Diaper Box Car!

I am never short of diaper boxes around here, so I have started finding uses for them instead of throwing them in the recycling bin. Iris keeps saying she wishes she had a car to get her from one room to the other- why her feet no longer do the job alone, I dont know. But today, we made her a car, and she is happily cruising from room to room, or house to house as she says.

I had a little bit of pink-ish paint left over from something else, and I dont even remember what it was, but it covered this diaper box well, and she loved it. Then I took a paper plate and used a brad pin to go through the middle. I spraypainted 4 styrofoam cirles left over from her Candy Land birthday party, and put brads in the middle of those too. On the opposide side, where the brads popped through, I secured them by putting packaging tape over them, so no one gets poked.

I had to cut the flaps from the top of the diaper box, but I spray painted them and used them for the rear view mirrors that I hot glued on the side (hard to see in this pic) and taped for extra support. I also used a piece for the license plate here on the back. We covered the sides with butterfly and lady bug stickers. And we Mod Podged strawberry scrapbook paper on the front and back as the lights. Of course this was HER creation!

I hot glued this really pretty thick ribbon I had left over from another project to strap over her shoulders. I originally glued it evenly in the back, but it fell off her shoulders, so I re-glued the ribbon closer together in the back. There’s those rearview mirrors!!

Here she is picking out what toys she is going to take with her on her car ride!

And she’s off!

That was a fun morning project. Let’s hope Baby doesnt destroy it. Its not exactly insured. Hehe!

Disney Summer Badges!

I got a super good deal on Tanga.com for a year’s worth of Disney Family Fun magazines for $2 last month, and when I got my first issue, my mind was racing with all the fun ideas! It is by far my favorite magazine EVER. Ok, besides Cloth, Paper, Scissors. That one is pretty amazing too. And US Weekly. What?! Leave me alone!!

For their 20th anniversary of their magazine, they are encouraging readers to do activities once a month and receive a badge for it! Well, Iris is too young for Girl Scouts and all that, so this is the next best thing! If you dont receive the magazine, you can still follow the activities here.

This month, we were supposed to do 1 of  3 outdoor activities. We chose to paint rocks- its easy and kept her occupied for a bit. But our rocks are a little small, so instead of leaving them on the ground, I wrapped them in wire and hung them in the yard. Then she got to put her first badge on our poster! Good job, girl!

   

While they dried, we made a peanut butter sandwich face.

And this is how I distracted her from Snow White for the morning.

Spring garden and spring garden salad

Iris has been sick this week, so this is the first day we have gotten to get out and play. I took her and Legend to Boggy Creek Farm to play with the chickens, the dirt, the flowers and the butterflies. This farm harvests their fruits and veggies on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and today was perfect weather.

I love that she stripped her shoes off as soon as we go there and romped around the gardens in her bare feet.

Legend explored, and stayed away from dog doo this time… I didnt get a picture, but he chased a chicken into a bush!

He also stood up by himself for the longest time yet- about 4 seconds. Funny thing is, I took iris here when she was his age, and I have a pic of me teaching her to walk. Its hanging up in her room. Maybe Boggy Creek is our lucky learn-to-walk spot!

 

This is where they harvest some of their veggies.

We bought some fresh lettuce and made a fresh garden salad for a friend’s family who needs it this week! YUMMO!

Known throughout Creation

God makes Himself known through his Creation. So why must we show others His love? Because caring for people in the farthest corners of the earth speaks louder than a tree swaying in the breeze.

(paraphrased from Pastor Trey Rose)

Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!

Happy Earth Day!

I love Earth Day!

I wrote a blog for the company I work for here in honor of today, so check it out!

This morning, Brandi and I took the girls to the Outlet Mall.

We wanted to take them to the Disney store for 2 reasons. One, kids get a free hat today when they recycle 6 cans or bottles. And two, it is my FAVORITE STORE EVER!!!! I turn into a little kid and get more excited over the fun stuff there than most other people. Nathan always laughs at me because I twirl through the store singing the fairy tale songs along with the tv in there. *sigh* I love it.

Anyway, Iris recycled her water bottles and got a hat!

Then I bought THE cutest reusable tote bag normally $20. I got it for $5.

And I used it to get all my baking stuff today because our big bake sale for March of Dimes- Team Hippies for Healthy Babies is this Saturday at the Sam’s Club in Round Rock!!! On the list to bake: chocolate chip cookies, double fudge brownies, peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, popcorn monster bags (cutest ever!) and homemade fruit rollups!

