Suncatchers - Part 2

Last time I went to Joann's I was waiting in line to pay and saw more suncatcher kits in the dollar section. Parker liked the making the stars so much I went ahead and picked up a few more. These ones were made differently, though. Rather than painting the image, we would fill the small frame with tiny, colored plastic pellets and then bake it.

There weren't many images to choose from, so Parker picked out a monkey and a lion. We got a second lion for Kyle, in case he had some free time to play with us.

When Elise went down for her nap one afternoon last week, I got out the kits. I lined a cookie sheet with foil, set the frames on top and then we began filling them in. Parker started with the monkey while I made a lion. Kyle wasn't feeling well so I opened the third kit for Parker and he was happy to make that one, too.

He was very focused on filling the little sections....sometimes a little too focused on certain areas and I had to remind him to fill in the entire thing or parts of it would stay empty. So he kept adding more and more plastic pellets. And then some more, until his poor little monkey looked more like a mini mountain--all heaped up in the middle. I didn't have the heart to tell him it was too much, so I just hoped that it would all melt and even out in the oven. And it did!  :)

They had to bake for about 20 minutes. Another couple minutes to cool and then they were ready to come off the pan. They turned out great!  I hung them in the window next to our stars and called Parker out to see them. He was super excited to see more of his art hung up!

These are the best art kits for a toddler! They're cheap but include everything you need and they don't require any prep or cleanup. So I get to spend time with Parker making projects that he loves and is so proud of, but I don't have to worry about a big mess later. What more could a mom want?!  :)

Parker's Puppy Party!

Parker's Puppy Party--try saying THAT five times as fast as you can!  :)

But it happened. Our little man turned three and had a puppy party!

His actual birthday fell on a Thursday this year. Kyle took the day off work so we could spend time as a family and have a personal celebration before the party.
Over the past  month or so Parker has really taken to a little foam bowling set we had around. Because of this new bowling obsession we thought it would be great to take him to a real bowling alley.  So we started off his day by going bowling. He was SO excited! We had bumpers put up and asked for a ramp to make it easy for him. After pushing the ball down, he would grab onto the ramp and jump up and down laughing. It was so cute seeing his excitement in trying something new. And he's the perfect bowling companion. Because no matter now bad our own throws were, he would clap and shout heartily, "Good job Mommy! (or Daddy). The highlight, though, was Parker getting his first strike! It's all he's been talking about for the last four days. 

Next we headed over to the SF zoo. We've been there several times over the summer but it never gets old. It's somehow relaxing to wander around and watch the animals. One of my favorite spots is the hippo exhibit. Not because I particularly love hippos, but because it's always sleeping when we go, so it promps Parker to shout, "Wake up, hippo!" And if we ask what a hippo says, Parker replies, "Haha haha ha!" (it's a sound his hippo flashlight makes, so now he thinks real ones make a goofy laughing sound as well). At some point, yes, we will correct his animal sounds. But for now, well.....it's hilarious.  :)

Anyway....

We planned his birthday party for late Saturday morning. We started the festivities with two of Parker's favorites for lunch--cheese pizza and cheetos. Healthy? Nope. But it's a party, right?!  :)

After lunch the kids played for a little while. And then we brought out the box. The kids were crowding around asking what was inside. 

It was time for the much-anticipated puppy adoption! 

Not to worry--no real puppies were adopted. ;) 

Parker has a thing for puppies/dogs. Early this year we were in Walgreens and we happened to see a small stuffed dog in the toy aisle. He asked if he could have it and since it was only a couple dollars I said sure. And that's how it started. He carried that dog around with him every day and night for months. He got a second one later on and then he carried them both around. Since then he's acquired a couple more and loves them just as much. So when he picked out a puppy cake for his birthday, I knew  exactly what we'd do for his party--a puppy adoption! He and all his little friends could pick out a small stuffed dog to take home with them. I saw it first on pinterest and thought it was the cutest thing ever! 

We had lots of boxes around so I grabbed a big flat one and cut off three of the flaps. The only newspaper we had was a small flyer, but it worked fine (disregard the puppy in the corner. He had a little accident). As for supplies, I bought a yard of paw-print fleece at Joanns and cut it into small squares for blankets. And I found a set of paw-print bracelets at Oriental Trading that were perfect for collars. I waited until they had free shipping and they ended up being pretty cheap. Once I got them, I had to shorten them slightly to fit around the dogs, but it was nothing a pair of scissors and a glue gun couldn't handle. And finally, I had some doctor/vet supplies. I wasn't going to get those, as the only ones I found at the toy store were a little expensive and I wasn't sure if they would be played with after the party. But, as luck would have it, I was at Target a couple days before the party and I found small doctor kits in the dollar section. Yay! 

