pudding finger paint

Ok, trying to catch up with my photo blog... :) Remember this picture?

LOVE those happy colors all together! :)

This activity is so cheap and easy. And really did not get all that messy.

Jelly Belly jelly beans has their own brand of pudding cups! At my grocery store, they come in a set of four (four of the same flavor) for $1...so $6 total with PLENTY left over. Now, yes, you could just make vanilla pudding and dye it with food color and it would probably be even cheaper, but I just loved all these bright, happy colors - and they smell awesome! :)

The best part was tasting a little of each flavor! :)

Their pictures turned out so cute and fun - and when they dried, they still smelled awesome! :)

remember i said i had something to share with you??

A couple posts back I mentioned that I had something to share...not yet...but soon. Well, today it's time! :)

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may remember this picture of my friend, Rebekah, her husband Nathaniel, and their two girls Anna Walton and Olivia. You can read the original post about her here.

Rebekah and Nathaniel felt God calling them to pursue their third child through adoption. They realized God was placing this desire in each of their hearts separately and began raising funds for an adoption back in November of 2008. In February 2009 I wrote the post about her and shared that she was opening an etsy shop to help with their adoption fund. She is who inspired me to open my own etsy shop to help raise adoption funds, first for her, and now for other families.

It has been a long, challenging, faith-building road that God has brought them on, including losing a referral in January that was every bit as painful as a miscarriage. It has been simply amazing to pray and watch Rebekah go on this journey, keeping her eyes on Him the entire way. It is a journey I hope and pray I will get to go on myself some day. I have seen her grow in her walk with Christ as she has been taken out of her comfort zone in many areas. We have similar personalities in that neither of us like the unknown - we like to know what's going to happen and when. This process has stretched her so much in that area - because the timing was completely and totally out of her hands and all she could do was trust that His timing is perfect - which it is.

In my first post about her, I ended with this:

"If Rebekah and her family happens to come to your mind, please pray that this whole process will go as smoothly as possible, that they will be able to stand the wait for the child that God has for them, and that at every step of the way His name will be glorified. I will be very excited the day I can write a post introducing the newest member of their family to you! :)"

There may have been bumps in the road, but God has carried them faithfully through. I believe He has been glorified through every step of the way. The wait has been excruciatingly hard at times when all they longed to do was hold their child in their arms but...

I AM VERY EXCITED TO SAY THAT TODAY IS THE DAY I CAN WRITE THE POST INTRODUCING THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THEIR FAMILY!!!

Caleb Nathaniel Wright

May 28, 2010

7lbs 11oz

19 in.

(ok, so it's been a couple weeks already since he was born...but I had to wait till they were all back at home and Rebekah had posted pics on her own blog before I could share... :)

One very proud mama! :)

Olivia, Nathaniel, and Anna Walton. Don't you just LOVE the look on AW's face?? :) So sweet!!

So far everything is going well. After being away for a couple weeks waiting on the ok to leave for home, they are back and adjusting to their new normal as a family of five. Caleb is so precious, adorable, and an answer to many, many prayers! He is one very loved little boy! :)

I am counting the weeks until I get to see him and hold him and smell his sweet baby smell and kiss his curly hair!! There will be more pictures after that I'm sure! :)

Rebekah and Nathaniel, I am soo excited for you and so happy that you are finally home with Caleb! I am going to love watching him grow ...even though it has to be from so far away...and I can't wait to see what God has in store for his life! :)

O Lord, you are my God;

I will exalt you and praise your name,

for in perfect faithfulness

you have done marvelous things,

things planned long ago.

Isaiah 25:1

spaghetti shirts

Did you see this picture on my photo blog? I said I would write about what made these baby wipes so colorful. So here we go!

Instead of using bibs once the kids got out of the baby stage, at our house we use "spaghetti shirts" - just white undershirts that we keep in the kitchen to throw on when we're eating something that could get messy and it doesn't matter if the kids spill a multitude of foods on them.

And of course to me, a plain white t-shirt is just begging to be decorated! Last summer we decorated some with fireworks... like this:

This was from the familyfun.com website, here. Just take any variety of noodles, glue them to a piece of fun foam (I think they used cardboard in the actual website but we didn't have any.) and you have your very own noodle firework stamp!

This was a lot of fun and the shirts turned out pretty cute, but they have shrunk over time and my kids have grown (I wish they would stop that!! lol) so I decided it was high time to make some new spaghetti shirts!

