Last week was our spring break and I was so excited. I literally counted down the days until it came and meanwhile had made a list of activities and projects to do during those long anticipated days that I’d have all the kids home together. I seriously couldn’t wait.
And we started off great—taking Simon and Grace to Holi Fest and later that evening to an Easter Egg Hunt at my parents house. But as we played in the yard that night we noticed that something was wrong with Ruth and by the next morning she was inconsolable and running a high fever.
This went on for 3 days and the doctors didn’t know what was going on however on day 4 a bright red rash started on her face and covered her head, arms, and torso. At which point we took her back to the doctors again and discovered that she had Roseola.
The poor girl was miserable. If she was awake she was crying crying crying and almost nothing we did would help. Luckily by Thursday afternoon her fever was gone and by Friday she was wanting to be up and around (although, she was still GRUMPY) and today she is back to herself again. (Hooray!)
So what does this any of this have to do with Red Solo cups?
Well, I’ll tell you.
Because Ruth was sick our ENTIRE spring break all those plans I had made for the family went right out the window.
And on top of illness the weather wasn’t exactly cooperative…for example one night we thought: sick or not we are going up the canyon and making tin foil dinners! But then it rained.
(We still made tin foil dinners…in the oven…and ate them next to a fire in the fireplace…it wasn’t the same but I wasn’t in the mood to give up…)
The majority of our Spring Break was spent in the house or at the doctors office.
But I was determined not let the kids have a boring week. So we started with the usual boredom busters—building forts, playing games, drawing…but it just didn’t seem very fun. Then Tuesday afternoon in desperation I pulled out a package of disposable cups and gave them to Simon and Grace and told them to build something with them.
After that it was all over….literally those two kids spent the entire week building with cups. My husband even made two runs to the store to get more 100 cup packs. And I am telling you they were the best investment we’ve made in a long time!
They had contests to see who could stack and unstack them the quickest. They also used the cups to spend hours building walls, blocking off the hall, and constructing towers, pyramids, and skyscrapers.
It was wonderful. They were so busy and happy!
And the cups are wicked fast to clean up…plus the kids could destroy, blow up, and knock down their cup creations without hurting themselves, the furniture, or the wood floor.
I’m telling you it was awesome. Random, but awesome. And so I thank you Red Solo cups for entertaining my kids and for being fun and stackable and cheap.
You saved our Spring Break…and my sanity.
-liZ
PS—We have a few contest winners that we are needing to announce.
#1. The winner of the Ugly Pattern Contest is:
Karamiel with her Totally 80’s Pocket Delights Pattern!
(Thanks to everyone who voted and we will be emailing you soon Karamiel!)
and
#2. The winner of the Riley Blake Fat Quarter Bundle is Jessica who said
“My favorite movie all time is a tie between How to Steal a Million and Romantics Anonymous. Oh…and Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. :)”
(Actually she said “I like Simple Simon on FB” but lots of people said that…and I looked and she had commented just above the FB comment and said what her favorite movies are 😉
We will be emailing you soon Jessica!
Oh goodness…simple really is the best. And now I have the *Red Solo Cup* song on a loop in my head 🙂
Poor Ruth, I’m glad she is doing better – and yay for red solo cups…. my boy’s favorite thing to build with are our empty formula cans – they LOVE them!!!
We actually have a stack of cups (they are blue and purple solo cups… we like fancy apparently, ha) in our playroom closet. The kids will do the cup stacking into pyramids to see who can do it the fastest, etc. It really is a super fun (and cheap!) toy!!
Hope Ruth feels better soon
We also have a whole bunch of cups in the playroom! The combination of the cups and a whole lot of ping pong balls have kept my kids busy for hours on end 🙂
Ohh..didn’t this happen to you at Christmas? (Or was that Elizabeth?) I am so sorry that happened but you are such a trooper to keep trying to have fun regardless. And isn’t it a joy when your kids just pull through and don’t whine about what should have been? I think you may have a new sponsor:) They DO need to see this post! Could be a new ad campaign for them….
Bummer to have sick kids during spring break! 🙁 Love the idea with the cups, I’ll have to get some. Another cheap toy that my daughter can play with for days is a bag of pom pom balls. They become food for us or animals. You can sort them if they are a mix of colors. Endless fun, well at least for awhile! 🙂
Poor Ruth! 🙁 cups are a great idea!
There is a “minute to win it” game where you compete with someone with an equal size stack of cups continuously moving the top cup to the bottom…or something like that. It’s on their website. Glad your baby is better! 🙂
This is suck a cute story! It’s funny how something so small and random can brighten our mood and life. Thanks so much for sharing! And I hope Ruth continues to feel better!
thanks for the idea! these totally saved my day…and my sanity:) hope ruth is feeling better.