WE LOVE: CLASSIC BOOKS + NEW COVERS

A few months ago a friend of mine told me Target had some great classic books with all gorgeous new covers. And in the dollar bins no less! We headed straight for the nearest Target to get some and we have loved them ever since. I especially love the clever and colorful covers. We have been reading a chapter or so out of one of the books each night for the last little while. Elliott loves them! Preston's great talent for doing voices while he reads certainly has something to do with that. Elliott has especially been loving Pinocchio. Which, for anyone who doesn't know, is quite a bit darker than the Disney version. We love it! Elliott has even requested we print out pages from the book for him to color. As he colors, he tries to do the voices and tell the story. It's so sweet. If you can, get to your nearest Target and buy these. They are a treat for the whole family and are sure to stick around for years to come.

ALPHABET FUNNEL CAKES DIY

When we went to the fair last week, we decided against the $7 funnel cakes. $7! Sheesh. Instead, I thought we could make our own at home and make them even more fun! What's more fun than learning while snacking? These funnel cakes are crunchy goodness on the outside and fluffy heaven on the inside. This is more of a recipe than a DIY, but you know how it is. Here's what you'll need:

1 Egg
2 C Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla

2 C Flour

1 Tbs Baking soda

1 Tbs Salt

1 Tbs Sugar

1/2 Stick of Butter

Powdered Sugar (to sprinkle)

First mix the wet ingredients in a mixer, then slowly add the dry ingredients till you have a nice smooth batter. Next, melt your butter and fold that into the batter. It wouldn't be worth eating if it didn't have butter, right? While your butter is melting, now is a good time to heat up your oil. I used coconut oil (yum!) but you can use whatever kind you like. Once your butter is folded in, pour your batter into a squeeze bottle. I know these are called funnel cakes, but ours our squeeze bottle cakes. Once your oil is nice and hot, start squeezing out your letters! Let them cook for a minute on each side (until golden brown) and set them out to dry. Once their all done, sprinkle on some powdered sugar and enjoy! It's a lot of fun and really doesn't take very long at all. Elliott loved recognizing and then promptly eating the letters. These would be really fun to have at a circus or ABC themed birthday party too!

AROUND HERE

This weekend was packed full of fun for us. I didn't even get to work on my projects! The fair was a blast. There was no one there do to the off and on rain, so Elliott had first choice of rides and exhibits! He loved it. On Saturday we ventured out to a new to us pizza place and to the park for a bit of fun in the rain. I was wishing we had a little toy boat to put in the gutters. It was really raining! Then later that night we picked up some milkshakes from one of our favorite places and headed home to watch The Princess Bride (Elliott's first time!) It was a lot of fun. I hope you had a fun weekend as well! 

HAPPY WEEKEND

This is my new life motto. I feel like it can apply to so many parts of life - I love it! A print out of it is currently above my desk, but I am hoping to do something special with it soon. This weekend we are heading to the state fair! Elliott is so excited to ride the ferris wheel. But we are supposed to get a good amount of rain, so that might be a challenge. Elliott is also getting a much needed hair cut (the kid has the thickest blonde hair. Ever.) and besides that we will be doing a bit of work and a bit of couch potatoing. Preston and I have kind of a habit of finding out about shows a few seasons in and then binge watching on netflix until we can catch up. It's a bit of a bad habit I guess, but it is what it is. Do you have any fun plans for this weekend? Hope it's a good one!

A DAY AT THE ZOO + A DANCING COCKATOO

Ok, so I know it's kind of picture overload. But it was that great of a day. It had to be well documented! This isn't even half of the pictures. Ha! We had been to Hogle Zoo a few years ago, but we loved it so much more this time. It might be because Elliott is older. Or maybe I was just in a better mood. Who knows! We went to a few shows which were really amusing. Elliott was so inquisitive, running from exhibit to exhibit asking questions, pointing out the animals and some of the quirky things about them. It was so much fun. During the bird show, they had a dance contest with all of the kids down on the "stage" and of course, my little dancer won a prize. That kid has got some mad skills in the rhythm department. Makes a mama proud! The zoo also had this fun exhibit all over the zoo of life sized animals made completely out of legos. It was awesome! The monkeys were my favorite, but came in close with the polar bear. But the best part of my day (besides the dance contest) was the painting elephant. Yes, painting elephant! They actually sell the paintings at the gift store and we were so tempted to splurge on one. I told Preston that I need one for our anniversary. The zoo also added a little splash park for the kids which had little faux tide pools for the kids to explore complete with urchins and starfish. It was pretty rad. Elliott loved their lighthouse slide too! We had initially planned on being at the zoo for a few hours, leaving at lunch. Turns out we stayed for nearly nine hours! So yeah, it was a lot of fun. 

And now for more on the dancing cockatoo. Remember that? Well, here is the proof! It's one of the funniest things I think I have ever seen. And here I thought Elliott had rhythm! Watch the video and at about 40 seconds in, you'll see it. It's hard to miss. It also shows Elliott winning his prize! Atta boy!