Em wore her tutu for the occasion.

It was so exciting not only to watch my niece perform, but to watch Em’s enchantment at all the older girls in their costumes up on the stage.  She sat in awe for three dances and then wanted to head onstage herself.  I literally had to chase her down the aisle and pick her up kicking and fighting to be let down so she could join in the performance.

After that we took a break and headed outside with my sister Jessie to give the kids a chance to stretch their legs.  We didn’t go far before a patch of dandelions caught their attention and we spent quite a while casting dandelion seeds to the wind.

Now my kids gather bouquets of them wherever we go.

Then back inside to see my niece perform 4 of her 5 dances.  I was so glad to be able to be there for her–even though we’re not too far away, our schedules often conflict with my sisters’ kids’ events.  I was so happy to be able to be there and for my kids to be there to share in her excitement, too.

Fun with family, enjoying our days.  Life is good.

So, what’s good with you?  Come join the fun at the Happiness Is… blog hop!

The Happiness Is… blog hop is simply a place to come, link up a post (not your homepage!) that made you happy recently (anything but a giveaway or review) and share it with the rest of us!  Photos, recipes, crafts, stories, moments, and anecdotes are all welcome!  Come peruse other amazing posts and meet fantastic new people in the blogosphere!  The only rule is to please grab my button (right sidebar) and link back to me in some way, otherwise you won’t be able to link up.  That way more people will come and learn about this uplifting way to promote your blog!

So, are you ready?  On your mark, get set, hop!

My Chocolate Peaces is a beautiful blog that has so much to offer.  I was immediately struck by how multi-faceted it is.  Gina shares a little bit of everything; so much so that I asked her for a breakdown of her blog’s pages so that I could be sure to accurately entice you over to her site.

Her tabs are as follows:

Speaking of gifts and chocolatey goodness, Gina also has other amazing talents–like cake decorating and photography!

Click the photo for a step-by-step guide to create such an unbelievable cake!

There is so much more to Gina’s site than just these two examples, but you need to go explore for yourself!  You’ll get lost in all that chocolatey goodness in no time!  And don’t forget to reach out and follow My Chocolate Peaces through one or all of these social media:

The printables were gorgeous and added a nice touch to the table along with our You Are My Sunshine book.  I found some yellow galvanized buckets at the dollar store, which I filled with sun-like goodies (yellow Oreos and peanut butter cups) and a bunch of mini origami stars I bought from Etsy.

I served lemonade out of a spigot into mason jars I got at the local hardware store.  We liked them so much that we use them for drinking all the time now!

All those decorations plus some golden doilies from the party store for sun decorations on the windows, streamers, balloons, fresh flowers, lots of family and one birthday girl added up to a pretty glorious way to celebrate!

Em had a ball.  She absolutely loved her party outfit, the decorations, the gift bags, and being around her family.

But as I’ve told you before, she does have her moments.  And baby girl can pout with the best of ‘em.

Oh, life is hard when you’re two!

Nothing a little birthday cake–with a Cinderella candle–can’t fix!

What a blessed day.

And afterward, everyone unwound by playing games, hanging out, and Miss Em could not be torn away from her new Rapunzel doll and her golden hair.

Well, she could, but only to try to put Rapunzel’s shoes on Daddy’s feet.

And her own.

Happy Birthday to my delightful little Em!  You may be a handful sometimes, but we love you and your spirited ways.  Thank you for being our sunshine!

JDubbs and I were able to still be minimal in the gift department and Em was still so unbelievably happy.  Birthdays at this age are such a surprisingly joyous occasion for little ones–they really are happy with anything.  We bought her a pink silk scarf like the one she loves at school, a floor puzzle, some Golden books, a doll, and my two favorite gifts which I found on Etsy.  First, a fairy ring that I absolutely love and the kids enjoy, maybe not as much as me.  I got one for each of them (click the photo to be sent to the shop).

Not only are they beautiful, simple, and fun, they make great props for photo shoots, as I found out last weekend!  Kids of all ages love playing with these, pretending to be fairies creating rainbows or just running like mad with the ribbons streaming behind them.  Simple pleasures.

And my only nod to her Disney princess obsession, knowing rightly that she would be inundated with that stuff at her family party, were these fabulous Disney princess-inspired wooden peg dolls like the kind I made for my kids a couple years ago.  Click the photo to be directed to the Etsy shop.

To say she loves them is not quite sufficient.  They’re precious and well worth the money if you’re trying not to sell your soul to Walt Disney; I am trying and failing.

