Summer Fun List: Driveway Paint

Remember when I posted about our SUMMER FUN LIST?  And I debated about taking photos at each event to document here?  

Well, I decided to try to do that. Of course, I missed a few like our campout with the neighbor kids and our trip to the local Japanese steakhouse, but maybe I'll do better from here on out. 

While my sister and her kiddos were here, we decided to try DRIVEWAY PAINT from THIS a-MAZ-ing blog that I wish I had known about four years ago! It has the coolest ideas for preschoolers to explore through play. I'd love to use some of the great early childhood philosophies about play and learning to benefit my children, but mostly I think it just looks like fun!

I bought cheap-o paintbrushes from Wal-Mart, but I've learned since from a friend that the sponge brushes work better. That's Free Tip #1. 

The "recipe" is equal parts water and corn starch with food dye to make the colors. I didn't exactly measure my water (it was equal-ish) so I thought mine was too runny and the colors weren't as bright as I would have liked them. Free tip #2: Use lots and lots of corn starch and add water sparingly. I think it supposed to be the consistency of tempra paint (maybe even thicker) and the water thins it out super-quick. 

I was a little worried about using the food dye, too. I thought it might stain so I went kind of easy on it. Free tip #3: Don't do that. Use a lot of food dye. I used the gel food dyes left over from Phoebe's ART PARTY. The kind you find in the cake decorating section of Hobby Lobby. 

Despite the paint consistency issues, the "painters" loved it. 

They even worked together to make a "masterpiece". 

As you can imagine, it's pretty messy. I was worried about the stains on clothes and on the driveway, but it washed right out of all the clothes and the next rain we had washed the paint away.  We stuck their clothes in the wash right after this so I'm not sure what would happen if we used more food dye and then let the clothes sit for awhile. 

Next time we're using balloons! 

Hello?

I know. I know.

Y'all thought I had given up blogging, right?

Well, I haven't.

Not intentionally, anyway. It seems the last two weeks have been cRaZy!  And I know the summer days just fly by, but I felt abnormally rushed and frantic the last little bit. So much has happened (and I've taken sooooo many photos) that blogging about them seems a tad overwhelming. 

Of course there were a few, still moments over the last few weeks, but I chose to spend them doing productive other things.  Like eating fruit loops and watching the last season of Teen Mom with my sister.  And taking a nap in the car on our drive to Dallas instead of editing photos. Or playing with my nieces and nephews at the pool. 

But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or rather, the long, lazy days of summer at the end of a jam-packed, fun-filled tunnel.  All of our *big* activities of the summer (minus our family vacation in July) fell in the last three weeks.  I'm looking forward to just having summer...and catching up on this little blog o'mine.

That is, if I still have any readers left. 

Anyone?

Hello?

Show and Tell: A "Not Pink" Baby Girl Quilt

I have been on a tour of Texas since last Thursday morning and it's going to take me few days to edit the 945 photos I took at the 3 events I attended and find my house under the pile of laundry and all the stuff I have left to unpack before I'm on a good blogging schedule again. (Why does it always seem like you bring home so much more laundry and "stuff" than you left with in the first place?!)

In the meantime, I'm sharing with you the baby quilt I made last week for a friend who's having a baby girl pretty soon. (Getting this finished was one of the reasons I didn't blog last week!) 

While my friend is having a girl, she doesn't really like the color pink. It seems a travesty, does it not? Having a baby girl and not embracing the perfection of pinkness just doesn't seem right.  It's one of the main reasons it's fun to have a baby girl! 

But I digress. I wanted to make my friend a baby quilt and I wanted her to really love it so I put aside all the yummy pink fabric I have in my stash (and let me tell you, I've got some doozies!) and spent a little time in the blue and red retro prints I seem to collect. 

It turned out lovely and still looks "girly" despite the lack of pink. 

This quilt is super easy (as if you couldn't tell from all the big squares) and I haven't messed with this pattern any since I made my first baby quilt about 7 years ago.

These quilts are all about the fabric.

It's loosely based on the quilt my mom made for Eli, with a few changes. I always back mine in chenille because I love the vintage look it gives these new quilts. I even missed having this ready for her shower because I was waiting on JOANN'S to get more cream chenille back in stock. And, honestly, they never did. I used another fluffy fabric and it turned out better than I had anticipated. 

