Best thing in the truck...

Today, we got a delivery from our local Menards.  It was a nice big truck full of wonderful things for our house.  We got some flooring, some insulation and an energy efficient washer and dryer *Pause for excited squeal: we went from FORTY FIVE gallons of water to FIVE to TWENTY gallons, WOOHOO* Okay, I'm back.  Here's a pic of our truck and one of our great delivery guys...

See good stuff... By the way, the delivery guy was insulted when I told him I was taking a shot of all the swag as a before pic for the blog. He only agreed to let me snap the photo, when I told him I would tell the world he was a great delivery guy. I swear, these attention craving delivery guys. Back to the point, sorry.

With all that cool stuff, the best thing by far was...

That's right! The best thing in the truck was the box that the washer came in. Because that is how we roll here in Casa Tindle. 
We added a little bit of this...

The kids did some of this...

and created the cubby of their dreams.  I hope they are prepared to defend it.

It looks like the Tombots are gearing up for attack! 

** If you are wondering why I took the time to flip through ALL of Picnik's super cool options, it's simple, I am in Hyper-Avoidance Mode.  Avoiding what you say?  Duh. The truck load of DIY home improvement work that is now residing in my garage.  I'm going to dodge that bullet as long as I can... now where is my sewing machine?

Thanks for reading,

LT

Summer Projects: Library Bags

My family loves the public library.  I began taking my children to story hour when they were still wearing diapers.  We all love to read and we all love sitting in and amongst all of those books.  Up to this point, I have always held every body's library cards and we've kept borrowed books on a shelf in our living room.  This made things fast and easy for me but the kids were missing out on an opportunity for independence.  When they began asking to check books out themselves, I figured it was time to change things up. We headed to Walmart and picked up some Tulip Fabric spray and a couple packs of canvas bags.  I used my Silhouette SD to cut some stencils from freezer paper and ironed them to the bags.

 

The kids each sprayed over the top of the stencil. I encouraged them to only use two colors to avoid the dreaded "muddy" look. One of my sons saw that as a challenge to his creative powers, so he dutifully took on three colors and managed a very cool blended effect. After the bags we're sprayed, we peeled off the freezer paper to reveal the design.  The kids loved this part!  

 If you try this project, I recommend that you spray lightly and have some paper towels on hand to dab up excess paint. We were able to achieve some pretty fun effects with just the four colors included in the pack of Tulips that we purchased. 

Each kid also made a boondoggle with a key ring to hook onto their bag and hold their library card. Now they can check books out, carry them home and store them in their bags until our next trip to the library. Judging by this smile, I think the new system will be a success! Thanks for reading. LT



Spanish for Kids: Colors

Team Tindle is studying Spanish as a second language this year. This is a new thing for all of us and we are doing our best, slowly moving through a new vocabulary. This week the kids are working on their Spanish numbers and colors. I decided to throw in an art activity to help cement the new words.

  

I gave each kid a sheet of paper and asked them to divide the paper into sections using tape. We used colored masking tape but I would recommend using painters tape if you do this project.  Once that was done, the kids used colored pencils to fill in each section with a different color.When they finished up their coloring, the kids began labeling each section with their newly acquired vocabulary words.



Then we peeled back the tape, very slowly and carefully. This made the different sections really pop. The kids loved the reveal!

Here is James, showing off his Spanish/Art homework. I'd say this simple activity was a success.  The kids all explored with their new Spanish words and each of them really likes their final product.

For more information on teaching Spanish to children visit Spanish Town.  It is a free site, featuring monthly segments of vocabulary for the early elementary grades.  Each new word can be played as an audio file, which has really helped me teach my kids accurate pronunciation.  Enjoy!

Cave in Rock / Southern Illinois

Team Tindle has been gone on summer break.  We've enjoyed ourselves but it is time to get back to work.  We started school last week and are reestablishing our routines.  To get the blog up and running again, I thought I would share a video I made during one of our trips this summer.  This is filmed at Cave in Rock, one of Southern Illinois' many natural attractions.  We spent a morning there playing on the rock formations and exploring the cave. Be patient with me, I am new to video editing and I'm afraid it is a little rough. I hope you still enjoy it! 

Thanks for visiting!

Leighann