The weather here in Colorado is crazy! One day it is 70 , the next it is snowing and freezing, then back to 70 the next day. Seriously!
Last week on one of the so-so days we had some fun outside. Wasn’t too cold, wasn’t too hot.
The boys did floor puzzles on the sidewalks, we colored the sidewalks with chalk. We ate lunch on a blanket in the grass, fun! To top it off… the boys went for the costume drawer, which is always a hit.
this is a Buzz Lightyear, IronMan Hybrid
My middle boy, my sweet, sweet Oliver had his 5th birthday party. When planning his party I came across a blog post on How to Make a Rainbow Layer Cake she was inspired by this post and this post both on Rainbow Cakes.
I was so happy because Oliver loves rainbows! I also wanted to make the cake for him. It isn’t perfect but I like it overall and it was made with love and a lot of frosting :O)
I followed her directions and bought 2 cake mixes and 4 containers of frosting, I used Pillsbury. I did not buy food coloring because I had some at home. I found out later that I did not have the primary colors, I had bought neon. I rolled with it.
I bought –
I baked the two cakes mixes according to the directions (egg whites only version). Separated the mix into 4 bowls. I then dyed each bowl. I used a brand new Wilton 9″ round cake pan ($4 at Kings Soopers). I oiled and floured the pan, then cooked each cake mix for about 14 minutes at 350. I then cooled each cake in the pan for about 5 minutes, then onto a cooling rack for about 20 minutes.
Layer the cake putting a thin layer of frosting between each. Then apply a crumb coat of frosting and refrigerate for at least an hour. Add final layer of frosting and decorate.
We went to a wonderful, several acre outdoor space with gardens and ponds.
Everything is just starting to turn green, flowers are popping up, ducks are swimming in the ponds.
The air was crisp, fresh, perfect.
We walked around for 2 hours, discovering. They have a super fun kids area, the kids can climb rocks, sit in a “cave”, and jump all around. They also had a dock by the stream, perfect for pretending -this day, it was a huge ship that we all lived on. :O)
As you may have seen from an earlier post, my son and I went on a date recently. We had a really great time. I wanted to share with you, a sweet, intimate moment between the 2 of us. While at a restaurant I excused myself to use the restroom. When I came around the corner to our booth, my son was sitting in my seat, I watched for a second and realized he was taking pictures of himself with the camera. I sneaked up behind him and joined in the pictures, he never knew I was behind him.
When I sat down he told me to look at the pics on the camera. I told him he should look with me. He was so surprised to see me in some of the pics, he loved it. BUT THE BEST PART … I had another surprise coming too. While looking through them I realized that in each picture he is signing a word to form I LOVE YOU, through the succession of pictures.
Here they are:
Loved the date, loved this gesture, love my BOY!
This past weekend I took my 7 year old on a date to downtown Denver. I secretly bought a Groupon to see the Imagination Movers live.
**Disclaimer – I had no clue who they were, my poor boy was the oldest one there, by far! He was not that amused, although he started to enjoy the show**
We started by taking the light rail, then off to explore Downtown, ate some chocolate cake, watched the show, and topped it off with a big bucket of movie theater popcorn for the ride home on the light rail.
I really enjoyed our time and I am reminded how important it is to spend time alone with each child.
My 7 year old attends a weekly club for boys. He loves it and his Daddy is a helper so it provides a fantastic time for them to bond.
Last week each boy was given $2 and challenged to use the money for someone else. To do an unselfish thing with it. When he came we discussed some possibilities that he might choose from. He thought about it and said he thought of another thing.
He said that he wanted to buy his little brother a piece of his favorite pie from the Pie Shop across the street from our house. My first thought was that wasn’t the exact idea here, but I stopped myself. He loves his brother but he is not one to put his brother first, ever. So I thought this really was a kind, unselfish act.
How cool that I got to see it play out! I took them to the pie shop and let them order, pay and eat alone while I waited in the car. I noticed the oldest cleared the table for the workers too – BONUS!
