Rocket Scientist Costume

At four and half, our son finally moved past his train obsession and is now fixated on all things space and has plans to be rocket engineer when he grows up. Specifically, he wants to work in mission control for the International Space Station. (I have no idea how he has managed to learn so much about careers in aerospace already!). 

This summer when we were in the Netherlands, I saw the cutest astronaut costume, but when I asked D about it, he said, "No Mommy, I don't want to be an astronaut. Astronauts can die burning up in the atmosphere, and I'm your safety boy." I can't argue with that logic. Rocket scientist it is!

I started with this lab coat. 

Kids Lab Coat (<--Affiliate link)

He was very excited when I brought it out for him to try on.

The taped-up glasses are similar to these (<--afilliate link)

I wish the lab coat was a little thicker. It's so thin that it's nearly sheer. But, I'm sure D will still enjoy playing scientist in it for a  few years. I did want to customize it a bit, and it was a perfect opportunity to try making an iron on patch. I used Purple Chimp Print & Iron Cotton Fabric Sheets that I bought at Joann with a coupon.

Amazon Affiliate Link

The lab coat pocket is a 4" square, so I made the patch 3.25" h x 2.75" w. I found the NASA logo online and used Jenna Sue for his name and Bambi Bold for "mission control" as it was the closest I could find to the real NASA font, which I suspect is custom. 

I definitely recommend printing on regular paper first because my file changed sizes on me, so I wasted a page. But I was able to use it to good use. 

The right size iron-on was super easy to do. Just place...

And iron for 15 seconds.

Isn't he cute?

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The December List: free Christmas wishlist printable

I know it's barely August, and my four-year-old doesn't even start pre-K for another month, but today we were shopping and I got a lot of this:

I will say, that since we started using his spend/save/share jars, D has been a lot better about asking for things, but will instead ask how much something costs, and if he has enough to buy it. 

But today's shopping excursion reminded me that it's about time to bring out the December List. December is an insanely busy time for us, not only because of Christmas, but also because it's D's birthday Sinterklaas, which is Dutch Christmas on December 5, and a pretty big deal, too because Sinterklaas has lots of traditional foods and activities, and treats he likes to give good little boys. 

As you can imagine, December has the potential to be a little crazy with gifts for our little boy. (Kind of a bummer for him the rest of the year, but we tend to buy what he needs when he needs it, and give him opportunities to earn money for the times when he finds something he wants but we don't think he needs). Even before D was born, we decided that we would limit his gifts. 

For each of the big three December holiday, he gets:

• Something he wants: a toy usually
• Something he needs: a new item of clothing
• Something to read
• Something to experience: a special movie, a trip to a museum, etc....generally something to do with his current interests. For the last two years, it's been a train ride. 

In addition, he chooses something to give. We semi-regularly go through his clothes, toys, and books. This is something that he chooses for another boy his age, and pays for part of it with his own money. In the past, it's been a train set.

The Sparkle Box (<--affiliate link)

We do other giving at Christmas, using The Sparkle Box as our inspiration, like filling out boxes for Operation Christmas Child, but the "Something to give" gift is selected by D and then we drop it off at Toys for Tots, which is really cool around here because we get to drive through a blimp hangar to do it.

All that to say, we came up with "The December List" as a way for our son to write down all the fun things he sees and wants starting around this time of year. He has seen me take photos of things I like in stores because I have no memory, so now he asks me to take photos of the things he likes, like in the photos
above.

With the December List, he has a place to write down his suggestions. Closer to Thanksgiving, he'll prioritize the list because he knows his gifts are limited. It's also nice for grandparents looking for ideas!

I realize that not everyone has three major events to celebrate in December, so I made a free printable wish list for those of you who celebrate only Christmas at the end of the year.

You can thank my friend Lauren from The Thinking Closet for introducing me to Box as a way to share printables. In fact, I have gone back and made all my printable available on Box.

Original post | Download

Original post | Download

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Original post | Download

Original post | Download

Original post | Download

Original post | Download

Original post | Download

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Busy Birthday Week

It's been a busy week here at the de Jong dream house. On December 5, we celebrated Sinterklaas day. (As a Dutch family, Sinterklaas is a big deal!). On December 9, our son turned four. Jen has been nursing a pretty decent headache for nearly a week, so posts are slow for the time being. She did make a few fun graphics using picmonkey. Enjoy!

And, as requested, we made a train cake for D...again. We're getting good money out of this Wilton Puzzle Cake mold.

I think we did pretty well for using dairy-free ingredients, even it wasn't quite a impressive as last year's:

First Christmas tree in the new house

 

We're kicking off our first holiday season in the dream house. On the day after Thanksgiving, we put up the tree. We'll be back to blogging after the Thanksgiving weekend.