I opened the box and laid out the supplies next to it. Starting with Parker, we let all the kids go through and pick out a puppy, a blanket and a collar. 

Then they took it over to Daddy, who was the in-house vet that day, for a check up to make sure their new pet was healthy. Turns out Parker had to give his puppy some medicine...

He loved it! A couple of the kids weren't sure they wanted a dog, but once they saw the others having fun picking one out, they quickly came over and wanted to join in. Here are the happy new pet-owners! 

Last on the agenda was dessert! I had found some fun dog-themed ideas online. Although it was overkill for the number of guests we had I went ahead and set everything out anyway. 

Dollar Tree had these huge dog bowls that were just the right size to hold snacks. We had:

Puppy Chow

Doggie Biscuits (iced cookies)

Doggie Treats (Scooby graham cracker bones)

Rawhide (Pirouette wafer cookies)

Fetch Sticks (pretzel rods)

And of course, the cake! I decorated it on Friday while Parker was napping. When he wandered out later I lifted him up so he could see it. He looked at it for a minute, then gave the biggest smile! Makes me so happy to make him happy. :)

Seeing how excited he was about his party and all his friends coming over made today the perfect day. While I was changing him into his pj's later I asked Parker what was his favorite part of the party? 

His answer? The puppies!

Cookies

I set Elise's quiet book aside last week to make a few other little projects--97 to be exact!
96 of them were cookies.
:)



A friend was planning a bridal shower and asked if I'd be interested in taking an order for decorated cookies. I said sure, not really knowing what she wanted. We looked at a few different designs and finally decided to do her original idea of using an edible wafer paper graphic on the cookies, something I've never tried before. The wafer paper looked like a regular sheet of paper (made of potato starch, so a little different texture) that had to be cut into the individual 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' prints.



I love that we made the cookies square! Much more fun than your typical round sugar cookie, right?!

First the cookies were outlined and covered in royal icing.



Once dry, I brushed the back of the wafer paper with corn syrup and stuck the words onto the cookies.



Added edible glitter, a few black swirls on top and some pearl sprinkles and they were done! Aren't they cute?

This is how they were packaged later to put on the tables. I heard they were a hit at the shower--so happy everyone liked them!

And I've decided that wafer paper is not my favorite thing to work with. Although I'm all for making big sticky messes every so often, corn syrup is not the easiest thing to just "brush onto" a piece of paper. But that's okay... when it comes to baking / decorating I like trying new things.  :)

And the other project I made last weekend was this!

It had been a few months since I've been to a sewing class so I signed up to make this cute little bucket. I was planning to make a small one, just big enough to hold Elise's hair bows. I'm not really loving the ziploc bag they're in at the moment. But when I got to the class, the teacher AND another worker there informed me that they prefer we make a bigger size, as the smaller one is hard to maneuver around. Umm...okay. Would have been useful information BEFORE I got to the class. I think it was just a scheme to make us buy more supplies, since the fabric I was going to use was not big enough for the new pattern. :)
So I quickly found and bought some fabric, then had to spend the first hour of class time cutting out the new pieces. The sample one had cute little handles on the sides, but because I was already short on time I skipped that part and just made the basic bucket. Maybe I'll add some handles on later. Or maybe not.

I don't actually know what I'll use it for. It's way too big for hair bows, obviously. At the rate she's growing hair it would take years to fill it. Maybe it'll work for her hats? Or shoes? I'm not really sure what one does with a large fabric bucket.

And that was my weekend. I think that's the most productive I've been in a long time! But I'm glad it's over for now and I can get back to Elise's birthday gift. Hopefully I'll have pictures soon!

Birthday Planning!

With the kids' birthdays coming up, I have lots to keep me busy the next few weeks! This is the first year Parker understands what a birthday is (somewhat, anyway) so I wanted to let him help out. I showed him some cakes of various things--animals, cars, trains, etc. and asked him what kind of cake he wanted. At first he said yes to all of them, so it took a few minutes to help him understand that he only gets to choose one. But once he got that it didn't take him long to pick one out. Keeping with the cake theme, he and I picked up a few things for goody bags, and we baked a batch of cookies yesterday and put them in the freezer. I tried to get an early start this year so I'm not running a bunch of errands the day before the party. All that's left for his party is to get the food for lunch that day, a few balloons/decorations, and make the cake. I'll leave all the fun little details for later when I can post pictures of the party!  :)

I have an idea of what I want to make for Elise's cake, too. I've been pinning a bunch of pictures, so now I just have to sit down and pull things from different sites to make it just right. Hard to believe our baby girl will be one in just a couple months--where did this year go?! 

