Yesterday was FUN!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Our craft of the day yesterday started out simple.... Paint the deck with washable paint... We are in the midst of working on the deck and will be repainting it in the coming weeks. While the deck is all crazy we may as well add some color to the crazy right?! 


Pretty quickly the girls started painting themselves...

Then I got the idea that it would be fun for them to jump in the paint! 






After the girls had jumped for a while we got out the hose and started spraying the trampoline down... Wet trampolines are so much more bouncy! Then Daddy joined us and we all jumped on the trampoline and sprayed each other with water. It was so fun and it was totally one of those perfect afternoons that I hope the girls remember when they are older! 

My new favorite website!

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Yesterday while Claire was napping, Kenley and I were hanging out in the craft room. I didn't have a specific craft for her to do so I asked her to draw me a giraffe. She has drawn giraffes a few times in the past but for whatever reason she "couldn't" draw a giraffe. I didn't want her to give up so I googled "how to draw a giraffe". Artforkidshub.com came up as one of the top searches and boy am I glad that we found it! What an amazing resource! 


Art For Kids Hub posts videos of a Dad and his kids drawing (or painting or sculpting) all different kinds of things! It is great! The Dad does an awesome job of explaining the shapes and concepts so that kids can understand them but also so that the child won't feel defeated if their picture doesn't look the same as the Dad's. I honestly can not say enough good things about this blog or these videos

Here are some of the drawings that Kenley made yesterday:

 (Of course this Elephant picture must be mailed to her Elephant loving BFF) :) 







There is so much more to discover on that blog! We have barely scratched the surface and we can't wait to do more of the activities! 

Kenley lost her first tooth! June 18th 2014

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Kenley lost her tooth yesterday! 


She is super excited about this because in her mind she is now a big girl who doesn't need to ride in a car seat or hold my hand in parking lots anymore :) 

I followed Mel at The Larson Lingo's instructions for making this super cute tooth fairy receipt. I also glittered that dollar even though the picture doesn't show it! 

I may have cried when she smiled at me with her new gaped smile for the first time :) I can't believe she is losing teeth already! 

Life Lately

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Gramma and Grandpa mailed the girls some shirts from their trip to DC. The girls LOVE these shirts and wear them almost every other day. We have had lots of fun lately with our Dollar Tree Water Squirters! I'm telling you they are the best $1 you will spend for your kids all summer! 

Where's CLo?

Our plums are ripe!! 

Daddy started working on the deck...

Free crafting time... I am trying to cultivate more creativity in Kenley. She is totally a "follow the directions and it must be exactly how the package looks" kind of kid... So I am trying to do more open ended projects with her. (But you better believe that CLo and the glitter glue were testing my calmness big time) :) 

I forgot to put the girls sheets in the dryer before we left for community group the other night so we put a movie on for the girls to watch while their sheets dried. CLo fell asleep on the couch. Sleeping kids are so peaceful and sweet. I just love it...

Legos! The girls had never played with Legos before but since Kristen's birthday theme was going to be Lego I picked up some little packs at TJ Maxx to get the girls familiar with them...

Both girls LOVE doing Legos! I definitely need to start going to garage sales and looking for Legos now! 

The girls and I drove up to Raleigh to spend time with Job and Ruthie while Kim was in the hospital having EllaBeth! We loved getting to see our friends! I REALLY wish we lived closer to them! Maybe one day??? 

Kenley & EllaBeth...

Claire & EllaBeth...

I made some shaped crayons for Job and Ruthie. I came up with packaging the crayons in an old egg carton to keep the crayons from breaking and having the colors rub on each other... It worked great! I LOVE making crayons for friends!  

KenKen wanted me to take pictures of their Legos...

Kenley wrote down our menu for Friday night...

Patiently waiting... We LOVE our ice cream maker! 

Kristen and Kenley at Kristen's Lego party! 

CLo in the Lego race... I know I am biased but man is she a cutie! 

Silhouette Projects!

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

I've done more heat transfer projects this week than I have done the entire time I have owned a Silhouette machine! I've got to say.... Heat transfer just isn't my thing. I love the results but weeding the heat transfer is such a pain! I would definitely much rather work with regular vinyl! 

I made monogram sibling shirts for Kim and Ian's kiddos...

Monogram tank tops for my girlies...

Are these pacis not the cutest thing ever?! 
These and that baby gown make me want to have another baby girl!

I also did a practical little project of labeling my homemade cleaner bottles. It was driving Brian crazy that I had a bunch of unlabeled bottles under the sink. Problem solved! 

Our friend Kristen had a Lego party last night! I made this shirt for her to wear at the party...

And you know how I run with a theme so I added her name to the bag we got at the Lego Store. We also made her a personalized card on Lego.com... The site is for making personalized Christmas cards but with a bit of photo editing I turned it into a birthday card. We also stopped at the Lego store in Raleigh and Kenley made that little Lego Mini Figure to look like Kristen. So cute! 

Gummy Worms!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Ah! Worms! We made gummy worms! 



