Sunday Afternoon Cupcake Fun

I saw how to make these cute cupcakes on the internet the other day and decided it would be the perfect Sunday afternoon project to do as a family. So on Saturday night I went to the store and got all the supplies. I changed the ingredients a little since I am not a black licorice fan and added black icing to the list so the sheep could have ears.

All you need are:
mini marshmallows
tootsie rolls (warmed in the microwave and flattened)
candy eyeballs
black decorators icing
white frosting
gumdrops (optional for making girl sheep)
and chocolate licorice

Directions:
Cook your cupcakes and let them cool. Swirl on your white frosting. Pile on the mini marshmallows. Add your flattened tootsie roll. With your black icing add some nose holes, ears and glue on some candy eyes. Stick a piece of cut chocolate licorice in the back for a tail. And if you want to add a bow cut a gumdrop in 6th's and place two with pointed ends together above the sheep's head. and Wha La!

We made a batch and took them around to all the neighbors in our cul de sac and wished them a Happy Spring Time. It was fun and the neighbors were impressed to be receiving something on a random day and not a holiday. And the kids love delivering goodies to the neighbors. It makes them feel good and its just plain fun!

Parenting At Its Finest!

What do you do when your kids fight from the time they wake up all the way til dinner? 

You find one of your husband's XL shirts of course!

This Saturday was just like this. I kid you not. Ethan and Kiera fought, argued, and whined from the minute they got up until dinner time. I had been the police man all day! And I was worn out. I had done time outs, taken privileges, screamed and yelled to quit, tried to come up with some fun projects to keep them busy but even then they fought over that too. Enough was Enough! 

I remember one time growing up fighting with my younger brother and for punishment my mom had us hug for 5 minutes straight. I hated it! But in the end, it inevitably turned into a wrestling match and giggles. So I decided to try something similar just to try and change the mood in the house. I was desperate!

 I told the kids to stand in the living room and I put daddy's shirt over both their heads and had them both put their arms in the sleeves. THEY HATED IT! Kiera whined and complained. Ethan squirmed and they both argued and bickered, "don't pull on me, You're choking me!, whine whine whine!" I loved every minute of it! I then explained to them that if they wanted to go somewhere they were going to have to try and do it together.  I told them if they wanted to sit down and watch a movie they would have to sit down together. I said, "you've been fighting all day, now it's time for you to work together. It doesn't matter if you like each other right now, you have to learn to get along.

I even got the camera out and boy oh boy did Kiera hate that! I am pretty sure I heard her say a couple times, "this is stupid!" "I hate this" but I ignored it. I told them I was taking their picture to show them later what them fighting looks like. Didn't make it any better, but mom took her shots any way. Don't they look happy? :)

 

After a few more minutes of torture I then asked each of them what their sibling did that day to make them upset. We exchanged apologies and then I threw in the kicker. I told them we weren't done. "What?" Just because we said sorry doesn't mean its all better. I told them to look each other in the face. Ethan smirked a little and Kiera fumed. Then I told them to touch noses and hold it there. And that my friends was the magic moment. Everything was right again! 

I sighed a sigh of relief and thought, "now there's parenting at its finest!" And now I have some new parenting artillery in my belt that works. Oh yeah...Motherhood rocks!

JoAnne's Fabrics Inspired Welcome Sign For Spring

The other day I was at JoAnne's getting some fabric for the chevron quilt I am making for my little sister. I can't wait to finish it! And she finds out what she's having today! I am so excited!!!! Anyway I was walking by the Easter and Spring decor and saw this cute carrot welcome sign.

I had just finished making my garden markers and this carrot stood out to me. It was all metal. The letters were even make from some sort of thick wire and stapled on. I took a mental note and went on my way.

Then a few days later I was itchin' for another project and decided I wanted to replicate what I had seen at JoAnne's. However, I didn't have any corregated metal but I knew that was the look I wanted. I sat for a minute trying to think of something with that same texture and then I had a huge AH HA moment! Cardboard!
I had just thrown a cardboard box in the garage to be taken out with the recycling and knew it would be perfect. So this is how I started...I riped and peeled off the top layer of cardboard paper that covers up the box structure. This is what it looked like underneath. 

Then I took a piece of backer board and some wax paper and made a carrot shape pattern. Once my backer board piece was cut out I took the wax paper stencil and drew 3 zig zagged lines down the body of the carrot. I then placed my 4 new pattern pieces (alternating directions) on my stripped cardboard piece and cut out the four wedges for my carrot.

