Monday, July 30, 2012

reeses eggs

Copycat Peanut Butter Eggs
(Makes 6-9 eggs)
Click for: Step-by-Step Photos.
  • 1/4 cup pb (or any nut butter)
  • dash salt (I also use salted pb)
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar or Sugar-Free Powdered Sugar
  • 2 tbsp. cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp. virgin coconut oil (see below, for substitution notes)
  • Liquid stevia to taste, or 2 tbsp. agave or pure maple syrup
  • 2 more tbsp. of the sugar/sf sugar, if needed
Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl until it becomes a crumbly dough. (Note: if your nut butter is from the fridge, let it sit awhile—or microwave a few seconds—so it’s easier to mix. Also, I put the dough into a plastic bag to shape into a ball with less mess.) Add the extra 2 tbsp. sugar/sf sugar if it’s too gooey. Taste the dough and add a little more salt if desired. Form dough into flat little ovals (or egg shapes, but real Reeses eggs are flat). Freeze the dough for an hour or so, until it’s hard.
Meanwhile, mix the cocoa and coconut oil (melt the oil if it’s not already melted) in a shallow dish. Add the agave/maple or stevia drops. If you use the stevia option, also add a scant 2 tbsp. water or extra oil. Mix until it looks like chocolate sauce, and then take one “egg” out of the freezer at a time (so the rest stay cold) and cover in chocolate. (I used a corn-cob skewer. No idea why I even have those, but they worked really well! A fork would also be fine.) Immediately return covered egg to the freezer and let harden. Best to store these in the freezer as well. You can thaw a little before eating, or eat when frozen–either way, they’re awesome!

Penne, Fresca Salad





penne, mozzarrella, sundried tomato salad

Ingredients

Main Ingredient : Penne
1lb penne or ziti – ½ pint container grape tomatoes – ½ cup sun dried tomatoes – ½ lb celingini (small mozzarella balls) – 1 large handful of baby arugula – ½ cup sliced garlic – 2 tbsp of olive oil – ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil – salt and pepper to taste

Gramma J's Best Selling Doggy Cookies

Our best seller is: 
2C whole wheat flour, 
1Tblsp baking powder,
 1C peanut butter 
& 1C milk. cut out 
& bake 375 20 min for soft & a little longer for harder.

The Best Almond Butter Energy Balls




The Best Almond Butter Energy Balls
Adaptation from Shelley Adams Whitewater Cooks at Home

  • 1 cup each sunflower seeds and sesame seeds, toasted
    1 cup rolled oats
    1 cup chocolate chips
    1 cup raisins
    1 cup dried cranberries
    2 cups almond butter
    1/2 cup cocoa
    1/2 cup honey
    1 1/2 cups finely chopped nuts of your choice or coconut
Take all the ingredients except the finely chopped nuts and put them in a large bowl, Start by mixing with a spoon, but as the blending continues, you’ll need to switch over to using your hands to really get things well combined. Take 1/4 cup scoops and roll into a ball. You may need to add more honey to get them to stick. It really depends on the nut butter you’re using. Then roll them in the nuts or coconut to coat. Repeat. Makes 20 balls.
If by chance you are not super active but still want to make these for a high protein snack, simply reduce the size to 1/8 cup scoops and indulge sparingly.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Recipe


Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

  • 1/2 cup chickpeas dry (soaked and cooked according to directions) or 1 can or (1 1/2 cups cooked)
  • 1/4 cup good quality olive oil
  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 1/4 cup plain whole fat yogurt
  • 4 garlic cloves minced
  • 3 roasted red peppers (homemade or from a jar)
  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes (optional and adjust to your spice tolerance)
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 large handful parsley
Put all the ingredients together in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth or desired consistency is reached.

http://www.beyondthepeel.net/2011/09/roasted-red-pepper-hummus.html

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Dragonfly Inspirations Bracelet Creations...blog...FB page

http://dragonflyinspirationbracelets.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DragonflyInspirationsBraceletCreations

Artisan No Knead Bread


Basic No-Knead Bread


6 cups bread (recommended) or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2 t. instant or active-dry yeast
2 1/2 t. salt
2 2/3 c. cool water

    In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated; the dough should be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest 12-18 hours on the counter at room temperature. When surface of the risen dough has darkened slightly, smells yeasty, and is dotted with bubbles, it is ready.
    Lightly flour your hands and a work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice and, using floured fingers, tuck the dough underneath to form a rough ball.
    Generously dust a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with enough flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel as it rises; place dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. Cover with the edges or a second cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
    After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 425-450 degrees. Place a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven, in the oven as it heats. When the dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove top towel from dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; flip the dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
    Cover and bake for 40-50 minutes. Uncover and continue baking about 5-10 more minutes, until a deep chestnut brown. The internal temp of the bread should be around 200 degrees. You can check this with a meat thermometer, if desired.
    Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

This Week's Happenings....

