Grace Dance Pictures

Grace's ballet dance was to a song called "Dream".
I'm so proud of the dancer she is becoming!

Playing along at these great blogs...

4th of July felt flower hair clip

I made these for the girls to wear on the 4th and just posted a tutorial HERE to make this simply sweet hair clip! :-)

For FUN I'm linking up to:
At the CSI Project.

Treat Tuesday: Yummy Homemade Granola

Ingredients

4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries or other dried fruits, such as cherries, raisins, pineapple, or papaya

Instructions

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, nuts, brown sugar and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the melted butter, honey, and vanilla. Toss the mixture until it is well combined, then spread it evenly on a cookie sheet.

Bake the granola until lightly browned, about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to keep the mixture from sticking. Let it cool completely, then stir in the cranberries or dried fruit. Makes about 7 cups.

YUMMY!

A blog award!

Yesterday I received the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award from Lori @ Lori's Crafty Spot

Thank you Lori! It was a wonderful surprise!



The rules for the award are the following:

1) Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2) To accept this award, tell 7 random facts about yourself.
3) Pass the award on to awesome blog buddies.

7 Random Facts About Me:

1. I really want to visit the Greek Islands someday
2. I love to sleep with the window open during the Summer
3. Even though I LOVE the ocean the power of it scares me
4. I have 7 tattoos!!
5. My favorite drink is water with lemon
6. I love to take pictures of any and everything
7. Crafting is one of my happy places

And the award goes to!

Heidi http://stuckonstampin.blogspot.com/
Mimi http://dandelionwishes-mimi.blogspot.com/
The Iowa Farmer's Wife http://theiowafarmerswife.blogspot.com/
Kerri http://ellebellesbows.blogspot.com/

Jilian's Dance Pictures

Ballet
The song, "This Little Light of Mine"








Tap
The Woody theme song from Toy Story, "You've Got a Friend in Me"

Fun with water colors

I don't know about you but sometimes I catch myself making things TOO complicated! I'll want to do something fun with the girls, I come up with an idea, it takes time, planning and supplies and then... it doesn't happen. Sometimes it is best to KEEP IT SIMPLE! I love art and water colors are fun, simple and easy to do! The other day Jilian asked to paint and instead of saying "no" I took the quick 5 minutes to get them, some paper, water and a towel. While she set at the table painting, I set across from her cutting felt to make tooth fairy pillows. Both got to have fun AND have quality time together.








Sharing at:

Father's Day Gift Ideas

Father's Day is just a few days away (can't believe this year is about half over already)! Each year Jeremy requests "something handmade" for Father's Day. He's doesn't play golf or wear a tie so store bought gifts often don't work and he says that something handmade is more special. I agree but it is hard to come up with a new handmade gift idea each year! I thought I would share some of the things I have done over the years. I can't tell you my plan for this year, because I can't think of anything! I better get busy!

First Father's Day, a coffee cup with Grace's (11-month) hand prints

A mini-album he keeps in his glove box with pictures of Grace
and I





Travel coffee cup. He got an updated version of this last year. The first one was before Jilian was born

One year I made him a photo pen. I can't find ours but here is a picture of one. You can order them here.

Two years ago, with the help of my dear friend Heidi, we took pictures of us three girls and framed them. The picture hangs on the wall in front of his work area in the garage. We also gave him a wallet size photo.


I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day!

Repost from last year, with a few updates.

Ballerina birthday party

This time of year the girls and I begin birthday party mode. With their birthdays only two days apart it takes a lot of planning and organizing to get things ready. Fortunately I LOVE to plan parties and Grace is following in my steps. :-) Since I have birthdays on my mind I realized that I never got a chance to share Jilian's pink ballerina birthday party we had last year! So, before this year has come and gone, here's the pictures from Jilian's third birthday party. As you can see I had tons of fun decorating in PINK for our little ballerina!