The finished product

I finished my tree art! I think it turned out pretty good considering I am so new in the crafting world. I made the bird smaller and added a couple of coats of mod podge to it. I like how the mod podge made it kind of shiny. Just a hint of shiny...not too much.

I went and bought a couple of more canvases. I may try a rounder tree with more leaves. I'm not sure yet, but I'll keep you updated.

Then look what I found tonight! I came across a blog called Sweet Limes. Look at this pillow! I love it!!! I wonder if she would make one for me? Hhhmmmmm....

Salty and Sweet

My new favorite snack.



This stuff is so good! Nuts, granola, dried cranberries, yogurt covered raisins, and dried apples. Yum!

It's also highly addictive and NOT on my "look decent in a bathing suit" plan.

This is the 2nd night in a row I have skipped dessert. I'm proud of myself, and I am trying not to obsess over it. The chocolate mint brownies I made this weekend are calling me, but I am ignoring them. Note to self...get John to take the brownies to work!

What did you do this weekend?

Our Saturday was stormy and wet, so we didn't do much. I did attempt to make lasagna in the crockpot. Ummm...I won't be doing that again. John was oh so sweet, and didn't admit to how bad it was at first. He finally caved when I expressed my opinion about it. It wasn't horrible, but it was reminiscent of cafeteria lasagna that's been sitting under a heat lamp. For a long time.

The little wrens were working hard renovating the nest I left in the cat bird house from last Spring. They are so fun to watch and listen to. Look at all those twigs in there! How do they fit them in there?

Sunday was a much brighter, beautiful day. AK spent time playing with EG, our neighbor. They were having a blast in this. Except the one they were playing in was made for rolling in the grass I think. Anyway, I wish I had had my camera! I did have my camera handy for some cooking show action...

But the chef wasn't too cooperative for the paparazzi.

AK and I decided to get a bit crafty. I have been looking for some larger art to hang in my living room, but I can't find anything I like. So I thought, well I love AK's art! So I bought 2 large canvases at Hobby Lobby yesterday with the thought that she could paint something for me.

Not quite what I had in mind.

So I think this will hang in her room. Maybe I can get her to paint it a little more. She got tired.

I started looking around my crafty blogs that I have bookmarked, and I came across this at Simply Modern Mom! This post was the inspiration for my creation.

I still have not decided on the bird. She looks a little big. I haven't Mod Podged it yet just in case I want a smaller birdie. What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

To wrap up our day I made Andes Candies Brownies. All you do to make them is bake brownies as you normally would (we used a mix of course). Then when you take the brownies out of the oven, lay about 30 Andes Candies on top. Wait for them to melt a little, and swirl with a knife.

Oh.my.goodness.

These are so yummy. And definitely not on my "look decent in a bathing suit" plan.

The Next American Idol

AK has become very interested in The Mamas and the Papas lately. This is where I found her the other day! (I apologize for the video being sideways. I made this with our camera and turned it not thinking how the video would look.)

I love the little growl at the end :)

Giveaway link!

Head over to lovely bud for a chance to win a pretty quilt! She is giving away a handmade quilt when she reaches 100 followers. Then she has another great giveaway when her followers reach 150! Go take a look :)

Flower Project

It is CRCT testing week for the 1-3 grade students. That means Kindergarten students do not have any of their resource classes all week. We have to stay in our rooms and be very quiet. No outside play until testing is over. And then...to top it off...our assistants are pulled to proctor the testing. It makes for a llllllooooonnnnnnggggggg week.

So, I spent yesterday afternoon and part of today thinking of some activities that might be a little more exciting than the typical things we do. One of the things I will be teaching is about the parts of a flower or plant. I plan on doing some planting/indoor gardening, playing some fun games, and offering a few art activities. So today I decided AK and I should test out on of the art activities. The plan is for each child to make their own flower and then label the parts: flower, stem, leaves, roots. Here is what to do.

1st - Cut out a flower shape (I did this part) from a paper plate and paint it.

2nd - Cut out a long flower stem and glue it to a large piece of white paper.



3rd - Cut out leaves. AK decided to draw her's first.





4th - Cut short lengths of brown yarn and glue them down to create roots.



Here is the finished product!



As you can see, we did not label the parts. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow.

It's a Party!

(silly face)

I came across this website and found a link to the Dishing It! party. Who doesn't like a good party?? I decided to join in and share a little bit about myself, and hopefully meet a few other bloggers out there. You are out there...aren't you?

