Life With A Toddler

I had great plans of sharing some of my Fall decorations with you, but as many of you know, I have a toddler grandson living with me, so even the best laid plans and all that jazz, yada yada yada.

While sitting in my room the other evening, I hear a big crash, several thuds, and a squeal (of delight) from my grandson.  I jump up to see what had happened as I hear my son scolding him.  No blood curdling screams so I figure the child is alright, therefore the crash has to be something that I am not going to be too happy about.

As I enter the dining room, I see my son on the floor starting to pick up my tablecloth.  Hmm, seems like that was on top of the table earlier, how ever did it get in the floor?  I stomped my foot, hands on hips, and asked my grandson, "What did you do?"  He giggled.  My son said, "It's not funny, you messed up Nanny's table." My grandson says "Uh-oh" as my son brings up one of my favorite bowls from the floor. It has broken into several pieces.  I sighed and said, "I'll get the broom."

That bowl had been sitting in the middle of my dining room table and was holding several gourds, pussy willows, and pheasant feathers.  I was quite proud of it, but my grandson envisioned a different layout apparently, because when I came back with the broom, he had been helping his dad pick up the mess and had created his own masterpiece with the gourds.

Later in the evening, I heard his dad scolding him yet again.  I ventured into the room to see what debacle had taken place this time and discovered that he had de-flowered a good portion of my mum that I had placed in a basket, along with a pumpkin and a few styrofoam pumpkins that I had picked up that afternoon. He had gotten the pumpkin out of the basket, rolled it aside and had proceeded to eat the styrofoam ones. Apparently the kid's a weirdo, what can I say?

With my Fall decorations dwindling fast, I thought about sharing my lovely basket full of fruit that I had placed on the island in the kitchen.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered a little munchkin had nibbled on said fruit and placed it back into the basket.

So, there you have it, my Fall decorations.  Given the fact that I am living with a Tasmanian Devil, you will forgive me if my Christmas decorations do not make an appearance this year.  Although, you know this Nanny can't deny him the fun of terrorizing the whole house.  Bless his heart.

Artsy Birthday

We just celebrated my granddaughter's 4th birthday and I thought I would share some of the details with you.  She wanted to have an art party which made for a very colorful event.  You can see last years, Hungry Caterpillar party here.  

I made her a rainbow cake and cupcakes.  We set the cupcakes on paint palettes and placed sprinkles in the trays which allowed the children to decorate their own cupcakes. I also made "paintbrushes" by taking pretzel sticks and dipping them in chocolate.  To stick with the painting theme, we dropped by our local Lowes and picked up various paint chips and created holders for our napkins and eating utensils, then we used the left over paint chips for decorating the tables.

We got the acrylic paint and the pinata from Walmart as well as the tableware.

We picked the canvas' up at Michael's and I ordered the aprons, paint brushes, and palettes from Oriental Trading. We let the children take all of these home with them, as well as watercolor paint sets for thank you gifts.  

Everyone seemed to have a really good time, especially the birthday girl!