4th of July T-shirts!

Anybody else getting excited about the 4th of July?!

Normally, our family will bbq, eat TONS of watermelon and red, white and blue desserts, light off fireworks at home and go watch a big display, too!

We weren't in Texas yet for The 4th last year, so we aren't completely sure where to go.

I'm sure the better part of the day will be spent just having fun around the house, though - 

and now we'll be wearing our Red, White & Blue pride!

Our version of 4th of July T-shirts:

My boys like tie-dye shirts.  I don't like the mess.  

Or the time they take.  

So when we found the spray fabric dye, I knew it'd be perfect for us!

These shirts are soooo easy and fast to make - we even did a birthday party once where everyone got to make their own shirt to take home.

There is no wrong way to do this - just let the kids (and yourself!) have fun!

You'll need:

white shirts

spray fabric dye (available at Hobby Lobby)

rubber bands

Decide on the technique you want to use.  I used rubber bands to bunch up my tank - I wanted to focus on my growing baby bump.

You can also just gently twist the shirt, spray, untwist, retwist different direction and spray with another color.  That's what The Chief did:

Con-Man just sprayed in a random design until he was happy with the way it looked:

Here are the finished shirts - nothing fancy, absolutely not perfect. 

But we sure had LOTS of fun making them and will wear them with pride on the 4th of July!

Mine

The Chief's

Con-Man's

Monkey Man's

Helpful tips:

Cover work surfaces - there will be over-spray.

Wear old clothes in case spray gets on them - it will not wash out.

Follow all directions on bottle - each brand is different.

Stencils are fun to use to make specific shapes.

Let go of your perfectionism - just have FUN!

Will be MIA

We've got some sad family issues to deal with this week, so my boys and I are leaving town.  That means no posting from me, and probably not much reading from my favorite bloggers, either.  I'll get back into the swing of things as soon as we get back - I've got some great summer fun posts in the works.

{New} Blog Buddies Page

I just added a new page to the blog - go check it out!

It's the Blog Buddies page - this will be a running list of my blogging buddies.
Anybody and everybody are encouraged to link up your blog, though please make sure that your blog/site is family friendly.
I'm doing this with the hope of increasing traffic to some of my very favorite blogs!
I'll make a habit of promoting random Blog Buddies each month.
So link up, spread the word and have fun visiting each other!

Fun at the Children's Museum

You guys remember our Summer Bucket List, right?

We drew a trip to a museum last week - the kids were super excited!

Actually, so was I! 

Houston has one of the top rated children's museums in the country 
and we'd never been.

If you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend a visit - 

the cost is low, there are TONS of activities and it's FUN!

Here are just a few highlights from our trip:

There is a little city within the building.  Kids are given a debit card with pretend money - they can buy things until money runs out, then they must get a job in the city to earn more money!  Love this!  Here are Con-Man and Monkey Man grocery shopping - dinner will be good tonight!

Outside there is a water play area.  Kids can build boats and race them, learn about dams and water flow and use sprayers to fill a big bucket that later dumps.  They can also learn how waves are formed!  This was perfect in the 100 degree heat the day we went - they didn't get soaked, but a little water cooled them off.

 Inside, there are TONS of physical challenges for the kids to try.  

They loved the rock climbing wall, the dance games, and could even check their heart rates between activities!

This was another physical challenge - the boys had to pull their own body weight up using pulleys.  I really just included this pic because Con Man looks so silly!

There was a little Mexican village where the kids learned a little about the culture.  They loved this cool little car - and even posed for a picture for me!

Next we went to the face painting station.  Clearly, Monkey Man is NOT impressed with my artistic abilities. 

 So I let him do his own thing, along with Con-Man and The Chief.

This is what Con-Man came up with. ??

 Monkey Man - he looks soooo much better, right?  

 The Chief.  Wow.  He was soooo embarrassed after he did this that he went STRAIGHT to the restroom to wash it off.  No way was he going to walk around with his face looking like that.  

The other two, oh yes - they LOVED the way they look and I let them keep it till we got home.

 Probably our favorite part of the museum was in a little building outside.  We got to see two baby chicks that had just hatched try to hobble around and dry off.  Two more eggs started to hatch while we watched.  Simply amazing.  The boys were just glued to this little table.  Another table had about 10 chicks that were already all fluffy and cute.  They'd come to your finger if you tapped on the glass.  CUTE!!!

Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Summer break is finally here, which means more time outside.  And it especially means more time at the pool, the beach and at water parks for this family!  Our first outing to the waterpark left most of us a bit burned - mama didn't reapply sunscreen enough!  YIKES!  

My first stop on the way home was to Walgreens to pick up some Walgreens Brand Aloe Vera Body Mist Gel.  I love that you just spray it on and it helps to cool the burn.  My boys HATE for me to rub anything onto their already sensitive burned skin, so this product was great. 

What I love about Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products is that most contain the same active ingredients as the national brands, so they work just as well (or better!), yet they cost much less!  I know we are all watching our pennies!

Something I didn't know, though was that for every purchase of  Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products, Walgreens will contribute to the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™.  Up to $3 million annually goes into this program to help provide free preventive health tests as well as other health and wellness services and education to local communities.  For details, visit walgreens.com/waytowell

There are several fellow bloggers right now that are giving away Walgreens gift cards!  Get more info on these here: giveaways

1st Day Of Summer Break

Yesterday was the last day of school - a half day at that.

I felt like I did my part - baked brownies, attended wild class parties.
And they did theirs - signed year books, hugged teachers and said goodbye to friends.

But NOW what?


That's where I get a little anxious.  I worry about if I'll make it out of summer break alive!
I'm only half kidding.
How much fighting will there be?
Can I really get them to do their chores by a decent time?
Will they be at all impressed with the activities I want to do?
Can I honestly take all three of them to the beach by myself?
Will The Chief actually get to play on the select baseball team through the summer?
And how much of our time will THAT take up?
How do I get my kids to want to read more than watch tv???


Yesterday afternoon was a little rough.
Today, though I'm determined to make it a good day!
Hopefully they won't fight the new routines too much.
1st stop today is our local library - we are signing up for their Summer Reading Program!
Even Monkey Man (3 yrs) gets to participate and they have some great prizes.
Then I'm thinking a picnic and splash pad fun.


Who knows what the rest of our summer break has in store?
I'm sure some days we'll rely on our Summer Bucket List to help us survive!


What fun things do you and your kids have planned?
Any awesome vacations coming up??