~How long have you been blogging?
I started blogging on January 13, 2009. I had recently discovered a few really fun blogs that I enjoyed reading, and I was talking to my friend Joy and she mentioned that she had started a blog. After reading her blog, I decided to take the plunge and start my own. I took a few months hiatus, but started back in January of 2010.

~Why did you start blogging?
I was having so much fun reading other people's blogs...mostly crafty mom blogs. I began to want to try to be crafty and document my crafting experiences with my daughter. At first I mostly posted silly things she was doing. Now, I try to keep updated on the fun things we do together and other family fun. I also post a lot about the changes we are trying to make to become more Earth friendly.

~Tell me about your blog's title. Why did you choose it?
I couldn't think of anything that sounded good :)

~What do you blog about?
Mostly my family.

~What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love to follow/discover/read other blogs, and I also love to receive comments. There are some really creative bloggers out there! Hopefully I will meet some other people out there who have the same interests as we do.

~If you had to choose one famous person to become your blog's next devoted reader, who would you pick?
This is a hard one. I never think about things like this. I'm happy to have any devoted readers :)

~What's the funniest comment you've ever received on a blog post?
I can't think of any particularly funny comments, but I LOVE every single comment that I do have. I get very excited to see comments!

Pretty Flowers

AK and I picked out some pretty flowers :)

The pictures don't do them much justice, but we had fun planting them. AK didn't want to mess up her manicure, so I did most of the digging.



I just tried to keep my toes clean :)

We went yesterday and had our first Mommy/Daughter pedicures, and AK got a manicure too. Oh, it was fun! She wants to go back today, and tomorrow...and the next day.

Back to my yard...
It is beginning to look pretty. I have been trying to pull weeds, but they are EVERYWHERE! I do a little every time I am in the yard.

I am excited about the size of my hydrangea. We planted it 2 or 3 years ago, and last year was the first year it bloomed. Look at it today (just ignore the weeds).
No blooms yet, but it's getting big!!



And here is the other corner of the yard. Lovely.



This corner had a hydrangea about 3 summers ago. It didn't make it.
But the dandelions and wild violets obviously love it here!

Finally...

This is what I saw when I woke up this morning :)

I finished her scarf last night and left it laying on the ottoman. She found it and snuggled up!

The finished product.

I need to figure out how to weave in my ends a little better. One is already starting to un-weave. Overall, I'm happy about this little scarf, and AK seems to love it!

Carbon Neutral Blogging

I came across a new blog today, Welcome to Our Wonderland. The writer has some fun book suggestions and crafty kid projects. She also had a link to this website. This site is planting a tree for every blog that links back to their cause. Their goal is to reduce carbon emissions. You can read about it here. I joined the cause because we are trying to help the Earth in our home by taking the steps to be more "green" and this is April - Earth Day month! I figure every little bit helps. You can help too :)

Easter Sunday

Happy Spring...Break!

Wooo hoooo! Spring Break has begun! One week of no school and warm weather. Now, to think of something to do :) My mom is coming to visit for a few days, so there will probably be some shopping going on at some point.

While we were outside yesterday we saw this pretty guy...

I was so excited at the thought of bluebirds in the bluebird house! We have had other bird nest in the box, but never bluebirds even though there are lots of them around our neighborhood. He took some time checking this box out, but I think it may have already been occupied. This morning I saw a Tufted Titmouse go in and stay a while. It was too cute because he sat looking out of the hole for a while. We have had a Titmouse family nest in there before, so maybe they came back again!

One Small Change

Our One Small Change for March did not go quite as well as I hoped. The change was to switch to our reusable bags for shopping. I have had the bags for well over a year...maybe two years. However, I can't seem to remember to take them into the store with me. Or even have them in the car. I would say we used the bags about half of the time we went shopping. I will keep trying. My intentions are good, but my memory is not! As far as our previous changes, they are all going very well. We are no longer using paper towels or napkins (January change) and I always remember to use my reusable water bottles (February change). I think I have only drank from a plastic bottle 2 or 3 times since February, and that was because I was at a birthday party where that was the drink provided.

April snuck up on me. I realized this morning that I had not thought of a change for April because I didn't even realize it was April until I got to school and my Kindergarteners started in with their "April Fool's" pranks! I have now decided we will stop using plastic baggies for lunchboxes or food storage. We have kind-of already been doing this, but not consistently. I bought some cute fabric sandwich and snack bags when I was in search of cloth napkins and paperless towels. I use them daily, but still use plastic baggies quite often. Maybe I need to find more cute fabric baggies :) I would really love to learn to make them myself. I have my Grandmother's old sewing machine, but I have no idea how to use it. I need to look into sewing machine lessons...