I recently ordered some grass-fed gelatin (Great Lakes Brand in the Red Can) and have been looking for ways to incorporate more of it in our diets. Gelatin has tons of health benefits including tightening loose skin, helping improve cellulite, improving digestion, and supporting hair skin and nail growth. What's not to love about that?


Have you seen the gummy worm tutorials on Pinterest yet? Basically you pour your gelatin mixture into straws to get the gummies to be shaped like the worms. It leads to a fun product but I don't think that this is a very practical way for me to make our gummies every week. It was very time consuming to get the gelatin out of the straws so this will have to be a special occasion fun treat! 


This gelatin recipe is great for making worms but it also works just as well to pour the mixture into a glass dish and use cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes or to just use a knife and cut little squares! The girls love when I let them help cut out the shapes with our tiny cutters that I found in the Hobby Lobby clay aisle. 


Cranberry Pomegranate Lime Gummies
Ingredients: 
3 1/2 Cups Organic 100% Cranberry Pomegranate Juice*
9 Tablespoons Grass-fed Gelatin
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Lime Juice 

Directions: 
1. Add Cranberry Pomegranate juice to a large sauce pan set over medium heat.
2. Gradually whisk gelatin into juice.
3. Whisk constantly until mixture begins to boil.
4. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract and lime juice
5. Allow to sit undisturbed for about 5 minutes or until most of the bubbles have dissipated.
6. Pour mixture into a glass baking dish (or into straws if making worms).
7. Place in refrigerator and allow to cool for about an hour or until set.
8. Slice or cut and enjoy!

-I store our gummies in the fridge to maintain freshness but they do pack great for lunches or for snacks while running errands!

*You can use any type of juice to make gelatin but it is best to use very strong tasting juices because they really mask the gelatin flavor!



Life Lately

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Our life lately has been super full! In the past two weeks we have gotten to see so many old friends, said goodbye to friends moving to California, and managed to see Grandma and Grandpa for about 6 hours! It's been crazy busy but its been great! I actually mentioned to a friend the other day that I think we just didn't have as many friends in Washington as we do here in North Carolina. Especially now that we have a mix of old friends and new friends as we are meeting more people through our new church (that we LOVE) and Classical Conversations. 

These pictures are in order of when they were taken but they seem so random so you will have to bear with me on that! 

 I found these cute ring popsicle molds at TJ Maxx. They are a great portion size for the girls not to mention how adorable they are! These would make an awesome birthday gift for a little girl! 

You need to seek out these peanut butter cups. Oh my, they are delicious. WAY better tasting than Reeses and they don't have HFCS or GMOs! 

The Friedlein boys spent a Friday with us! David was so helpful the whole time! We sure will miss them but we are so thankful that we got to spend the last 2 months with them! 

Kenley drew this picture of her and David wearing cowboy hats :)

The Good family were our house guests that night too! What fun for our families to be back together now that we are all parents! 

I let her join me on an errand to Walmart dressed like this.... 
I'm quite sure Walmart has seen worse :)

Surprises for our littlest house guests! 

Saturday we got to see the Lugg's! We met them in Kinston where Kim and I took the kids to a park designed for children way older than ours! 

That thing has like 3 stories and was packed with upper elementary kids it was nuts! That's Kenley up at the top... Stressing me out... Usually I don't stress about this kind of thing... but in Kinston at a crazy busy big park I stress....

The girlies...

The Mamas

Sunday after church we went out for Mexican food. CLo finished up our salsa before we left the restaurant. That girl loves her salsa! 

Monday was Memorial Day so we headed to Baker's Kitchen for some French Toast with a bunch of our friends! 

Lily and Kenley were hard at work writing a book...

CLo's head is almost in the way but when I look at Kenley and Lily here I just see them as teenagers...

Selfie with CLo...

The Good Family and Ronk Family Memorial Day 2014


The next day I let the girls help me peel crayons. The easiest way to peel crayons is to soak them in a bowl of water for a little bit and the peels slide right off... However when you let two little girls join in it becomes a bit of a messy water everywhere production! 
 (Side note: I was saving a bunch of crayon wrappers for a craft project and would you believe it I lost them.... sometimes I out organize myself!)

Daddy and the girls catching Fireflies or Lightning Bugs.. Is there a difference?

Hey Hey! He got his diploma! 

I had Kenley cut our our rainbows from the craft of the day the other day and we hung them up in the craft room. They make it look extra cheery! 

Then on Wednesday Grandma and Grandpa dropped by for the day! They were visiting Williamsburg and drove down to see us for the day. The girls were so happy to see them! They loved every minute of it! 


I made a little road trip present for David and Aiden...

On Saturday we realized that Kenley has a loose tooth! WHAT?!?!?! My baby is too little for this!!! 


What? You don't pose with the mannequins when you go to Old Navy? 

Monday we went to the aquarium with the Steel's! They have a dinosaur theme going on this summer complete with moving dinosaurs which the girls thought were awesome. Ever since Gunnar's birthday and the home school conference we have been all about dinosaurs. Kenley especially loves watching Buddy Davis and Ken Ham's talks on dinosaurs and reading Ken Ham's book on dinosaurs!  



That about brings us up to speed! I hope you enjoy your weekend! 
 
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