Curious George Christmas & DVD Giveaway

Congrats to "Miss" Anita for winning the DVD!


Ok, I admit that I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the trees, wrapping presents, but especially the music. Usually i hold off on Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving.

However, I'm a sucker for Christmas stories. When I was given a chance to preview the new Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas, I jumped for it! I love watching Curious George on PBS with Sophia. It's one of the few kid shows I don't mind watching. Not only is George cute, but he teaches my daughter about math and science. Where else could a little monkey fly into space and help out scientists?

We had some of Sophia's friends over yesterday for a little screening. First we all made Build-Your-Own Pisghetti Pizza. I provided pitas or english muffins and had all the toppings in little bowls. I love making individual pizzas, so yummy. Kids had cheese and ham, while the adults made salami and spinach pizza.

While those baked, we started the DVD. I was a little shocked to hear The Man in the Yellow Hat sing in the opening number, but as my husband put it, "Can't have a Christmas movie without a song."  I admit, he's right.

George and The Man in the Yellow Hat (what is his name, anyone know?), count down the days until Christmas. However, George has written (ahem, drawn) his wishlist this year and the Man in the Yellow Hat can't decipher it. Hilarius antics thus ensue, of course. After the pizza disappeared, we moved on to popcorn. Can't have a proper movie viewing without popcorn right? This is a movie both kid and adults will enjoy.

Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas airs the weekend of Thanksgiving. Check your local listings. If you are in the DC area, it airs on WETA TV 26 on Saturday, November 28 at 7:30 AM and again on Monday, November 30 at noon.


If that doesn't fit in your schedule, I'm giving away a copy. All you have to do is leave a comment with the answer to this question:


What's on your wishlist this holiday season? (Not the kids, yours)


Please make sure that you leave an email address so I can contact you if you win.



For 3 extra entries, you may also do any of the following. Just make sure you come back and leave a comment with the link or letting me know you've done it. I won't be able to keep track otherwise.

• subscribe to my blog (or already do)
• subscribe to my new craft/food blog, Cup of Creativi-Tea
• Tweet about the giveaway (leave a link to your tweet) or post it on Facebook
• You're welcome to copy and paste this for your tweet/FB status
• What does Curious George want for Xmas? Win the new DVD & find out! http://bit.ly/CuriousGeorge #AVeryMonkeyChristmas @thienkim
  

I'll draw a winner by November 30! I will try to mail it out the same week, but keep in mind, I'll (hopefully) have a newborn by then.


I was not compensated for this post or for hosting the screening party. However, I was given a copy of the DVD as well as some popcorn and games for the party. Thanks to 360 PR!

Everything is Better With Apple Pie

My day started off before the crack of dawn. I awoke to my poor Sophia vomiting on me in my bed. My wonderful husband stripped and washed the sheets. He even gave Sophia a bath to wash out her hair.The poor kid was miserable for most of the day, just laying on the couch and watching a lot of tv. With me next to her on vomit watch. Sounds like fun, huh?

Thankfully by late afternoon, her appetite was back, her meds kicked in (for her fever) and she was singing and dancing again.

After she went to bed, I made apple pie with a crumb topping. Hubby peeled the apples even. Methinks he needs a gold medal for all he did today. I baked the pie to in my trusty cast iron skillet. I can't believe I didn't start baking sweets in it until this year.

Once the pie was in the oven, I actually sat down and watched tv. Without my laptop, without flipping through a magazine, and without doing some sort of craft project. It felt weird. I definitely have a hard time sitting still. Once I got used it, it felt nice.

The pie came out great. Waiting for the pie to cool was tough. Thank goodness for Top Chef! Apple pie was the perfect way to end my crazy day!

Homemade Ice Cream

As a kid, I've always wanted to make my ice cream. Which would never occur to my immigrant Vietnamese mother. Why make things from scratch when you can buy them already made at the store? Luxuries that we Americans are used to were rare (if even available) for my parents when they lived in Vietnam. Wal-Mart is a mecca for them. Anything they want, they can buy. They worked hard to move to the States and to be able to afford the things they like.

Of course my sister and I have the opposite mentality. We attempt to re-use and recycle. We even go thrifting (to the horror of my dad who doesn't understand why we would buy something used when we can afford something new)! To them, shopping at the thrift store reminds them of when they first immigrated to the States and all they could afford were used dishes and furniture.

