Cars Party!

Hard to believe, but our little man turned 5 this weekend! He's been so excited for his party that he had been counting down the days for the past month. To make it easier in showing him how many days were left we made a paper chain and each night before bed he would tear off one of the loops.

I asked him what kind of party he wanted and without hesitation the answer was Cars. So Cars it was! I went on Pinterest for ideas and found a couple easy cakes and we started planning. Here's what we came up with...

Excited to help Daddy build his new present!

I made each of the kids a 'driver's license' to include in the treat bags

It was a fun party! A few guests couldn't make it so we had a total of six kids, including ours. But it turned out to be the perfect sized group (and I'm sure they made enough noise to make up for the ones who couldn't make it!)  ;)  For the kids we had a late lunch of finger foods/snacks and cupcakes.

After our first little guests left we had about 15 minutes before Kyle's family arrived for our second party. More snacks, followed by a pizza dinner and cake & ice cream! Sooo much food! I feel like I won't need to eat for the next three days. :/

It was great that both our friends and family were able to make it to celebrate with us! Thankful for such wonderful  friends/family who show so much love to our children.  :)

Easy Watercolor Painting

After watching me make a project using stencils and paint, Parker has been asking to paint, too.  It's been a little chilly though, for finger painting outside so I wanted something non-messy they could make at the table.

I saw a cool idea for kids' watercolor painting but we didn't actually have watercolors. However, when I took time to read through the directions, the author said she used water with a few drops of food coloring mixed in. Food coloring is something I had plenty of!

All we needed was watercolor paper, a white crayon, an ice cube tray filled with water  (and a few drops of coloring in each hole) and paint brushes.

I sat the kids down and put a towel in front of each of them to catch the drips from the papers. I have no idea how one little person can spill so much water from a single ice cube tray, but Elise's towel was soaked right through when she was done.

Anyway, I cut the paper into small pieces and used the white crayon to draw hearts on some, the kids' names on a couple, and then I tried to write out a couple Bible verses they've been learning on the last two. They couldn't see the crayon shapes, but when they dipped their brushes into the 'paint' and started coloring the paper the hearts and letters magically appeared--so fun! Parker was excited to see what was on his papers. Elise went through her papers quickly and then was happy to just keep dipping her brush into the water until every hole on her side had turned a nice, murky brown.  :)

Afterwards we left them on the towels to dry for a while. The yellow paint dried really light and made it hard to read all the words, but the other colors turned out pretty well!

The kids were excited about their paintings and Parker started pulling out a few to send to Grandpa and Grandma. Such an easy way for them to make art! Not much to prep or clean up, either... we'll definitely be trying this again!

Christmas Gifts

I remember thinking last September that I should post something because it had been awhile. I thought that again in November... and December...
So here we are in January and I'm finally getting back to it! We've had such a busy Fall and holiday season that I'm not really sure where to start!

It seemed like Christmas came and went really fast this year. I had a list of projects in mind I wanted to make--crafts with the kids, gifts, Christmas baking for friends, etc. but I didn't get around to all of it. I decided instead to just focus on Elise's Christmas gift and a few homemade items for Kyle's sisters and Mom.

Elise doesn't care for dolls but she treats her little stuffed penguin like a baby the way she carries it around and gives it a bottle. I even found her taking it potty one day! I decided she needed a diaper bag to help her take care of 'Waddle.' I had plenty of fabric and I used my own pattern--the same one I made for our friend a couple years ago.

Like the first bag, I made this one complete with a changing pad, wipes and a sippy cup/bottle.

But my favorite part was the diapers! I borrowed her toy and made three tiny flannel diapers to fit her penguin. Aren't they great?!  :)

 Along with her diaper bag I picked up a pink doll stroller. She LOVED the gifts! Definitely worth the time spent making it! Makes me smile to see her crazily pushing her stroller all over the house and changing Waddle's diaper.

For Kyle's sisters and Mom I tried something new--homemade soap and sugar scrubs. And they turned out great! One sister loves coffee so I made her a cinnamon hazelnut coffee scrub and soap. For the others I made orange creamsicle which actually smelled just like the ice cream. Yummy! Along with the soap and scrubs I made rice-filled heat packs, knitted scarves and big jars of chai tea mix--all things to keep you cozy! Everything was well received and I enjoyed making it so next year maybe I'll do something similar. I love homemade gifts. But I'll plan to start a little earlier, though... I think I started making all these things December 10.  :/  I actually finished knitting one of the scarves Christmas morning as we were driving to his sister's house. I tied the ribbon around it and put it in the gift bag about 4 minutes before we pulled up to their house. How's that for timing?!

It was a fun Christmas, spent with all of Kyle's local family. A day of visiting, playing games and eating waaayy too much food! But it all made for a wonderful end to a very busy year!

(Please excuse the blueberry-stained smiles!)   :)