Finding Community

NJAAC, New Jersey Adult Adoptee Community

Some members met up in Cherry Hill, NJ for a great night of food, drinks, stories and laughter. If you are an international adult adoptee and live in NJ check out our website, www.njaac.org or join our facebook group, New Jersey Adult Adoptee Community.

Soap Box House

Make a cute little house in minutes with a soap box, some glue and a small piece of card stock.

Start with a standard box of soap.

Open it up along the seem. This step is not necessary. Turning the box inside out provides a clean surface to color on. You could cover the box in paper if you like.

Cut a door or window.

Glue box back together. Peak one end for the roof. I used paper tape.

Measure (just eyeball by placing your box onto paper) a piece folded paper for roof.

Glue onto peaked end. Use clothes pins or clamps to hold in place while it dries.

Give to child to decorate! Have fun!

Apple Smiles!

Another great snack idea from a back issue of High 5 Magazine.

Lips: 2 apple slices

Gums: apple butter or peanut butter

Teeth: mini marshmallows

Assemble and be sure to smile!

The Teacher Appreciation Luncheon is next week at Lu's school. The door sign is ready to go.

One of Lu's classmates mom suggested we decorate some silly hats for the teachers to wear to their luncheon. What a great idea! The theme I decided to go with is

Boom Chicka Boom Boom We Love Mrs. Huhn!

Boom Chicka Boom Boom We Love Ms. Case!

I got all my materials at Michaels Craft Store for pretty cheap. The hats are made out of foam. I attached the pictures to some paper coasters I found in the dollar bin. The plastic letters were on clearance.

Got them some leis to wear with bubbles attached for some extra fun. 

I hope they will feel special! 

Sunday Snapshot

First fair of the season! A Renaissance Faire to boot! What a gorgeous day to be outside. Hope you enjoyed your day!

Bleeding Flowers

I picked up these flower cutouts made out of a coffee filter like paper. They are meant to bleed washable marker or water colors when wet. I have been meaning to try this craft with the girls for awhile but I use a French press to make coffee so I don't have coffee filters in the house. If you do have coffee filters in the house this is such a simple fun activity. Or you can pick up these cool flowers for a couple bucks at Michaels. They also came in leaf shapes. Both girls made a stack of the flowers. I also picked up two mini plastic spray bottle. Note: The girls sprayed themselves as much as they did the paper!

Just color and spray!

Afterwards, I twisted several flowers together and taped them onto a bamboo skewer.

I had fun playing around with them too! 

I love the different tie die effects you can get. 

Nature Collages

Mother's Day weekend was windy here in NJ! The ground was covered with a treasure trove of leaves, pine needles and seed pods. We bundled up to weather the winds and set off with our collection buckets. The next day we made pictures using our finds. Lu drew a picture of her on our walk and added some of her specimens.

Emme made a beautiful collage by shaking everything in her bucket onto her paper.

I even got in on the action!

Happy Mother's Day

Enjoy your day!

Playing With Your Food

I know it looks gross but I didn't have a pear half and the girls were bugging me to make them a pear mouse they saw in High 5 Magazine. So... an avocado and a few veggie sticks had to do. They didn't mind and oohed and ahhed then (after slicing the poor guy in half) gobbled him up.

Teacher's Appreciation Week: Part 2

Lu and I had fun tearing apart a Chasing Fireflies catalog to create her person.

A couple of stickers and a pink bow... done!
Cute! 

Teacher's Appreciation Week

Luckily Teacher's Appreciation Week is celebrated at the end of May at Lu's school.

I am one of the room mom's for Lu's class. Last year we made a sign for her teacher's door and gave her teacher's homemade pads. This year I wanted to get the kids in Lu's class involved a bit more. I found these cute cut out people at Michael's Craft Store. I am sending home one person for each child to personalize any way they would like. I am also asking parents to help their child write one nice thing about their teachers on a blank quote bubble that will be displayed with each person. Once I get them all back, I will attach them to a large banner to hang on the classroom door.

I'll post the results later.