 Bambie looking to ride the bronco?
Bambie looking guilty after getting caught mowing our front lawn.

We've had MANY Bambie sitings in our yard lately....our pumpkins are gone, our sunflowers are gone, our July supply of tomatoes is gone.  But we got smart, there is now a fence around our backyard (pumpkins were in the front, sunflowers on the side) vegetable garden.  Take that Bambie!



The girls have decided to enter a contest that they found in The American Girl Magazine.  Do they have American Girls...no (they have very adorable similar dolls from Target, that only cost $30 each (shhhhhh, don't tell the judges:)  The contest is to design a birthday cake!  They mailed their cake artwork with info, and their photographs all the way to beautiful exotic Wisconsin:)  (as the company is headquartered near Madison). 


 We FINALLY hit the Friday morning farmer's market on Hilton Head.; located at Coastal Discovery Museum and Honey Horn (home of our beloved butterfly house, which we also visited).
I've decided that it would be fun to set up a booth at some point and start selling my Dragonfly Inspirations Bracelet Creations, and some other fun home-made goodies we have in the works.  It's only $25 (a week) to have a space...we could just start with once a month, and have some fun!  Time to start working on some beachy-coastal theme, as that's the stuff that would sell on Hilton Head:)  I'm going to become my very own tourist trap,  ha ha:D  I just think this would be a fun little social business for the family....we love the atmosphere of this particular Farmer's Market...it is so peaceful and beautiful!  Next project, I will start working on designing and having a banner created.  Stay tuned......
 Little Miss Angel purchased a garden stone kit for her daddy's garden as a Father's Day gift to him.  Below is her beautiful finished art!!
 Remember our front porch project?  Here  it is so far, so glad our porch is no longer all nakie nakie.

 And finally, our weekly beach shots!  Ok, Ok, I confess, we actually haven't made it to the beach this week....can you believe that?  But this works too:)  And aren't you just digging those groovy flipflops!  

Peace out!


Thursday, July 26, 2012

Homemade Cottage Cheese

Homemade Organic Cottage Cheese Recipe

Makes about 2 cups
Ingredients
  • 1 gallon organic skim milk
  • 3/4 cup distilled organic white vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1/2 cup organic half-and half-or heavy cream

Directions

Pour the skim milk into a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Heat to 120 degrees F. Remove from the heat and gently pour in the vinegar. Stir slowly for 1 to 2 minutes. The curd will separate from the whey. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a colander lined with a tea towel and allow to sit and drain for 5 minutes. Gather up the edges of the cloth and rinse under cold water for 3 to 5 minutes or until the curd is completely cooled, squeezing and moving the mixture the whole time. Once cooled, squeeze as dry as possible and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the salt and stir to combine, breaking up the curd into bite-size pieces as you go. If ready to serve immediately, stir in the half-and-half or heavy cream. If not, transfer to a sealable container and place in the refrigerator. Add the half and half or heavy cream just prior to serving.
 (recipe from: 

ByzantineFlowers)

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Apple Enchiladas

Apple Enchiladas

Cherries or peaches can be substituted for apples.

1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling
6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water

  • Spoon about one heaping quarter cup of pie filling evenly down the center of each tortilla.
  • Sprinkle with cinnamon; roll up, tucking in edges; and place seam side down in prepared dish.
  • In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.
  • Pour sauce over enchiladas and let stand 45 minutes.
  • Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until golden.
  • Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Wisconsin Trio of Bling!

This was a requested combo order!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

I'm am going to make primitive grungy hang tags....

http://oodlekadoodleprimitives.blogspot.com/2010/09/primitive-grungy-hang-tags.html
(this post is copied from the above blog link; so I have the instructions to try this)

PRIMITIVE GRUNGY HANG TAGS!


PRIMITIVE GRUNGY HANG TAGS

Grungy hangtags are easy and fun to make. Their wonderful smell takes you back in time to Mom's kitchen and the aromas that filled the air when she baked cookies or cooked a batch of homemade fudge. They are popular among primitive and country décor buffs for their aged appearance. There are many different kinds of hangtags.

