Day 3 of Summer Break

It's been three whole days since the last "day" of school. I say "day" because they only went for a couple of hours.

We have all kept busy these past few days. Nick has been enjoying his freedom (he's been out since last Friday). Bella has been having play dates and riding her bike around. I was trying to trim the bushes out front. I say trying because I kept getting interrupted. They are almost completely trimmed. I have all summer to finish, right?  

And then there's Alex. He has been running around the neighborhood with all of his friends. Between the sandlot (have you seen that movie?  That's what the boys here call the baseball fields by us), Speedway and friends houses he hasn't been home very much. Every night has been a sleepover. In fact one night he said he was sleeping at a friends house and I guess the mom backed out and four boys wound up in our basement that night. (I was told only one boy was coming over, apparently Alex called RT and asked if the others can stay over, too)  Alex will be in eighth grade this fall (the big shots of the school) and I think this is his summer of fun.  I think I have seen Alex a total of twenty minutes in the last three days (not counting tonight's baseball game).  

I believe our summer break is off to a good start.  

My Most Favorite Thing to Do

Well, hanging with my kids.  That's a given. 

Anything family related.  Again, a given. 

Since Alex was a year and a half, he has loved throwing a ball.  We used to play catch when he was little.  Well, I would catch.  At that age, he was still learning how to catch.  :)  He would always throw the ball to me using his left hand.  It was fun playing "catch" with him. 

Alex has always had a love for sports.  He has played basketball, baseball, soccer and even tried football for a couple of years.  He took a couple years off from baseball (I was pretty disappointed) and played (a lot of) basketball. 

This year, he decided to play baseball (yay!).  Once again, I get to watch him play baseball.  My most favorite thing to do.

practice pitching before the next inning

Pitching

pitching

My pictures are mostlyAlex pitching.  He does play first base, too.  It's hard to get a good picture of him on first.  I need a better camera.  Oh, and, it's not like he will look at me when I'm trying to take his picture.  Why make it easy for me? 

I really can't complain.  These last couple of months (and a few more weeks) I have been able to sit and do my most favorite thing.  Watch Alex play baseball.

Garbage Picking

Yea. It's come down to that.

Well, that sounds a lot more interesting than the real story.

Okay, Okay, I'll let you decide.  Here it goes:

There I was, at the park with Bella. Bella was climbing all over the monkey bars, then decides to climb the two pine trees. Of course she can't climb them at the same time.  She takes them on one at a time.  She does have her favorite tree, tho.

I decided to walk over to the trees.  She's a good climber, but I still get nervous.  Not sure what I could do.  Catch her?  She likes to climb to the top of these pine trees.  Yes, pine trees.  Pine needles.  Ouch.  They are probably twenty five feet tall.  Here's a close up of her up the tree.

can you see her up there? 

It's a phone picture.  Not very clear.  Let me see if there is a better one.

 

looks a little blurry from my side, but, I think you can see a pink blur.  The pink blur is Bella (I zoomed in for these shots so you can see her)

 

Well, when I walked over to watch Bella, I passed the garbage can.  It's an open can that usually has (bagged) dog poop and other miscellaneous things that you would need to throw away while at a park.  I look inside because I saw a bunch of pink and I saw a train case.  I'm not one to garbage pick, but, this was placed nicely in the can, like they might come back for it or maybe they were hoping someone would take it off their hands?  (or maybe I was on camera?)

 

Being the nosey person that I am (I'm really not that nosey) I took it out of the garbage (no dog poo was on it or other gross stuff) and opened it up.  I figured there must be something wrong with it.  I open it and find that it is full of little girl make up (LOTS of lip gloss, eye shadow, glittery stuff, etc.).  There are no dents, it's not broken.  It just needs to be cleaned up from the makeup. 

 

Bella thought it was cool and needed a place for her growing eraser collection (that's a whole story in itself).  We dumped out the used make up, took it home and disinfected cleaned it up.

 

it does close.  This shot makes like it doesn't close, but, trust me, it does close.

 So, which story do you like better?  Me?  The garbage picker?  Or, me....well, a garbage picker?  I think both stories portray me as a garbage picker, but, the second one gives more details.

