Tea Party Tub Time

It rains here in Portland, a lot. 

When you have a curious toddler, it gets kinda tough this time of year. It seems that there are only so many things we can do in the house. Sure, we go out in the rain sometimes but it's really not a desirable situation. 

I have been brainstorming to conjure up activities, other that plopping my little man down in front of the television or reading to him until my tongue is swollen and dry.

Preston's favorite thing about summer is being able to play in the water. 

So, I decided to bring it indoors, but not as a traditional bath time.

I got a huge mixing bowl and filled it with water and put our green toys tea party set in the tub. I put on Mr. P's bathing suit and placed him in the tub for his bath tub tea party!

I stayed in there the whole time with him, sitting on a blanket. I let him play on his own, problem solving, pouring and sipping from tiny tea cups...

It lasted two whole hours!

I read blogs, got sucked into Pinterest (the surfed my way out), read a pile of magazines that had been waiting on my attention, and then picked up a book!

Eventually I got bored and took him out, but I think he would have kept playing quite a while more!

If you're looking for some time to catch up on reading materials and something to entertain and educate your two year old, maybe you'll have success with 

Thumbprint Christmas Ornaments

Holy-moly! I haven't written a blog in a long time! I have been doing numerous things, getting ready for the holidays, spent time with my mother etc... Time has slipped away, but I have needed the down time that I have taken. Whew!

I am sharing a very fun and simple holiday project that we did as a family, Thumbprint ornaments!

Here is my Ornaments Pinterest Board with the pins that have inspired this project!

We started off with inexpensive wooden circles from the craft store.

We painted a base coat of acrylic paint- in this case it was an off white.

I used a paint brush to put brown acrylic paint on every family members' thumb (one at a time of course) and placed it where I wanted it on the wood with light pressure. 

I then used a fine paint brush to paint the eyes, ears and antlers in black and the noses in red. I wrote in red ink at the bottom, but it doesn't look so crisp, so I'd likely not do that this time. This project was inspired by this pin.

For the snowman, the base color is Christmas red and I used Mr. P's pinky and index fingers and thumb. I simply brushed on the off white paint and put them where I wanted them!

All that is left to do is drill little holes at the top, thread some ribbon through and hang them on the tree!

Happy ornament making!