July Fourth - Easy Kid DIY

 I cannot believe it's July 1st and that we are already looking at the Fourth of July weekend! This summer is flying by! We have some tentative plans for the weekend. Pool time, taking in "School of Rock" at Theater in the Park if the rain holds out, and a family cookout on Monday. And, as always, we will adorn our table with darling DIY placemats that McKinley made several years. 

But, what started out as a fun DIY fireworks project, turned out to be the most adorable tablescape focal point. As McKinley was trying the toilet paper fireworks painting project, midway through his creations, my husband had the brilliant idea to take them and have them laminated after they dried! It's a minimal cost DIY, one that takes truly minutes to create, and one that will last a lifetime!

Here's what you need:

At least three toilet paper rolls depending on how many kids are participating, red, white, and blue paint, heavy white paper, paper plates, and wet wipes! And a little patience as it can get a little messy! I lined my table with a throw away table cloth.

To get started, cut the end of one toilet paper in small slits all the way around the roll. Only on one side and cutting roughly half way up the roll. Take the slits you cut and flip them up on their edges so you create a flat end. This will be the firework and the end you place in the paint.

Next, load up your paper plates with your paint. Dip each end of your toilet paper rolls in the different paint colors and apply to your white paper. Let them get as creative as possible. And make sure to layer some of the fireworks over each other so it resembles the ones in the sky.

Set aside to dry. Make as many as you want. Like I said, we had McKinley make five for our placemat idea. We took the completed project to UPS for the lamination. So easy and convenient! Done in minutes. 

Have a blast when setting your table. 

Honestly, this is a last minute DIY that you will use over and over again. Make them today and use them on Monday! They are that fast! You can also use them on Memorial and Labor Day weekend.  

Another darling idea just came to mind! Find an inexpensive white table runner or table cloth and use a stencil paint to create a larger canvas for your kids creation! I'm off to find one now!

Happy Fourth of July!

XO,

Andrea

The Holiday Weekend

It's the Tuesday after a holiday weekend, and I don't about you, but I always need at least another day to recover. However, that's never truly available. We have swimming lessons this morning, a sore throat to soothe (McKinley's), and an epic grocery store visit. Not my idea of a day of recovery.

 But let's focus on that fabulous holiday weekend! We started ours with a swimming lesson Friday morning followed by our summer Country Club Plaza Fountain Tour. Not familiar, well I will be posting about this fun little adventure later. It's a tradition that started out of activity desperation that didn't cost must, or anything at all. We traveled the Plaza in style, McKinley eating Goldfish crackers from his stroller tray, while we discussed the cool 1968 Double Decker Bus we found, what each fountain design might actually mean, and McKinley making wishes in every fountain along the way.

 

A super rainy Saturday found us with finding an indoor activity that we would all love. We decided on Crown Center, one of McKinley's favorite city destinations, and we found ourselves among the rest of the metro scrambling for family time indoors. We visited Sea Life where McKinley really took his time (mainly because he was forced to with the throngs of visitors) and explained to Dada all the different fish. He specifically loves the lobsters, sting rays, octopus, and touch pool. He was incredibly patient, very well mannered, and for a moment, I felt that all that parenting had finally started to sink in. We had lunch at Fritz's, his restaurant of choice, tried to explore in the Mr. Potato Head exhibit (we'll go back later this month), and decided to try and ride the Streetcar. With a drizzle in the air, the line was the perfect length, and we waited to board the trolley.....I mean streetcar. It was pretty darn cool. The ride is smooth, the streetcar is light and airy, and the city is so fun to watch from the large side window. McKinley was in awe. He pointed out different buildings, loved hearing all the different noises, and announced that next time we ride the streetcar, we're definitely getting off at the City Market for a day of exploring. I love that he's got an adventuress side to him. And we will definitely embrace his request. 

 

   

 

 

Saturday night found us on a date night that was totally epic! We hit our local....Applebee's. We had a giftcard, totally lame I know, and shared the 2 for $25 menu. We drank adult beverages, ate a super chocolately dessert, and tried desperatetly not to talk about McKinley. We succeeded for a bit, but as you know as parents, the discussion eventually found it's way back to him. We talked about how cool our kid is, how loud our child is, how inquisitive, how smart(alec), and just how truly awesome he is before heading home to watch TV and falling asleep on the couch before 11:00. We truly are an uber cool couple!

 

Sunday and Monday were pretty much the same. Family time overload, which is exactly what we needed! Sunday we spent time at the mall, McKinley's other favorite haunt in the city, where we ate pizza in the food court, rode quarter fed cars, shopped the mall toy store, browsed the Disney store, rode the carousel, explored in Build-A-Bear, and headed to my parents for an early Fourth of July BBQ dinner. The best part of Sunday was the ride home. Over Memorial Day weekend, we spent $3 on two Road Trip Bingo board games and it has truly been the best $3 ever spent. McKinley decided he wanted to play the game on the ride home, a ten minute ride mind you, and I obliged. But instead of just driving home our normal route, Joel took us all around side streets, parking lots, wrong ways, and back streets just to continue the board game fun. We laughed until we cried, made funny jokes about the things we saw, and honestly had the best time just coming home from already amazing day together. Definitely a memory for the books!

Monday we spent the entire day at Worlds of Fun. We rode ride after ride (and McKinley got off only to get right back on some), lunched, played games, rode more rides, and finally called it quits after a five hour park day! But the fun didn't stop there. We hit fireworks for McKinley's first time and our child was beyond excited! We packed snacks, toys, chairs, and blankets for the hour wait. But instead, we bough ice cream from the ice cream truck, bought a drink at Jimmy John's so he could use the bathroom, and chatted with our fellow viewers until the first boom hit. From there, it was watching our child stand up from time to time to applaud, listen to him oh and awe, exclaim how big the fireworks were, and smile at each other over his sheer joy of watching something we can take for granted year after year. As they say, children definitely keep you young.

     

 

But after all that fun and excitement, this mama is feeling old. My back is killing me, my eyes are swollen from lack of sleep, my house is a complete mess from coming in and dropping things off, my cupboards are bare from all the eating we did, and I wouldn't change one bit of it. Well, maybe one thing. That tiny one pot of coffee that I brewed. Time to make a little more!!

How was your holiday weekend? I hope you were able to spend it with family and friends. And I hope you made some amazing memories as well. I know This Kansas City Mama did!

 

XO, 

Andrea