Pinned It, Made It: Moon Sand

Last week I tried another activity with the kids... Moon Sand!  Oh my, this stuff is awesome.

Mix 8 cups of flour with one cup of baby oil.  How easy is that!

It smells fantastic and molds like wet sand without the mess. 

Megan has played with this so many times that I have lost count.  Looks like this is a keeper. 

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

 

Blooms

Flowers don't worry about how they're going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful. ~ Unknown

The flower that follows the sun does so even in cloudy days. ~Robert Leighton

The kiss of sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God's Heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth. ~ Dorothy Frances Gurney

 

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. ~ Isaiah 40:8

 

We are experiencing what I think is the perfect weather.  Mid seventies, sunny and the windows wide open during the day.  As evening comes it cools enough that most of the windows need to close and you need a cozy blanket.  Ahhh... it makes my heart glad.  Most of my time is being spent outside.  Soaking up the sun, weeding, reading a good book and enjoying the blooms!

 

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

Joy in the Ordinary

Look around, really look around and you will find joy... joy in the everyday... joy in the ordinary things.

Playing in an afternoon shower.

Planting sunflowers. 

Beans!

Keeping her mind sharp. 

Baby grapes... here one day just vanished the next. :(

Harvesting lettuce for dinner.

Chef Megan... the grill master! 

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

One Project Down...

I posted about staining the mailbox post. I am happy to say that the mailbox project is complete. I didn't take a before picture and could only find the following picture of when I repaired and repainted
the barn welcome sign.

 

 

I wanted this project to be as frugal as possible.  The numbers on our post where looking old and faded.  I was able to remove them and paint them with some black hammered spray paint I found in the garage.  Now they look as good as new!

I used the same stain we are using for our fence.  Not only did I stain the post I also painted the flower box around the post.  I debated about repainting the barn.  In the end I gave it a light sand to remove any loose paint and left it.  I kind of like the weathered look. 

One project down and what feels like a million to go.  That seems to be a perk of summer and home ownership. 

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

$1.96 Worth of Fun!

While shopping over the weekend I picked up two inexpensive things to create an activity with the kids. I love doing things with the kids especially if it is a creative, cheap activity. Each of these items were under a dollar... $0.98 each to be exact.
 

I was able to stretch these items into three activities. The first activity I found of Pinterest. I thought I had pinned it but apparently not. Anyway it is super easy! You mix equal parts of cornstarch and shaving cream to make a dough.
 

Very messy!  I then added some blue and green food coloring to create Megan's favorite color.  The texture of this dough was awesome.  The kids loved it!  I might add that the little ones made a very big mess.  I was okay with that as I was able to fold two loads of laundry and the floor needed mopped anyway. 

Activity two was cornstarch painting.  Mix cornstarch, water and food coloring. 

I love this stuff!  As the water evaporates you are left the dried cornstarch.  Clean up is easy as all you do is hose it off. 

I think activity three might have been the biggest hit.  I used the remaining can of shaving cream and put it into the water table.  Then the real fun began!

To quote Abe "it was fun because it was messy!"  At the end of day imaginations were used, everyone had a blast and I have no toys to store. For $1.96 I call this a win!

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

Summer Begins

I have all of my flowers planted and boy are they taking off!   
 

This is the second year that there has been a groundhog living in our neighbors yard.  He likes to peek through the fence at as.  Thankfully there is to much activity over here and he doesn't venture into our yard often.    I haven't seen babies yet, but last year they were the cutest little things. 

The first grade classes put on a play the last day of school.  Grandma Mouse was ready for the start of the play.  It was really, really cute. 

One the last day of school all of the kids had balloons to release for a summer countdown.  A card was attached where the each kid wrote their favorite scripture.   Their hope is that once the card is found it will be mailed back to school so they can see how far their balloon went. 

Chuck is on vacation this week and we used the weekend to get started on some projects.  Our mailbox has been hit I don't know how many times by people backing out of the drive across the street from us.  It isn't the ones who live there it is their company.  The annoying things is that we watch them do it and only once has anyone stopped.  It was never hit hard enough to knock it over but enough to move the post and damage the mailbox.  Annoying for sure!  Since the post needed to be reset I took the opportunity to stain the post. 

I also spent time puttering on the back porch. 

I don't know about you but I am ready the summer fun to begin! 

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!

Something Blue, Something New

I finally got the new blue Mason jars. They are soooooo pretty!
 

I imagine they will be showing up quite often. :)  Now for the something new....

After months of discussion we took the plunge and purchased another vehicle.  Just in the nick of time as Chuck's truck developed a transmission problem on the way to purchase this.  As soon as it is out of the shop the kids and I will be ready to hit the road.  Just in time to spend afternoons in Grammi and Grandpa's pool!

May your day be filled with joy and contentment!