Car painting

So my daycare kiddos are starting to transition this week and Ethan has taking a trip to Grammie and Poppa's house for the week!  The theme for this week is PAINTING!  I love painting with the kids and it is pretty hard to find a kid that doesn't like painting!

Today we did painting with cars!  When you have 2 boys that are obsessed with cars and one that isn't as obsessed with doing crafts, you need to be creative!  I figured I could use his love for cars, and incorporate it with Arts and Crafts!

This one is pretty simple.  All you need is Paint in small containers, Paper, a few cars, and a drop sheet to save your table!

I wanted to keep their attention, so I only went with three colours

Mr. Brody (not so arts and crafts interested) LOVE IT!  His cars BRRRRRROOOMMMM and VVRRRROOOMMM all over his paper!  At first it took a little convincing that it was OK that his hands got some paint on them...but once he figured that out he was good to go!

VRRROOOMMM

 

Adding colours

 

BRRRROOMMMM

(Yes my kitchen is bright orange! - yuck I know, but we will get around to painting it one day!)

 

CRASH!  He started crashing the cars together and laughing because paint was splattering

Getting Brody interested was pretty easy today! And he had lots of fun painting!

Logey on the other hand...he would sit and paint all day if I let him!

 

He had all 3 cars going at the same time on his paper!

He started crashing his cars together too, after seeing Brody do it!

 

And of course, it started turning into a little finger painting by the end of it!

 

This was a great little activity to peak the boys interest in painting and get them ready for the other painting crafts I have planned for the rest of the week!  Shockingly, not that mess either, if you have a cloth on hand for when they are done!  I'm happy that my kids starting daycare because my bare walls are still driving me crazy and I need pretty art work like this to get them covered!

Once the boys were done, and I was putting the stuff away, I noticed they were sitting in the playroom having a 'conversation' looking like this.....

I just couldn't not take a picture of the two bucket heads!

Watch for more painting theme crafts this week! :)

Jello Sensory Bin

I have been trying to get back into doing my messy sensory bins lately, because they are the most fun for the kids and because I would much rather do them outside that inside!  I had a ton of Jello boxes in my pantry and had just been waiting for something to do with them.  Alas, JELLO SENSORY BIN!

  

Grab all the Jello you have and different sized and shaped containers.  Make all your Jello the night before!



I tried using ice cube trays too, it didn't really work, so I wouldn't waste your time!

Next, get the container you usually do sensory bins in! I suggest you make sure the bin is clean, because the kids will likely be 'testing' the Jello.  Add all the Jello and utensils to play with it.  It was 45 Degrees here again yesterday and I thought the Jello would melt REALLY fast, so I added some ice cubes too!

NOTE: my container is really big for this activity, but I know my boys and I knew exactly what was going to happen once they were getting close to being done with the bin!!

Next, give the bin to the kids and let them go wild! This was also a good time to go over the colours of the Jello! Monkey has his colours down pat obviously, but little Logey is just starting to learn them!

Logey was having trouble keeping it on the spoon at first! Notice the green/red piece falling down

Sooooo...he started using his hands! Exactly what I wanted.  Fine motor skills and Sensory

I love the look on Logey's face here!  I think he is seriously shocked that Ethan is attempting to taste the Jello!

"What are you doing E?"

 Logey then realized he could taste it too!!

YUMMY!

Exactly as I expected, once the boys started getting bored of the Jello (which, by the way, was at least 45 minutes later) I introduced the hose!  My boys love water, as you have seen in pretty much every other post!  Monkey started filling the bin with the hose.  We learned that when he sprayed the water harder, it made bubbles from the Jello.  Who knew?  And so, our Jello bin turned into a BUBBLE BATH!  The boys started to wash all the utensils we were playing with....

And then....you guessed it....they got in the bin!

And you thought the cooler was small!

By the end of the activity the boys were soaking wet, I was pretty much soaking wet...but being wet actually didn't feel so bad since it was 45 degrees Celsius!  This was a super easy Sensory Bin, and gave the kids at least an hour of pure joy to play with!
 

Two happy boys!

