Friends Art Party

I really wanted to do a fun party for Parker and his friends before summer hits and life gets crazy, so today I hosted an art party.

I made cute little paint pallets for the invitations.

For decorations, I used my silhouette to cut out paint splotches to go on the tables.  I thought they turned out great!

I hung up some of the kids artwork all over the wall as a backdrop.

I wrapped paint cans from my garage in construction paper and made paint brushes to match.

And of course we had to have lots of colorful food for the starving artists.  Yellow popcorn, red strawberries, purple grapes, orange mac n' cheese, rainbow goldfish, paint dots and lots of "creative" juice! 

The kids made necklaces as we waited for everyone to arrive.

Our first project was canvases for the kids to hang in their rooms.  They could choose from canvases that said "Choose The Right" and "I Am A Child of God."   The kids painted over the entire canvas and then we peeled off the vinyl when it dried.

Waiting for the paint to dry.

Here are a few of the finished products.  They all turned out so different.  I love them!

The kids played a round of ten fingers as we waited for everyone to finish painting and washing up before we started our next activity. 

Marble art was probably my favorite craft of the day.  The kids tried rolling them in a cookie sheet and in an oatmeal can.  I thought the oatmeal can was more fun.

Bubble art was kind of a dud.  I didn't get the proportions right of water vs. soap because they didn't really bubble quite right.

Trampoline Break

Followed by lunch time!

Matty liked the shaving cream art  and had the shaving cream smeared all over his face!

They turned out pretty cool.

Our last activity was pop bottle sock bubbles and it was SO awesome.  We are totally going to be doing this activity all summer long!!

I think the party was a success!  Everyone had fun and went home a mess!

Swim Team

We signed Parker up for the neighborhood swim team.  Most neighborhoods in here Texas have a swim team that competes against other local neighborhoods each weekend May-June.  Parker is SO excited to be swimming on a big team.  He is competing with the 6 and under team.  Poor kid is half the size of all the other kids on the team but he doesn't seem to mind.

The first practice they went over what I call "Texas Manners" where the coaches taught them the "Yes, Mam" and "No, Sir".  I love the proper Southern manners that kids learn here.  

The weather has been chilly and swimming in an unheated pool has been hard.  Parker only made it 2 laps the first practice, 5 the next and yesterday he lasted the entire practice!  Can't wait for the weather to warm up again so he doesn't turn into a popsicle at practice.

Sidewalk Paint

This week I was in charge of Messy Monday.  I decided to try out sidewalk paint.  It is now officially our favorite outdoor activity.  We have done this four times already since then and it is only Saturday!  The recipe I used called for equal parts cornstarch and water mixed with food coloring.  The kids didn't like this recipe because the color didn't show up when they painted--only after it dried in the sun.  The next time I made it, I filled each muffin tin 2/3 of the way with cornstarch and only a little water and this worked out much better.  The colors were brighter and it showed up as you painted.

We did it on Monday and had such a fun time that I made another batch up for Preschool on Tuesday. 

We were having a number review so what better way to learn your numbers than by doing a little hopscotch?

After we were done we sprayed off the sidewalk and had fun playing with the hose!