Planting Fun

Hello everyone! I know I said I would post about planting elephant ear plants with Penny and Jude last week but two things happened. First of all my dad did not get the plants out last week so when Friday came and I asked for the plants they were not ready for me. And secondly I had about 30 pages of writing to do for my classes so when I thought about writing a quick post to explain the hold up my brain took a nap. But I’m awake now and planting has been done!

I brought over the pots with the dirt already in them so Penny and Jude literally just had to put the bulbs in the pots and then cover them with a little soil. I sent everything up while they were destroying the basement (which we cleaned up after nap) and then called them up to plant their individual bulb. They were really into it wanting to make sure that they had the bulb in the right way and that the dirt was in the right place. It was actually really cute. They got to get a little dirty too which they loved. Give them a little dirt and they’re in heaven.

This activity went so smoothly I almost feel like we didn’t do it. I have photo to prove we did do it so I’m sure it actually happened. The best part of this activity is that they aren’t just going to have it for a couple days. They are going to be able to actually watch their own plants grow from bulbs to big elephant ear leaves, which if you haven’t seen before actually look like and can grow to be the size of a real elephant’s ear. Planting is a fun activity for anyone so if you haven’t done any spring planting yet I would encourage you to get some dirt under your nails and let your kids do the same! Until next time.

~The Pinning Nanny

Rainbows Welcome Spring!

First of all happy first day of spring everyone! This day has come after a very snowy winter, and so of course we are welcoming spring in with another 3-6 inches of it… Don’t get me wrong if you have read any of my other posts you know I have a deep love for snow, but this past week was just so warm and sunny! Alright well anyway that’s not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about how much fun Penny, Jude, and I had making our St. Patrick’s Day rainbows.

After nap time, I cut out all the paper strips while Jude ran around like a mad man and Penny ate her snack. Jude wasn’t interested in anything other than expelling his energy and I let him run wild while Penny and I made the rainbow chains. I was impressed with how little help Penny needed from me. She practically made the whole chain herself, I only had to hand her the tape. She really enjoyed making them with me and Jude loved the finished product so I call that a success! And then we made one really big one which they both helped me with, and by help I mean that when it started getting long they held it while I continued to make it. No matter what it was a fun activity. The only thing that didn’t make it perfect was that I couldn’t find any string so we had to wait until their mom came home to attach the pots of gold to the ends.

The rainbow chains are so bright and colorful I would say make them even though St. Patrick’s Day has past because they look fun and whimsical, just forgo the pot of gold at the end. Looking at them is making me smile even now, as it is snowing outside… Have a bright and beautiful first weekend of spring everyone, even if you have to get creative as I will.

~The Pinning Nanny

Rainbows and a Pot of Gold

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! First of all Penny and I did color on last week but on Friday I succumbed to Spring Break fever and wasn’t productive at all during nap time hence no post about it. This week however will be different! We are going to make St. Patrick’s Day rainbows.

The rainbows are super cute and at the same time really easy to make. I love making chain decorations and so when I found this craft I knew immediately I wanted to do it with them. Also Penny and Jude love colorful things so they will have fun with this. I am expecting them to like this craft because it is hands on in a way that they can do most of the work themselves. I will of course do all the cutting and such but I want to challenge them and their hand eye coordination by having them make the chains with as little assistance as possible.

I’m going to pull the luck of the Irish and say that while we are making our rainbows nothing wrong will happen. I think that because all three of us are Irish, and the number three is the holy number in Irish tradition that our craft will go off with no hiccups.

So come back Friday and I will tell you if our luck held out, or if a leprechaun will mess things up for us.

We Will Color!

Last week I thought I was going to use Octonaut coloring pages to get a little break because school has been really tiring. However I forgot about the circus and had to rally. This week is the week before spring break and so naturally I have papers/assignments due in all five of my classes. Because of my heavy school work load I’m going to pull out the Octonauts to save the day, again. This time though we will actually be using the coloring pages.

Of course I could tell you how much I really need Penny and Jude to love these coloring pages because I’m so exhausted and have so much to do. And all of these things are true, I dozed off reading two hours ago. But the reality is that just by writing this post I am spending time on something other than homework that I really shouldn’t be, no matter how much I love it, simply because I don’t have time to spare. So we’re going to keep it short and simple today. The kids and I are going to do some coloring this week. On Friday I will be on spring break and will be able to write a more lengthy or at least more interesting and thought out post.  So until then enjoy the sun that has once again appeared in the sky!

Coloring to the Rescue!

