5 minutes of peace?

Sorry everybody. I know, I talked a lot about the whole pattern making series that I wanted to show you all, and it pretty much tanked. I've decided that rather than struggle through getting one relevant post up a week, I will do what I should have done in the first place and type up all the posts ahead of time so they are ready to go no matter what is going on in this crazy house of mine! (Why did I ever think I'd have enough time to actually get it all done during the week?)

So for now I'm going to tentatively push all things pattern-making back to the beginning of November. I know that seems like an awfully long time, but besides Halloween, (My favorite holiday Ever!) there are also three very important birthdays this month. I guess I really want to make sure that I don't do any more things "half-way" for the rest of the month.

In the mean time I'm still trying to work on a few projects. Over the last 25 days in our neck of Virginia, there have been 15 rainy days, 5 overcast days, and a measly 5 days where we actually saw the sun. Unfortunately, the sunny days are still terribly soggy since our area (which gets normally 3-4 inches of rain this time of year) has been swamped with 15-20 inches in this rather short time. This all makes for a very clingy and fidgety toddler locked in the house with only me and the cats. (Not as fun as it sounds ; )

I asked a few weeks ago what you Moms do when faced with the dreaded rainy day, and I've been scouring Pinterest and the rest of the internet for ideas to keep my little wild one entertained. Here are a few of the things we've tried so far... (Find the activities below and more in my preschool activities folder on Pinterest)

Pom Poms

We stuffed, counted, glued, sorted and threw them. (everywhere)

I thought this was cute, but it only worked for about 2 min.

 

Beans

We counted, glued, sorted and threw them. (everywhere)

Katy suggested scooping beans kinda like sand with cups and spoons and we tried that too. 

Reli decided it was more fun to use it as confetti and I'm still finding beans around the house. : )

Pipe Cleaners

We poked them through the colander, and then twisted them into shapes and letters.

Another cute idea that just didn't hold her attention.

Construction Paper

Pretty much just makes her mad because I wont let her use scissors.

(Add safety scissors to the shopping list!)

Our first attempt at glue sticks was going pretty well until I wrote the letters.
That REALLY made her mad for some weird reason!

Paint

We tried to make some of the fun hand-print animals that are so cute, but after the first 2 prints Reli decided she would much rather paint the table, chair, and herself. How does that happen when I'm sitting right there holding onto her?!

Finger painting in a bag. So much cleaner! Of course she wants
nothing to do with it and just keeps trying to open the bag instead.

Balloons

This was actually the most effective distraction. In preparation for Reli's upcoming birthday, we went to the party store where they gave her a free balloon. She loved that thing for the better part of 2 days before it sank to the floor. Now Ant just wants to go buy her a new balloon every day (especially during football season!)

I'm hoping that either the weather clears up really soon, or Reli falls madly in love with some of the birthday presents that she'll be getting next week. I never imagined that trying to entertain a toddler would exhaust me so much that I'd be participating in nap time too! Oh well, it can't go on forever. Eventually she's going to have to let me use my sewing machine again, or she won't have any fall clothes. I doubt she's gonna fall for that reasoning though. ; )

Hopefully the rest of you are getting your 5 minutes of peace however you can too. Good Luck!