Griddle Crayon Art

 I sure I'm not the only mom who stocks up school supplies when back to school season rolls around. As soon as I see the .25 and .40 cent crayons, I go a little crazy and start throwing tons of boxes in my cart....because who doesn't love getting 24 of something for so cheap! So when I get home with all my pretty boxes of nice, new, unbroken crayons, I have to figure out what to do with the old broken ones.I just can't throw them away, even though I only paid .40 cents for them and surely got my money's worth out of them last year! If you are looking for something to do with your old crayons, this is the perfect craft to make with your kiddos to keep those crayons out of the trash and add a little bit of fun decor to your fridge {or art clothesline/wall}!

 Start by peeling the paper off of your old crayons. This is a great task for the kiddos to do while you get everything else set up:)

 Next get out your griddle {or a hot plate would work too} and a box a aluminum foil.

Tear off a couple pieces of foil big enough to cover your griddle. This is to protect your griddle from stray/runaway crayons:) I used three pieces just to be safe, but if you are using heavy duty foil one piece is probably enough. After the griddle is covered with foil, turn your griddle on low to warm up. When you get started, you may need to adjust the heat up some just be sure to not make it too hot!

To make things easier, cut your paper to the same size as your griddle. The sides of the griddle will help keep the paper in place. You could also use a small piece of tape to keep the paper in place just be careful not to tear your foil when you remove the tape.

 Hand your kiddo the crayons...

 ...warn them not to touch the HOT griddle {and supervise them closely}...

 ...then let them create!

Eli had a blast gliding the crayons over the warm paper and we even managed to come away with a pretty cute work of art. We added a few stems and leaves, and turned his orange 'scribbles' into a pumpkin family perfect for fall decorating!

Wordless Wednesday: Blowing Out the Candles

Housekeeping

Housekeeping is something I have been terrible at lately....with both my actual house and with my blog. So today, I'm trying to take care of a few things and hopefully get back on track.

The first thing I need to take care of is the giveaway that I hosted back before our trip to Disney that I never picked a winner for! I had actually forgotten about it in all the craziness of life until my little package came in the mail with some yummy Ragu sauce and $20:) So I used random.org to pick a winner from the 123 comments, and the winner is Mari! Congrats Mari! I have sent an email and she has 48 hours to respond.

Remember last week when I complained about needing a vacation from my vacation, and then I told you I was only 2/3 unpacked....well, I am still only 2/3 unpacked. I have one suitcase that just will not unpack itself, and I can't seem to make myself do it either. It is actually the suitcase that the kids' clean clothes got put in when we left Disney, along with a ton of other miscellaneous stuff. The miscellaneous stuff is the hardest to unpack because I have to figure out where all of it goes:)

Besides avoiding unpacking, I spent most of last week busy planning a birthday party for Grant and Eli. Grant turned 6 the week we were on vacation and Eli turned 3 yesterday. Instead of trying to cram two parties into two weeks, we had a joint pool party...in the middle of a tropical storm! I don't recommend trying to throw an outside birthday party when the wind is whipping and the rain is coming down in sheets, but that is exactly what we did...and the kids even got to get in the pool for a while when the rain and wind stopped for about an hour:)

Here are just a few pictures from the party:

Can I just tell you how much I love Photoshop. The day was all dreary and dark, but you can hardly tell that from the pictures once I increased the brightness of each photo just a little:)

 The lady at the bakery didn't quite get my vision for the boys' birthday cakes. I was thinking more clean and modern to go with the fun stripes and polka dots that were in the invites and other party decorations...she was apparently inspired by our weather. I ended up adding the gumballs around the edges of the cakes to add a little bit of fun and color. It worked out great and the kiddos loved that they got a piece {or two} of gum with their slice of cake:)

Grant and Eli both had a great time at their party and Eli even got the "big red blue bike" that he has been wanting for the past two months:)

A Hidden Mickey

Walt Disney World Recap: Favorites

Favorite Family Picture:

 This was taken at the Polynessian after the really fun and yummy Luau!

*****

Favorite Photo Op:

 The Sword in the Stone is such a fun photo especially for boys! My boys watched the movie on the way to Disney World so they would know what this was when we got there:)

*****

Favorite Secret Challenge:

 See that paint brush in Henry's hand....there are few of those hidden on Tom Sawyer's Island and if you find one the raft driver will give you a special treat! It was great fun for the boys to search the island looking for paint brushes, and the extra fast passes to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain were really nice too!

*****

Favorite Parade:

 Parades at Disney are awesome, but the Electrical Parade is by far the best. The kids eyes were so big and bright! Eli's favorite part of the parade was seeing Goofy driving one of the floats that looked like a train!

*****

Favorite Table Service Restaurant:

Whispering Canyon Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge is one of our all time favorites. The food is wonderful and the atmosphere is so much fun for the kiddos. They have stick horse races, bottomless milkshakes...and don't even think about asking for ketchup:)

 *****

Favorite Counter Service Restaurant:

It's really a tie between Pizza Planet in Hollywood Studios and Casey's Corner in Magic Kingdom. Pizza Planet is a blast for the kids and we actually went there twice. The hot dogs at Casey's Corner are really good...and the bleachers set up in the dining area are so fun! Plus they have Cracker Jack's for dessert, how fun is that!?!

 *****

Favorite Snack Plan Snack:

 This is a cookie ice cream sandwich from the Bakery on Main Street in Magic Kingdom. The first day we were at Magic Kingdom, Jason saw someone eating this and we spend a while trying to figure out where it came from so we could get one too! It is ginourmous and so good...and it counted as a snack on our meal plan!

*****

Favorite Snack {not on the snack plan}:

 Seriously how cute is this apple! It didn't count as a snack on our plan, but I couldn't leave Disney without getting one! I grabbed this one on our last day at the candy store in Hollywood Studios, and brought it home with me as a little souvenir.

*****

Favorite Birthday Celebration:

 We celebrated Grant's birthday at Whispering Canyon Cafe and it was so much fun. They brought out this giant cupcake for him and then the entire restaurant sang Happy Birthday to him:)

*****

Favorite Breakfast Food:

 Everything at the breakfast buffet at Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios was yummy, but you just can't beat the Mickey Waffles! Something about being in the shape of Mickey's head just makes food taste better!

*****

Favorite Places to Play:

The kids LOVE the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Play Set in Hollywood Studios! It is the perfect place for them to burn off some extra energy!

 My boys also had a great time digging around in the Dinosaur Boneyard at Animal Kingdom. I think this was probably their favorite part of Animal Kingdom...and mine too! It was nice and shady and the kiddos could entertain themselves for hours in the pebbles/sand/Texas Grits!

*****

Favorite Place to Get Wet:

 The jumping fountains at Epcot are always a hit with the kiddos. Last time we did more watching, but this time the kids really played in the fountains and got pretty wet...which was fine since it was over 90 degrees when we were there!

I have a few more favorites and some more fun pictures to share with you, but this post has gotten way too long and blogger is taking forever to load my pictures!  Check back tomorrow for a few more fun shots and even a hidden Mickey:)