Tea Time!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend! I know that I did. It was a busy one though. We had a baby luncheon that should have been a baby shower, but sweet Baby L wanted to come a little too early. We missed her mama at the shower, but hope she enjoyed all her goodies. We also had Baptism celebration. Busy, busy!

Today marks that a whole year has gone by since I lost my wonderful grandfather. I still tear up every day. And honestly, there is a moment every day that I remember that he is gone and I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, my niece decided to throw a tea party for some of her friends. There wasn't a lot of time to plan and set up the party, but I think it turned out pretty awesome. I hope you enjoy the pictures. There aren't very many since no one thought to bring their camera!

Here is the spread that my mom came up with. It was super adorable and so sweet. I  love pretty parties.

The Menu:

*all sandwiches were cut into heart shapes :)

• Iced tea/lemonade mix
• Strawberries with chocolate dip
• Cucumber cream cheese sandwiches
• Jelly and Fluff sandwiches (there was a peanut allergy)
• Turkey and cheese sandwiches
• Veggies and dip
• Mini cupcakes
• Ice cream cone cupcakes
• Mini brownines
• Chips, goldfish, twizlers

The big girl. She was SO excited. It was the cutest thing ever. Here she is dancing in the sunlight.

We made little tea party hats before lunch. Here is my girl in hers.

Tea Party Hats

Supplies:



• White paper plates
• White paper bowls
• Silk flowers (these were all from the Dollar Store)
• Ribbons
• Feathers
• Hot glue & gun

Directions:

• Cut a whole in the middle of the plate.
• Glue the bowl over the hole.
• Punch holes on each side of the plate and attach ribbon (to tie under little chins).
• Decorate with flowers, feathers, and ribbons!

The girls and their pretty dresses!

And I will leave you with a little laugh. Here is a silly picture of me and my girl. My little best friend is licking her lips and trying to get every single bit of leftover cupcake frosting. Thank goodness they were mini ones!

Enjoy your Monday!

XOXO Sarah

Rainbow Rice

Hello my friends!

Happy Friday! 

Recently we were asked, "what is a mommy card?" I guess Vistaprint is advertising this in one of their commercials.  So I looked into it a bit.  I knew it was a card that lists your contact info which can be good to hand out for playdates, or babysitters. 

 VistaPrints website shows it as a "Mummy Card". Its the new hip thing! 

Here are some uses they list:

Top 5 uses for your "Mummy Card"

Hand out when setting up playdates

Leave one with the babysitter

Put one in your kids backpack

Use them for changing bag tags

Tuck into Christmas cards and invitations

Do you use "Mummy Cards"? If you do how do you use them?

Hugs,

Katey

I thought it might be time to show you what's been in Liza's sensory bin the last few weeks. Especially since I've already started a new one :) 

I bought some cheap rice (I think it was a 5lb bag?) and divided it between 4 Ziplocs. I added a 

few drops of food coloring and a splash of rubbing alchohol to each bag and then we shook them up

I let the rice dry overnight before I added it to the bin with some gardening tools.

It stayed nice and color seperated for about 20 minutes...

and now it looks more like Fruity Pebbles! Sitting in the bin just makes so much more sense, doesn't it?! :)

It makes even more sense to have your cousin join you! That rice must feel pretty neat between their toes!

I've had enough of the rice though! I'll share with you my spring bin soon.

XOXO Sarah

A Little Adventure

Yay only one more day until Friday!! 


We have had the opportunity to take some great adventures and enjoy Canada.

A few weeks ago we went to Niagara on the Lake where there is a small quaint little town to walk around, dine, and shop. There are several wineries you can go to do tastings and tours. I took my camera and enjoyed capturing the beauty of another part of Southern Ontario. 

Don't you love the architecture of the building?

There is something special about a flower that has just bloomed! 

 Hillebrand Wine

Cheers! 

They poured my girl grape juice! She felt so grown up! 

I hope you enjoyed a few pictures from our little adventure.


What adventures have you taken lately?




Hugs, Katey

Gardening

I thought it would be fun for Liza's first garden experience to be on Earth Day.

So, we planted a few flowers on our front step.

She absolutely LOVED it! The dirt, the kid sized gardening tools, and the empty plant containers totally rocked her world.

