Art Kits

Our school/craft/puzzle/game/food/laundry/storage room

quickly gets out of hand

and due to that...

we occasionally lose items

(or forget we even have them!)

My Sweet J had a birthday 2 months ago...

we got two awesome crafty things from my sisters.

They were "put away" in above mentioned "room",

in a neat way - 

but subsequently

FORGOTTEN!

So a few weeks ago,

R had his birthday

and I decided it was finally time to 

do some thank you notes!

(a great writing exercise)

So, we made our list of who we were writing

and what we were thanking people for.

As we were going through the list we had an

"OH YEAH!, I forgot about those!"

Moment!

So, we finally pulled out one of the things 

he received.

It was a "starter pack"

 of Kelly Kits.

Kelly Kits?

What are Kelly Kits?

A cool idea that I had before we left NC,

that someone else had already thought of!

You have seen that my sister occasionally sends 

the kids a paper craft through the mail,

or a cut out and instructions to 

create a scene for their cutout.

(I went back to find the links of the crafts,

but couldn't find them because

I haven't labelled my posts,

so that is now on my to do list!)

Before we left, I asked my sister to send them 

some sort of craft kit in the mail.

Every time she saw my kids

(or close to it)

she would delve into our craft supplies

and come up with something cute for the kids to make.

So she has...

then I stumbled upon these:

Kelly Kits

We got a gift pack that had 5 different kits in it:

Kelly Klay

Blots and Dots

Kelly Kookies

Anyway Alphabet

Mighty Mosaic

Each kit has supplies for 2 children.

We finally decided to use one of them.

The birthday boy (J), got to pick...

he chose 

"Painting: Blots and Dots"

This is what we found when we opened the kit:

instructions

2 mini tempera paints

2 paint brushes

2 popsicle sticks (aka stirrers)

6 pieces of white paper

I read the instructions

and

away they went!

 First they applied paint to one side of the paper:

Then folded the paper and pressed the pieces together.

And viola!

The littles were asleep when we tackled this project

(yes that was planned)

Since there was paper left over,

I let A have a go at it.

T was supervising.

Look at that concentration!

And her masterpiece!

(no, not the hair - the paper on the table!)

Then when I went to the conference last weekend,

I got to meet the creator of Kelly Kits.

(wonderful lady with a GREAT idea!)

Oddly, the one she had on display,

was the one we had just completed.

However, I didn't consider prompting them to make a design

they did just random dots.

So her's was a bit different - but it prompted me to 

try it again showing the boys this picture as an idea....

A few days later we gave another one a go:

Printmaking - Anyway Alphabet

This one encourages them to make "rubbings".

This one came with:

white paper

triangle oil pastel crayons

letter and number stickers

red paper

The object was to make a word, design or phrase

with the letters & numbers on the

construction paper, 

then use the oil pastels 

on the white paper

placed on top of the 

"message"

they didn't turn out quite like I we had hoped

and it just dawned on me why...

so we will have to try this one again too!

So we are getting some great ideas.

My first impression of the product 

(simply based on the info on the website):

Fantastic!!

Once we used the first two:

Room for improvement

Now:

They are a great place to "start".

I intend on building on the products

and ideas she provides.

I would like to see a picture of a sample 

on the instructions I think, so parents

who are NOT crafty and artsy 

(like ME!)

can have more of a guide of the possibilities!!

Overall - I would highly recommend these for those
that are less artistically inclined.

And I have already thought about giving these as
gifts to a certain niece in VA
and a goddaughter in NC.

(Luckily neither of them read this, so no worries
on blowing the surprise...
let's see if I remember this great idea at the Sept birthday
and Christmas - hahahah!!
yeah RIGHT!)

Belated Mother's Day

Mother's Day

As you know we spent Mother's Day celebrating 

the reason I am a mom!  

R's 8th birthday.

And considering how late I was getting 

my mom her birthday

AND 

Mother's Day stuff this year

(horribly late!)

It is only fitting that mine was late too...

Last week after church, we stopped by the 

sports store and got my Mother's Day present. 

(I cannot NOT comment on my sytlin' 6 yo here!!

I am loving the outfit - 

he picked it all out himself - 

however, 

we did have to request that he change out of his

khaki cargo shorts and into blue jeans)

So once we got this contraption home,

daddy spent the next day or so cleaning and 

checking my bike 

(that hadn't been ridden in probably 9 years)

and his "new" hand-me-down bike from his dad

(who is about 4" shorter)

We finally got the chance to go for our first EVER family bike ride.

