Happy Birthday Daddy

Thursday my partner in crime turned 34. The man who has been with me through my toughest and happiest moments in life. The man who is more than I could have ever wanted as a father to my children. The man who makes me crazy every now and then but I still look forward to seeing every day. My monkey. My Paul.

I wanted to have the children make him a birthday gift but what could a 21 month old make? Well Debbie at The Moore Family blog had the answer. Her kids made a great craft for their dad for Father's Day so I had to steal the idea. Basically it consists of contact paper, colored sand and salt shakers. I went to Wallyworld and bought a box of colored sand and some clear contact paper (incidentally I know have a ton of clear contact paper in which I plan on finding many uses for so stay tuned for those fun escapades). I filled my mini salt shakers with all the different colors and laid everything out on the coffee table. Normally I would say to do this outside but with it being it still be so smoky outside and my salt shakers being glass (concrete, glass, and a child who has a tendency to throw things- not a good combo)we kept things inside. Honestly the most difficult part of the project was separating the contact paper from its protective sheet! Why do they make these things so hard? Anyhoo- I quickly showed the kids that the object was not to much the paper to get it to stick to itself and instead sprinkling the sand was much more fun. Luckily they agreed and had a blast making their artistic creations.




Well I should say Ben did until it came time to refill the shakers. He wanted to refill the shakers himself which was NOT going to happen and all hell broke lose. He threw a massive tantrum (the boy is officially a toddler) and refused to have anything else to do with the project. Luckily he had enough sand on there for me to move it around and finish the last couple square inches of his project. Afterwards we had quite a bit of sand on the table and surrounding carpet but hey, isn't that why God gave us the shopvac? Ten minutes later we were sand free. I put their art in frames and I have to say they turned out beautifully.




While the kids napped I did some rare baking. Paul loves carrot cake and I make a mean carrot cake if I do say myself. I like to cook but I am not a fan of baking. Something about all that precise measuring and mixing that turns me off. Maybe if I had one of the fancy Kitchen aid mixers I would be more willing. If anyone wants to send me one I will be happy to accept. For dinner we had a pork tenderloin recipe I found on Scribbit. The sauce was wonderful and easy. I threw in some stuffing and green beans to round out the meal. Scrumptious. We opened presents (of course the shorts I bought him were too short. He is such a giant. Why do I try?) but he did like the cologne and still gets to pick out a racquetball racquet. Paul was very impressed with the kids artwork. Mari was very impressed with the carrot cake. The kids bounced off the walls for a good hour afterwards. All in all, a happy birthday indeed.