Two Fun Books for Kids

Here at the Homestead we read lots of books...including a lot of children's books. I actually really enjoying reading children's books. Here are two that we read over and over again and I still smile each time I read them.

Roberto The Insect Architect by Nina Laden

My favorite line... is "Best of all, when little termites play with their food, now their parents say: "Be creative!" Maybe someday you'll grow up to be just like Roberto. This is a fun inventive book that just makes me smile from it's references to Hank Floyd Mite and Steven Shieldbug...it is clever and fun of bug loving pictures.

Another book that we think is "Pink..erific at our house is "Pinkalicious" by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann.

I love this book. My daughter loves the color pink and we have had so much fun reading this book about a little girl who eats one too many cupcakes and acquires a rare case of "pinkitious" She finds out the the green stuff can be good too, even though she loves being "Pinkerbelle"

So take a look in a fun book and check out one of these fun reads....I promise they will have you smiling.

Apple Cupcakes....yummy, yummy and so easy.

So I took this idea from Family Fun Magazine....go here for the instructions. I thought these would be so fun for back to school treats. I also needed a hostess gift for a sister's girls night and thought these were perfect. I saved my clear blueberry container and cleaned it out. It perfectly fit four cupcakes. I used red cupcake liners from Michael's. Red frosting And red sugar sprinkles. The stems are tootsie rolls cut in half and rolled. The green stem is a green tootsie roll cut and molded to look like a stem. For the bite taken out...I scooped out some cupcake then filled with white frosting and bits of tootsie roll I had cut and molded to look like seeds. They really are Easy.

I closed the plastic berry container and put a cute ribbon and label on the top. Forgot to take a picture. They were so fun to for the kids to eat and fun to deliver too. So hope you enjoy!!

Abby Cadabby Gift Idea

So I had such a fun time making this I had to show it off. My niece turned three this past week and she is so fun and full of life. She also loves Abby Cadabby. The fairy in training from Sesame Street. She also loves dress up, so I decided to make her an Abby Cadabby costume. I took 2 inch elastic and measured it to fit a tiny person's waist...I measured on my son who is about the same size. Then I cut strips of blue and purple tulle fabric. I just tied them in two knots and let them hang down. I also used sheer ribbon in blue and purple and tied it as well. Then I sewed the elastic together and covered it with more tulle and ribbon. So easy and so cute. I bought pink wings at Hobby Lobby, but now they actually have them at the dollar store. I found the wand at JoAnn's for a $1 and tied ribbon and tulle around it as well. The beads came from Family Dollar and you guessed it they were $1. Then I found an Abby Cadabby coloring page online to put on the blue bag. I also found a Happy Birthday coloring book at the Dollar Store with Abby Cadabby on the front.
She loved her gift and looked so great wearing her wings and tutu. I had a great time making it. The entire gift came to just over $8. I couldn't even find a tutu for that at the store.

So here's to the newest fairy in training. Every little girl should have a pair of wings at sometime in her life.

Party Planning and A Fun Site for Pure Enjoyment

So I am in the middle of planning a party for my family....I found this cute montage as some inspiration...for my bee themed party. Should be "BEE..utiful. It isn't a Baby Shower...no I'm not pregnant. But I thought the brown and yellow were wonderful. If you are interested in a fun site to check out for party planning and just pure eye candy...check out this fun place below. I LOVE THEIR IDEAS.

The Party Dress.net

Hungry for the Hunger Games

Awhile ago a dear friend of mine introduced me to "The Hunger Games" and told me that both my hubbie and I would enjoy it. We loved it and read it in about a day and half. My hubbie rarely buys books, but we pre-ordered #2 "Catching Fire" and have #3 Mocking Jay on Pre-order from Amazon. It will be released next week. I have a couple of friends that we host a birthday party for one another every year and pick a theme. This year my theme they did was "The Hunger Games"...post to come and it was beautiful.

The trilogy is a sci-fi genre and is thoughtfully and beautifully written. It is totally captivating and will hook you within a few pages. I haven't been able to put either book down.

I love the anticipation of getting a book that you know you are going to love, hate to put it down and will be taken to a different world for about a day and half. If you haven't read these books yet you should try them. They are wonderful. I can't wait till next week. If you want to pre-order your own copy click here.

Reunion 101

• Every year on both sides of our family we head out for fun family reunions. This year we happened to be in charge of both our family reunions. One we hosted here at the Homestead and the other we went to a family cabin. Both were very enjoyable and each different. We have loved including opportunities to learn about our family past and present.


