Craft Kits

I stopped at Dollar Tree last week to pick up a couple things and I found some great little craft kits! They're super easy to put together but for Parker's age and attention span they're perfect. One kit was paper plate animals and the other was foam dinosaur magnets. Each kit made three animals.

We did the paper plate ones first. We didn't have any glue here so I tried double-stick tape and it worked great (and was mess free!). All Parker had to do was attach the eyes, ears and nose to the already prepared plate. It only took about 10 minutes to put all of them together. Pretty cute, right?  :)

He made a mouse, too.

And he said I could make the cat!
He was so excited about them and showed Kyle later that evening. Parker politely told me that I did a very good job on the cat. And that he did a very good job on his, as well.  :)




We were going to make the dinosaur magnets yesterday but I forgot we were out of glue...not sure tape would work so well with foam. I had to go to Target today anyway, so I picked up a bottle of glue and as soon as Elise went down for her nap we got out our supplies. He chose to make the green and yellow ones and said I could make the blue one. I left off the magnets, though. If he stuck them on the fridge I would be worried about Elise grabbing and eating them, so I'll just hang them up on the wall with his other projects.

 I put small dabs of glue on the pieces and let him attach them. I left the package out so he could see how the dinosaurs were supposed to look. I think his turned out cuter, though!

I love making art projects with him! Kits like this make it so easy--all the pieces are included, it only takes a few minutes to put together, and it only cost a dollar to make all three! My favorite thing, though, is seeing how proud he is of what he makes. I've been hanging his artwork on our kitchen wall so he can see it and show Kyle after work.

Vacation!!

It's vacation time!! Kyle didn't take any time off last summer and realized he's been getting a little burned out from work. He took this week off so we could relax and spend time together as a family. We talked about going on a road trip but he drives so much for work that we finally planned a stay-cation instead. 

We bought a membership to the San Francisco zoo this spring so we started the week off with a trip to the zoo! Kyle and I love going there and walking around and Parker thoroughly enjoys running around saying hello to the animals and throwing pennies in the fountain. It was the perfect day--we got some exercise and the kids were worn out after a few hours! 

Wednesday we went out to Gilroy Gardens. We hadn't been there before but we kept hearing it was great for toddlers. It totally is! It's a little amusement park made for young kids. Parker could go on almost everything--there were only a couple rides he was too small for. One of us had to ride with him on some of them, which was fun for us, too!  :) Poor little Elise does so well sitting in her stroller all day. I was going to take her on a ride before we left but she fell asleep so she missed out this time.

Tomorrow I think we're headed to Monterey to see the aquarium. The last time we went was before Parker was born so it'll be nice to go back and show it to him now. He loves looking at fish and weird things, so this should be pretty exciting for him. 

It's been great having Kyle home all week! He's been work really hard and has had some long days this  summer. He definitely needed the rest. ....although I'm not sure how much rest he's getting, going out with us every day!