A Cheap and Fun Craft

Okay, I fess up, when the boys decorated their tiles for Father's Day, I thought I had BOTH grandpa's taken care of in the gift department. I wasn't thinking, obviously I couldn't have one boy give one grandpa a tile he made and the other give the other grandpa his tile (are you following me?). Both boys had to give their tiles to one grandpa, thus leaving the other grandpa giftless for Father's Day.

Lucky for me, my own father was out-of-town on a fishing trip all week long, so I had some time to plan another craft my boys could do while he was gone and give him as a belated Father's Day gift. I had wanted to have them make a plate they color or paint on and then give to him, but I couldn't find that craft at Walmart. But, I did find a Kid's Craft Kit that was a wooden star frame for $5! It was on clearance so I snatched it up. You simply paint the wooden frame and then decorate with the sticker theme included- this kit was a sports theme. It will be the best gift, I even have a sports picture of both of my boys to put in it. My oldest son painted it in a rainbow of colors and added the stickers. It turned out really cute.

Now my youngest son needed something easy to do, so I purchased a bunch of koozies that are foam and some foam letters and decorations. I put the following on the outside of it, and yes, it is super classy: "Papa's Beer" on one koozie and let my four year old decorate it with the foam stickers. I know Papa will love it, he loves a beer at night and he loves his beer to be cold, so why not keep it cold in a cute koozie made by his youngest grandson?

Flood Update

The flood is way worse than anticipated: The Cedar River will crest today around 32 feet, flood stage is 12 feet...you can imagine what my city looks like now.

Update: Here is a picture of part of our downtown, the brick building in the left hand lower corner of the picture is the YMCA that my husband is a director at. It will take months to get it up and running again.

500 Year Flood....

15 years ago Iowa experienced what some thought were the worst floods possible. Unfortunately, this has turned out not to be true- 2008 will go down in history as the worst flooding seen in the state. Right now, communities around me are under mandatory evacuations, including areas of our downtown. My husband is an employee of all three YMCA's in our city and he is downtown right now sandbagging around the downtown Y. The parking lot is already taking on water, but he and his other employees are staying until they are kicked out. My doctor's office just called, they are downtown as well, and my appointment for Friday morning has been cancelled, they are closing the office until at least Monday. Right now it is raining- AGAIN, which isn't helping the flood waters and it is supposed to rain tomorrow and tomorrow night. I can't tell you how crazy it all is. We have good friends who had to evacuate their home in Palo, IA and some other people who attend the church I work at, who are also in the line of the flooding. My husband's work is affected, not to mention the thousands of other people that I don't know who could lose their homes and businesses.

I have posted two pictures of the flooding- the river hasn't even crested yet and it is over the banks. One picture you will see is the courthouse in the city, it is located on an island, the bridges around the island are now closed as they expect the water to be over the bridge when it crests on Friday. The other is a view from a factory in our downtown area into a street in a semi-residential area that will flood soon. Right now the drains are backing up into the streets because they can't drain into the river like the normally do, the river is too high to do this, so it is causing much flooding in residential neighborhoods.

I will post more pictures as I get them- it is just supposed to get worse. The river in our downtown area is currently at 21 feet, flood stage is 12 feet, it is expected to crest Friday morning at 24 feet- twice the flood stage level. Unbelieveable! I feel so bad for the people this is affecting.

They have now expanded the evacuation for the city of Cedar Rapids, calling this potential flood the worst flood in 500 years. The evacuation comes within 5 blocks of where I work...I wonder if I will get there tomorrow? This is just growing and growing to be what they are now saying, the worst flooding in 500 years.

The Tile Craft....

So today we started the tile crafts as a gift for two old men for Father's Day. If you see the above men, don't tell them what their gift will be...shh, it's a secret. After prepping the tile (which consists of washing and drying them) the boys were able to start painting them. So, I put plenty of paper towels under their tiles, gave them a bowl of water and paper towels to rinse and dry brushes with and let them go to town. I believe more paint got on my kitchen counter and on Max's shirt (You mean you aren't supposed to wipe your hands covered in black paint on your shirt? That paper towel was where I was to wipe my hands?) then on the tiles, but the boys had fun. Brady made a picture of his great grandpa in the hospital after he hit his head (don't ask) and I know you will be able to tell by looking that is exactly what he painted) and Max made a beautiful rainbow and tree, a popular thing to draw at six.

I will let them dry for 24 hours and then bake them in the oven to preserve the paint and then place them in frames and then Father's Day gifts will be done. Except I need two more tiles.....I can't give one Grandpa a tile from one boy and not the other, so we will either do two more tiles or I will buy the plates you can draw on at home. Either way, it is sure to be messy, but who cares? These gifts are cool!

A Great Garage Sale Find

I have been searching for something crafty to do with my boys for Father's Day gifts for the grandpa's. Today while out garage sale-ing with my garage sale-loving friend, I found this Memory Art: 2 Tiles to Treasure, a complete box for only $2.00. You can't beat that! It comes with two tiles, paint and frames to paint. My six year old thinks I completely rock because he gets to draw and paint something special on this tile. When I showed him it he said, very seriously, "I am going to really take my time and paint very neatly on this because it is a gift." I will post pictures when they are done. I fully anticipate my four year old's to be a big blob of nothing, but as long as he is proud of it, then who cares? The grandpa's will love it (or at least SAY they love it) because it came from the boys and was made with pride.

I think these retail for about $13, so for $2.00, I got quite a deal. I have never been one for garage sales, but I couldn't pass this up. I think I am onto something.

Fun in the Mud

Not a craft, but I couldn't resist sharing my two little men having fun outside today. Lot's of rain lately and that means lots of wet grass with muddy water. That means two little boys who take off their shirts and run through that glorious water for 30 minutes, loving that it is summer and that Mommy didn't seem to care that they were filthy dirty. Being a mom of only boys sure is something, there was no way I would have touched mud, let alone run through it and dive in it. No way. My boys however, think it is the best thing in the world. I guess when you are four and six, there isn't a lot that beats getting muddy!

Oh, and if any of you can guess which of my boys was my 35 week preemie, let me know. I will give you a hint, it isn't the little skinny dude in the video...LOL!

My Son's Eye

As you have read, my oldest son recently got glasses and had to wear a patch because he is considered legally blind in his left eye. The eye doctor had him wearing his patch for 8 hours a day at first. You know I was so surprised by how well Max did with this. He wore it at school everyday, and the best part was, not one child cared. Not one! Kindergarten is so awesome because I have found that kids could care less about the differences in their peers. His counselor even had a story she read to the class about a little boy who wears a patch. It was such an uneventful transition for him and you have no idea how relieved I was.

After one month of wearing the patch 8 hours a day, we returned to the eye doctor and imagine our pleasure when his doctor said that if Max were to take a driving test (because that is just around the corner, he is six now!)he would pass! He was so happy with how much his vision has improved, he said he only has to wear the patch for six hours a day now. We go back in July and I am hopeful he will lessen the time again. Another cool thing? Max didn't love the sticky eye patches that adhere to the eye and the patch that slid over the outside of the lens were just too bulky and too easy to peak around. So, I did some research and came across a site called Anissa's Fun Patches and found some really cool patches. I HIGHLY recommend them to any kid wearing a patch. They aren't bulky and they have stickers on them. Max is doing really well with them. So well that his eye doctor asked me for the patch information as he had never seen one like it before. The site owners are wonderful to work with. Again, I can't say enough good things about this type of patch or this site.

So, Max's vision is coming along, we are really proud of him. Thanks to everyone who asks about him from time-to-time.