 

Let me know what you think.

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school. The district had to extend the school year an extra two days because of the big snow storm in March and the flood we had in April.

Last day of First Grade. 

 

Bella brought fresh cut Lilacs (from our Lilac bushes) for her First Grade teacher

 

Schools out for the summer!  Hooray!

Naughty Puppy

I think I must have the naughtiest puppy ever!  I really don't remember Newton being this naughty.  Pippen REALLY likes to get into EVERYTHING!  I know.  He's just a puppy and everything is new and exciting to him. Well, somethings are new and he is afraid of them, but, that's a different story for a different day.

When Newton was a puppy, he chewed through the wood on our front gate so he could pop his head through and see who was at the front door (or in front of our house).  RT had to board up some of it because he was working his way to trying to climb through the hole.  There was still a little hole left.  It was not big enough to get a head through.  Pippen decided that it was time for a change.  He chewed and chewed until...

Now he can see who is at the front door

He can also look down the driveway

 

Since I have taken these pictures, Pippen has made the hole a little bigger so he could be more comfortable when looking out.

Wedding

We had a wedding to go to today. It was an early wedding. I got dressed and ready. The entire time I was getting ready, RT was on the phone, chatting away.  I finished getting ready, looked at the clock and realized the wedding starts in 30 minutes. Luckily, the church isn't too far from our house. I tell RT that we have to leave now and he starts to end his call (at this point, he has been talking the entire time and not getting ready). Right before he ends the call he says, "My pants are at the dry cleaners!"  I just burst out laughing. 

His plan:  He will drive to the cleaners so I can jump out and get his pants. Meanwhile, he will slide into the passenger seat, take off his pants and be ready for me.  Yea, I had a smile on my face and, as usual had to make my smart comment comeback. 

 I said, why go to the dry cleaners when we can just stay home and do that? :)

Believe it or not, we barely made it to the wedding(even though the dry cleaners was in the opposite direction).

Teacher (Coach) Appreciation Gift

Another easy way to say Thank you to a teacher or coach. 

Using a cellophane bag, fill with some candy.  I used a box of Altoids, some lifesavers and peppermint candies.  Other suggestions to throw in your bag:  Hershey Kisses, miniature candy bars.  You can also find the teacher's (or coach's) favorite candy to add.

Cut out a shape from some construction paper.  I used a star to show that the teacher is a Super Star!  Because I used a lot of mints in my bag, I said, "Thank you for your commit "mint" to our children."
Punch a hole into the star and tie the bag with some pretty ribbon and you're done!

Yes, it's that easy.

Another teacher/coach gift.....done!

***Looking for other ideas for Teacher Appreciation gifts?  Check these out:

 Thank you for making me a Sharpie
Thank you for being my M & M
Thank you for making me a Big Smartie

Bridging Ceremony - Daisys to Brownies

We had a bridging ceremony for our Daisy troop.  It's hard to believe that they have been Daisys now for two years and are moving up to Brownies. Time sure flies when you are having fun. 

We have two bridges at the park across the street from our house and decided on that location.  At our last meeting we had the girls decorate a section of our banner that we would put on the bridge.  Our banner said, "Daisys to Brownies."  Each girl was given a section that they could decorate anyway they wanted (add flowers, trees, hearts, stars, etc). 

The idea was to attach the banner to the side of the bridge.  Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side.  The day was cloudy and looked like rain.  The sun kept popping in and out.  About an hour and a half before the ceremony, it started raining. 

So, we held our ceremony where we hold our meetings.  We put the banner up on the wall and used flowers on ribbon taped to the floor as our "bridge."  We used our imagination.

We had the girls stand to one side of the "bridge."  We thanked the parents for coming and proceeded with our little script.*

We called each girl's name and they walked across the "bridge."  We greeted them with a handshake and handed them a bridging certificate (I believe we got this at the girl scout store).  Attached to the certificate, we stapled their bridging patch (to be put onto their brownie uniform).  One of the leaders was taking a picture of each girls as the walked across the "bridge" and when they got their certificate. 

Once all girls were across, we sang a couple of songs ("Make New Friends" and "Brownie Smile Song").  We allowed for pictures and then we introduced our new brownie troop. 

