Kid-Proofing Chairs

I recently had a great opportunity to do a guest post for the At Play Blog at AtPlayOnline.com!

You can find the tutorial for "Kid-Proofing Chairs" here.

While you're there, check out the At Play Blog!  There is everything from crocheting to crafts to knitting and you will find tutorials for just about everything you could ever want to make.  The website is compiled of tutorials and patterns submitted by At Play Blog readers, so you will find the best of the best there!  Make sure to check it often, because these are added every.single.day.  :)

I hope you enjoy my "Kid-Proofing Chairs" tutorial!

Stained Glass Bunting

I've been attempting to do little projects with Super Kid while he is out of school for the summer.  I came across this project at The Artful Parent, who has an amazing blog and ideas!  I'll be posting a few other projects found there as well. Anyway, Super Kid has an overabundance of crayons.  He really has an obsession, I think.  He may get it from his Mama, who may have a slightly unhealthy obsession with office and craft supplies.  Come on, nothing wrong with that! ;) 

I asked him to go through his crayon box and pick out all of the broken crayons and to put them into a Ziploc bag.  He came back with a handful of crayons, which I thought would surely NEVER be enough for this project, but we started got the grater out and went for it. 

FYI: You may want to either 1. sacrifice your grater for this project or 2. buy a cheap grater to use for crafting.  Not thinking about it, I used my grater from my kitchen and it is now officially a crafting grater.  

I apologize for not taking step-by-step pictures of this project, but I did it very similarly to how The Artful Parent did it :)

How I did it:

What you need:

- Crayons (this is a great way to use broken crayons!) 
- Grater (please see "FYI" above)
- Wax paper
- Iron
- Old towel
- Large paper (I used craft paper, but paper grocery bags would work great as well)
- Scissors
- Hole puncher
- Ribbon

What I did:

Step 1: Start grating your crayons.  This will take a little while and I suggest doing it on a covered table and outside!  We somehow made quite the mess doing this step.  You can grate colors of similar shades together over a paper plate and then add that color group to a muffin tin section or separate containers to keep the colors divided.  We did blue and purple together and red and orange together, etc. 

Step 2: Cut wax paper large enough to fold in half and still have enough space to cut a triangle for the bunting.  The pictures under step 4 shows the wax paper folded over, but pre-cut to get an idea of size. 

Step 3: Sprinkle crayon shavings onto one side of the wax paper in different color combinations and patterns.  Try to stay a couple of inches away from the edges or this will leak out when you iron it. 

Step 4: As Super Kid sprinkled the wax paper, I took the ones he was finished with and ironed them.  Before you start ironing, STOP!  I put an old towel on the counter with a large folded paper over it.  I placed the wax paper (which is folded in half!) in between the paper and ironed it.  I had my iron on medium-high.  It didn't take but about 20 seconds to get the shavings to melt.  As I finished them, I hung them with clothes pins to dry until we finished all of them (we did 14 total).

Step 5: Cut your triangles for the bunting. I cut one and then used that one as my cutting template for the others.  You may need to get a little creative on the cutting if the crayons shavings were more abundant on one side.

Step 6: After you have all of your triangles cut, punch holes on the sides for the ribbon. 

Step 7: String your ribbon through your triangles.  We used ribbon we had on hand, so we made two sets of bunting to accommodate our ribbon length.  

Step 8: Hang your bunting and enjoy!  We have our stained glass bunting hanging from our sliding door curtain rod.  It looks so pretty when we open the curtains!

Interview with My Son - 2013

What a better way to restart this blog than by posting Super Kid's latest interview.  I asked him the same questions we asked him last year (except I added a few more).  Here it is: 

Interview with My Son - 2013

When are you (or have you been) most afraid? When I was 4, I was afraid of doing stuff.

What was the happiest day in your life? When we went to see “Turbo.”

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? For the “Uh Oh” box to go bye-bye.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Nothing.

What is the one thing you could not live without? A playroom or a bedroom

What is your favorite movie or show? Turbo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

What cartoon character would you most like to be? Doc McStuffins

What is the worst thing about being 5 years old? I can’t do the stuff I want to do.

What is the best thing about being 5 years old? Having a playroom and doing “bigger” stuff like having a big Jeep!

Describe your perfect day. To get Rita’s and go watch a movie.

What job would like to have when you grow up? A worker like Daddy. 

Who are your best friends and why? Kira, because Kira always plays with me.

What does Mama always say to you? I love you my sweet boy.

What makes Mama happy? When I don’t cry and when I do sweet things for her.

What makes Mama sad? When I cry.

How does Mama make you laugh? When she tickles me.

What was Mama like as a kid? Funny, like me. And she had a pink playroom and seahorse bed.

How old is Mama? 31

How tall is Mama? Bigger than me.

What is Mama's favorite thing to do?  Do laundry.

What does Mama do when you're not around? Go shopping, get me stuff after I go to school.  She gets surprises for me. She feeds Landon. Makes me dinner.

What is Mama really good at? Cleaning house

What is Mama really bad at? Doing Legos

What does Mama do for her job? Work with Daddy.

What is Mama's favorite food? The new food we made that was on my magazine.

If Mama was a cartoon character, who would she be? Doc McStuffins, because you’re a girl. I mean, a lady.

How are you and Mama the same? Sometimes we both wear Saints shirts.

How are you and Mama different? Our hair is different and she’s bigger and I’m smaller.

How do you know your Mama loves you? Because she gives me hugs and kisses and does sweet things for me.

