Watercolor Initials

I hosted yet another crafty playdate at our local park. The boys and I love this set-up and are not looking forward to the cold weather that will be arriving soon. It's so stress-free to entertain moms and preschoolers at the park as opposed to my house.

Before starting the craft, the kids ran around on the playground. This was the first time Ian and Nathan had been to this particular park. Virginia Beach has so many neighborhood parks!


Ian always jumps right in and has to try out every part of the playground.


Nathan is a bit slower to explore. There was a little bit of water on this frog, so Nathan opted to just pet it and not ride it this particular morning.


For the watercolor initials craft, I cut up lots of strips of contact paper from the Dollar Store. Each mom then taped the contact paper strips to the watercolor paper to form each child's first initial. We then let the kids paint to their little heart's content.


Both boys enjoy painting, but Nathan definitely displays more patience when crafting.


Once the paint had dried completely, I just peeled off the contact paper to reveal their pretty artwork. This was such a simple craft and you could cut any shape out of contact paper to make seasonal art projects with the kids too! Don't be surprised if you see more of these over the next few months.

First Day of School

Today was Ian's first day of preschool. He has been looking forward to this for months! I am pretty sure that it lived up to his expectations. When I asked him what he enjoyed most today at school he proclaimed, "being the caboose!" with enthusiasm. I guess he was "the caboose" in line today to and from the playground. I thought that he would surely choose lunch as his favorite part of the day.


It is pretty shocking how much Ian looks like me on my first day of preschool (am I right Mom & Dad?). I think our expressions are almost identical. He was very excited to show off his new backpack.


He is all ready to go! He absolutely could not wait to run to the van and head off to his first day of school. In fact, when we arrived at his classroom he attempted to charge into the room without even pausing to say goodbye to me. This didn't surprise me a bit.


Nathan was a bit lonely at times without Ian today. He was quite confused when I arrived home without Ian (I left Ryan home with Nathan for Ian's big day). I asked him why he was sitting at the window and he said, "I am waiting for Ian to come home." So cute...and so quiet. I actually forgot to feed Nathan lunch on time today and this is something that Ian NEVER would have allowed to happen. That kid is always begging for food and asking me what time it is. I'm going to have to set two alarms--one reminding me to feed Nathan and a second to remind me to pick Ian up from school.


Together again! Nathan was waiting at the window when we pulled into the driveway and he ran outside to give Ian a big hug. They continued to give "squeezy hugs" once we were inside. This lasted about 3 minutes and then the bickering resumed.

More Playdate Fun

The weather has been particularly mild this summer...or at least that's how it seems to this Virginia Beach newbie. We have not had to cancel a single outdoor playdate due to excessive heat this season (we won't mention how many have been rained out). The boys and I have kept very busy with all of our crafty park playdates and hope that this will continue through October.

We met up with our playgroup at Princess Anne Park to make craft stick flowers. Such a simple craft and the kids loved it!


Who knew that all I needed to keep Ian in his seat was a plate full of tacky glue and some craft sticks? Trust me, had I known this sooner, our house would already be full of craft stick creations!


Ian made 2 or 3 flowers this day. Had I not dragged him away from the table to go play, he surely would have used up all of our friend's supplies.


Nathan was under the impression that he had created a pinwheel, not a stationary flower. He is trying to blow on the flower to make it spin.