We served, what else?  Brownies!  We also served some girl scout cookies (our troop had some left over from our cookie sales), water and apple juice.

We gave each girl a CD of pictures from the last two years, a packaged brownie with two daisies attached (we hope they would get what we were saying...from daisies to brownies) and some bubbles.  The bubbles were a last minute idea.  We planned on having the ceremony outside and thought the bubbles would be something for the girls to do after the ceremony (and after they ate some sugar dessert).

The entire bridging part of our ceremony was probably 15-20 minutes (we had some girls who had to make it to their dance rehearsal).  You can adjust the ceremony length by adding or subtracting things to your script.

Here is an idea of the script that we used for our bridging ceremony:

Leader:  Welcome everyone to the bridging ceremony of Girl Scout Troop #_____  where our Daisies will bridge to Brownies.  Thank you for coming and for your support.  We have had two great years as Daisies.  We should all be very proud of our girls because they have accomplished so much.  The girls have earned ten petals, a promise center, four financial literacy leaves, a journey award, and the 100 year Anniversary Service Patch.  How about a round of applause for those amazing accomplishments!

Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Girls will recite the Girl Scout Promise.

(girls on one side of bridge with a leader, other leader(s) on the other side of the bridge)

Leader:
The Daisy is a flower,
As pure and white as can be.
Juliette Gordon Low was called Daisy,
She started Girl Scouts, you see.
And now the time is near,
Daisies will bridge to Brownies,
For another Girl Scout year!

@ at this point, we read off the girls name, one at a time, they walked across the bridge and received their certificate and bridging patch.

Leader:
Brownies you will be for two short years,
Make the most of each day that goes by.
Be cheerful and helpful and do a good turn,
Greet each other with a "Hi!"
Our Daisy years were so much fun.
Now they're over and Brownies has begun!

(The girls sang two songs:  Make New Friends and Brownie Smile Song)

Leader:
Congratulations, girls!  You are officially Brownies!  Please welcome the newest Brownie troop, Troop # _____!

Happy Anniversary

I have to mention the beautiful flowers that my thoughtful husband, RT, gave me yesterday for our anniversary.  We just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary yesterday.  Yea, I agree.  That is a long time for him to put up with me.  I'm thankful that he does put up with me and this whole craziness that we live.   

The flowers are perfect! And, they bring lots of sunshine and smiles to my day. 

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

I thought I would go down this road and try to make my own liquid hand soap.  It's scary what is put into various products that we use.  I figure it wouldn't hurt to try this out and see how it works.

My first attempt at making homemade liquid hand soap was using Ashley's Homemade Adventure's recipe found here.  This recipe if for making liquid castile soap but Ashley does use it in hand soap dispensers.  Why not give it a try, right?

The recipe is as follows:

Homemade Liquid Castile Soap:
1. Grate 1 bar of Kirk’s castile bar soap into large pot or container.
2. Add 10 cups hot water, stir and cover.
3. Let sit 24 hours, stir.

soap looks pretty when grated

then it looks like soap again when melted

I was not crazy about the scent of Kirk's soap.  It reminded me a lot of Dove soap (I'm not a huge fan of Dove soap).  I'm wondering if I could add some essential oil to change up the scent?

I waited the 24 hours and was quite hopeful.  It's just going to be used as liquid hand soap refill.

I was surprised to see that it remained watery.  I guess I expected it to be a little thicker like hand soap that you buy at the store. 

I put it in a couple of soap dispensers and waited for the results. 

I found the soap to be on the watery side (when used in the hand soap dispenser) and decided to give it a try as a body wash.  As a body wash it was okay.  The scent wasn't as bad, either.  I think if I do this again I would go with a little less water (say 8 cups instead of 10). 

What to do about hand soap refills?

I found another recipe for hand soap refill on the Farmer's Nest blog (right here)  and decided to give this one a try.

For this soap, she uses one bar of Meyer's Clean Day soap.  I did not realize how difficult it would be to find a bar of this soap!  I looked everywhere and was unable to locate Mrs. Meyer's soap bars.  I did not want to order online and wait for the soap, so, I settled on a Green Tea soap I purchased at Trader Joe's.  I love the smell and thought it would be perfect for liquid hand soap.

