High Five for Friday

Hi there! I'm linking up with Jennie today to share some fun stuff from the past week.

1) Friday night we let Grant stay up way past his bed time for some fireworks. We didn't make it to the park (due to road blocks!) but thought we could still see them just down the road. We didn't have the best view but Grant loved it anyway.

Waiting patiently!

2) Saturday, of course, was the 4th of July. Husband had bought a flag for the house that Grant was all too excited to help hang up (until a bee appeared). We had my in-laws over for a cookout (ice cream sundaes with homemade sauce for dessert!), and then Grant performed some of his favorite country songs for us (his love of country music hurts my soul but it's so cute when he sings!).

Homemade hot fudge and peanut butter sauces...yum!

He has no idea how to play that guitar.

3) Sunday afternoon I got to run errands with this guy (and have a dinner date):

Cowboy hat, basketball shorts, and rain boots.

4) We also did an activity from our latest Kiwi Crate:

Mini golf!

5) This week I actually got my lazy butt up for a couple walks. I'm hoping to make myself do it more often. Once I get over how early it is, it's so nice to be out there when it's quiet, not as hot, and the sun isn't beating down on me.

6) Yesterday when we got home from school, Grant and I found the cutest little stowaway on my car. He blended in so well, I might not have noticed him if he didn't move!

Grant named him Ribbet Ribbet. Very original.

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday

Hi! I'm running a little late today, but I still wanted to share some of the fun stuff from the past week. 

1) Friday evening we packed up chairs and popcorn and headed to another park for an outdoor movie night. I figured with it being June we'd be sitting there dying of heat stroke but it was pretty comfortable (buggy, but comfortable). They were playing the new Spongebob movie, which was pretty terrible. But Grant liked it and had a good time.

The guys waiting for the movie to start

2) Saturday & Sunday, Grant and I explored our first Kiwi Crate box. (Check out all the stuff it had HERE.)

3) I sewed this fun shark blanket!

It currently has no recipient but I had the fabric and it's so cute!

4) I taught Grant some card games! He absolutely loves them.

Go fish!

5) Sunday afternoon/evening, I wanted to run some errands. Since Husband usually does a lot of work on Sundays, I took Grant with me and we had a little dinner date (followed by ice cream). We share a love of Olive Garden! 

6) Grant's preschool has a calendar and each day has something to bring or do on it. This week the two favorites were crazy hair day and costume day.

Costume day - Iron man, of course!

And crazy hair day!

It's been a pretty stressful week for me but we had so much fun last weekend so I'm hoping to make this weekend another good one. And we're looking forward to a nice Father's Day!

Happy Friday everyone!

Have a great weekend!

Kiwi Crate - May 2015 "Science of Color"

Back in early may I tried a $5 mini box from Kiwi Crate which contained everything we needed to make two wind cars:

We had a lot of fun making them and playing with them after. It also made me curious about what a full sized Kiwi Crate contains. The mini box signed me up for a regular subscription so instead of cancelling, I went ahead with letting the first box come.

Our first box was called Science of Color. I was pretty excited when it came and couldn't wait to see the activities it had for us. I will admit that $20 a month is steep, to me, for what I thought were just crafts but it did contain everything we needed for the projects (except water hahaha). There were two activities, a bonus activity, and a booklet comes with it that has suggestions for more things to do. So far, I was impressed.

The contents of the box

"Color Separation Lab"

Spin Art!

Bonus color experiment activity and the booklet
(which has a cut out/pop up rainbow activity)

I admit to letting the box sit around for a while. I thought we had plenty of time to do it and the weekends had been so nice that I didn't want us stuck inside. But this past weekend was ungodly hot outside (AND our June box has shipped) so it seemed like a good weekend for some inside activities. On Saturday we did the Color Separation Lab.

Getting set up.

They give you very detailed instructions for each project. For this one, you color on the "mess mat" with the marker color you're using and you draw a thick line of that color on a strip of paper (provided) and then fold it and stick it in the water. The paper slowly absorbs the water and when it gets to the marker lines, it separates. And the mini-scientist notes on the mat what colors they see.