SUPPLIES:
Cardstock paper
Strong brewed coffee (suggest instant)
Vanilla extract
Cotton string
Scissors or paper cutter
Sponges or large cotton balls (optional)
Cookie sheet and wax/baking paper
Hole-puncher with a grip handle
Reinforcement Labels

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut tags to any size you wish, for instance, 1-3/4" x 2-3/4", round off the tops or leave them straight across. Punch a hole in the top center of the tags or place a reinforcement label where you think the hole should be and punch. Apply round reinforcement labels to both sides of the tag. It is easier to punch the holes first then apply the tabs.

Cut sections of string about 12 inches long for tags measuring 2" x 4" (cut less or more length depending on the size of the tag you are making). Fold the string in half and enter both cut ends through the hole leaving the closed end on the opposite side of the tag to loop. Grasp the open ends taking them over the top of the tag through the loop. Gently pull the loop snug and tie a knot in the open ends. Leave about 1/4" excess string behind knot and trim even. You may use ribbon, cloth, jute, or any other material of your choice in place of cotton string.
Make a cup of double or triple strength coffee and add 2 tablespoons of Vanilla extract. Allow the coffee to cool enough to work without burning your fingers. Have a cookie sheet ready and lined with wax paper. Plain white paper will work, as well. If you place, the tags directly onto the metal dark specks will appear on the tags. That is why you should line your metal cooking sheet.

Dip each tag into the coffee mixture including the string; place the tag flat onto the cookie sheet repeating this step until you fill the cookie sheet. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 250 to 275 degrees. The edges will naturally curl but will flatten to a certain extent once again. Do not turn the tags over while they are baking. Baking makes, the tags brown more and helps preserve the vanilla's scent


MICROWAVE PRIMITIVE HANG TAGS

It works great, and you don't need to turn the oven on.

2 cups of hot water
1/4 cup instant coffee (dry)
2-3 tea bags (let seep for a bit)
3 Tablespoons imitation vanilla scented oil is optional and amount depends on strength desired.

Mix together. Soak tags in coffee mixture for 5-10 mins. Lay on paper plate lined with paper towels. Microwave in intervals of 40 sec, checking to make sure they don't burn. You can stamp on them or write on them. A really great look is old time pictures applied with decoupage. If you want you can sprinkled lightly with real cinnamon before microwaving.

Let's get grungy!! Tea bag trick!
I want to share this quick tip with you. Do you have lampshades that need that fast prim touch? Take a few tea bags (may need more ready depending on the size of the shade) Throw a cup of water in the microwave on high to get nice and hot, let your tea bags steep and gently wring out a little to get excess water off. Simply dab or blot your tea bags directly onto your shade! Yes, it's that simple. You can do as many layers as you'd like depending on how dark you want your stain.

TIPS:

If your coffee or tea stains your counter top, try spreading a thin layer of fresh coffee or tea over the tabletop scrubbing a damp cloth. Next, wipe the surface down with a clean damp cloth as you normally would.

Soak fingertips in 3% Hydrogen Peroxide mixed with warm water (1 part peroxide to 2 parts water) to help remove any stains from fingernails

This Week in the Exciting Life of Us (ok, ya, it's a stretch, but we need some sort of title to grab ya!)

 vroooooom vroooom vrooom....off to the monday movie in the park!
60s style!
 
 cute kid in the classroom
working on her daddy's garden stone
cute kid in cracker barrel!

and yes, there was most definitely a beach day...I think we all know what the beach looks like by now:D  Though we had some most cool beach clouds!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Front Porch Decorating Ideas

My front porch is tired of being all Nakie...it is time to dress it up a bit!  I will be posting some (borrowed) ideas here and there...and maybe host some sort of vote (maybe, my vote winds no matter what:D)...and will show the final results, once complete!  This will be FUN!