She could spend hours and hours doing this. Scooping the dirt. Filling the containers. Emptying the containers. Transferring the dirt from one container to the next. Pulling out the poor flowers that I had just planted.

The addition of the garden gloves was quite exciting! They added a whole new level to the sensory experience.

Once we finished the front pot, she moved on to helping daddy with the yard work.

You're welcome for that nice view. ;)

And once she was done with that, she moved on to my gardening wheel barrow.

Who needs a babysitter when you have dirt?! Hehe!

XOXO Sarah

P.S. Photos are courtesy of my best friend the iPhone :)

Earth Day

Yesterday, April 22nd, was the anniversary of sweet baby London's passing. We would ask that you take a moment and share her story found here with others. We continue to keep her family in our prayers.

In honor of Earth Day, which was yesterday, we are sharing a few ways we are "green" in our everyday lives.

I wish I could tell you that I do all kinds of wonderful things to help save our Earth. The truth is, I still use paper towels and Ziplocs. Oh,and I drive an SUV. Shame on me ;) In all fairness, I don't go very far in it.

1. I recycle. And it's not just because my town makes me!

 I have very vivid memories of my grandmother taking great pride in her efforts to recycle. In fact, her recycling barrels are still set up in my grandparent's house even though they have both passed away. Each covered barrel was labeled: Cardboard, paper, plastic, and glass. The best part is that no one else was recycling at that time. It wasn't cool to be green yet!

2. I use cloth diapers 90 % and wipes of the time. I love that Liza has never had a diaper rash. I love that I am not throwing tons and tons of diapers away in a landfill. Diapers that won't decompose for hundreds of years.

3. I use vinegar and warm water or my steam mop to wash my floors, baking soda in my toilet bowl, and Method all purpose products. I do keep some Lysol and bleach on hand because I feel like I need to use them every once in a while to get a really deep clean in my bathroom.

4. I'm laughing about this one, but toilet has two different flush options. You chose the amount of water that you use depending on how big of a flush you need.


5. We also have a compost bin in our yard and I plan to start using it now that we finally found a place for it to live!



XO Sarah

1.  In our house we recycle. Paper, plastic, cardboard, glass.

2.  I use the steam mop for my floors.Vinegar is my new best friend. I use it in place of fabric softener in my rinse cycle for the laundry. Here you can find some useful tips on using vinegar for cleaning.

3. I try to unplug things they are not in use i.e. electronic chargers, the printer etc. I also try to get the children in the habit of shutting lights off when they are not in use, and not running the water when we are brushing out teeth. I also try not to unnecessarily run the water when doing the dishes.

4. I download mostly electronic copies of books on my kindle. Before hard copies used to just collect dust in a box. The only exception is if I want to lend the book to someone else when I am done.

5.  We use energy saving lightbulbs in our house.


Hugs, Katey

10 Random Things About Us

Today is Friday! Yippee!


 Let's have a bit of fun, shall we? Today we have decided to each share five random things about ourselves.


 We hope you enjoy them...try not to laugh too hard at us ;)


 Sarah's Randoms:


 1.Before having a baby, I had to wear socks to bed and my PJ bottoms had to be tucked into them.I couldn't stand the feeling of my pants riding up my leg. Now, even on the coldest of nights, I cannot wear socks to bed!


 2. I sing everything. I'll make up random songs to go a long with what's going on throughout the day. I did it in my classroom and now I do it with Liza. Hopefully no one over the age of six hears me :)


 3. I want to get my nose pierced. I am really going to do it. Soon, before my birthday in June!


 4. I've pretty much always worked. Sometimes two or three jobs at a time. I've been everything from a credit card analyst (I got to approve/decline store credit cards. I was 19 and it was cool!) to a makeup artist and a bartender to a Kindergarten teacher.


 5. I'm short. I just make the 5 feet mark. Sometimes I forget about it, but then I go shopping and I am brutally reminded! Clothes aren't made for petite and the clothes that are made are either ugly or they still don't fit. I am not an old lady. I am not a junior. I don't want to dress like a slut, but I don't want to look like a grandmother. Is this too much to ask?!




