needle pointed pillows, made quilts, crocheted scarves, and beaded jewelry. Not to sound narcissist, but there is a little bit of me in each of those gifts, which I think is a little more special than just going to a store and picking up some sort of made overseas plastic stuff. Not that there’s anything wrong with that either, I’m just into the more personal touch this year.

 

My son is 11, and he is at that really weird age where he likes toys, but not as much as he used to. He’s more into electronics (he found this new app called Ant Smasher which is basically whack a mole for ants. Its as gross as it sounds.). Luckily, he loves school and learning, so I try to capitalize on that. One of his favorite subjects is science. When we were iced in back in April, we had a blast doing kitchen science experiments. It gave me the idea that maybe building a kit for snowy days might be a great idea…and it seems like Pinterest agrees with me. Thrifty Decorating has some great ideas on their blog, which I totally copied.

 

In the box, I included everything to make the experiments, with directions. You can Google for easy science experiments. The ones I chose were:

 

Runaway pepper

Ooblek

Oil lamp

Bobbing raisins

Shiny pennies

 

He still loves his Legos (and confession: I do too). The only issue is when he is looking for mini-figures, he has to dump out totes and totes of bricks to find them. I saw the greatest idea on Pinterest-a Lego mini figure display board. All you need is a frame, a mat, hot glue and some square bricks. Glue the bricks to the mat, frame it and you have an instant Lego piece of art.

 

Now that the Little Man is a tween (how did that happen?), he likes what he calls “private time”. I am not too fond of him going into his room for hours on end, so we are working on a compromise. I thought a do it yourself fort kit would be a great way to keep him in the family room and give him privacy at the same time. Its super easy to make. Two flat twin sheets, some clothes pins, some suction cups, a dowel, and glow sticks and he’s got his own sacred space.

 

The Little Man and I have done date night since he was in preschool. Now that he’s at the apex of elementary school, that hasn’t changed. The only thing that has is what we do. He is no longer content going to the play place at the mall while I watch him…sigh. He is also increasingly busy with friends and other activities. These moments we spend together are precious. I don’t want to have to waste time trying to figure out what to do…so I came up with a year of date nights that we can share.

Some of the ideas include:

 

Jumping at Sky Zone

Laser Tag at Galaxy Gaming

Go cart racing

Miniature golf

Hiking at Great Bear

Wild Water West

Ice skating

Roller skating

Apple picking

Symphony performance

Science center night & cinedome

Service to others