So more on her fabulous You Are My Sunshine party tomorrow, but I believe in supporting small businesses, and wanted to share these wonderful shops by letting you know about my Etsy finds!  There are so many gorgeous handmade gifts out there that can make an extra-special gift for someone you love.  I’m so happy that I bought these for my two kids–worth every penny!

So without further ado, please allow me to introduce Compound Word Eggs.

Compound words, as any good English-teacher-on-hiatus knows, are words made up of two words put together.  Like doghouse.  Dog is a word, house is a word, and if you put them together you get doghouse, a compound word.  This is definitely not an idea that kids need to know in preschool, but since we are familiar with the concept from Word World–episode Sandbox Surprise; I highly recommend it–and know the catchy little song from there that explains how you stick two words together to form a new word, I thought playing with compound words would be a fun way to pass a rainy afternoon.

Luckily my son is as big of a literacy dork as I am.  He was all in.

We sat together while I put the words on each egg using stickers.  I wanted him to be sure he could read each word by himself.  I think at this age it is very important to have the compound word parts be the same color, so he can eliminate incorrect word pair choices by color.  But some words had multiple options for pair partners, so sometimes he mixed it up.

For example, he took the sand from sandbar and the man from snowman and turned it into sandman.  I’m not sure if that’s even a real word, but it gave us a chance to talk about Mr. Sandman and sing that song from the 1950′s (not so much Enter Sandman by Metallica).  Toolbox was easy, but I also created the option to create mailbox and shoebox, so there were some alternatives to the same word.

Anyway, Jax was a huge fan of this game because it was a kind of challenge, and he had to figure out which words sounded right.  His favorite was when he discovered the word baseball.  He used his typical manly face and said, “All right!  BASEBALL!”  And he was wearing his Sox shirt, too.

Now I’m not an expert on literacy; I just know what works for my kids and since they are little reading rockstars, I think perhaps I may be on to something.  But one thing I do know for sure is that kids, especially boys, love to learn by doing–by manipulating things with their hands and fingers, thus imprinting this information deep in the foundation of their brain.  In other words, if your kids don’t like to sit still and read books, try thinking of other hands-on ways to make reading fun!

After Jax had solved all his compound word puzzles and Em had woken up from her nap, I still had plenty of eggs left to recycle a great idea I have shared with you before, but it bears repeating since it’s so fun and easy.

All you have to do is write capital letters on one side of a plastic egg, and its corresponding lower case letter on the other side.  Then break them apart and have the kids match them up.  This was difficult for Em because her lower case recognition is pretty inconsistent if the lower case letter doesn’t just look like a mini version of its upper case partner.

But that was fun, too, because Jax got to play the role of teacher–one of his favorites.  I separated all the capitals into one pile and all the lowers into another, and Em would grab an upper case letter and identify it.  Then she would go look for its partner based on color.  If she found one she didn’t know, she’d hand it to Jax and ask him what it was.  This happened quite a bit and he loved being the big shot big brother.  Then they were both proud of themselves when they found a matching pair.

Em was still grumpy from her nap and not at all ready for her close-up.  But although she wasn’t photo-ready, she did have fun.

But when Jax started building two-letter words, she quit.

Whatever, show off.  Enough learning for today, Mom.  Let’s go have a tea party.

Dorky mom, out.

These two siblings love each other, are really well behaved, and are as sweet as can be.  What more could I want for a photo shoot?

How about one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken? I think this photo of Madison is gorgeous, if I do say so myself!  If only I could get shots like this of my own kids!

What a beautiful family, Marci!  Thank you for the opportunity to play with them and to see you all!

One photo shoot edited, four to go!

The Happiness Is… blog hop is simply a place to come, link up a post (not your homepage!) that made you happy recently (anything but a giveaway or review) and share it with the rest of us!  Photos, recipes, crafts, stories, moments, and anecdotes are all welcome!  Come peruse other amazing posts and meet fantastic new people in the blogosphere!  The only rule is to please grab my button (right sidebar) and link back to me in some way, otherwise you won’t be able to link up.  That way more people will come and learn about this uplifting way to promote your blog!

So, are you ready?  On your mark, get set, hop!

Here’s what you need: paper, paint, and a plastic bottle with a star-shaped bottom

First, draw the branch of your cherry blossom art.  We used brown, but Alphamom, where I found this idea, used black.  It actually looked a little more Asian-influenced that way, and I really liked it, but we had no black paint so that was why I changed it up.  Then dip the bottle’s bottom into some paint to create the flowers.

