Dragons and Damsels

Bubba loves pretending to be a Knight in Shining Armour. He also has an interest in bugs though thankfully not as much as he likes dinosaurs.

The other day we went to a program called "Dragons and Damsels at the Pond." I wasn't too sure about it since it was an evening program and the Pond is a 40 minute drive. I am so glad we did it though. We both enjoyed it quite a bit so it was worth the drive and late bedtime. 

I never knew there was such a thing as a damselfly. They are smaller than dragonflies and when they land, they fold up their wings. Dragon flies keep their wings open when they land. The instructor said there are over 500 different types of dragon and damselflies around this particular pond and over 3000 varieties worldwide.

Besides Bubba and I there were only two other people, another boy and his mother. I think it was great that there were so few people because the two boys got to do a lot of hands-on "work" and personal attention. They actually caught both a damselfly and a dragonfly. They also caught some little tiny fish and a few tadpoles. Thankfully, I brought Bubba's boots so he got to wade into the lake a little bit. I'm sure if his father had been there, he'd have been able to go in further but I didn't want him to slip and fall in...

I've really been enjoying all the classes and courses we've taken at the various recreation centers in the county. I can't believe how much they offer. It's too bad we didn't find out about them sooner but I'm so glad we've had them to keep us busy while Daddy is in Iraq...

Dinosaurs Galore!

Bubba LOVES dinosaurs. He's not obsessed like some kids I've seen but he sure does enjoy talking and reading about them as well as playing without large assortment of dino toys.

The last two weekends we've attended dinosaur themed events at two of the recreation centers in the area. The first one was an outside event where we learned a little about dinosaurs and then got released into the park area to make a dinosaur fossil, to dig for dinosaur fossils (they were actually marine fossils from TX) that we got to keep and to generally run around and play. We also got to look at a pond where there were hundreds of baby tadpoles.

The second event was an inside event where the kids got to play with a ton of different dinosaur figurines for a bit, then listen to three dinosaur stories, and then they got to make their own dinosaur fossils. Since Bubba had just done this the weekend before, he was an expert at fossil making and said "I can do it by myself, Mommy." What a wonderful thing to see them working on something by themselves. After we made the fossil, we went outside to dig for other fossils. Each child was given a quadrant of the dig zone and was able to find one or two fossils. When put together, they made two incomplete baby T-Rex skeletons. The instructor noted there are only about six "complete" T-Rex skeletons in the world and even those are really only 90% or so complete.

One of the interesting things I learned at these events is that the Brontosaurus that I grew up with as the main long-necked dinosaur never actually existed! It was made up of a body of one type of dinosaur and the head of another so was never a true dinosaur at all. Crazy! Looking up this information on the internet it seems as if way back in 1903 the scientists knew the Brontosaurus was actually the same thing as an Apatosaurus. Yet, somehow the brontosaurus name lived on...

Bubba had a good time. We got to explore two different recreation centers and we made lots of cool fossils. The instructor gave us a couple extra hunks of dough since we helped clean up so we made "Matthew Fossils" (hand prints) when we got home. Looking at his hand prints made me a little sad - I can't believe how big he is getting. But he's so much fun!! :)

Responsibilities Flip Chart

I love Pinterest. During nap time or when I can't sleep at night, I like to look at all the awesome craft, parenting, travel, etc ideas...there is so much out there! I've actually done quite a few of my pins and most of the time even take pictures so I can blog about them. I just haven't been doing a lot of blogging lately...

One of the things I finally got around to doing was the Chore Chart. I've pretty much been obsessed with the idea ever since I saw the Pin months ago...You can find the tutorial here.

I actually modified it a bit and used colored file folders as the base. I thought that would make it easier but in the end it took me quite a bit longer than I had imagined.


You can also see the printing on the inside of the folders. I thought about trying to cover it up somehow but in the end, just wanted to get it done.

Since he is only 3 years old I figured five responsibilities per chart was enough. There are some others I could have added like "Potty" for night time, but I decided it was better to have just a few and hope we could make/keep things like going potty part of the bath time ritual. 

I chose a yellow folder for the morning (good morning, sunshine!) and a blue for the evening. Using free clip art from the internet made it pretty simple and I then added some color with color pencils (our printer is perpetually low on ink). So, when it's open you have the pictures as well as the words for each responsibility. Once that responsibility is accomplished, you "flip the flap" and see that it is "Done!" Last night, we opened all the flaps for the morning so they'd be ready to go. This morning we opened all the flaps for the evening so when we go up for bed, it's ready to go.

