Saturday, May 24, 2014

Water Fight Date Night

This year, we started having monthly stay-in date nights. Because finding a babysitter for 3 kids isn't always easy or cheap. And because we needed to have time intentionally spent together, even if it's just a couple of hours after the kids go to bed. In May, it was my turn to plan our date, and it turned out to be a lot of fun! 

I keep a list of possible activities, so I decided it was the best time for a water fight. The sun starts setting after the kids' bedtime now, and any later in the year is too hot and mosquito-infested outside. I gathered my supplies, which amounted to an arsenal of water guns and balloons.
 

To make it interesting, I set it up like a "Hunger Games"- style cornucopia of weapons, with a few additional weapons hidden around the yard. I set out Paul's swimsuit and a white t-shirt with a war declaration note and instructions to meet me at the marked spot on the back porch after he was dressed. At my signal, we ran to arm outselves, and the battle began. We had so much fun! We both ended up soaked, especially after a few dunkings in the kids' blow-up pool that I left out as a refilling station. 
To determine the victor of the war, we took off our tshirts, traded, and wrung them out into buckets, then weighed them. Paul won by 3 ounces! We wrote up a peace treaty and drank wine by the fire pit (while wearing glowstick necklaces I had bought in case it got dark during our fight). 


We had so much fun, and Paul really loved doing something that was totally out of the box for us (so did I!). I'm looking forward to whatever he has planned for our next date. 



Saturday, May 3, 2014

Toothless

Katie's obsession of the week is "How to Train Your Dragon" again... and she's potty training, though I wonder who is training whom some days! Anyway, to motivate her a little, I knitted up an incentive for her... Toothless!
I bought the pattern on Ravelry.

This is the second Toothless I've made. The first one was for Ellie, and I used the pipe cleaner method for that one, but the pipe cleaners were pokey, so I didn't use them for this one. I like it better.

I also got a Hiccup and an Astrid for cheap on zulilly... now I just need her to earn her prizes by not having any more potty accidents!!!