there's no crying is baseball

Leo is in his first Pee Wee Tee-Ball league.  he was so excited about it when we signed him up - he told me about it almost everyday.  he had two practices before the game and did so much better than I thought he would... for the first one.  then when it was time to go to practice again he was not on board.  he cried the whole time :(  then the next day at the game he screamed "I don't want to play!" for about 30 minutes straight.  we decided to leave early and spare everyone else there from listening to him cry for the next hour.

he told us all weekend after the game that he didn't want to play in the next game and that he just wanted to watch.  we said okay, but that he had to go.  there was no fit throwing, so that was a start.  Matt was able to get him to sit in the dugout and be quiet, then he agreed to toss the ball a little before the game, and before we knew it he was on the field and ready to play.

he got a little upset at the end when he was in the field and didn't get to catch the ball every time, but the snack in the car on the way home fixed that.  he told me he wasn't going to play again, so I guess we'll have to work on him before every practice and game!

little fingerprints

we made fingerprint gifts for Nana's birthday.  the boys just love painting, so I didn't need to twist their arms or bribe them to help me make these.  they do have their limit on how long they'll let me paint their fingers and press them onto things before they try to take over, though!

we painted a cute ceramic mug I found at Target with Martha Stewart opaque glass paint and then baked it in the oven.  I bought extra mugs just in case, and I'm glad I did!  I thought a grey mug with mostly white prints and some color here and there would be cute, but for some reason the white did not work well at all :\  so I went with just the color paints on the white mug and they worked great.

while we had momentum going we did a picture frame with regular acrylic paints.  I'm hoping to get a good picture of the boys at my sister-in-law's wedding this weekend to put in the frame!

I was going to have the boys make a card, but decided to decorate a plain white bag that doubles as a birthday card instead.  this was a two day project...

but I really love the balloons :)

painted tote

the boys helped me paint a canvas tote to give to Nana for Mother's Day.  they loved making it, and it was fun to do with them.  Leo was so cute while we were making the flowers, too.  after each fingerprint he'd say "it's so pretty!"

we did fingerprint flowers and footprint butterflies on one side, and I wrote their names and ages underneath their heels.  I used two paint colors together on each fingerprint to give the flowers more interest, which is easiest to see on the orange/red one in this pic, but it really made the bluebonnets pop.

I wanted to duplicate the same scene on the other side, but the boys ran out of steam so we just did some handprints on the two front pockets surrounded by a few flowers, and I doodled the rest to fill in some.  I really want to make myself one, so maybe I can get around to that before they get too big!

foot frints stool

Leo and Jack helped paint a step stool for my mom for Mother's Day.  they really liked painting, and it wasn't as messy as I thought it might be.

it rained the day I needed to get this done, so I spread out a disposable table cloth left over from a party onto the kitchen floor.  I let Leo do most of the painting because he had more patience for it than Jack did.  they held the brush and I helped dip it into the paint so I could control the amount they were putting on.

we did each color as a layer, so Leo started with a green base coat, switched to a smaller brush and did blue, then Jack did a little purple, and Leo finished it off with some gold.  I did their foot frints (this is how Leo says it right now) and edges in black.

they both loved the foot painting part and they were very cooperative, which I was not expecting, so I think I'll try some other painting projects with them this summer.

Mother's Day 2014

we went to Matt's mom's house this Mother's Day for a cookout.

the boys ate too many Cheetos, pulled out every toy their Grandma has, and played in the sandbox until they were thoroughly gritty.

 

 

 

 

Leo played badminton for the first time, and he did pretty well!

 

 

the boys weren't too agreeable to sit long enough to take pictures, but I think these that I happened to catch at just the right moment are my favorites - they remind me of pictures I have with my dad and Grandpa Gene.

 It was a great Mother's Day :)

friendship bracelets 2014

the weather had been going back and forth from cold to hot so I wasn't thinking about bracelets for the boys until a friend of mine sent me a picture of all these bracelets she's been making.  I felt so behind!  it took me two weeks to finish all 6 of mine (why did I decide they need 3 each??) but I got it done.

I was looking for some interesting new pattern ideas and I really liked this rainbow zig zag... then I realized I did that one already year before last in yellow and black!  with gradient colors it gives it a different look so I did it again, anyway.

Scarlet King Snake colors/pattern (red on black, friend to Jack) is a must now so I did some framed chevrons to represent snakes - I think these are my favorite.

I did each of their names in gradient colors with some accent triangles for a tribal sorta feel.

when I gave Leo his first bracelet he wore it for a little bit and then asked me to take it off :(  I was pretty bummed, but he came around and asked for it again later.  every time I had a new one to put on them they both held out their arms and patiently waited for me to tie them on, then went back to playing.  I would love to still be making friendship bracelets for them years down the road, but I know one day it'll come to an end when they decide they're too cool for mom's dorky crafts, so I'm glad they are willing to wear them for now!

monster truck party

for Leo's 3rd birthday party we did a monster truck theme.  he's been talking about his monster truck birthday party all month!  he was definitely excited :)

 

 

 

 

I did the date decider, save the date, and invitation through punchbowl - I'm really liking that site :)

I love how the cake came out - probably the best cake I've done for Leo.  it was 4 layers - 2 blue suede and 2 Funfetti with cream cheese frosting, dusted with cookie crumb dirt and chocolate rocks.

I knew Leo would want to play with the cool scene, so I made the top part removable so he could play with it while we ate the cake.  he tracked the dirt all over the table and ate handfuls of rocks - he really enjoyed himself with that :)

I set my cake stand on a tray that I put over an old tire I had in the garage and added more dirt to the tray to hold some chocolate cookies that looked kinda like tires.

the balloons were such a hit last year that I had to do a bunch of those again.  with the help of a Sandi Masori Balloons video I made an arch into the kitchen.  my lips are still feeling funny from all the latex powder :\  but it was worth it.  next time I'd use the compressor... and not do it in the middle of the night when I have to be quiet ;)  surprisingly, I only popped one and no one woke up!

I also used some punch balloons to tie open the curtains.  I thought the red, yellow, and green looked sorta like a signal light?

when we brought Leo in to see all the decorations the thing he was most drawn to was the dollar store monster truck cut outs that took no effort at all to put up...  go figure!

I packaged up some caramel corn, honey roasted peanuts, and cookies in some cellophane bags printed with trucks, tied them with some black and white ribbon, and added key chains I made for the party favors.

I had something else in mind when I was ordering the key chains online, but I made them work and they turned out kinda cute.

since we're pretty much maxed out on space and we already have a ton of toys, I thought giving Leo one big toy that everyone could chip in on would be a good idea, so we got him a Power Wheels Jeep that can stay in the garage.  he loved it... after everyone stopped staring at him.

on Leo's actual birthday we'll be on vacation in Galveston, so I'm saving him a picture book I made from a bunch of Google images of monster trucks.  it's been wrapped up in our bedroom for a little while and when ever he sees his present he tells me about his monster truck party - who was coming, what we were gonna eat, and then describes monster trucks in general for a pretty long stretch of time.  I keep telling him that present has to wait until we go to Galveston and that starts up a whole new conversation about going to the beach, playing in the water, dragons moving into sandcastles... I hope the weather is nice for us!