It was fun to see the finished product - I really like to do things that end up nice and are going to be useful. Bubba helped me figure out where we going to hang them and we used them last night and this morning. He seems pretty excited about them in general and looks forward to "flipping the flaps" as he accomplishes each responsibility.

Tooth Brushing Chart

Quite a while ago, I saw a really cool tooth brushing chart on Pinterest. When I went to the blog post on Dukes and Duchesses (you can see it here), I noticed in one of the comments that the author said she might be willing to make and sell the charts if people were interested. As soon as I saw that, I knew I had to have one.

We've been working on getting Bubba to get in the habit of brushing his teeth every morning and night. Sometimes, life gets in the way and it's easy to forget the teeth. I thought with a chart like this on the mirror, it would help keep us all on track.

I got the chart in the mail yesterday. I've never worked with transfer paper so luckily one of the e-mails included directions. It still didn't come off as well as easily as I would have liked but I finally got it. Then, I was so excited to get it on the mirror that I probably could have been a little more exacting. You can see in the not so great picture that it's a bit crooked. But "perfect is the enemy of good," right?

I think Bubba will really like it. He seems to be like me in that he likes to mark things off or in other ways show he has accomplished something. I've still got to put the marker on the mirror for him to use but other than that, we're ready to start keeping track/marking off tooth brushing.

Dinosaur Birthday Party

Palm trees, bananas and leaves from my 2009 baby shower!

Not quite a month after the party, I'm finally getting around to posting about it. I had so much fun gathering ideas and planning the party. The absolute best decision I made was planning to have it at the Gym. We love "My Gym" - Bubba has so much fun every time he's there. The people who work there are great and help the kids have fun in a safe environment.  Having the party at the gym allowed me to spend all of my time on the fun stuff and not worry about cleaning or any of the yucky stuff.

T-Rex Track Cookies

Brontosaurus Bites

Dino Bones (Dino Treasure Stones in back)

Cretaceous (Pop)Corn

As I've already discussed in previous posts, I made quite a few dinosaur themed snacks as well as the dinosaur treasure stones I used for decoration. Since Bubba likes cupcakes more than cake, I made some of those too (with dino cupcake liners and cute dinosaur toppers). I also dove deep into my closet and pulled out the box of baby shower decorations my sister made for me back in 2009. She made such amazing safari themed decorations that I also used them for Bubba's 1st birthday. I decided the palm trees (made out of organic diapers and ribbon), bananas (diapers and washcloths) and a few other things would be the perfect "icing on the cake" for the dinosaur theme. I would have liked to have printed the names of everything on the little signs but I ran out of time. I figured hand writing them was better than nothing because I really wanted each snack to have a little sign. Having dinosaur themed names for the food was part of the fun, at least for me...

We were not allowed to show up more than 10 minutes prior to our start time so I was a little worried about getting everything set up and ready before people arrived. I drew up a plan of where I wanted everything so my husband and the My Gym teachers could help. When we got there, they already had the yellow tablecloth on the counter and were ready to help. Having the plan in writing really helped a lot because I didn't have to explain what I wanted.

Stegosaurus Eggs (Oreo Truffles)

We got everything set up before the first people showed up. I didn't get really great pictures because the two different people I thought would be there and be able to take pictures weren't able to make it. I think you'll still be able to see how great it turned out though...

It was very gratifying to see everyone having such a great time and enjoying all the snacks. One of the teachers even said it was the best party she's ever seen. I'm pretty sure she's only been there for a few months, but I'll still take the compliment. :)

The best part? After playing with and entertaining the kids for over an hour, the teachers did almost all of the clean up! I just had to gather whatever I wanted to take home and put it back in my handy dandy plastic bin. Then we just went home and relaxed.

One of the other "extras"was to get Bubba a birthday shirt. I found what I thought would be perfect on Etsy. His favorite color is black and his favorite dinosaur (at the time) was a stegosaurus...they made it look really great and got it to me super fast. I was going to post a picture but since the shirt has his name on it (and he's wearing it) and I'm trying to keep at least some things private, I decided not to...trust me though, it's really cute.

Sorry the pictures are kind of wacky, I've spent over 30 minutes trying to get them to look normal but it's just not working. At least I have some to show you - better than nothing, right?

Dinosaur Treasure Stones

One of the fun things I did for Bubba's birthday was make Dinosaur Treasure Stones. It was a really fun activity to do together from beginning to end.

I found the link through Pinterest (of course) and gathered up all my supplies. Here's what you need:

1 cup flour

1 cup used coffee grounds (I got mine, along with a lot of weird looks, at the local Dunkin Donuts.)

