Wordless Wednesday 11/12/14

Father-Son Day

Last Saturday was a day of just Daddy and Jake. I already told you about Jake at Work with me. Later in the day we went up to the church for the annual Father-Son Cookout. It is a time when all fathers and sons are invited to come for food, fun, and fellowship.

When we arrived at the church I looked over at Jake and he was out. It had been a long day already and we had a long time left before the end. When I shut the truck off he startled awake. "My eyes were tired," was his immediate statement. "A little tired, Aye?" "No! I'm fine! Just my eyes are tired." Right.

Food was the first thing on our agenda. It's simple, bring a side dish to pass. The church provides hamburgers and hot dogs; if you want something else grilled, bring it. We stuck with the hamburgers and hot dogs, and brought mommy's awesome Cole Slaw to share.

After lunch we found this great little game that one of the men brought called box hockey. This is a game that will get your heart rate up without going real far. You just stand next to this eight inch tall box and try to hit the puck throught the walls and into your goal. Believe it or not it is a very exciting game.

There was also Ladder Ball, Volleyball, and some other activities; but Jake ended up on the playground with a bunch of other boys for quite a while. They were having a blast. The majority of the time they were on a car play thing that they were pretending was an army jeep with a machine gun in the back. When an argument broke out as to who was in charge the idea was put forth to take turns being in charge. The response was, "Then we all be in charge, that won't work." In the end the idea of taking turns was used. As I was sitting there I was able to gather a few quotes I found humorous. At one point the driver yells out, "There is a dinosaur in the way!" Which was followed by the response, "Just drive over it!" Later on when the driver, a different boy on rotation, finished explaining that the jeep was stuck in the mud his comrades responded in unison with, "Just hit the gas!" A little later they were all ducked down in the back one peeked up and yelled, "BOMBS! Jump up!"

Over all we had a good time. Jake had a blast playing with the boys. They normally sit in Sunday School and maybe run around a room together, but Saturday they got to interact on their own.

It was a fun day. I enjoyed being able to take my son to work and actually show him a little of what I do. And then to be able to go and watch him have so much fun exploring his imagination with other boys doing the same thing. It was awesome!

Make It Monday: Box Towers

This, my friends, is not garbage . . .

This is precious building materials!



To make the very best, the very biggest tower, start by selecting the finest supplies.

Make sure to place the sturdiest components on the bottom.

Then, feel free to add cosmetic accents.

Be careful as you reeeaaach way up high to add finishing touches. 

Or, if big is not your thing, make a small tower. One can never have too many towers.

But if you really want to impress, use as many supplies as you can to make a tower tall enough to touch the sky! 

Be sure to watch out for earthquakes though!!!

But my favorite part of this activity???

Yep, right into the recycle bin.

Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted. Maybe next time we'll construct a tower that can handle the earthquakes.

Who am I kidding? Knocking it down is half the fun!

Make It Monday: Marble Painting

I had plans for an outside painting craft, but with temps in the nineties and a heat advisory in effect, I switched to an indoor project instead. It's always smart to have a backup plan.

Painting with marbles is easy, cheap, and provides plenty of smiles all around. 

We started with dipping the marble into the paint and then rolling it around the paper by shaking and tipping the box. (We used a USPS medium flat rate box, cut in half.) Jake and Alyssa had a lot of fun watching the blank canvass become streaked with splashes of color as the marble bounced around. The final product had a somewhat speckled look.

We eventually just squirted the paint directly on the paper. It became a game to try to get the marble to roll through the paint, spreading the color over the paper. If there was a big glob, the marble would get stuck in the goop until the kids shook the box enough to loosen it and make a design. As Jake broke up the dollops, he would proclaim, "I'm destroying it!" This technique of placing the paint right on the paper was their favorite. And it certainly was the most colorful too.

Ten pages, plenty of paint, and an hour later, I called it quits. If they had their way, they would have rolled and bounced, wiggled and jiggled until they used up every last drop of paint they could find.

And then they would have made their own. They're crafty like that.

Want to see their painting in action? Watch our video of marble painting. It's guaranteed to bring a few smiles.