Nutty's 7th birthday was last week. I don't know why, but she insisted on having a camping themed birthday and having a sleepover. So...because I'm such a great mom, we had a campover birthday. Twelve girls total (including Nutty and Tottie) with six of them camping overnight in a tent in our back yard. What was I thinking?! I searched all over Pinterest for ideas for her party but I'm not one to go way overboard with decor and things. I just wanted ideas... It started with Nutty's invitations. She really liked this invitation. Though the site somewhat told you how to make them, the author of the post admits she had a hard time coming up with an appropriate pattern. I did some more searching and couldn't come up with one either. After over an hour of cutting, measuring, re-cutting, folding, etc, I finally came up with my own pattern. To save our lovely readers some time, I thought I'd actually share my pattern with you so you can easily make your own tent invitations! … [Read more...]
Train Table to Lego Table
When we moved into our new home (and when I say new I mean new to us...it was built in 1895) the previous owners were empty nesters...their kids had grown up, gone to college, and moved out. They offered to leave us some of their old toys if we wanted them. We happily obliged and thanked them for the kind gesture...not realizing how truly awesome it was! We don't go into our attic...it's not heated nor air-conditioned, and it's quite drafty at times. But this past week I was playing hide and seek with my twins and I thought that hiding in the attic might be a fun idea....in my time in the attic I was snooping around and realized the amazing treasure I had forgotten about, the toys they left. Now, truly and honestly, I didn't know exactly what toys they left and what a surprise it was when I realized it was three HUGE boxes filled to the brim with Legos. All sorts of shapes, colors, styles, kits and directions. I priced them out and it seriously would have been over a thousand dollars … [Read more...]
Almond Ice Cream-Pinned It Did It
Last year for Mother's Day I got the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker machine... I was SO excited...my jeans were not (8 pounds later!!!!). If you have an ice cream maker in your home then you know how amazing home-made ice cream tastes. It is almost worth the calories. OK, I'll be honest, it IS worth the calories! There are tons of recipes out there for ice cream flavors but today I am going to share with you a little family tradition we have in our home. Every year my husbands fathers family gets together to celebrate Christmas and my husbands uncle is always in charge of bringing the ice cream. The man makes GALLONS of it! I couldn't put my finger on it the first year I celebrated with them but something was different about this ice cream. After I was "inducted" into the family by way of marriage I was told that the secret is Almond extract NOT Vanilla. Oh my stars it is heaven in a bowl! So today I'm sharing this recipe with you too! Almond Ice Cream 1-1/2 cups 2% milk 1-1/8 cups … [Read more...]
Sensory Mud- Pinned it, Did it
If your kids like things that feel neat then this is the thing for them! It's REALLY easy and REALLY cheap to make too! All you need is water and a box of baking soda (which usually runs you less than a dollar). My kids love to feel squishy things with their hands and feet so when I saw this pinned on Pinterest I thought I better give it a try. The original pin just used baking soda and water, but I added a little food coloring to the water prior to mixing and we ended up with some blue "sensory mud." Dump your box of baking soda in a bowl and SLOWLY add a few drops of water....seriously all you need is about a teaspoon total. If you add the water to quickly or add to much you end up with soup rather than mud. My kids loved to just squeeze it but there are several other things you can do with it too. You can use different cookie cutters to make shapes in the mud, which was one of my favorite things to do with it. My two-year old used the sensory mud to drive his trucks in and he … [Read more...]
Toilet Roll Spring Flower–Pinned it, Did it!
I thought this toilet paper roll spring flower was super cute, would be easy for my kids to do, and I already had everything we needed. The original site it links to is in some other language but it does have translate button. It also has great photos so you can figure it out anyway. To make this fun flower yourself, you'll need: 4 toilet paper rolls paint stapler white fuzzy ball (or a cotton ball) wooden stick (or a popsicle stick) Easter grass flower pot Visit the original site for directions on how to do it. Tottie had a ton of fun making this flower. Of course I had to help her with the stapling but that's ok. She even let me paint the orange on one of the rolls! Grandma happened to be coming over in the evening so we gave it to her for Mother's Day! Their flower vs ours. What do you think?? … [Read more...]
Cinderella Nails
Welcome to our week of Disney! We will have five fantastic Disney inspired posts for you this week and a few giveaways! Make sure you come back each day and enter! Here's an easy way to turn your princess into a REAL princess. Cinderella nails! I saw this done on adult nails and I knew I could pull this off on my daughter...and she was very pleased to let me try! Start with a pale blue nail polish. This may take 2-3 coats, since it is so pale. Next cut out Cinderella's face from a sheet of temporary tattoos. Make sure it is small enough to fit on the finger of your princess. Then add a bit of silver glitter nail polish. Last cover each nail with a top coat to keep the art in place for days to come. … [Read more...]
