Lots of Snow

Hooray! Finally, we got some real snow here in Raleigh! And it happened on a weekend too. Can it be more perfect than that?

All our previous plans - going to a Chinese New Year celebration at the Fairgrounds, to a friend's birthday party, to IHOP - been cancelled. Instead we had snow to play with, shovel and, of course, bring inside.

To warm up, we drank lots of tea and ate delicious black bean chocolate cupcakes (they were meant to be brownies, but I didn't have a 9x9 pan and there wasn't enough batter for my 11x8 pan).

And in the evening M insisted on staying upstairs in his room while I was cooking dinner (pasta with roasted butternut squash and kale - yummy!). I heard him talking to himself for a while about trains and toys and going far far away. Then Chris went upstairs to check on him (since M never EVER plays by himself for that long). Turns out, M was busy building this awesome train:

Three Little Clouds

Last Friday M refused to go to his preschool. That was the first. He's been going there one half-day a week for almost 2 years (wow, really?!) and this is the first time he said "No" instead of "I want to go "в детский сад". Go figure!

I don't push this issue since it's not exactly critical. I did have an important phone call scheduled for Friday, but I was able to keep M. busy and, most importantly, quiet with some cartoons (Pingu and Ну, Погоди!). I do feel a bit guilty since I don't like using cartoons as a baby-sitter. But hey, he left me little choice, right?

Anyway, the reason for this post is to tell about a super-quick and simple art project we did last Friday. M. painted some clouds with thinned-down white paint. The technique is very simple - just pour a bit of paint onto colored paper and then lift the sheet and move it this way and that so that the paint runs. On the last one, M. added some toothbrush work (with his old toothbrush) to create what we decided was a snow storm.

The most fun part (at least for me) was to ask M. what each of these "clouds" looked like. He said the top one looked like skeleton's lungs. Hmm... My suggestion of "butterfly" was totally disregarded. In the end, he settled on calling it the Octopus.

The bottom left one he called Бяка-Закаляка Кусачая. That was funny, especially since it's been a while since we read that particular poem. But between that time and the time I found a marker (about 1 minute), we both forgot what it was. So when I asked M. again, he said that it was just a little tiny cloud.

Chalkboard Wall

Remember how we cleaned out a closet a week or so ago and returned a bunch of stuff to Home Depot and Lowe's? Well, we got enough in gift cards to buy a can of magnetic primer and a paint roller. And we already had leftover blackboard paint from when Chris finished M's little desk.

So, over these last two weekend we primed and painted a hallway wall and turned it into a magnetic chalkboard. We really hoped to move M's big magnetic letters from the fridge to this wall, but apparently even 3 coats of magnetic primer weren't strong enough to hold these chunky letters. We'll just have to look for smaller ones.

In the mean time, we use the top part of the wall as a running grocery list and let M draw wherever he can reach. Oh, maybe now we'll get some magnetic poetry.

Awesome Kids Exchange

I'm so excited about this year's first Kids Exchange (there's going to be another one, in July). Last one I went to was a bust - I spent an hour standing in various lines, first - to get in, then - to pay for my purchases. And 2 hours browsing, trying to find something. And all I had to show for all this time and effort was a big red Elmo that M didn't even care to play with.

But this year the Exchange was fantastic. Of course, that was the first time I went as a seller, which allowed me to shop 1 day early, on Thursday. And boy, did this one day make all the difference!

Oh, I totally blew the budget. Wait, I didn't have any budget set. But I kind of hoped to stay under $100 and ended up spending $125, give or take a few pennies. But check out some of the goodies:

A Kettler trike with adjustable seat, rear bucket (for carrying pretend cupcakes and a Piglet) and a push-handle. The new one sells for $250 at Target. The one I got was a bit used, but in great shape and for only $50!

Some board games - Boggle Jr, Wack-a-Mole, and Sounds of the Seashore and WordWorld memory game - for a total of $10

A few Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles - alphabet, busy board, numbers, states of the USA - for $16 (all pieces included and some puzzles still in the original wrap)

Puppets - hand-puppets Piglet (who now accompanies M on rides in the trike), Pooh, Tiger, Eeyore and a guy in surgical scrubs, who for now is a Vampire - all for $10. And this adorable marionette clown for only $1.

An awesome cash register - fully functional with a cash drawer that goes "ka-ching" and a working scanner - for $5 (it just needed new batteries)

Lots of fantastic hard-cover books, most seemingly brand-new (here's a small sample) - the rest of the budget.

Oh, wait, I'm forgetting a Slide Projector for ViewMaster Slides for ... $2!!! (although it still needs new batteries and slides)

Ice Painting

A very quick, simple and frugal art project M and I did the other day when I just couldn't think of anything else to do (after we role-played Honey Cake Mixup story 10 times in a row).

All it takes is an ice-cube tray and food coloring. Oh, and of course some water. Pour, mix colors, freeze, then paint with colorful ice-cubes. And they look utterly delicious too. Actually, M ended up eating a couple of them after cubes melted down to a more managable size.

The result was very messy and cold, but after drying looked like watercolors. And believe it or not, this arts-science-sensory-fine motor skills activity kept M occupied for a whole half an hour!