Anyway, I took Sophia to one of our favorite places, Whole Foods to hang out with one of our favorite people, Chef Egg. August's class was homemade ice cream! No ice cream maker required. It was so easy, you can make it at home in 10 minutes!

We love the Half Pints classes at Whole Foods. They're free and they teach kids to have fun making/cooking food. Check out your local Whole Foods page for the calendar of events. Our Silver Spring location will have one about after school snacks later this month.


First, add sugar, vanilla extract, and half & half to a quart sized ziptop bag (recipe will follow after pictures). Make sure bag is zipped closed completely. Squeeze to mix everything up, making sure you don't feel anymore grains of sugar. You can add any other flavorings you want in this step too: crushed berries, smashed bananas, chocolate syrup, etc.


Add lots of ice and sea salt to a gallon sized ziptop bag. Place sugar & half & half bag into larger bag. Close it up and start shaking. (Love that action shot) Shake and shake. Then shake some more. If you have leakage, you'll have to start over (we did). It takes about 10 or so minutes. Don't get to vigorous with the shaking as you might break open the inside bag. Once the ice milk (that's what you're really making) is to your desire consistency, remove it from the ice bag.

Squeeze all the ice milk into a cup, add your favorite toppings and enjoy! As you can see Sophia added lots of whipped cream and strawberries.

Double Bagger Ice Cream Recipe (courtesy of Whole Foods)

1/2 cup Half & Half
1 drop of vanilla extract
1T of sugar
1 Ziptop bag, quart sized

4C of Ice
4T of Rock Salt (Chef Egg used sea salt)
1 Ziptop bag, gallon sized

Mix the half and half with the vanilla and sugar in the small bag. Place ice and salt in the big bag. Place small bag inside the big bag and shake for 5-10 minutes until the ice cream is solid. Scoop out of bag and enjoy.

What Would You Have Done?

So you're on your way out of Ikea and have bribed your 3 year old with an ice cream cone so she'll leave willingly. Then in the parking lot, she drops her ice cream cone (which was partly my fault, but don't tell her that).

Of course she starts screaming because she dropped her ice cream and she's tired. Other families walk by the two of us with looks of sympathy on their faces. I was totally tempted to pick up the cone and wipe off the part that touched the ground. But there were too many people watching.

So, as my tortured child screamed, I picked up what I could and threw it away. I was too tired to deal with the Sunday Ikea crowd to go back in for another cone. I dragged her screaming to the car with a promise of another cone from the drive-thru at McDonalds. Poor kid just yelled "Ice cream! Ice cream!" over and over until she passed out from exhaustion. All before we reached the nearest McDonald's.

What would you have done?

Photo courtesy of Caro Wallis.

Three is Too Young for Raccoon Eyes

Anyone have a princess obsessed preschooler? Sophia is as girly as you can get. Princesses, pink, and now, make-up. I've bought her those 99cents sparkly clear flavored lip gloss from the local Target, but never anything else. And yes, I've even painted her nails for her.

I'm not a make-up kind of gal. Yes, I do own some. If I remember, I'll wear make-up to my Passion Parties. I have to throw most of my make-up away because it's too old.

But no real make-up. Not even kids play make-up. I mean, 3 is too young for make-up. Tonight she didn't want to go to sleep. Hubby checked in on her and instead of seeing our beautiful sleeping child, he saw a raccoon.


Thank God for washable Crayola markers. She thought she was pretty clever until I told her to look in a mirror. "Oh, it's horrible!" with the drama only a 3 year old can give.

Then, I remembered a very timely tip on Parent Hacks. Use old make-up cases and nail polish to make fake make-up. Unfortunately I purged my make-up collection back in March so all I had left was this clinic eye shadow case. Since I know I've owned it for waaaay too long, I scraped out all the eye shadow and filled it in with obnoxious nail polish colors.


Hopefully it'll dry by tomorrow and my little princess will have some pretend make-up. Keep your fingers crossed that she likes it.

Stay Sane and Not Too Messy With Kid Crafts

This summer Sophia & I are staying busy by going to the park, meeting up at friends' homes, watching videos (while I hopefully nap), and CRAFTING!

I've been trying to keep Sophia busy all day. If she naps or falls asleep in the car, she won't go to sleep until 11pm. That usually means no time for me and hub to veg out together on the couch. For a while I felt bad because I hadn't been doing a lot of crafts with her. Monday, I vowed to start again!