Katey's Randoms:


1. I LOVE to dance. I am not necessarily good at it, but I try and do it best with my little ones.


2. I never eat the crust of my sandwich. I tear it apart and always leave it. It drives my husband crazy! My 8 year old is following in my footsteps.


3. I LOVE country music. I own a pink cowgirl hat, and really think this northern girl belongs in the south! HA! I have a thing for Jason Aldean ( shh.. don't tell my husband) :)


4.  I want to dye my hair pink. However, I am rather conservative when it comes to my appearance. So, I am chicken to try anything different. I was going to opt for pink highlights but I ended up getting copper ones  (kinda orangey) instead. It looked good but now its fading. :(


5. I LOVE the color purple. I have loved it since I can remember.








And now it's your turn! Leave us a comment and share something random about yourself!

Pinteresting Wednesday Craft Fun

Here in New England, we have been having incredibly beautiful days. Yesterday was sunny and warm with a gorgeous breeze.

After a long day of playing in the sun, we decided to try making the GOOP that Katey found on Pinterest.

First, we poured some cornstarch into our table. I didn't have a whole lot left, but it still worked.

Then we added in an equal amount of water and mixed it all together. We just eyeballed the amounts.

And then they made a mess. It was a fun mess, but sometimes I forget that cornstarch and water make a funny texture and it takes a tiny bit of work to clean up. Don't get me wrong, the mess would never prevent me from doing this again. But, next time, I'd do it in the driveway and not on my porch! :)

The verdict?

My nine year old niece thought it was fun. Just not as cool as the blog we found it on made it out to be. I am pretty sure that if I would have used more cornstarch and put it all into a big bin, it would have been a bit more "cool."

And my girl couldn't have been happier. She loves getting messy and experimenting with different textures. She also loves doing anything with her big cousin.

And me? I'll totally try this again. Just in a different kind of bin and probably in the driveway.

Here in Southern Ontario yesterday it was sunny, but quite a bit chillier than New England. It was a balmy 50 degrees, which is honestly a nice temperature for mid April. I found an idea for Cloud Dough on Pinterest the other day and thought it would be fun to try with my preschooler. 

It calls for 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil. I decided to cut it in half because I didn't have that much flour on hand. So I mixed 4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of baby oil together with my hands in a bucket. You can also use a bowl or whatever you have on hand.  I mixed it until it was moldable, it took a good 5 minutes of mixing to get the right consistency.

When I was finished mixing it I put it in a large Tupperware container. 

I found it didn't seem as easy to mold as it did on here.

My little preschooler had fun playing with her "cloudy." We used our left over plastic Easter eggs to mold castles.

We took out some measuring and plastic drinking cups. 

She decided it would be fun to use the toy truck to drive over the "cloudy.

The Cloud Dough did make a bit of a mess, but nothing too crazy. It is easily stored in the container like the one I used with a lid, or can be transferred to a resealable bag. My little preschooler truly enjoyed this sensory craft and yours will too!

Making the Best of It

Hello there!

Today feels like summer. It's warm and with all my windows flung open, I can hear the sounds of children playing outside. It feels good. It feels wonderful!

I've been thinking a lot about expectations and how most of the time, things don't happen the way we have imagined them so many times before in our minds.

Sometimes the way life turns out is better. And often, things don't seem better and it takes a few seconds to swallow what is really happening and accept it for the truth.

Even silly, stupid things.

I had my whole day planned today. Fun in the sun and some reading and blogging time during Liza's nap. Can you guess what didn't happen?! You got it. No nap. There is nothing about this situation that is cool. No nap means no mommy time (I planned to skip all my chores today!) AND a crabby over-tired baby when you are trying to cook dinner and need to run a few errands.

It's annoying. It's frustrating. It happened and I tried my darnedest to make the best of it. I refused to let it get the best of me.

We spent a few minutes with friends. I had a second iced coffee. We got dirty in the sandbox and  took a trip to the ice cream shop down the street. 

And she fell asleep on the ride home. Sigh.

I also have a favor to ask of you. Would you all be so kind as to keep Baby L in your prayers? She surprised her parents and came a little early and she could really use a few extra prayers. 

I hope you had a wonderful day! See you later this week.

XOXO Sarah