Play Kitchen, Take Two

After Shelby went to bed tonight, I took another stab at the recycled play kitchen. I opened up the box seams, turned it inside out and hot glued it back together so the printed surface was hidden inside. I spruced up the outside with some paint and configured a faucet out of a paper towel tube and a spout from an empty detergent bottle. I still need Scott to drink another Coke so I can add another sink knob. I think Shelby will like it. 

Crafty Monday II

Behold, the world's saddest play kitchen... made from trash! Ever since we went to IKEA a few weeks ago, Shelby has been asking for a play kitchen. It's pitiful! We told her that Santa might bring her one (he is definitely bringing her one) but she doesn't quite grasp Santa, Christmas or the fact that she has to wait until December. 

So what did we do? With about 30 minutes, an empty box and a pair of scissors (I wish I at least had an Xacto knife) we made a makeshift play kitchen, complete with plastic storage container sink, working oven door and Sharpie-d on stove burners.  Aluminum foil covering the plastic lid of a strawberry carton = baking tray. Oatmeal cream pies cut from an empty box = "biscuits" according to Shelby. It might not be the most beautiful or clever toy ever, but she loved it and played with it all evening. 

Check out this mom's blog for some incredible cardboard and recycled toys that are actually beautiful, functional and not as sad as looking as my play kitchen. We've enjoyed crafty Mondays and hope to continue making fun things, painting and getting messy! 

Fun Weekend

We had a great, low-key weekend before football kicks off this Saturday! On Friday, we ate dinner at our favorite new local BBQ joint. Shelby regularly asks to go there - "go to bah-bah-que place?" she says. I can't blame her ... their food is delicious! 

On Saturday, I finally used a spa gift certificate that Scott got me a while ago (maybe Valentine's Day?) and had a relaxing massage while Scott and Shelby played at Stone Mountain. That night, we got a babysitter and had a fun night out in Decatur. Every once in a while, it's so nice to eat dinner and have drinks at a normal later hour and be out and about with other adults! 

On Sunday, we made a late summer visit to the pool (it's been so cloudy and rainy lately it seems like we haven't been in weeks) to soak up some of the last days of summer. After an early pizza dinner with Mimi and Bobby, we went out for ice cream to the Frosty Caboose - Shelby's favorite. 

Mimi's coming back over this Saturday while we get another kid-free outing to the first football game of the season. I know we will enjoy it, but we are also a little sad to be leaving Shelby at home since she has been really into football lately! She has a children's book about Hairy Dawg that she loves to read, points out Hairy and Uga on every piece of UGA mail we receive and notices football on TV and says "football team" without our prompting. There will be plenty more games to take her to and it will be nice when we can stay out all day or go to a game without having to break for a nap. 

Popsicles

I picked up a popsicle mold this weekend and today we enjoyed "homemade" popsicles (frozen juice). Shelby took one bite and declared "It's juicy!" I'm always pleasantly caught off guard when she surprises me with a new word used correctly and in context. I didn't realize she knew the word "juicy" but I guess she does! When she was done, she said "I'm sticky!"

Ready for Football!

Crafty Monday

Shelby and I spent this afternoon painting and turning an egg carton from the recycling bin into a caterpillar creation. Or as Shelby says "padda pulla." She LOVES to paint and asks to paint nearly every day.

Animal-tastic Weekend II

Animal enrichment weekends continue. This morning, we went to a church carnival at our nearby Presbyterian church. It was free, less than a mile away and promised a bounce house... sold! It was a pretty legitimate carnival that included all the high points: bounce house, spin art, face painting, free food and snow cones. You really can't go wrong! The absolute best part was the petting zoo. Unlike the petting zoo at the library last week, this one was an hands-on animal free-for-all. A pretty big enclosure housed goats, a pig, ducks, chickens, rabbits and even a small sheep. Add in about a dozen kids and you get barnyard chaos! I was having a great time (Baby goats are so cute. I want one.) but Shelby would not detach from my hip for a second.



The highlight of the day for her was getting her face painted. She watched a couple of other kids do it and when it was her turn, she proudly sat in the chair and asked for "ladybug with sparkles." Um, OK Miss Priss. We stayed there all morning and after Shelby downed about two and a half free hot dogs for lunch, we went home for naps and then went to a birthday party. Pizza at our favorite pizza place for dinner and then home to bed.... a pretty good day. These laid back weekends are fun but I'm ready for football to start! 

Class Picture

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

A Summer Evening

Some portraits from a summer evening enjoyed outdoors. Click to enlarge. 

Animal-tastic Weekend

We had a weekend full of animal encounters! On Saturday morning, our local library hosted a animal education program featuring a "petting zoo" (not really) with iguanas, snakes, a tarantula, a chinchilla and various rabbits. Basically, an animal educator takes a bunch of different animals out, talks about each one and then - if they're not too scary or wiggly like a snake - lets the kids hold them in their laps or pet them. Shelby was interested in the animals but didn't like them to get to close.

The weather was gorgeous on Sunday morning, so we headed out to Zoo Atlanta to take advantage of our membership. The cooler temperatures meant that a lot of the animals were out and about - we were able to see the tigers and pandas up close! They lounged and played right next to the glass viewing area. It was great! I could watch pandas all day. We had lunch there and then headed home so Shelby could take a nap. 

It was a busy weekend - we also had a pizza party at the pool on Friday night to celebrate back to school and Papa and Glee came over on Saturday night to go out to dinner. We had barbecue and then hit the Tucker Cruise In on the way home - we've managed to catch all three cruise ins they've had this summer and it's always fun to wander around downtown when the roads are closed to traffic and the crowds are out. We of course had to stop for a cupcake! 

Beach Video

Here's a cute video that Scott put together from our beach trip. He had a great time playing around with his waterproof camera!

Papa - to watch it on fullscreen, begin playing the video and hover your mouse over the video and then click on the Full Screen icon in the bottom right corner of the video. It looks like a square.

Surprise!

Here's a cute video from the beach. Our rental cottage had this sock monkey jack in the box in a cabinet and Shelby loved it. She acted surprised every time we made him jump out, even though she figured out when it was coming. It was really adorable.

Popsicles on a Summer Evening

Wrightsville Beach Adventures

We just got back earlier this evening from a quick but fun-filled trip to Wrightsville Beach. We had a great time this year - Shelby is old enough now to enjoy a number of traditional Wrightsville firsts - first boat ride, first swim in the sound, first ice cream outing, marina-front dining, first kayak ride and first duck chase. It was a great trip filled with memories! I can't wait until she's old enough to fish, ski and do all the other things we did growing up. 

We only had time to stay for three nights and I wish our trip could have been longer. We're going to the gulf next month, so it was nice to do a quick beach getaway before then. Every evening, Shelby couldn't stop talking about the things we had done that day. At bedtime, she'd say something like "Had fun on the boat" - it was so cute! She was also great at remembering everyone's names and faces.

You can see more pictures from our trip in the new Flickr gallery.

Library Fun

We stopped by our local library yesterday to vote and stayed for a while checking out books. Shelby was super excited to get the voting sticker and even more excited to read this children's book about The Woz. Scott is so proud of our little Apple geek. She's wearing her pajamas because it was pajama day at school. For some reason, the opportunity to stay in her pajamas all day made her really happy and she couldn't stop talking about it. It was really cute.

Today was the last day in Toddler 1 and Shelby will "graduate" to Preschool 1 next Monday. It's always sad to leave a class and move on - her teachers have been great this year and we will miss them dearly! She is looking forward to going to her new class and we are looking forward to a couple days off to visit family in North Carolina! Beach, here we come!