Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Gabby's science project- dying carnations!

Today we...

* Woke up and put on our traditional Old Navy St. Patrick's Day shirts

* Ate rainbow pancakes that were soooo bright and cheerful

* Looked at our science experiment where we are dying carnations

* Made rainbow noodle necklaces

* Played with some awesome homemade playdough (that smelled like cinnamon rolls, lol!)

* Ate a wonderfully colorful lunch and had some more of those yummy rainbow cupcakes

and enjoyed this beautiful and bright day here in Cleveland!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day friends!!!!

Some Tuesday Luvin'

Happy Tuesday Folks! While getting ready for our first family vacation EVER I am busy packing clothes for the Littles, making some adorable felt finger puppets, and gathering fun ideas for the Homeschooler and the others for Thursday's St. Patrick's Day celebration. Here are some pretty neat things I have found around the web:



I have conquered Rainbow Pancakes, Rainbow Cupcakes, and lots of other rainbow goodies... but these Rainbow Waffles just make me smile!


And after you are done with all the rainbow and green goodies, hop over here to find out how to make these very "bunny" Marshmallow Bunny Plushies... super cute!


Speaking of plushies, if bunnies aren't quite your cup of tea, how about these easy peasy Plush Whales? (Can you tell that my kids have a ton of plushies thanks to tutorials like these?!)

If playing with plushies aren't your kids style, what about these awesomely terrific Dragon Tails for playing pretend with? My kids are dying for me to make some ever since they saw the tutorial up on the computer!!


Ok, enough of the kiddy stuff!! I am itching to put something new on our door for Spring and I think that a Moss Covered Wooden Letter, maybe adorned with a birdie nest and eggs, would be perfect. Get the how-to here... =)


Well, that's about it.... gotta love procrastination ala web-surfing! What are you making this week?

The Last Couple of Days....

Woke up to this....

 

So we went outside to shovel!

For breakfast ate bright purple pancakes- yummy

Made this monkey mobile for a friend to give... I love how it turned out!

Made this cute little tote for Gabby to give to a friend....

...and filled it with a very cool book and some little gifts.

Cleaned, working on some Etsy things, and finished off the weekend with some very yummy and colorful cupcakes! (Did I mention I am in LOVE with gel food coloring?!)

How was your weekend?? 

5 Things

Today was a good day... Here are 5 reasons why:

1. It was just me, the hubby, and the girls- no other little ones to wrangle
2. I went to a PTO meeting and remembered why I took Gabby out of the public school system in the first place. Not that the particular school or teachers are bad... just that the system itself is so flawed...
3. I finished a very cute monkey mobile for a friend, I hope she likes it... pics to come tomorrow!
4. I stopped freaking out about the upcoming vacation to GA and put a game plan together that is very reasonable.
5. Waffles fries + melted cheese from Mr. Hero's is recipe for a good day, any day!

Now, here are 5 cool things that I have found on the web that really caught my eye:
1. We love the movie Up... here is the real life version!

2. Going along with the whole homeschooling thing... this post really made me smile because I am finding out that a lot of my public schooling friends have some serious misconceptions about why we homeschool.

3. Who cares about Shamrocks and Pots of Gold on St. Patrick's Day when you can make rainbow pudding?! I am definitely serving this to the girls next week!

4. I love love love this idea for a toddler bed for Miss Moira when she is ready!! All the nooks and crannies a little girl could want without all the muss and fuss!

5. Just found this blog today and I am really digging it! Her kids are adorable, the photos are bright and colorful, and everyone knows I am a sucker for kids!


And that's my day!!! We are supposed to get hit with tons of snow tomorrow so we will see what the day brings!

Science Experiments and More!

Here are some cool things that I have found on the web....

Got bored kids? How about some fun and cheap science experiments! Try some milk fireworks, some yummy Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream,  or some oooey gooey Oobleck!


Now that Gabby is reading I am exploring ways to encourage her to move into chapter books... these tips from Homeschool Classroom are really helpful.


Speaking of homeschooling, we are learning about coins and money for math. This is a great idea for combining math with science and another cool rainy day activity!


