Home-made playdoh - what fun

Tamlin and I were hot and bored. I was trying to get some house-work done (don't laugh), and Tam really wanted me to play directly with him. Luckily, a childhood memory and the internet came to our rescue!

I recalled lovin' playing with playdoh, but never having the store-bought, brightly covered stuff very often in our house. However, I did remember very clearly spending a day with my Aunt Rosilyn and playing with home-made playdoh. I remember it involved aprons, the stove, flour, salt, and waiting. Aunt Rosilyn always had great aprons to wear while in the kitchen...one day, I'll even make one for my own kitchen. I also remember eating the playdoh, and that it was extremely salty (yuck). Oh, and I recall mixing the colors all together and getting a hideous brown-black color globe.

Off to the internet for a quick recipe for us to try. About 15minutes later, I've got four globes of playdoh ranging in pastel colors.

Tamlin is clearly unsure what these gobs of stuff are for...






He tries to eat some...





He pokes at it...











He stacks them up...




He gathers them up...





He throws them all on the floor...











Good times

Trip to the beach

It has been hot, hot, hot, here this entire month of July. To cool off, we have tried lots of tricks: kiddie pool, hose, wading pool, central air, and finally a week ago...we went to the beach.
Sand, waves, sun, and laughter!

Living near a Great Lake means that we have a gazillion choices of beaches to visit, and a good handful of those have playgrounds as well. I finally chose one that has a tunnel through a sand dune to get to the surf :-) I mean, how cool is that!

An hour later than I had meant to leave, we were all packed into the car with gear and headed westward toward the water. Having a wee one definitely means we have to pack more stuff for various possible situations! Into the bags went diapers (and accessories), food, kid-friendly food, water, sunscreen, hats, towels, suits, blanket, toys, shovels, etc.

We got to the beach by mid-morning but it was still pretty hot already. We were at the park early enough on a week day that no one was at the entrance to take park fees. This also meant that the beach itself only had about 20 families along it, so lots of prime spots with little crowding. Tam liked the tunnel because his voice echoed when he screeched. However, he wasn't too sure about all the sand, especially since it was already hot.

The water was beautifully clear and wonderfully warm (70+ Fahrenheit). It was warm enough that Brian didn't even mind getting wet (He hates to be cold in the water). Brian took Tam right into the water up to his knees. Tam was ok with this, though as soon as he started to feel the pull of the tide he started to want to come out onto the beach. However, Brian took him into his arms and into the deeper water for splashing. To this change of environment, Tam was definitely NOT sure. He flipped between being upset, scared, and laughing when Brian tossed him into the air. However, Tam did like just having his toes in the water and then tossing his toys into the waves. (Don't worry, we didn't lose any).

After everyone spent awhile in the waves, we headed back through the sand-dune tunnel to change, eat, and play on the playground. After a bit of playing, we climbed up the sand-dune via steps to check out the view. Tam did great going up the steps like a big boy and really loved running around at the top, though we couldn't get him to stop long enough to grab a photo of the three of us together.

Back down the dune, piled into the car, and heading for home by early afternoon. Tam completely zonked-out after a mere 5minutes into the 45 minute drive home. Awww....

Wordless Wednesday - Tattoos

I tattooed my first-born...

It must have smarted a bit ;-)

Then, I demanded he mow the lawn

...and the sidewalk


Good boy!

wading pool

Our city is big enough that there are several public water-play areas for kids to utilize in the summer to stay cool. However, every year it is a fiasco of raising the money to open these parks, but luckily this year, the goals were met. We have wading pools, water playgrounds, and large water pools with slides. Since Tam is still pretty small, we avoid the large, crowded pools and often opt for the wading pool instead.

Our current hang-out is at a park/playground area that we frequent because it is right next door to my school. We head over at least once a week to let Tam splash around and stay cool in the 12inches of water. It is really nice that the same lifeguard/caretaker is there everyday too so she gets to know us and the kids. Plus, we really haven't encountered to many people there at any one time, usually on the order of 10 kids max.

Anyways, Tam loves splashing around in the water, chasing his trucks around the edge, filling buckets and dumping them, sticking his hands in the fountain, squealing in delight, practicing blowing bubbles, and generally having a fabulous time :-)

Doh!

Since it is the summertime, I've had a bit more free time to get my "Craft-game" on. Since a bit of a basement-leak fiasco, my sewing room has moved back upstairs to the dining room. This isn't too bad of a work space since the table is high enough that kiddo's questing hands still can't reach stuff (read sewing notions, scissors, pins, etc).

As of late, I've been sewing a mad storm of gifts for friends and relatives. The thought was to wait for Christmas to send things out...but I just never have the patience and tend to gift early :-)

However...I forgot to take photos of this cool-stuff-I-made before mailing! Sheesh. Anyways, I did have fun trying a couple new patterns for aprons out of fun fabric and recycled cloths. And I loved having a go at making ruffle-butt onesies for a friend's little girl. These were a great way to utilize some of the floral print fabrics in my stash and it made me really want a little girl to dress up in uber-cute things. And I loved experimenting with some new freezer-paper stenciling on onesies for friends....but you all will just have to trust me that I did these things and they were cool.

Next time I will have photo-evidence.
I'm currently constructing a car caddy for Tam's November birthday and a set of alphabet bean-bags....and then maybe this cool super-hero cape (but I don't think I'll make it in hot pink).

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday :-)

The Cat is no longer safe...