Logan Approved Food

Well as many of you know, Logey has a very severe allergy to cow milk protein and still has trouble with soy on most days (although getting better with soy!! :))  I am always on the hunt for new recipes to makes yummy things that Logey can eat.  I found this wonderful recipe on Pinterest for Peanut Butter Banana Quinoa Muffins, that I just couldn't pass up.  I was hoping I could do some substituting to make it work for Logey.  It turned out great... ALL the kids loved the muffins and I even liked them too!  These will become something I will bake often and store in the freezer for quick snacks and car trips.

Here is the Recipe:

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 cup milk  (We used coconut milk)
1 tablespoon Peanut Butter (I used Organic)
1 cup cooked Quinoa
1/4 cup Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 Egg
1/4 cup Plain Yogurt  (I used So Delicious Coconut Cultured Strawberry Yogurt)
1 chopped Banana
1 teaspoon Honey
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 cups Flour
Cinnamon (Optional)
Sugar (Optional)

NOTE: The best way to cook quinoa is to bring 2 cup of water to boil and then add one cup of quinoa.  Let everything simmer away until there is no water left and the quinoa is nice and fluffy. Be prepared that one cup of raw quinoa will make close to 3 cups cooked quinoa.  So have something else ready to have with the left overs!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.  In a large bowl, add  vegetable oil, vanilla, yogurt, sugar, honey, milk and peanut butter.  Stir together to create a smooth batter.  Add egg and quinoa and a dash of salt.  Sprinkle the baking powder and baking soda and stir well.  Chop a banana into chunks and add to batter.  Slowly add flour and mix well.  Grease muffin tins.  I added a sprinkle of sugar in the bottom of the tins and then scooped the batter in.  Then I sprinkled Cinnamon and sugar on to for more flavour!   Bake for 17-20 minutes.

NOTE: I suggest not using muffin paper cups because the muffins were really hard to get out of them.  the paper was stuck and kept breaking off in pieces, so I would suggest skipping them and just putting the batter straight in the tins.

So, I wish I got a picture of how great they turned out, but the kids absolutely devoured them before I even got a chance!  I will add a picture when I make the next batch.  But they were really great and super yummy and even Logey could enjoy them!!!

I am always looking for Dairy-free suggestions, so please feel free to comment with your own dairy free recipes!

Daycare Outdoor Play Date

This week we invited all our old neighbourhood friends over to the new house for a play date!  I got the pool set up for the kids, filled the water tables, cut up fruits, made homemade popsicles, and of course the sun showed up too!  Here are just a few of the great pictures from the day!  I know my boys were happy to see all their old friends come to the 'new house' (as Ethan still refers to it!)

 

Julie and baby Amelya looking like twins

Logan, Greyson and Brody chowing down on the fruits

"Greyson say CHEESE!" lol

Jacob and Annie playing in the water table

 

Ethan and his best buddy Addison eating Carleigh's yummy cupcakes!

Just a little messy!

WOW...I think he liked the icing!

Amelya in the pool with Ethan - it was really hot!

We forgot about the popsicles during the party, so the boys all got one after nap!

Ethan called them Shooting Star Watermelon and Blueberry ice pops!

Such a happy man, with his new daycare buddy Brody!

A New Adventure!

We are on vacation this week!  So far the boys are having a blast at Grammie and Poppa's house!  We took the boys out to visit my late Poppa's house before it gets sold and that alone was a great adventure!  

Turns out that my uncle is raising chicken and roosters!  The boys got to go into the hen houses and meet all the chickens and collect the eggs!!

Uncle Paul showing Ethan Blackie

Isn't this one pretty??

Some of the chickens (7 got killed the day before because a coyote broke into the coop! These guys survived the attack)

This Momma had 8 super cute babies!

Ethan's blue egg he collected

I forget this guys name, but he could fly and Logey liked him!

They also got to have a nice swim in Poppa's beautiful pool.

Logey checking out the pool before his swim

Ethan checking the temperature of the pool

 It is so sad for me to see this house being sold, because I have been coming to it since I was a newborn!  I have so many memories at the house and was really looking forward to my kids creating memories there too.  Tragically, my Poppa passed away last fall after a terrible accident.  I can't even begin to list all the memories from his house, but to name a quick few: playing in his creek for hours catching fish and frogs, Standing on the end of the driveway watching the parade go by each summer and then heading to the fairgrounds after for rides and a demolition derby! Walking to the candy store well over a million times! Checking out the turtles and snakes in the quarry.  Playing Nintendo (the first original one!) with Nanna and Poppa.  Playing euchre well into the late hours of the night, and of course GETTING MARRIED THERE!

