A fun creative art project and a Christmas gift.  The perfect combination!

We borrowed this amazing castle made out of appliance boxes from a friend.  It was so big we had to remove all the furniture from our living room.  It took 2 hours to put together but it was well worth it.  Right Honey?!?!  This kept the girls entertained for quite a while. 

I split the girls into groups and had them rotate between 3 different stations. 

Station 1- make tiaras.  I bought 2 packs of 6 foam tiaras from WalMart.  It included all the foam stickers as well and only cost $4.00 each.  (Much cheaper than Michael’s)

Station 2- The Royal Salon.  I had my mom and mother in law paint the girls finger nails and put blush on them.  While their nails were drying they got to listen to princess stories. 

Station 3- Pin the Lips on the Frog-  I bought lip stickers and had them put them on the frog. 

For party favors I bought cheap scrapbook paper and some glittery princess stickers.  I had a friend (who has much better handwriting than me) write Princess ________ on each paper and then I decorated them with the stickers.  I laminated them and made them into place-mats.  They got the tiaras they made and a balloon also.  It was a great party.  Here are some pictures.

My friend Sarah made this.  I wish I could take credit for it. 

This is what Emily was doing almost the entire time…EATING!

We decided to let the girls sleep together in one big bed.  They stayed up until 10:00 both nights talking.  It was so cute!

Getting ready to go canoeing with Daddy

1. Cut out a turkey shape from brown construction paper.  I traced one that I found online.
2. Have your child color a coffee filter with washable markers.  It really doesn’t matter how they color it but it will look best if they color most of it and don’t leave many white spots.
3. Have them spray the coffee filter with water.  This will allow all the colors to run together.
4. While waiting for the filter to dry, I had my girls draw a face on the turkey pattern that I cut out.  I let Ashlyn cut her own out. 
5. Once the filter is dry, fold it in half and glue or staple it to the back of the turkey for the feathers.  They turn out really cute!

I did a different activity with Emily and I was able to use the same turkey pattern.  This time I wrote her name on the front of the turkey and colored it.  Then I cut pieces of different color construction paper and wrote a letter on each piece that is in her name.  These are the turkey’s feather.  Now she has a game to practice how to spell her name.  I mix up the feathers and she has to put them back together in the correct order.

Ashlyn found a toilet paper roll and asked me for some purple paper so she could turn it into a telescope.  Emily heard her and of course wanted to make one too.  I gave them the paper and they ran into Emily’s room.  About 15 minutes later they came out with two decorated purple telescopes.  They ran around the house looking through their telescopes yelling something about finding Baby Jaguar (they love Dora and Diego). 

Then Ashlyn found a piece of cardboard and asked if she could have it. She and Emily worked together to decorate it with stickers and markers , added some cotton on the inside and voila created a tent, bed and pillow for her Little People.  They played together in her room for almost an hour.  Who knew two toilet paper rolls, a piece of cardboard and some cotton balls could be so much fun!

It amazing how creative kids can be when given the opportunity.  Look and see what kind of trash you have laying around that your kids can turn into something wonderful!

At Green Meadows Farm

Ashlyn with her favorite gymnastics coaches.

Have your child color a background on a piece of paper.  Ashlyn colored grass, a sun, and some flowers on hers.  Emily copies everything Ashlyn does so hers was the same.  Then I had them make a fist and I painted their fists orange.  I stamped them on their papers a couple of times and voila, a mini pumpkin patch.  Then I painted their finger green or brown for the stem.  They turned out cute.  I might do a few more to make cards for the grandparents.

The good news is Emily loves her new bed.  When we surprised her with it on Friday evening she stayed in it for an hour reading books and playing with her dolls.  She looks so little laying in it under all her covers.  I just wish she would stop growing up so fast!

The other night after we had finished we were just laying in her bed talking.  She said, “Mommy, you are the best Mommy in the whole world!”  But then she paused and said,” Well, actually, I don’t know if that is true because I don’t know all the mommies in the world.”  You gotta love a child’s honesty!