Beating the Heat

Beating the heat is the name of the game these days.  In attempt to find something fun, new and different to do in the comfort of our air conditioned home, I stumbled upon a great home made play dough recipe.  Plain ol' home made play dough wouldn't keep the attention of my children, so I had to find a way to prettify it.  You know, color it up a little.  Hello sugar free Kool-Aid!  Give them a project in the kitchen and it yields nothing but smiles...

They were disappointed when they poured their Kool-Aid because the powder never looks very colorful.  But when we added the boiling water/oil mixture it all came to life, and it was like I'd just pulled a rabbit out of a hat!  We chose pink (strawberry) and purple (grape)...

However, the purple was really more of a gray but Buggy didn't mind.  This little gem of a project kept them entertained for a good, long while...

I have a feeling we'll be testing out every other flavor of Kool-Aid under the sun because they loved it just that much.  I could have pulled out the name brand stuff, but there's just something about making it yourself!

In other news, my little brother is 7 today!  Yes, that's correct.  I find it quite hysterical that Bethany's Uncle Max is 9 years younger than she is.  And he gets a kick out of playing uncle to Towns and Cate.  When we went to visit last month I caught him pinching Cate's cheeks saying, "who's an uncle's girl? Cate's an uncle's girl."  Hilarious!  The neat thing about his 7th birthday is that he's celebrating in Europe.  They left Paris yesterday to drive to Switzerland, and will end their trip in Italy.  Ironically, Max would rather be anywhere but there on his birthday.  He was so upset that he wasn't getting his traditional pool party!  One day he'll appreciate it, though.  It took all I could do not to remind my dear mother that I'm still one of their children, too. Can't a girl get a European vacation?  Apparently not, but I couldn't have been away from my family that long anyway. They've been gone since Sunday and it's killing me not to be able to talk to them.  I'll be driving down the road wanting to pick up the phone to call my mom when I realize that it's 2 a.m. where they are.  Just when I couldn't take it anymore, I got birthday cards in the mail from them today that I totally did not expect.  I was so surprised that she thought to send them in the midst of getting ready for a big trip.  Every card says "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 7-11-11" on the back where I'd normally rip it open...she knows me so well!  But what she doesn't know won't hurt her.  Especially after she sent me this a few days ago...

 

Which was their view from dinner...there's nothing fair about that!  One day I'll go back.  One day...