How To: Make puzzles from coloring pages!

We've all been sick this week, and because of that we've all been cooped up in the house for way too long. Taylor especially has had a hard time dealing with a sad, screaming baby brother and a very sleepy, ornery mommy. So today I thought we'd do a little project together. Tay is obsessed with puzzles right now, so I thought we'd make some out of coloring pages. It turned out so well I'd like to share it!

Here are the materials you'll need:

Cereal/oatmeal/popcorn/cracker box (yay for recycling!)
Coloring pages or art drawn by your kiddo
Cutting board
Exacto knife
Scissors
Spray adhesive
Ruler

First, cut out the section of your box you'd like to use for your puzzle. I used a popcorn box and it was just the perfect size.

Next, color! Tay colored a Transformers picture, and Mommy had to get in on the action and colored a Super Why page.

If your cardboard is smaller than your coloring page, figure out what section of the page you want to be your puzzle. The easiest way for me to do this was to hold the cardboard behind the page and put it up to a light source. Trace the cardboard on the backside of your coloring page. Don't cut it out until you've glued the pieces together. It'll be much easier that way.

Using spray adhesive in a well-ventilated area, lightly spray both the cardboard and back of the coloring page, paying special attention to the corners. Allow pieces to sit for a few seconds, and then glue together using the outline you traced as a guide. Press well to ensure they're bonded completely.

Using an exacto knife and straight edge, cut off the extra pieces of your coloring page.

Now you should have a nice page glued well to the cardboard.

Next you need to draw out your puzzle pieces. I actually looked at another puzzle of Taylor's to get an idea of what puzzle pieces look like and how they go together. You could also make it easier on yourself and cut out simple squares. But of course I have to make everything difficult.

Again using your exacto knife, cut out all your pieces.

Now let the kids have at 'em! Taylor loved his little custom puzzles so much and after he finished both of them he was begging me to make more. I've created a monster! This was a pretty simple project and is a great way to reuse boxes that would normally just get thrown away, plus it's a fun way to preserve your child's artwork.

If you make one of these, please let me know how it turned out!

How cute is this?

I mean really. 

The cuteness level is completely off the charts.

My Little Monster

My mom bought Taylor this hat last week and he wears it all the time. I think it's just about the cutest thing ever! The first night he had it he actually slept with it on and had the worse bed-head ever the next day. I just love this kid to death.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

This is one of my very favorite dinners to make. It's so easy and SO yummy, and I thought I'd share it with everyone!

Ingredients

• 1 head iceburg lettuce (you can use Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves, but iceburg works just as well)
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• Asian chile pepper sauce (optional, but I'd highly recommend)
• 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil

Directions

1. Separate individual lettuce leaves, trying not to tear them. Rinse and pat dry. Set aside.

1. Heat cooking oil in skillet. Add ground beef and cook, stirring frequently, until meat is cooked through. Drain and set aside.

2. In same skillet, cook onion, stirring frequently.

3. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir

4. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, sesame oil, and cooked beef; continue cooking about 2 minutes. 

5. Arrange lettuce leaves on a serving platter or plate, and pile meat mixture in a serving bowl. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy! 

 

Candy Land

The perfect game for chilly fall mornings.

Wonder what a really angry, tired baby looks like?

Something like this.

Hee Haw Farms

Since Tay's first Halloween we've made it a tradition in our family to visit Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove every year. They've got tons of fun things for the kiddos to do and see, plus a huge pumpkin patch and corn maze. This was the first year we got to take Oliver along with us, and we all had lots of fun!

We started our adventure at the farm in the corn maze. Taylor is obsessed with mazes and was begging us to go inside. Unfortunately the fun wore off pretty quickly when we realized we were hopelessly lost with a thirsty kid and an impatient baby. So we did what any parent would do: we retraced our steps and went out the way we came in! Problem solved. Maze not solved.

One of the things I love doing every year we go to the farm is see how Tay (and now Ollie) measures up against their pumpkin sign. Unfortunately we weren't able to go last year because it rained every weekend in October, so we can't compare Tay's height last year to his height this year, but HERE are his pumpkin pictures from 2008 and 2009. He's just growing like a weed!

And here's our little Ollie bean's first picture with the pumpkin.

Sean took Tay to a huge hay bale trampoline while Oliver and I hung out in the shade. It wasn't super hot, but the sun was just beating down on us and my poor pasty self just couldn't take it anymore.

Right after that picture was taken Sean carried Tay over to me crying. He'd jumped off a high stack of hay onto the trampoline and landed on his face. He was bleeding out his nose and his mouth, and to say it was traumatizing is a huge understatement. It took us about 15 minutes to get him cleaned up and convinced that we should stay and do more fun things. We got him to go on the tractor ride, but as you can see he wasn't too happy about it.

As soon as he got back from the tractor ride I took him down the huge slide and he immediately perked up and was begging to go on it again and again. This was the first time he could go down by himself. He's such a big boy!



Taylor's very favorite thing at the farm was their huge corn pit. Yep, you read that right. They take a bunch of dried corn, fill a big sandbox-type structure to the brim, and let the kids go nuts. I jumped in with him for a little bit too. It was actually pretty fun playing in it, aside from the beating my legs took (I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say my recently-shaved-legs have never been so red and bumpy and painful).

We were going to take a hayride to their pumpkin patch to buy our pumpkins for the season, but Oliver was tired and ornery and was done with everything. So we decided we'd head home and buy our pumpkins somewhere else. On our way out there was a stand selling fresh cinnamon sugar donuts so we bought a bag to share. These were the BEST things I've ever tasted in. my. life. Imagine a donut and a funnel cake put together into the most delectable, warm, chewy, sweet, yumminess you've ever had ever. My mouth is watering just thinking about them!

All in all it was a really great evening. I love getting out in this gorgeous fall weather and enjoying the season as a family! Can't wait to go next year, if only to get my hands on some more of those donuts! Did I mention how good they were??