Halloween - Spooky Specimen Jars!

Time to get ready for Halloween!

Believe it or not, I am NOT making costumes this year! Lucky for me my father bought the girls their Halloween costumes. A bumblebee and a ladybug. I told my husband he could be a flower (NOT going to happen) and I would be an exterminator. HA!

Anyways! I had been saving some glass jars for a project that never happened (mad scientest party turned Pokemon party) and decided to put them to use. Spooky specimen jars for Halloween!

Top row - spiders, giant flies, mice

Bottom row - cockroaches, skull, eyeballs, giant spider, snakes

As you can see some of the jars came out better than others! The cockroaches (first jar on the left) started out GREAT - they were  floating around in the jars at different depths but then they all kind of clumped together and sunk. The giant flies and mice did the opposite - instead of sinking they floated to the top. I spent a great deal of time (WAY too much time!) trying to troubleshoot and figure out how to fix the problem. In the end I just gave up. Seriously, my kids aren't gonna care. If anything they'll shake the jars to see the critters better! 

And while I think the Halloween fabric and ribbons on the the lids are a little too cutesy my kids insisted. And since this little project is really for them I had to oblige. :)

Here's a close up some of the jars:

Spiders, skull & eyeballs!

Cockroaches & giant flies - BOMB!

It's hard to see the spider in the first jar but it is AWESOME!
Spider, snakes & mice!

I would've loved to have found some fake body parts - fingers, toes, ear, etc. as well as a frog, brain, giant cockroach (I know I've seen them somewhere!) worms, and whatever else!

Wanna know how I did it? I found an easy tutorial over at Mom Moments. Her jars turned out so colorful! But I have to tell you, nothing helped me make the critters float better except for cramming them in the smallest jar possible. I also tried adding cooking oil (as suggested) to get a cooler effect and that bombed. I also found that the clear liquid hand soap (Softsoap brand) worked better than shampoo....that's what I'll use next time.

By the way.....fabric lovers....did you notice the green fabric in the background? Well...I'll tell you this now so  you can go out and find some before Halloween has come and gone.....the fabric is GLOW-IN-THE-DARK! My kids tested it out and their response was, "SOOOOOO COOOOOOL!" I actually got three different glow-in-the-dark fabrics:

With Halloween less than a week away I need to make something with them soon! My plan (keyword - "plan") is to use the FREE circle skirt tutorial over at "MADE." Can't wait to try it out especially since I was eyeballing similar skirts in the stores (and refuse to pay that much for them!)

*eyeballing - I swear...it was purely a coincidence that I used that word! HA!

Happy early Halloween! Now off to make the spider Tootsie Pops for Kailani's class......

Last year's lollipops....gotta make a bunch more this year!

Need some more Halloween ideas? Check out ABC & 123's Show & tell Blog Hop!



ABC & 123's Summer Prize Picnic

ABC & 123 is hosting a summer time picnic! This picnic is for anyone looking for new ideas to help boost their lesson plans and make learning fun! The picnic includes lesson plans, craft activities, games, resources and most importantly it gives the opportunity for you to share your own ideas! It's going to be a great place to meet others with the same interest! As if that's not enough of a reason to join there are weekly prizes to be won!

I'm a few days late to the picnic but better late than never, right? (Teacher - I swear it's an excused tardy!) The picnic starts off with an introduction of the participants so here I go!

Me & My Family:
Let's see. I'm happily married (next month makes 10 years!) and blessed to be able to stay at home with my two girls - Kailani who is six and in the 1st grade and Momo (Moani) who is two.
Before becoming a SAHM I taught in both the public and private schools - one of my best experiences was working at ASSETS - a private school for both gifted and/or dyslexic children. I have my Master's in Special Education (K-12) but I'm undecided as to whether I will return to teaching once my youngest starts attending school. I know how much work it takes to teach and it takes that much more work to be a mom. I'm not too sure if can do both! We will see. No decisions have to be made yet!

How long have you been reading ABC & 123?
I found ABC & 123 sometime in February. I'm not even sure how! I think it was a matter of one click of the mouse, then another, then another. Katie had posted a response to a thread on JesseKate Designs blog and I clicked on her name and found Katie's Nesting Spot. Another click lead me to ABC & 123 and I have been a fan ever since. I even blogged about them here!