Then dip away to create the blossoms on your tree!

Jax absolutely loved it.  He was very meticulous about where he placed his blossoms, and would oooh and ahhh every time he dipped the bottle.

His sister, on the other hand, was a dabbing machine!  She wanted absolutely no assistance, yelling “ME DO IT!” any time I tried to help.

Yup, she’s two.

In the end, I had two totally different, but equally beautiful cherry blossom trees!  I framed them and gave them to my mom for Mother’s Day last weekend, and they were a huge hit!  I love making my mom happy.

Later we added grass and a few leaves here and there to add a bit more color.  My kids are in a very literal stage–in their mind, trees have leaves and are connected to the the grass–so grass and leaves were a must!  They did those in their own style, too.  Art that tells a story about who my kids are is my favorite kind, and based on the smile on my mom’s face, hers too!

Happy Mother’s Day to you all, but especially to my beautiful mama!

In case you didn’t know, Spring in New England = Rain.  Live here long enough and you will become very familiar with this joke.  I remember seeing it on a bulletin board in my Massachusetts elementary school.

April showers bring May flowers.  So what do May flowers bring?

Pilgrims!

Ah, a little bit of Massachusetts humor for you.  And with that in mind, here are some shots of my kids who just simply cannot get enough of their umbrellas, rain showers or no.

So I have a lot going on in these next couple weeks–plus a newborn shoot next Sunday and don’t forget Mother’s Day!–so please just be patient with me if I’m absent a bit more than usual.  It’s not you, it’s me.  I still love you.  Thanks for your patience!

]]> http://rubsomedirtblog.com/2012/05/its-not-you-its-me/feed/ 6 http://rubsomedirtblog.com/2012/05/something-like-cookie-cutter-bird-feeders/ http://rubsomedirtblog.com/2012/05/something-like-cookie-cutter-bird-feeders/#comments Sun, 06 May 2012 16:13:43 +0000 Becky http://rubsomedirtblog.com/?p=7346 Sometimes I just can’t believe how easy a craft looks in someone else’s home, and how quickly it all goes to hell in my own.  Maybe you think that about me–that’s I’m super craftastic and that I own a glue gun and a cricut and other fancy DIY equipment that is just a step below a Bedazzler.  If that’s the case, you are sorely mistaken.  It’s just a matter of good odds–we craft often enough that sooner or later one of them is bound to come out well.  The others have not the same good fortune.  This is the story of one of those.

So I saw a great idea on…wait for it…PINTEREST (shocker) that showed simple and beautiful bird feeders made in molds from cookie cutters.  They are supposed to look like this:

but mine came out more like this:

Follow along and see if you can spot where I went wrong.  Because seriously, I’m still not sure.

So my niece Erika and I followed the directions given on the other site, which basically combines hot water, unflavored gelatin, and birdseed into a gooey, clumpy mix.  We tried hard, but after we followed the instructions exactly, our mixture looked more like soup than a mixture.

So, just like I do when I make pancake mix by just adding water, when there’s too much, I just add more powder.  In this case, we just added more birdseed until the consistency seemed more appropriate.  Then Erika put the mixture into shaped cookie cutters on wax paper and patted them down until they were even and flat on top.

Finally, we cut a straw into shorter pieces and stuck them through the birdseed cookie so that later we could put a piece of twine through it to hang from a tree.

Then we left them overnight (actually it was closer to two days) and supposedly we would be able to just pop them out of the cookie cutters and all would be well.

Hmmmm….not so much.  They dissolved instantly into a pile of sticky birdseed clumps.

And the reason why they didn’t work out?  I haven’t the foggiest.

All except for one.  There was one birdseed cookie that popped out pretty well and I think we could have salvaged it.  But instead of treating our one surviving bird feeder with the reverence and respect it deserved, Jax immediately ran over and destroyed it like Cookie Monster destroying a chocolate chip cookie.  So at that point I just said, “Forget it,” (well, maybe it wasn’t quite that G-rated) and we crumpled them all up until they were bird seed once more.  From birdseed you came, and to birdseed you shall return.

Jax and I had a fine time throwing our birdseed chunks out to the birds in our woods.  I’m not sure how well they’ve been received, but I do not that our dog–who thinks dirty diapers are a delicacy–wouldn’t touch the stuff.  So if you read about flocks of birds dropping dead from the sky in the Middle of Nowhere, Vermont, don’t blame me.