We made cute little egg carton ants. First we painted. While the paint dried we snuck in a bit of lunch. I found some glue on jewels from Target's $1 section, so of course all the pink ones ended up on Sophia's bugs. After the jewels and eyes dried, we added pipe cleaner legs and antennae.

I know a lot of parents shy away from crafting because of the potential mess, but I'll share with you the ways I contain the mess.

How to keep kids crafts from becoming too messy:

1. To keep things from being too messy, I usually let her do things one step at a time. I only pull out the supplies necessary for that step. With kids' short attention spans, if the supplies for the next step are in sight, they want to get ahead of themselves.
2. Cover your work surface. Sometimes I use newspaper. Usually I use a large plastic tray (the blue thing in the pictures) It has a lip so it should catch major spills. I just wash the tray after we're done.
3. Use an egg carton to hold paint. Cut the egg carton in half. I just pour a little bit of paint into each well. If you're worried about colors mixing together, you can use every other well. Sophia eventually mixes up all the colors anyway so I don't bother. I give her between 4-6 colors at a time. Egg cartons are great short term storage for paints. Just close the lid, and the paint might be good tomorrow (depends on your paint).
4. Let the kids craft naked. Or without a shirt. I don't have a smock for Sophia. Sometimes I strip her naked and let her paint the walls of the tub. After you're done, the kids get a bath! It's a two-fer!
5. Let your child help clean up! It's Sophia's job to wash out her paint brushes while she washes her hand. Of course this would depend on your child. If she splashes a litte, no big deal. We play "Let's clean the sink" afterwards.
6. Don't be afraid to get messy!

As you can see, our craft project today was air dry clay. We use the Crayola brand, but I'm sure there's a recipe out there you can make your own. I love the quality of Crayola products and they don't smell funny. (They didn't pay me to say any of this). The clay is a bit hard right out of the bucket, but just knead it and mash it for a few minutes to soften it up (you the adult-might be a bit tough for little kids)

I love air dry clay! The first time we used it, we just used it like playdough. I explained to her that it would get hard if we let it sit out a couple of days. After it dries, we paint it. It's 2 projects in one! I always ask her at the beginning what she wants to make. Sometimes she makes it; sometimes it's some completely different. Other times she just plays with the clay. I'm ok with that. I don't want to limit her creativity.

Today, I also gave her a small cup of water and a brush with the clay. She loves using the water to mold the clay. As you can see, she also loves rubbing the wet clay on her arms. Today she made a worm and some lollipops (with craft sticks). I'm sure the huge balls will take several days to dry, but we have a busy weekend of blueberry picking and 4th of July festivities. We can paint it next week.

What are your kid crafting tips?

Making Sushi with the Spice Girls

I took Sophia to a kids sushi making class this afternoon at Whole Foods. Turns out there was an adult class later tonight. Thanks to DH rushing home from work to grab Sophia from me, I was able to take it!

Now I've made sushi rolls before, many a time. Before Sophia was born, I would hold sushi parties. Everyone brings a fish or condiment (pre-assigned before the party) and I would roll sushi. YUM! So much cheaper than eating sushi in a restaurant. I would also make fried rice or Vietnamese green papaya salad.

Gotta love the music in Whole Foods though. The Spice Girls' If You Wanna Be My Lover came on while we were rolling. That & Total Eclipse of the Heart. Talk about a trip down memory lane! (Speaking of memory lane, did you know that Seether remade WHAM!'s Careless Whisper? I mean, I love Seether, but a rock version of Careless Whisper? George Michael was so angst ridden in that song--the way it's meant to be. Plus Seether didn't hit the high note at the end)

I was totally taking the class for the sushi! I mean for $10 I got to make a ton of sushi. It was dinner for the whole family. Since this was impromptu, I didn't have my camera with me. Excuse the crappy cell phone pics. iPhone, I have not. Check it out:


Chef Egg, who teaches all the cooking classes at Whole Foods Silver Spring. I took Sophia to a kids Strawberry Shortcake class in May that she loved! I tried to pry what his real name was but he wouldn't tell me! (Pssst, that's the new dress I made from the old dress. Will try to remember to take better pics)

Chef Egg totally rocked the class! Everyone was all serious and nervous until he showed us the sushi rice spreading fingers (your thumb, forefinger, and middle finger). He used a Japanese term for it that I forget, but my favorite part was when he says, "What do those fingers say?" Then he made them move and roar. LOL! Imagine 15 adults doing that. I thought it was a riot. Chef Egg was tons of fun.


