The Toy Box Years: Outdoor Playing

The Creators of the Toy Box Years

The creators of the Toy Box Years are my two beautiful daughters and wonderful, handsome soldier husband.

"Nani" (our oldest) is a 11 year old 6th grader who loves Taylor Swift, ballet, books, fashion designing and sewing. Ask her what she wants to be when she grows up and it changes daily to anything from "an artist" to "a teacher" to "a singer/dancer". Nani is also currently fighting a battle against brain cancer -- recently diagnosed in June 2016.

"Nudgie" (our youngest) is a very smiley, very happy, very giggly, very spirited 8 year old 3rd Grader who's favorite toys are anything that gives mommy an anxiety attack - ladders, stepstools, the climbing wall at the playground. Like her sister, she has a love of reading and coloring, loves gymnastics and still provides mommy lots of snuggle time!

"My Marine" is my high school sweetheart. We've been married over 20 years and met when we were 17. (You do the math....) His favorite toys are Blackhawk helicopters, the lawnmower, our steam cleaner, and microbrew beer bottles. My husband is also my hero in that he proudly serves his country as a Blackhawk crew chief (hence his favorite toy!). And need I say that there is nothing hotter than my man in uniform!

All About Me......

Once upon a time I had a career and worked in the corporate world. Once upon a time, I dreamed about leaving that all behind to follow my true calling -- being a wife and mommy.

The first part of my calling was fulfilled in 1995 when I married my Marine (now soldier) and my love. Little did I know that being a military wife would change me in so many ways and that because of that, I would have an extended family all over the world from Japan, to California, to North Carolina.

The second part of my calling took a little doing, but I finally achieved that dream in 2004 with the birth of our first child, followed 4 years later by her baby sister.

So now, when someone asks me what I do for a living - I simply smile and say proudly that I'm following my calling - I'm a mommy and a wife -- and I couldn't be HAPPIER -- I'm living in the Toy Box Years!!

Outdoor Playing - Splat Painting

>> Monday, May 16, 2011

Mother's Day weekend was the first weekend we had super hot weather. My Marine took advantage of the weather to do some yard work and I took advantage of the chance to do some fun outdoor activities with the girls - Splat Painting!

Nani really enjoyed this activity......Nudgie, not so much......

Old shower curtain, egg carton to hold paints, cut up sponges, and plastic tongs

Plastic spatulas from thrift store. I think next time I'll use slotted spatulas. These just didn't quite give me the SPLAT I was looking for.

But, Nani didn't care. She still loved whacking the sponge!

Nudgie didn't want to have anything to do with the spatulas, so I thought I'd try balloon painting with her. Again - Nani just LOVED this.....

Nudgie -- not so much......

She tried once.........

Finished product!

Very fun and very messy! And as I mentioned before, next time I'd use slotted spatulas for more of a SPLAT! We'll definitely be doing this again this summer!

14 comments:

MaryAnne May 16, 2011 at 6:27 AM: This looks like fun! We'll have to give it a go if the weather EVER warms up here!
Jamie @ hands on : as we grow May 16, 2011 at 10:30 AM: Sometimes the kids just don't give the activity a chance, do they? Glad Nani had a blast! Hopefully next time Nudgie will join in more :)
Helene May 16, 2011 at 12:42 PM: How fun is that?! My kids would have had paint all over themselves, the driveway and probably our cars! I'm impressed that your girls managed to keep the paint on the shower curtain!
Andrea May 19, 2011 at 5:10 PM: This is fantastic! I have fly swatter painting planned for next week. In the past we have done sponge painting with clothespins attached instead of tongs. The tongs are a great idea too:)
Found you over at Mama Pea Pod
~Jada roo can do
jenny @ let the children play May 19, 2011 at 6:49 PM: We did the same thing at preschool this week with the fly swatters :)

http://progressiveearlychildhoodeducation.blogspot.com/2011/05/splat-painting.html
OurWanderingAdventures May 19, 2011 at 8:50 PM: This is so fun!!! Great job!!
Unknown May 20, 2011 at 4:34 AM: Thanks for sharing this at our Outdoor Play link-up! Your girls certainly managed to stay very clean for splat painting! Lucky you!

Hope to see you again next week!
Anonymous May 20, 2011 at 5:58 AM: This looks like good messy fun! I'd love for you to come share at Fun For Kids Friday.

http://smilemonsters.blogspot.com/2011/05/fun-for-kids-friday_19.html

Jo @ SmileMonsters
LocalFunForKids May 21, 2011 at 6:44 PM: It looks like the kids had a blast doing this activity : ) Thanks for linking up with fun for Kids Friday. Have a great weekend!
Sarah May 22, 2011 at 6:20 PM: I loved this idea of using the fly swatters! AND I loved how you adjusted the activity to meet both children's needs/interests! So FUN!!!

I featured you our on Blog Hop this weekend!!

http://ateacheratheart.blogspot.com/

~Sarah
Anonymous May 22, 2011 at 8:07 PM: That looks like so much fun! What a great way to reuse an old shower curtain. I know you are suppose to replace those every so often and now maybe I won't feel guilty about doing that!
Thanks so much for joining the outdoor play link up.
Laura May 25, 2011 at 7:46 AM: very fun. I like the balloon idea too and thanks for the suggestion of using slotted spatulas. If we ever do this I will keep it in mind. Looks like it was fun even if your one daughter wasn't interested.
I Am Rachele May 26, 2011 at 12:26 PM: Your article has been featured on It's Playtime this week. Thanks for joining us and don't forget to grab a featured button :)

Rachele @ Messy Kids
Mille idee al nido June 5, 2011 at 8:12 AM: We love tris activity. We play whit spatulas and sponges tris week! Ciao ciao!