heading out

We are going to be at one of our families favorite spots for the three day weekend:

We are praying for great family time and to come back a little more relaxed...

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

welcome to our laboratory

We have had some very warm days in our neck of the woods, so we have been trying little science experiments and art projects that keep us occupied on those 90+ degree days.  We recently had the best time making flubber (with borax, water, and glue) and microwaving a bar of Ivory soap to make flakey "snow".

Flubber:

Microwaved Ivory soap:

He played with that bowl of soap for a while.  You can mold it and he pretended to cook it.  He was just as happy as can be.  We have made flubber multiple times, but each time is like the first with how excited he gets.  I love watching him get so excited and to experience new things with him.

Ryder and I had the best time, and we stayed cool in the process!

some call it bribery, we call it the reward system♥

Ryder has been doing so great with his potty training.  We decided to go with a sticker system and when he got 10 stickers, we would get him a little prize.  His prize of choice has been plastic animals that he has found at Michaels.  He would pick one of those animals out and then we would talk about it the next couple of days while he was earning his stickers.  

He loved looking at all the options when we went to store.  A kid in a candy store... 

The most recent prize was a green snake.  

This snake looks a little too real for my liking but Ryder LOVES it.  It goes everywhere with us!

He really is doing so well with being consistent with his toilet training and we continue to get fewer and fewer accidents.

 I can't get enough of his little face.  I can't believe how big he is!

the day the crayons quit

Lots of schools have been starting up recently after the summer break.  In honor of that, I had to share a book that made me laugh out loud when I first read it and it is becoming a fast favorite at our house:

"The Day the Crayons Quit" 

by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Jeffers is one of my favorites.  

We have multiple books of his and think he is AWESOME!

Have a great week!

family celebrations

This weekend we got to have some fun family celebrations:

Saturday was my mom's birthday and Eden's half birthday.

(I can't believe that she is 18 months old!)

In honor of Eden's half birthday, we did a little photo shoot:

 On Sunday, we all got together at my parents house for a day in the pool and sharing a meal together:

Ryder LOVES being with his cousins!

 Eden is fearless and could not get enough of the pool:

Cousins!

 Cake:

 Getting a little help with the candles:

 I love these faces:

 You might notice that Eden looked pretty fried.  That's because she's the girl who normally takes two naps and because of the day, she did not get ANY sleep time.  She knows how to party!

It was a really sweet day and we are counting down to when we get to be together again!

creating: framed home town maps

When you walk into our house, we have this spot where I hang my purses.  For awhile it has looked like it's missing something and I finally got around to a little project I have been wanting to do.

Here is the spot:

I decided to add framed maps of our home towns on both sides of the hooks.

I went to AAA and picked up a free map of California and I used two $4 frames I had gotten at IKEA.

I first put the maps with the white matte but I thought it would be better with some color so I just traced the mattes on a yellow card stock that I had and the finished product made me really happy.

I finally got them up this week:

I love being reminded of our home towns and where we came from.♥

creating: story rocks and rock painting

While we were on vacation a few weeks ago, Ryder and I collected lots of rocks on the beach to take home and paint.  I had seen this idea to make story rocks: you paint a different image on each rock and the child pulls them out of a bag and you create a story with the images.

 Ryder had so much fun painting his rocks.  The hardest part was keeping his sister occupied.  Right after this photo, she was placed in her high chair with play dough.

  The sweetest part was asking Ryder what makes a good story/what should be in our stories.  His confidence in my artistic ability made me smile.  "Mama, do a dinosaur! Ok, now a snake! Oh mama, that's really cool!" He is so precious to me...

That led to the request for the knife, snake, dinosaur, treasure chest, and fire.

The rock with stick figures came from the question "Who would you want to go on an adventure with?"  Yep, you guessed it, he said Kit.  I asked if Eden and I could tag along so he had me draw the four of us so that we could all be in the story. ♥

flowers and glass bottles

I put the finishing touches on our table's centerpiece. Here is our flower box as the finished product.

 When we need the center of our table for food, we place it in our window sill.  

I love that we made it as a family and I can't tell you how much I love looking at it all day.  We spend so many wonderful family moments around this table and to have it out brings such joy♥.