Bridging part 2

For our Bridging we want to do something special and remarkable each year. We decided on mini piñatas filled with confetti and glitter with the patch on the inside. 

WARNING THIS TAKES A LOT OF TIME!!

Do not try to do this project quickly because it needs time to dry and if you do fringe that is another painstaking process. 

Items needed: 

Card stock

scissors

glue

crepe paper

confetti

glitter

string

hot glue gun 

First you need a templet: Which I found here 

Print the templet out on card stock to save a step other wise you need to transfer your templet to card stock. 

 

 In the small square center which will be the bottom you need cut out a square so you can have a "door" that pulls open. I put the crepe paper but only glue at the exterior edge because I wanted the center to not be crazy strong.

Now for the fringe paper. I cut a ton of paper and then fringe the entire thing so when I glued it on it would look nice. 

Then I made my bottom. You need to use the hot glue or super glue or something so the cord stays attached to the bottom when you pull the "door". Otherwise this will not work and you will have kids staring at the piñata trying to figure out what happened. 

 I glued the paper on in a pattern using the girl scout green and white. I also somehow managed to line it all up too.

 Glue it on all of the sides and set aside to dry. Do not try to use a heat gun to speed the process up this resulted in almost burning my house because apparently this is extremely flammable.

 Now we trim the sides so the fringe is not in the way of glueing the sides down.

 I very carefully snaked the string through the paper on the bottom and closed it up

 Then you get the two sides glued together and let it dry.

 Now is the best part fill with glitter and confetti. We even put our bridge in so it would fall on the girls. At least in theory it would.

 I learned how to make this better for next time and am glad the girls had fun. I am not 100 % sure I want to do it each bridging ceremony big they take so long to make and clean up but the girls loved it.

Hidden gems: Canandaigua Lagoon

Canandaigua once had a theme park and hid many things in the ground. Over the last several years they have been going through some huge cleaning project and creating a space that is just amazing to visit. 

One of my favorite places to walk is right behind Wegmans. It is a beautiful secluded areas that you do not expect to turn out as amazing it is. 

 Justin and I went for a walk after dropping the kids off at a sleep over. We walked these paths on our dates and still after all this time we still find really cool and interesting things.

 I am pretty sure Justin was annoyed with my need to take a hundred pictures of the snails trying to get that perfect shot. 

This is a perfect place to fish if you are into that kind of thing. 

This was the first time we have ever seen a beaver and we had no clue there were beavers in that area. I spent 15 minutes chasing the beaver before it slapped its tail and scared me because I was not expecting it.

Gill-G's travel case

Gill- G has high functioning Autism. We never had an issue accepting it because it helps define who he is. We do not feel sorry for ourselves and we do not regret anything. I love him dearly and accepted it long before we knew he was Autistic. Gill-G was going on  27 months before we started testing and it would be another 3 or 4 months with speech therapy before he would even start talking. He would occasionally have melt downs and bite himself until he bleed.  There is a never ending curve of learning because he is learning and developing too.
Just because you know one kid with Autism does not mean you know Autism because Autism has many faces and no two are a like.

But this article is not about living with Autism, it is about living with allergies. Autism just plays a minor part because it affects the way he thinks. 

We have a special baggie in my purse to carry things for Gill-G. 

Inside we have some important thing in case of emergency for when we go out with Gill-G.

This case is easy enough you can get into it but difficult enough that it should slow the children down. 

One side contains an all natural sunscreen because he burns easily and a lotion balm I found on Avon.  The lotion balm is great for the extreme itchy days and we can't get to the lotion or coconut oil and it does not make a huge mess. Normally we also have a small supply of band aids but someone has not replaced it.

The other side contains epi pens and a letter. I also plan on adding Children's Benadryl Liquid Allergy Relief - NEW Larger Size (8 Fl Oz X 2) We had some in there but with allergy season we grabbed it and forgot to refill it. The letter was written for us by our developmental Doctor. This give us the protection if someone hears Gill-G screaming" stop hitting me or you are hurting me" and calls the cops. You would be surprised at the things that can happen. 

Tie-dye with the kids

I have talked about doing tie-dyed projects with the kids but never did it. I was concern they were a little young. Man was I missing out and wrong. First the kids loved it. Sure they had a hard time with rubber bands but it was well worth the hassle.

You need :
Tulip One-Step 12 Color Tie-Dye Kit Super Big
white tee shirts or what you plan on coloring
water and a safe space just incase color falls on the floor
if you want extra rubber bands

 We looked up shirt designs on pintrest and then started.

 Yasser picked a stripe design

 Gill-G picked a swirl (mommy got the honors of doing all the rubber bands)

 All you have to do is add water and shake the containers then pour on.

 Yasser was trying to be super careful.

 Daddy got tired of waiting.

 Hulk man even made his own!!

 Gill-g was trying to only get it on the shirt in the tiny section.    

Yasser feeling comfortable and just went for the coloring.

 The kids finally finished using up the colors they wanted and left to go play while Justin and I made our own stuff.

 We did the bulls eye pattern for Justin's.

Hulk playing in the dye run off trying to become a chameleon. (It will wash off, at some point.)

 Now discussing, I think, colors.

 And we are off.

 I convinced Justin  to do mine so I could take pictures, besides I did all of the rubber bands.

Hulk man "Earth" shirt.

 Justin's Bulls eye

 Yasser's stripe shirt.

Gill-G swirl shirt.

 My dress. I love what Justin did. The top was a stripe pattern and the bottom was swirlish.

The shirts need to dry. I let it dry for awhile then I unrolled it and let it dry some more. 

The more you let it dry before rinsing the more intense the color. 

 You need to rinse it until the water runs clean. You do not want extra dye to get in your washing machine. Skipping this step can and will result in color change with everything you put in the washing machine.

After the water runs clean, wash it and it is ready for wear. 

Now proudly wear it!!!

The kids had so much fun we decided we will be doing this again. If you save the containers you just have to buy the replacement colors.  If you want to tie in a school lesson, this lead to a color conversation with the kids and experimenting with mixing colors.