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Joy's Fun Stuff

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How to Decorate an Awesome Party on the Cheap: DIY Ideas, Tips, and Examples

What's a Cricut, What Can You Make, and How Did I Ever Live Without One?

Super Easy & Fun Way to Celebrate Veteran's Day (and it doesn't cost a thing!)

Halloween Gingerbread Houses are Awesome Fun (even when you cut the crackers wrong)

Halloween Gingerbread Houses are Awesome Fun (even when you cut the crackers wrong)

My oldest 2 boys may not have a single patch sewed on their scout uniforms, but I do Halloween Gingerbread Houses with my kids. As a mom, I cannot do it all and I'm happy to fail at the scout patch thing as to make more room in my life for sugar glued to sugar using sugar. Because, well, priorities. This is one of those fun traditions that the kids get REALLY excited for. But can you blame them? They get to create/gorge themselves with treats and make a spooky project that th

Rocking It: Easy Activity for a Laid Back Day

Rocking It: Easy Activity for a Laid Back Day

At Costco a few weeks back we found a cool little painted rock, and by "we" I of course mean a few of my kids. I saw said rock but didn't care enough about it to even register that it was a thing. My boys, however, excitedly picked it and found a magically handwritten note glued to the underside telling us we could keep it or rehide it. Being the fun mom I am, I suggested hiding it right back where we found it, but the boys so adamantly insisted that it was pocketed and admir

Top 5 Easy Kid Activities that Don't Make Me Crazy

Top 5 Easy Kid Activities that Don't Make Me Crazy

I kind of hate forts. The kids love them but it's just a matter of WHEN the fighting will start. Then there's the chairs and the blankets... Sigh. That is not one of my activities of choice, but I'm probably in the minority there. I just hate 1. fighting and 2. messes. Summer is quickly coming up and we will soon find ourselves with a new schedule and random chunks of time needing filling. While much of that time will be kids running and being free outside, sometimes we find

Top 10 Dollar Tree Finds, Part 2

Top 10 Dollar Tree Finds, Part 2

Yesterday I got my oil changed, which is not really noteworthy or anything. But Matt kept the kids and I had a whole hour and a half to my lonesome, and THAT was exciting. Being the wild woman I am, I seized the day and walked a block to the Dollar Tree. Carpe diem, baby. Couple Points here: 1) If you're interested in reviewing my somewhat creepy fascination with this store, Part 1 is here. 2) The Dollar Tree is NOT sponsoring this post. I'm not cool enough for that reality.

Keep-the-3-Year-Old-Busy Gift Bag

Keep-the-3-Year-Old-Busy Gift Bag

Our friends’ baby recently had surgery. Everything went well and the baby is doing fine, but our sweet, amazing, great-parent friends have a house full of other kids and are Tired. With the recovery, there has been little sleep going around, which is challenging on its own. But they have a 3 year old. I'm sure they are handling it all beautifully. I just simply cannot imagine having my Ms. 3 Year Old in that situation. I would lose my mind. Three is so darling and fun. It is

Top 10 Dollar Tree Finds, Part 1

Top 10 Dollar Tree Finds, Part 1

I am kind of a kid's craft supply hoarder, full disclosure. I see googly eyes and alphabet beads and I cannot restrain myself. It's kind of a problem. The nearest Dollar Tree isn’t really close and my local Target has the worst dollar spot I've ever seen. It's like 3 shelves. Horrible. So since we've lived here, I've been really missing my cheap craft fix. I made a little trek to our closest Dollar Tree this week and felt like singing that old song, "Reunited and it feels so

No Yelling Zone

No Yelling Zone

Sorry, but I feel things strongly. It's a blessing and a curse. I didn't realize how much of a curse it was until kids came. When stress is high I tend to feel it and express it. Darn it. And with a house full of darling little monkeys there is a lot of stuff happening all at once. I'm not complaining, mind you, just stating fact. This is what I signed up for. But sometimes it can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, that stress can come out as Loud Firm Speaking. It's a problem.

Easy Family Valentine

Easy Family Valentine

15 minutes. That's how long this bad boy took me to make, and that included googling "hand lettering love" for the cheat on those words. So easy and fast. I like to keep a small stockpile of poster boards in my stash (love you Dollar Tree!) for impromptu projects like this, but this idea would totally work with construction paper or even lined paper torn out from that old notebook in the church bag. Basically, this is a place for each member of the family to write things they

Homemade Pillow? Stuffed Animal? Whatever. It's Cute.