Here are the cardboard pieces and my backer board side by side

Then I just hot glued the cardboard to the backer board

 After some orange paint, some black yarn letters, Some crinkled cardstock leaf tops and some marker "stitch" marks This is what I ended up with. Love it!

Not bad compared to the original eh?

Random Fun

Wow! I can't believe it is already March! So much has happened in the past couple weeks and I haven't had the chance to really sit down and document some of those things til now. So I thought I'd better take this opportunity before we get busy again with Emma's 2nd birthday plans and Easter just around the corner.

In between all our hustle and bustle we really try to make sure we take a time out and spend quality time at least once a week with each of our kids. Recently Dan and Ethan got to build his toy boats that he got for his birthday. Ethan was looking forward to it all day when he was told that was the plan once we got back from church one Sunday. He was so proud and loved every minute of it. I just love this picture I got of my two favorite guys!

Mommy has been working on a couple fun projects of her own too. I can never stop creating something and this particular time I decided that I wanted to make some fun garden markers and paint fun faces on them. I thought it would be fun and would also be something the kids would enjoy seeing in the garden once things get planted. But I had a problem. I didn't have the right tool to complete the project, so after Okaying it with the boss I went down to Home Depot and got a new toy! Emma had just as much fun playing with the box it came in as I did using it.

 

And here's what I made using my new scroll saw...They are now glued onto some wooden craft sticks, and I will be spraying them with some acrylic sealer and varnish to protect them from the weather. Aren't they cute?

 I also have a few other projects I've done but I have a tutorial on one of them I am putting together so I'll post that as soon as I get that all finished.

Organizing the Pantry

I have seen a lot of pantry makeovers lately online and finally decided I should probably tidy up that space here too. Although to me the before and after pics don't look all that much different , at least everything is organized by type and I can actually find what I am looking for at a glance.

My pantry is definitely not something to jump up and down about. In fact most of our food is out in the garage on other shelving because there isn't enough room in this one. It's more of a expanded kitchen cupboard than a pantry really. But it works.

Before

After

Happy 5th Birthday Ethan!

Can't believe my little boy is 5! Can't believe he'll start Kindergarten this Fall! Can't believe how much he's grown! But I better believe it because it's true! WOW! Happy Birthday little buddy! We love you!

Seems not that long ago this is what we saw. the past 3 years have gone by so fast! 

 

And here's the happy birthday boy now at 5 years old!

 For this years cake Ethan wanted a spiderman theme. 

So, I Googled a few pictures and came up with this. He's was pleased if I do say so myself.

We had a fun little party to celebrate on Saturday night with the cousins (Steve's Family) and "Uncle" Ben and "Aunt" Kara. We ate hotdogs, jello salad, chips, and some Mung Bean Salad that I made. But of course what boy doesn't love opening gifts the best?

Happy Birthday lil guy! We love you!

Photo Bomb Update

Last month my Mom and Dad came up for a visit while Dan was still out of town in the Philippines. We had a lot of fun and spent a day in Seattle. We went to the Pacific Science Center and the Space Needle. It was a perfect sunny day too!

 

Hard to believe these spiders are actually painting onto the top of that building. They looked so 3D!

Love these guys!

At the Science Center

I wish I had gotten more pictures at the Science Center but it was really difficult trying to juggle 3 kids by myself in that place! My parents went and saw one of the IMAX films while we were there. But we have the memories right?

The other night before bed the kids and I decided to have a photo booth session. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved having their picture taken over and over. These were my 3 favorites.

We have also been enjoying some very strange weather this winter. We have not had snow even once! And just two days ago I was outside in my short sleeve shirt tilling up the garden! Now that's just crazy! But I'm not complaining too much because when it is nice out, the kids like to play outside and I can get things done or relax a little instead of coming up with some new activity to keep them from boredom.

This is a pic of Kiera and Ethan exploring the different colored rocks in the fire pit. They would find "special" ones and place them on the boulders we have around the pit for seating. It was one of those moments that you love because they are getting along and playing with each other without any quarrels or spats. Gotta love that!

Ethan and Emma enjoying the swings in the backyard. 

Lovin' a nice sunny day while Kiera is at school

A couple weeks ago we had a family outing and went to the Seattle Aquarium. It was fun to watch the kids and have some much needed time together since Dan had been away. We got to see them feed the octopus and the otters while we were there too. Afterwards we went out on the boardwalk and went to IVARS for some fish and chips and some chowder and bread bowls mmmmm. We also took some pictures as the sun went down. This is my favorite of the one Dan took. Just wish we were able to have someone take one of all 5 of us.

watching the otters

I will be posting pictures from Ethan's Birthday here soon!