MYO Awesome Spelling Train

You'll forgive me as I toot my own horn (aren't I witty?) but I think this spelling train I made E turned out absolutely adorable. Using some scrapbook paper, I created a shape train, leaving pockets in each of the cars.  To go in those pockets, I labeled 26 popsicle sticks with the letters of the alphabet, topping them off with animal alphabet graphics I found online.

Four letters slip into the box cars, allowing E to spell different words and play around with rhymes.

Holes I punched in each box reveal the letter there as well.

Let the literacy fun begin!

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

You knew I'd be featuring this book at some point this week! Of course everyone has heard of the story, but have you ever read the full, original version? Because of its title - and its famous catchphrase "I think I can!" - I always thought this book was about the power of positive thinking. But the true title of the book should be The Little Engine that Would. It's basically the story of the Good Samaritan: Toys on a broken down train plead with a series of passersby to stop and help them deliver good things to the children on the other side of the mountain. Train after capable train refuse for one reason or another. Finally, the little engine, who wasn't sure if she even could climb the mountain, agrees.

E has always loved this book, and while I often created my own abridged version for her, I appreciate the moral of helping others against insurmountable odds. Sometimes, you just can't beat a classic.

I'm linking up to:
- Made by You Monday @ Skip to My Lou

Mothers Day Handprint (and such) Apron

Don't forget: Only one week until our Love My Library link-up on May 12!

I'm blessed to have both of my girls' grandmothers in town, so I had two opportunities to make Mothers Day gifts: a beaded bookmark for my bibliophile mother, and this cute garden apron for my green-thumbed mother-in-law!

I am not an artist, but this apron is so simple, even I could pull it off. I started with a craft apron from Michaels and painted the grass using two shades of acrylic green paint. Then it was time to paint my girls!

A graciously provided her tootsies to help make the butterfly...

E was happy to create the flowers using her hand and two of her favorite colors. (The bumblebee is my surprisingly large thumbprint.)

E also helped add a few happy ladybugs with her own adorable thumbprint...

... and I embellished it all with a black paint pen. Just in case you were wondering what the weird snake/spirit creature is hiding in the grass...

... A turned Picasso while I had stepped out of the room. I was upset at first, but managed to squelch my perfectionist tendencies. I figure Grandma won't mind. Overall I'm really pleased with how it turned out and hope she is too!

On a different note, did you know that this is the 60th anniversary of Are You My Mother? I'm always saying there's a reason this or that book is still in print so many decades later. Are You My Mother is a classic that deserves to be on every child's bookshelf. It was the very first book E read by herself (at age 3!) and we will continue to enjoy it as A gets older. So pull out your old copy or grab one from the nearest library and enjoy one of the best "mother" books this Mothers Day!


I'm linking up to:
- Made By You Monday @ Skip to My Lou

Books you can sing along with

I've been enjoying partying along with other book-lovers at Feed Me Books Friday! This week the theme is books you can sing. Here are a few of my girls' favorite song-related books...

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?

by Iza Trapani

Are you familiar with the Iza Trapani books? She continues classic children's songs into full stories and matches them with her beautiful illustrations. This is my favorite of her books and tells the story of a wayward little dog and his many adventures. It's one of the few books E insists I sing all the way through. She pulled it out the other day and started singing it to her little sister - so sweet!

The Jazz Fly

by Matthew Gollub

I admit it - I find it really difficult to read this book. It's not one you sing so much as chant, but I have no rhythm and its jazzy beat throw me for a loop. Thankfully, it comes with a CD! I won't go into details about the book here, but I reviewed this book last summer along with a great craft suggestion.

Teddy Bears' Picnic

by Jimmy Kennedy

I'm throwing this up here just in case - like me - you were not exposed to this song/book as a child. It is such a sweet and classic story of teddy bears sneaking out for a picnic. In the fall I threw a teddy bear picnic for my girls and their cousins. We had a wonderful time reading the book and enjoying a lunch outside with our teddy bears.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear: A Classic Action Rhyme

by Michael Hague

 

Speaking of teddy bears, my girls love this little song and know all the motions to go along. This particular version has illustrations with a beautiful vintage feel.

