Preparing for the Fourth of July!

It was almost Independance Day and I'd yet to do any decorations or projects. One of my friend's has been showing off all the creative crafts she's been doing with her girls, and I thought they looked like fun. We can do that.

Thus, on Thursday I went out and bought some cute tee-shirts for each of the kids. Then, I looked for either fabric paint with glitter in it, or fabric glue and washable glitter so we could decorate the shirts with "fireworks" with either noodle stamps or pipe cleaner stamps (http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10189). Unfortunately, everyone else must have wanted the "Red, White, and Blue" theme as well since several places were out of red and blue. After rethinking it, I decided that I already have lots of glitter (including red, white, and blue) and fabric glue. Maybe I could just use what I have.

So, on Friday I pulled it all out and I chickened out. We're just not crafty enough to do shirts. The shirts looked so nice without our "mess" on them, that I couldn't destroy them with our "creativity". (How awful a mom am I?) Thus, I replanned and found some red foam visors to decorate with the fireworks glitter. That could work, right? Actually, I pretty much did all of the visors. The glue was really runny even after I added flour to thicken it. Then, they kept smearing the glue when they sprinkled the glitter on so they looked like glitter globs instead of fireworks.

Now, they haven't gotten to make the cute tee-shirts. They like the visors, but it was basically just Mom doing them with their "input" on the color of each firework. Thus, I decided to let them make the pipe cleaner fireworks that the same "crafty" friend did. That was an easy craft, right? She has a 2 and 4 year old who did it. We can do it too.

WHAT A MESS!!! They had clumps of glue and glitter EVERYWHERE!!! What do I do wrong? My 7 and 4 year old just don't seem to be able to do crafts with me. Am I too controlling? Probably. Am I too anal? Definitely. Do I expect too much? Obviously.

Sister Bear decided to lead a craft of her own that she named, "Grand Ol' Flag". She collected the necessary materials and instructed Brother how to do it. It was fun to listen to her give Brother instructions. She's a lot like I am. I also enjoyed how quickly she learned how I feel during crafts since Brother doesn't listen to Sister any better than either of them listen to me. They really enjoyed it and we're all crafted out for this holiday.

In the end, the color-coordinated shirts and decorative visors will look cute when they wear them Saturday and the fireworks ended looking okay as long as no one touches them (since they drop glitter with the slightest breeze). The "Grand 'Ol Flags" will be really sweet hanging on the windows as well.

I really do try to do fun projects with the kids. Most holidays we attempt craft projects. For the most part we stick to simple coloring ones like handprint turkeys. Simple crafts tend to go okay. It is the more elaborate ones that go astray or I end up doing on my own. A couple years ago there was the gingerbread house that took Sister Bear and me an entire week and looked like it had barely survived a tornado. A few Easters ago there were the "Easter Story Cookies" that were basically hardened sugar on the baking sheet.

So, we'll stick to simpler crafts this summer. Sister has a craft book she likes to pick crafts from. Those are fine since I don't have any expectations for the results. "Sure, make some snowmen even though it is July. Don't forget to put them in swim suits." Verses attempting to make clothing that they are actually going to wear outside of our home (or even inside, honestly).