Thursday, January 28, 2010

Happy Bird-day!!




Today the kids and I made treats for the birds.  And when I told Hunter what we were going to do he asked "is it for their birthday?" so I said "well sort of, it's bird-day." ha ha.  This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time but I could not fine pine cones that were unscented.  Someone at church donated some pre-made popcorn balls to the youth group and I thought, "hey that could work."  So today we made bird-day treats, and when I say "we" I mean I did most of it while the kids licked inordinate amounts of peanut butter (and I'm pretty sure a good amount of birdseed) off their fingers.  They thought it was totally cool, and it was.  So far no birds have had any but we watched a squirrel try to get at them for a long time.  I am a bird lover so I am automatically a squirrel hater because they are always stealing the bird seed, but the kids thought that he was really funny.  It was sort of fun watching him trying to r-e-a-c-h to get a seed ball (I had purposely tied them so squirrels couldn't get at them).  He tried standing on one but it was not sturdy enough.  For a while he managed to get a paw on one then he would lick his paw off, finally he managed to break it off and ran off with it, but he hasn't been back so hopefully some birds will get the other two seed balls.



Here you can sort of make out the progression of seed balls hanging on the tree, squirrel trying to get seed balls and squirrel succeeding and upsconding with said seed ball.
How to make a bird-day (or squirrel) treat
1. Buy or make popcorn balls (I suggest buying them) or if your lucky enough to have pine cones that
    will work.
2. Take a small crochet hook and tie a long piece of kite string to the hook.
3. Push the crochet hook through the ball so that the head goes through last catching and pulling the
    string through with it.
4. Untie the string from the hook
5. Roll the popcorn ball in cheap peanut butter (you'll want a pretty thick coat)
6. Then roll the peanut buttery popcorn ball on a plate filled with birdseed.
7. Tie the ball outside on a branch far enough down so that evil squirrels can't reach it.

I found a small bag of birdseed at wal-mart for one dollar so it was a pretty cheap and fun "craft" to do with the kids but honestly I would have done it even if I didn't have kids this is something I've always thought would be fun, plus I love birds.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Kruppie


Kruppie in all his glory

I love lattes and all manner of sugary caffeinated beverages.  I also love to hang out with and mentor teen girls.  Since so many woman are working now I feel like we're loosing a lot of intergenerational woman to woman heritage I also feel like girls have it harder then ever before (well maybe not harder then our pre-electricity and epiduralial grandmothers).  So much is expected of them they have to be smart, athletic, leaders, and good looking and they have less and less support.  I am blessed enough that God has allowed me to combine my two loves into "coffee club".  Once a week a very small group of girls comes to my house where I introduce them to the glories of sugar and caffein.  We chat, send cards to shut-ins and kids with birthdays in our youth group that sort of thing, and it is awesome.  I love spending time with these ladies, getting to know them and I love that they can see a stay-at-home mom who is happy, fulfilled and a wee bit quirky.



these girls don't think I'm too lame and they are awesome and sweet!!




The only problem with this time is my "frienenemy" Kruppie.   Kruppie is my second hand latte machine.  He was probably totally cool over ten years ago before William and Sanoma swept the scene with their beautiful and luxurious cappuccino machines.  But now he is a cranky, senile coffee maker that sometimes works great (like a really cool story of the past) but more often then not sprays hot scalding milk all over me and my kitchen.  Please don't tell Kruppie because I'm not sure what he'd do but I have a picture of a neat new machine in cherry red taped to my fridge.  He can never know because the cost of this machine is over $300!  And that is a long way off to never happening so I need him to keep on limping along.

Oh well it's totally worth it to show these girls they're special.  Getting teen-agers addicted to sugary caffein drinks may not be the best way to give back to society but it's my way!

