Sneaux Day

     It's Tuesday afternoon, so by all rights I should be on my way to drop Monkey off before heading out to school, and I would be doing just that if it weren't for the fact that I live in the south and if it even looks like it might possibly freeze, sleet, or snow everything gets shut down.  Not that I'm complaining.  The drivers in south Mississippi are bad enough on a normal day, so I shudder to think how they'd handle driving around on something as foreign and as hazardous as an iced road.
   
     A day of no school also means extra time with Monkey.  Yesterday while everyone was at Wal-Mart stocking up on bottled water and canned food, Monkey and I were there gathering supplies for a few crafts to keep us busy.  Last night while she was sleeping I made Monkey a reversible superhero cape, using this tutorial I found on Pinterest.  It was super simple, and it only took me a couple of hours from start to finish.

Finally seeing her surprise.

She loved the personalized side!

"I'm Batman!"

You'll need:
Two types of fabric of your choosing, each measuring about 1 1/4 yards (I just got plain black cotton since I knew I wanted Batman, but I wasn't sure about the reversible side going into the project.)
Thread to match
Felt for your superhero symbol in appropriate colors (For free templets, click here)
Chalk

Fold one of your pieces of fabric in half, and draw a rough cape-shape.  It should look like this:

You can use a small plate or a bowl to make the neck nice and circular, and I cut mine all the way to the end of the fabric.  If your child is shorter, you can always hem it later.  Cut it out.  Fold your next piece of fabric in half, and use the one you just cut out as a template to make sure they are the same size.  Make your superhero emblems.  You can either free hand them like I did or you can go here for a tutorial and printables.  Sew one symbol on each half of the cape, making sure to line each up in the middle of the fabric.  Once the symbols are sewn in place, lay out one of the capes with the symbol facing up.  Lay the other one on top with the symbol facing down.  Pin them together, leaving the bottom unpinned, and then sew all along the edges, except for the bottom edge.  Turn the cape right side out, and hem along the bottom once you've tried it on your child to get the length right.  You can either tie the cape, or you can add velcro or buttons to it to fasten.  Because mine was a little big on Monkey, I left it to be tied.

   She was so excited when she came downstairs to find it waiting for her.  She promptly put it on and dubbed herself "Super Bat Girl".  After that we made Green Eggs and Ham from her Paula Deen Cookbook she got for Christmas.  She loves that cookbook, and it has really simple and fun recipes for kids.

Even superheroes get hungry!

Paula Deen's Green Eggs and Ham
from Paula's My First Cookbook

3 eggs
1/4 cup minced ham
1 drop blue food coloring
Salt and Pepper to taste

   Have your little one crack the eggs into a medium sized bowl, and then let them whisk the eggs until well blended.  Add one drop of food coloring.  Add the salt and pepper as desired.  Have your little one stir the eggs again.  (Depending on their age you may have to take over here.)  Cook the minced ham over medium heat in a medium skillet for about 3 minutes.  Pour eggs mixture on top.  Scramble until cooked through.  This makes just enough for two people.

   After breakfast, Monkey planted Pink Cosmos and Forget-Me-Nots in her little greenhouse containers I found at Walmart for $1.00 a piece.  Freezing or not, I have a feeling the little seeds will be just fine in my warm house, sitting up my window that provides sunlight for more than 8 hours a day.  That's one good thing about the south, you can count on it getting warm again rather quickly no matter how cold it gets.

   Next we made bird feeders to put outside tomorrow after all the rain/sleet/snow has passed.  I remember making these as a kid myself.  You simply cover a pinecone in peanut butter and then roll it in bird seeds.  Add a string, and you can hang it from a tree near a window where you can watch for birds.  Monkey thought it was so cool that we were going to feed the birds.

I love the look on her face in this one, because she hates peanut butter.  She couldn't understand why the birds would eat the seeds if they had peanut butter on them.

Ta-Da!

    Now I better get off of here to make sure Monkey's really cleaning her room like she's supposed to.  I'm not holding my breath.  Before I go, let me share something I saw on Facebook that's rather fitting:

Winter in the South