Anniversary

For our third anniversary, we decided to throw out our customary dinner and a movie and played like kids!  

My mom came over to watch the kids, and with some hugs and kisses for the kiddos, we were off!  We started the night with some competitive golfing at Boomers!

I started by swinging for the fences. 

But ended up in the rough.

Megan couldn't have been happier about my "strategery."

So I switched to small-ball.

We had a blast with the miniature golf.  And after 18 grueling holes, my score keeping put her up by at least 10 points!  Although, there may have been some generous smudges to the score card.

After the golfing, we went to the batting cages, something Megan had never done before!

Do I stand like this?  Well, I like your smile!  

She got some great hits in after we worked on her stance, and felt some amazing fulfillment from crushing the ball long!

Why don't I do this more often!  It's been forever since picking up a bat, and it always feels incredible!

Next we went inside for some air hockey!

After a long fought battle, and several little kids waiting impatiently, I emerged victorious!


Before leaving Boomers, we found a photo booth to makeout get our picture taken. We have a long history with photo booths, and not all of it is good. We usually get 2-3 amazing photos, and one that is impressively awful.  This time didn't disappoint!

Next we went to K1 Speed, a local indoor go karting placing. While we waited in line for our race, I learned a new trick on the pool table.

Our race came up and it was a blast! These were serious go karts, and if you were not careful you could end up flipping around a corner.

For dinner, we visited one of our old stomping grounds; Hennessey's Tavern. Nothing like comfort food and beer to wrap up a fun day of competition  celebration.

After some food and delicious booze, we ordered some bread pudding for dessert.  Megan's bread pudding is way better, but with our booze fuddled brains it was enjoyable.

From the pub, we stumbled to our hotel nearby to sleep off the alcohol.  It was an amazing night with my lovely wife.  It's always wonderful to recharge your batteries.  To get back to our relationship's roots, before the kids, house, and projects. 

Hide and Seek

 My favorite game to play with my kiddos is Hide-and-Seek.  When playing, I encourage different methods of "counting," so we reinforce things we've taught them.  I'll have Gabe (3) count to 10, then 20, then 30.  I'll have him recite the ABC's before he "ready-or-not's."  Sing songs, count backwards, whatever we've been working on I'll have him do before he can come find me. 

When it's his turn to hide, watching his creativity is incredible.  He's come up with some amazing hiding spots in a small house with limitations (no hiding in this room)!  

I think it also encourages trust.  Trust that I will come and find him.  And he knows I trust him to find me.  I've noticed that after playing a lot with my kids, they are better behaved.  They listen better, respect us more, and have a better overall temperament.  

 

Without flash

With Flash

While Gabe and I take turns hiding, Abby (2) tags along with whoever is seeking.  I let her do the finding.  I'll give her leading clues if she has trouble, but she's very quick.  Her ability to analyze situations improves each time we play.  

I try my best to challenge him when I'm hiding, but sometimes I can't help but have fun with it, "you can't see me!"  Gabe and Abbs weren't fooled.

Overall, it's a great way to have fun while learning!

Halloween 2013

You survived Halloween! Hope you all had a safe and fun time.

We spent most of the day hanging out at home, saving the kiddos energy for the walking later. I managed to fit in a 3.5 mile run into the morning, which of course created more room for candy!

After getting the kiddos ready, we attempted to get a photo of them looking cute and presentable. This was the best we got. 

A quick stop for dinner and then we were off! This year we tried out a new neighborhood near family, which required a bit of a drive.

This was the first year Abby was able to really take part in the trick-or-treating. Our adorable little Woody loved it! At every house people would say "Oh what a cute cowgirl!" and she would reply "Yea haw cowgirl!". Had us laughing all night.

 

Gabe had a "roar"ing good time. Ha, see what I did there? He loved being allowed to roar at everyone. 

Trent and I quickly realized that although his Pac Man costume and my jelly fish hat were awesome, this neighborhood was too dark at night for us to wear them and still be able to see the kids. 

It's ok, we still get to "treat" from the kids candy bag. You know, as a transportation and supervision fee.

This morning we enjoyed a piece of candy...or two...with our breakfast and Abby was quickly back in her favorite outfit. I'm not sure we are getting her out of this Woody costume anytime soon.

Another fun and wonderful Halloween in the books! 

Did you make a great costume this year? Share your photos with us on our Facebook page!

Happy Halloween!

October Fun - Pumpkin Patch

What is October without a trip to the pumpkin patch? Well, it would still be October but not as fun.

In that spirit we packed up into the "magic van" and went to explore a new pumpkin patch, The Big Horse Corn Maze in Temecula, CA. We are so glad we did! 

