Gracen’s little weekly play date buddy turned 4 today, which called for another homemade gift. Like almost all of our expat friends here in Kuwait, he and his family will be headed home for the summer shortly, so we wanted to make him something he could easily take along and hopefully use during the journey back to Canada. Since he and Miss G play with LEGO pretty much every time they’re together, we figured a portable LEGO kit would make a great gift.
Is it just me, or is buying gifts for dads next to impossible?! I’ve never been good at buying gifts for my own dad, and when it comes to helping Miss G come up with fun gifts for her Papa, I’m not much better. Thus, we usually go with something simple, handmade, and from-the-heart. For last year’s Father’s Day, we put together a simple framed Papa interview and portrait, a super easy snack basket, and our annual Papa and Grae photo book {well now that I type that, I wonder whether or not I actually finished and printed it… ACK! Must look into that}. This year, Gracen and I have a few new ideas in mind, the first of which is this very simple ‘I love you’ pillowcase.
What do you do at midnight the night before you leave for a weekend away in Dubai? Attempt a new recipe so your little one has treats while you’re away, of course. That and create an activity bag for each day you’re away. ☺
I love making this meal. It’s filled with veggies, it’s got lots of protein despite not containing meat, and Miss G absolutely gobbles it up. Not to mention that it makes enough to feed us all both lunch and dinner for a few days… Yay for being able to take a little cooking break!
In preparation for this week’s Hawaiian-themedCrafty Kids class, Miss G and I experimented with a new-to-us dough this morning… Sand play dough! While I have seen several different types of sand doughs and clays floating around the internet, I figured we may as well try just adding some sand to our very favourite no-cook play dough first. Sure enough, it worked. Wonderfully, I might add!
Another birthday party means another opportunity for Grae and I to come up with a fun, homemade gift {which we love doing}. This time around, we decided we’d put together a tinkle trunk filled with fun dress-up costumes and accessories similar to what Grae has in her dress-up station. We were really excited about the idea until we realized that the birthday girl is headed home to the States just a few days after her party. A tickle trunk simply wouldn’t do. After some brainstorming, we opted for something she could bring along on her travels – a portable activity kit! Our goal was to keep it as compact and lightweight as possible, while cramming in tons of fun {and quiet} things she could explore and play with during her travels. Here’s what we included…
Mmmm… Orange creamsicle green smoothie. My absolute favourite at the moment. So good I could drink one every morning and then again every afternoon as a little pick-me-up. And even though Grae seems to be not be all that into smoothies at the moment, she almost always slurps this one up until there’s nothing left.
Oh my word… I’m pretty sure book activities are quickly becoming Miss G’s favourite thing ever. So much so that when I asked her what she’d like to do the other day and proceeded to suggest a trip to the beach, a morning at the pool, or a visit to an indoor play area, she quickly responded with, ‘I know! I want to do another fun book activity!’ So that’s what we did. {Apparently the fun outings can wait.}
{this post contains affiliate links}When I picked up a Chill Factor Ice Cream Maker for the ice cream kit we put together a couple of weekends ago, I secretly grabbed a second one to tuck away for Miss G. I didn’t know how it would work, but I was hoping that it would be a step up from the leaky, messy plastic baggie and ice method we’ve been using to date, and I’m happy to report that it is. A serious step up, in fact. Like we’re in love.
