Saturday snapshot

Aahh, there's nothing like making nuts and bolts to put me in the mood for Christmas.  That being said, I guess this is no longer a holiday snack for my family as I made it this week.  Oh well, I will enjoy it just as much!

Spring

"Spring, spring, spring.  Spring said the groundhog.  It was spring."  Did you ever read this book as a child?  I think I still have my copy lying around somewhere...as long as little girls haven't gotten to it yet!

Well, Pinterest has not let me down again.  I found this pretty little Easter wreath that was on a blog.  One, I liked it because of the colors.  Two, it looked like it was a project that would take very little time.  Three, this lady has a craft night once a month, and this is what they did one month.  It was kinda fun to see the group of ladies all making these wreaths together. 


I was at our local Dollar Giant a couple of weeks ago picking up cheap toys for the girls for their Easter egg hunt (our theory is, why spend a lot of money when they're just going to wreck the things you buy anyway.)  While I was there, I saw garland and Easter eggs. 

Everything was $1.25 each, so I bought three bags of the bigger eggs, and one bag of little eggs.  I also purchased three strands of the garland and one roll of Easter ribbon.   A visit to Michael's got me a foam wreath.  In total, I spent under $20 and here is my finished project.  I think it turned out pretty nice!  Clark said it looked like something high end you would pay big bucks for.  He's so sweet. 

You can't really see the garland underneath all of the eggs, but I didn't necessarily want it to be seen, I just didn't want to see any of the foam. 

*Update:  I tried hanging this on my front door this morning, but because we also have a screen door, I couldn't close the door!  So, it's hanging on my front door INSIDE my house.  If you want to see it, I guess you'll have to come over for coffee!

Saturday Snapshot

Aren't these just the cutest containers?  I found them at the dollar store the other day, and thought they would be perfect to put Tyler's food in.  They fit about 3 tablespoons of food.  I think the best part is the price, 6 of these containers for $1.25!

We survived being unplugged!

Do you remember this movie from the 1980's?  My sister and I loved all of them!  I remember one part of the last movie I think it was, where Chip had a girlfriend, and she was running out of juice, so he unplugged himself so she could live.  It was really sweet.  I kinda felt like him today, while 4/5 of our little family was trying to stay away from the TV. 


Source

Here's what our unplugged day looked like!

 First, Tyler decided he would rather eat the straps of his high chair then have breakfast.  He's pretty cute doing it though!

Then, we went swimming with my friend Marla and her two boys.  I had the camera with me, but forgot to take pictures.  After swimming, we went to Costco for lunch and some shopping.  If you're in the market for a swimsuit, check them out!

Then we came home.  Abigail fell asleep in the van, so she went for a nap and Annika headed outside to ride her bike.  She did that for awhile, then came inside and wanted to help me, so we put in a new doorknob in our bathroom.  It's part of my low budget makeover.  It might not look like she's doing it right here, but she did manage to tighten the screws.  The doorknob works even!

After that and before we dropped Annika off at Cubbies, we went to Starbucks for cake pops.  The girls LOVE them and I thought it was a nice treat for them being so good at not watching TV.  *This was not from lack of trying.  I caught Annika trying to turn the computer on by clicking the mouse twice today, and she turned the TV a couple of times as well.  Good thing I thought of that in advance and turned the computer totally off instead of putting it to sleep (she doesn't know how to turn it on yet) and the TV was put onto the screen we go to when we watch DVDs.  She also doesn't know how to turn it to the proper TV watching screen.  (I apologize for my lack of technological savvy here...I have no clue what the proper terms are.)

All in all, it was a pretty good day.  Annika told Clark on the phone tonight that she wasn't bored at all, so that's a good thing!  I also found that since I wanted to keep track of what we were doing, I took more pictures.  This is not really tough for me, since I am notorious at not taking pictures at all!  I can't wait to see what we're going to do next week.  If it's warm, I think we'll check out a park.  If not, maybe the library?



Unplugged

It's very rare at my house that during the day I get to sit down and watch television.  If I do...it's usually Disney Junior.  While I like Mickey Mouse as much as the next guy, it doesn't really stimulate my mind!  However, one day a couple of weeks ago....maybe months...the days all blur together....I got to watch Anderson Cooper.  I think he's trying to be the next Oprah.  Clark says that he's like Ryan Seacrest (as in EVERYWHERE).  Anyway, he had a family on there that were addicted to their technology, and he sent them to live with another family that had gotten away from it all and bought a farm that didn't have running water or electricity.  I forgot how long they were there, but they said that it was nice to unplug.  Anderson then had someone else on there who gave tips for having a slower life.  One of the suggestions was to unplug once a week ~ no TV, Internet, cell phones. 

I have to admit, I'm the mother that sends her kids to watch TV so I can get housework done.  So, I thought it might be a good thing to unplug once a week.  I was going to do Tuesdays, since we go to a Mom's group at our church in the mornings.  It would be very easy to tack on the afternoon.  Then I thought, if I was going to be intentional about this, I would pick a day where we didn't have something else to do already.  So, Thursdays it is!  I'm being a good wife and picked a day where Clark typically works, so I'm not making him become unplugged with us...he already spends most of his day commuting or at work, so when he gets home, he's allowed to watch TV! 

I informed the girls tonight of our unplugged plans for tomorrow.  They didn't look very impressed with me.  However, I told them that they had to keep me accountable as well...Annika liked that idea.  I guess any situation where she gets to boss her Mom around is all right with her!  I hope we can do it.  It might be tough for a bit, but at least I have warmer weather to look forward to, then I can send little girls outside!

Cute Things Annika says (Part Three)

Annika was telling jokes to Abigail today.  There was much laughter after she told the punch line.

Why did a banana get eaten by a mango?

Because it had a face!

Hmmm...I'm not sure she's going to be a comic when she grows up.

Just for clarification

I have proof that I'm not crazy!  Well, maybe not proof, but it makes sense to me! 
My mother has crazy dreams as well.  She tells me about them sometimes, and so now I know where I get my dream imagination from.  It's hereditary.