I guess "not pink" isn't all that bad after all when it comes to baby girl quilts.  But I haven't jumped on the purple bandwagon yet as the alternative to pink. That color still alienates me a little. 

Our Summer Fun List

The kids and I sat down last week and wrote out our "Summer Fun Listt". I found a free printable HERE and framed it up last summer. I used the blue one as you can see in this bad photo. I should have waited until tomorrow to take the photo, but I'm too impatient.

Here's our list (since it's too hard to read). I've already crossed out the ones we've completed:

* go swimming

* go to a baseball game

* have a sleepover

* fly on a plane

* eat at Kabuki

* water balloon fight

* make a sculpture

* see the Statue of Liberty

* sleep in a tent

* paint some letters

* make a sandcastle

* Cadillac Ranch

* hike in Palo Duro Canyon

* VBS

* go to the zoo

* visit a water park

* Cheer Texas

* see a show on Broadway

* go to the drive-in movie

* ding dong ditch (using THIS fun printable)

* swim at WT

* go to an amusement park

* eat pretzels on the boardwalk

* read a novel

* bake a pie

* eat s'mores

* driveway paint (found HERE and HERE and HERE)

* summer snowflakes

* Family Camp

* glow-in-the-dark balloons (found HERE)

* eat a giant burger

* play mini-golf

On a side note, you have got to check out THIS blog! It has *the best* ideas! I wish I had found it when my kiddos were younger because so much of it is geared toward pre-schoolers. There's a lot I can use even now, though. Really. You should check it out. 

This list was a joint effort. Eli and Phoebe thought of some of them and I steered the conversation for others. Mostly just to fill up my frame. We'll get so some of these on our vacation, but there's a good number of hometown activities, too. I'm debating on whether to think of a few more activities or re-write the whole thing in bigger "font" to fill it up. The fact that it isn't full to the bottom is driving the OCD part of me insane! I decided today that I should have been taking a photo of everything we've accomplished so I could post them. Maybe I'll start from here on out. 

What are you up to this summer?

Shark Attack! Eli's 9th Birthday Party

Due to the sheer craziness of our June, we decided to have Eli's birthday party the Saturday before Memorial Day, which was also the day after school let out for summer. It seems kind of weird to have his party already done with, but it's also kind of nice in a way, too. 

I decided to do it easy-peasy this time, too.  I bought a party pack from THIS etsy shop. I was kind of in a hurry since I decided to do his party kind of last minute. This seemed like the way to go since it was all ready and had much of the "extras" I thought I wanted for his party. The shop owner was very easy to work with and made some great changes, but I probably wouldn't purchase a pack again because it was a little pricey to print and I didn't end up using all the different "extras". However, I loved the Shark Attack theme and it gave Eli's party an actual "theme" instead of just come on over and play in the water!

My plan was to have all kinds of water activities in the backyard so I borrowed one of those big, inflatable water slides from a friend and that was our only big activity. Except for a water balloon fight. Eli was insistent on a water balloon fight. I told him he had to fill up all his own water balloons if he wanted one. So he did. 

He also managed to convince his dad and the youth intern, Matt (who's living with us this summer), to help. He's pretty convincing that way. Or maybe it was because they knew I'd have other jobs for them to do if they weren't "helping" Eli. 

Since the party was in the middle of the afternoon, I just had lots of snacks for the kids to eat whenever they wanted. I had watermelon (which they ate by the buckets!), Sun Chips, colored popcorn, goldfish, pretzels, and water bottles. 

There are cups in the green bucket in the middle. It was super windy. I'm talking constant 30mph wind so the cups needed to be in something to keep them from blowing away. And all the party decorations had to be taped within an inch of their life. Even the surfboards that I made out of foam board. I'm pretty proud of them. It was just foam board that I cut out in the shape of a cardboard and duct tape for the stripes. If anybody ever needs blue and green foam board surf boards with big shark bites out of them, I've got a couple you can borrow!

Snapped a good photo of Eli and Brad before the party started. 

Eli invited all the boys from his class and some friends with church. We invited some girls, too, so Phoebe would have someone to play with. Like our neighbor, Kaylee. 

