We had so much fun at Color Me Mine. I had always thought it looked fun, but am cheap frugal. While we were out visiting grandparents they wanted to take the boys to make their own cups to have at their house.
What fun we had! The boys loved it! It was even fun for my two year old. Was it Pricey? A bit. We paid $12 for each cup. They also have a sitting fee, but luckily we went when they were having a buy one get one free special.
So basically you show up, no appointment necessary and pick an item to paint. They have all kinds of stuff from cups and mugs to cute little animals and cars. Then you get a paint tray and put the colors you want on them (there are hundreds to choose from).
You finish painting and just leave it right on the table. No clean up necessary (my favorite part!). It takes about a week for them to put in their ovens and finish it up, but they really turned out great. Very good quality.
I really want to go back and paint a cute lizard to put on my back patio. So fun!
Anyway, if you have been thinking of doing this you should give it a try. We had a great time. I would definitely call ahead and try to go when they are having specials.
Ella and I had a great time learning the letter A! She loves all the crafts that come along with the learning.
The first thing we did was take A-pple Jacks and create an A.
Used Apple Jacks to create an A.
Next, was my favorite part! We created an alligator “A” that I learned from this cute blog! All you need is green, white and another color paper and some googly eyes. That’s it!
Our alligator "A"
Here she is working on it!
Ella working on her alligator.
Next, Ella did a great job practicing writing the letter A on her aquadoodle. I think EVERY kid needs one of these. They never get old. Here is the one we have.
Using her A-quadoodle to make an A.
Lastly, we read Aladdin! She loved it!
We read Aladdin.
It was a great day and we had an awesome time!!
Check out how we taught our kids all the other letters!
It seems like three little kiddies hop around between houses on my street. One of them happens to be my three year old that two sweet five year olds include {insert my heart melting here}. There is only so much “basement” fun you can have. Well, one fun activity the neighbor had for them was to wash her car! The car may have still been dirty when they finished, but they at least had fun doing it!
She was loving life!
This seriously made her day!
Washing the car. She loved the hose!
It was still dirty when they finished, but they had fun!
I will say that it was more fun for Ella doing it with other kids. It also seemed to make my life a little easier! I highly recommend a neighborhood for your little ones. I know we love ours!
Even though Ella was a little under the weather today, she still had a lot of fun learning the letter “D.” You say craft and that girl comes running with bells on! Here are a few cute things we did.
First we started by making a letter D and turning it into a dinosaur.
Here’s the beginning:
Learning the letter D.
….and the end!
Ella's dinosaur "D". This was REALLY easy. Just cut out a letter D, five triangles, tail, neck, head and legs. Put a googly eye on and you're golden!
Then, we added the “D” card to her flash card “completed” pile! These flashcards have really come in handy! You can order them here. I’ve found that they are really helpful and I make learning her letters into a game!
D flashcard
Recently, we attended a wedding with a D-olphin show. The girls didn’t go with us, so we took a video for them! Here is the video she got to watch.
Lastly we took the D-og for a walk.
Ella walking the dog.
By the end of the night, she could tell us what “D” sounded like and several things that started with “D.” She even came up with d-octor on her own. Kids just love it when you spend time with them and love crafts.
We are having a blast out here in Utah visiting all the family we have. We have mostly been staying in Heber City with my in-laws where they boys get to help Grandpa with the horses, grandma with the gardening, and help with chores around the property. It has been really good for the kids and they have had a lot of fun as well.
They are really working hard on becoming REAL cowboys! First they got their hats so they would look official and now they are working on some cowboy adventures!
I took them to their Great Grandfather’s Ranch in Coalville, Utah this week. He has a beautiful cabin in the mountains surrounded by his 320 acres of hills and pastures. So fun! He taught Casey how to shoot (just a BB gun… he’s only 7yrs old after all).
They used some soda cans as targets and had a great time! Casey never hit his target, but he loved it anyway!
Great Grandpa showing him how it's done! He hit the target right away!
Showing Casey how to work the gun.
Here he goes!
Happy with almost success... he missed, but a gust of wind came and blew the can they were shooting at on the ground. Casey thinks that should count as a hit.
The younger boys didn’t get to learn to shoot, but they did have a blast climbing the big hill next the the cabin, falling in the muddy creek (pronounced crick in these parts) and climbing all over the old tractor.