Today, we boated over to the beach for some swimming and sand play!  (And to collect some stuff for a future daycare craft!!)

Mommy and Logey working on a Sand Castle

Ethan digging the hole for the mote

Logey filling the bucket with sand!

Another new thing that Monkey got to try was TUBING!  I was a little apprehensive about taking him out on the tube, more because I thought he would freak out and get scared.  Well turns out, HE LOVED IT!!!  He was laughing the whole time and couldn't get enough of it!  Grammie only has a pontoon boat, so I knew we wouldn't be going fast or would she be trying to flip us off the tube!  Here are a few pictures to enjoy of mine and Ethan's rides!

Look at that smile on his face!

Almost lost him here!

Vacation is half over already and Monday I start back up with the daycare!  (Which I am actually excited about!) 

Home Made Bubbles = Epic Fail!

So, Logey LOVES bubbles (Bubbies!)  And we were completely out.  I so quickly checked Pinterest for a quick recipe for home made bubbles.  Well all the recipes call for liquid corn syrup, and I did not have any....so then I found one recipe that called for 1 cup of liquid dish soap and 8 cups water.  The person said it didn't work very well, but I figured I'd give it a try.  Logey was miserable and desperate for BUBBIES!

I filled a big jug with a cup of dish soap and lots of water.  So it didn't work at all!  Couldn't get a single bubble to blow!  The boys started getting frustrated and I was annoyed it wasn't work! EPIC BUBBLE FAIL! 

(Insert light bulb above head going off here!)

Due to the lack of rain here (been close to 4 weeks now!) Our rocks under the tree are very dusty and dirty!  So first I gave the boys each a stick from the tree to stir up the mixture and get some bubbles going.  Turns out, I should have just done this from the start because they LOVED it!

Then we started gathering rocks from under the tree.  Monkey was talking about how sparkly they were, but they were not shinny because they were so dirty!  Logey loved dropping them into the jug and Monkey gave them a washing.

We got the hose out and rinsed them off after and then watered the tree...and washed everything else that was in the little rock garden.  (My camera died here, so I have no pictures, but as you can guess, the boys ended up soaking wet and so did I!)

So even though the BUBBIES were a huge fail, we still ended up outside for 2 hours having fun washing rocks!  And we now have the cleanest garden on the block!

Logey saying CHEEEEEESE for the picture!  I love this shot of him







Summer days!

Well the heat wave continued here and we are doing all we can do to stay cool!  Monkey has been away at day camp during the afternoons, and Logey and I have been keeping busy!  The temperature has been above 32 degrees Celsius for over a week now, and today it was up over 42 with the humidex!  The boys and I have been doing LOTS of water play to keep cool, although we are now in a level 2 drought in our city and if we hit Level 3 then we have a water ban!  Looks like with the upcoming weeks weather, we could be hitting Level 3 soon!

So I have been letting the boys take turn "watering" the lawn to try and keep our grass green (ish).  Our grass is by far the greeniest out of all our neighbours, but it sure isn't pretty!  It feels like straw under your feet and you have to wear shoes to walk on it!  As you can tell Logey is really into water (including our deck lol!) 

Of course, they wouldn't be brothers if they didn't try and spray each other with the hose!  Although Monkey was enjoying the cool down!

So somehow in the process, Monkey starting filling up the cooler that was sitting on our deck and said that it was his pool!  I thought it was funny and just went along with it.  Kind of surprised that he could even fit it in! But little did I know...

....They could both fit in it! They played in the cooler 'pool' for over an hour.  Filled it up, poured it out, repeat!  They were nice and cool and entertained! 

Thankfully for the boys, Grammie came down for a visit and brought a real pool for them.  It was much nice and MUCH more spacious! 

Staying nice and cool in the pool!

Monkey was jumping in the pool and Logey was laughing so HARD!  He couldn't get enough of him jumping!

Fun was had by all, we stayed cool and the boys were exhausted by the end of the day!  Bedtime is never easy in this house, but after today it sure was!