Random Ramblings from a Tired Mommy...

I would love to be in that bed right now... preferably with curtains drawn, lavender lotion soothing me to sleep, and no thoughts of who needed what from me. Just for a moment... then I could get up and continue this dance called life.

Today I met two teachers who were planning on homeschooling their children. Doesn't it say something when even teachers don't want their kids in public school? These teachers lived in pretty affluent cities as well, so it wasn't as if the schools were impoverished. Both were concerned over about different things from the school atmosphere to curriculum and asked really insightful questions. It was nice!

Last week we went to the nature center and it just so happened that most of the schools were on Spring Break. Gabby met a very nice 7 yr old boy who was also in first grade. Inevitably he asked what school Gabby went to... I held my breath to see how the conversation would play out. Gabby told him that she "got to school at home" and you should have seen the boy's eyes light up! He asked how come she got to stay home and Gabby replied, "Because my mom likes to teach me! Go ask your mom if you can to!"

Ok, so I have 2 questions for all you Blogger/Blog queens: 
1. How do you respond to a comment right in the comment section?
2. How do you know who is linking to your blog or a post? I know that people share some things that I write about and would love to see the links!

I really need to get a jump on all the different things I have going... Usborne is up and going again but I need new business cards and stickers to go on the back. Etsy is going really well so I need to add more items and such, plus there is the craft show in June that I will need business cards for... AHHHH! Ok, time to go have a winecooler and paint some fairy doors... thanks for listening to me ramble dear friends!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday all! 
What a week this has been... I had a photo shoot yesterday, discovered that Miss Moira can scoot off her bed and make it all the way into the hallway (!!), had some pretty hefty wind that took out our power, and have been trying to get Miss Gabby back on track with the homeschooling. (She liked Spring break so much that she is not too motivated to get back into a routine...!) Anyhow, here are some coolness that I have found on the web:

We just bought the girls some Legos and are having so much fun building all sorts of things. I would love to build a table like this for them! Also, I am sure they would love to eat out of these Legos and have a Lego themed party...

Like to sew? Check out a month of free patterns here!

We like to celebrate Cinco de Mayo so these little mini pinatas are perfect to give to each girl.

Someday Cleveland will get Spring... until then I may just make my own townhouse planter to bring some green into the house.

The birds are all excited for Spring as well, I think that this Bread Bird Feeder is a simple project to feed our feathered friends and get rid of some stale bread!

Mother's Day is also coming up and I love this simple and pretty Poppy Canvas for the kids to make...

I mentioned that Gabby is in a "non-schooling" mood... my teaching agenda looks like this many days. I may try some of these tips and tricks to make the day more interesting for her to learn without the formality of "school at home". 

With summer comes Gabby's birthday so I am already putting together ideas for a simpler celebration... check out this adorable party supply store... loooooove these candles!

Lately I have noticed that when I am stressed or not feeling well I yell a lot more, something that I don't want to do and don't like about myself. Sure the kids do what I want but at what cost? This is a great article that a friend posted on facebook... it puts everything in perspective.

Finally, remember the cute little butterflies and dragonflies that I bought for the girl's Easter baskets? Well it turns out that they were reeeeaaallly tiny. I mean easily breakable tiny... so I hijacked them and made these!  Very dainty hair bobbies are now in my store and ready to grace someone's head.... I can't wait to make more!

It's a Zoo Out There!

Today we went to the zoo and enjoyed the 75 degree (and non-rainy) weather!

It was so nice to see everyone out and about,

let the kids burn off some of their cooped up energy,

and we got to see a surprise animal- the zoo's new male elephant Willy!!!

The Cleveland Zoo has been working on the new elephant exhibit called Elephant Crossing

for the better part of 2 years, expanding the area and adding new animals to the herd.

This is the first time that we have had a bull elephant since 1962 

and the zoo hopes to breed the elephants in the future.

The kids and I have been looking forward to this exhibit since they started construction

but the opening day is May 5th,

so it was quite a surprise to see Willy in front and the girls in the back!