Hello everyone! Last week was a bit crazy, hence I didn’t post at all, and this week is shaping up to be the same way so I need a break. Therefore I am pulling out an easy and hopefully imagination encouraging craft. I desperately need some time this week where I’m not elbows deep in homework or a craft with Penny and Jude. The craft that will ensure me some down time you ask? Coloring pages, Octonauts coloring pages to be exact. If you are a parent or nanny of young children you have probably come across the Octonauts before. For those of you who don’t have a personal relationship, freely or forced, with the Octonauts they are a group of animated animals that live underwater and go on adventures. Admittedly they aren’t my favorite my favorite show, I prefer Wild Kratts or a Disney movie, but every once in a while we watch Octonauts. Plus Jude saw the color pages when I originally found them and got really excited, and so this week is going to be a coloring week.

I envision the coloring party to be a hit. Penny and Jude enjoy coloring quite a bit and if I play my part right and really amp up the activity I think these coloring pages could be my saving grace. My hope is that they will just keep coloring and coloring. The pin I found links you to 108 free Octonauts coloring pages so it truly is a treasure trove. I’m going to print all the pages out and just keep on handing them out until their little fingers can’t color any more.

I’m praying that nothing goes wrong and I am able to achieve some relatively quiet and calm time. But I would be lying if I didn’t have my worries or doubts that that was going to happen. The problems I foresee are as follows: Penny and Jude might simply not be in the mood for coloring, it’s happened before. They might fight over a specific coloring page or crayons. They may want to color with markers which at times, like when I’m exhausted, I don’t give them markers and protests can abound! They may start out excited but quickly lose interest and move onto more strenuous activities. I could in my exhausted state forget to print out the pages before I leave home. Ugh, these  foreseeable problems are making me even more tired!

Well here’s to hope and coloring pages! I need a break and hopefully these Octonauts will do the trick. If these coloring pages and I pull this off my opinion of the Octonauts will be a lot better! I’ll let you know on Friday what happened…

Sweet Love

Happy Wednesday everybody! I know I usually don’t post on a Wednesday but this week I am only going to post once because school is starting to speed up and I need a little break. So I’m going to tell you all about my last minute Valentine’s Day party with Penny and Jude. Now usually I am good at planning ahead, even for blogging I have all the crafts that I want to do for the next few weeks written down in my planner. However somehow Valentine’s Day slipped my mind completely! It wasn’t until last Wednesday when my friend, Janet, who is also a nanny told me about the Valentine’s Day craft that she was going to be doing with her kids that I remembered. It isn’t really an exaggeration when I say I had a moment of panic. Of course I wanted to do something fun and homemade but I had a paper due Thursday morning and didn’t have time to plan anything extravagant. Janet suggested I just make the cut a bake cookies with the hearts in the center, she even offered to go buy them for me. I agreed and Janet saved the day!

Come Friday I had the cookie dough, plan cause the store was all out of hearts, in hand when I walked through Penny and Jude’s door. The morning was a crunch. Penny had school earlier than usual because they were going to have a Valentine’s Day party and then get out early. Plus Penny hadn’t finished all her valentines for the kids in her class. We spent the morning glueing, glittering, bejeweling, and trying unsuccessfully to not get it on ourselves. The valentines came out great and they were just dried when we had to pack them up and get to school. 

After school, lunch, and nap time (which I even got to be a part of as a valentine to myself) it was time to make the cookies! The kids loved cutting them out and placing them on the sheets. And I pulled out sprinkles as an extra special treat! While the cookies were in the oven I set Penny and Jude up watch American Tale as another treat, and also so that I could clean the house for their mom. When the cookies were done I brought them down each a cookie and they just loved their Valentine’s Day treat! It was so simple and I was happy, I even got to watch part of the movie! So even though I usually like doing homemade things I’m here to say that in a pinch it’s ok to go store bought, there’s no shame! Have a great week everyone and I talk to you next week about our next adventure!

~The Pinning Nanny

Colorful Snow!

First of all Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I hope that no matter what you are doing today or this weekend you surround yourself with people you love and have fun. I’ve have been doing that this week! The kids and I had an eventful week! We of course finally got around to playing with the snow paint and we also did some last minute Valentine’s Day stuff yesterday, because I totally forgot! Anyway the snow paint was so much fun! I can honestly say that all three of us had so much fun with it.

To make sure we had enough time outside to really use the snow paint I started preparing the paint and Penny and Jude to go outside as soon as their parents left. I used two of their water bottles and made them each a color, Penny got pink and Jude got green. Then we bundled ourselves up good because let’s be honest it has been freeing out! I then handed them their water bottles and let them go for it! It was fun to see how excited and imaginative they were with it. Within being outside for five minutes Penny was on a sled spraying her paint everywhere and Jude was pulling her along, leaving a pink trail of snow behind them. It was great! Then Penny got off and Jude got on and they did it again leaving a green trail this time. We stayed outside until the paint was all used up and the kids were frozen. Penny did get some paint on her snow pants but it blended in really well because both were pink so it wasn’t a big deal.

