Pet Rocks

With the sound of the final bell ringing in their ears the kids burst through the doors of the school in a flurry of excitement. Bikes and scooters parading down the streets in a race to freedom... by the looks on their faces you'd think they were experiencing the heat of the sun on their faces for the very first time. And boy does it feel GOOD! 

School had been out for all of 20 minutes when Addie came up to me and said, "So mom! What kind of fun things are we going to do today?!" 

Uh... I dunno. RELAX? Play outside? Celebrate the fact that I get to take a brief hiatus from driving back and forth to school 3 times a day? Rejoice in the end of homework and spelling tests for a few months?! 

My brilliant suggestions were met with doubtful eyes and scowling faces. 

Shocker. 

"Why don't we make pet rocks?"

"What's a pet rock?"

"Oh my sweet children. Prepare for some serious fun! We're going on a walk!" 

We put Zach in the stroller and set off in search of the perfect rocks. We picked up a few friends along our journey, and they helped us scout out which rocks looked the most like different animals. 

"This one is shaped like a unicorn!" "This one would be a perfect butterfly!" 

Once we were happy with our collection, we busted out our handy dandy placements, and the paint!

(We seriously use these placemats for everything! They wipe clean so easily!) 

The kids had so much fun creating what started out to be pet rocks, and quickly transformed into abstract art. No matter- it was still a blast, and most importantly it kept the kids happy and engaged for hours! 

The baby took a break for a light snack...

And some much needed gardening. :) 

But for the most part, we spent the entire afternoon working on our pet rock project. 

You may wonder, after all that effort, why aren't there any pictures of the finished product? Well, the thing is... we left the rocks out in the sun to dry. My 3 year old decided the rocks looked hot and needed some water. So she dutifully filled up the watering can and gave them a drink. 

We now have a rainbow colored sidewalk, and naked rocks. 

(Turns out Crayola washable paints REALLY are washable!) 

Needless to say there were tears and apologies, followed by popsicles and promises of another pet rock adventure another day. :)

What kind of boredom busters have you been up to this week?