Mama

Minne-Mama is on Facebook! 'Like' us to stay updated on our fun crafts and activities!   Thank you for stopping by! Hands down, the thing I missed most this winter was outdoor concerts. Skyler and I loved going to concerts last summer and I was excited to find many kid-friendly concert series in our area. These are the three that we have enjoyed going to, though I am sure there are many more. Not that it is any surprise, but I took a lot of pictures of Skyler last summer. Here are some pictures from the concerts we went to in these series, mostly from last summer, and a few from today :) Centennial Lakes kiddie concerts every Tuesday and Thursday at noon. The concerts take place at a cute little amphitheater and there is some space right near the performers to put up blankets in the shade. I don't think Skyler and I missed a week last summer, sometimes we went both days. The genres of music are varied and last summer we even saw an animal show that was the most packed I ha...

Minne-Mama is on Facebook! 'Like' us to stay updated on our fun crafts and activities!   Thank you for stopping by!  I have mentioned our favorite children's band, the Minnesota based Okee Dokee Brothers on more than one occasion. Skyler received their Grammy winning CD/DVD Can You Canoe? for Christmas last year, when he was just six months old. I've never been into bluegrass, and was especially skeptical of a children's bluegrass band (working in childcare and teaching for years, I have heard my share of awful children's music). I have always been a ska/punk music kind of person, but after getting that CD, we went from my music and the occasional Baby Einstein lullaby CD, to bluegrass music every day. It was the perfect CD for when we were playing in Skyler's room and was calming enough that I remember walking around his room, bouncing him before sleep to The Bullfrog Opera and Small and Simple . It was a bonding experience for us and I still love listeni...

Minne-Mama is on Facebook! 'Like' us to stay updated on our fun crafts and activities!   Thank you for stopping by!  I got an email last week from the teacher from our Kindermusik class asking us to make a drum with our kids. She sent several links to DIY drums, and I did a combination of this duct tape drum from fellow KBN mama blog Frugal Fun 4 Boys and this drum using an oatmeal container. Skyler and I went to pick out some duct tape and these are the three that he chose. I originally showed him the bright chevron and a white, light blue, and navy chevron and he said "PINK ONE!!!" so pink it was, and he chose orange and green to accompany the fun chevron. Just like the tutorial at Frugal Fun 4 Boys, I placed strips of duct tape around the opening hole of the container. I cut the duct tape in half and alternated colors until I had done about three layers of tape. Skyler picked bright tapes, so my goal was to make this as colorful and fun as possible :) Once the top...

Minne-Mama is on Facebook! 'Like' us to stay updated on our fun crafts and activities! Thank you for stopping by! It is officially spring tomorrow and I am feeling the need to celebrate - these super simple homemade musical instruments have been perfect for Skyler to cheerfully welcome the warmer seasons and they are a fun reminder of one of our favorite times of the week! In our Kindermusik class, the little one's have had the opportunity in the past few weeks to try a ton of new instruments. Skyler's favorite was a set of plastic percussion tubes (if you Google that you can find the name they go by). This version used recycled materials we had on hand and they sound just as good as the ones you can buy - and are much more budget friendly! All you need to create this incredibly entertaining musical instrument is two paper towel rolls and some tape. I used masking tape with bright spring-like colors and geometric shapes. You could use any variety of color or patterned t...

Minne-Mama is on Facebook! 'Like' us to stay updated on our fun crafts and activities! Thank you for stopping by! We are almost through our final weekend without hubby/daddy and I could not be more excited!! Skyler doesn't really know it yet, but he is excited too ;) Our paper heart garland is looking quite bare, watching it shrink every day was great for both me and Skyler! We had a fairly low-key weekend of cleaning and crafting, but this afternoon we went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts/Children's Theatre Company to attend Rock the Cradle, a new-to-me, free music event hosted by The Current, a local radio station, and Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. It was so fun! Since I didn't post on Friday, I thought I would post some pictures from the event. I was lucky to have my mom and step dad agree to come with me and Skyler. They advised against strollers, so it was wonderful to have some extra hands and eyes to help with the little one, and my ...

Minne-Mama is on Facebook! 'Like' us to stay updated on our fun crafts and activities! Thank you for stopping by! It has been an interesting couple of days in our house. We got daddy back on Saturday night after a week away for work. It has been so nice having him home, we even went on a date on Saturday - coffee and a walk, dinner, dessert and drinks, and then a movie. I honestly do not remember the last time we did that, usually it is a quick dinner when we do go out! This week he has the overnight shift for the first time with his job. It is quite the adjustment, but at least he is home! Then tonight, Skyler got sick. First, he walked into the kitchen where I was making dinner and all of a sudden the floor was covered and baby boy was crying. We went straight up to the bath and he seemed a lot happier (It is so sad right after a little one gets sick and they have no idea what happened and just start crying - I wanted to cry with him it was so hard to see him upset!) I made h...