Sunday Snapshot {Get Some Air}

Yesterday, we celebrated my cousin's son's 2nd birthday.  The party was held outside and had a super fun pool with a slide inside of it.  Braeden thought this was too much fun! It wasn't long before he decided this was a great place to jump off of!

My Uncle Bobby took this pic and I LOVE it! It captures a moment of impulsive fun! He caught some terrific pics of the birthday boy and all of the guests.  I was lucky enough to get a copy of the pics.

Thanks Uncle Bobby!! 

I cropped and edited the pic using Picmonkey.  (Picasa and I are having a little disagreement at the moment.)

I'm linking up at Ni Hao Y'all for her Sunday snapshot.  Go check out all of the terrific pics! Happy weekend!!

Summer Kid Crafts {Crayon Melt}

Yesterday, I shared in this post that I am trying to loosely structure my and Braeden's time together this summer. 

One thing I really wanted to be sure to include was some fun crafts/projects.

I've been finding some terrific ideas on Pinterest for this!

You can see the board I've made for this by clicking here. 

I am constantly adding to this board as I find new ideas, so be sure to follow it or check back often.

You might also find some find fun ideas on this board.

You can find some terrific pics on Instagram of some fun activities, so if you are searching, it's a great source for
inspiration!

I had pinned this activity some time ago and I knew it was one on my "must-do" list for this summer. 


I wanted to do this activity with Braeden and then use the finished product as decoration in his playroom. 


I bought a box of 64 crayons and got out my hot-glue gun and my hairdryer.  (I had already purchased a canvas for some other project that I never got around to doing.)


While Braeden was sleeping, I arranged all the colors on the canvas and glued them down.  


I took out all of the browns, blacks, and grays from the box because I only wanted bright colors for this project.
 

All lined up and ready for glue!

Even though I lined them up before gluing, I ended up having to remove a few from the line-up for the sake of room.  I guess I spaced them a little wider when I actually started gluing.

When Braeden got up from his nap, he was very excited to get started.
(Sorry the picture is fuzzy. I just had to share his "oooooohh!!" look when the crayons started to melt!)

 It didn't take long at all for the magic to start!
B asked a lot of questions about why the crayons were melting and why we were using mommy's hairdryer on something other than hair!

 It makes such a pretty piece of kid art!


Here is our finished product, along with one other craft that we did--I'll be sharing that one soon!


*Note - If you are doing this project, I recommend that you keep the heat on a bit longer than we did at first.  You'll notice from the picture below that the 'drips' are actually standing out a bit on the canvas.  Those will easily break off if bumped.  I went back the next day and reheated the drips and allowed them to drip all the way down and off the canvas.  It was much better this time because we still achieved the look we wanted, but the drips were flush with the canvas and would not break off!

 

 After Braeden and I did this project, I found it on another great site, A Little Bit Funky. Crystal is hosting a wonderful series, 40 Ideas-Activities to do with Kids.  If you are looking for more fun things to do with your kids this summer, check Crystal's site out for some fun, creative ideas!


Also, if you are on Instagram, I'm tagging all of our crafts and projects with the hashtag #summerkidcrafts.  You can also follow me on there @thismommarambles.


Do you have any fun activities that you and your kiddos are doing this summer?  If so, please comment! I'd love to hear about them!

Summer Fun with my Kiddo

I don't know about you, but I tend to do better with my "free" time if I have a rough idea of what I want to do.  If I don't have that, I tend to just do nothing.  


While that is ok every now and then, it is not how I want to spend my summer with Braeden.  I want to structure our time to include some things that will engage him and be fun at the same time.


Now, I don't want to have a "schedule."  I have enough of that during the school year! :)

One day, on Pinterest, I came across this pin:

 

                                                             Source: somewhatsimple.com via Wendy on Pinterest

 I love this "schedule!" I am under no delusions that I will be able to follow this schedule to the letter-nor do I have any desire to- but it is a good place to start.  

It covers several types of activities that I want to be sure we include over the summer.  

So, this is the rough guide that I am using to plan our weeks.

Be sure to come back  tomorrow. 

I'm going to post pics of the first craft/project that B and I did together. 

We've already had a blast together!

Do you "plan" your kiddo's summer time? Are you doing any fun crafts together? If so, please share! I'm on the hunt for more terrific ideas!! 

Sunday Snapshot {Splash}

We love summer! There is more time to do the things we love.  

Even the most ordinary afternoon outside can be a ton of fun! 

Add a fun-loving 4 year old, a slip-n-slide, and dad willing to "launch" said 4 year old down the slip-n-slide, and you have a recipe for lots of laughs and splashes!!

I hope your summer is off to a wonderful, fun-filled start!

Be sure to go to Ni Hao Y'all and check out all of the Sunday snapshots!!