Story Book Forest

I know I am still behind on blogging but I wanted to do this one tonight. Eli and I went to Story Book Forest tonight at Arcadia Lake. I wanted to take him last year but I thought he might've been too young. It was really cute! They lined the forest with little scenes from classic story books. They had the gingerbread house, the witch in the oven, the three little pigs, rock-a-bye baby, hey diddle diddle, pinocchio, the little old woman who lived in a shoe, and several others. We had to do a little waiting to get in but Eli did really well. Luckily we were in line with some little boys who were dressed up as Angry Birds and Eli loved that. I put Eli in his train conductor outfit. We went to each story book and collected a piece of candy. Eli pretty much only likes lollypops and M&M's so a lot of it he wasn't interested in (fine by me).







After walking through the forest, we waited in line for the hayride. The weather turned out to be pretty nice. It was supposed to be very windy but it calmed down. It was in the 50's. The hayride was pretty fast. Eli was excited to visit the campfire area. After the hayride, we went and bought some marshmallows to roast. There were still plenty of spots to sit down at and roast them. Eli willingly took a bite of the roasted marshmallow but wasn't crazy about it.







Next year we want to take Daddy with us. He joined a new tennis league and tonight was his first game. I can see bringing our own smores and hotdogs next year to roast. We really had a good time!


Me and my baby on the hayride

Museum of Osteology

We visited the museum while Grandma was here. It was almost in the middle of nowhere so we weren't sure what to expect. But the facility looked almost brand new and was really nice inside. We also had the whole place to ourselves! Only the employees where there. Everything on display (that's not behind glass) you can touch; which was really nice for Eli. It was all in one large room so he just pretty much ran around in circles and looked at all the bones. There was a second level also. That part made me nervous though cause I swear he was skinny enough to where if he fell down, he could have slipped right under the railing and fallen 15 feet to the ground. Eek. So I much preferred the first level. Here's some pictures:


Eli's favorite-the giraffe



A Racoon (how cute)


A Macaw


The cat exhibit

Grandma's Here!

JR's mom came to visit us for Eli's birthday party. Eli was so excited to see her as we had been talking about it for weeks. He was especially excited because a certain trip to Toys R Us was promised so he could pick out some birthday presents. The week leading up to Grandma's visit we had visited Toys R Us more than a few times just to look at the toys and I said we weren't going anymore until Grandma came. She half expected him to mention it as soon as she walked in the door from the airport.

We did some fun activities while she was here. One day we went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, our favorite breakfast spot. I had gotten a good deal on admission to the Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City. We had never been before but Eli was excited to visit the "bone museum". He kept asking if Thomas was there. That maybe Thomas was a fossil. Silly boy.


Eli sitting on the elephant at the bone museum with Grandma

We also took a trip to Toys R Us. It was kinda in the middle of nowhere and we weren't even sure that they were open anymore from the looks of the area but it was fine inside. Does Toys R Us ever plan to change their look? They certainly aren't keeping up with the times :)


Opening presents from Grandma

Another morning we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a very nice day. Eli and I were both suffering from allergies that day so we didn't stay too long. Eli seemed to be feeling pretty miserable. We had some fun though. I attempted to swing from a rope tied to a tree. Everything gets harder to do when you're old though. Eli and Daddy tried too. Eli couldn't stay on too long. Maybe next year. He really wanted to see the animals. We went over and feed the goats and sheep. There weren't as many animals as last year it seemed and they weren't hungry when we went.

Eli got to ride the ponies for a little while too. SInce there were only a few other people there, the man guiding the ponies let him ride a while longer. He was having fun! Then we got to ride on the hayride. I love that Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch has become a yearly tradition; I look forward to it despite the allergies.

One of the days she was here, JR and I went to the new Outlet Mall in OKC. It was pretty nice; your typical outlet mall. I found a couple tops and JR found one too. Eli had a nice time with Grandma and I talked to Eli on the phone on our way home. He sounded so adorable. I'd never talked to him on the phone before.

Then Saturday came his birthday party but I will talk more about that later.

Eli loved his time with Grandma (and we did too). He loved making her laugh at all the wise and hilarious things he says. So grownup from when he saw her last. We hope she can come back soon!

Sockey

Since the weather has been nicer we've been getting outside more. JR has been playing racquetball against the house and slapshot with the hockey stick. Eli loves it when JR hits the ball up onto the roof. He kept asking if Daddy could play "Sockey". Not sure how he came up with that word but it's terribly cute.

Let the Party Planning Commense!

Eli said he wanted a Thomas the train party this year for his third birthday. He is in love with Thomas more than ever. I've discovered a new website called Pinterest and it's awesome! That might be an understatement. It's basically a virtual pinboard and allows you to grab pictures from all over the internet and "pin" them to a designated board. I created one for Eli's 3rd birthday, so whenever I saw something I liked, I pinned it, and referenced back to it. It's different from bookmarking because you can see all your pins and they are pictures that link back to the original site. It's really amazing.

So the first thing I made was this adorable birthday chair cover:



I'm not much of a seamstress, so for this first project I cheated. I used Fabric Glue. Actually, I didn't even have a needle when I started this project. So for the next project I knew I needed to get a needle at least. I bought a little sewing kit, felt, and fabric and here's what I came up with next:

Eli's Birthday Crown!


The front view


The side view


The back view. There's a piece of velcro sewn onto the crown and covered with thomas fabric.

This was just something fun I did for Eli. I decoupaged some thomas images onto paper mache letters for decoration:



The last project was really fun. It's a DIY (Do-It-Yourself for all you non-crafters) photo on canvas. Photo on canvas can cost a pretty penny. Especially the 16x20 I wanted to do. I saw this project on Pinterest and it seemed totally doable. Basically you buy whatever size canvas you want and order the same size photo. Use a little Mod Podge to glue it down and seal it up, and some pretty paper on the sides and dab some paint on any spots left open:


I took this photo of Eli at the Oklahoma Railway Museum earlier in the year

It turned out really great. I tested out two other photos on canvas before I attempted this larger one. I love how everything turned out.

Picnic in the Park

I am really behind on blogging. I apologize. The whole month of September was spent crafting and preparing for Eli's birthday party. I'll have more on that later.

The weather is finally cooling down! Last month, Eli and I decided to go to the park and have a picnic. We went to Hafer Park, our favorite. We fed the ducks first and then laid out the blanket to eat our lunch. Eli is finally eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (as long as it's shaped as a train, t-rex, or stegosaurus).