I found another t-shirt idea also on the familyfun.com site here.

(The shirt she is wearing is one she made in preschool a couple years ago.)

First the girls took their pinky fingers and made yellow dots where ever they liked on their shirts. Then they chose different colors and used their thumbs to make the flower petals around the yellow middles.

Mr. Happy did some caterpillars and a spider and then just some happy dots. The girls thought the caterpillars were so cool they decided to add their own to their shirts also.

Here's how they turned out:

I added the green stems and leaves for them and the legs on the caterpillars and spider. Oh, and faces on them too...although you can't see that from these pics. Anyways, these turned out so happy and colorful! I love them.

We actually had two shirts each so the girls each did another one. Mr. H. was ready to go play so I will do another shirt for him later.

LMG just wanted to try doing many dots all over. LMS of course wanted to do something neatly organized...so she did a rainbow. Which I think is just adorable!! :)

chalk paint

I found this idea on Meg's blog a while back and have been waiting for a good opportunity to try it out. Last Friday was the day. It is so simple to make and a lot of fun to use! (And I have been working since Saturday to get all these pics uploaded! My internet has been slooow at uploading for some reason. Thankfully, tonight it was back at it's normal speed!)

All you need are as many bowls as you want colors. Me being the color girl that I am, I had to have six bowls and six colors. :) These bowls were from the $ store and I use them for camp, so I already had them on hand. Next you need one box of cornstarch for each bowl.

Next add drops of food coloring...as much as you want. You can always add more later...

And of course, everyone has to have a turn. :)

This recipe calls for equal parts water and cornstarch...but I totally guessed. I think I probably added a little more water than an equal amount. And that was ok. I suggest a whisk to stir with. That's what Meg did. Seemed like a good idea to me. It's a little hard to stir at first...but keep going till it's all mixed up.

Then move to the biggest part of the driveway...and paint away!! :)

Oh. Bathing suits are very helpful with this activity. I didn't have to stress about them getting their clothes messed up. And clean-up was easy.

Just a warning: if you let your kiddos help squeeze in the food coloring, their skin may turn interesting colors. Although, it could happen to you too - my thumb looked like it was covered in blood! Ha! However, once the color is mixed in and they start painting, none of the color stained their skin.

(And I just have to say that I love that his little hands and feet still look a little bit chubby and babyish. :)

It was so HOT this day that I even let everyone have a popsicle - before lunch! They thought this was spectacular. :)

When holding a popsicle in one hand and a paint brush in the other, be sure to pay attention to which hand you bring to your mouth to lick! LM Giggles can tell you...this chalk paint doesn't taste so good. It did make her giggle though... :}

Working on a masterpiece.

Their masterpiece. An ocean with a purple octopus, a couple mermaids, seaweed, and fish. The brushes were kinda big so the details were a little challenging....

Next I told them to try splattering the paint. This was a fun experience...although I had to dodge a few splatters so my camera wouldn't get "painted"! :)

Then they came up with a new idea...

And this led to....

But since it's just water and cornstarch...and they were in their swim suits, I didn't care a bit! And actually...although there are no pictures to prove it...I made a few footprints myself! :)

Finally it was time to clean up.

And since it was so hot outside, this version of cleaning up was very welcome!

So, go try some chalk paint yourself...and if you do, take some pictures and let me see!

a surprise

Today as I was making lunch and the kids were on the back porch, their dad kept walking by carrying the most interesting assortment of items. All he would tell them is that it was for a surprise. So they pondered upon what you get when you take black pipes, black plastic, and a fire hose?!

Finally, after Mr. Happy woke up from his nap a couple hours later, the surprise was ready...

a slip'n'slide!!

Seriously, only their dad would think to take a fire hose and pump water up from the river to spray onto the slip'n'slide! The kids LOVED it and LM Sunshine said, "This is the best day EVER!!!"

Ohmygoodness he is just SO STINKIN' CUTE!! :}

I love him.

They tried going down all kinds of different ways. Every way was the best. :) He is still so little though that after a while he got freezing cold so we ended up jumping in the pool for a while - that water was a lot warmer than the river water!

LM Giggles liked to go down with her hands in the air - like on a roller coaster! :)

Then they had to try it all together. They went super fast with all three on the raft!

We stayed in swimsuits all day today. Or, well, the kids did. There's just not much point in actually getting dressed since we tend to live in the water - in one form or another - all summer! :) More pics coming from this morning's activity.