1/2 cup salt

1/4 cup sand (I got a small bag at Michael's) 

1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients together. Slowly add the water to make a stiff dough; you may not need all of the water - you don't want it to be too runny. [I scratched my bowl pretty good with the sand, so make sure you use a bowl you don't mind to get scratched.]

Fresh stones on top; stones 6 days later

Hide surprise inside

Knead on a floured surface until fairly smooth. Break off dough in the desired stone size and hide the surprise in the center.

Set in a safe place until totally dry - at least 3-4 days. [I put my stones on parchment paper lined baking sheets; turned them over every 12 hours or so...it took closer to 4-5 days to dry.]

Once they are dry, they look and feel like stones. You can "carefully" break open the treasure stones using a hammer (we used a wooden hammer so they wouldn't damage the dinosaurs). If you put them in Tupperware, be advised they will release moisture and need to dry out again.

Deciding on the size of the prize inside makes a big difference - my dinosaurs were not very big at all yet I still ended up making two batches of dough and ended up with about 18 treasure stones. The stones were also a good size so as mentioned above, they took a long time to dry. It was a good lesson in patience for Bubba. 

We didn't have enough treasure stones for all the kids either at the party or at school, so after using them as part of the decorations at the party, we ended up breaking them open ourselves at home. The whole family had a good time breaking them open and finding the cool dinosaurs. Since the stones were just sand, flour & coffee, we just swept all the remains into the mulch when we were done.

Dinosaur Party Treats

As I mentioned in the post about the dinosaur cake, along with the cake I planned to serve dinosaur track cookies, dinosaur eggs, a dinosaur vegetable tray and a couple other dino themed snacks.

The dinosaur track cookies were sugar cookies made from a box - Krusteaz brand. I'd never even heard of them before, but everyone complimented me on how good the cookies were. Bubba enjoyed helping me make the dough and scoop it out onto the baking pan. We flattened them and used a large plastic dinosaur foot to make the tracks. After the first batch we learned it was better to bake them for a little more than half the time and then add the track print and a little cinnamon. Overall, it was fun and pretty easy to make these cookies.

The dinosaur eggs were also pretty easy. I used the standard "Oreo Truffle" recipe I got from Bakerella years ago. I rolled the truffles into an egg shape and used Wilton White Candy Melts for the coating. On several of them, I added a couple "spots" to make them look like dinosaur eggs and to cover up ugly spots in the coating. (You can see a picture of the dinosaur eggs on this post) Another very simple project. It takes a while just because you need to put the balls in the freezer for a while and also need to keep re-melting the coating. Totally worth whatever time it takes though - they're addicting. I forgot to take pictures but I have some from before the party - I'll include them in the party post.

The veggie tray idea came from a fruit tray picture I saw on Pinterest. I wanted some kind of veggie offering and this seemed like a perfect way to do it. I used cauliflower and broccoli florets, baby carrots, mini grape tomatoes and green grapes for the dinosaur body. I really wanted to put an eyeball on one of the grapes but couldn't find my edible pen. Again, easy peasy. Didn't take much longer than preparing a regular veggie tray would have.

It was fun involving Bubba in all the preparations and seeing how helpful and interested he was in what we were doing and why. I'm also grateful for having a very patient and understanding husband. He just let me do what I wanted to do and helped when and where I needed it. The prep was so much fun, I can't wait to tell you about the actual party!

Dinosaur Cake

The only thing Bubba asked for concerning his birthday was a dinosaur cake. How could I not fulfill that singular request? If you know me, you know I would do everything possible to give him what he asked for...

So, going to my favorite avenue for ideas, Pinterest, I searched for dinosaur party ideas. There were so many to choose from, I wasn't sure where to start. I finally narrowed it down to the following: dinosaur track cookies, dinosaur eggs, a dinosaur veggie tray, a couple other dino themed snacks, the dinosaur cake and dinosaur treasure stones.

Writing it down now, I think I might have over-reached just a little...thankfully, we had already engaged the "My Gym" where we go to class to "host" the birthday party. Not having to clean or stress about the house in any way, freed up my time and allowed me to devote my energy to the fun and cool dino ideas. I started with the dinosaur cake because I planned at first to take it to school for his little party there. It turned out so good I decided to keep it for the actual party. 

I used the Wilton dinosaur pan. Since I've never decorated a cake like this, I wasn't really sure what to do after I baked it. I read and re-read the instructions as well as the comments and reviews. The hardest part, which wasn't really hard, just took a really long time, was making and mixing the icing. I made 1.5 times the suggested amount (don't ask me why, at the time it made sense) which was way too much. One of the best things I did was to buy tubes of pink and black. If/when I make the cake again, I'd probably buy most of the icing in tubes or color pre-made icing.