Sometimes a girl just needs a new apron! AJ loves to cook in the kitchen with Klint, I imagine that shrinking this cute apron tutorial to fit her would be a breeze...

Doesn't the thought of throwing an ice cream themed party sound like fun??  Here are the invites, cone hat tutorial, and the cake and goodie "bag" tutorial!

and finally, when you have to clean up the kids from all the melted ice cream- Puffy Bathtub Paint!! Get the how-to here!

3 Months Old!

 

This little ham is 3 months old!

She is a smiley, happy girl who rarely cries.

Moira loves to wrap her hands in my clothes while she sleeps next to me,

as well as when she is nursing.

She is definitely a mama's girl!!

Moira Marie (as I like to call her) has started really laughing,

sleeps through the night pretty consistently,

and has taken an interest in watching the girls play.

She makes everyone around her smile and is awake a lot more these days.

I love tickling her toes which always gets a giggle,

watching her smile at her bird mobile (she looooves it!),

and hearing her snore- girlfriend has some sound to her sleep!

All in all, she is growing and changing but remains our ever cheerful baby!!

HAPPY 3 MONTHS DOLL BABY! 

Today...

I got to sleep in thanks to the hubby,

I went to the library and picked up a long awaited book,

Made some new mommy friends,

Had a very yummy fish sandwich for lunch,

Worked with Gabby on her homeschool items... we are learning about states of matter, money, plural nouns, Ireland, Mars, habitats, homonyms, and poetry!

Taught ballet and tap,

Thanks to a friend, learned how to get the van to turn on when the anti-theft system tries to take over!

Ate a truly tasty dinner with two lovely ladies- Angelo's pizza is amazing!

Started thinking about this weeks Project: Simplify assignment,

Spent some cuddle time with my baby,

and did lots of other fun mommy things! Those are the highlights though.... man, am I tired!

Project Simplify

 

On Monday I will start something called Project Simplify over at Simple Mom. Over the years I have gotten progressively more organized and... well, cleaner, but there are still areas of the house that continue to elude my efforts. What attracted me to the project is the fact that it is only 5 weeks, you have 1 week to tackle the problem area, and that it is very focused. Personally, my problem areas are my area of the bedroom, the kitchen counters, the dining room table/craft area, our coat area, and the desk. All areas of complete chaos and clutter most of the time. And even when company comes over and I clean those places, within the week they are back to their usual disarray.

Today I got a head start by attacking the craft room/ dining room. This is a dual purpose room because it is actually a three season sun room. It gets quite chilly in the winter so we do not eat in there, but I bundle up and craft, knowing that my projects will not be disturbed. However, because I have that knowledge sometimes my supplies and such take over the space, I attribute my crafter's ADD to the messiness, lol!  Tomorrow I will post the before and after photos because it took my allll day and by the time I was done it was night.... yes my friends, it was THAT messy!

So that starts Monday. But over the weekend we had a starter assignment- create a family purpose statement. This is something that Klint and I have discussed before, but more along the lines of what we hope for the girls, how we want our family to live, etc. Never have we put something down on paper. I am sure that there will be more or something we want to reword.... but for now this is our Family Purpose Statement:

Not too bad huh? I can't wait to see what is the first hotspot for Project Simplify.... anyone else out there doing this as well?

:This Moment:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (from SouleMama)

Yes, my little darling does indeed cry once in awhile! 

Got Photos?

Remember this post about organizing your digital photos? Well tonight I am purchasing my first photo book! I am so excited and am even MORE excited because right now My Publisher is having a Buy One Get One Free Sale!! YIPPEE!!!

A really great tip that I recently read from a photography blogger is to buy two copies of your photo books if you have kids. Why you ask? Well this way the kids can actually touch the books and look at them without you hovering or having a heart attack if a page accidentally rips. What a great deal! (Especially considering that our book is just under $100 for one copy!)

Here is a preview of some of our pages:

I can't wait for this to come!!! We are going on vacation in a couple of weeks to Atlanta, GA and it would be great to take this with us to share with our friends. Love it!