Monday, January 25, 2010

An Awareness Event

Hello everyone,
If it seems like I haven't blogged in a while I'm blaming it on the fact that I now have to vacuum every day!!  I should be a little more honest and say that I am trying to vacuum every day because Conner is now scooching all over the place.  He went from barely getting any where to moving around at the speed of light.  Any way because of that I am trying to vacuum every day because of the tons of dog hair which seem to pile up in the corners of the house and conner seems to love to get stuck to his slobbery fingers which he then sticks in his mouth (gross).  Couple that with the fact that there are two three years olds running around and leaving who-knows-what every where and I'd say the floors need to be swept every day.  So this new rule leads me to actually getting it done at least every-other day and that takes up valuable minutes that I could be blogging.


(The tree bag is called "freedom tree" isn't that so perfect?)

This weekend we had an awareness event for the ladies in our church about Human trafficking.  It was very good and very sad and very disturbing.  But we also learned that there were good things being done and what we could do to help.  I bought these cool bags there (one for me and one for each of my groovy sisters).  They're made in India by former prostitutes who work for this company and make a living wage (what a man makes in that country).  It's so cool, they have health insurance and are offered education, it's totally unheard of in that country for this to be happening.  Any way I don't want to say too much more except that I am hoping to host one of these events myself and would really love it if some of you all were able to come.  I'll have more details later of course.

Hope all of your weekends were really great!

Monday, January 18, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!



Happy birthday my dearest Heather!!!

Today you are 23 which rocks, I loved being 23!!  It's the perfect balance of coolness and maturity.  Still far enough away from 30 to be totally groovy, but also far enough away from 18 to know your not a dumb teen-ager any more.  Enjoy today because no matter how old you are, or what Brian says birthdays are awesome!!  It is your day, celebrate it how you want and eat what you want (except not peanuts sorry)!!  I wish I could be there with you today I wish I could kiss you and give you a really expensive beautiful gift that I either bought at a fancy botique or something really intricate and complicated I made just for you.  But  you get to be todays blog instead...I know that you know how much I love you and how much you mean to me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Home At Last

Well the holidays are mostly over, they are certainly over in my head and heart for the year, as I am now looking forward to pink and red and hearts and lace galore for valentines.  I know that the pink and red bug a lot of people but I really am a cheesy romantic and well I like valentines day!!! I don't care if it is really for Halmark's benefit, I like romance and I LOVE my husband and I think a day set aside for romance and respecting the love between us is a good thing so there nay sayers I am a romantic who is already dreaming about february 14th and some fun little things!!

Sorry about that I got kind of swept up in it.  Any way I hope all your holidays were filled with joy, food, a few extra pounds, and loved ones.  Mine certainly were and the only complaint I have (beside the tightening of my pants around my mid-section) is that being with my family is great I feel a little empty when I'm first back nine hours away from them.  I am glad to be home in my own bed with my baby sleeping a little better with my Brian by my side, but it's pretty great "junking" with my mom talking politics and science with my dad, drinking tea and having lunch with my sisters, snuggling with my grammy and papa... well you get the picture.  The worst thing about coming home with out a doubt, however, is the unpacking (it's taking me most a week since I'm not very motivated) and the undecorating of christmas which I still haven't tackled.  I'm hoping this weekend and at the very least by February (don't laugh small goals for small people).


showing off his new boxing gloves and boxing "face"






Hunter, Aunt Courtney, Nannie and I took Hunter to his first movie he loved it!! (mouse went too)



toys that aren't toys are the best


two cuties that are too cute!

These are pictures of christmas and of some christmas presents I couldn't put on here until they were given as I didn't want to ruin the surprise.  Hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days with some more mindless drivel!!  Thanks for reading you all give me a lot of joy and it makes me feel happy that you care what's going on here in crazy world.

I'm pretty happy with this adapted from Alicia Paulson's design I created the top panel to make it a full apron.  The boys are sitting in a giant bird's nest to go with the bird fabric (my mom loves birds).



This one is striped with a green pocket, the inside lines up perfectly with the adjoining fabric.