Garage Sale Finds

I found this farm/train water table on the side of the road. Free for me! The previous owners had closed up their garage sale and dragged it to the curb. It was filthy! But nothing a good spray with the hose couldn't fix. I need to work on the train wheels to get them turning more easily, but otherwise, it's great!

Olivia doesn't seem to mind that the wheels are less than perfect.

I also found this awesome slide with a basketball hoop attached at a garage sale. They had it marked $40 (WHAT???) and I talked them down to $12.50.

Olivia is learning how to climb up the ladder side instead of trying to climb the slide. She's getting there.

Some other great deals this weekend included:

• foam floor puzzle pieces (2 sets)
• Little People house (with all the pieces)
• Little People castle (with all the pieces)
• 3 Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles with small knobs
• glow in the dark pink skeleton PJs (size 18-24 months) perfect for Halloween!
• Size 5 tennis shoes (never been worn) and size 5 dress up shoes (hardly worn)
• More PJs for fall
• Huge tub of Megablocks (Build & Play Kitchenette)

And other than the yard toys, everything else is getting saved for Christmas. Christmas shopping at garage sales saves SO MUCH MONEY!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Hiking on Mother's Day

Finger Paint

Today I decided to try a new art project: Finger Painting. I scoured some of my favorite blogs and found a recipe for an edible (though not too tasty) finger paint recipe on Pounds 4 Pennies. The best part was that I had all the ingredients on hand. I bet if you look, you do too!

Here's what you need:
1/2 cup corn starch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups cold water
a few drops of food coloring

I added all the ingredients (except for the food coloring) to a small pot and cooked it on medium heat for about 10 minutes. I stirred it occasionally with a wire whisk.

 After 10 minutes, it still seemed really soupy. So I bumped the heat up, and it came together REALLY quickly after that--maybe took about 30 seconds more. Then it was a thick, goopy glop.

I pulled it off the heat, and separated it into three small plastic containers to cool. 

Once they were cool, I added a few drops of color to each container. I decided that to start we would only use three colors: red, blue, and yellow. I'd let her explore the paint and mix her own secondary colors. I know she's a little young to get the idea of color mixing, but three colors seemed like a good amount for our first try.

I decided to taste test this finger paint since most likely Little O will put some in her mouth. It's nontoxic, since it's made with baking ingredients, but it doesn't taste very good. It's a little sweet, but I don't think she'll be tempted to eat it (just explore the texture a bit).

I can't wait to give it a try when she wake up from her nap this afternoon.

Some extensions on this could include (I can't wait to try these this week with our new finger paints!):

Color Mixing

Print Making

No Mess Plastic Bag Painting

Outside Full Body Painting

Found Object Painting

Linked to:

Ginger Snap Crafts

Delightful Order

Shaken Together

Positively Splendid

Open Gym

Today I took Olivia with a group of other moms to a local gymnastics center for toddler Open Gym. She was tentative at first, but after I showed her around, she started to warm up to the idea. She really loved the tumbling track. She spent a lot of time running up and down it chasing balls and bouncing.

She also really enjoyed climbing over and on the low beam. She straddled it like a horse, and scooted forward on her bottom. Cuteness!

I think I might sign her up for a Mommy & Me gymnastics class this fall. If only to burn off all her toddler energy!

Unfortunately, after her nap that afternoon, she woke up with a fever. An impromptu Friday afternoon visit to the doctor, and Olivia has an ear infection... Again.

Last Day of MOMS

Today was the last day of the Morning Out for Moms program that Olivia was in this year. Each week, she spent Thursday mornings with two wonderful teachers and a few other babies younger than two. The MOMS program follows the school schedule pretty closely, starting a little later and ending a little earlier.

Olivia sure is going to miss her teachers. And I am going to miss having Thursday mornings for crafting/errand running/napping/coffee with the girls/etc.

First Day of School
Sept. 2011

Last Day of School
May 2012

Olivia with her teachers and a classmate.

Teacher Appreciation Gifts I Made
See how I made these here.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday