The ABC's of Summer Fun

So I found this idea on a great blog J & A and Co. but I tweaked it a little for my own use. These are fun ideas to incorporate into your summer which focus on letters of the Alphabet. I also made up writing journals for my kids so they can draw a picture and write about what we do. Hopefully this will help keep up with what they have already learned. Here are my ideas with some from J & A and Co. She had great ideas too. feel free to take them or make up some of your own. Happy ABC's and Happy Summer.

A: America is Great... Celebrate the founding of our country do a 4th of July Craft and make red, white and blue treats.

B. Bikes and Bubbles - bike ride and bubble blowing today

C. Cupcakes and play at Castle Park

D. Ducks and Doughnuts: Go to the Duck Park and Make homemade Doughnuts

E. E's choice Day

F. Fast and Floats - Races outside followed by Root beer Floats

G. G's choice Day

H. Hiking

I. Indoor S'mores, Indoor Camp out, and Insects.

J. Jellyfish, off to the library to read about jellyfish and make a craft

K. Kangaroos and Kids Kick Ball. Play kickball at the park. Read about Kangaroos at the Library. (I have a little one that is hard to handle at the library, so often times I reserve books online then pick them up to read at home with my kids.)

L. Lemonade and Lions: make lemonade and make Lion masks for a craft

M. Monkeys. Eat frozen Chocolate bananas and read Curious George books

N. Nature walk at the Ogden Nature Center

O. Obstacle Course in Backyard

P. Play dough and Popsicles

Q. Quilt; make it out of felt glued on paper and talk about patterns

R. Read - A - Thon outside day

S. Sno- Cones and Sand Crafts

T: T-Ball and Toffee Bars

U: Find items that look like U while going on a walk or bike ride

V: Vegetables: Plant an outdoor container of veggies. Yum, Yum.

W: Water day. Play with water outside. Draw with wet sponges on the cement.

X: XXXX (Kisses Day) Take candy kisses to people today

Y: Yellow Day: Eat yellow food and make a yellow craft

Z: Count the clothes with zippers in our house. Then graph who has the most.

Mario and Curious George Birthday Parties

So here are some of the fun pictures for our Mario Birthday Party. I found these hats at the dollar store and cut out white felt with the Mario and Luigi lettering. E wears this hat almost everyday and it was so easy to make. I also made shirts by finding pictures of the characters and doing and iron on transfer from the computer. Super Easy and fun. I even did Princess Peach ones for the girls. Can't find my pictures of those.

We found this Mario at my Mom's house it came out of a Happy Meal a few years ago and then the background is a balloon stand from the Dollar Store. I made little boxes wrapped in shiny wrapping paper and question marks like the boxes you hit in Mario Kart. For our dinner I found these dot candy sheets at Walmart in there party section.

Our sign made out of shiny wrapping paper and a Mario coloring page picture.

We made the mushrooms from Super Mario Brothers. Cupcakes with red frosting and white chocolate dipping dots. The eyes are just card stock with eyes drawn on.

Okay so this cake was kind of crazy. I had so much going on the week of E's party that I seriously forgot to make the cake. Earlier in the month he had drawn out what he wanted his cake to look like. It was supposed to be a round two layer with a giant mushroom on top, piranha flowers and stars from the game. Well the day of his party, I realized I didn't have a cake made and so I called Dick's Market asked them for any chocolate cake they had with white frosting that they could spray blue. Mr. D went to pick it up when he called me this is what he said, "Are you sure this is the cake you want?" To which I told him " I will figure something out when you get home, not realizing it had big drops of whipped frosting and chocolate Oreos and chocolate dripping down the side. He laughed and said that the girls in the bakery were referring to me as the Emergency Cake lady. Well this is what I came up with. I frosted half of Styrofoam circle and put the white chocolate on top and card stock cutout for the mushroom. Then fondant that I purchased at Walmart...I didn't have time to make it for the star cut outs and Piranha flowers. I actually think it turned out OKAY.

We had a great time and I even won a few games of Mario Kart.




Curious George... Party

We made party masks from a pattern here....click on the picture to go the the PBS.org website for invitations masks and ideas. We did a black and white version which we had the kids color.

The spread... Monkey Cupcakes and Banana Splits.

Fun monkey cupcakes...marble cupcakes frosted with choco frosting. The ears are mini nilla wafers cut in half. A big nilla wafer, M&M's for the eyes and gel frosting for the nose and mouth. So easy... Thanks to Breanne and Brynn who helped finish decorating these for me. I love the Curious George fabric I found at Walmart.

Curious George Balloons I found on Amazon and buckets with Curious George stickers on them.

Fun pinwheels from Hobby Lobby $0.49 each and L's new Curious George Stuffed toy that I found on Amazon... his birthday gift. This was a fun and easy party that I only spent $20 for the decorations, and food.

Easy and super fun.

Things I'm thinking about.

So my birthday is coming up in about a month and my kids were asking me what I want my "theme" to be for my birthday. Yes I realize how crazy it sounds that my children are asking me for a theme, but I realized it has been a very fun thing for us to all plan and create things together for theirs and my hubby's birthday's . Some of their ideas included a Pirate theme and then Dora Mermaid theme. I thought about it for a minute and came up with Alice in Wonderland. What a fun party idea and one I have been thinking would be fun to do for awhile. So then the kids said, "Okay Mom, lets go online to get ideas." So these are two we came up with that we love.
This one is from Amy Atlas....click on her name to see more.

This one is from Hostess With the Mostess click on the picture or on the website name to go see more. So fun. My cute hubby heard the kids planning and all of us looking on line and is feeling a bit overwhelmed. So I think I might be guiding the kids on this one, because they were super excited and came up with some fun ideas. So you might be seeing our own version soon. I would love to hear any ideas that might be fun to include.

And last but not least here is some darling fabric that I am looking for. So if you know where I might be able to locate any let me know. I have a couple of leads so I'll keep you posted.

Happy Spring!!

Yummy Salad for Lunch

I am always looking for yummy ideas for a quick lunch. I try to eat a salad a couple of times a week, but I'll be honest the things I like most about salad's typically are not just the greens. So I am always trying to spice up my salads. I put together a great tasting salad today and it was super quick. Here's the ingredients list for Turkey/Avocado/Swiss Salad:

Spring Mix Greens (At Costco you can purchase a large container for just under $4)

Tomatoes sliced

Avocado Slices

Deli Turkey sliced into small pieces(I am really liking the Oscar Meyer Oven Roasted Turkey right now)

1 slice of deli Swiss Cheese cut into strips.

And the yummiest part. Balsamic Breeze Salad Spritzer by Wishbone a few sprays and you have a tasty, low calorie lunch that is super filling.

Enjoy.

Samuel and Brynn's Wedding Dinner

Here at the Homestead we have been busy. My younger brother is getting married to a darling girl. This weekend we had a wedding dinner for them. Here are some of the highlights. Samuel and Brynn

The Happy Couple

The entrance... This fence was used at my wedding my cute hubbie built it for us. For the dinner I painted it white and we hung these cute tea lanterns that we found at Target in the Dollar Section, we couldn't use real candles so we found these battery powered ones 2 for $1 at Dollar Tree they worked great. The chalk board is from our toy room it is an IKEA board that I found at DI for $5.


Our amazing beautiful sister and floral designer. Here she is designing the centerpieces.

We mixed mum's and tulips on the table for centerpieces. The burlap we used were burlap bags and gingham we cute into circles.

We served three sides...potato salad, coleslaw and my Dad's famous baked beans. Each side was served in individual cups on wooden trays that my Dad also painted for me. The picture frame is painted with Chalk board paint.

We put kettle chips into individual bags with Samuel and Brynn Labels on them, and there are the beautiful tulips. Also one of our cute gumball machines...we found them in the Easter Section at Walmart.

The kids table...some paper and crayons helped keep the kids occupied.

We put each child's name on the table as a place setting in there favorite color.

This was a big success...

The menu...we served pulled pork sandwiches for the adults but hot dogs for the kids.

We had a cookie bar for dessert. The cookie jars were purchased at Tai Pan Trading for $8.00 The cookies were a big hit.

We made these chalk boards with wood pieces painted with chalk board paint.

The spread.

The drinks... Berry Lemonade, Lemon-Cucumber Water, and Limeade

My other beautiful sisters who helped make this event happen. It was a beautiful night.

Book Boxes and Book Curation

My sister is taking a class on book curating. She posted information on how to fix your book if it has tape on the page and also to make a Book Box for damaged books. If you are interested in either of these check out her blog by clicking here.

Inspiration for Summer Decorating

So here are some fun ideas to get you thinking about Summer Decorating...these are all taken from Pottery Barn or Pottery Barn Kids, as we hope and pray we will have a summer at the Homestead since in the past two hours we received almost 6 inches of snow. It is perfect wet snow that has stuck to our trees and covered the ground with a blanket of white, it would be perfect for Christmas Eve, however we are hoping for Spring to come sometime this April. So get started thinking about some fun Summer Decorating Ideas. Here are some of my favorites so far...Boys Bedroom Idea...Love the Canopy makes me think of a tent.Look at these fun shower hooks these would be so easy to make...

Little Girls Bedroom with Canopy...Love this room....

Guest Bedroom...I love the signs on the wall.

Master Bedroom Ideas....I am LOVING the blue right now. So light and clean.

Some yummy Lemonade served in a perfect container

Outdoor Living , love these lights. They have similar ones at Target for about $10-20.I am loving Crocks these days. I have found a couple at The General Store. Home of the Co-op Chicks. You can do so much with them...

So there are some fun ideas for the night. From the Homestead, hope you have a great night.