Where is Mama's favorite place to go? To Rita’s and home with me.

What does Daddy always say to you? I love you.

What makes Daddy happy? When I do special things for him.

What makes Daddy sad? When I cry. 

How does Daddy make you laugh? By tickling me by the Logan Tazer. 

 
What was Daddy like as a kid? A silly boy.  

How old is Daddy? 32

How tall is Daddy? 32 tall.

What is Daddy's favorite thing to do? Watch TV. 

What does Daddy do when you're not around? Go to work. 

What is Daddy really good at? Legos. 

What is Daddy really bad at? He's really bad at trying to tickle Mama.  

What does Daddy do for his job? Flies the helicopter.  

What is Daddy's favorite food? Chicken fingers. 

If Daddy was a cartoon character, who would he be? Mickey Mouse.

How are you and Daddy the same? We have the same hair color.

How are you and Daddy different? He's bigger and smarter and he can do whatever he wants. 

How do you know your Daddy loves you? He gives me hugs and give me quarters when I do very good. 

Where is Daddy's favorite place to go?  To the movie theater to see some movies.

If this kid isn't adorable, I don't know what is!  Make this a tradition in your home with your kids!  It's no doubt something that we'll treasure always :)

It's been a little while!

It's been just a little while since my last post, but I'm back for good now! 

Since the last post, Super Husband and I had a new baby, Super Baby, who was born in March 2013.  Super Kid started Kindergarten in the fall of 2012 and graduated in June 2013.  He is now on his way to FIRST GRADE ::jaw drop:: I can't believe how quickly he's growing up.  Super Baby is amazing and is the cutest little guy you'll ever see. All in all, things are great!  We've been busy, but I've been doing projects and other fun things and I'll be trying to catch the blog up on all of them.  

I'm so excited to be back and blogging away about my adventures again!

Interview with My Son - 2012

I've been seeing ideas for doing interviews with kids on Pinterest and decided to do one with my own! Here's how it went:

When are you (or have you been) most afraid? In the dark.

What was the happiest day in your life? When I went to school.

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? A toy.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Nothing.

What is the one thing you could not live without? Mama & Daddy

What is your favorite movie or show? Top Gear

What cartoon character would you most like to be? Mario

What is the worst thing about being 4 years old? Nothing!

What is the best thing about being 4 years old? I play games, play with my toys, play with Mama and Daddy, play Wii with my Mama and Daddy.

Describe your perfect day. I play Wii with my Mama and Daddy and then play toys with my Mama and Daddy.

What job would like to have when you grow up? Spray fire with water and help cats and people. Nevermind, just cats. I want to be a firefighter with a fire truck.

Who are your best friends and why? Will. But everybody at school that are boys and girls are my best friends.

What does Mama always say to you? Go play in your playroom.

What makes Mama happy? When I color pretty pictures and do nice stuff.

What makes Mama sad? When I don't color pretty pictures and don't do nice stuff.

How does Mama make you laugh? When you do silly stuff.

What was Mama like as a kid? She did nice stuff.

How old is Mama? 5? Um. 10.

How tall is Mama? 38 tall.

What is Mama's favorite thing to do? Play with me.

What does Mama do when you're not around? Fun stuff.

What is Mama really good at? Playing Wii.

What is Mama really bad at? Fixing stuff.

What does Mama do for her job? Takes pictures of me.

What is Mama's favorite food? I don't know.

If Mama was a cartoon character, who would she be? Mickey Mouse

How are you and Mama the same? We look like the same.

How are you and Mama different? I do different stuff.

How do you know your Mama loves you? Because.

Because why? Because you love me that much!

Where is Mama's favorite place to go? To Chuck E Cheese and play games with me.
---------------------

Some of his answers had me thinking, "Really?" while I wasn't surprised by others. He's such a sweet kid. This whole interview was worth hearing the answer to this question:

What is the one thing you could not live without? Mama & Daddy

Easter Centerpiece

Super Kid and I threw together this little Easter centerpiece for our breakfast table yesterday. Everything (except the vase, which I had already) came from the Dollar Tree, which made this centerpiece cost a total of $5 and took all of 15 MINUTES!!! We love it!


How I did it:
What you need:
- Small vase - can be square or round
- Jelly beans - how much will depend on the size of your vase. I used one bag.
- Peeps - can be chicks or bunnies - Again, depends on the vase, I used 1 full pack (2 rows)
- Styrofoam floral arranging foam - mine was round, because my vase was round
- Faux flowers
- Foam Easter eggs on sticks (optional) - this was something I found as the Dollar Tree that was super cute. I don't know how else to describe them, LOL

What I did:
I put the styrofoam floral foam in the center of the vase. Then we filled around the styrofoam with jelly beans until it was to the top of the styrofoam, not OVER the top, just to the top rim. Then we arranged our Peeps on top of the jelly beans. Make sure you dust as much sugar off of your Peeps as possible. Otherwise, you'll end up with sugar all over your jelly beans and your vase. Then cut your flowers to the height you want and arrange them into the styrofoam floral form. If you have some cute stick-ins like the Foam Easter egg ones I had, you would add those last.

Voila! A cute, cheap, QUICK Easter centerpiece that the kids are sure to love!

Photography

Last year, I took a short hiatus from my photography. Well, a short hiatus turned into about an 8 month break. I was burnt out... which was the result of a confusing and frustrating shoot last March. Anyway, I'm ready to get back to it! Here's one from a recent shoot...



Just thought I'd share! :)