gotta love the mess

The definition of fingerpaint is an ooey-gooey mess, if you don't get it all the up to your elbows then you are doing it wrong! The delight is certainly not in the outcome, which is almost always a very wet smear of brown all over.

 mmmm...mess.

Marietta Streetfair + a little scooter fun

 People ask me from time to time what it's like going from one to three kids and in the beginning it was rough. We were all making the adjustment... Ian and Jovie were figuring out what family even was and who these crazies were that called themselves "mommy" and "daddy". Mae most certainly had to adjust to sharing her world and well I didn't even know how the heck I was going to even leave the house again. It has almost been 8 months now... and if you are wondering why you see a lot more blog posts it's because you are seeing us finally start to stir from the long hibernation.

I feel myself ... but with even more fun to be had. Truly life with this bunch is a wild adventure (and Cody got me a new camera to help fuel my creative drive and capture our crazy family.)

 Saturday was such a fun day, it feels like fall. I love it when the weather starts cooling off and spending the whole day outside just releases all the stress from the week. Open windows and doors will do a lot for your soul. (:

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After we got home we spent the rest of the evening in the driveway. I got a beer, and folding chair and Cody and I just sat back for some of the best entertainment.

 

Ian is a wild man on the scooter... we watched him get up to crazy speeds and whiz by us; always with the most serious face.  

 

I should have known that Cody would not be able to just sit and watch for long. His middle name is FUN. What would we do without him? 

 It was a perfect day. I remember back when I swore I never wanted kids... yeah, I said that adamantly. I loved being a graphic designer, loved my husband and didn't think there could be anything better. We dreamed of traveling, just the two of us, and talked about how we'd be in Greece while all our friends were home with their children.

Oh how very wrong I was, I wouldn't trade these days for anything in this world. Every day with these my children gives me more pleasure than anything I could have imagined. I'd take being able to sit right here in my driveway with these little ones over travels to Greece any day... God knew best.

Monday Funday :: Paper Mache Tea Cups

 

We used:

• Elmer's glue
• paint brushes
• scissors
• toilet paper rolls
• scraps of paper

What you do:

• Mix together 1/2 elmers glue and 1/2 water make your paste. 
• Paint your paste onto the cardboard or dip your strips of paper into the paste. Mae does not like getting her hands messy, so we painted ours...but part of the fun could be getting messy.
• Continue to cover the cardboard, layering your strips until the whole thing is covered.
• Cut around the edges and let it dry 2-3 hours.

 

To make the tea cups:

• Cut a small part of it off, to make the handle. I cut it and doubled it where it is glued to the mug, creasing it to make a "D".
• Then make 4 slits to fold inward and glue them with a glue gun—this will make the bottom.

To make the tea pot:

• I placed a plastic bag over a glass, that was the size I wanted for the tea pot.
• I began to layer the paper mache over the glass, using at least 3 layers. 
• The handle is from a part of a tiolet paper roll, the same way as the cups. 
• The spout was made by just rolling up the paper after it was dipped it in the paste. 
• I glued everything, once it was dry.

 

Monday Funday :: Kool-Aide Play dough

 

Kool-Aid Play Dough

1 Cup Flour ¼ Cup Salt 1 Packet Kool-Aid

⅔ Cups of Boiling Water *You will be using between ½ and ⅔ cup 1 Tb. Oil

• Mix the flour, the salt, and the Kool-Aid together. 
• Boil the water. 
• Add the oil to the water. 
• Pour some of the water into the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon. 
• Keep adding water and work the dough until the color is uniform and feels like playdough. 

this recipe is awesome and super easy. 

Monday Funday turned into a Tuesday this week since we've been out of town.

Today we made a little homemade Kool-aid play dough. How fun is this??  It is colored with kool-aid and so it smells yummy!  (one of the recipes suggested using 2 packets of kool-aid to get darker colors) Making the dough was so simple and Mae loved helping me. Then she played and played for hours.  As you can see we had a lot of imaginative play with it.  I absolutely love to see what Mae thinks of —her little worms lined up for supper. So funny! What is she going to say or do next??  We have a funny little girl for sure.  (:

Photo Friday

 We celebrated our Independence Day in small town USA, Selma, NC. I have to say, I walked around thinking of how different everything is in a small town... and couldn't help but think it was unlike anywhere I've ever been to, other than in a book I've read.  (: It was fitting to me to be here celebrating our great nation in a part of our nation I've never seen... with our little Chinese daughter that is now an official US Citizen.

 We came to Selma, NC to visit Cody's cousin -- Patrick. (Cody and Pat were so close as kids and haven't been able to see each other at all as adults.)  Pat has his precious daughter, Abby, on his shoulders above.

 For a small town their fireworks were surprisingly great.  This was Mae's first time seeing fireworks and she loved them.  It was so fun to hear Mae describe all the colors she saw... with her hand motions.

Monday Funday :: Snow Dough

 

This is so easy and was hours of fun for Mae.  All you do is mix shaving cream and cornstarch and the result is a fine powdery dough that can be shaped and molded.  It's the fun of snow without the cold! It really didn't stick to our hands but there was quite a lot of snow on the floor around Mae's seat at the end.

You would never guess that little girl has never seen real snow as much as she talks about it.  She is constantly having make-believe snow ball fights, making snow angels on the rug and building snowmen out of nothing. (Did I mention she's very good at imaginative play... and a little obsessed with snow.) So this is the closest she's been to snow, poor thing.

Monday Funday:: Cork Boats

 

 Mae and I made little sail boats out of a few wine corks, some origami paper I had, a glue gun, tooth picks and a penny. These are so simple to make and were a fun activity for us today... since Mae's little pool was filled up. Mae loved to see her miniature boats floating around in her pool.  We tied a string to them so she could pull them around.  A couple times she tugged a little too hard and they turned over... eventually the sails were all wet and that made them unbalanced, so they didn't stay upright anymore.  We just pulled them out to dry for later.  I would like to replace the sails with something that could get wet though... any ideas? I was thinking of a colorful plastic package, maybe some sort of snack bag? I will keep a look out.