I had wanted to make her a quiet book for her first Christmas, as I did for Parker, but with a newborn AND a toddler this time around, that didn't happen. After she was born I still considered trying to make it for Christmas. And then I laughed that I would even consider such a thing. :)

So....it will have to be for her 1st birthday instead. And you know what? She will never know the difference! My goal was to work on it over the summer and have it finished by now. Ha! Haha! Yeah.... I finally found and ironed the fabric for it last week.  

At first I thought I'd use the same pattern as Parker's but that's boring, right? I might use one or two of the same pages. But I went on Etsy and Pinterest and looked at a lot of quiet book pages and patterns and I think I found enough different page ideas that can fill the book. The downside is that because the pages I found were from so many random sites, I'll have to make up patterns as I go along. It may take a bit longer since I'll have to draw them out first, but Elise will end up with a one-of-a-kind book! I went ahead and cut out the cover and the pages so I'm ready to start putting the pictures on them. Will post pics later of the finished book!

The Good and the Bad

This week started out with the best day ever!!
Why was it the best day ever?
Because we found a home for our dog, Dodger!!!!!

We've been trying to find Dodger a new home for a year now and we finally found someone who wanted him. Actually, my sister-in-law found his new home. So she is now (and quite possibly permanently) my favorite sister.  :) So as of Sunday, September 1st, we are Dodger-free! Although he was hilarious in his little hat, I can't say I'm sad to see him go.


This week we also made a little change with the kids' sleeping arrangements. For the past couple months Elise has been waking up at night. It started out with once a night, then turned into two or three times and the only way to get her back to sleep was to feed her. It was getting a little ridiculous. It felt like we had a newborn again and neither her nor I were getting much sleep. But I couldn't blame her, though. She was going through a lot of changes and I'm sure it was affecting her once good sleeping habits. To start with, she had been sleeping in a bouncy chair and was starting to outgrow it and couldn't get comfortable. Because of that we were making her sleep in a crib that she wasn't used to. Add to that her getting ready to crawl and the fact that she was still sleeping in our room and could see and hear us, and I suppose that's a bad combination for any baby to sleep well.
So we had to make some changes. First we had to sleep train her again so she could put herself  back to sleep at night. Thankfully, we only had to sit through a couple nights of her crying/screaming before she figured it out. To make it easier, we moved her into Parker's room and let him sleep in our room for a while.  After a week or so of her sleeping through consistently, we (mostly I) decided it was time for Parker to move back into his bed so we could finally have our own room back.

It's one of those things where you never know how it's going to go.

Well, the first night went surprisingly well! Parker went to bed a little while after Elise, so she was already asleep. Thankfully he was quiet and they both slept through the night...until Elise woke up around 6 am. I got her back to sleep but Parker was wide awake--an hour and a half before his regular wakeup time. :/
That was a long day. Parker's lack of sleep started showing itself around 12:30 and I couldn't wait for naptime!
Naps have been a little harder. Because they go to bed awake and the room is light, they can see each other and they end up sitting there talking and making noises rather than sleeping. Guess they'll need a little time to get used to being in there together. But thankfully they've been doing well at night, which is a huge relief.

The bad that happened this week was Elise getting chicken pox! Poor baby. She woke up from her nap on Wednesday with the most red, tired little eyes I've ever seen. She looked like she hadn't slept in two days. When I picked her up to hold her I felt a couple bumps on the back of her head. I thought they must be bug bites but when I looked more closely, I noticed several more bumps/spots around her head and face. We still weren't sure it was anything... I told Kyle I had given her a new food for lunch and he wondered if it was just a little rash from that. But later on it seemed like she was breaking out even more and some of the bumps were really big so I took her to urgent care. In the back of my mind I kept thinking it looked like chicken pox but I didn't think we had been around anyone sick. We had to wait over an hour to see a doctor, but they confirmed my suspicion and chicken pox it is. She's been breaking out more the last couple days--I hate seeing her sweet little face covered in those awful red bumps. On the bright side, I guess she won't need the chicken pox vaccine shot she was supposed to get in two months.  : /

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!