Let me just say, I have been working on these fruit rollups for over an hour and it seems like they are going to take much longer than the recipe said. Actual cook time is 8-10 hours, but I cant get the consistency I need! I’ll post the site that I got the recipe from after Ive made them and I know they work. lol

We also have a recycling pick up service in our neighborhood, but my problem has been that the big 30-something gallon recycling bin is in the front yard, and I dont like walking out there everytime I have a water bottle to recycle… I also have 3 smaller recycling bins in the garage, but I dont like walking to the garage either. I even started leaving all my recyclables on the counter top until the end of the day, but it just turned intoa  cluttered mess. I needed something convenient so it would be easier for me! So I cleaned out underneath our sink. One side has my cleaning products and the other has a recycling bin. And it is already half full for the day. By the way, I just started using more GREEN cleaning products with hesitation because Ive always been skeptical of whether or not they clean better than the “other stuff”. From my own experience, anything Greenworks is AWESOME. And I just started using Seventh Generation dish detergent, and I loooooove it! It doesnt leave soap stains on my dishes. And its pretty inexpensive!

Before:

After:

While my fruit rollups are trying to cook, Ive also been going through our PILE of paper and mail, getting ready to put it all in my convenient little  recycle bin, and I have a TON of plastic shopping bags. Ill save some of them for dirty diapers and turn in the rest!

Its a nice day today, so we arent running the AC- just fresh air and open windows!

I love the earth. I love its beauty. I love its Creator. How are you celebrating today?

A week on our own

Nathan went out of town Sunday for a week-long training on some security system for work, so its just been Iris and I this week! But we have stayed busy, hopped around town and taken advantage of free and inexpensive little treats all over Austin.

Monday was pretty much my shopping/laundry day, but I DID go to Target to get some shelves for the baby’s room. I got 2 packs of 2/$6 shelves. Now, the room isnt finished, so you only get a small sneak preview…

Tuesday, Brandi and I went to Michaels to get a tie dye kit so we could make our March of Dimes team shirts. For most of the afternoon, I worked on the baby’s room, put our new fish in their new homes, and got decorations for Iris’ birthday party at the Dollar Store. Oh how I love that place…

That evening, Brandi’s hubby had dinner plans, so we decided to have our own dinner! We made spaghetti (wtih veggies in the sauce!), took the kids to the park, and played with them outside. It was such a nice evening.

Wednesday morning, I took Iris to a place called Acrotex, where they have open gym time for kids who arent registered for weekly classes. We havent been in awhile, but Iris had a blast tumbling, rolling and climbing on everything.

That afternoon, we had a tie dye party! Kristen, Brandi and Laura came over and we all attempted to make our team shirts- Hippies for Healthy Babies! WOOT! None of us besides Kristen had ever done tie dye, so it was more of an experiment than anything. But they turned out awesome!

Mine

Brandi’s

Brandi’s Hubby’s

We ran out of dye, so we still have to finish our kids’ and Nathan’s.

Today is tax day, so lots of companies offered freebies! I took my reusable mug to Starbucks (TWICE!) and got some amazingly tasty free decaf coffee! I also took all of our extra supplies back to the Keep Austin Beautiful office, where they gave me free tshirts for Iris, Ava and Chloe- for all their help in cleaning up our park! The shirts we had for them originally were HUGE. After Iris and I had a nice long nap, we went to Ihop for Kids Eat Free in April! Yupp! We had ourselves a little brinner (breakfast for dinner) date.

We found canvases 2/$6 at Michaels this week, and I have never painted on canvas before, so I really wanted to try it! Brandi came over this evening with a bunch of acrylic paints (thanks Patsy!) and we tried our hand at painting! Here is what I came up with!

Tomorrow is our last day with Nathan out of town, so I plan on staying home and getting everything cleaned and washed. Of course, we may find something fun to sneak out and do, so maybe I should start my cleaning a little early!

Keeping Austin Beautiful

A couple weeks ago, I found a fabulous organization called Keep Austin Beautiful . I immeidately signed up to clean one of my favorite parks in the area, and because no one else had volunteered to clean that area, I started my own team- Hippies for a Healthy City! Unfortunately, there weren’t as many volunteers as I had hoped for, but my Brandi and her sweet family showed up, threw their shirts on, and picked up trash with me!

And even with my big belly, I managed to bend over a couple hundred times to pick up candy wrappers and cigarette butts. EWW! Here I am with a water bottle! Don’t worry; it was mine and I didn’t throw it away. RECYCLE!!!  :)

We all had a great time! Celebrate the earth this month, and take care of your community! You’ll feel great and your kids will learn a valuable lesson!