He liked watching the water soak into the paper and work it's magic.

Noting his findings :)

When you're done and your strips of paper are dry, there is a rope you can hang up and little clothes pins to hang up your paper strips like a fun little garland.

So project #1 was a success.

Sunday we did the Spin Art! I was so excited to show Grant this! Though because how "school-like" the first project was, I think he wasn't looking forward to it as much as I wanted him to. But when we got it together, he was really excited to start.

See how detailed the instructions are?

For this one they sent you stuff to basically make a top and you spin the top in the box. They sent several paper disks that fit onto the top and watery paints to be squirted onto the spinning top with a dropper (all included). Grant got heavy handed with the paints they provided so I sort of made more with food coloring I had and water. I don't think my homemade version worked as well as the ones sent in the box, but Grant thought it was great that he didn't have to skimp on t he paints and had no complaints about them.

He really loved this activity!

Some of the finished artwork

This acitivity was a HUGE hit with Grant. And even though it looks like it should have been messy, there was very little clean up involved. They sent enough paper disks for him to make 8 pieces of spin-artwork. He was so excited about what he made that he was asking to send them to people (Gramma, my sister, etc). And because the top was made of wood and they sent spare pastic pieces, we can keep the top and do this project again (if I cut out some paper circles that fit). 

We haven't done the bonus activity yet or the pop-up rainbow (that requires a gluestick that I don't have) but the two main activities were pretty great. They tell you in the instructions the level of parent involvement and I found that to be pretty accurate. Grant could do a lot of it by himself but still needed my help with stuff too (like putting the top together, for instance). When I checked my account after getting an email that our June box shipped, I saw that it's called Backyard Adventure. I'm excited to see what that one has for us!

Slip-n-Slide Fun

So...I love fall and winter. Summer heat...not such a fan. I've told people - and I really think it's true - if I had visited North Carolina in the summer, I probably wouldn't have moved here. Before Grant, I could just hide away inside moving from one air conditioned space to another. But not anymore. Also, the kid seems oblivious to the heat. I'm getting better though. More tolerant (or tolerable?). 

I usually try to come up with at least one water activity in the summer that I can participate in that will be fun for Grant and cool us both off. Last year for his birthday, my mother-in-law got him an Iron Man slip-n-slide that my hectic schedule didn't let us make use of. But it's definitely been hot enough lately so I got it out a couple weeks ago. Grant had no idea what to do with it, so I tried to explain it. But it was easier for me to just demonstrate.

Grant asked if he could take a picture of me doing the
slip-n-slide. I take so many of him, it was only fair.

I learned three things after my first turn on the slide: a) slip-n-slides are fun no matter how old you are; b) it's a bit terrifying as an adult to throw yourself on the ground and hope it's going to work correctly but you can't chicken out when your kid is watching; and c) don't land too hard on your chest or your knees - trust me.

He didn't actually go anywhere, he just threw himself on the slide.

Even after my enthusiastic demonstration, Grant refused to slide on his belly. His knees, yes (which looked painful to me!), but not his belly. I even had him lay on the slide and I pushed him along, to show him how fun it is. Nothing.

Ouch!

But he was having fun so I tried to stop coaxing him into sliding on his belly.

But day two of the slip-n-slide, I noticed him sliding forward, so I told him to just go all the way down and try to go on his belly.

Hooray! Kinda.

Very excited about his belly slide!

After that, he was unstoppable. And by the third time we used the slide (the following weekend), Grant was a sliding pro and my knees were so bruised up I can't believe I was still walking.

He got going a bit fast on this one!

My personal injuries aside, this has been a pretty wonderful way to ward off the heat!

And Grant has been having a blast! A few days after we first used the slide, Grant had to stay home sick and by the afternoon he was begging to go out on the slip-n-slide (Um...no). We're definitely going to have to keep one of these around at all times for the summer!

Seriously with the face! He's so happy...who cares if I'm
without knee caps by the end of summer :)