BOO!

I made this cute girl ghost last week, she has a zippered mouth to hide spooky treasures: candy, severed fingers, your pet spider! She also comes with her own word bubble saying... "BOO"! This one is for Amelia, but I do have her as a MTO item on my etsy site.

The Volcano

I remember loving to make baking soda and vinegar volcanoes when I wad little. I've been waiting until our play-doh was on it's last leg. So before throwing it out we gave it one last hurrah as a volcano, we formed it around a water bottle filled it with baking soda, food coloring and then the vinegar... Boom! They girls loved it, we made it erupt at least 10 times. I love doing these fun projects with the girls!

Who Who... loves owls?

I made two more owls for my Aunt Trisha who loves owls. I have made one for each of her grand children and she had two new grand babies born this spring, Conor and Jack. She up to seven total now, she puts them on her Christmas tree (the owls, not the babies), don't they look cute!

Big Girl Beds

The girls looked so big in their toddler beds now they look so small in their twin size beds. 

These beds are on their third generation, they were my dad's growing up, then Brent and I used them a one point and now my girls. We painted them white for a fresh look and to go with the dressers we already have in the room. My Mom made the quilts, they turned out so cute!

Anna is already filling up her bed with plushy friends, bigger bed... more room for more friends. I hope they leave her some room to sleep.

Home is where the heart is

I made this pillow as a house warming gift for my cousin Dan who just bought his first house. Dan is a doctor doing his residency program, so I asked the graphics's fairy if she had any vintage anatomy heart images and she found one for me... awesome! I just add this to my etsy shop, it turned out so fun!

Now Dan has his home with a heart inside, he is good to go!

Downtown City Garden

Last Saturday we went to check out the new city garden downtown, it is two blocks of beautifully landscaped plants and flowers with sculptures throughout. What I love most is this is a very kid friendly place, you can climb, crawl under and run around the art, it is meant to be explored. There are several great water features that the kids can play in, a waterfall with rocks to hop across, water jets that gently spray water into the air and a wading fountain.

Below is a photo of this cool art piece where you jump on the squares and it chimes, so neat!

My girls had so much fun, we will be going again soon! I am so glad St. Louis is making the city a family friendly place to be.

Upcycle - Mens Shirt to Skirt

Another upcycle project: Brian had a few old button down shirts that he never really liked so he never wore them, they were basically brand new. So I looked online for some ideas and saw this one. I liked the idea but I made a lot of changes to her design. I cut off the bottom since I did not like how it curved up. I also finished the top by making a drawstring waistband and ties out of the left over sleeve material. I was totally happy with how it turned out, a great casual everyday skirt, I just might make myself another one. 

The photo is not that great, I took it myself holding the camera over my head.

Movie Review: John Hughes Films

John Hughes recently died and that made me reminisce about some of my favorite movies growing up. These are my top 4 movies he made. These were all coming of age movies and came out at the perfect time for me.

I think I related most with Molly Ringwald's character in Sixteen Candles, since in high school I was not the popular girl and not the nerd but somewhere in between. I had a huge crush on one of the popular boys in school and he barely knew my name. Sadly the movie got a better ending than I did with the cute guy...

I was thinking how fun it would be to watch these movies with my girls when they become teens, but then I realized they won't get it, the jokes, the clothes, it will be so out dated. I'm sure there will be a current teen movie that will strike a special cord with them. I'll still watch it with them and we'll have to see.

So these are my top 4 what is your favorite John Hughes movie?

Kids Craft - Sand Art

One more summer craft project before school starts, we made sand bottles which went really fast so then we made some sand art pictures, a glue stick then sprinkle on the sand and... poof... pretty art. Truthfully, yes it was a little messy. We would have done it outside but it was soooo hot, so the kitchen floor got bit sandy but the girls had fun helping me sweep it all up. 

School Supply list of 2009

Remember when buying school supplies were pencils, folders and scissors? Look at the list now... it's 40% cleaning supplies, what's next toilet paper?

1 Backpack without wheels

1 Box Crayola markers (broad tip

1 Pkg. plain white paper plates (no Styrofoam, please)

Girls: 1 pkg. Crayola colored pencils

Boys: 1 pkg. Crayola fine-tip markers

3 Pkg. Clorox Disinfectant Wipes

3 Boxes Kleenex

4 Boxes of Crayola (24 ct)

1 Bottles hand sanitizer

2 Rolls paper towels

1 Bottle Elmer's Glue (4 oz)

CD-Rs (optional)

1 Box gallon-size zip lock bags

8 Elmer’s School Glue Sticks

1 Box quart-size zip lock bags

I Pgk. wet wipes

Magic Sprayer

My Dad came over the other day with his "Magic Sprayer" this thing is awesome, I knew the sidewalk was dirty but oh my goodness, you can see, it was black! He power washed the sidewalk, front porch, back deck and the driveway wall, it all looks so nice and new! It look him about 5 hours, I don't think he realized how much sidewalk we really have. He did a great job... thanks Dad!

Yeah Broccoli!

Yeah Broccoli... this is what my kids cheer when I bring it home from the grocery store. I never liked broccoli, we did not have it much growing up, I think because my Mom did not like it either. A good friend of ours gave us a broccoli recipe that he said, "every kid loves", so we gave it a try and he was so right, we loved it. Most important it is soooo easy to make!

Cut the tops off and chop into small pieces, coat with EVOO and salt and pepper to taste. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. I do flip them half way through cooking. Serve hot.

Your kids and picky eater husband will gobble it up and beg for more... thanks Dan!

If you have another favorite broccoli recipe please send them me way... thanks.

Amelia's Art - Grumpy Man

Anna loves to cut things up into tiny pieces, usually paper, but she got her hands on some yarn and cut it into bits. So then Amelia (my little artist) took the bits of yarn off the floor and made this. She told me it was a grumpy man with a mustache and a boogie in one nostril.

As usual, her art makes me smile!

Movie Review: Songcatcher

I rented this from the library the other day, I have never heard of it but it caught my eye, it had "Winner of the Sundance film festival" on the cover and I had heard of Adian Quinn. So Brian and I watched it the other night and oh my goodness it was BAD I give it a D. The movie is about folk songs and only a few songs were even sung well. There are several confusing story lines that should have been left out totally, they made no contribution to the overall story. It was an oddly put together movie with poor acting and a rushed love story. Does Sundance hand everyone an award?

If you see this in your local library or a dollar bin somewhere pass it up and spend your dollar on candy! The candy will entertain you better than this movie!

Summer of 09

Summer is almost over, school starts back up in 16 more days. Summer went by so fast, I remember thinking how will I keep the girls busy all summer long without school? How will I get my work done? I was almost dreading summer.

Well, we made it and I don't know what I worried about? Every Tuesday I had a planned outing around town with friends, we call it "Terrific Tuesdays". Every Thursday we went to Mom's pool to swim. We saw a few day movies, went down to the lake of the Ozarks twice and spent a lot of time in the backyard. It was a really nice summer and I'm a little sad that it is ending so soon.