Banded Together

Pinterest Project Alert...In my goal to try and really organize the house this year I continued on my quest for Emmah's room to have some order. Next on the list hair supplies!! I mean what girl doesn't have a TON of these??Emmah has recently really gotten into headbands and they are taking over my shelf in the bathroom so I had to do something! To make a headband holder of your own, here is what you'll need:

I began by cutting my paper to size, you'll need 2 sheets, and you will have extra and can use that for the top.

Lightly Modge Podge the paper around the oatmeal container, being careful not to overdue the Modge Podge. (You will want to trim the 2nd sheet so you have enough for the top)

Once the bottom is done you can trace around the top. I chose to use a different paper and make it about 1-11/2" bigger so it would fit around the lid nicely.

Cut out circle...if you are looking for the edges to wrap around the outside you will need it at least 1" larger than the lid, you can then start by Modge Podging the center on, then start to cut the extra around the outside into strips and gluing them down 1-3 at a time. I used hot glue as my top paper was thicker.

Then VIOLA...

I am loving it...and couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

Ice Time

On Sunday we headed to GR to meet some friends. The fun part of meeting them was we were going skating on an outdoor rink, as part of a fundraiser by the local hockey team and then for some dinner.

It was a lot of fun, there were hockey players out there, fires to warm yourself by, ice sculpters, hot chocolate and pretty decent weather. We enjoyed seeing good friends and catching up. Once we were done skating we headed to a local restaurant for an early dinner. It was good food and good friends all rolled into one!

Mini Milkshakes

Again my addiction to Pinterest continues!! I found this GREAT idea for mini milkshake shooters and just knew I had to give them a try! So with the annual Bubble Wrap Dinner coming up I had the perfect opportunity!! I went out to search for the glasses, and was super successful at Walmart. Here is what they look like:  Now...the how to:Ingredients:

• 3-4 scoops vanilla ice cream
• 1/4 cup marshmallow fluff
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

To begin melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips, I did it in the microwave. Then dip the glass in the melted chocolate just around the rim, once the chocolate is on head over the the sprinkles and dip. Now in the directions I read it had you put them in the freezer for 5-10 mins, but I didn't need to they hardened just fine on the counter while I made the shake. 

 Add ice cream, marshmallow fluff, milk, and vanilla to blender and BLEND!! 

 Now when pouring into the shooters you will want something with a spout or a funnel, because if you get any ice cream on the sprinkles the colors will run. Now if you want colorful streaks then skip the spout/funnel. Sit back and enjoy...well not for long because they are mini milkshakes! 

 

Happy Birthday Mom

Today my mom would have been 68 years old. Sometimes its hard to believe she is really gone. I miss her so much and think about her all the time. To make a hard day just a little special for the last 3 years I have had the kids make small birthday cards. We then attach them to some colorful balloons and send them up to Memah.(In case you didn't know...all balloons go to heaven, right to Memah. Who has quite a collection!) 

My birthday is tomorrow, and I do like a good birthday it just hasn't been quite the same. It will always be a little hard, but I try my best to not shed tears, but to think of all the good times and remember she is having one heck of a birthday party!! 

*Pop Pop*

This time of year is always a little patchy for me...it brings some days that remind me of sad things and I tend to get cranky. Most would say it's okay to be a little down, to be cranky sometimes, but I hate to take it out on the ones I LOVE. Especially, when its the kids and they don't really understand why.  Well during this time of year, comes my birthday and what would have been my mom's 68th birthday. Every year since she has passed I have looked to do something worth while to make it special, remember good times and make memories to do this we bring in my best friend!We have her family over for our annual Bubble Wrap Dinner. This includes bubble wrap placemats, balloons and birthday cards. On Saturday we had my friends and their kids over to enjoy each others company and POP some bubble wrap!! Now to fully understand the bubble wrap dinner you must understand that when my mom had her open heart surgery they gave her a bubble wrap envelope for her glasses. Since she had been given something to calm her a little she thought the bubble wrap was sooo fun and just kept popping all the bubbles. So everytime she was in the hospital after, we brought her bubble wrap. It's a funny memory! We didn't get the balloons off so the kids and I will do it on Tuesday.

Snow...FINALLY!

We have been waiting and waiting and waiting...to get some real snow here in Michigan. Although a few months ago we got our first snow, it didn't stick around long and wasn't much to shake a stick at. Well the end of last week finally brought what we have been waiting for...SNOW!!Although we didn't get the fun of our first snow day we did get a chance to go out and have a little fun! 

Crazy kids, crazy fun!!

Socks

Emmah is determined to grow her hair out, which for most part is fine other than she isn't a HUGE fan of having it brushed or anything done with it most days and the fact that lucky for her she got my half curly hair! So since I am completely hair challenged this poses some problems! I can do the basic pony tail, braid...but that is where it ends. Well in my searching and poking around on Pinterest I came across a tutorial for sock curls. Sounds CRAZY right? It's not!! I watched the read the tutorial and watch the video and put it to work!To start I went to A Spotted Pony.Once I got what I needed to do I got to work.Here is her hair before:

This is what it looks like once the sock is in:

 

And the after:

 (Sorry, the picture makes it look frizzy...but really it wasn't)Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I am sure that after some practice they will only get better and better. I am looking forward to doing it on a weekend when I have a little more time to play with it!

Pajama Monster

Now what would Christmas break be without a little craftin?? NO FUN that's what!!Well my niece found this super fun Pajama Eaters tutorial so of course we had to make it!! Since neither one of us are particularly good sewers we called in an expert, Grandma Fowler!!She made an example for us and then we gathered our supplies, she headed over with her machine and we got to work. I wasn't very good about taking pics at the beginning...sry!Here we have after we have attached the body and head to the mouth, which includes a zipper, and also added the eyes which we used Steam-a-Seam for.

Adding the lining...

Getting arms and legs all sewn up!

Here are our Pajama Eaters with the arms attached...not too bad!

Sewing on the legs, this was a little tricky, but not terrible. You just have to concentrate!

Here we all are with our complete Pajama Eaters!! I LOVE how they turned out and the kids can't wait to use them!

Thanks Grandma Fowler for your help and sewing expertice!

Watch out Pajamas...here we come!!

Want to make your own Pajama Monster, then head over to see Jodi and she'll show you the way! (And A LOT of other fun stuff too!!)

Boing!!

Going on vacation is always fun because you get to see new places meet new people and try new things. Another bonus for us was that we were with family who knew all the fun places to go!One of those places was BOING!

I am not going to lie, this place looked awesome, it is full of trampolines!! They even have Dodgeball...AWESOME! 

Barbara Manatee

The whole time we were in Florida the weather was SPECTACULAR!!! It was perfect, but toward the end it chilled only slightly...which was to our advantage.We decided on one of these days to take the kids to Tampa Electric to their free manatee viewing site. The manatee swim into the inlet when the water is below 68 degress. They have an online camera that you can control so we used that before we hit the road...in our preview there were a TON so we got ready and left! When we got there Emmah was excited...Jake not so much, but as we began to see some he joined in the excitement! We went out on the long dock and saw some there, then headed in after a bit.We then saw there was another viewing dock and thought we should head up there...when we got there you could see 50 or more of them...it was AWESOME!! There were baby ones and rather large ones as well.Here's a little video of our manatee fun:

This free slideshow design customized with Smilebox It was fun and free!! What an awesome experience!