Dawt, who didn't want a pic taken but was nice enough to let me. She actually makes the sushi that you can buy fresh in the deli section. Reon was another sushi chef, but he disappeared for while and my battery on my phone was low.


Rolling towards California. A California roll, that is. I think this was one of the later ones that I made. There's some roasted sesame seeds on top. Did you know that Whole Foods offers an all-natural imitation crab? How cool is that?

We also learned to make inside out rolls. Chef Egg shared a cool trick. After you put the rice on the nori and flip it over, put a very very thin line of rice on the nori (seaweed) side so your insides don't slide out when you roll. How cool is that?

Rolling up the sushi. Pic is of person next to me. I never asked her name (bad blogger), but she was super nice! After we learned the basics, we were allowed to make as many more rolls as we wanted. I made 8 rolls all together!

We also got some edamame, seaweed salad and pickled ginger to take home too. It was very generous for $10. I mean, if you just bought sushi from their prepared section, you might get 3 rolls for $10! We also got to take home the bamboo rolling mat we used in class.

Plus we all got some Honest Tea to drink while we rolled sushi. It was good tea. Usually when I tried bottled teas they are waaaay to sweet for me. I'm a tea purist. I'd rather have good unsweetened tea (sorry Nestea). Besides Honest Tea is a local company, in Bethesda, MD.


Here's the bounty spread out on my dining table. Sophia dug right in! She loves sushi, but only eats the rice.

It was a ton of fun! Even though I've rolled sushi before, I did learn some cool tips about rolling sushi. Hubby thinks I should take some more cooking classes. I love to cook and learn new things. Sounds like a good idea, right?

Princess Presto Rocks!

So you already know that I'm not too thrilled that Sophia loves princesses. I guess I'd tolerate it better if it wasn't the Disney Princesses. They're all white and skinny (except for Jasmine who she doesn't like, and Mulan who technically isn't a princess). Sophia's not white, for sure. It'd be nice to expose her to princesses that looked similar to her. Thankfully Disney finally got the message. But that's at least a year away.

Last year we discovered PBS's Super Why! show. It was cute, funny, and of course, educational. Of course Sophia gravitated towards Princess Pea. The cool thing about Princess Pea (who transforms into Princess Presto when they are on an adventure)? She has a way with words, dark curly hair, and dark skin! Thanks to a great PBS event we attended in May, we knew to be on the lookout for Super Why toys.

I learned that Toys R Us was hosting a Super Why Play day this past weekend. (Thanks Justice Fergie & Tech Savvy Mama!) We made a point to go and Sophia was able to pick out a Princess Presto Role Play Kit. Of course she ripped into it as soon as we got into the car. I even let her wear the cape and crown all day as we finished our shopping. (She was bit disappointed that the Touch & Learn Super Duper Computer wasn't available.) As we picked up necessities in Target, she would wave her wand and "magically" make things appear. It was so cute!

All day she mentioned that even though she had her cape, crown, and wand, she wasn't really Princess Presto. So, I washed the puffy pink dress I made for her Halloween costume, and voila, instant Princess Presto! She made me put her hair in an up do just like Princess Presto too. She says all she needs is a pink purse just like the princess.

I'm so excited that she has found a non-Disney Princess as a role model. Especially a princess of color. I keep hoping that she'll outgrow the princess thing but in the mean time, I think Princess Presto is pretty cool. If you've never seen Super Why!, it's a great show for preschoolers. Super Why definitely helped Sophia learn her letters. (and ignore the dirty dishes on my kitchen counter please)

Super Why picture courtesy of PBS

Snow Day! (image heavy)

We had real snow today in the DC area. As in 5 inches! We played in the snow, ate some snow, and went sledding--my first time! Just wanted to share some pics with you. Stay warm!

I've been a bit busy, so I'm extending my contest until March 15th! So please share with your friends! I could really use your suggestions.






I was actually gathering snow here in an attempt to make a snowman. Alas the snow was too powdery. I look like I'm doing Arctic Tai Chi.

So, don't hide inside. Go out and play in the snow!

Sleeping Beauty with an Attitude

We have the best library system ever in on Montgomery County. Amazon recommended Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox on my front page a few days ago. Lo and behold, I spotted it at my local branch! This is a non-traditional princess book that adults and children will enjoy.

