A Little Dirt on our Boots

A day of non stop country music with a backdrop of palm trees swaying in harmony. That is a glimpse of what Boots in the Park at waterfront looks like. As soon as we heard Thomas Rhett was going to headline Boots in the Park this Spring we had tickets that afternoon. The festival lineup also featured his daddy, Rhett Atkins, Scotty McCreery, LOCASH and Lee Brice. VIP tickets are the only way to go for this festival because it’s a separate area with it’s own amenities, bathrooms and most importantly benches to sit on because age.

We arrived early planning out where we wanted to park ourselves for the day while we were in line.

We were one of the firsts in the VIP section.

If we had to complain about VIP it would be the lack of food and drink options, but we survived.

While we were sitting and chatting a lady came up to us and asked us if we wanted to meet Rhett Atkins.

We replied with an obvious “yes”.

Our phones weren’t allowed backstage… He seemed like a nice guy and we shared a few laughs.

Rhett was a good story teller and shared personal anecdotes between songs. He told us about the time Luke Bryan went to his hotel room in nothing but his boxers to tell him that he came up with sure fire hit song.

This is that song….

He’s written a lot of songs for other artists such as Blake Shelton and Jon Pardi. He told us backstage that his four year old son might join him on stage for a song. Sure enough at the end of his set, his son came out and sang the old classic “the Itsy Bitsy Spider” and the crowd went wild.

On our way to get a refill we ran into our radio morning show hosts. I listen to Jon and Tammy every morning so we had to get a picture.

As the sun started to go down, Lee Brice took the stage.

And he sang all of our favorites including Rumor.

Next up was not so little Scotty McCreery whom we saw at Boots in the Park in 2019 with Old Dominion. I was eager to hear his latest song, Cab in a Solo.

A drone show lit up the sky.

Finally, the man of the match. Thomas Rhett came out and started the show with one of my personal favorites, Vacation.

His entire performance was stellar. He played all of his hits and talked about how he re-did “Heads Carolina” with Cole Swindel, which I did not know.

It was such a good day with my love and we can’t wait to see Thomas Rhett again.

Learning Curve

Every day we get up, drink coffee and shower. Every morning the girls have breakfast, get dressed, make their beds and head to their spot for a daily zoom meeting. Every day I do my best to get it all done; work, school, keep the children alive. The girls get in their academics, some creative art, physical activity, and we manage to fit in plenty of fun game time. We are amazing. At the end of the day we are wiped and stressed about not only how it all got done, but how are we going to do it again and again without going mad? Am I doing enough? Shit, they haven’t had vegetables in days…It’s okay that they’ve had breakfast for all three meals, right? They haven’t gone outside in two days because f*ck! it hasn’t stopped raining.

These are how the days go. There is crying and laughing, wine and sugar but we get it done and we get up and do it again, because moms are amazing!

r5CKAuJlRxO6MC4gCyFhxwSnMFE2w+SXKLfDy4T2oQ0QithITsK3QvaV994kCdBQBw

We squeezed in a field trip to Mount Laguna. Such a fun day!

fullsizeoutput_b64

fullsizeoutput_b68fullsizeoutput_b67

fullsizeoutput_b69We even brought snow home for a Kinder science experiment. Averi and I read the book “The Snowy Day” and the next day we went outside to see what happened to the snow we brought home; A built in lesson plan.

GoNoodle is a life saver.

I can really tell a difference between the days they get a good amount of physical activity and the days they don’t. They all show their hands at bedtime.

They also love the time we set aside to create. Whether it’s coloring, cooking or painting, I think it’s the only time of day that they are quiet.

Quiet is good!

DO7QBSd+Sr+T0D4wM78SlwQc4kx2zeSkG710%6rLQlDzjLcNHQY6q5%K84gINqQ

I think if you asked them what their favorite part of the day was, they would all say family game time. We have found a few new favorites. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is a lot of fun, (it’s meant for 8 years and older but Averi has gotten the hang of it, she just won’t win anytime soon.) We all love UNO, and the girls new favorite is, The Floor is Lava. They love this game,  I haven’t won yet so it’s not my favorite.

8F727150-2DE4-4944-8E74-48632540B5D6

There are some tears and a lot of “whyyyyyyys?”

As frustrating as it is being on, every.single.minute.of.the.day. They really love having us at their fingertips all day long.

fullsizeoutput_bbb

Well, most of the time.

COIXFrOnRxiVZh9EVQJbfQ

 

 

Easy Homemade Gak recipe

Kaili likes to watch Creative Galaxy and after each episode her creativity is sparked. She comes out wanting to cook or create. I thought about how I used to make Gak with my students and how easy it was. How come I haven’t done this with her yet?

We walked to the drugstore to pick up some of the ingredients. Once the littler one was in bed, we set out to make some homemade Gak.

This comes together in five minutes, it’s too easy.

Ingredients 

4 oz. school glue

1/2 cup water + 1/4 cup HOT water

1/2 teaspoon Borax

Food coloring

fullsizerender

 

Mix glue and 1/2 cup water in small bowl or container and mix well.

Add in food coloring if using.

Dissolve the borax in 1/4 cup of hot water. Mix until it’s completely dissolved.

Pore the borax water into the glue mixture.

Stir the Gak and watch as it changes into a solid mass. Knead the Gak for a bit until it’s no longer sticky and wet.

Voila!

fullsizeoutput_1

It’s a great sensory activity. Mesmerizing.

img_0350

 

 

 

Artful

This weather we are having has been glorious. We have been spending our afternoons wading in the hot tub and eating popsicles like it’s mid July. Please don’t take my sunshine away Mr. Weatherman. Along with outdoor activities, I have tried to keep K busy with some inside art each day. So if you need some inspiration to pull your kid out from in front of the TV, I got your back.

Wine Cork Clovers

photo 1

photo 3

Shamrock Cookie Cutter Printing

IMG_2852 IMG_2863

Nature Walk Collage

IMG_2736

Coffee Filter Butterflies

photo 4 photo 5 photo

Hurry up Spring, I am ready to get all Easter up in here.

Heart Printing

Printing with cookie cutters is perfect for little hands. Easy to grab and manipulate plus fun to do. I gave K one heart cookie cutter and one color which she got to choose. A little later I let her choose one more color to add, she chose white {I would have chosen pink} what does she know?

IMG_20130130_095556

concentrating
concentrating

IMG_20130130_095823

Once she showed signs of being close to done, I gave her a paintbrush to extend this activity.

IMG_20130130_095932