Fourth of July Projects/ Ode to Pinterest

Wow, I knew I hadn't written a post for awhile but I didn't realize it had been almost a month. Sheesh. I've been busy doing your typical mom things and I still can't say I truly have free time to write, but I wanted to share a couple things we did around the Fourth of July that were fun and crafty.

First of all, Pinterest is amazing. It makes it so easy to categorize and save links for awesome ideas for...everything you could ever want. I am a better mom because of Pinterest...I think. I love that so many people share the clever things they've done so that others can get great ideas as well. All that to say that over Independence Day weekend I used two ideas I got off Pinterest, and that I'd like to pay it forward by taking some pictures of what we did and maybe someone will benefit from them. Almost two years ago I made astronaut costumes for Cal and Clark, and the pins I have of various pictures have been repinned tons of times. I know it's maybe silly, but I hope that my ideas helped others in the very important first world problem of what to do for your kids' Halloween costumes.

The first Pinterest-inspired Fourth of July project we did was that we made fireworks in a bottle. This was the easiest thing, but the boys loved it and it gave me a much-needed break from the shrieking of wrestling and the other typical loud soundtrack of our days. They simply shoved red, white, and blue things into a bottle: pipe cleaners, pom-poms, glitter, and their homemade "foam confetti." Then we added water, glued the lids shut, and flipped them upside-down over and over for our own little "fireworks." The boys loved making them as well as flipping them over and over, snowglobe-style, for their own silent fireworks.

Secondly, on the Fourth we made t-shirts with handprint flags. It's another idea from Pinterest. Pretty self-explanatory. We were at the lake house and made these with Gammy and Poppy. We actually all have one with one of the boys' handprints on each, though the rest of us aren't as photogenic as the kids, so we only have kids' pictures.

They were two fun projects, and the bottle one was especially easy.

Clark stuffing his bottle...quietly

Just add glitter

Water added, lids glued closed (note: use school glue, not hot glue)
These provided intermittent  fun for a couple days
and then I threw them out-- the perfect project.

Teddy was not a big fan of gooey hand printing. 

I made the lines with the paint and the boys spread them out.

Aerial view

I put the date and each boys' name on each shirt.

Just getting them all together on a couch is complicated.

I think that qualifies as three smiles!

Practicing sparklers for nighttime

Reluctant models

...and again