I got a lot of practice with my camera… my two year old now hides his face the moment he sees me pull out my camera. The little stink! I have to be quick with him!
Tyson thinks he is the man up on that tractor.
One of the few pics of Andy I could get!
Andy loved helping close the gates to keep the cows in the right pasture. I was sneaky and took this pic with my 300mm lens while standing really far away on the porch of the cabin.
The boys with their Great Grandpa. This will forever be a cherished memory of mine. Notice Andy eating a cookie... it was the only way I could convince him to be in the picture!
It wasn't all cowboy stuff... Great Grandpa also drove them all around his property on his ATV. The boys sure think he is a pretty cool Grandpa! Great Grandpa, who is now 83 years old is still A LOT of fun!!!
This summer we have set off on an adventure! First we drove across the country in our mini-van… no joke. Three boys, me and the hubby, and our dog Koda. We started in Northern Virginia (Washington DC area) and ended in Utah. The kids did great in the car and we had a good time being silly, watching movies, and singing songs!
We made it to Utah on day 3. Heber City, Utah to be exact. When we arrived, Grandpa took the boys to pick out their own cowboy hats to wear around the ranch all summer! The boys had so much fun trying on hats!
Afterward we got a lot of really good cowboy pics around the ranch! Here are a few of my favorites…
This little guy continues to be such a ham long after the other boys are sick of me taking pics of them.
We love this one of our two year old because it captures the essence of his grouchy personality.
More posts to come on how the teach these city boys from the DC area how to work on a ranch! We will be staying here for several weeks then will be off to Florida… another long drive back across the country!
So my six year old has been begging for quite a while now to sell lemonade. I have been crazy busy with moving and kept distracting him and putting him off. I finally gave in this week.
Why in the world didn’t I let them do this sooner??? Seriously!!!!! It kept them so busy!!! I would let them have one every single day if it didn’t bug the neighbors!
The hardworking adorable boys waiting anxiously for cars to drive by!
They spent all day coloring signs… really nice detailed signs! Apparently they are more motivated to really do a good job if they think it will make them more money!$!$!
So after working all day on signs they set up a little table with cups and waved and jumped at every car that drove by… really the cutest thing ever!
I decided that anyone who drives past a lemonade stand without stopping is completely heartless!
Working hard on his sign!
We turned the lemonade stand into a math lesson. The kids counted the money and then divided it up evenly. They also figured out how much profit they made after subtracting the cost for the lemonade.
The boys each ended up with $3.75 after an hour and half of selling 25 cent cups of juice. They were very excited!
Not bad huh! The kids were busy, I got tons of stuff done, and they actually learned something!
Father’s Day is so fun! I make it a point to do something fun and creative for father’s Day. This year I asked each of the kids a few questions about their Dad and wrote them down for them. Some of the answers were pretty cute!
A fun picture idea to attach to your questionnaire
Love these little guys!
If you are interested in my template for the questionnaire, email Jamie@encahntedmommy.com and I can forward it to you.
Tomorrow my baby turns 3, even though she claims she is already 3 since she had her party last weekend.
She's 3 tomorrow!
I wanted to do something fun with her today since tomorrow we are traveling out of town for a graduation. I knew she would have fun at Frying Pan Park (located in Herndon, VA) and it would be a great spot for pictures. It is also a great free spot (unless you pay for a wagon ride or carousel ride which is still very reasonably priced).
We were able to see lots of fun animals!
We saw goats!
We saw baby pigs eating.
Cows too!
We also saw roosters!
I also didn’t miss any photo opportunities on this beautiful farm!
A cool old truck!
Even the baby ran around!
It is such a great place for photos!
Sweet Girl!
If you are ever in or around the NoVa area, I highly recommend it here! It is such a great family place and you actually feel like you’re in the country in the middle of a city!
I have been working on this baby shower ever since a certain favorite mommy found out she was finally having a girl! Like me, she has three boys and her and I have always joked and dreamed of having that little girl in pink and ruffles one day! For her, the dream is coming true and I was all about having a fun frilly shower to celebrate!
I am moving in 2 weeks and didn’t have a lot of stuff left unpacked, but needed some easy and elegant decorations to make the house look great for the shower. I hung tulle up around the entry way stair case and put cute little flowers in it. It turned out really nice. I also have a fabulous friend who does flower arranging who put together a few gorgeous pieces to place around the room.
These cream puffs stole the show! They were awesome!