The kids were able to try their hands making butter, check out all the pumpkins, and feed corn to a bunch of plump and happy chickens.

Then it was on to the face painting booth! The kids have only had their faces painted a few times, but this was by far the best.

This pumpkin patch is technically a farm, and it boasts the largest corn maze in southern California. At over 11 acres, this thing was intense!

Before braving it, we took a tractor ride around the perimeter of the maze. The kids were in heaven, as you can see from the cuteness overload.

The corn maze was fun. For about 30 minutes. Then the kids were hungry, sweaty, and over the adventure.

The highlight of our day was when we walked by the band. Gabe stopped to watch them tune their instruments and they noticed his interest. These awesome gentlemen invited him up to sing a tune with them! You can see the full video in our earlier post. He was so excited and talked about it non stop after.

It was a great day and we will definitely be making this a new October tradition.

Do you have a special October tradition? An incredible pumpkin patch that puts all others to shame! Share it with us! Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page. We love to hear from you!

Gabe Has a Found His Calling!

This past Saturday we took the kids to the Big Horse Corn Maze & Harvest Festival in Temecula.  The BEST pumpkin patch we've been to by far!  As we were on our way to go through the corn maze (which took an hour) we passed these musicians tuning their instruments.  They invited Gabe up on stage to sing a song.  Boy's got talent!  We'll do a post with pictures soon, but until then watch and laugh.

DIY Pac-Man Costume For Under $15!

For Halloween I wanted to be Pac-Man.  Figuring it out took a little ingenuity, but overall wasn't too bad!  

Supplies:
$0 Cardboard
$1 Roll of cheap duct tape *had this already
$1 Bag of Glue Sticks
$8 Quart of True Lemon Yellow Paint (Walmart brand)
$3 Black Paint (sample would be plenty) *had this already
$1 Black mesh *had this already
-----
$14 Total, I payed $9 because I had most of these supplies.

Tools:
Hot Glue Gun
Box Cutter
Paint Brush
Protractor
Ruler

I found an image of Pac-Man someone used for an algebra or trigonometry class.  I measured the diameter to be 2 3/8", and the length of the mouth to be 1 1/4".  

I got all my cardboard for free at Costco.  Usually there will be some slip sheets in their metal box bins, but if there isn't just ask around.

My first attempt was a 25"  circle with a 60 degree 13" equilateral triangle cut out of it.  To create the circle, you can use my tutorial from our Minnie Mouse Bean Bag Toss.  As you can see it was a little small.  OK A LOT SMALL!  Time for attempt #2. 

The next attempt I used a 36" circle with an 18" triangle.  For the triangle, draw an 18" line.  Next line up a protractor and mark a dash at 60 degrees.  Draw another 18" line from the end of the first line, through that dash.  Connect the two lines.  

Once you have your circle and triangle, place the triangle on the circle, lining up two corners to the outside of the circle.  Trace it, and cut out the lines.

For the arm hole, I took a couple different plates and saucers and matched them up with my arm until I found one that worked, traced it and cut it out.

Copy and cut for the second side.

For the connecting center, I measured from shoulder to shoulder which was 16."  I added 1" to be safe (I regret doing this because it doesn't sit directly on my shoulder), and 1" for the connecting kerf.  Cut your connecting center so the cardboard is horizontal.  This way it can roll and take shape.

Once you have your center cut, roll it up so it will take shape easier.  Next make a line 1/2" in on each side.  Take a blade and make cuts up to that line, bending inward as you go.

Begin your assembly.  I hot glued and duct taped the pieces together.  The top mouth section was the same as the rest of the center pieces, except I used stiffer cardboard (unbent), and I cut a rectangle out so I would be able to see.  The bottom I cut a piece 23"x18," and rolled 5" worth of it.

 

Once all the assembly was complete I finally got to the fun part!  PAINT!  I got a quart of Walmart's True Lemon Yellow paint and  I had some left over black chalkboard paint for the mouth.  

For the eyes, I wanted them to look like a backwards Pac Man. 

It took a couple different saucers and bowls to figure out a good size for them.  I drew a circle, measured to the center point, and drew a 60 degree triangle from it.  I wish I had done this before assembly and painting.  

Finally, I hot glued black mesh to the eyes and the front viewing rectangle.

Pac-Man in action!  

 

It was a lot of fun making it, and even more fun wearing it!  I did bump into a car at one point while trying to pick up a balloon that was running off in the wind.  The peripherals aren't great, but it's a small price to pay for a awesome costume!

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Here's a reader-made costume for her son that she posted on our Facebook page!  So flattered that it worked out great for him!

 

Abby's Breakfast Shenanigans

While Abby was sort-of eating her breakfast, I nabbed a video of her because she was being too cute!