I kept telling myself that if I messed up, I could use the cake for cake balls. Luckily, it didn't come to that. As I progressed from one step to the next, it was so cool to see it really taking shape. I would recommend that you follow the steps. Some of them don't seem to make sense in the order they're given. However, it turned out well doing it the way they tell you to, so why mess with it? I would also recommend having a couple extra decorating tips. I didn't and had to switch bags and colors. When I realized I'd missed a couple steps during outlining, I had to improvise to fix it without the tip.

I had planned on buying some kind of cake plate or cake holder thing but when I went to the store, they only had really big ones or packs of them. So as you can see in the pictures, I used a pizza pan thing. Not very pretty but it did the job. It also fit perfectly into my cake carrier. I just couldn't figure out how to get rid of the ugly silver. Then I realized, as I was putting the "shells" around the edge of the dinosaur, why not just cover the silver with icing shells? I had tons of icing and would only throw it away if I didn't use it up. Perfect!

The finished cake was so amazing I about broke my arm patting myself on the back. I still can't believe I did something like that and that it turned out so well. I'm not sure if I'll do more of those kinds of things, but I sure won't be afraid to try. After all, it's just cake and icing, right? Tastes good no matter what it looks like...

Having done a pretty good job with what I thought would be the hardest part, I was ready to tackle the rest of my Pinterest ideas. Since I don't want to overwhelm you with my awesomeness, I'll blog about those later. :)

Taggie

Over a year ago, while in the fabric store, I saw these cute baby blankets with tags. At the time, Bubba was about 4-5 months old and really enjoyed playing with tags on just about everything. I thought this Taggie was something he might really enjoy so I took a picture of the one in the store. They were selling them for $20-25 each! After thinking about it for a few days, I decided to buy one of their kits for two reasons: 1) I would get the instructions as well as fabric and ribbons to make the first one and 2) it felt a bit like stealing to take a picture of it knowing I was going to try to make them.

I made Bubba the taggie from the kit but it was too big for him to hold when he was small. He still slept with it all the time and liked to hold on to it but couldn't really carry it around. Now, he still sleeps with it and I think enjoys having it. It hasn't turned into a "lovey" or something he absolutely has to have (which is good) but I think it helps to have a bit of home with him wherever he is.

Recently, I made several more for new babies and/or baby showers. I changed the pattern a bit and made them smaller so the babies could hold them more easily. I also used flannel for one side instead of the minky fabric on both sides which is how Bubba's was made. 

I have found patterns for taggies on various websites and blogs (just google it or let me know and I'll get you a link and/or the pattern). I wish I had found them sooner so I wouldn't have had to pay for the first kit. It all worked out in the end though so it's all good. 

Birthdays

At this point in my life, it feels a little silly to get excited about birthdays. Every year, I tell myself it's really just another day, nothing special. Then, the day comes and I'm disappointed that it's just another day, nothing special.

It's been forever since I had a birthday party - sophomore year at the Academy is the last one I really remember. My friend Carrie tried to have a party thing for me once when we were Lts...no one showed up except Carrie, her husband and a sort of friend. That kind of turned me off having parties - the fear of no one showing up is a great motivator. Not really the right word, since it motivates me not to have a party but somehow seems to fit...

I opened a box this morning thinking it might be a birthday present (it arrived yesterday after all) and instead it was magazines and books. Stuff I want to read/look at but not really what you want to receive on your birthday. Then, I opened a card thinking it was going to be a birthday card and it was probably the saddest, most depressing card I've gotten in a while, if ever. The fact that it said "Happy Birthday" doesn't really change that it wasn't a birthday card and the content was not happy nor birthday related.

Luckily, I woke up this morning with my wonderful husband and amazing little Bubba - and all is well with the world. Bubba was in a  great mood and we found a couple good Elmo songs to watch on You Tube as Daddy was showering. Then we all had a nice breakfast together before my husband left for work.

Yesterday, Bubba and I were taking a nap when I was rudely awakened by an EARTHQUAKE. My first one. I was a bit shaken up :) but otherwise OK. Bubba pretty much slept through the whole thing - he woke up briefly when I picked him up to take him downstairs but then went right back to sleep.

A few things fell off counters but the only real casualty was a David Winter cottage. Unfortunately, it was one of my favorites. Abby Ruins - I got it when I was TDY to England about 12 years ago. It got smashed pretty good - no hope of fixing it. Gouged the antique hutch as it fell too...It could have been much worse though. I'm sorry it was something that had special meaning for me but I'm glad it wasn't something I really cared about or that couldn't be replaced. 

Now, I'm off to check Facebook and respond to random birthday wishes.