Homemade Pillow? Stuffed Animal? Whatever. It's Cute.

These little gems are a great combo: they're easy, cheap, and they give the kids a chance to go nutso with the sharpies. So I need to start this post by very clearly stating that I am not one who sews. A few years back I distinctly remember referring to the thread as string. And then I was mocked accordingly. I'm more of a Please Don't Look Closely type. But I can get'er done. What I'm saying is, if you have a sewing machine you can do this. Or if you are real good with a nee

Homemade Memory

Homemade Memory

Thoughtful gifts. Dang. They kill me. And the demand for them is constant. I swear, it is one holiday after another, which is a great thing. But really, how many Perfect Gifts in the world are there?! This memory game was an attempt to create something special for my kids for Christmas. I wanted something sturdy but not just laminated paper, which would totally work too if that floats your boat. I found these wooden dinosaurs at the Dollar Tree. They also had flowers but that

Homemade Ornaments with the Kids: Perfect Gift for Grandparents

Homemade Ornaments with the Kids: Perfect Gift for Grandparents

Every year we make an ornament and make enough for grandparents and ourselves. I have come to love the imperfection of their sweet little creations. Through the years we've had some pretty cute ones and one that ended up a total dud. DIY Kid Ornament Hacks: 1. Put a date on them. 2. The ones with pictures of the kids on them are so stinking cute. 3. Using an actual photo instead of a pic from the printer is way better. If that's not possible (like if you are my kind of planne

Child Directed Winter Art

Child Directed Winter Art

We've been lucky to have my sweet niece with us this week while her parents are out gallivanting. Gallivanting... that sounds amazing... She's been a fantastic helper with the little ones while the older two have been at school, giving endless piggy back rides and even offering to change the baby's diaper, opening my eyes to a world of possibilities for the older boys. Today, after sticking it out through a well-child visit for the 5 year old, I figured she could use somethin

Easy Turkey Stick Puppets: the Kid Craft I Can Actually Manage This Time of Year

Easy Turkey Stick Puppets: the Kid Craft I Can Actually Manage This Time of Year

Gobble, gobble. These little turkey guys come together really quickly, are cheap, and require very little Mom-help, so a slam dunk in my book, especially around this time of year. Who has time for fussy projects?! I did this today with the 5 and 2 year old and good times were had by all. Supplies All you need are a few basics: large popsicle sticks, feathers, googly eyes, Elmer's glue, and a red and orange marker. Feel free to improvise with whatever you have on hand though.

Gratitude Turkey Poster

Gratitude Turkey Poster

Three year olds give the best prayers. I love listening to all the things they're grateful for: the fork in front of them, their bed, the fly on the window, their socks, their beautiful headband, the grass, a pencil. They name any and everything. It's equal parts hilarious and sweet. What a better life I would live if I could be thankful for everything I interact with! This Thanksgiving activity is an oldie but a goodie and embraces that idea of gratitude for everything: writ

Honoring Veterans: Veteran's Art Surprise

Honoring Veterans: Veteran's Art Surprise

That's a stupid title but I couldn't think of what else to call this. Looking for a way to celebrate veterans for Veteran's Day with kids? This was crazy fun for everyone. This has all the thrill of TPing but it's nice. Basically you pull out all your red, white, and blue art supplies and let your kids have at it. We also googled a picture of a flag and printed it off a few times. It would be awesome to have everyone write a note or two somewhere on their artwork. Then when y

Halloween Gingerbread Houses

Halloween Gingerbread Houses

We had a church Trunk or Treat on Saturday, leaving us with very large bags of candy and a feeling of dread for the mountain of candy we knew was still coming. In an effort to put that sugar to work for us, we pulled out the chocolate graham crackers and leftover frosting and whipped up some Halloween Gingerbread Houses. This whole project took me about 10-15 minutes of prep to cut the crackers, cook the sugar, and form the houses, which was pretty good for such a fun activit

Hilarious and Simple Tape Masks

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Halloween Gingerbread Houses

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Gratitude Turley

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Veteran's Art Surprise

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Turkey Stick Puppet

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Tape Masks

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