DIY Big Kid Water Table

I don't know why water tables only seem to come in toddler size. My big kids love them as much as they ever did as toddlers. They give their doll a bath, or pretend to be cooking, or just enjoy pouring water from one container to another.

Recently, I made a water table tall enough for them. It was really easy.

For the base I used these storage drawers (which is really convenient, because they can hide things in the bottom two drawers when they're done playing).

I put a long storage bin on top, and secured it with some bungie cords. Presto-magico — it's done :-)

The bungie cords are not very tight (I don't think it would be safe if they were) —they're just there to keep the top from easily sliding off.

Here are Zoe and Ashley with my neighbor's cutie-pie.

You can really tell from this angle that the table is at the right height for bigger kiddos.

Fun things to play with in the water:

♥ Reused kitchenware from the thrift store (whisk, egg-beater, spatula, ladle, funnel, plastic bowls, etc).

♥ Dolls that can get wet.

♥ Sticks, leaves, rocks (you can build your own floats with sticks and twine - so fun!).

♥ Squirt toys (bath toys that squirt water - especially great for hot days).

♥, Kelly

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our new, used minivan

Did you know that AAA can sell your car and even find you a used car? We have been AAA members forever and I had no idea. I found a used minivan a couple weeks ago, and we went down to Denver to get it. The car salesman was super nice, and it was all going fine, until there was delay getting the loan. Andy had to get home to work, so we left, agreeing to come back as soon as we were approved.

The next day we got multiple messages, from the same salesman, only not so nice. He was absolutely insane. He said how frustrated he was with us, and all the mister nice guy stuff went out the window. I can't even remember all the nasty stuff he said. We were all set to get the car, but we just couldn't handle the way he was acting.

So Andy went to our bank, to get a loan, so that we could avoid that kind of situation again. The lady at the bank asked if we were AAA members, and suggested we go there. She said they would do everything for us: get bids on our current car, help us find a new one, even go get it for us - at no charge!

The next day, that's just what we did. We called the office in Boulder, they asked us what we wanted, and they started looking for us. After finding an Odyssey that met our description, I took Ashley down (as you may remember if you read the comment I left in my round-up post) and we looked at it. There was just one big problem with it: It stunk! It had been a "fleet car," which is a rental car.

They were totally nice that we had to pass, and they got back to looking for another one, preferably privately owned. This week, they called and said they thought they had found one. It sounded good, so they went down to Denver and picked it up for us. Yesterday we looked at it in Boulder and we loved it! They had us come back today, after all the paperwork was ready, and within half an hour, the car was ours!

And here it is! Our new, used Toyota Sienna ;-) It's a certified 2005, with 35,000 miles, light grey inside. It gets 25 mpg, like our Element did, and this one was owned by a family who didn't smoke, so it smells great. We are saving 80 dollars a month on the new payments, which we are so excited about! Also, I love that it has a tape player in addition to a CD player, because there is a great audio book at the library, that Zoe and Ashley are going to love, but it's on tape! Now I can borrow it!