How did you come up with your blog title?
I have to thank my BFF Stephanie for the title. She is always calling me a mess. It started when my husband was deployed and I had to hold down the fort, take care of my kids and stay sane all at the same time. Something was ALWAYS going on within my household! It's not because my house is a mess. Well, uh. Maybe. ;)

Case in point. While writing this intro I noticed that Momo was awfully quiet. If you are parent you know that quiet can equal no good. Here's what she was doing:


She managed to open up my dad's can of mixed nuts and then dumped them. Notice there aren't a whole lot of cashews? She loves cashews!

Ten minutes later (while I am still working on this intro) I kid you not:

That's why my blog is called "Mama's a Mess!"

What types of activities do you most enjoy doing with your children?
Swimming! Prior to becoming a teacher I spent many years lifeguarding, teaching swim lessons (infants through adults) and coaching competitive swimming. We gave Kailani her name because it means "heavenly ocean" in Hawaiian. Luckily she LOVES the water. Momo loves the water as well but has yet to go swimming in the ocean. The first time I took her to Water Country USA she screamed when I placed her in the pool. Uh - no. NOT ACCEPTABLE! Turned out the reason why she cried was the water was much cooler in that particular pool! She is a beast in the
water!

An oldie but goodie - Kailani (3)

What are your summer plans?
We are doing quite a bit of traveling this summer. Back in December we moved from Virginia to North Carolina. In about six weeks or so we will fly out to Washington to visit with my sister and her family. Then we will fly back to my home state of Hawaii where we will be living once again!

What is your favorite picnic activity and food?
For me the best picnics are those at the beach! Chill out, relax, swim and have fun! Bring a cooler full of cold drinks, fruits (watermelons or honeydew melons!) sandwiches for the kids and sushi for me! (I know that sounds odd but I used to stop by Kozo Sushi all the time before heading to the beach!)

Obviously there is a lot more to me, my family and my blog but let's leave it at that! Thanks so much for reading! I'm looking forward to meeting other participants of the picnic. If you're not signed up for the picnic but want to click here!

Shout Out to ABC & 123

Have you heard of ABC & 123? It's a wonderful blog run by two Katies: Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot and Katie from A List Maker's Life. Together they have created a blog that features lesson plans, crafts, and educational resources for moms and teachers alike! They are full of ideas to help make learning fun!

In addition to finding lesson plans you can also submit your own. Awhile back they asked for lessons using handprints. I sent my "I Love You This Much" lesson and they posted it on their blog! How cool is that? Katie and Katie's website has been a great resource for me to find new things to do with my girls. In doing so it has also sparked an interest in me teaching again! So thank you ladies!

By the way, one of my girlfriends did the "I Love You This Much" activity with her daughter and made a handprint hug for grandma. Grandma apparently loved it! I'm glad they had fun and I certainly appreciate the feedback! Send a picture if you can!

ETA: She blogged about it! Check it out here!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying time with their families. Please think of those that are without....for whatever reason that might be. Our family has been separated on many occasions and the holidays can be especially rough.

Yesterday we colored eggs. Out of all the choices out there, tie-dye, marbled, glitter, etc. Sponge Bob won this year. This was Mo's first time coloring eggs and boy did she have a blast. She didn't seem to get the concept of carefully placing the eggs into the dye, instead she preferred the slam-dunk method. She also preferred to put the stickers on her face instead of the eggs. *Sigh*

Months ago I had already planned to make the girls matching Easter dresses but I had a hard time getting started. I wanted to make this dress, same style but different fabric but I couldn't get beyond reading the pattern and taking measurements. Lately I've been trying to sew things from free tutorials that I find on the Internet versus your run of the mill McCall's, Simplicity, etc. Not knocking them, just wanting to explore different alternatives. And free ones at that!

I stopped in at Pink Picket Fence and was totally inspired by a skirt she posted on there. Lucky me - she posted a tutorial on how she did it! I decided to use the fabric that I already had in mind and this is what I came up with:


I think I liked it so much because it reminds me of my favorite Gymboree bikini that both of my girls have worn with the ruffles on the butt:

Oh yeah. "Baby got back!"

After finding the eggs I took all the little chick eggs and made a matching game out of it. I got the idea from a post made by Katie and Katie at ABC and 123. I tried using different color permanent markers but because the eggs and the egg cartons are different colors the colors of the symbols didn't match. While blue may look like blue in the carton the blue looked green on the egg. So I went ahead and drew some different symbols on some card stock, cut it out and then used my glue gun to glue the pieces into place. Here's how it came out:


Aren't the little chicks darling?

Be sure to check out more kid's crafts and educational ideas/information at ABC & 123!