This recipe is as follows:

2 Tablespoons of Liquid Glycerin (found in the band aid section at any drugstore or grocery store)
1 - 8 oz bar of soap
1 gallon of distilled water

The bar of soap I bought was 7 ounces. 

I know, I should have looked at it when I bought it.  My mistake.  I adjusted the water to 1 gallon of water minus 16 ounces.  I also did not use the liquid glycerin.  I wasn't sure if this would be a problem.  I figured I could always go back and add it later.

I grated my soap.

Melted the soap.

And waited.

Yikes!  Look how thick the soap became over night!

I used the hand mixer and got to work.  I thought it might be too thick and added back 8 ounces of (distilled) water.  As she says on The Farmer's Nest, it has to reach a "snot like" consistency.
I put it into a couple of hand soap dispensers and the rest went back into the empty gallon from the distilled water. 

*Make sure that you have a few dispensers to fill when you decide to make this hand soap.  I filled three dispensers and the gallon.

*Make sure that you label the gallon container.  You do not want anyone mistaking it for milk!

We have been using this soap for awhile.  I love the scent and found it quite easy to make.  I will definitely be making more again.  Probably not too soon, I have a full gallon of soap to use before I make more.

**UPDATE:  I went to fill up my soap dispensers and the soap was not liquid (more of a jello-like substance) in the container.  I had to cut open the container, put it back into a pot and warm it up.  I added another 24 ounces of water and used the hand held blender to mix it.  I filled up the dispensers (all except the one in the kitchen, which still has the old, store bought liquid soap).  I kept the soap in the pot over night to make sure that it wouldn't harden.  I say harden, but, it becomes like jello.  You want it "snot like."  All was well so I filled another container, plus had some to put in an additional jar.  My suggestion is to let it sit to make sure you don't have this problem before storing the rest of your soap.  Also, make sure you have several extra containers to store liquid in, and lots of soap dispensers to fill.  Hope this helps!  :)

Walking

The warmer weather is finally here. Makes my morning walks very nice and enjoyable.

Listening to music while I walk. Again, remember how you move to different songs?  Some songs are a little more upbeat and danceable. At my fast paced walk, I still bounce down the path (thanks to years of doing aerobics). This mornings walk had a little more bounce and a little jog to it. Today's song was "Gonna Fly Now (The Theme to Rocky)." 

Now that you have that image in your head.  It's okay. You can laugh. 

Dance Recital 2013

Bella had her Dance Recital yesterday.  The dance class is Pre Jazz.  Bella has been very excited about the show and could not wait to go up on stage.  You will see her HUGE smile in the video.  (well, she also knew that I was recording it and her grandmother was taking pictures)

workin' the tutu

 

She's got the pose down

giving the camera a little attitude

work it, girl!

The first dance was to, "Rockin' Robin."  She really got into the dance.  I Love it!  She really loves to dance and always makes up her own dances for us to watch.  You can view her dancing to this song  by clicking right HERE. 

in the car on the way to the recital

sporting some pink lipstick  :)

after the recital with a Dance medal and a lollipop!

 

The next song that she danced to was "Zip a dee doo dah." Another fun dance that she did and you can view it by clicking HERE.

*I had to make those HERE buttons large so my family would know where to click to find the video. I didn't want to be swamped with phone calls on how they couldn't find the video.

"Little Blue bird on my shoulder.."

I'm so proud of Bella for getting up on stage and dancing.  I know it's something that she loves to do.  In fact, she asked me as we were leaving if I signed her up for a summer dance class.  Guess I better get to work on that request. 

At the Park

I was hanging out at the park with Bella (and Newton) tonight. It's a beautiful evening. I turn and see a man walking towards the park with a bag of dog p@@.   I recognize this guy from my morning walks. He has a heavy German accent and walks  a yellow lab.   He also lives kitty corner from the park. He then proceeds to throw his bag of dog p@@ into the park's garbage can. He turns around and walks back home. Yes, I watched him walk back to his house.  

I guess he doesn't want to stink up his own garbage can (or yard) with dog poo. 

What do you think?