Taking time to smell the flowers

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

I dare you not to love this book. Just try. Pick up a copy at the library (I promise they have it) and read it to your kids. You'll find out why this story of a gentle bull has been in print for over 50 years.

Ferdinand is a sweet-tempered bull who is content to sit under his favorite tree and smell the flowers. One day some men come to his pasture looking for the fiercest bull to fight the matador. As fate would have it, a bee chooses that moment to sting Ferdinand on the nose. The men see Ferdinand's violent reaction and pick him to be in the bull ring. You can guess what happens when this gentle giant enters a ring full of flowers!

Like Ferdinand, E loves to smell - and pick - the flowers... any flowers. I think I have her pretty well trained to leave our neighbors' gardens alone, but any wildflower along the way is fair game. Her favorites are dandelions and she'll often bring home bouquets of the weed, handing them to me with pride.

Since it is spring and flowers (and weeds) are in full bloom, we created a pretty little vase for her very own. I found a sheet of striped tissue paper and cut it into small squares. Then I coated an empty spice jar with mod podge. While I held the jar, E pressed the tissue paper squares onto the glue until the sides and bottom of the jar were covered. I applied a second coat of mod podge and then printed out an "E" and framed it with a small square of construction paper. When the jar was completely dry, I mod podged a ribbon to the top.

Our azaleas are in bloom, so I tucked a few blossoms in for the picture, but I'm sure this little vase will soon proudly display a fresh bouquet of dandelions!

Easy Easter Egg Tree

Remember our Thankfulness Tree? We've given it a spring makeover for Easter to create this lovely center(master!)piece. I'll show you how we made it, but first our book of the day:


The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes
by Du Bose Heyward

My daughter loves this book. It's long and old-fashioned, but she begs me to read it. In the story a little country bunny dreams of becoming one of the five Easter bunnies. The other bunnies laugh at Cottontail because she is just a little country bunny and will surely grow up to have little baby country bunnies to look after. Sure enough, she becomes the proud mama of 21 baby bunnies! Being the wise and kind bunny that she is, she soon has them grouped in pairs and trains each pair to a particular task so her household is clean, fed, and well-managed.

When it is time for the choosing of a new fifth Easter bunny, Cottontail brings her family to watch the competition. Here the wise Grandfather bunny sees that she has all the characteristics needed in an Easter bunny and chooses her for the job. The rest of the story follows Cottontail on her first Easter as she struggles to bring the children of the world their Easter eggs. In the end, she perseveres in a particularly difficult and draining task, and is rewarded with magic gold shoes.

My sister-in-law said she cried when she first read this book, and as a worn-out stay-at-home mama, I can understand. This victorious story of a commonplace (female!) bunny being chosen and honored above all others is encouraging. What I like best is that her appointment is one in which she serves. She is given the great honor of blessing others, and that's a lesson I want my daughter to take to heart.

Speaking of my daughter, she was thrilled to not have "quiet time" today and, instead, helped me make the house festive with our Easter Egg Tree. I took out a small terracotta pot and asked E to paint it.

While she was painting, I glued small flowers from the Dollar Tree to the branches.

When the paint was dry, I wedged the "tree" into the pot with floral foam. Some moss from the Dollar Tree (why did it take me so long to discover this store?!?) hides the foam, and a white ribbon finishes it off.

When we were done hanging eggs on our indoor tree, we headed outdoors to decorate the Japanese maple out front. I don't know if our neighbors think we're festive or tacky, but it's become a Page family tradition.

What are some of your family's favorite Easter traditions and books?