(photo from: http://pinterest.com/vmjasperson/country-home-decorations/)

 http://pinterest.com/pin/138485757262375737/

http://pinterest.com/pin/138485757262379801/

http://pinterest.com/pin/138485757262379799/

Friday, July 20, 2012

Fall Harvest Primie Stuff...on the way to me!

some fun fall harvest wooden ornies are on the way to me.... hey, it's never too early to start planning for the decorating of FALL HARVEST SEASON!!  (esp. down south, where I miss the colors:)

photo credit to the seller of these ornies: http://www.etsy.com/shop/primitivegathering?ref=seller_info

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Homeschooling Workbox Ideas

printouts
supplemental workbook sheets
 dot to dots
treasure hunt
planned science experiment
planed art project
pick a puzzle
playdough day
pick a game
suprise artwork "ingredient" to create a piece
naure hike "bingo"
mini games
flash cards
unit studies project
special kitchen project
"excercise"/activity card
clean a room card
word of the day---english
word of the day---french
musical activity 
clock fun (make sheet with times for them to locate on analogue clocks)
educational video/assignment to follow
nature sketch day
library day
painting day
saxon box activity
write or draw a story or poem

Dinners by Miss Angel

I have a little girl.  Ok, technically I have two, but that's not what this story is about.  Ahem, so, I have a little girl.  And this little girl loves to work in the kitchen...I mean she really really LOVES it!  I have to admit, I won't exactly earn the "Most Patient Mom" award when it comes to kids in the kitchen.  When I'm in there, they usually both want to be in there...this works ok for baking, but not as well for vegetarian cooking...which often includes cutting LOTs of vegetables with a chef knife....a LARGE chef knife.  The distractions frighten me, as I kind of value my fingers:D  Anyhooooooo, like I was saying, I have a little girl, Miss Angel, who LOVEs to work in the kitchen.  I don't want to discourage this passion of hers with my impatience.  Thankfully, she can read now!  This really comes in handy as she also loves scouring through recipe books!  She's already told me she plans on opening a bakery someday, called "Just Desserts." 

 Well, I do try to let her work with me, or me with her on meals...but she wants to do it all...alone!  (and we don't let her work with sharp knives yet...but we do let her work with the stovetop and oven.)  And here's the other dilemma, several nights a week I hear, "Can I make dinner???!!!"  (and sadly, the answer is often "no."  That doesn't make me the most intelligent mom, now does it...somebody volunteering to get me off the making dinner hook????).  But, there are only so many recipes she's ready to make at this point...we have to build her young kitchen skills up.    So, here's what I decided...I've decided to start researching and compiling recipes that are suitable for Miss Angel.....and I will plan for one or two of those recipes everytime I grocery shop...and, I've decided to give her one official, "she's in charge of dinner" night, a week.  (Wednesdays, in case you were wondering).  And tonight, is the start of her first official Miss Angel's Wednesday Dinners!

And today's special is....(drum roll please.....)
 CREAMY TOMATO SOUP!  And she made up her very own recipe...I seriously cannot beLIEVE how good this was!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A Publication "Core" Standards for the Public School System (a good reference)

http://www.corestandards.org/

My Next Homeschool Project

Is about to be underway...I am currently in the research and organizational stages (what I do best:).  We've dumped Saxon Math, and are finally used to and in LOVE with our new math program, which will take us through algebra: Math-U-See .  This includes a short video for each lesson, followed by work book pages.  The premise is that each child reach a level of mastery (i.e. they are able to teach it back to you), prior to moving on.  The reason why we switched, is because Saxon Math jumped around, a LOT....it felt very choppy to me, and I found myself skipping lessings and spending extra time on other lessons....trying to organize their "disorganization."  They try to give the young kiddos (we only did K and 1) a great overview...of everything....but I feel it didn't lead to a lot of comprehension/mastery.  So, in April, we opted to dump Saxon, and move onto Math-U-See.  The girls resisted, at first, as it was something new, and they were at least used to Saxon...but now they love it and can work fairly independently through the workbooks, which I love.  The books are VERY focused....so, although we did some review, I opted to start them both back in the Alpha book, to master the concepts of addition and subtraction.  This program really gives the kiddos a lot of building blocks to truly understand, and not just memorize.  We're sort of "rushing" through Alpha in our summer school (since it is sort of review anyway...though my girls never liked subtraction...but now, because of this program, they are starting to really get it and feel comfortable with it!)

Next, reading...Little Angel is reading at probably the 5th or 6th grade level....about three weeks after she turned seven, something just clicked and she could suddenly read anything.  She started out reading VERY phonetically, (though I intentionally did not teach her 'every' rule, so as not to make her 'rule' dependant.).  She would sound out words, which led to some recognition, slowly gave way to recognizing and reading whole words...and then suddenly, she was reading anything and everything. It was incredible to see this.  We probably only got about 3/4 of the way through the "Teach Your Child to Read" book...and with all the moving/relocations, etc....we did not do this everyday (and I wouldn't advise it anyway...they will get BORED).

