Went to the chiropractor today. After Rowyn got adjusted, she looked at me and said, “What do chiropractors actually do?” It made our chiropractor laugh, then she proceeded to give Ro a wonderful explanation.
Christmas in July Craft: Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes
We had a Christmas in July event with our homeschooling community a couple of weeks ago. I brought supplies to make pipe cleaner snowflakes. It was super easy to put together and relatively inexpensive. And it went a long way for a large group craft (we had close to 40 kids).
I got a pack of 200 white pipe cleaners. Kept to just one color to keep it simple. And picked out 6 bright, Summer-y colors of pony beads. I picked up those supplies at Hobby Lobby on a week when the beads were half off. But even when not on sale, I’ve found Hobby Lobby to be the most cost effective place for those particular items.
Creating the snowflakes is pretty easy, but younger children might need help combining three pipe cleaners to make the basic snowflake shape. I just twisted every other short stem tightly around the middle.
All these photos are from snowflakes we made at home before and after the event, so they are a few different sizes (and we used a few different beads than the original 6 colors). But for the group, I cut pipe cleaners in half (a small pair of beading wire cutters is super handy for that). That way only 5-7 beads was needed per stem. I saw multiple ways to finish these off on Pinterest and gave the kids the option to finish it however they wanted. A lot chose to use more beads and wrap the very end of the pipe cleaner around itself to keep the beads from falling off. In that case, the ends were just straight. Some, like myself and my children, chose to add one or two extra small pieces of pipe cleaner to the ends for more of a traditional snowflake vibe.
This was an easy and pretty quick craft. And it was fun to do with the “Christmas in July” theme to change it up. My kids and I have made 3 or 4 each, and I’m actually planning on us putting together several more and making them into a garland for real Christmas season!
PS - If you’re doing this at home or in a smaller group and would like a book to go along with it, I recommend Snowflake Bentley.
Guess what the first thing I’ll do when I get home will be. (Hint: ☕️)
Spent the last few days with family out of town. Mostly at my dad’s. It was a really good time.
From Sunday 😎💖
Lego shopping yesterday. Buddy bought his little sister a Lego with his own money. Because he was proud of her for handling a hard week well. 💛
Drive home this afternoon
Thrift finds from last week in Natchitoches:
2 Magic Treehouse books to add to our library
3 tiny photo frames to make into ornaments
A Christmas train mug because I thought the kids would like it
A duck picture thing for the bird wall in our guest bathroom
A Study Bible in really great condition
Grocery shopping with my girl
My dad and I just had a lengthy phone conversation (then continued through text) about giant cicada-killer wasps (I saw one earlier this afternoon for the first time) and marbled orb weaver spiders (he has one in his shop). That was all after we talked about birds for a while. 🤓❤️
One of my favorite pictures from June: Him reading Sydney and Taylor Explore the Whole Wide World (a cute and funny short chapter 3-book series about a skunk and a hedgehog) to her
A glimpse at a large portion of today’s entertainment for these two
Kids are in second day of swimming lessons this year. So, of course, we’re all dreaming of a pool.
We’ve also been discussing getting new bikes as a family. None of us currently have one.
First thing this morning at lessons, Ro said, “Instead of bikes, can we get a pool?”
Even trade, for sure. 🤪
It’s a good thing my life doesn’t depend on cutting up a watermelon quickly.
Zinnias that need some pruning, but that are still providing lots of joy
I’ve gotten rid of 3 houseplants in the last month, and that feels like a pretty big deal but also not.
Goggle pics (from Tuesday) are funny.
Favorite lemonade, for sure. Basil ginger. From a local favorite place to eat—Taco Sisters. The food is good too. 😊
New fans of Top Golf here. We had fun!
Saunas simply are not needed in South Louisiana. You can have your own personal one anytime you step outside from May to about middle of October (and many other days sprinkled in the months not mentioned). Choosing to be thankful for daily detox sessions (and the loads of laundry that go with them).