Socks

I'm tired of cleaning up after everyone. We had a busy week and trying to keep the house clean...I'm exhausted. 

RT found three pairs of Bella's socks in the basement (yes, it's usually Alex's socks that are found).  He told her he didn't want to find anymore of her socks laying around or it's no play dates for a week(that will probably hurt me more). 

We just got home from softball and baseball games and what do I find (ON THE FLOOR OF MY BEDROOM!)?

First Grade Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo

Here I am once again, jetting off to the zoo with the first grade class.

The first graders just finished studying Brazil and the Rain Forest.  I think you remember my trip to Brazil and the Amazon Rain Forest last week. 

Today we visited a few of the exhibits at Brookfield Zoo.  We saw the Fragile Desert, the Tropical Rain Forest and the Fragile Rain Forest.   We also visited the Dolphins, Walrus, Bison, wolves, Bears and Polar Bears and Rhinos.

I had a group of four girls and joined up with a friend and her group of four girls.  We had fun, well, until the drama started.  I didn't realize the drama between girls started this early.  I ended up having a little talk with all of them about how we should be nice to each other and to treat others as we would like to be treated.  Things got better.  Well, and they were also pretty tired at this point and we were at the end of our little tour of the zoo.

I'm so glad we had beautiful weather today.  A great day to enjoy the Brookfield Zoo. 

Vegetarian Diaries - Guacamole!

The other day, Bella told me that she is going to be a vegetarian.  I can see that happening.  I can see her going RAW.  She's not a huge fan of cooked vegetables.  I'm sure she says that because I am a vegetarian.

Nick has been out fishing quite a bit with some of his friends.  They caught a bunch of fish the other day, filleted and breaded them and cooked them.  He said they were delicious.  RT tried them.  Nick was trying to get me to try them.  He said, just a little bite.  I tried to explain what it would do to my body to have it.  My body isn't used to eating meat (or fish, in this case).  It has been a year since I last ate meat (fish, chicken) and having it now will just causes my stomach to go crazy.  I will feel sick for a day or so.  It isn't fun. 

The fish did look good and very tempting.  RT said they were pretty good.

I'm looking forward to RT's return.  I'm making some of this guacamole dip to celebrate.  Found it on Allrecipes.com.  Click on the recipe name and it will take you there.

Traditional Mexican Guacamole

taken from Allrecipes.com

2 avocados, peeled and pitted

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional)

salt and ground black pepper to taste

 

 

Mash avocados in a bowl until creamy.

 

Mix tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lemon juice, and jalapeno pepper into mashed avocado until well combined; season with salt and black pepper.

 

Hopefully he gets here soon because it just might all disappear.

Flying Solo

I'm on my own this week.  This is the last few weeks of school and they are jammed packed with lots of activities.  Field trips, baseball games, softball games, Olympic days, last dance class, dance rehearsal, dance recital, girl scout bridging ceremony, a wedding and a family get together.

Most of those things are happening this week.  Well, all of those things (except the family get together and wedding) are happening this week.

Today I planted our garden.  I am trying to keep Pippen out of the garden.  I let him hang with me while I was planting the garden.  Just to tick me off he ran into the garden when I started getting it ready for my plants.  I sent him away but he kept coming around wanting to come into the garden.  He thinks he's human and can do whatever I do.  Once the garden was planted, I pulled out the hose to water and Pippen was so excited, he decided it was time for a puppy fit.  He ran around real fast and ran right through my garden.  I'm hoping a couple of my plants survive the tornado.

While I am planting the garden, the children made themselves disappear.  This always happens when I am in the middle of a project and can use some help.  When I am at the point where I can't leave my project, that is when I get called.   "Mom!  Alex hit me!"  "Mom!  Nick won't give it back to me!"

Today's call was, "Mom, can you move the cars?" 

My response? 

"No."

Nick can drive.  He was doing his homework, but, he moved them for me.

I'm hoping I survive the week.

Wish me luck.

The Best Mother's Day Gift Ever

I know I'm not the only one that can say that about a mother's day gift I received.  I'm sure a lot of mother's say that about the gifts they receive on Mother's Day.  Children are the greatest gift.  How can you top that?