It's written in rhyme and has fun illustrations. I'm a sucker for a well illustrated book. The princess discovers Sleeping Beauty because her snoring has bothered the kingdom for many years. The fairies try hard to tell how to wake her up, but of course he doesn't listen. He tries many hilarious ways of waking her up. My favorite part is what Sleeping Beauty does after he gives her the wake-up kiss.

It definitely wins the Sophia seal of approval. Leah Wilcox has another one, Falling For Rapunzel, not available at the library yet. But I'm sure I'll see it there soon.

Currently the book we're reading every day isn't a princess book (thank god!), but David Shannon's A Bad Case of Stripes & Pinkalicious by Victoria & Elizabeth Kann. Something about kids changing colors amuses Sophia to no end. I have to admit, even though I don't like pink, Pinkalicious is pretty funny. Both of these have great messages too: Be true to yourself because you are beautiful.

If You Can't Beat'em, Join Them (aka Princess Books)

It too me a while to embrace Sophia's love of princesses. I know she loves Disney's Cinderella, but I've been on the look out for non-traditional princess stories. I want her to know that there are princesses who don't need a Prince in Shining Armor to rescue them. Thankfully, my friend Bluefrog, who's a children's librarian, recommended some great ones.

However, I've been unable to find them at my local library. Yesterday, while I at the checkout counter, I spied The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane Auch on the return cart of my library. I had no idea what it was about, but it was a princess book. I was willing to give it a try!

Guess what? It's such a great story. Princess Paulina's father has given up the life of a king to become a wood carver. She's looking for a way to become a princess again. Her chance arrives when Queen Zelda of Blom holds a competition to find a bride for her Prince Drupert. (Gotta love the names!). Thus Princess Paulina enters 3 rounds of competition.

Princess Paulina, is funny and assertive. She doesn't sit around and wait for things to happen. And she's not afraid to speak her mind. She's my kind of princess! Sophia likes it too. I've already read it twice in 6 hours. I think the hubby will probably do another reading tonight at bedtime. I'm going to give it another week and see if I should purchase a copy (or get it from Paperbackswap).

I'm so happy that we found this book! Who doesn't love a funny heroine that takes control of her destiny?

I'm going to try to make this a regular feature as I find non-traditional books. Some classics that we've read (but got a lukewarm recession from our resident princess) are The Paper Bag Princess , Princess Smartypants, and The Princess Knight . I have bunch of others in my shopping cart at Amazon, but just haven't bit the bullet to buy them.

Baby Magic--Or Where Babies Come From

Sunday, as we walked back to our car from Christmas shopping, Sophia asked me, "Mama, how did I get into your belly?" Now we'd been talking about belly buttons (or in the words of Sandra Boynton, bee-bo). She's amazed by innie (which never seems to end BTW) since she has an outie.

"Mama, how did I get into your belly?" She repeats.

"Um, well . . ." I debated changing the subject or distracting her. "Well, when mommy and daddy love it each other. . .magic happens!"

I know. It's a bit pathetic. But she's 3 right? That's all she needs to know. She seemed happy with my answer. After all, she still believes in fairy godmothers. That reminds of the time she asked my husband if she could have a stepmother. Thank you Disney!

I'm feeling burned out. Last week I did 3 parties and a shopping event. I think the adrenaline from November is dissipating. I have 2 more parties this weekend. They'll be fun, but I'm glad for a break! I'm giving myself 2 weeks off from parties. I was going to say work, but I know I'm be answering emails, phone calls, etc during that time.

I'm doing the last of my Christmas shopping the past couple of days. Ok, I didn't really start until Sunday night. I'm sure I'm not alone in my dilemma, but we have too many toys for Sophia (thanks to Leapfrog and great deals on Amazon)! She really hoped for some fun things from Santa, but they are too hard to get. I promised myself I wouldn't be one of those parents that ran all over town trying to find the exact gift she wanted.

I finally figured out what to give hubby for his birthday, which is only a few days before Christmas. I can't say what it is, since he reads my blog. (Hi!) Sophia wants to bake him a cake with black frosting. She thinks it's his favorite color. Probably because he wears it a lot.

So next week we're baking cookies for Santa and making black frosting. I should take a pic and send it in to Cake Wrecks. What are you doing?

Day 9: Princesses, Tea & More Cleaning

Yep, she's no longer a toddler. She's a real kid. My Sophia is 3 years old today. She woke us up early, proclaiming that it was her birthday. It amazes me how they go from a squishy looking baby to a walking, talking, thinking being.