Our smiley face

If you have snow on the ground this week I would say go out and make it colorful with some paint snow. It was really a lot of fun for the kids and me. And the great part is all you need is snow, food coloring, water, and a water bottle. We didn’t really try to make anything other than a smiley face but I’m sure that if you try you can make some pretty cool stuff. Alright well that’s all for today. Next week I will share what Penny, Jude, and I did for Valentine’s Day so be sure to check back!

~The Pinning Nanny

Snow Rainbows

So last week I tried something new, and it failed. I wrote this post ahead of time and then scheduled it to be posted last Tuesday, while I was at school, from my phone. Needless to say it never posted. Which actually turned out alright because when I realized that it hadn’t posted was around the time that I realized the kids and I had played all day and not done the activity. And so we’re going to try again this week! As I’ve said before I simply love the snow! Seeing it fall from the sky and cover everything gives me such a thrill. This week I am going to take advantage of the snow and go out and play in it with Penny and Jude. However I will not be going outside empty handed, I’m going to be bringing along snow paint. As always I found the recipe on pinterest, it originally comes from a mommy blogger One Little Project At A Time. And like all my favorite projects it is super simple! There are only two ingredients, well three if you consider the snow, water and food coloring. You put the water and food coloring in water bottles and then take them outside to paint pictures in the snow.

I’m hoping that the kids will really like this craft because I’m really excited about it. I think that this could be really fun. It reminds me of coloring with chalk in the summer. Also the kids love being allowed to go wild and make things messy and this is a craft I feel I can allow them to do that. I can see them now a bottle in each hand shaking the bottles and spinning in circles spraying the colored water all over the snow. It should also be a fairly exhausting activity as well which means Jude will take a good nap and Penny’s teacher is just going to have to deal! I think this is going to be one of the crafts that we laugh the whole time we do it, and I really love those crafts.

I can’t imagine many things going wrong with this craft, but there are a few. Bottles could spill before we get outside, which would mean I would have to clean up before we went outside cutting into our play time. It could be bitterly cold outside and the kids might only be able to bear it for a few minutes before the cry out in protest to go back inside. I know their parents wouldn’t care if we got a little bit of the colored water on their snow gear but I’m sure they wouldn’t be too thrilled if say Penny rolled in the painted snow dying all of her snow gear.

As long as I can avoid those three problems I think this craft is going to be a hit! Ugh! I hope it goes well because I really want to laugh and play with them in the snow like this.  I’ll let you know how much fun we have with this one on Friday!

 

Sick Day

Yesterday I got sick, it is possible I have the flu. So I spent most of the day on the couch. Luckily Penny and Jude were really invested in their independent play games and so they didn’t even care that I wasn’t interacting with them all that much. Penny also took a 2+ hour nap when she got back from school so I was grateful for that. During her nap Jude played alone in his room for over an hour and then came out by me and quietly played and then made himself a bowl of peanuts and raisins.
I guess I lucked out by getting sick on a day when the kids were in such an independent mood. Of course I can’t fully appreciate how lucky I was yet because I’m still miserably sick. Even though I am sick the coloring pages didn’t go to waste. When their mom got home I let them pull them out of my bag as a reward for being so good. I didn’t get to see them actually color the pages but they were really excited to just get them. I’m sure they will have fun coloring them with their parents. Have a great rest of the weekend, stay healthy if you are and feel better if you’re sick.

~The Pinning Nanny

Groundhog Day!

Next Monday is Groundhog Day and so this week Penny, Jude, and I are going to be artistic and color pictures of the groundhog. I know it is a little bit lame, but my Spring semester just started a week ago and all the other Groundhog Day crafts I found were super intense! So what did I do after spending 15 minutes on pinterest and only finding either crafts that required a lot of work or that I had to pay for? I googled “free groundhog day coloring pages” and voila I got my coloring pages. I found a bunch through that link and I would encourage you that if you’re in a pinch and you need a Groundhog Day craft print out some of those pages and just claim that coloring encourages imagination and self expression.

Penny and Jude can spend a lot of time coloring if they really get into it and always enjoy themselves so I don’t feel bad that I couldn’t find a better craft. I’ll print out a whole bunch of different pictures and just let them keep coloring different pages until I run out or they lose interest, whichever comes first. We haven’t done coloring in a while because I have been doing all these different fun crafts with them and so they should be pretty excited to get to color. I’ll put on some music, Disney pandora, and we will have a nice, hopefully calm, time coloring. I’m actually excited about it if you can believe it.

Right now I’m worried that since we have been doing so many fun and different crafts that they may not want to simply sit and color. If they don’t want to color the reality is that we just won’t be doing a Groundhog Day themed craft cause I don’t have anything else up my sleeve right now. I guess this wouldn’t be so bad but I kinda would  like to say that we did do something that correlates with the holiday, and we can’t very well watch Groundhog Day!

Alright well here’s hoping the kids are in the mood to color this week! I’ll let you know how the coloring party went on Friday, and until then stay warm!