Pinterest

Chris's sister EMILY came to visit us a couple weekends ago. We had a blast catching up, playing with the kids and visiting the Twinsburg Twins Days Festival. While she was here she introduced me to the BEST website EVER (and I'm in NO WAY exaggerating!)-- PINTEREST has changed my life. For those of you who are not familiar with Pinterest, it is basically a melting pot of ideas. You can then take those ideas and "pin" them to your categorized boards. For example I have boards for recipe ideas, DIY projects, Activities for kids, etc. Last week ALL of our dinner ideas came from Pinterest. I had to share some of the ideas we have enjoyed over the past two weeks. Thanks Em, for introducing us to all this fun!!!

Card Table Playhouse...

This is just a slip cover over a card table. Is so smart!! We already had a card table & I had a plethora of fabric scraps. The kids LOVE it!! (I'm going to hide it away for Lillia's 1st Birthday in a few months.)

Genius Bubble Maker:

Inexpensive (or free), Simple, and Quick new activity for outside. Mark loved these bubble tubes! They were denser/ more sturdy than regular bubbles so he was able to hold them and play with them.

Step #1: Cut off the end of a plastic bottle

Step #2: Cover the end of the bottle with a wash cloth using rubber bands

Step #3: Mix a little bit of dish soap & water on a plate. Dip you bubble maker in the bubble mixture and blow!

Lillia's New shoes...

Sadly, she's sleeping so she can't model them. How fun are these?!? found the tutorial on Pinterest :-)

Side Note:

Around this time of the year I get very behind in keeping up with our family journal (a.k.a blog). This is what happens... Each summer we are so blessed to get to go away with both sides of the family for a week. We laugh a ton- eat great food- go on many adventures- and (of course) take HUNDREDS of pictures!! When I sit down to document all our fun time I go into indecisive mode. I can't decide which memories to record and which to risk forgetting forever. It's quite the dilemma. So instead of actually making a decision I typically avoid the blog all together :-( Sad, but true. That said--- I'm skipping documenting family vacations for a while. And hopefully I'll get to it in the near future so we can look back at the pictures and stories and reminisce :-)

Mark's 1st Story...

Every now and then I tell Mark a story at nap time or bedtime about an elephant. Usually this elephant rides a train to some new destination (usually a place Mark has recently experienced) & then he has an adventure in his own elephant way. Tonight Mark surprised me by sharing his own elephant story. This is how it went...

"Elephant went on a bus, but he was too big.

He fell down off the bus :-(

He hurt his leg.

He had to go to the doctor.

The doctor gave him a sticker.

The doctor put tape on his leg.

He gave the elephant medicine.

The elephant liked it :-)

Then the elephant go to play basketball players.

He shoot the basketball.

He made a really, really high one.

He played basketball players with Danny (aka Dan Schillero)"

I had to write it down right away, so we'd be able to read it together when he's 18yr old and smile about it :-) P.S.-- I love how Dan Schillero made it into his story. For those of you who don't know "Danny" is a college student at Parkside. He's pretty much Mark's hero. Chris & I definitely agree that Dan is an exceptional hero for any little boy. We are so appreciative for the time, energy, and love that so many college, high school, and middle school students have poured into our little guy.