A friend of mine had told me that last year she asked her kids to write her a letter.  In that letter, they were to tell her something about themselves that she did not know.  Maybe it's an interest in something, some place they would like to go visit or a sport they enjoy?  Maybe a dream they have for their future?  She has four children and said  that she was touched and pleasantly surprised by the letters she received.

For Mother's Day this year, I told RT this story.  I was a little worried about what they would write about (I don't need to know EVERYTHING).  And, knowing boys, well, at least my boys, they hate to write.  This would prove to be quite interesting.  Bella did not participate.  If she did, she would have no problem composing a novel and presenting it to me.

RT gave the boys a few days to work on their letters.  Little did I know that he asked them to write about me and things that they are thankful for (IE, thankful for the little things that I do for them).

On Mother's Day I was presented with a letter.  First, from Alex.  This was a full page letter.  I can tell he did an outline because his paragraphs flowed quite nicely.  I was pleasantly surprised by his letter, thanking me for all of the little things that I do for him (and the family).  Things that I think go unnoticed.  Some things that I do that I think he might be upset with me about, he was actually thankful for them.  It was a very touching letter that brought tears to my eyes.  Yes, from the teenager that has been giving me quite a hard time lately. 

That evening, after reminding Nick about the letter I was waiting to receive (he said that he was still working on it in his head), I was presented with his letter.  This one was what I expected in length.  (he isn't into writing)  What he said was more important than the length of any letter.  Again, thanking me for the little things and some other things that I said or did that I didn't think he noticed.   Again, very touching.

I'm very grateful for my children and have always been proud of them.  These letters were my job reviews.  I think I did pretty good.  No other job review could compare to what I received in these letters.  And no other compensation could compare to what I felt when I read the letters.  This Mother's Day gift was Priceless.

Teenager and Texting - Part Two

As promised, an update on Alex and his texting.  This is for the second month of having his own phone.

My money was on Alex going over the 5,000 mark (number of texts in a month).  If you recall, last month (his first month of having a phone) Alex had 4,987 texts.  That's roughly 166 texts per day.  Figure in about 8 hours sleeping and 7 hours at school (he can't have his phone on at school).  That makes it 18 texts an hour. 

When you break it down like that, it really doesn't sound that bad, does it?  The question is, are they long texts or just "lol's?"  Trying to get information from a teenager can be quite difficult, especially when mood swings are involved.  I don't like to ask about things if I know that I'm going to be met with a moody reply.  So, I guess I will never know, will I?

Back to this months text totals.

For his second month, Alex surprised me.  I was expecting him to hit the 5,000 mark.  When I told him the totals of that first month's bill, his phone was beeping and beeping.  I figured he would have no problem.  I received the bill and Alex's texting total was.........(drum roll)...........4,503! 

His numbers are down a bit.  RT said that maybe the newness of having his own phone has worn off.  He still gets quite a few texts.  That seems to be his main tool of communication with his friends.
I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Happy Mother's Day!

God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made Mothers.   Rudyard Kipling

Happy Mother's Day!

Flower Pen

For those procrastinators out there, here is another quick, easy (and affordable) gift you can make for Mom for Mother's Day.  (It's this Sunday you know!)

Supplies needed:
Pen
artificial flower
ribbon or floral tape
glue (hot glue would be better)
patience

*any pen will do
*they have artificial flowers at the dollar store (and hot glue, too as I found out the other day!)

Yes.  It's that easy!

Make sure you have a good size length on your artificial flower (but not longer than the pen). 

Hold the flower against the pen and glue a piece of your floral tape or ribbon to the top of the pen. 

Start wrapping the tape/ribbon around and around the pen until you get to the bottom of the pen.

Don't go too far!  Make sure you can still write with it.  :) 

Glue the ribbon/tape to the pen and you are done. 

See?  Wasn't that easy? 

Make a few of these and place them in a pretty vase to put on Mom's desk or counter so she can have fresh, pretty flowers from you all of the time! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Upcycling - Empty Cans

Trying to find some easy storage solutions using what I have on hand.  These can also be a last minute Mother's Day gift.  Hint.  Hint.  Yes.  It's this Sunday.  Don't forget!