Wowser! The princess birthday tea party was a success. After only 5 hours of sleep, I woke up early to grocery shop for the party this afternoon, including picking up the requisite princess cupcakes. We had a low key celebration. She invited 2 friends, and we also had some friends and family. The kids were sooo cute and civilized, sitting at the little table sipping their "tea" (diluted apple juice or herbal tea) and eating little sandwiches and treats. Of course, the princess dress made another appearance. She even twirled in it for a while!

I opted for a small celebration for this party. It's so easy to get sucked into the commercialism of birthday parties. Maybe it's the DC metro area. We've attended several toddler birthday parties this year, and some are big productions. Do you really need 16 kids at a 3 year old's birthday party? And of course, you have to hold your birthday party at some other place, not your home. I looked into one place. It was over $300 for 2 hours. No kidding. My 3 year old will barely remember her 3rd birthday party I'm sure.

To prepare for the party in our little apartment, we have been cleaning all weekend. I'm not the greatest housekeeper; cleaning house definitely isn't my favorite thing to do. Plus I've been doing a lot of parties, so it just seemed like such an effort to load the dishwasher. Hubby definitely did the bulk of the cleaning. He's great about it when he sets his mind on it. He even cleans the bathroom. And no, you can't have him. He's all mine!

For Day 9, positive affirmations cleanse your energy/spirit as you clean a physical part of your home or body. Normally when I'm cleaning, I don't think about how cleaning can clear the way for positive energy into your life. I usually zone out. I guess it's like meditating, right? However, I definitely feel it after I've cleaned. I'm sitting on my couch and I can actually see the floor! And my coffee table doesn't have sticky fingerprints nor does it have dried play dough stuck to it. It feels good to have everything neat and orderly. I promise myself every time we do this crazy cleaning, that I'll keep it up. This time I really mean it.

I know Day 9 isn't just about cleaning. It's about being aware of your daily actions. Don't just go through the motions. Think about the meaning of your actions. I have to say, today's preparation and culmination of the party definitely made me feel all warm and gooey inside. The pigs in the blanket didn't hurt either.

Somebody save me!

It's rainy and icky outside. Your toddler is running around the house making a mess. She asks you read the SAME Dora book for the 4th time today. She won't nap. She says she's hungry and won't eat the 6 different things you've offered her. And you're still in your pajamas. Don't you wish the babysitting fairy would come take your child away? Don't pull your hair out!

Quick, strip that toddler naked. Grab the kid paints and put her/him in the dry tub. On the way in, don't forget to grab your favorite magazine that's sitting in your to be read stack of magazines. Your child gets to paint the tub walls (and herself) and you finally get to read your March Cosmo! (Disclaimer, I don't actually read Cosmo). When they're tired of painting, grab a washcloth and she gets to be a "window washer". And if you're feeling really productive, you can give them a bath afterwards.

Try it. I actually got flip through an entire issue of Marie Claire with minimal interruptions.

Tags: Crafting, kids

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Toddler Art

I wish I was the kind of mom that could pull out the paints everyday for Sophia. But I guess I'm just too lazy to clear off the table, lay down newspaper, etc, etc. But she sure does have fun! Look at fingers! When did we lose the desire to get messy with our art? Watching kids create art is so fun. They don't care if they get messy. They love it. They don't care if the colors mix a little--they encourage it. And they don't always care how it looks in the end--they love the process.

Here's some tips when painting with toddlers.

• Use good washable paints. I use Crayola Washable Kid Paints. They are mostly washable. And they don't smell funny like some tempera paints do. They are on the pricey side. I'll have to save one of my Michaels coupons and buy a big box. We're almost out of orange. Some washable paints don't always wash out, especially the cheap ones


• Instead of investing in those expensive paint cups, just use an empty egg carton. Since I only have 6 colors of paints, I cut the cartons in half. I just fill each section with a little paint and when she needs more, I'll add more so there isn't a lot of waste. Especially when she's tired of painting and just wants to mix all the colors with her hands


• Make sure you brushes with thick handles for those toddlers. It makes it easier to grip. I also like those foam brushes like the one in the picture above. They are super expensive and she can pick up lots of paint with it


• HAVE FUN! Don't worry about the outcome--it's the process that's important

For a great blog about creating art with your kids, check out The Artful Parent.