Sunday, June 16, 2013

It's the Little Things.... like a splash of COLOR!

Well, color me HAPPY. That's what I am these days with summertime fun and my BOYS.

Happy, we are.
And color, we have...

Check out this fun colorful summer project: (Again), thanks, Pinterest!

I found a website that will convert any picture into a coloring sheet. (How fun is that?!)

Sounded like a good activity for a movie night... a movie, a snack, and an opportunity to color ourselves... HAPPY:

Welllllll, color us HAPPY!
Ready to release his inner artist!
Max & Daddy's artwork
Our masterpieces!!

 Next, colorful activity:

This was a Chelsea project. Rummaging through some old "junk," we came across a couple of these beauties:



 Boring, right?!

So, I splashed on a little color, threw on a few dots, anddddd VOILA:




 Happiness was BORN (via) plastic chairs.

Good news: This project was Max-approved. :)




 And what's a cute Max to do while his Mama is creating happy chairs?

Why, throw a few dots, splats, and splashes of color on the sidewalk, himself:



 Best sidewalk paint recipe evvvvva!! (1 cup of cornstarch, 1 cup of water, & the food coloring of your choice). We painted with this sidewalk paint a couple of times last summer. His artwork has definitely matured...





Happy paint, happy feet, happy people. :)

These two color my world, paint or no paint. So thankful for happy summer days:





Speaking of color and happiness, just you stay tuned, the Matamoros fam has LOTS of colorful good times coming up this week (We're pretty excited). Let the good times roll, and happy summer!


"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." -Pablo Picasso

Sunday, June 9, 2013

It's the Little Things like... Band-Aids & Trike Wheels!

Mac-n-cheese, the color green, and tricycle-riding...
These are a few of our Max's favorite things.

Of these three favorites, I would venture to say that riding his trike might be at the very top of that list. And when I say that Max loves riding his tricycle I mean... he loves riding his tricycle.

Max is one mean, lean, trike-riding machine. So much, in fact, that the front tire of his trike has completely split open (in only one year of riding around our little neighborhood). There has been some serious rubber meeting the road. (As in, there is little to no "rubber" meeting the road anymore on his front tire.) Wonder how many miles those little legs have put on those three wheels?

GOOD NEWS: Max is quite the handy-man these days. Equipped with his tool bench and a tool box that Santa brought him for Christmas, there's not a problem that he can't fix. So, when Max saw that his precious tricycle needed fixing, he grabbed his tool box and was off to the rescue...

"This looks like something that I can handle!"
He brought Daddy in to survey the damage, as well.
And the finishing touch... a band-aid, which can make everything better. How resourceful!

And that tricycle really needed fixing because Max had some serious ground to cover this weekend, participating in his second triathlon (Small Fry Tri, that is)! This is one of my favorite Jackson events. Not only does it benefit the American Cancer Society, but it is also a BLAST. (See below for evidence of the fun!)

Pre-Race Stretches
Pre-Race Cuddles
Ready to start!
Leg 1 of the race: RUNNING
Leg 2 of the race: BIKING (Glad that band-aid held things together!)
Last leg of the race (and SERIOUSLY the most fun): SWIMMING, errr... SPRINKLING! (Notice that the fire department sprays the water directly from their truck. Just about the coolest thing a 3 year old can imagine.)
... And he crosses the finish line!!!!!
Waiting for his trophy!!
Our big winner!!
The best part of it all was running back through the water after the race was over. (Max also ran back though the streamer "finish line" at least 3 more times.) We cheered each time, and I'm pretty sure Max felt like he was the king of the race. (He totally was!) After the third time, though, we tried to re-direct because I think the finish line ladies were on to us. ;)

Pure giddiness! :) 


This was our second year of participating in this event, and it is already something I am looking forward to again next year. (Think that band-aid will hold until next year?! :) )



"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination." -Albert Einstein

Thursday, June 6, 2013

It's the Little Things... like cow booties!

A week or so ago, when we went to pick up Max from his Wednesday night Bible Study at church, Max's teacher informed us that, if she didn't know us like she did, she might be a little concerned about Max- and us.

(Oh no- A parent's nightmare- what in the world did Max share in class today?!)

For the summer, each Wednesday night Bible study lesson has a theme about "TOYS"- how we can find God in all of our "toy boxes"- in our super-hero action figures (He protects us.), teddy bears (He comforts us.), etc.... all super-cute lessons! Well, it seems that in discussion during the lesson, Max informed his class that he really enjoys playing with cow booties. Now, before you seriously start to doubt our parenting abilities, let me explain...

