Dragons, Apples, and a Kitty

We had a fun and crafty week this past week!  It started with a visit to the Renaissance Festival with some of my family.  All the girls had a great time! Eli slept through a lot of it, but I think he had a good time too.

Once we were home we did a couple crafts to go along with our renaissance experience.  The first was replicating the cute little pipe cleaner flower rings the girls got at the Renaissance festival.  After we finished a few the girls decided to use the pipe cleaners to make all sorts of other things: flowers, trophies, bow and arrows, and chains.

The second was making fire breathing dragons from toilet paper tubes and streamers. We had a little trouble with the girls not being able to blow the streamers, but we fixed it pretty easily.

We also went apple picking with Grandma, and they all really enjoyed that too.  Eli really loved sampling all the apples!

Of course we did a craft to go along with our apple picking too.  We made cute little apples (and some fall leaves at the girls request) by drawing with melting crayons.  I think they turned out really pretty, so we may have to repeat this for other seasons!

The big news of the week though, we got a kitten! It has been 8 years since I have had a kitten; my other kitties are getting a bit older (Creature is 10 and Triscuit is 8).  We brought home a fluffy little Siamese colored boy kitty from my sister.  After much debate on a name the girls have decided to go with Skippyjon Jones.  He is a spoiled kitty who craves attention a lot of the time.  All the kids love him and are always on the look out for him.  He is definitely causing his share of trouble though, and the older kitties (especially Triscuit) aren't big fans.  I am sure given time everyone will be able to live peacefully.

That was pretty much our week other then the little bouts of sickness Nadia and I had. They were pretty short, so at least we didn't have to interrupt too much!

Here are some more random pictures from the past week or so off my little camera (I don't empty it as regularly).

And now we start a new week; hope yours is wonderful!

Welcome SkippyJon Jones

It is official, the new little kitty will be called SkippyJon Jones (Skippy for short although Bria says she will call him Friskito) after the imaginative kitty boy in Judith Byron Schachner's book series.

                                   

Our little guy doesn't have a big boy bed to bounce on, and he doesn't hang out with chihuahua's, but he is definitely busy!  He loves being around people and is very tolerate of the shortest people in the house.  They all love him too.  The other cats are not big fans right now, but I am hoping they will come around in time.

Eli love giving his kitty hugs.

He has been loving the pipe cleaners the girls have been playing with this week.

This did not last long!

You can find him in any box just like any good cat.

He really likes sitting and sleeping in the doll stroller.

I am sure you will be seeing a lot more pictures of the little guy in the future!

Happy 60th Birthday Big Tex!

“Howdy Folks!” is the large and loud southern welcome visitors receive upon entering the Texas State Fair. The booming welcome can only be given by a 52 foot tall famous cowboy, Big Tex.

The State Fair icon celebrates his 60^th birthday this year. After his first debut in 1952, Big Tex has undergone a few changes to comply with his increasing age. These include a nose change, adding a wink to his eyes, as well as grayer hair and wrinkles in his face and hands.

Big Tex has long been a favorite to visitors of the State Fair, easily recognizable by his giant appearance that presides over the entrance. His staple Dickies jeans require 72 yards of denim and are held up by his 50 pound belt buckle. He wears size 70 boots and his hat is 75 gallons!

You can wish Big Tex a happy birthday in person starting Friday, September 28, when the State Fair officially opens for the season. Make sure to take a weekend off and enjoy the carnival rides, fair food, petting zoos, musical entertainment, car shows, and much more that make the Texas State Fair unforgettable!

Melted Crayon Leaves and Apples

Yet another idea I saw somewhere on Pinterest and have been wanting to try.  What I saw was kids coloring on  a candle warmer, but I thought my griddle turned down real low would be even better!  So we set out to make some apples (to follow our apple picking adventure).  I started by having Bria pick out red, orange, yellow, and green crayons.  Then I also had her remove the papers (she has always been good at this).

The lowest setting my griddle has is 150 degrees, so I turned it to that for a few seconds and then turned it off.  It really doesn't have to be too hot to melt crayons.  I places a sheet of waxed paper on the griddle and let the girls draw.

I think they ended up going through 6 or 7 sheets before they lost interest in the griddle.

Then I started cutting apple shapes out of the crayon covered waxed paper. The girls also wanted leaves, so we added some of them.  They tried, but had a hard time getting shapes they liked.

We ended up with a good variety, and the girls decided they should go in their bedroom windows.  Theya re all set for fall!

A quick clean up tip! Clean your griddle while it is still warm, and the crayons are still melty.  I just used a paper towel to collect any wax I could see on the griddle, followed by a wet cloth.  Then clean however you normally would.

DIY Foam Wall Decorations

When decorating Eli's nursery, I was looking for something to put over his crib that fit my robot theme.  I was really hoping to find some gears. I did find some vinyl ones on ebay, but they were pricey and pretty limited in size and color.  So I decided to make my own out of fun foam!  Here is Eli's room before he was born.

The robots are re-positional stickers I found on amazon.

And the gears are fun foam wall stickers I made.

Now, we have had to add a pet net in the far corner above the lamp, so we can control the over abundance of stuffed animals that we have. While putting it up, Nathan knocked down one of the gears. No problem, with the way it was adhered it was easy to repair.  Of course I had to find a new place for it because of the pet net.  I decided to place it on another small wall with nothing on it just out of Eli's reach.  Luckily if Eli does get a hold of it, it is very light weight!

If you want to make your own fun foam wall decorations you have to first start by cutting out your shape.  I used a flash light with a picture of a gear taped to it as a projector to trace my gears on my fun foam.  Of course you can use a real projector or free hand it.  Then cut it out.

My shape (you can see the marks where I drew it, so this is the back).

Lay down newspaper or trash bags and spray the back of your shape with spray adhesive.  I used Elmer's brand, but I would guess most spray adhesives have a temporary bond option.  That is what you want to use.  For the Elmer's brand you let it sit for 3-5 minutes before applying it if you wanted a temporary bond.

Adhere to your surface by firmly pressing all over the shape.

My little gear in its new place.

If you want to remove it simple lift up a corner and pull. It comes off cleanly.  I did practice in the girls closet a couple times to make sure I was letting it sit long enough before adhering it because if it doesn't sit, it doesn't come off well!

So here is the new room; not much has changed. Bria did inform me that she didn't like the gears overlapping because it looked like they were attacking each other.

The green gear used to be above the red one.

Now it has its own little wall where Eli can see it easier.