Keeping Busy

There are four more days until Sister's due date.  I have been trying to keep busy, to help pass the time.  Luckily, the weather has been nice here the last few days.  Karson and I have been spending a lot of time outside.  

Over the weekend, DJ and I picked up some seeds for our garden this summer.  When we were leaving, I saw biodegradable starter pots, and picked them up for an activity for Karson.  We don't ever start our veggies early, but figured it would be a fun activity for Karson.  

A few days ago, we headed outside with a shovel and bucket, to collect some dirt.

Munchkin loved this part, and has been talking about dirt ever since.

see the hosta next to his bucket?  it is gone now.  while I was taking to a neighbor, Karson ripped it up.  then Karson and I had a little talk about ripping up Mama's flowers and plants.

 Of course, we had to put our planting on hold to find bugs.

We filled the containers half full of dirt, and Karson put in the seeds in on his own.  We only planted peppers, onions, and green beans.  He loved putting the seeds in.  A couple little cells have quite a few seeds in them.  He was having fun. :)

They are sitting on our back deck.  Karson loves talking about his dirt.  Hopefully they grow.  DJ asked me yesterday if I had watered them yet...oops.  Maybe I should say, hopefully I don't kill them. :)

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Yesterday, I changed the empty roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, and remembered an activity I used to do, painting with empty toilet paper rolls, with my 2 year olds when I taught day care.  Karson is starting to learn his shapes, and LOVES to paint.  He was so excited when I told him we were going to get the paints out.  A few weeks ago, my Mom brought home a huge roll of paper.  I love it!  It makes painting and coloring so much more fun (and easier).

I put some red and green paint, 2 colors he can identify, on the paper and showed him how to make the circles with the toilet paper roll.  He was concentrating so hard, and kept telling me that green means go, and red means stop.

Then a light bulb went off in his little head, and he remembered painting with his trucks a few months ago.   He asked me if he could 'pees' get a truck to paint with.  After I told him he could, he went running into the living room to pick out a truck to use.

 

He painted for a solid hour.  Every few minutes he would ask me if he could go pick out another truck. 

Before we were done, he had collected over 10 trucks to paint with.  And of course, they had to be lined up like a choo-choo.  :)

Painting with Trucks and Trains

Usually, DJ is home from work by the time Karson wakes up from his nap.  But his schedule is unpredectable, and sometimes I get a call at the last minute saying he has to work late.  The hours between when Karson wakes up and DJ gets home are usually the hardest.  Karson KNOWS when Daddy is supposed to be home.  And Molly KNOWS when Daddy is supposed to be home...and barks constantly at every single noise she hears until he gets home.  On the days when DJ works late, we usually do a craft when Karson wakes up.

I saw this on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and it reminded me how much fun it is!  

I used to do this all the time with my 2 year olds when I taught day care.  

I let him pick out a few trucks, and tractors.

And of course, a few 'choo-choos.'

Put some paint on a piece of card stock, and showed him how to drive his trucks over the paint.

He had so much fun, and painted for almost an hour!

We ended up having to just keep the 'choo-choos' next to him. 

He was less than thrilled about getting paint on them.

My table ended up being covered with paint.

I want to find some butcher paper to cover the table with for this activity.

I don't mind cleaning up a paint mess, but I don't want him to think it is ok to paint the table. :)

 His paintings are hanging on our slider, and every time he seems them, he reminds me he painted them with his trucks.

We will definitely be doing this activity again!!

...and of course...he had to line up all of his trucks like a 'choo-choo.'

Karson's Snowman

Before I had Karson, I worked at a Day Care, as the head teacher in the 2's room.  I have tons of art activities and lessons plans from my day care days saved to do with Karson.    Karson loves the Frosty the Snowman movie, and loves looking for snow each morning. Before Christmas, he was having a rough day, and we need a filler activity to get us through until nap time.  I got out some paint and a cut out the pieces of a snowman.

He had never painted before, and thought it was so much fun!

I wasn't sure what paint brush would be easiest for him, so I gave him two.  After explaining we don't eat paint brushes, he was back on task...

After he spread around the paint, I gave him the hat, eyes, nose, and mouth of his snowman and let him place them on his snowman wherever he wanted to.

He had so much fun making his snowman, and is very proud of it!  I love when DJ gets home and Karson runs to show him what he made while he was at work!

Karson's finished snowman....

 

sorry...phone picture

Karson's New Room

It has taken me a long time to get these up...sorry.

I had so much fun with Karson's room at our new house.

His room is actually big enough for him to play in!!

I often drink my morning coffee on the floor of his room, while we read books next to his huge bear. 

His room still isn't completely done.  We need his crib for baby brother or sister, and are getting ready to transition him into his new big boy bed.   I realized I didn't include any pictures of his crib or dresser/changer.  They won't be there much longer anyway. We are waiting until we get his new dresser ready, and his new bed in there before we hang a few more things.  His crib is the same as it was at my parent's house.

{Please ignore his carpet.  It is old, and stained, but it is clean.  We decided we are going to replace all the carpet in the house, AFTER all our kids are potty trained.}

I love how his room came together!  The white shelf we bought to hold toys in my parent's house.  My Mom and I...ok mostly my Mom...are going to sew the letters for his name to hang above the magnet board & shelf.  The 'miracles happen' sign, Auntie Leesh made when I was pregnant with Karson.  Karson came...um...about 5 years earlier than planned, and the beginning of my pregnancy was full of scares. God knew what he was doing all along, and he is definitely our miracle!

