For Nutty's 6th birthday, she wanted a horse party. After some research, I discovered it was just as expensive, if not cheaper, to take the party to Sunnyside Stables (and have each girl ride their own horse) as it would be to have one pony come to our house and have the girls take turns! So, we went all-out and took the party to the stables! (In the interest of privacy, and because this post is not about the party, I am only posting photos of my girls) For Nutty, and most of the girls at the party, this was her first time on a real horse (instead of a pony at a petting zoo). For Tottie (who is too small to ride a real horse), this was her first time riding a pony by herself. Their experience is something they will never forget! After first meeting their horses, and then leading them around for a little bit, it was time to get down to the business of actually riding them! Nutty was a little nervous, Tottie was THRILLED! In fact, Nutty was so nervous, she had a helper … [Read more...]
Handmade Baby Memories and Bliss Photography
A few weeks ago I got a fabulous unexpected (well sorta unexpected) surprise. You see, I have this friend named Catharine who I've known since third grade. She is now a professional photographer and has her own studio-- Bliss Photography. Catharine was contacted by the owner of Handmade Baby Memories to do some photos of her products (stuffed animals made out of baby clothes!). Catharine, however, needed some products to take photos of and that's where my surprise comes in... Catharine called me one day and asked if she could keep the baby clothes I loaned her for her daughter. What baby clothes? I had completely forgotten I gave them to her, so yes, she could keep them. Then she had me go through all of them and tell her which of my girls wore what clothes. It was torture reliving baby memories and remembering my girls so little, and Catharine wouldn't tell me why she needed to know! Click photo to enlarge and see. Finally after a few weeks, and a lot of pleading, … [Read more...]
Frequently Asked Questions!
Since we get asked the same questions over, and over, and over (and over, and over...) again, we thought we'd FINALLY do a Frequently Asked Questions post! It's about time, huh? 1) Are you two sisters? No. Glad we got that out of the way. Now we can move on. 2) But you look so much alike. Are you sure you aren't related? No. We mean, no, we are not related, and yes, we are sure of it. 3) How did you come up with the name of your blog? Funny story: We were talking on the phone trying to decide on the name of our blog. We wanted something that we always yelled at our kids when they were bored and getting into trouble. Suddenly Lindsi said, "Hang on a sec..." Jamie heard Lindsi say, "Can you PLEASE get your toys out of the dryer! I am sick of finding toys in the dryer!" When Lindsi got back on the phone, Jamie said, "That's it! That's the name of our blog!" 4) Why did you start your blog in the first place? We had both been blogging on different blogs for … [Read more...]
AstroBrights for Back to School Crafts #goastrobrights
This post brought to you by Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper. All opinions are 100% mine. It's back to school time! Ok, so it's only the third week in July but there's already tons of back to school ads on TV, online, and in stores. Where did the summer go? Don't we still have a little over a month to go? AstroBrights papers would like to help you support your local elementary school with the "Give a Brighter Year" sweepstakes. You can win a cash prize and school supplies valued at $30,000 for the school of your choice! Just click on the link! AstroBrights papers come in 23 bright colors, so your ideas always get attention. And they’re perfect for projects at home, school or the office. Stand out from the crowd — choose a lively AstroBrights papers for your next brochure, invitation, flyer, announcement or craft project. AstroBrights papers are about creativity and getting noticed. They provide a bold color canvas because they believe that ideas are … [Read more...]
Easy, No-Freeze, Homemade Ice Cream
We've had yet another heat wave in Minnesota this week so I thought it was about time that I taught my girls how to make easy, no-freeze, homemade ice cream. Yes, this recipe is no-freeze so it's super quick, and because it's homemade, it's super yummy too! To make your own, you'll need: 1/2 cup of half & half 1 Tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1 sandwich size Ziploc bag 1 gallon size Ziploc bag 3 cups crushed ice 1/3 cup rock salt (sometimes called ice cream salt) Step 1) Put the half & half, sugar, and vanilla in the sandwich size Ziploc bag. Seal it tight. Step 2) Make sure the sandwich size Ziploc bag is definitely sealed. Step 3) Put the ice and rock salt in the gallon size Ziploc bag. Step 4) Add the sandwich size bag to the gallon size bag. Seal it tight. Step 5) Make sure the gallon sized bag is sealed tight. Step 6) Shake the bags for about 10-15 minutes until the ice cream forms. We ended up using a towel to hold … [Read more...]
Pop Cap Necklaces
It all started when Nutty saw (and liked) some pop cap necklaces online and I got a hair-brained idea that we should make them for party favors for her birthday. I searched all over the internet on how to make them and found that in theory they'd be super easy for me us to make on our own! Hubby and I drank a few (ahem) beverages and we saved up enough caps to make the necklaces... The first problem was getting the plastic, rubbery thing out of the middle of the cap. Those buggers are harder to get out than they look! I (and when I say I, I mean Hubby) resorted to burning them off with his torch. It worked great except for the smell, but it created another problem. See the color? Never mind, I was going to paint them anyway...after all, the caps are from (cough) adult beverages. Next came flattening the caps. No problem right? We'd just take a hammer and flatten them. I saw plenty of people do it online... Ok, so they're a bit mis-shapen but that just adds … [Read more...]