Here are some other photos of our trip where the kids met a screech owl named Hooty,

visited Austrailian Adventure with the kangaroos,

and toured the Lorakeet Aviary!

Going "Muddin"

Well, with all the rain that we have been getting it was only a matter of time... my girls went muddin'! Gabby isn't one to be prissy about getting her feet wet, and we all know AJ is a fan of puddles... but this was a whole new kind of fun. What started out as a little peek at the flooded park turned into a whole lot of splashing, jumping, and giggling. Hey, if you are going to do something, do it right!

AJ fell over, of course, and earned the name "mud butt" for the rest of the evening! She didn't care a bit though and loved trying to get Gabby even dirtier than she was, lol!

Happy Easter!

 

Happy Easter

from

my family to yours!

Today I am....

:making: these cool message Easter eggs... seems like the blog-sphere is all agog over eggs filled with cool things! Cupcakes baked in eggs, eggs filled with candy... where does the fun end?!

:playing: with these tumble bunnies with the girls. Who knew that paper and marbles could be so entertaining? (and best of all it is a free printable!)

:hoping: that all the baking that I am doing will earn me these pretty measuring cups from Anthropologie... they would look so pretty on my counter next to this salt and pepper set from Mod Cloth!

:loving: this adorable ballerina shirt and thinking about how I can make it myself with freezer paper and tulle!

:wishing: that I would have seen this Zombie Easter bunny before it sold out... I know what Klint is getting next year!

:looking: around the house to see what piece of furniture could do without it's drawers so that I can make a dollhouse for AJ and Moira like THIS, lol!

:gathering: materials from nature to make the girls some beautiful instruments just like this one... so pretty and clever!

 :helping: Klint take some bokeh photos likes this and this by making his own filter. Who knew it was so easy to create these magical photos?!

(Speaking of photo-taking... I can't, for the life of me, get AJ to look AT the camera!!! She looks everywhere else and throws off the whole shot constantly... AHHHHH!!!! Any tips?? I think that we will be making a "Lens Buddy" like this so that she has something specific to stare at...)

:reading: the second installment of The Walk Series by Richard Paul Evans called Miles to Go... great book!!!

OMG! I NEED to do this with my hair!!!!

Finally, I just discovered a cool blog call A Beautiful Mess thanks to this post featuring way cool looking braids... then I saw the posts about tattoos and I was HOOKED! Looooooove it.... (and wondering what excuse I can have to get more tattoos now!)

Easter Coupons for Kids

This Easter I am planning on hiding some cute Easter eggs around the house for Gabby and AJ to find. But instead of putting only candy in them I am going to put these coupons in them as well as some money to spend. I found some giant jewel-like eggs at Target and am going to put the really special ones in them, like "No Chores" and "One Spa Day with Mommy". I think that the girls will be really excited to have special coupons that give them fun filled days! Feel free to grab it too from my Flickr... there is another version of it too that is slightly different. =)

(Sorry that it is so girly... being mommy to 3 girls will do that!)

:Wordless Wednesday:

Happy puddle jumping friends!

Some Monday Luvin'

Well another Monday is upon us and here are some things I am LUVIN'!

♥ This year I am hiding the baskets as always, but am going to use this adorable set of printables to create a scavenger hunt for the girls!

♥ I used to have a bad habit of biting my nails and will still catch myself going for a nibble when I am bored.... maybe if I did my nails like these I wouldn't dare!

♥ I have a lot of art ideas stored up for this week... definitely love these cute (and recycled) egg carton bunnies and chicks. Super Cute! (Also perfect for Earth Day which is on Friday!)

♥ Of course, these pretty plastic egg blue birds are cute too.... lol...

♥ Everyone this year seems to be forgoing the store bought dye for the eggs and turning to the kitchen for color. I love the colors and recipe ideas here as well as the other uses!! Here is another good source for dye inspiration....

 

♥ And if you want an alternative to the usual candy filled basket that doesn't last through the year, here is a great post that shares some alternative ideas!

So there is some Monday luv for you all! Have a great day!!!

