Safety Scissors and Glue

Last week I almost picked up scissors and glue for Caitlin during the back to school sales. I decided against it because I didn’t think she was quite there yet. I was wrong!

We had done some finger painting the day before to make a graduation card for my cousin. I pulled out some decorative edge scissors and glue to make the artwork into a card and Caitlin was thrilled!

“My safety scissors and glue!”

(Please ignore the dried paint on the kids’ table. I learned last December that it will wipe up with a baby wipe even once dry!)



They must have used “safety scissors and glue” at school because it is not a phrase I’ve used before. She seemed to know what to do!



Of course Sean wanted to play, too!






She’s made several of these artworks, but she manages to pull the paper off after it is dry before I can get one to mail to a family member. Aunt Julie has put in a special request.



It looks like we have an artist in the making!

Home

Today is my last day of summer vacation. Monday is back to work. It always seems to go by too fast! I was working in my classroom a couple of days this week as I watched some webinars. I showed a coworker all the projects I’d started and planned to get done before school starts. She looked at me and asked if I though I was going to be able to get it all done before the kids come. She might be right. It always gets done though!

Regardless, yesterday and today are all about home. One of Morgan’s sisters is in town and the kids are beyond excited to have Auntie June here to visit. I am not sure what today will bring, but yesterday Caitlin got to show off what she’s been learning in swim lessons. We had a blast!

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Speaking of “home” I realized that I hadn’t posted pictures of the kids playhouse. We’d talked about buying the house for the kids last Christmas. It had been on sale and was a really good buy. Once we hesitated the price jumped and we decided it was too much to spend.

When I got an e-mail earlier this summer advertising a sale we decided to jump at it. It was on sale for $99 at Walmart. Shipping was also $99 but site-to-store was free. Grammy offered to contribute to the cost. It sounded perfect.

We got the e-mail that it had arrived and I sent the Irishman off to pick it up. Then came the frantic call. It didn’t fit in the car. We called a friend to help. It didn’t fit in her SUV either. He taken it out of the box and had all but the base. He went back in the store to ask them to hold it for him while we tried to figure out how to get it home.

We were on the phone trying to find a vehicle to borrow. There was a plan in place when the Irishman decided to take matters into his own hands.

He WALKED home from Walmart carrying the base of the house. That is almost 2 miles walking down the street carrying a clubhouse.

Talk about Superman.

The door and windows open and close. The doorbell rings. The phone rings.

They LOVE it!

Home Sweet Home!

12 Months of Sean

Birthday Cake, Take 2

I wasn’t sure how Caitlin would react to Sean’s birthday. She is just starting to “get” the whole birthday thing and I figured there would be some jealousy over the attention her brother was getting. I decided to recruit her as a helper and she jumped at the chance.

“We going to get a RED cake and RED balloons and RED presents.”

Um, no.

We were at Publix last week and they were out of sprinkle cookies in the bakery. This led to our biggest public meltdown to date. She was bawling and screaming, “SPRINKLE COOKIE!” as I darted around as fast as I could to get our groceries. As I got to the cake mix all crying immediately stopped.

“I going make Seanie a birthday cake.”

It was all over. Just like that.

I managed to talk her into sprinkle cake instead of red cake. I had some Mickey Mouse cupcake liners I’d bought on clearance. I used a mini loaf pan to make Sean a smash cake of his own.

For the next two days all Caitlin could talk about was making Sean’s cake. After opening presents it was time to bake.

She was thrilled! For dinner that night we had Sean’s favorite: meatballs. He really enjoyed himself! As an added bonus we moved him from the high chair to the booster seat.

After a quick clean up it was time for cake!

After all the fuss over making a cake, she only ate a bite of hers. Oh, and NO icing. Just sprinkles.

Sean on the other hand was all about the cake and icing!

Grammy called and we were able to set up a video chat so that she could join in the fun.

Kisses from Caitlin

Sean had a blast!

We loved watching our happy little birthday boy!

Birthday Morning

Caitlin was up first on Sean’s birthday. She and I snuck downstairs and I showed her the surprises waiting for her brother. She and Daddy and gone to the dollar store to buy balloons after dinner the night before so we got those ready. She was our birthday helper.

We’d set up the ball pit in the middle of the living room for the day. Sean wasn’t sure what to think about it all! It wasn’t long though before he was diving in and out of the balls.

Caitlin discovered quickly that there was such thing as too much bouncing. She took a tumble and needed a ‘boo boo buddy.’ Thankfully it wasn’t anything too serious and we all learned our lesson. ; )

After a while we decided to open presents. Caitlin helped Sean with the farm from Grammy.

He loves it!

We weren’t sure what to get Sean. We’d talked about getting him new riding toys or one of those play cubes with beads. When the Irishman went over to pick up some toys our friends’ twins outgrew we found that they had handed down the exact toys we had been talking about getting for Sean. In the end we decided it was foolish to buy them. Sean doesn’t seem to mind!

The riding toys are faded from the sun, but we were going to put them outside anyway.

He is just the right age for all the toys. Everything is getting played with.

Even better is that Caitlin wants to play with them too so they are *almost* playing together.

Though of course nothing says, “Happy Birthday Sean”

more than balloons!

Birthday Cake, Take 1

The initial plan had been to meet the Irishman for a picnic lunch. At the last minute we decided to meet at Duffy’s for lunch. Their lunch specials are my newest favorite and kids eat free on Wednesdays. Sean enjoyed mac and cheese, broccoli, and apple sauce.

Caitlin has ordered the $1.99 decorate your own ice cream sundae on previous trips. I remembered that they also had a “decorate your own cupcake” for the same price. We ended up ordering the premade cupcakes due to time, but once they heard it was his birthday they came out with this:

He seemed a little overwhelmed at first, but he got into it.

He still wasn’t sure what to do with it, but it seemed like a good thing.

Caitlin was happy to come over and help Sean blow out the candle.

She also gave pointers on how to decorate. By this point in the day we'd made Sean's cupcakes at home but hadn't decorated them yet. Caitlin was thrilled for a bonus cupcake to decorate! (Even if Sean stole all the sprinkles!)

There was icing everywhere, but it was great!

We did the whole cake thing again at home after dinner, but that’s okay.

You only turn 1 once!

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I expect at least 3 other birthday posts, but this was the quickest to get ready. The kids and I stayed home today only leaving the house to meet Daddy for a picnic lunch at his work. I love a lazy day!