Shrinky Dink Fun

The other day when I was in the local toy store, I picked up a Shrinky Dink Craft box to save for a "rainy day" project. Yesterday was perfectly sunny but the anticipation was to much and we broke out the kit.

I'd forgotten how fun these are to make. The kids loved it. Once they saw the shrinking in action, they set out to make the tiniest shrinky dink possible.

Conner watching the shrinking process...

Aidan's treasures...

Conner's Treasures...

After the kids made the tiniest shrinky dink possible, they lost interest. (Conner gave Aidan gymnastic lessons on the couch.) So, I decided to try my own...

I really wanted to try these but our pieces weren't big enough. I think I'll order some bigger pieces so the kids can have some more fun (and me too, of course.)

Scenes from the weekend

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music...

The Sound of Music has been filling our house for the last 4 months. Conner has had weekly rehearsals for a kid's production of the show. We watched the movie over the Summer break. We all loved it, especially me. And we've been listening to the sound track endlessly in the car. This last week was the culmination of it all. Daily rehearsals at the stage and performances Thursday, Saturday and the final one on Sunday. It's been busy, but Conner loved it!



Here he is on Saturday waiting in his Goat costume for the "High on the hill was a lonely goatherd..." song.

Here is his little camp set up for during the performance. There is a lot of waiting around. He is supposed to be there 1 hour beforehand, and he is only on the stage three times for a total of about 6 minutes over the 2+ hour performance.

Backstage, Conner got up the nerve to ask one of the Nazis for his autograph (the Nazis were played by two Dad's)...

Here is the little goat in Sunday's final performance. His Grandparents, dad, brother, Aunt and a couple of the cousins were in attendance. I was able to sneak from the holding room (I helped out backstage) to stand in back of the theatre to watch his performances.

Here is Conner in the finale...

The whole cast...

At the end the audience threw roses up on the stage. The surprised look on the little ones faces was precious. Here is the mad dash to collect them...

Even though he was in a cast of thousands, Conner loved it. The whole process has built his confidence and given him something of his own.

And he'll be participating in the next one. Guess what it is...

lucky boy...

Superman and Fruit Salad

We picked up some used costumes at the school's costume sale.

Aidan as a very serious Superman...

(You can see a sleeve of Batman in the first picture. He doesn't have a mask and didn't want his identity to be revealed, so he refused to pose for a picture)

One day, the kids came home from school and wanted to make fruit salad. I figured it would be a great way to get fruit into them, so I let them. They did it all themselves. It's amazing how much more they eat when they do it themselves...

A visit to the park...

Artists at work...

Inspired by watching this bit of artistry, the boys got to work on creating the wrappings for a friends birthday party!