{"id":1383,"date":"2011-01-24T17:08:19","date_gmt":"2011-01-24T17:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.wordpress.com\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2011-01-24T17:08:19","modified_gmt":"2011-01-24T17:08:19","slug":"10-ways-to-make-today-magical-80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/24\/10-ways-to-make-today-magical-80\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ways to Make Today Magical"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy Monday!<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

What a week it was last week!\u00a0 Anna turned 11, our water heater self destructed (and did its best to flood the basement), <\/em><\/span>Daryl and I got sick, <\/em><\/span>the blog got accidentally suspended, Jack got food poisoning (he’s fine), <\/em><\/span>I injured my leg, <\/em><\/span>and we went out of town to spend time with friends from various directions and sent Victoria back with some of them for a week.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I’m hoping this week is a little calmer!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I’m also hoping to spend some extra special time with the three kids that will be home this week. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So let’s get on with it!\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42
\n<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s some ways to make the days magical this week…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Check out a big pile of this year’s award winning children’s books from the library.\u00a0 The ALA announced the winners for the 2010 Caldecott, Newbery, <\/span><\/strong><\/span>Theodor Seuss Geisel Awar<\/strong><\/span>ds and many more, for books of all types and ages recently and it’s a great way to find some new treasures.\u00a0 Here’s<\/a> the list.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Make up a silly family anthem and sing it together (videotape it if possible!).<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Let your child decorate the inside of something — a garbage can, a desk drawer, a cupboard, a space in the closet… the hidden art will only show when you peek inside.\u00a0 If you like, cover it with shelf paper first (then it’s removable and it can be done again and again!).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Make up some letters and artwork to send to your children’s favorite celebrities together.\u00a0 If you’re lucky, they might get some neat replies!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Make a watercolor mobile to hang over the dinner table. I can’t remember where I saw the idea, but the kids traced cookie cutters onto watercolor paper, cut them out, painted them, and glued loops of white thread between two at a time with glue sticks.\u00a0 We love it!
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Have a shopping spree at a thrift store.\u00a0 Give each child $5 to use on toys, art supplies, knick knacks, dress up clothes, whatever.\u00a0 We especially like looking in the kitchen supply areas for tools to use with playdough and in the sandbox, and checking for fancy clothes like prom dresses.\u00a0 My kids also love to get crystal goblets and other nifty glasses to use at supper time.
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Give your little one a piece of bread, an eye dropper, and a couple of small bowls of bright juice or juice concentrate (such as cranberry, orange or grape).\u00a0 Show him how to squeeze the eye dropper in the juice to collect it and then squeeze it again over the bread to drop it.\u00a0 The bread soaks up the colors (and mess) nicely and if he likes he can eat it when he’s done making art! <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Go on a nature photography walk together. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(Photos by Victoria Bayer, age 12)<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Get a huge pile of dominoes and make domino runs together.\u00a0 See how long and complicated you can make them, and then zip them all down!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

10. Have a winter picnic in the snow<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And with that, my friends, I’m off to make some green smoothies and smooch some children.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Have a magical week!
\n<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Monday! What a week it was last week!\u00a0 Anna turned 11, our water heater self destructed (and did its best to flood the basement), Daryl and I got sick, the blog got accidentally suspended, Jack got food poisoning (he’s fine), I injured my leg, and we went out of town to spend time with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[253],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magicalchildhood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}