I have such fond memories of watching my teacher use a felt board to tell a story. LOVED it so much. Gathering around her and finding a comfy spot to watch the story unfold.
Always wanted to get some to play with as a kid but never did, seemed like a teacher “exclusive” item.
I looked at my local Education store and they are so expensive I could not justify the cost.
However, now that I started to homeschool I went to my favorite consignment sale to find educational materials. Imagine how excited I was to find a Storyboard Felt set.
Nothing fancy, in fact it looks like it could be from when I was little, but it is in excellent shape. I bet they came from a former teacher. I practically let out a squeel like a 13 year old who sees Justin Bieber.
This has to be one of my best finds ever!
I let the 4 and 2 year old play with them and they loved it. The two year went through all the animals and tried to make their “sounds”. It was fun, now I need to come up with a story!
This year I was invited to a Valentine’s Card making get-together and had so much fun that I had one for the women in my family, that was also a blast.
When it came time to think about the kids Valentine’s cards this year, it was a no brainer that they would make homemade ones as well, I had all the supplies ready to go. In previous years, especially since they were in school, it was easy to just go pick up some pre-made ones. Now that we homeschool we do more homemade things then ever, we have the time and resources so why not? The boys made some for friends, some for family and some for their Sunday School teachers.
We used heart stickers, flowers stickers, scripture stickers, glittery stickers, puffy stickers, crayons, markers and stamps. We used card stock folded in half.
All done! I got them all in the mail to Loveland to go through their “Valentine Re-mailing Program“. If you send them your pre-addressed, stamped envelope (I sent all in 1 big manila envelope), they stamp them with the Loveland PO postmark that includes a cute graphic and saying. This will be the programs 65th year.
Details on the Re-Mailing Program:
Postmaster – Attention Valentines
446 E. 29th St.
Loveland, CO 80538-9998
I have always loved tie-dyed shirts, loved them. Bright bursts of color splashed on a sparkling white tee. Pretty! I have wanted to make one for ever but just felt like it would be hard. Until recently.
I came across a spray bottled tie dye kit, it looked easy enough so I had to try it.
We bought 3 white tee’s for only $3 a piece! The kit was 7.99.
We twisted and rubber-banded the shirts then sprayed the tie dye all over, set to dry…
we let dry 24 hours…
When we took the bands off there was still alot of white so we re-banded it and sprayed some more tie dye on, dried some more… then to the dryer for 15 minutes…
When they got outside in their new tie dye shirts it was all fun n games! The boys would NOT cooperate for pictures, but I can’t really blame them – 60 degrees in January! Hope you can see the shirts…
Some more…
Overall cost – $20, not bad for 3 Super-Cool shirts!
There is one activity that takes me back to my youth like no other. I shouldn’t just use the word activity either. It was more of a lifestyle for our family and strangely it was the same for my husband as well.
Of course I am talking about bowling. Not just bowling but growing up in bowling alleys. Every week, maybe 2x a week we would find ourselves in the bowling alley. For my Dad and brother that number could be doubled.
So many memories of area bowling alleys. They begin when I was little. Bowling alleys used to have nurseries, I used to be checked in. Then I graduated to video games, the snack bar and the locker area. I meet other kids and we would keep ourselves busy. It was always a blast. Also, nothing beats bowling alley french fries.
Now you know what I mean when I say lifestyle. We would even stay after hours so my Dad could play cards with his pals in the lounge. That was always peanuts and jukebox time, plus a sit-down pac-man machine.
So many fond memories. Interestingly enough, I never turned out to be a bowler. My husband did but hasn’t bowled lately.
Well it turns out that the bowler blood still runs in the family … My sister in law took Preston last year and he loved it so much. We decided to take him and he was over the moon about it.
He loves it, loves it. Which is great because up until now he has not wanted to join any form of extra curricular activities. He even stopped going to karate after a couple of months.
He wants to join a league. I am happy for him. He is good to boot, he averages 105. YEAH!