Are you on Pinterest?!  You should be!  Because, you find awesome ideas like this one!!  An oil drip pan for a magnet board!  Karson loves it!  The same day we got it, I found a steal of a deal on jumbo magnet letters & numbers.  They are in the bucket, but usually can be found scattered around our house!

I laugh when parents say that stuffed animals are worthless.  Seriously, that bear is one of Karson's absolute favorites! He has a huge leopard my dad gave him too, that of course, is next to the dresser I didn't take a picture of.  He loves them!  I think everyone Mr. Bear rode with him in the cart at Costco with him saying 'oh wow' the entire time!  The sign above his closet says 'jesus loves me.'  Molly is often found chewing a bone in the middle of his room, anytime Karson is in there!  The basket holds all of his small stuffed animals.  

 Karson loving on his bear.  He usually will lay on him and read a book, or just sit there looking cute. The rocking chair was mine when I was little.  Karson loves to sit in it.  Plus, I think it is cute in his room!

The banner is from his birthday party.  The 1 is only on one side, so when he turns two, I can turn it around.  I have a larger one I am waiting to hang also.

A post on Karson's chicken wire frame here...

My favorite part about my baby's new room....

Sign {Tutorial}

I would love to take credit for this idea, but I can't.

I would love to link to Auntie Leesh's blog, but I can't.

Because she doesn't have one.

And although I have told her she needs one, she is busy.

Ya know, with grad school and all. :)

I saw this saying a long time ago, and loved it!

I changed the words around a little, because I wanted kiss me good night at the end.

I spray painted a canvas I already had blue.

And by I spray painted, I mean I put on the first coat, then had my dad do the second. 

Then when I made an oops, DJ put on another coat to fix it.

Print, whatever you want your sign to say, off your computer.

Place carbon paper, dark side down, under your words.

I would suggest taping the words to the canvas.  I didn't the first time, and couldn't get it lined back up when it moved.  

thus the oops...

 Trace over the words with a pen.

This was the first time I used canvas, and I probably won't do it again.  Wood is easier!

I had a hard time getting the letters to transfer.  I put a hard book under the inside of the canvas, so I could use more pressure.

Before you take off the paper, make sure it transferred dark enough to see.

  Again...

Before you take off the paper, make sure it transferred dark enough to see.

Trace over with a paint pen.

 Sometimes I have had to go back over for a 2nd coat with the paint pen.

I didn't have to this time though.

The carbon paper can be used over and over and over again.  And again, I probably won't use canvas anymore.  You can get wood board at Lowe's for really cheap, and it is lots easier. 

Next on my craft list: Family Rules

...and getting my house done so this cute sign can hang in Karson's new room.

Chicken Wire Frame

Last week I saw this post.

I loved her chicken wire frame.

I had to make one for Munchkin's room.

I picked up a frame at a thrift store, for ya know, less than $1.

Grabbed some spray paint from Lowe's.

Told my Hubby to get me some chicken wire, and started painting.

I LOVE how it turned out!

 

His name and the clothes pins are from his birthday party.

I printed off a bible verse, and his letters.

And stole some pictures from a stack my Mom had.

I want to get some pictures printed in wallet size.

I think they would fit a little better.

And because I love how his birthday invites turned out, I had to add one too.

I love, love, love how it turned out!!

Personal Shower

Over the weekend, Alycia and I threw a "Personal Shower" for Katie.

in case you are confused: insert 'lingerie' in place of 'personal.'

We had so much fun planning, and crafting for this shower.

I am pretty conservative, so everything was very tasteful.

We found a zebra ribbon at Hobby Lobby, and knew we wanted to add hot pink, and the rest just fell into place.

Considering the fact that we are currently homeless, we decided the best place for the shower was at Alycia's house.

We used the same idea with the circle punch-outs as we did for Munchkin's Birthday.

Super easy & cheap, and so cute!

Alycia sewed them with hot pink thread.

Alycia found this frame at a thrift store, and spray painted it black.  We used pink sheer ribbon across the center, and clipped some of Katie & Shawn's engagement pictures to them.  Like I said, everything was very tasteful, but I have not gotten permission to display her pictures on my blog.  Thus, they are blurred out.

The glass vases were left over from my wedding.  We added some pink and black ribbon to them, and the gerbera daisies were left over from Leesh & Brian's wedding.

On the bigger vases, (also from my wedding) we wrapped black card stock around, and laced it with pink ribbon to look like a corset.  We found the zebra & black gerbera daisies at Hobby Lobby, along with the pink feather.  The little mason jars were from Karson's birthday. 

I think we had 5 of the skinny vases, with the gerbera daisies, and 8 of the little mason jars.  

We redecorated one of Alycia's shelves to add some shower decorations.

 

In the invitation, we asked that everyone wrap their gifts in pink, black, and white to go along with the theme.  We had Bath and Body Works soaps as gifts for games.  The zebra packages were the gifts Katie's won, by just being the bride.

The food table.  

YUM!  We served fruit, chips and salsa, turkey roll ups, veggies, and spinach and artichoke dip.  Spinach dip is a staple whenever Leesh, Katie, and I get together.  The three of us can polish off an entire batch in about 10 minutes.

And of course, chocolate covered strawberries were the perfect dessert to go along with the theme of the shower.

Plus they are pretty, and so YUMMY!

 On the food table we also had one of Shawn and Katie's engagement pictures framed.  We used a pink table cloth, and put black rose petles left over from Leesh & Brian's wedding around the frame. We also used one of the gerbera daisies vases, and a mason jar.

Alycia and I had so  much fun throwing this shower for Katie!  I can't wait for their wedding in June!!