Nautical Celebration And Some Good Ol' Times

 A few weeks back (actually it's gettin' on a month now) my niece and nephew came for another visit. It was shortly after their 4th birthday, so my mom wanted to have a little birthday celebration for them here with the family.

 

Selene loves The Little Mermaid, Xander loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates, so what could be better than a combo theme that goes nautical?

 

 

Mom's festive birthday display.

 

 

Selene in her mermaid costume.

 

 

Xander in his Jake costume.

 

I made Ryder a Peter Pan costume and they all were decked out for the day! Here they are holding hands pretending to fly!

 

 

Peter Pan (Ryder) sitting on his four wheeler.

 

 

A little summer fun in the sprinkler on the trampoline!

 

 

Sabrina and Selene playing in the sandbox.

 

 

Dinner included an octopus hotdog over a sea of mac n cheese and sprinkled with cheddar whales!

The kids loved it of course.

 

 

After dinner, it was time to open presents!!

 

 

Xander checking out his pirate set.

 

 

Selene excited by her Barbie doll.

 

 

Cake time! Or more appropriately, cupcake time!

 

 

Finishing the day off with some popcorn and a movie.

 

 

We did a lot of just hangin' out after the birthday celebration, but one day we did return to the Discovery Science Place in Tyler. Here are a few photos from our fun 3 hours there.

 

 

Ryder loves that fire truck!

 

 

Grocery shopping at the little Brookshire's. Sabrina pushed that grocery cart all over the place.

 

 

Time to check out.

 

 

Xander and Selene working at the bank - just like Daddy!

 

 

Xander climbing the rock wall. He was actually really good at it!

 

 

We had a good time this visit, as always. Next time the whole family will be together. Should be a lot of fun times and hopefully some good pictures. Looking forward to it!

 

 



From Hubcap To Racer Clock

So recently I finished a small project that's been sitting around for a while. Okay, my husband and I finished it up, but none the less, it's something that has turned out to be really cool.

 

 

Racer clock!

 

In our new house, the theme for Ryder's room is going to be "Things That Go." Planes, trains, and cars will be the name of the game. This will go perfectly with the color scheme as well as his new theme.

 

 

It all started with an old hubcap. My mom was at our local thrift shop and the guy taking her money let her have it for free. She thought it could be used for something in Ryder's new room, so she gave it to me. That was when my clock idea was born.

 

You know, it's funny, Nick gave me a lot of flack about this little hubcap. Probably because I left it lying around outside the house for a couple of months. I have to admit, there's not much that's more redneck-ish than having old hubcaps lying around. He also wondered how I could possibly make an old hubcap look cool. But this weekend I finally got to cleaning the grease off the back and and it was time to paint, paint, paint!

 

 

After giving it a nice primer coat of gray, I gave it two good coats of red paint. After ample drying time, I begged Nick to help me out by drilling a hole in the middle.

 

 

Now the clock I bought was pretty cool to start with. I spent about $12 on it. I bought it with this project in mind so the bulk-less style of it was perfect.

 

 

As you can see, I had Nick drill a hole in the middle of the hubcap the size of the base on the back of the clock.

 

 

All we needed now was a little glue. By this time Nick was getting into the project so he took it upon himself to do the gluing for me. I am a master of manipulation when it comes to projects, heh.

 

 

After letting the glue cure overnight, this is what we ended up with! An awesome clock, worthy of hanging in a little boy's room.

 

And that is how you make an old hubcap look cool.