Sidewalk Chalk Paint

What do you do with all those stubby ends of sidewalk chalk?  Why make paint of course!  

1. Round up the chalk pieces and separate them by color. (Good sorting activity)
2. Put the pieces in a bag and beat them with a rubber mallet until they are nothing but power. (Aaaaahhh, stress relief.)
3. Put the chalk powder into a spare container.  I suggest something you can devote to this purpose because ours are stained.
4. Add water.  Go easy.  You can always add more but you can't take it away.
5. Stir it up, then start painting.

We noticed that it really does need to be pulverized into a powder.  If your broken up chalk is still chunking then you won't get a really vivid paint.

 

 

 

Lil' Hoot hates having her hair brushed - can you tell?

Rainbow Room

Phase 1 of the play room conversion is now complete!  Grace wanted stripes, so I gave her stripes.  And, sweet child that she is, she usually walks in the room and says, in the softest, sweetest way possible "Wow.  It's beautiful!"  It isn't perfect, but I decided to stop fussing with it and just enjoy it.  You're looking at 36 shades, made using about 10 different colors of paint - 6 samples from Lowe's and a several cans of left overs.  It was fun but I'm glad to be done - all that mixing of paint and all the mess was starting to get old.  Stay tuned for Phase 2.

Wordless Wednesday - Ice Cube Paint

 

 

Toy Story Party (on a budget)

I chose a Toy Story theme for Lil' Hoot's third birthday because she spent several months prior to her birthday absolutely obsessed with her Toy Story "friends".  From the top left:

1. I made her a #3 birthday shirt with Buzz Lightyear and Woody patches.
2. Her birthday sign was made in MS Word using the Gill Sans Ultra Bold font.  It doesn't match the movie font exactly, but it is as close as I could get without Photoshop.
3. Birthday cookie with Toy Story figures.  She prefers cookies to cake and it was her birthday after all, so she got a giant chocolate chip cookie.  I tried desperately to decorate with icing but, well, I can't be good at everything and I absolutely stink at decorative icing.  Fortunately for me, she was extremely happy with the figures and the cookie.
4. I was a bit worried about the balloons - one of the few requests from our birthday girl - because there was a national helium shortage (or so the signs said in many stores).  I eventually found a couple of Toy Story balloons at Wal-mart.  The rest of our spread included M&Ms, carrots, grapes, goldfish crackers, raisins, peanut butter rice krispie treats and sugar cookies*.
5. I made her banner using the same Gill Sans Ultra Bold font.  The gift bags included the alien thank you printable from Disney Family Go.  I got the idea to include paperback books in the gift bags from a friend of mine.  I found a 12 pack of Clifford books on clearance from Scholastic.  I also printed out the Toy Story Fun Book.  
6. Table decor was kept super simple.  Lil' Hoot chose her party hats - not toy story themed, but again, it's her birthday.  Toy story plates and another printable - Buzz's Refueling Liquid - water bottle labels.  Those were a big hit.

*A note about these sugar cookies.  Absolutely a HIT!  The recipe for the cookies is from Annie's Eats - soft frosted sugar cookies intended to mimic those found at the grocery store.  I have always had a hard time getting sugar cookies to turn out edible but these were easy and tasted awesome.  Added bonus - they freeze great so I made up the dough ahead of time then froze them.  When it came time for the party I just popped them out, let them thaw a bit then into the oven.  One change though, I didn't like the icing so I used vanilla frosting from the Cake Boss.

And I almost forgot, invitations!  I snagged a printable Toy Story invitation from the Disney site then added a Buzz Lightyear image and popped them onto some primary color cards.

Treasure Hunting

Inspired by my daughter's relatively newfound enthusiasm for Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I thought she would have fun with a treasure map all her own.  I drew one up real quick, hid some "gold doubloons" while she was watching the show and then took her outside for an adventure all her own.

 

She thoroughly enjoyed it and at the very end I hid a special chocolate surprise to eat along with her snack.  I am certain will be repeating this adventure!



I love how a toddler brain works.
"Gee...Mama left this elastic out.  Hmmm...there's a hole in this screen."
A few seconds later,
"Hey MOOOOOOM!  Look, I've got a rope!"