 Little Fairy girl is 6.5, also using the same reading program (after we tried MANY, with both, in the earlier days)...we had finally settled on "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons or Less"....a very inexpensive book, that really is a gem.  I have a friend with nine children, who taught everyone of them to read, before they started school...she used this book.  I've been very please with it.  I may have majored in English, but that doesn't mean I inately knew how to teach children to read...I just knew it was kind of important:)  Anyway, her learning style is different...I've never once heard her sound out a word, she just has more of a whole-language approach, even with the phonetic instruction.  But she's also doing very well, and is well on her way!

We have a revised summer school schedule (math, reading)...but I am making plans for the fall now.  I still love some of the Charlotte Mason concepts....Living Books (as opposed to boring text books:).  I plan on finding books for the girls to read or for me to read to them; and start having them write/create book reports/ artwork, and special projects.  I will put together unit studies to assist with this as well.  They are now ready for this, and this will be a lot of fun for all of us!

We also like to play board games, such as Monopoly and Life and my home-made Math Store Fun...this makes math a lot of fun, and sort of brings the concepts to life for them.  It's also improving their math skills quickly, in a fun way!

We will continue to periodically create and illustrate stories; someday I'd like our family to create children's books, together!

We do word games (like Hangman, and I'll soon get a junior edition of Scrabble), and dictate words for them to spell...they actually love doing this:)  Little Angel is an incredible speller...happened right along with the reading (as a note, she stays up til 11 or 12, reading, almost everynight!  I guess sleep schedules are different for homeschoolers;)

Music lessons will continue, mostly via their community children's choir...they did not care for piano lessons, so we stopped going for the time being.  We can try again later.  I'll do some more formal music training with them this year myself...teach them to play recorder and read music....things like that.

I will be searching for a keyboarding program, there must be many cute freebies for the kiddos on the net...so they can learn to type:)

And finally, I am looking into putting together Homeschool Workboxes together for them...fun worksheets and lessons for them to grab...supplemental, fun....hopefully gives them a great sense of the love of indepedent life-long learning!


Sunday, July 15, 2012

We did NOT hit the Beach this week....

 But, Little Miss Angel hit the kitchen!  chocolate banana cupcakes, with dark chocolate frosting....all from scratch, all by herself!
Fairy Girl pickin some fixins for a salad.
Piper getting his teeth brushed; he's truly lovin this:O
Say "AHHHHHHHH"
"It's WAY past your bedtime; get back to bed now....just after I take this picture first."  
And we wonder why they NEVER go to bed at night:O
And the big news of the week is.....CRACKER BARREL OPENED UP, just down the road from us!  Grand Opening was July 2nd.....our first visit July 13th.


Now, it's not too late to hit the beach tonight/this week....there may be a beach photo yet; because I know your week is not complete without one:D

Badger Bling!!

Brought to you by, http://dragonflyinspirationbracelets.blogspot.com/!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Gingerbread Suite---Update

Do you remember our beloved Gingerbread House?  This beloved place, just a couple of miles from our Wisconsin home, meant SO MUCH to me and the girls.  One of the things about Wisconsin we miss the most; right up there with my Wisconsin Bands (though the ache has dulled to wonderful memories since I am no longer bandless!  but I will always miss my friends!), tulips, fall harvest season, northwoods craft fairs, and pumpkin farms!  I've missed our Gingerbread House so much that I *attempted* to recreate it in our bonus room...at  which point was born, our Gingerbread Suite!!!!!  The suite was situated in our large above-garage bonus room...which serves as kind of our multi-purpose room: playroom, storage, guest-room.  I will say, I did a pretty decent job with the conversion, but it honestly still wasn't satisfying my true craving.  I know this, because for the past year I've entertained the idea of opening up some sort of rustic country craft shop, down here on the coast.  Well, all of a sudden, out of the blue something happened....there was a thought (yes, just one:), that seemingly came out of nowhere!  I realized that the little nook between my stair case and foyer-way closet, was NAKED!  Seriously, one painting?  Nope, just was not cutting it.  Then I had the bright idea of bringing my Lane cedar chest down, covered with my wonderful crimson fabric!  I would put my $1 rustic country red/tan checked decorative pillow on it (which, by the way, is what started the whole Gingerbread Suite Project...true story)! Brilliant!!!!  Only one problem though...I'm married to an engineer.....who measures..... before starting any job .....including carrying my Lane Cedar chest down the stairs...it did not fit by about two inches.  Bummer:(  However, my non-artsy yet brilliant in the measuring department enginner suggested moving my hunter green bakers rack into the NAKIE NAKIE space!  YES!!!!  This will work!