Things My Kids Say #1

Over the last few weeks, my son Gabe has been saying some ridiculously cute things.

#1
"Daddy said he didn't want to go to school, but I told him, 'It's OK daddy, you can go to school.  There is nothing scary there, you'll be OK!'"

#2
One nap-time, while Gabe was asleep, Megan took the rug inside their room out, to carpet clean it.  When he woke up and noticed it was missing he said, "oh no where is my beautiful, beautiful rug!?" Oh no, that was my beautiful treasure rug," as he paces around the house looking for it.

"Where is it, where has it gone," he asked Megan.

"I washed it, it's out drying in the sun."

"What, it's outside!?  Oh no!  The sun's going to make it dirty!"
 
#3
Megan went grocery shopping, and while going over her list she says "We need to get fish." 

"Fish, but I don't like to eat fish," Gabe replies.

"Why not they're delicious?"

"But fish are too swimmy!  They're my favorite swimmers, I don't want to eat them!" 

 If you have some funny things your kiddo has said, I'd love to hear it in the comments!

Abigail's 2nd Birthday: Minnie Mouse Luau Party

Happy birthday Abby! Our little girl turned 2!

Abby has so many wonderful interests. Books, cars, coloring, accessorizing. But two of her favorites right now are swimming and Minnie Mouse. In planning for her birthday and thinking of ideas it became apparent there was only one great option: Minnie Mouse Luau and Pool Party!

When guests first arrived they were greeted with a giant Minnie Mouse hanging on the garage.

Making this was incredibly simple. A $5 sheet from Walmart, $3 can of black spray paint, and leftover tulle from her tutu. I traced out the Minnie head in pencil, then sprayed it in with spray paint. After it dried I connected a tulle flower with hot glue. Viola! Instant party announcement.

We spread the Minnie Mouse luau theme throughout our backyard. On our deck I attached green table clothes to the bottom, then sliced it to create a grass skirt appearance. To the rails I attached a fantastic flower garland that I ordered here.

Our garden fence received a colorful face lift with the addition of flower garland and Minnie Mouse heads. We also used the fence posts to display all the flower leis for everyone to pick and choose from.

Our trampoline became a tropical splash pad! We hung palm tree streamers from the posts. To turn this plain trampoline into a splash pad, we ran a garden hose and a little sprinkler under the bottom. Once turned on it splashed and sprayed everyone whenever they would jump.

Even the swing set club house displayed Minnie Mouse fun! I traced and cut a Minnie Mouse head on card board, spray painted it black, and attached a tulle flower. The kids loved pointing out all the Minnie's around the yard.

This has to be one of my favorite additions to the luau. A Minnie Mouse bean bag toss. Trent will expand upon this himself, but it was a fairly straightforward project that was a blast to play with.

To make the bean bags I traced a Minnie outline onto some scrap felt I had then hand stitched them closed. Too lazy (and busy) to drag out the sewing machine.

The happy birthday girl!We set up a bubble machine on the deck rail, and Abby was more than happy to run through the sea of bubbles covering the yard.

For birthday photos I picked up these coconut containers from our local Dollar Tree. They were cute on their own, but needed to be more festive. I traced Minnie Mouse ears onto card stock then cut and hot glued them onto the lids. The flowers came with the containers, but after designing the Thank You tags I attached them onto the flower stem.

Inside was a Minnie Mouse cookie and Minnie Mouse stickers.

Favors for kids and adults alike. Paper fans (it was hot!) and tropical clackers.

Gabe thinks they are magic wands. Works for me (a lot less noisy) ;)

Everyone spent a huge amount of time at this table. Sugar cookies to decorate with pink frosting and sprinkles, vegetable tray, fruit skewers, and goldfish. We also had large metal tubs filled with waters, sodas, and juice boxes.

We wanted to do something special for the meal that allowed our guests to be involved. Grilled flatbread pizzas!

The guests filled out a menu card then Trent and I would grill them up to order. Quick, fresh, and everyone was able to enjoy their perfect pizza.

A delicious flatbread fresh off the grill.

Then there was cake. Delicious cake.

Banana cake, vanilla custard filling, and lemon meringue frosting. Tropical but light. And most importantly, Abby loved it!

Side note: Abigail received this pink cozy coupe that day. She refused to leave it, even for cake. Trent had to pull the table up next to the car so she could enjoy her cake without leaving it. Silly girl.

And the happy girl, along with our wonderful family and friends all enjoyed a long dip in the pool on a hot day. Abigail, our little fish, could not have been happier.

A fantastic Minnie Mouse Luau to celebrate two years with this silly, loving, smart, precious little girl.

Happy birthday Abby! We love you!