Keeping My Toddler Busy: Father's Day Key Chain

I spent a total of a dollar on Steve's Father's Day gift. Cai and I were shopping at the Dollar Tree and came across this shrinky dink kit.

                                                

It was a sports kit, but it was easy to  just ignore the sports part and do what we wanted with it. I had seen an idea on Pinterest that looked neat, so we went with it. If you've never heard of shrinky dinks, it's basically just plastic paper that you draw on, cut out, and then back for a minute or so in the oven. It shrinks up into a thick hard piece of plastic.

We traced Cai's little hand. Isn't it funny how he always keeps his little pinky bent?

I gave Cai some markers, and he went to town.

I made it a point to give him a variety of colors, but he still gravitated toward the blues.

I then cut it out and poked a hole through it. The whole poking was a little tricky. We then put it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and baked it in the oven.

It didn't take long for it to shrink up, and Cai enjoyed watching it. He put on his little play pot holder while we did it.

I punched a little star out with a star punch just for fun too. This was the finished result. The kit came with key chains to attach to it. 

Cai was super excited to give it to Steve in bed on Father's Day morning. I didn't take a picture of the gift giving because I chose to just enjoy the moment instead. As a replacement, I thought I'd share my two favorite Father's Day photos.

Steve taught Cai how to use the drill (he was taking our pool down. We're going to try to put a fire pit and seating area there instead, IF we can do VERY inexpensively. I'll keep you updated on that).

And while he worked, Cai ran in the sprinkler for the first time. He actually loved it, contrary to how it looks in this picture! It was a very enjoyable day all around.

End of the School Year Crazy

It's that time of year. The last few weeks of school. I'm sure I'm not the only person with a million things on my agenda. As a teacher, I have a million things here and at home. Don't get me wrong, most of these things are not stressful things. It's just the sheer volume of them.

Some of the highlights so far:

• Our schools's spring program, a production of Esther-Ordinary Faith (the story of Esther). Personally, I think this was the most entertaining program we've done so far, filled with puns, jokes, and even some flirtations. I also think it more clearly stated its biblical message than any of the other ones I've been a part of. I created all of the costumes which was quite enjoyable, albeit stressful. Even the night of, there was lots of pinning and cutting and tucking and tying. Craziness.

• My best pal came to visit! I can't tell you how much I needed this. She lives states away, and this is only the third time I have seen her since spending a week with her last year waiting for her firstborn to be born. Her husband couldn't join her this time, but her little boy did, and it was wonderful to see the two of them. We were able to snag two whole evenings together! It was a much needed time of fellowship. It's hard to believe that these posts were made not so long ago.

• Currently, my house is filled with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law (Steve's younger sister), sister-in-law (Steve's brother's wife), nephew, and niece. It's a little hectic, but wonderful to have family visiting. I only wish I didn't have to work while they're here. Lauren, Steve's sister, will be moving in with us while attending college in the area. She needed to come for the weekend to start getting her room and bathroom painted and go to orientation at school. Everyone else came for the fun of it! Not only is it great to be with the grown ups, but I can tell you how nice it is to snuggle with my little niece (one month old) and watch Steve giggle with our nephew (1 1/2 yrs). I LOVE it.

• My birthday is tomorrow, and although I'm not particularly looking forward to it, we are having a family get together (not directly related to my birthday, but who cares) with my mom's side of the family. There were potato balls, gravy, and children, oh my! YUM!

Summer Projects

I plan to use this blog as a place to post my ideas, plans, and projects and hopefully pictures of the results of those projects. School is just about done, and I will only be working seventeen hours a week, so I am looking forward to a summer of fun projects. In fact, I have started a few already.

• refashion an old men's dress shirt into a cute blouse for myself (found the tutorial on somebody else's blog
• switch the bookshelves in my kitchen and my office so that I can make better use of the shelves
• get some of my china and tea cups out of storage in my parents basement and move them to the shelves in my kitchen
• finish a cushion for the window seat in my classroom
• finish the blanket I'm in the middle of crocheting
• buy some posterboard and make some art for my office and bedroom walls
• make some homemade curtains for my office and bedroom

I started this post a couple of days ago, and I feel like I had more ideas then than I do now. I really can't wait to get started. I'm going to try to post parts of the projects along the way.