Happy Father's Day, Dadda!

Little Z loves her "Dadda" so incredibly much. She even came up with her own way of saying "daddy." Dadda. Not Dah-dah. Not Dah-dee. Dad-uh. No clue where it came from, since I say "daddy" when talking about him. I love that she has her own special way of saying it. 

Baby E isn't talking yet, but when he enters the room, she yanks her head painfully towards him while nursing just lights up! He is such a great Dad to both our girls.

I wanted to do something that took very little effort on my part special for Father's Day. So when I saw this list of fun questions to ask your kid about their Daddy, I knew it would be perfect! Z's answers are all in bold. (I love hearing the answers little kids have to questions. It's so fascinating to hear how their minds work!)

My Dad is I don't know. 54? years old.
My Dad is really strong. He could lift a [Little Z]
My Dad's favorite color is orange
My Dad's favorite food is noodles
My Dad always says "No." No wait. "Yes"
My Dad is the best at playing Little Big Planet [a video game]
My Dad's job is work
My Dad laughs when I do funny things
If my Dad had time, he would love to play with me
My Dad and I like to play together
My Dad really loves me!
I love my Dad because he's fun

Z - age 4

You can do this yourself on a free printable from the Crafting Chicks and make a truly memorable one-of-a-kind card for Dad or Grandpa. (Use a photo editing program, such as Photoshop or Picassa to edit in your own text.)

She also worked on a special project for him [if I can remember where I put it... Doh!] Since he's the one who reads bedtime stories with her, she made him a special story book about our family at an art class/craft playdate we went to. It's made from several paper lunch sacks folded in half and hole-punched along the fold. Then she used a needle and yarn to sew several bags together to form a book, and added illustrations and some text (mostly random letters, since she still tends to skip a bunch when sounding out her words.) The bag openings make little pockets for treasures or special notes they can collect and add later. And the bottom flap from the bag can fold open and closed for extra interactive pages! 

For extra fun, there were some fancy hole punchers in fun shapes to make holes in the bag-pages, as well as cut-outs of colored paper to glue into their books. She wasn't interested in gluing anything on, but enjoyed making a few hole shapes in her front "cover."

"Dadda's going to NUV his new book!" 

The project went along with the story "Beautiful Oops!" where mistakes and messes kept "ruining" the book, but were turned into fun and creative artworks instead. This really appealed to Z, since she gets frustrated when what she's trying to do isn't "perfect," and then the paper is "ruined" after she throws a little tantrum and wrinkles it. She was pleased to see that she can turn her mistakes into something else, and maybe something better than she had initially planned!

Father's Day Crafty Gift Idea - NO PEEKING, HONEY!

For our (roughly) monthly kids craft activity, this month Miss Jessica came up with a fantastic idea: a snack mix Father's Day gift! What makes it so fun and clever is the little prose, explaining why all the ingredients are in the mix.

Here’s a treat for you because I think you are neat

and need something yummy to eat!

Father’s Day Trail Mix

Marshmallows – because you are a “big softy”                      

Nuts- because I’m “nuts” about you

Raisins – because you’re “raisin” me

Butterscotch Chips- because I’m a “chip off the old block”

M&M’s- because you “Mean so Much”

She set up a table at a park with all the ingredients buffet-style, for the kids (or MOMS) to scoop into a baggie, shake to mix, then pour into a jar.

Photo credit: Miss Jessica

Because she is very crafty, she used her Cricut and some scrapbook paper to make gift tags and lid covers, and printed out round labels for the lids and square labels for the tags. Too cute!

She also made blank strips on fancy scrapbook paper backgrounds for the kids to decorate and wrap around the jars.
Since we couldn't make it to the craft event, Miss Jessica kindly brought us a filled jar, all the paper tags and such, and some sticker sheets.

After drawing some "flowers," Little Z stuck on some amusement park- and dragon-themed stickers. As she placed each sticker on, she'd tell me the story behind it.

Please note the kids on the right side, each holding a teddy bear. She put a "Princess crown" on the little girl sticker, and gave them a goldfish in a baggie. She called the shield sticker below them a sword. The large purple dragon is the Daddy, and the little one is the baby. 

Also note that each dragon sticker has a line colored across it. She did that to "trap the dragons and keep all of the kids safe."

"Daddy's going to LOOOOOVE this!"