How I Found Time to Read my Novel While the Kids Did Self-Portraits

The other day I was dying to read my book.  I hardly ever get to read while the kids are awake, but I was reading Gone Girl: A Novel, and I couldn't put it down.  So, when my daughter asked if she could do a "project" I knew I wanted to come up with something that would keep her busy for awhile so I could sneak in a few pages (Does that make me a bad Mom?  Too bad!  Haha)
So, I got out the long butcher paper (Spectra ArtKraft Duo-Finish 67004 Spectra Artkraft Duo-Finish Heavyweight Paper, 48" x 200-ft. roll, White) and I taped two long pieces to our kitchen floor.  I told the kids to lay down, and I traced them.

Then we started adding stuff.  I helped her draw a dress for her self-portrait.  Then she started adding the flowers to the dress and I have to say, that the more we drew, the more things she came up with to add.  By the end, her imagination really took over.  On her self-portrait, she drew:

• A face
• Hair
• A dress with flowers
• A necklace
• A purse
• She traced herself holding her favorite doll
• A "friendly ghost"
• The sun
• Shoes and socks
• The carpet she was standing on
• A grasshopper on her head (long story.  We had pet grasshoppers this summer)

Even Little Buddy had fun on his, although I did most of the work while he coached me.  The good news is that, after the project was over, they scampered off and played by themselves for thirty minutes, and then I finally got to read my book in peace!  It really is amazing how willing they are to play alone after we do a project.  They finally get the "Mommy" time they crave and they feel fulfilled, leaving me time for dishes, laundry, and more importantly, novels!  For more ideas on how to get more free time by providing your kids with challenging projects, check out my new book!  I teamed up with Susan Case, a former Kindergarten Teacher, and we provide you with hundreds of ways to keep your kids busy, but in productive ways, so that they are learning while you get your precious free time!

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Craft project on a rainy day

Hubby had to work this weekend and it was raining, so I decided to finally get around to a craft idea I'd been wanting to try out for awhile. 

This project is kind of like painting, but with a twist.  The idea at the end is to allow the kids to sort of paint, but have a paint "mixture" come out of squeeze bottles.  Stick with me, you'll see.  For it, we mixed equal parts of salt, flour and water.  I used 2/3 cup of each and ended up with two bottles with plenty of mixture.  At first I hated wasting so much of my salt, but I realized that an entire cannister of salt is only $.53 from the store so it's a really cheap project. 



Munchkin Girl loves to help me cook, but I'm a bit of a germ freak, so it's nice to have a project that we won't have to eat later. I let her do all the pouring and stirring.  


Once everything is mixed up, you pour it into plastic squeeze bottles.  I found some at Walmart for just a few bucks.  Then you have plastic bottles with this sort of gooey mixture and you can add Tempura paint so they have several color options.  Then you cut up some cardboard squares and she can now squeeze colored goo onto cardboard!  I used a cardboard box from some yummy dried fruit I get from Costco


Finally we were ready and voila!  Almost a full hour of fun of squeezing "paint".  She loved it and really like the final product.  This whole thing sounds like a lot of work, but only took about 10 minutes to prep and was definitely worth it!