Indoor Summer Activities

I've tried to do better this summer about coming up with fun activities for Paige. I knew she loved painting, but it's a mess and I typically don't let her do it inside. But this day, it was raining and I decided to give it a whirl anyway...she loved it...of course!

She painted a picture for Nanny and Papa, one for Aunt Les and Uncle Zach, and one for her Daddy's office.

Not too many days after the painting went down, Paige and I were in the craft section of WalMart. She spotted a bag of beads and I thought it would be worth a try for her. I bought a $3 bag of assorted beads and a .97 cent ball of yarn. Paige sat down and hammered out about 10 necklaces in an hour! It's such a good activity to fine tune her fine motor skills and it kept her occupied for an hour...AN HOUR! It was bliss for me!

She made her bead necklaces while she was dressed up as Tinkerbell...that's her latest obsession. As of today, she's going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween...thank goodness Aunt Les can sew!

Show Us Your Life...My Wedding Dress

Kelly at Kelly's Korner is hosting "Show Us Your Wedding Dress Friday" and I had to join in on the fun! When Stephen and I started dating in September of 2000, I was working at a local doctor's office in the Insurance Department. Shortly after, I switched jobs and began working at a bridal shop in our town...Hello, Dream job! I love, love, love shopping and wedding, so it was the perfect combination for me. I worked at the bridal store the entire time that Stephen and I dated and throughout our engagement. Needless to say when we were finally officially engaged, I had everything picked out already!

We got married in the church that I have attended since I was in 5th grade. Our wedding was the first in our new building! I loved my dress and still do, although now I think I would choose a mermaid style with antique lace. My tiara is an heirloom piece that I got and hope that Paige and maybe even our nieces will wear on their special days.
Our reception was in the Activity Center of our church and my Mom did all the catering...what was I thinking asking her to do that?! She did a great job, though!

Next week I'll post about our bridal party and flowers! How fun is this?

Family Name sign

A couple of weeks ago, we went out to see the progress of the house that our friends, Doyle and Mandy, are building. While we were looking at the gorgeous house, Mandy and I saw a pile of scrap wood and immediately started digging through to find the best pieces. I walked away with about 8 pieces of wood and had no idea at the time what I was going to do with any of them. Actually, that's a lie. I thought I might have an idea but didn't really know if I could pull it off. But on Tuesday I was bored during Paige's nap and needed a creative outlet, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

I started with a blank piece of wood. I did sand down the sides and edges, but they actually were pretty smooth so it didn't take much sanding. I wiped the wood down after the sanding was done.Since it was in the middle of naptime, I didn't have the chance to run to WalMart to buy spray paint. So, I used the paint that we painted the laundry room! I love the color...

It's "Churchill Hotel Brown" by Valspar at Lowe's...semigloss. It went on so well and covered perfectly. I worried somewhat about it since I didn't prime the wood at all before painting. I think I put 2 coats of paint on the whole board. Like my workbench? It's our deep freezer! It's the perfect height for me!After the paint dried, I printed "Banning" out from Microsoft Word in a font that I liked in a 400 size. Then, I grabbed the exacto knife and my cutting board and started cutting each letter out. It took me about 40 minutes to get all the letters cut out. I don't know if you can tell by this picture or not, but when I got the letters cut out, I placed each one on the board, took a pencil and traced the outline of the letter. I'm sure there's a better way to do it, but again...it was naptime and I had to work with what I had on hand.I decided to hand paint the letters since I didn't want to use my stark white paint pen...it was just too, well...stark! So, I used some craft paint! I mixed white and metallic gold. It cut the white just enough and gave it some sparkle. It took 2 coats of craft paint to make it look right, but I like the outcome. I'm not, however, crazy about the "Est 03" part. I'm still comtemplating painting over that and trying again. Here she is in her new home! This piece of furniture is my hope chest and it's finally in my house! I've been married for 6 years now and it's the first time I've had it in my own house. I just haven't had room until now. I'll post about the mirror and blue vase soon...they are thrifty makeovers too!

Total cost of "Banning" family sign....97 cents plus tax for the easel that its leaning against! I had all the paint on hand and the wood was free!

Baby, It's HOT Outside!

Actually, that's a lie. We've had unseasonable cooler weather in Arkansas for about the past week. It's been heavenly, to say the least! Before the cooler weather came through, I took Paige to the park one afternoon...of course she loved it. Girl loves to play outside!

Paige is posing at the park right after we got there. She's a ham and she's getting to the point that I can say "Look at Mommy and smile", and she actually cooperates! Great for photo ops!

LOVE this picture! It's just so...Paige. Happy, cheerful, a tad cheesy, and full of life.

Paige is climbing up the jungle gym...and giving the standard "Banning Fake Smile". Every Banning grandchild possesses it in some form.

She's trying to decide if she's going to go down the slides or not...they were a little warm that afternoon and she opted out.Paige has been determined the past few times we've been at the park to cross the monkey bars. She's not able to do it alone just yet, but she has the concept down.

Paige was dripping with sweat by the time we left the park. We were there for about 45 minutes and that was all either of us could stand!Here's the photographic evidence that it was HOT! She's so just like her Daddy and turns red and starts sweating on her head before anything else!

We were thankful for our Coke and Cherry Sprite from Sonic when we left the park!

Water Park FUN!

A couple of weeks ago, we took Paige to the Aquatic Park! We met my sister and brother-in-law and Paige loved having their attention. We'll be making at least one more trip to the water park before school starts again...Paige just loves it!

Paige and my sister, Leslie, in the kiddie pool.

Paige posing next to the turtle in the kiddie pool...she loves climbing up on him and then sliding back off. So does every other kid at the park!

There's a spout of shooting water that comes out of the top of the turtle's head...it's a fun game to cover it up then let it shoot in your face!

Paige has gotten brave in the pool during the past few weeks, so going down the slide at the water park was just the next step. She climbed the steps all by herself and slid down to her Daddy...although eventually she didn't even want him there!

Here she is coming down the slide...

Paige and Daddy after she came down the slide!

Nothing quenches your thirst quite like Red Gatorade!

We love going to the water park! And Mommy and Daddy especially like how exhausted Paige is after we leave!

Paige's New Pool!

I got this pool for Paige for $20 on clearance at Wal-Mart when we got back from vacation. She LOVES it! I've never gotten a pool like this for her before because we've not had a great backyard for her to play in until we moved into our new house. Now I feel safe with her in the fenced in backyard!

A pool like this is a necessity when temperatures are soaring near 100 degrees just about everyday here. I'm trying to get creative and come up with fun indoor activities for Paige as well...the problem is I hate messes so I really have to swallow my hate and allow her to do Play-Doh and other messy projects. I tell myself that she loves it and that makes it all better. Right?!

Tired?

Paige was so tired on the drive home from the beach! This deep sleep only lasted about 30 minutes because of the awful highways in northern Louisiana/Southern Arkansas, but some sleep is better than no sleep for this little girl!