High Five for Friday

It's Friday and it finally feels like Fall, so that calls for a High Five.

1. We joined some friends for a trip to the zoo on Monday.  Cooper's friend AJ has a membership so the invited us to go.  It was a fun morning with these two toddlers and catching up with my friend, Laura.   Cooper is so into animals right now and he loved seeing them all!

2. I tried out screenprinting on a t-shirt for the first time.  I've made some shirts with Heat Transfer Vinyl and even made Cooper a painted shirt with a freezer paper stencil for this Fall, but I've been wanting to try out screenprinting.  So I bought all of the supplies and got to work.  I ended up modifying it somewhat-- I could not get the vinyl to stay on the screen, so I'd seen an idea of doing a freezer paper stencil on the shirt (because you can iron it on and later remove it) and then screenprinting over that.  So I tried that and it worked perfectly.  I feel like the paint is more evenly spread out than when I just tried a freezer paper stencil with a paint and a brush.  I definitely am looking forward to trying again with the vinyl, but I thought this turned out well for my first attempt!

3. I have been wanting a Learning Tower for Cooper for quite a while.  He loves to be in the kitchen with me while I'm cooking, but there's just not a great way for him to be closeby.  And since we can't block off our kitchen, he's always underfoot. So I've seen the Learning Tower and thought it would be a good way for him to be close to the action but still a little bit contained.  But they are pretty costly.  There are tutorials for making one, but I don't think our DIY skills are good enough for that.  So I've been watching Facebook marketplace to buy one secondhand.  They are still pretty expensive, so I'd been saving up to get one when this homemade one came available for a very affordable price.  We debated it for a few days and then the price dropped again, so we decided it was worth at least getting and if it didn't work out we hadn't wasted too much.  And so far it is perfect.  Cooper loves it!  We'll see how much use we get out of it, but it seems like it's something we'll enjoy having.

4. I'm really excited to be going to IF:Gathering in the Spring!  I have been to IF:Local a few times with friends where we watch the livestream, but I've always thought it would be fun to go and experience it in person.  IF headquarters recently moved to Dallas, so next February is their first year to do the conference in the Dallas area.  So some girls in my small group all registered to go. I am looking forward to this time with our small group girls!

5. We had some pretty amazing weather a few days this week.  It was finally sunny and below 80 for a couple of days, so we spent as much time outside as possible.  We had to go get something from the library, so we went and walked around behind the library for a while.  They have lots of paths and a storybook walk with a children's picture book framed throughout the path.  Cooper loved running around and collecting "balls" (acorns).  He has so much fun getting to lead us on our walks and exploring everything!  The rest of the forecast is looking pretty rainy, but I'm looking forward to some more sunny, nice days ahead!

Happy Friday!