Munchkin Monday: Family Traditions

 I thought I would take a some time today and talk about one of our family traditions that we do with our kids. But first, I want to take you through a little of what happened with my lovely children this week. 

 In case you can't tell, that's diaper cream. I saw them at first on the couch being very quiet and painting each others faces with it. And the couch. Ahhhh!! Yes I still took a picture, it was to funny to miss. But we are still trying to remove the cream from the couch. So any ideas you have would be appreciated.

Now onto our tradition! I love going to the State Fair, always have. The fried food, smelly animals, and not so great entertainment just makes me happy. So of course the boys have been going with us since they were born. Our oldest came for the first time just a little after three months after he was born.

So how we commemorate our time is caricatures! It is such a fun way to document growing up and a fun family time. Above is the man who has done it every year so far.

 Here is 2010.

 2011

 2012

And this year. Aren't they fun? We are still working on ideas of how to display them but until then just having them done every year is such a blast. So what is your family tradition? If you can't think of one, start one! Make memories with your kids that they will remember throughout their lives. It doesn't have to be complicated to be memorable.

Munchkin Monday: Back to School Countdown

I don't have any school age kids. I know, I know, why in the world would I make this? Because. It's adorable. Right? I saw this idea on (where else) Pinterest and I couldn't help myself. The original idea came from the blog This and That.

I found a simple drawing of a school bus on Google image, picked out my paper and got started.

I started by cutting out my bus with an exact-o knife. I cut out the wheels separately because I knew I wanted them to be a different color. Your choice if you want to do that or not. I think cutting out the windows is a must.

Then I taped the bus to my paper and got to cutting again. I decided to flip my bus over so you could see the cute flower print on the final product.

I happened to have these cardboard letters from another product and colored them with sharpie for the side of the school bus. I also colored the wheels black. (I had no black paper)

I used this niffty tape I got from staples to stick everything on.

Then I made two inch squares of orange paper and taped/glued the count down numbers to them. (The numbers are just like the cardboard letters from above)

I attached small rectangles of Velcro to each square using hot glue.

And attached the other side to the green paper, all equal distances apart.

The finishing touches were writing the words, (the worst looking part in my opinion, I am not a huge fan of my hand writing) and adding the ribbon on the back to hang it. Just as a side note I used numbers 0 - 9 and made 1 and 2 twice. You could count down from 30 days if you wanted to. (To big of a number to start with in my opinion but 12 numbers looked better on my page than 11. :)

Hope this gets you and your kids in the mood for school. You could even involve them in the process of making it. Everyone have all their school supplies yet? I love school supplies!!

Munchkin Monday: Simple Paint Project

This little activity was inspired by Andrew begging to help me with a painting project I am working on in my house. So while I am not willing to let him help paint the walls of my house yet I still wanted my boys to get in on the painting fun. This is nothing ground breaking. It is paint, paper, brushes, and the outdoors.

The boys each picked a color of paint at the store and I picked the white as kind of a neutral contrast.

Yes they are naked. Sorry if that offends. Apparently I need to find a way to make some smocks. :)

Look at my little artists. They had so much fun and it turned out to be a really good lesson in mixing colors too.

 Jacobs Masterpeice

Andrews Masterpeice

And here is whats left of the paint. Explore and create with your kids. Make memories that will last, and then go give them a bath!!!

Munchkin Mondays: Summer Fun at Station Park with Radio Disney

Hey everyone I just wanted to share this fun activity with you. Station Park in Farmington, Radio Disney, and  Macaroni Kid is teaming up this summer the first Monday evening of every month for Family First Mondays.

From 5:30pm to 7pm you can go enjoy free family fun. I haven't been to one yet but we are planning on being at the next one on July 1st for the Beach Party Bash! It would be fun to see you all there.

The below came from the Macaroni Kid website. If you want to see more here is the link.

FAMILY FIRST MONDAYS

Radio Disney and Macaroni Kid are hosting Free Family Fun on the first Monday of every month in The Village at Station Park! 

July 1 Beach Party Bash
Aug 5 Planes’ Powwow
Sept 2 Sofia the First Shindig
Oct 7 Doc McStuffin Day

For all of you who have never seen or heard of Macaroni Kid it is a great website and group that keeps track of and creates fun activities for kids in the Farmington-Layton area. You can sign up to get a weekly e-mail from them listing all the activities in your area. Check it out and I hope I will see some of you there.

Munchkin Monday: One last gift

We love books and store time at our house. I found this fun new way to read stories.

We got these for my kids last year and they have been a hit all year long.

Interactive story books. You turn them on and read the store, they give responses during the book.

We have Jingle, Cooper, and Abigail and they are all part of the family. We hope to be adding Bell to the family sometime soon. 

check out all they can do, you and your kids will love them.  

To see what Jingle and the others can do click here

You can find all of them at Hallmark or Walmart now has some of them but not all.

You can find this awesome post linked up to the following Fantastic Parties:

Wildcard Wednesday: Personalized Plates & cups

Are you looking for a fun personalized gift to give someone?

These are so much fun and so cute!

My parents look my 2 older kids while we were in the hospital having baby Tinsley and I wanted to give them a cute personalized thank you gift for the kids.

We went to the dollar store got 2 plates and 2 cups for the kids to color.

You will also need permanent markers to color with.

After your creation is finished you will need to bake it in the over on 350 degrees for 30 min.

Remove and let it cool 

 These are good to use but need to be hand washed. When washed in the dishwasher some of it came off .

 Have fun creating your personalized gift for the ones you love!

You could also do these for a birthday party and they get to take them home as their favors. What a fun thing to do for those crafty kids.

You can find this awesome post linked up to the following Fantastic Parties: