Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss! To be honest, Dr. Seuss is not my favorite children's author, but I admire his contributions to children's literature. He's become the iconic figure associated with reading with kids, so for me, celebrating his birthday is really celebrating the joy that comes from reading to my kids and watching them discover the power of the written word.

So to kick off the day, we had green eggs and ham (duh!) I usually just make scrambled eggs with green food coloring, but I tried something different this year. I've made mini fritattas before and that's what I did today. I added frozen (thawed) spinach and little bits of ham. We eat frozen spinach in a lot of things, but I think maybe this spinach was too old (I did dig it out of the back of the freezer....) because it really wasn't good. It smelled like rancid tires while it was cooking and was pretty bitter.

Haha... yeah, Helena. That's how I felt, too, when I was forcing it down and saying "Mmmm, girls, isn't this yummy???"

Then after lunch, two of my sisters-in-law and my four nieces all came over for a Dr. Seuss playdate. The girls had a snack (Goldfish crackers, which I never, ever buy!), watched an episode of The Cat In the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, did a little craft, and ate Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes (which were also a major fail). I saw some really cute cupcakes on Pinterest from Martha Stewart:Yeah, mine failed. The cotton candy like... disintegrated into the frosting before we got to them. That's why I throw parties for kids, yo.

For our craft, we made these cute little truffula trees pictures (from The Lorax). It's just glitter pom-poms and yarn glued onto little canvases that I got at Michael's.

Here are the five big cousins (and a bit of Juno in the corner) with their truffula trees!

Homemade gel clings

You know that money pit at Target... the dollar spot? Yeah. I hate that spot.

It sucks you in because "It's only a dollar!!" and before you know it, you're leaving Target $50 poorer.

Well, it's a love/hate relationship, because I do find really great stuff there. Last week I got a bunch of huge fabric bins for the shelves in our closets (New Year's resolution #4) for $2.50 each! I've also started buying all of the Family Fun cookbooks and holiday books that they've been stocking lately. I actually get a subscription to Family Fun and they also have everything on their website, but it's nice to have everything organized by season and holiday and put together. And I love how my girls can look through the book and every single craft and recipe is age-appropriate, easy, and cheap!

I was really excited when I saw the homemade gel clings in our winter book. We made snowflakes this time, but you can customize them for any holiday or season! I'm looking forward to some hearts and lips for Valentine's Day in a few weeks.

1) Draw a template on wax paper. Small, compact designs work best.

2) Use dimensional fabric paint to trace over the template and let dry completely (3-4 hours, but overnight is best).

3) Carefully peel the design from the wax paper and stick it to glass. They're repositionable, too!

My kids aren't old enough to trace the template yet, but they liked arranging them on the glass :)