Max LOVES this guy:

That's right, it's Woody... Woody, the cowboy, or in our house, he is known as Cow Booty. (I suppose a mash-up of Cow Boy and Woody?!... You know, "Cow Booty.") Trust me, to a three year old, it makes perfect sense. And to his Mama, it is pure adorable-ness... welllll, until he tells his teacher and causes her to question what is going on at home?! Even so, we got a big kick out of Max and his "cow booty." I'm definitely sharing that one with his prom date one day. :)

I adore the way Max creates his own three-year old "language"... 

-There were the few months he insisted on ending prayers with "Awww, man" instead of "Amen" because he was convinced he was right and we were very much wrong.

-I love the fact that he occasionally wants to go get ice cream from the "Dirty Queen." (Ok, that sounds like another teacher note to mom and dad waiting to happen.)

It's true, sometimes the mess-ups and mix-ups in life allow us to see life from a whole new, magical perspective, a cow-booty perspective. And I'm totally ok with that. :)  


Speaking of mess-ups, this is evidence of my (latest and greatest) Pinterest epic failure... (Pinterest fails- Ok, I've had a few.) And in this case, Max loved every second of my failure. Isn't that the greatest?! Someone who appreciates you, even when you fail?! We could all learn a few lessons from a 3 year old in that aspect. 

The following is what should have been "Slime":



I would actually call it more like... goop?! That's how it turned out anyway. (Pinterest made it look so easy!!) I was told to mix glue, liquid starch, and food coloring. Yeah... it didn't work, but, man, Max had a blast playing in it anyway, and that made it totally worth it:

Ooey

Gooey

Pure messy-ness!

It was especially fun to rub all over Daddy's arms. :)

To make me feel like a little less of a failure, our other activity of the week (Mini Volcanoes) was awesome and every bit as wonderful as our accidental fun with our slime (gone wrong).

Mini Volcanoes (A.K.A. Color Fizz):


Simple ingredients: Vinegar, Baking Soda, & Food Coloring

We spread the baking soda into a cake pan.

We added vinegar (mixed with a little food coloring for more fun).

And we got lots of foamy, colorful wonderfulness.

Max loved the idea that these were mini-volcanoes.

Too much fun!

What is it about pre-schoolers that they think they have to stick their fingers into everything?! The volcanoes were also fun to touch after they were all "fizzed out."


When all is said and done, it's often the mix ups and mess ups in life that lead us to who we ultimately become. And I think I have a 3 year old, who is going to be all right! (Can I get an "awww, man"?!?)


"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains." -Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You'll Go

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

It's the little things like... the (RETURN) of summer dayyys!


Da-da-DUM!!! 

It's SUMMER, and the Matamoros family adventures are BACK and better than ever. (I know what you're thinking...just when you thought they couldn't get any sweeter.)

SUMMERTIME. I'm just a little excited... here's one BIG reason:


Ok, and maybe there's (one) MORE reason:



Last summer, this blog served as my super-exciting ;) "out-of-school-for-the-summer" creative outlet. I looked forward to posting all of our summer adventures every week and hoped to create a sort-of "memoir" showcasing all the joy (in even the smallest moments) that our little family shared during our time together. Most of our adventures happened without even leaving our front (or back) yard. Well, the adventures, for sure, didn't stop when school started back, but life does have a way of speeding up just a teeny bit between the months of August-May. (In fact, I could create an entire separate blog just for school adventures.... for another day... ;) )

Since I'm a couple of weeks behind (June 4th ALREADY?!), this post will be a catch-up of all the adventures (even in those "little moments") that our fam has already had in these summer days... So, hold on to your hats, ladies and gents, this is going to get good...

Summer (for me) officially started when my BFF got HITCHED!!! (We had just little fun celebrating our sweet Lauren & Sam...)

Rehearsal dinner ADVENTURE... (Our mountains had missed us!!)
Two of our favorite adventure-ers on the planet!! (Max was TOO busy dancing with the flower girls to pose for a pic... no joke!)
My beautiful LAUREN. BFF soul-sitahs! :)  
We got down with our bad selves with Lauren & Sam, and then it was finally "officially" summer. (Cue "Schooooool's out for the summmmaaaa!")


Since the weddin', here's the BIG adventures that have filled our summer days (thus far)...

We've been HAMMOCKing...




(As if we even have to tell you) We've, of course, been running through the SPRINKLERS...




We've already eaten a (few) POPSICLES...



 We've hung out with CELEBRITIES...

Max was really sad the fish wasn't there...

Meet Lady... Lady Bug.

We've even gotten our hands a little DIRTY...



Our new herb garden... yuuum!

And, yeah, on second thought, it's ONLY June 4th. The adventures are just beginning, so stay TUNED, and we're keeping our eyes peeled for the "little moments." :) 


"Summer afternoon- summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James