I'm linking up to:
- Show Off Your Stuff @ Fireflies & Jellybeans

Marshmallow Bunnies

Aren't my Marshmallow Bunnies adorable?!? I think this shot looks like something out of Watership Down, but that's not our book of the day. I'll show you how to make your own marshmallow bunnies, but first... a book about a bunny named marshmallow!

Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry


I hope you grew up with this wonderful story, but when I met it in the Easter display at B&N, it was our first introduction. Written in 1943, Marshmallow has the same feel as other classics like The Little House or Blueberries for Sal. It's a slow, gentle story about a tabby cat named Oliver and Marshmallow, the new bunny in the house. At first Oliver isn't sure about Marshmallow, the shy quiet rabbit that Miss Tilly brings home. But Marshmallow's delightful personality eventually wins over Oliver.

The story is a little long for toddlers, but I believe preschoolers and kindergarteners will love this well-written and sweetly illustrated tale of two unlikely friends. I especially enjoyed the little poems sprinkled throughout the story that Miss Tilly writes about Marshmallow.

Marshmallow Bunnies Recipe

I'll admit it. Martha and I are not always on speaking terms, but when I ran across this recipe for MYO marshmallow bunny "peeps" I knew I had to try it. As with most Martha recipes - and pretty much everything else I try - it ended up being way more work than I had anticipated. Still, they turned out awfully cute!

I copied the recipe below from marthastewart.com but have included notes of my own.

Ingredients

• 1 package unflavored gelatin (2 1/2 teaspoons)
• cold water
• 1 cup sugar
• vanilla (my suggestion)

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water. Allow gelatin to soften, about 5 minutes.
   
   
2. In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water and sugar, and stir over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring, and place a candy thermometer into sugar water; wipe sides of pan with a wet brush if sugar crystals have splattered up. Boil sugar until temperature reaches the soft-ball stage (238 degrees). Remove syrup from heat; add to softened gelatin. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, hand-stir the mixture a few minutes to cool; place bowl on the mixer stand. Beat on medium high with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form and the marshmallow mixture holds shape, 8 to 10 minutes.
   
   Here's where I have a bone to pick with Martha who just assumes that everyone has a $250 Kitchenaid. I do not (hint, hint, Kitchenaid!), so I used a hand-mixer and it ended up taking closer to 12 minutes to reach the desired consistency.
   
   I would also suggest you add a splash of vanilla to the mixture once the sugar has cooled down. I was surprised the recipe didn't call for any and ended up being disappointed by the lack of flavor of the finished marshmallows.
      
   
3. Transfer marshmallow mixture to a large (14-inch) pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (No. 11 Ateco) tip, and use immediately.
   
   Um, yeah. Grab a ziplock bag and snip the corner. Make sure you put all the marshmallow in the bag or else it will harden in the bowl and be un-usable.
    
   
4. Fill a rimmed baking sheet with fine crystal colored sugar.
   
   I used plain ol' table sugar.
    
   
5.  Pipe a small marshmallow mound onto sugar, about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch tall.
    

 
6. Pipe two smaller mounds on either end for the head and tail.
    

 

 
7. Pipe the ears, starting from the top of the head onto the body, pulling forward and off to finish.
    

 
8. With a damp finger, pat down any marshmallow spikes formed from piping.
    

 
9. Immediately sprinkle sugar over the entire surface of the bunny. Allow a few minutes for the shape to set.
   
 
10. At this point Martha suggests you pipe royal icing for the eyes, but I was done with making icing and I was really done with piping. Instead... Melt a handful of chocolate chips in the microwave and use a toothpick to add eyes and a nose.

Be warned: this is a messy project. By the end of the process my hands, arms, and camera were covered in marshmallow!  (Don't worry, it didn't get on the lens.) Like I mentioned earlier, the recipe left something to be desired for flavor, but the finished product is undeniably adorable. Can't you just see this guy right at home on top of a green-frosted cupcake?

If you try making your own bunny peeps, link back to me. I'd love to see the results!

Check out all the other great projects at:
- DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land
- Get Your Craft On @ Today's Creative Blog