Probably the BEST Art Book Yet!

This week I did a little bit of book selling at a local YMCA. I always enjoy selling Usborne's book because I get to go and talk to people about something I am passionate about, meet great kids, and of course expand our own home library. Usborne constantly impresses me with their never ending expansion of titles... there are new books coming out all the time that I immediately want to pick up for the girls and today I brought one home to add to our collection- 365 Things to Draw and Paint.

 This book has it all- robots, fairies, birds, people, laboratories, roads, and so much more! You make collages, use pastels, blow watercolors around with a straw, and create whole drawings by taking a "line for a walk". The projects are fun, use everyday items to create, and teach art techniques that have huge value.

Gabby and I decided to try one of the projects today that involved the watercolors and a straw.... it was a blast!!

There are so many great art ideas in here, I can't wait to do some more!! It is such a joy to be able to teach Gabby about art, see her face light up when she gets it, and know that even though it is Saturday afternoon, we are "schooling"!

Smile Pretty!

Today the girls all got their photo taken at a wonderful photography studio called Prelude Photography.

They sat, smiled, held their sister, and even got to have a real bunny in the photo.

It was a wonderful time and I have some very nice prints to hang up now.

I am a huge fan of the studio because they are creative and touch up the photos then and there,

the prices are also very reasonable and you don't have to wait to get the prints.

I love getting photos taken of the girls... doesn't matter who is behind the camera,

but I especially love getting to play around with the photos, like above.

The bunny tee's got lots of compliments as well, always a plus. =)

I am going to try my hand at a more complicated design tonight... wish me luck!

I have successfully done Mary Poppins, which AJ refuses to take off and 

helped Klint put a cool knot design on a messenger bag....

More design goodness to come soon, have a great weekend!

ok, last one... I promise!

Can you tell I am addicted to these animated .gifs? 

I just couldn't resist posting this last one!

Who can resist miss aj hopping around playing hop scotch?!

:Wordless Wednesday:

A Deliciously Easy Project!

This project was sooooo easy, I can't believe that I waited all this time to try using freezer paper to stencil shirts for the girls!

The little ones are getting their photo taken this week with REAL bunnies and while I enjoy poofy dresses as much as the next mama, with no where to go on Easter there just didn't seem to be a point to buying them only for a photo. So I decided to make cute shirts to wear with jean skirts (or jeans in Gabby's case!).

There are tons and tons of great tutorials out there for freezer paper stenciling. It is truly easy and the possibilities are endless! For this project I just found a chocolate bunny silhouette (thank you Google!) and after it was dry and done I hot glued a teeny blue bow to the side of the bunny.

I think I am going to try something a little more complicated for Earth Day that is on April 22nd... maybe a tree or a whale, using more than one color..... My mind is racing now that I know what I am doing and the results were so nice!

Crafty Goodness

One of best things about living in Lakewood is the abundance of creativity and small businesses. Many stores have unique, well made things that often find their way into my home like our pink children's table and my craft closet. I visited a new store today called Crafty Goodness, a cute little shop that only sells local handmade art. One of my fellow Etsian blogger friends- Prasti- has some adorable onesies and plush blocks there along with about 64 other artisans! (The blocks shown are from her Etsy shop- Here to There- aren't they pretty?!)

In the store I saw awesome zombie art, belts made from car seat belts, makeup, plush monsters, pillows, jewelry, and so much more! It was really cool to know that everything there was local and made with love.

Speaking of local art, there is a new addition to my store! A Special Edition Fairy Door that is shaped like a rainbow. It is so colorful and happy... I can't wait to paint some more! (Anyone who orders a fairy door in the month of April will get complimentary brass door numbers as a thank you from me, all you have to do is put in the notes to seller what number(s) you want on the door!)

And if you are curious what others think of my fairy doors, here is a wonderful review from an Etsy buyer. I made a  pretty hot pink and white door for her little girls that turned out so pretty.

It was so nice to get out for a walk today. it finally feels like Spring is coming sooner than later. Happy days to you all!