• If you find yourself in charge of a family reunion here are a few tips and fun ideas that have worked for us.
  


• Reunion 101.


• Pick a theme or person to highlight.


• On my side of the family we have picked a different person each year to tell about their mission and it has been lots of fun learning about Australia, Germany, and Bulgaria.


• This year on my hubbies side we choose his Grandfather. We played Jeopardy based on stories from his life.


• One year we focused on my Grandmother and took coloring pages out of a Precious Moments coloring book and wrote captions about her life underneath...(an idea we stole from my Mother in Law) It was a fun way for the kids to get involved.


• This year on my side we also did a driving tour of the city of Layton were both of my parents lived while they were growing up. We had addresses, and driving instructions on where to go and then a brief history when we arrived. It was fun for our kids to see where my parents went to school, and church. To hear about how Grandpa rode his tricycle all the way to main street when he was 5 years old.


• Plan activities but not too many.


• We have found that it is good to plan activities like roasting s'mores or this year we did a fun skit called "For the Love of Alvin and Maggie" but don't schedule too much and be flexible. We had planned other activities, but the kids were having so much fun outside playing night games and looking for shooting stars during the meteor shower we just let them play.

We also thought it would be fun this year to have some friendly competition. We set up a small rifle range with BB guns and a Wii Bowling competition. All fun things that everyone could participate in. Here is our own "Granny Oakley" who shot an 83 and was our most improved shot. Try something different. This year we thought it would be fun to show a silent movie...especially since they were popular during the life of Grandpa M. We watched "The General" a Buster Keaton movie that we were able to get from Netflix and had popcorn and caramel corn. It turned out to be a fun evening. Last year my sister-in-law rented a Karaoke machine and we had a great time singing and laughing together.Another fun and easy idea is Family Bingo. My sister in law made this game up and we have played it for the last couple of years. It has pictures of things we do at the reunion, and names of each family. It is a fun and easy tradition.
We also played some fun games called "Minute to Win It" a lot like the TV show. They were a huge success. If you want ideas for these games go here.


We take all kinds of craft projects and have them out on the table so kids can work on them. We love these beads... They are perler beads and you can even buy them at IKEA.Most of all I really believe it is about spending time together and enjoying one anothers company. Hope you have wonderful, fun reunions this year. If you have other ideas be sure to leave a comment.

Finding Peace in Small Spaces

When Mr. D and I married almost nine years ago, our plan was to move out of our starter home within about 3 years. I had already lived here two years previous to our marriage. So as of this year 2010 I have lived in my home for 11 years. We started out with the two of us, one dog Walt, living comfortably in our two bedroom 1498 square foot home. Since that time we have added three children, a bedroom and a bathroom to the basement and our little dog has moved on to heaven. Our square footage has remained the same.

We have looked at moving several times. I have looked at hundreds of homes online, and many in person. We even had our home up for sale once, right as the market tanked. We recently found a home we liked in a good neighborhood, we were seriously considering a move, only to find out that the house we were looking at had some serious issues including the fact that they had cats (which I am allergic to) and after spending twenty minutes inside the home, I could hardly breathe.

We have had a difficult few weeks as we have decided what to do....try to sale, stay where we are. Even when we do move we won't be moving into a McMansion.

I have felt a tumult of feelings and emotions over our time here. It is so easy to look around at what others have and compare and sometimes covet the things it seems I am lacking.

Recently however I have realized thanks to a great deal of prayer and some dear friends, that the goal no matter what our circumstances, is to find peace where we are. To not let situations define who we are, but to define the situations. I realize even as I write this that I have to continually remind myself of this, it doesn't always stay with me when I am under pressure to make this small space beautiful, organized, and live able.

So in the spirit of looking on the positive I thought I would give a few reasons why I love The Homestead...

• Mr. D and I had our first kiss here...on the steps in the garage (so romantic)
• I have brought all of my babies home to the Homestead
• My Nana used to sit in the living room and work on her cross words and I would find ink all over my slip covers from where she would leave her pens.
• During my single time here...two of my sisters lived with me...and pulled me through
• I have taken what I have and made it my own.
• During my stay at the Homestead I have become acquainted with some of the dearest and most precious friends of my lifetime.
• I have learned how to be creative, and turn something small into a home.

It is a process but I am finding peace in my small spaces and learning that it is more how I fill the space I have than how much space I have to fill.

So here's to the Huckleberry Homestead and to finding peace.