Letters to Santa

I always love little things like this -- such keepsakes for their boxes! I printed out these cute letters to Santa and let them go to town on what they wanted to say on their own. I obviously wrote Addison's but Carter did his entirely on his own! :) 

(Sidenote: aside from the "cookies" on Carter's list, Santa did PRETTY well anticipating these suggestions. The cups through me for a loop that they'd even say that, but mama knows best and already had them!)

Fun Kids Activity

I mentioned it in yesterday's post, but last night, we made ice cream in a baggie. It was SO cute and fun. :)

All we needed was sugar, salt, half and half, vanilla and ice.

Five minutes of shaking later, we had delicious homemade ice cream, and little man LOVED it. :)

You can try it here.

Halloween parade

Carter went to his first Halloween parade last night. We sat right on the curb so we had front-row action. He really loved all the "big trucks" and fancy decorated cars and floats. Lots of people threw him candy - either because he was simply adorable or because of the lady beside us yelling "THROW THIS KID SOME CANDY!" when people weren't. She must have felt like he needed to fill that little orange pumpkin up even though he's only one and had no idea whatsoever. It was hilarious though! :)

He did really well until the fire truck honked its horn right in front of us - he freaked a little, but actually quickly calmed down. We left about 35 minutes into it because he was getting antsy sitting on our laps but we were too close to the parade to let him run on his own. Here are a few pictures of the night. It was lots of fun - I think next year he'll give those candy throwers a run for their money! :)

[Works for Me Wednesday]: Sidewalk Chalk

I realize I could be the last person in the world to figure this out, but probably not. Last week, I had Carter's sidewalk chalk in a tub on the back porch. It rained, and said tub was filled to the brim with water....and his chalk.

(source)

I took the soaked chalk out of the tub and began to draw and it. was. awesome. It went on just like paint (with no residue on our fingers or dust on our clothes), and dried like the most vibrant chalk you've ever seen. WAY cooler than plain chalk. We did go through each stick faster than when it is dry, but the colors on the deck when we were done were awesome, so it worked!! :) I didn't take any pictures unfortunately, but trust me, it was cool.

Try it out! :)

Jump, Jump!

With being two full-time working parents, Seth and I like to squeeze some additional family fun in on the weekends. This past Saturday, we took Carter to Monkey Joe's, a local bounce place for kids age 12 and under. There is even a special "tot zone" for kids under 3, which was part of what drew me in. He's never been in a bounce house before, and I had a feeling he might be a bit skiddish at first. The place was super cheap ($5 for kids under 3, parents are free!) so we figured if he hated it, we'd just head out.

We got there promptly at opening time (10 a.m.) because we knew it was only a matter of time before he got sleepy.

He was a little nervous at first, but once he got his 'sea legs,' he had a blast! For the first 10-15 minutes, we had the whole tot zone to ourselves, so he had some time to get used to everything.

That is one handsome little boy! :)

Before we left, we explored the building a bit and we found a little arcade. Carter played his first arcade game - Whack a mole! - and it was absolutely precious. He got 12 points (with some help) and his momma was so proud!

Around 11:30, he started laying down in the bounce house like he wanted to take a nap, so we headed next door to the mall to go to the food court and then home for naptime. It was lots of fun and we'd definitely go back again!