The set up!

The cargo/passengers.

And we are READY!!!

(not the most flattering picture of me,

and I considered not posting it, 

but everyone else looks great in this pic,

so here it is...)

Daddy and R ventured up this hill...

J & the cargo and I waited at the bottom for our adventurers...

Show off!

R wobbled quite a bit at the top and all I could do is hold my breath!

 It was fun and we can't wait to do it again!!!

Vacay - Part 2

Sorry to leave you guys hanging so long on 

part 2 of our mini-vacay!

When I finally get caught up on updates,

you will see why it has taken so long...

(If I ever get caught up!)

So last post, I filled you in on Day 1 of our trip.

The drive up

and then the stadium...

We ended Day 1 with a birthday dinner for R.

I wanted to go somewhere we would both enjoy,

so we decided on a hibachi place.

Unfortunately, those are hit or miss.

We found one, I went in to check it out

and did an about face as soon as I stepped in.

So on to plan B,

the problem,

we didn't have a plan B!

So 30+ min later, 

we wound up at Dave and Busters...

oh yeah!

(sarcasm!)

But the kids enjoyed it - 

it was better than Chuck E Cheese!

We stayed in a hotel not far from the stadium 

and then got up the next morning 

and headed to the water park.

For those of you not familiar with 

an indoor water park

just go to:

http://www.greatwolf.com/

It is amazing!  

Hotel,

food

& entertainment

all under one roof

and

I don't have to worry about 

sunscreen or sunburns!

Those two items alone are worth the cost!

Especially since half of us with burst into flames

with too much sun!

We got there before 10am.  

We were able to check in

since the hotel was EMPTY!

We even got a complimentary upgrade!!

We wound up staying in a 

KidKamp Suite.

We headed straight to the waterpark

cause of course we were already in our 

bathing suits!

And, as I posted a bit ago,

we had a cooler and bag full of goodies!

We did buy 2 kids meals with chicken fingers

and split that 6 ways

then had the 

apples 

and 

cheese 

and 

crackers

and

cookies

and

other stuff

we packed.

So it worked!

Since the water park was practically empty,

there was no rest for the ride-goers.

Once you got off, you climbed back up the 

105 steps to get back on again,

then you did it all over again.

Mommy only did it a few times,

I was stuck between the baby pool

and the wave pool with the littles.

Daddy, however, 

did this probably close to 50 times over the 

2 day period we were there.

What a good daddy!

We did give the boys a little more freedom 

than we EVER have,

but ONLY because the place was empty

and

they were limited to just going on the 

"tree house".

We didn't leave the waterpark til my feet

were SCREAMING at me

for keeping them submerged in water 

for almost 8 hours!

And no my feet were NOT the reason we left.

We were just flat TIRED!

We went back to the room,

showered off

and then wandered around

trying to figure out what we were

doing for dinner.

We decided to stay in the hotel

and eat at the Grill there.

Food wasn't the best

or the cheapest,

but we didn't have to leave...

so it was fine!

Then the littles and I went back to the 

room and crawled into bed.

While daddy took the two older boys

to play MagiQuest.

What is that you ask?

Addictive and a workout,

that's what it is.

It is basically an electronic scavenger hunt

through the hotel.

Ultimately culminating in fighting a dragon.

As if daddy hadn't had enough already,

he wandered around the hotel with the boys

til 11pm!

When they finally turned the game OFF!

Then they were up by 8am

(don't these kids EVER sleep???)

We were checking out of the hotel that morning,

so we ate breakfast

(that we brought with us)

Then we packed everything up,

daddy loaded the car

and me & the kids headed

BACK to the water park,

which had LESS people 

than the day before.

It was GREAT!

I didn't get a ton of pictures,

and most of the ones I did get 

are of the baby,

mainly cause I had to be within arms 

reach of our 19 mo old who

was trying to keep up with 

his brothers and sister

with nary a worry of 

DROWNING!

(that was my job)

After playing all day,

I could tell he was getting tired,

so I took him over and was drying him off 

and putting a dry diaper on him...

he was falling asleep while I was drying him off!

Poor thing!

We ventured over to watch daddy and R

come down a couple of the slides

while T was sleeping 

and get a snack...

Hi Daddy!

J hitting a slide too!

Monkey girl and show off boy!

All for them!!

Before we headed back home,

we hit MagiQuest one more time

to give the boys the opportunity to beat the dragon.

Try as they all might...

alas

they could NOT defeat the dreaded dragon!

We FINALLY loaded back up to head SOUTH

around 6:15pm.

I snapped these on the way out - mainly for Grammy

to show her how big this one was!!

It had 8 floors!

But the water park was the same size as the smaller hotels!

so this is NOT the place to go when they are busy!!

We grabbed a healthy dinner (bleh!)

and 

settled in for a long ride home.

30 minutes into our 5 1/2 hour drive,

I noticed it was awfully quiet...

And I turned around to see this!

Yep - that is a fry hanging out of her mouth!

Then there is the baby...

laughing and talking - LOUDLY!!

They all remained like this til 8:30pm.

At that time, the baby finally falls asleep

and the older 3 wake up!

What???

That was NOT a part of the plan!!

We turned a movie on

and settled in.

Then the movie went off and they all started talking!

Its 10:30 at night,

be quiet and go to sleep!!!

The other 3 finally fell back asleep about 30 min before we arrived home.

UGH!

We got home 11:15pm.

Then poor daddy woke up and made it to work the next day.

But it worked 

and 

we WILL be doing this again.

We have already started mentally planning our next trip up there!

There's A First Time For Everything...

And this weekend - my crew had a first!

We took our first solo vacation as a family of 6!!!

We have been BLESSED to live near family

and have ALWAYS vacationed 

WITH family.

This past weekend, 

we ventured out for our 

first family trip

SOLO!

Me and the hubs were the only
adults!

Whoa Nelly!

And we took the kids 

(all under age 8 - now)

to an indoor water park!

Were we nuts!?!?!?

NOPE

It was GREAT!!! 

My sweet husband and I make such a good team.

Our trip started on Sunday morning.

We loaded up the beast,

then piled in and 

hit the road for a 5 hour trip north!

According to the handy dandy navigation feature

on our phones, we were supposed to arrive in Dallas

around 3pm.

We were headed straight for the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

(yes for Mother's Day)

The kids and I had visited the stadium on our move.

(See that post here)

We finally found the opportunity to go back with Daddy.

We decided to take the kids on a little 

trip instead of doing the whole birthday party thing this year.

We were supposed to make this trip to Dallas in April, 

but life happened and we didn't get around to it until 

May,

which just happened to coincide with R's birthday weekend.

So back to the this trip...

It was a nice trip.

Daddy commented a bit into the drive,

that they were doing better than he thought they would.

We arrived at the stadium shortly after 2pm.

Daddy was in awe

and had a great smile plastered on his face

the whole time!!

Although I didn't get any close ups of that smile - 

here are a few we did manage to snap in the stadium.

The big boys all took turns kicking a PAT.

Daddy claims he actually made one, 

but I miss it.

QB Daddy is setting up a play 

and directing his wide receivers, 

R & J

R made the catch!

 Meanwhile, J is doing cartwheels down the field.

 A & T were walking the letters

in the end zone.

What a pretty football player!

The ball is almost as big as T is!!

Then daddy tried to get ONE picture of the 4 of them

in front of one of the field level boxes...

he just wanted ONE picture...

R, sit up.

T, look over here.

J, sit up.

A, look over here.

J, A & T - seriously - 

look at Daddy!

Will you guys please look at daddy!!!

Argh!

Forget it - close enough!!

Mommy & A in front of the cheerleader locker.

Look at the size of them shorts!

No way man!!

Yep - he's a star!

We asked a nice couple to take our picture in the star.

It was out of focus,

but you get the idea.

This one is in the Cowboys Locker Room.

(there's that smile on daddy!)

Then this time, they had a few sets of pads

and jerseys that people could try on.

Absolutely hilarious!!!

R resisted, mainly because we were giggling so 

much at J, but he didn't have a choice.

My Cowboys!

Even had names on the jerseys.

J had a hard time getting his off and right before I snapped,

he was walking around with it over his head

and all you could see where legs,

it was pretty stinking funny!

J and I walked up a few flights of steps

and then took this of the rest of the crew.

When we finally left we passed the Texas Rangers Stadium.

It was BEAUTIFUL!!

And is the home field of a guy I went to high school with.

Well my sisters went to high school with him

I went with his older brother.

you might have heard of him...

Josh Hamilton

(shameless plug there, I know)

That was all Day 1!

Tomorrow, Days 2 & 3.

Its hard to take pictures when you are chasing a 19 mo 

who thinks he can swim

(or atleast thinks he can keep up with his older siblings without drowning!)