Ok, so it's a good start...still not quite complete...now has unders and some clothing, but is not accessorizing to its potential!  And then God said, let there be SHOPPING!  Only I'm a stickler for homemade and a sucker for primitive crafts.....so, there was shopping!  and oh, some of my treasures, dipped in yummy prim sauce (if you really want to know, you may just need to "google" this one:D) smelled so good smothered in all that cuteness!

Ahhhhhhh, there....MUCH better!  And we're proud to announce the birth of our Gingerbread Nook!  Our house feels SO much more cozy to us now!  I am HAPPY!  And believe it or not, my "craving" to open up my own country primitive craftshop----gone!   (there have been other changes throughout our home, in the country primitive theme....adding up to pure coziness on our LONG WINTER DAYS!  (ok, I admit, I miss having cooped up cozy days, at least once or twice a year:D)

But, when you give a mouse a cookie........

The bonus room now needs some "fixin"....so we purchased paint.....cheerful sunflower yellow and lime green!  Only it will no longer serve as our large guest suite....it will go to daughter one....in the tiny pink and cream bedroom, which she feels really crowded in...so much so, I feel it's cramped my little artist's creative endeavors.  So, we are relocating her to our future cheerful garden suite!  We'll be testing daughter two in there as well...without breaking down her log bed for the move...we'll start with an inflatable bed...not sure she's quite ready---not sure they should be sharing at this point.  But no doubt, there WILL be sleepovers with the little besties:)

To our guests, the little pink and cream bedroom will become the "Guest Suite" (and it is tiny, sorry...made the decision that we need to help out our daughter though, and this is what felt right)...which will no longer be pink and cream (just not sure what it will become yet).......hmmmmmmmm, when you give a mouse a cookie.....SO TRUE!

 THE END 
(of painting for a long long time, we hope:)

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Guess What We Did?

I bet ANYTHING you were expecting me to answer that we went to the beach...weren't ya, weren't ya:D

Well, although we're relatively new to the neighborhood, I'm VERY sad (for us and the other neighbors) that we're losing such great neighbors---but I am of course very happy for their family!

We've had some festivities (amidst all the packing and loading) this week, in honor of our friends who are ditching us for Atlanta!

There was a going-away party...pictured here is their older (4) year old son who clearly is enjoying being surrounded by the older ladies:)
We ladies had a night on the town....partying it up first at Panera's:D; after some soup, bread, and pastries we were really roaring to go so we headed over to a town favorite spot, on the May River and just chilled for awhile.  But one out of three of us was pooped out after all this heavy-duty partying, so she headed home, and the two remaining decided to really live it up...........

Two words.....

Skee-Ball Addicts!  (for those who are wondering, the dash technically makes skee-ball one word...that's my story and I'm sticking with it!)

Shhhhhhhhh.....don't tell my girls, they have NO idea that's what we were out doing on this particular night...and that we won these cute little dolphins!

We were considering maybe just playing skee-ball, you know, instead of packing boxes, etc.

But now we are thinking, that that very thought alone constitutes the need for us to enlist ourselves into Skee-ball Anon or some help group like that!  (but before I do that, I'd like to research online to see if I can actually purchase a skee-ball machine...I really am THAT addicted:D)

As a funny side note, my friends rented a Budget truck---I drove E to Savannah to pick it up, as her husband wound up having to work that day (he works for a college and it happened to be open house on packing day:O...oooops:D)  So, petite E had to drive this 24 ft tuck by herself back to her house---she da woman!  Then, after packing most of their stuff yesterday, they realized it wasn't big enough....so they rented a trailer to tow behind the truck...only Budget doesn't carry enclosed trailers....so, they wound up renting it from U-Haul....only U-Haul would not rent it to them if they picked it up with a Budget truck; so they had to borrow a neighbor's van to go pick it up....thankfully, the place in Atlanta will permit them to drop the trailer off with a budget truck.  I thought this was all kind of funny----except for the inconvenience part, of course.




You didn't really think you'd get away without our weekly beach update, did you:D

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fourth Fun 2012...frontyard fireworks!

 clean and nakie puppy!!
 presentation of the colors on our front porch
 Fairy Girl Fourth Art---interpretation of the flag


This one looks like a Dragonfly!!!

and a VERY special thank you to our neighbors for putting on such a GREAT show!

God Bless the USA!