Valentine target practice - Melt the heart

It's the weekend...whoop whoop!!!!!

To beat the heat, I prepared a fun shaving foam activity for the Butterballs.

A really simple activity, 

(after a long week at school, I didn't have the energy for anything elaborate)

All I did was mix two batches of shaving foam paint (shaving foam + food colouring) in purple and pink.

This took about 3 minutes.

Another 3 minutes to fill up a bucket with water and find the Butterballs water-blasters.

Using the shaving-foam paint, I painted a few hearts onto our sliding door,
then let the Butterballs loose!!

Ready ... Aim...

Fire!!!!

They loved their target practice session. At first, they had to get real close to their targets but they soon got the hang of it!

Tamlyn eagerly repainted the hearts so that they could continue their heart-blasting,
while I relaxed on the lounger with a book....ahhh, such bliss :)

All too soon, the Butterballs ran out of shaving-foam paint so they began to blast each other ...and me!!!
Book and all!!!

It didn't take me long to get them geared for a quick clean up.
Armed with window wipers, the Butterballs soon had my sliding door sparkling!

What a great way to clean the windows!!!!

Valentine LOVE treat tray

'I LOVE YOU' are 3 little words that are heard 
and spoken VERY often in our home.

But what I am guilty of, is not being specific!

What do I love about my Butterballs....

there's so many things - the list is endless!!!

Today, I decided to make a concerted effort to tell my Butterballs what I love about them...well, a few things that I love about them.

We sometimes do a Muffin Cup Monday Treat Tray so I decided that this Monday we will do a Valentine LOVE treat tray for dessert.

I filled a heart shaped muffin tray with :
watermelon cubes
strawberries 
grapes
candy-coated peanuts
mini heart-shaped marshmallows
valentine gummy treats

I tried to include an even mix of healthy and not-so-healthy treats!

Besides filling up their muffin tray with delicious treats, I added a little note to each cup, listing a few things that I love about them.

My stash of washi tape came in really handy!!

I used various valentine themed tapes to turn a few blank gift tags into pretty 'love notes'

After sticking a cocktail  skewer onto the back of each note, I was ready to present my Butterballs with their Valentine treat tray.

The looks on their faces were priceless!!!
My Butterballs couldn't read their love-notes so they ran to me and dad, sticky notes in hand, waiting for us to read out each little message.

Afterwards Tamlyn gave me a great big hug and whispered in my ear, 'Love you, my Mama. You're the best mom !' ...I had tears in my eyes.

Ethan of course, not to be outdone, runs over and hugging me, he whispers in my other ear, 'Can I please have more water-melon'  ;)))))

Gotta love em!!!

DIY Water Park

The last week of the holiday!!!

I can't believe it!!

My Butterballs are back at school on Monday.

Tamlyn will be in Grade 00 and Ethan will attend school for the first time!

My little man will be in Grade 000.

How time has flown!!

To celebrate...;) the end of the holiday, and more importantly,

 to COOL DOWN!!! (this has been a scorching hot Summer)

we decided to setup our very own mini Water Park with various water-based play stations.

At the crack of dawn, Calvin and I set to work.

Our first station was a Bubbles and Balls pool.

We filled a little paddling pool with water, a splash of bubble bath and a bag of balls.

Lots of Sensory fun!!

Next we set up a the splash pools... two little pools filled with various toys, water-wheels and pumps. Perfect for investigating and exploring.

The Butterballs received an awesome slide for Christmas (Thanks Uncle Alvin!)  which we put to good use.

I sprayed on shaving foam for some extra special slippery fun. The Butterballs also loved sliding down on their little surfboards (with a bit of help from Dad)

The next water-based play station was a Rub-a-Dub Scrub Tub.
I filled the Butterballs water-table with warm water, added a bit of dish-washing liquid to one section of the table, then tossed in a few cups and saucers, even a teapot or two.
They loved washing their tea set.

Ethan decided to turn the activity into an imaginary tea-party!!
I was just glad that those toys were finally getting washed ;)

Calvin added a water-pump bin so the Butterballs could spray each other ( and us!!)

And of course, no Back-yard Water Park would be complete without water balloons!!!

,

The Butterballs enjoyed a day of cool, splashy fun with lots of Active, Sensory and Imaginative play thrown in for good measure!
'When can we do it again Mama?' asks a super-sleepy Tamlyn at bedtime. :)

No Couch Potatoes Allowed!

Get up! Get moving! Dance! Run! Jump! Crawl! Wriggle! Slide!

The ButterBalls are always on the move, which keeps me on my toes and leaves us all exhausted at the end of each day... exhausted but happy and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Besides helping me burn up a few calories, all that active play develops the Butterball's gross motor skills and coordination. It also helps improve balance and builds strong little bodies.

When playing games together, kids practise turn-taking and sharing. They learn about good sportsmanship and how to be team players. They even practise math skills through score keeping! 


These are but a few of the benefits of Active play and right now, after an amazing day at the Moses Mabida Peoples Park, the benefit I'm totally loving is...sleepy exhaustion.


After all that action, the Butterballs are easily drifting off to sleep :)