A Little Fun at Home

The last month or so has been literally a marathon, or at least that is how it feels. I don't remember ever being this busy and I know it isn't going to get any better as Wyatt gets older and with a baby soon to be here. As busy as it has been, we still make sure we take time for fun. One of Wyatt's favorite things to do lately is play games. I know why too, he ALWAYS wins!

He is the Candy Land King and there is no match for him at Matching. He also loves Go Fish. One of the latest games he just got, Richard Scarry's Busytown Eye Found It, has become a new favorite too! I don't know how it happens, but he always wins. Once and a while Nick or I can pull out a win, but not too often.



{No match for him!}

 


{Love this kid!}





{ Candy Land King}



We tried something fun the other day with baking soda and vinegar. Wyatt loved it! I got a glass pie plate and covered the bottom with baking soda. I filled a few cups with vinegar and added food coloring. Then using a medicine dropper he was able to create a bubbly work of art! So much fun!



{Bubbly Fun!}





{He would have done this all day!}





We have been doing a lot of painting too. He painted his Thank You cards for his Birthday Party. It took all week to do, he could only do a few at a time and that was fine. He created some outstanding pieces! I don't think I could throw paint together like that and get such vibrant and cool brush strokes as he!

As you can see it takes great concentration and use of tongue to creat such masterful pieces! I find he does this a lot when he paints! {I just realized he is wearing the same shirt in those pictures. These were all done on different days. As you can see he loves his Superhero T-shirts!}

Did I mention we finished Charlotte's Web and we are almost all the way through The Mouse and the Motorcycle!? It is crazy how fast Wyatt is growing up. He can snap and zip his pants all by himself now, he can unbotton his clothes and put his socks on too!

He is all about being a boy. "Daddy and I are boys," is something I hear constantlly. As well as, "Daddy and I will do _____  because we are boys." His "boys" sounds almost like "Boyas"  as he puts a little more emphasis on that word.

His manners are out of this world. Very seldom will he miss saying his pleases and thank-yous, but he will also go much further and thank you for things you wouldn't think a young four year old would think of. Yesterday he tells Nana and Papa, "Thank you for dinner. Thank you for taking me to the park. Thank you, Papa, for taking me down the dark slide." He is so sweet, and tells me I am "beautiful" and will say that he loved my "recipe."

I am looking forward to tomorrow since it should be a fairly nice day. If it works out, Wyatt is going to help me plant some flowers. He is very excited because he just purchased a watering can with some of his birthday money. It was only $1, but it made his day. Love how the simpliest things make him so happy!

My New Compost Bin

Today was a busy day and I am finally taking a break. I have been going nonstop since 6:30AM this morning! It all started with breakfast and a little coffee, then between making a egg dish for this mornings MOPs meeting I showered and dressed. I had to stop at Office Max on the way to our meeting, then after had to go to Walmart {Wyatt had birthday money burning  a hole in his pocket} and the Library. After getting home I cleaned up my mess in the kitchen  that I created earlier, made Wyatt lunch, and packaged the hamburger I got on sale and clearance at Glens yesterday. Finally after all that I was able to get to the tasks I wanted to.

One was my new indoor composting bin. I was using a old plastic storage container on the counter and found it too small and ugly to look at. So for about $10 I bought a small gallon and a half stainless steel step bin to use instead. I have to say I already LOVE it! It looks way better and will be a lot easier to dispose of out side when the time comes.



{Counter Top Compost Bin}

It sits nicely on top of the counter and hides the unsightly scraps. The only problem I for see is the lid will not stay up on its own after it is lifted. Which would be handy for throwing large amounts of compost material inside. 



Upcycled Cabinet

Well, last fall my dad gave me this cabinet that he had in his garage for nearly 30 years. Not sure what I would do with it, but didn't want to see it get thrown out, I rescued it and gave it shelter in our basement. We just used it for storage.

Then I got a bug up my behind and decided to do something different with it. {I go through spurts where I feel claustrophobic in our little house on the hill and need to do something about it.} I had a bookcase I found at a garage sale a few years ago and decided that I would refinish the cabinet and then attach the bookcase to the top and have...{drum roll}... more storage!

Living in a garage for almost 30 years tends to take a toll on things, especially when they are used to store things like oil and miscellaneous car parts. So, needless to say, it was a little rough.

With a little elbow grease I was able to wash and sand the stains down enough they covered well. I put on a coat of Killz to keep the stains from bleeding through. The inside of the cabinet I painted a cheery yellow. {For some reason I am loving yellow lately.}

I had to take a couple weeks off working on it due to the weather, it got cold again. But I was able to finish and gave it a new home in our living room by our fireplace. I was able to get rid of a generic DVD cabinet and boat book shelf and still had enough extra to store some of Wyatt's puzzles, paints, and play-doh!



I don't know if you can tell by the picture, but yes, the book case is upside down. I did that on purpose. If I would have put the book case the right way, there wouldn't be enough space between the bottom shelf and the cabinet.

I am happy with how it turned out. Looks WAY better than before!

Kool-Aid Play-Doh

For my sons 4th Birthday I put together favors that included a Kool-Aid Play-Doh recipe with all the dry fixings. It is very easy to make!

1 C. Boiling Water

1 T. Cooking Oil

1/4 C. Salt

3/4 C. Flour

1 Packet of Kool-Aid

1 t. Cream of Tarter

 

Stir in water, oil, and salt until dissolved.

Stir in flour, Kool-Aid, and cream of tarter

Add flour as needed if too sticky

Store in air tight container or ziploc bag





Hope you enjoy!

Ice Cream Social Birthday Party

It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks, but I think things should start slowing down soon. We had Wyatt's big "Birthday Bash" today and had a great time catching up with family and friends. I think it is safe to say Wyatt had a fantastic time!

This year we decided to do an Ice Cream Social. Who doesn't like ice cream? I know I do! I found the perfect cups for the ice cream on Etsy from a shop called PaperTreats. They were a little smaller than I hoped for, but perfect for kids.

{www.etsy.com/shop/papertreats}

Of course we had to have toppings to go with our ice cream, so toppings we had!

We had crushed Kit Kat Bars, Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, Mint Cookies, Oreos, and Graham Crackers. We also had M & M Mini's, Mini Chocolate Chips, Sprinkles, Peanuts, Strawberry Coulis, and homemade Chocolate Syrup. I think that about covers it!

Then going with the "ice cream" theme we had Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!

Of course a party isn't complete without punch. I did one can of frozen fruit juice with three cans water, one 2-liter of Ginger Ale, and Raspberry Sherbert. I cut up lemons and limes into slices put in a muffin tin and covered with a little water to freeze for my ice. I found some very cool straws at Hobby Lobby my last visit and thought that the kids would get a kick out of them. They got to take them home too!

All the kids got to leave with favor bags. I found white paper craft bags at Hobby Lobby and painted them for something fun.

Then I included a Kool-Aid play-doh recipe with all the dry fixings...

  ...and a CD of Wyatt's favorite tunes. I made the envelopes out of scrapbook paper.

I even made party hats for the kids using cereal boxes, scrapbook paper and Mod Podge, but I have to admit that effort may have been in vain. The kids weren't all that interested in them.

It was a lot of fun to plan and I am very pleased with how it all turned out. I hope everyone had as good as time as we did! I can't believe we have a four year old already, how time flies!

Wyatt Turns 4!

Well, I can't believe it, but our little man has turned four today! He has been such a blessing to us! He is the most lovable, caring, sweet, and smart little guy! He says the funniest things and yet he is always serious. He is a social butterfly {he did not get that from me} who can strike up a conversation with the greatest of ease. He is a talker, always has something to say. He is so content and happy with everything he has it makes my heart smile.

Today was a great day! We had a doctors appointment earlier in the morning and then came home to get things ready for birthday festivities. As I was busy getting things made up and ready for tomorrow Wyatt and Daddy played some Mario Kart. As you can see, this eats up ALL of Wyatts attention!

{We don't do this often!}


My mom, dad, and my brother came over mid-afternoon to kick everything off. We started with the "Surprise!" {Which happens to have a great story to go along with it!}

{The Surprise}

Long story short: We bought this a couple weeks ago, my parents went in halfsies with us. The guys picked it up yesterday late morning. They brought it here and set it up. After I got home from "distracting" Wyatt and took a peak, I felt that something wasn't quite "right". Not thinking much more about it we ended up going to my parents house for a relaxing fun filled evening. After comparing notes and small details, however, we realized the guys picked up the wrong swing set. Turns out they picked up the neighbors who weren't home at the time.

SO, they had to go back to our house, take it apart, take it back to the rightful owners, then go next door to get the "right" one, take that apart, and then brought it to our house where they finished assembling approximately 9pm last night!

As bad as I felt for them to have to do all of that work, I have to admit it was hilarious! Nick still has yet to see the humor, but really, what are the odds of that happening!?

Anyways, Wyatt had no clue what we were up to despite numerous slips of the tongue. We were referring to the swing set as the "thing" until last night where we said pretty much every word you can think of involving a  swing set! As observant to details as he is he never put two and two together! Whew!

He had the best look of surprise on his face! Priceless! He was in the clouds I think!



{The unveiling!}








{Checking out the inside}



 



{The happiest boy in the world!}







{King of the Castle}







{Us}



 

We then had dinner. Wyatt wanted spaghetti so luckily for me we still had leftovers in the fridge. The rest of us had steaks on the grill. During dinner Wyatt goes, out of the blue, "This is the best birthday ever!" What a great kid!