Remember, I’m craftily challenged.

So enjoy this craft, good luck fixing it, and hopefully the birds will be flocking to you and yours!  And if you see where I went wrong, please let me know!  I still have half a bag of birdseed with these birdies’ names on it!

• Woke up a little before 7:00 to the sounds of my daughter whining that she can’t find her Binkie and Blankie.  Knowing her as I do, I know they are somewhere in her bed, next to the 3 new Disney princess dolls she got for her birthday, five books, three stuffed animals, two blankets, pillow, and God knows what other detritus that has found its way in there.  She is a hoarder. I ignored her and mentally begged JDubbs to take care of it.  He did.
• I didn’t sleep well last night, mentally running through all the zillions of things I need to do before my photo shoots this weekend.  I was up until 11:00 pm getting some photos edited and off my memory card.  Jax developed a strange cough that kept me sleeping with one ear open, plus I had nightmares of arriving at my shoot unprepared, at the wrong time, or wrong place.  Not ready to start this day.
• My husband comes to wake me up with a snuggle.   My eyes are not open because I cannot stand to face the glare of morning yet.  As I go to snuggle, he goes to kiss, and we smack heads.  Now I have a headache and will probably have a bruise.  Sexy.  I haven’t even opened my eyes yet.
• 7:05.  In the shower.  Must shave legs; they are horrifying even for someone who lives in the woods of Vermont.  Kids are thundering outside the bathroom hallway, already very awake.  I am grateful for this extra five minutes of quiet.  Gave me time to wonder if there are any other tactics I haven’t tried to convince JDubbs to have another baby.  I think not.
• 7:30.  I am dressed.  I have had a timeout with Jax to talk about his hitting.  JDubbs has had a timeout to talk to Jax about his hitting.  Em threw the contents of the box with all her hair clips into her bed.  I cleaned them out because I know I’d forgot by naptime.  I have since found more all over the house.  Had to carry each kid down the stairs individually because they insisted and it’s just that kind of day.
• 7:45.  Kids have eaten breakfast.  It was miraculously uneventful. No spills, no meltdowns, no fights.  I emailed my clients for tomorrow’s shoot about the chance of rain.  Please God, no rain.
• 8:00.  Bribed kids to let me clean their hands and faces with tiny containers of bubbles left over from Em’s party.  Em dumps one out immediately.  Have to get her another one.  Turn back to the kitchen to find my dog standing on all four legs on my kitchen table, licking up scraps.  Lose my mind and put him outside in the rain.  Call JDubbs to tell him that the dog is coming to work with him from now on.  No answer.
• Get the pillowcases for the living room throw pillows out of the dryer.  Had to wash them because there was a chance my niece had headlice, something I am NOT mentally prepared to deal with.  Turns out she didn’t, but now I have clean throw pillows.  However I also have to wrangle these freaking pillows back into those tiny pillowcases.  By the end, I am covered in feathers.
• 8:10.  Jax and Em get into a battle over the bubbles.  I realize now that was a bad idea.  Jax hits her.  I lose my mind again.  My patience is officially exhausted.  It is only 8:10.  JDubbs calls back and I start to cry because neither my son nor my dog actually listens to me.  JDubbs is not surprised they don’t listen to me.  Now I am aggravated.
• Beg Jax tearfully to PLEASE start using his words and PLEASE stop hitting.  My tears seem to alarm him.  Hopefully he will take pity on me and begin to act like a human being again.  Otherwise he’s going to be sitting alone at the lunch table in a few years.  I waste precious time wondering if he is a sociopath.
• 8:18.  Head upstairs to get the kids’ clothes.  Here a crash downstairs.  Come downstairs to find a basketball in the wine rack and one of my wine glasses in a million pieces on the floor.  The pieces are EVERYWHERE.  Mom always said, don’t play ball in the house.
• 8:29.  Finish cleaning up the wine glass, have put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, am finally sitting down to eat my own breakfast, and the kids have to be at school in 31 minutes.  They are not dressed.  I have lost my mind.  I think I will put on a second cartoon after this one.  I may need time for a cocktail.
• Resisted the urge to have a mimosa and instead wrote this blog post.  At least now I feel better for having taken a moment to write all this stuff down.  Except for the fact that now it’s 8:53 and school starts in 7 minutes.  Kids are still not dressed, still watching TV.  Shit.