I found these adorable cans on North Shore Days.  If you get a chance, look around her blog.  Love her creativity!  Natalie also gives you a wonderful little tutorial on how to make your own pretty upcycled can holder.

I decided that my desk needed a little color pick me up and made an attempt at making my own pretty can to hold all of those pens an pencils that are lying around the house.

I decided to paint my can green (for spring).  Well, it's also the first color that I grabbed.  Thought it would brighten my day by looking at it.  :)

I wrapped a little twine around the can and embellished it with a flower. 

It's sitting on my desk

love it!

I saved another can from the recycling bin.  This time I took the idea from Creative in Chicago and  blinged out my can.  This one was taken over by Bella (of course).

I used nail polish to color my clear gems (available at the Dollar Store by the flowers).  I painted some using silver nail polish on the outside of the gem and the rest I polished pink on the flat said of the gem.

M for Mother's Day!

Of course, I ran out of glue for my glue gun! 

Oh the horror! 

I had to run out for some more to finish up the project. Luckily they have glue sticks for hot glue guns at the Dollar Store. (a closer trip than one of the craft stores)  The finished project is pretty heavy. Be extra careful when moving it around.

Cute.

Easy.

Affordable. 

Great as a pencil cup, utensil holder in the kitchen or make up brushes in the bathroom.

And, they make a cute Mother's Day gift, too!

*if you can pry them from your daughter  :)

Rainforest and Brazil

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been quite busy lately. I flew down to Brazil to visit Bella and her first grade class. They have been studying Brazil for awhile now and wanted to share their knowledge.

I received the VIP treatment and went on a wonderful tour, led by Bella, of the Amazon Rain forest. I even got to hear about Carnival (wish I was there to experience that in person).  I learned so much from my trip. Too much to write about in one post. Of course, I did take a few pictures to share with you.

 

Bella in the middle of the Amazon Rain forest

Bella's monkey

a snake found on the floor of the Rain forest

found an ant on the floor of the Rain forest
It looks like this is one of the lovable ants

"Toucans are very important to the rain forest because they help disperse seeds from the fruits they eat."  Bella

Here's proof that I was there in the Amazon Rain forest

And that concludes our tour of the Amazon Rain forest.

I'm unpacking my backpack and doing some laundry and will be back with more fun later.

Nurses Appreciation Week

It's Nurses Appreciation Week this week.

You are probably wondering why I brought this up. 

Well, I decided that it would be nice to remember the school nurse this week for all that she does for the kids at our (elementary) school.  Oh, and also because Bella visits the nurse quite often.  And by often, I mean, daily.  As in EVERY DAY.  I really think they should name the cot in the nurses office after Bella.  I mean, she does visit daily.  Maybe she should just have her own?

I could probably count the number of times the boys went to the nurses office on one hand.  It wasn't one of their favorite places to go visit.  In fact, one time, Alex HAD to go because he threw up in the class room (not on the floor, but, in his lap.  He didn't want to make a mess).  He even felt bad he had to leave school.

Bella's nurse visit reasons range from having a stomach ache, to needing a band aid, a paper cut, her eye hurts, her head hurts, her ear hurts, her leg hurts, her....well, I think you get the picture.

Bella thought it would be nice to brink the nurse some flowers and write a little "Thank You" note.

Nurse

Frome Bella

You are the best Nurse ever!

To all the nurses out there, Thanks for all that you do! 

And, Happy Nurses Week!

Greek Easter 2013

Christos Anesti!  Christ has risen!

Alithos Anesti!  He has risen indeed!

I started my day off making Spanakotyropita.  I make it every year for Easter.  If you want the recipe go here.

We head over to my cousins house where they roast a lamb on a spit. Tough being a vegetarian in a Greek family at Easter time.  I was harassed a little by my cousin (about being a vegetarian).

cutting up the lamb

I can't believe Alex ate the eye of the lamb.  He said it tasted like a cooked egg.

RT tried the lambs tongue.

I just stood by and watched (and took pictures)

Missing Uncle George this year.  He cooked the lamb every Easter.  This year he was there in spirit.

not sure if this was before or after the eye and tongue tasting

Turned out to be a beautiful day

Happy Easter!