The slide was a big hit. 

But mostly the boys just ran around shooting each other with water guns. It was cRaZy! I wish I had told everyone to bring their water guns on the invite because that's what they did the entire time. It was intense. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. 

The girls mostly spent their time trying to stay out of the boys way!

Brad decided to do the water balloon fight right before cupcakes and ice cream. He had them all line up and play relay toss game and then threw balloons at them while they ran around. This worked out great until they ganged up on him and attacked him all at once. 

It was a great way to waste 2 hours of water balloon filling work in about 10 minutes.

I ordered the cupcakes from a local grocery store bakery. They matched the invite really well, but the icing was so dark it turned the kids' mouths a crazy shade of dark blue or green.

The sparkler 9 was a big hit. I just love this photo. :)

Everybody ran around like crazy people a little longer and then they all went home. It was one of the easiest party I've ever planned! :)

Happy (Early) Birthday Eli! 

Phoebe's Pre-K Graduation

A case could be made that graduation from preschool isn't really necessary. The children aren't really graduating from anything. As a society, we celebrate way too many graduations as it is, and the only true graduations should be from high school and college. I get that. 

But Pre-K Graduation is different. I think it's what Kindergarten Graduation used to be. Back in the day, before *everyone* went, graduating from Kindergarten was the big step from little kidhood to big kidhood. (No, those aren't words. My spellcheck is having apoplexy.) The step from long, lazy days of begin a toddler to the structured, learning days of elementary school. That's what Pre-K Graduation is today since everyone now goes to Kindergarten.  It's an important step. Really.

This was my 8th Kid University Pre-K Graduation to attend. Some as a teacher, some as a mom. It's probably my last for a long time. Sigh. Phoebe had been looking forward to it for days. We spent the whole day before talking about how to walk (not too slow; not too fast), practicing the song and the Pledge of Allegiance, discussing where and how everyone was to sit and stand. It was a big deal for her. 

She was so excited to finally put on that tiny, maroon robe. 

And the mortar board cap that was pinned within an inch of its life.

She had time for a quick (and not very good) photo with Mom.

Another with her teachers. These ladies were awesome this year! Phoebe could not have enjoyed it more! She learned so much and I can thank them for making her excited to get up every morning and head off to school. THANK YOU!!

It's a tradition at our preschool to have a processional and Phoebe loved every second!  That girl loves every eye on her and milks it for all it's worth! The lighting in our church auditorium stinks, so all photos from now on won't be very good. That's just fair warning. 

A smile the whole time.

A peek from the front row to make sure that everyone in her daddy was looking at her. 

Phoebe was one of the three chosen to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. And she got to hold the microphone!

Receiving her "diploma". It was actually just a rolled up piece of paper. The real diploma was given to us later at the reception. 

Singing "Our God Is A Great Big God". Such a fun song! She sang it for weeks beforehand. Ms. Michelle had burned from a CD from her previous church and I'm looking for it the original so we can have a copy for the house. It was such a great song. Still looking...

There's a special time of blessing at our Pre-K Graduation. It's a time the parents can come and pray and bless or just say some special words over their child. It's very cool. Eli took the photo, but you get the idea. :)

The whole family at the reception. 

I have no idea why Eli wanted to pose like this, but he did so we went with it.

I like this one better!

Our good friend, Bryan and D'Lynn, came to celebrate with us. They are so dear to us and we were so blessed to share this with them.

Phoebe and her friend, Cade. They will go to different elementary schools next year. *sniff, sniff*

My photo of these three didn't turn out at all, so I stole this from my friend, Rhonda's Facebook page. I'm so sad that Ellie, too, will be going to a different elementary. 

I *heart* this photo! 

We celebrated graduation with dinner at Phoebe's choice of restaurant. Panda Express! She was a little disappointed to learn that she wouldn't be heading off to Kindergarten the next day, but I reminded her we had a whole summer full of fun things we needed to accomplish first. She was ok after that. 

That was Pre-K Graduation. Not necessarily life changing or amazing...I didn't even cry. That happened over CHEESE STICKS. But it was a celebrated milestone. One that marks a significant change in my baby's life.  

"There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in."

- Graham Greene