Pinterest #19

I found this felt flower and thought it would be cute for a baby gift.  I made the hat below for one baby and the headband (again modeled by Miles) for another baby.  I also made a very cute gray/white/yellow one but don't have the right thing to put it on now.  Maybe for a fall baby :)  Okay, enough for now.  I'm only behind by 3 now.

Pinterest #18

I love flower hair decorations (this is when I need a girl) and have a whole board of "flower pins."  I made a few things loosely based on some of these flowers, plus some other "old faithful" flowers.  

Tissue and Tulle Flower 

I didn't use the tissue paper since mine were going on shoes, but I think these would be good for a wedding or shower.  Cheap, easy, and pretty.

Circle "Flower"

Not sure about this one...

Petal Flower

I really like this flower--didn't use the streamer part.

So... here's what I did...

Used tulle flower to decorate some flip flops for a birthday gift (modeled by Miles).  Below are the other flip flops we made/included in the gift.  

 Circle flower hair clip to match some outfits for a friends' girls.

 Headband to match another outfit.

 Hair accessories to match some Easter dresses.

 Another headband to match a birthday outfit for our cousin.

Pinterest #17

This chicken was excellent--Adam even put it in his "top 5" of things I've made.  Try it!  You know it's easy.

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken Breast

Another winner--made this for the snack bar at the school carnival.  I turned out really well--something different than the usual pretzel mix.  The colors (you use Reese's Pieces) would be good for a Halloween party.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Mix

Pinterest #16

Rice & Beans Wrap--easy, good, nothing special, but would make it them again.  

Rice and Beans Wrap

Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti--easy, makes a ton (as in could feed the family for 3-4 nights), tasted really good the first night, but wasn't psyched to eat it again the next day.  Would cut down the recipe next time.

Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Pinterest #15

I counted up and figured out I'm 8 posts behind if I stick to my goal of trying something from Pinterest every week this year.  I've made use of a lot of my pins, just haven't documented any good/bad results.  Here goes...

I made these ice cream treats for Miles' class to celebrate their student teacher completing her semester.  Easy and fun.  FYI--sugar sprinkles are not as cute as the ball sprinkles.  I chose these bright colored cupcake holders in order to have something to put them in as the kids ate them.  Seemed to work well.  Miles said they were a hit.  I'll put this on the "make again" list.

Ice Cream Pops

T-ball Round 2

Miles is pumped to be on his own team rather than just playing with Owen in the driveway.  He had a great time at his first game last night.  His team is the Astros and he has 3 little friends from school on the team with him.  The first time he was on base he was leading off preparing to steal--I guess he has been watching Owen's games!

Sucker

Adam has become a total sucker for all things Apple.  And even though this "hobby" isn't cheap, I have to admit that he really does use all of the toys and keeps up to date on what they can do--can't say the same for myself, but that's on the summer "to do" list.  Usually it's him telling me about some new gadget, so I was proud of myself when I found this projector mentioned on the Whatever blog.  It's not an Apple product, but designed to be used with iPads, iPhones, etc.  I like it because A) you just connect one little cord to your device and B) it's small.  We took it to Atwood and the kids watched movies on a sheet hung from the ceiling

Bad lighting for my camera, the movie is actually much brighter.  The kids thought it was pretty cool.  We are going to try some outdoor movies this summer.

Let the Fun Begin

We spent a fun three days in Atwood with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and COUSINS!  The kids had a great time playing in dirt, swimming, riding the zip line, shooting guns, eating ice cream, watching movies, tie-dying shirts, and playing Wii.

Mike and Rosie recently removed their decorative fish pond.  Graham and his cousin Brody spent a great deal of time digging and transferring dirt from one cup to another.  Dude!

When he wasn't in the dirt, he was "rinsing off" in the water buckets.  Back and forth between two buckets.  Yes, he spent a good deal of time naked.

The big kids got to go to the shooting range.  Grandpa even had some guns that were sized down for them.  Miles wanted to know the combination to the gun safe--not this time, buddy!  Here are the snipers-in-training.  (Mom, the guns are NOT loaded).  Even some of the big-big kids (Adam, Cole and Alex) enjoyed the shooting range.  

I usually pass up gun duty for pool duty.  The day was hot, but the water was cold.  But not cold enough that they passed up ice cream afterwards.  

Moving On...

Wow, I can't believe we have finished another school year!  Before I know it, they'll be riding to the high school with me!  We are all looking forward to days that don't require being up, dressed, fed, teeth brushed, bag checked, and everyone out the door at 7:15 (don't worry, I'm sure they will still be up at 6:00 AM).  

Miles had an awesome year in kindergarten.  He completed all of the objectives with flying colors, but definitely has a "social" side that sometimes needs checked.  I will miss all of the stories he comes home with everyday.  His favorite subject is P.E. and he digs school lunch (and breakfast) just like Owen.  Adam even wondered if the school could serve them dinner before we pick them up...

Do you become cool in 3rd grade?  It seems like Owen really matured this year.  He had another fabulous year--continued to read a ton of books (sometimes the easy ones just for points) for "Reading Counts", scored high on his first set of state assessments, still likes math best, and is an awesome speller.  His teacher gave out challenge lists with words like raconteur, impugn, and quagmire... vocabulary lessons for mom and dad.  

Now it's onto summer; I'm sure they are switching into "drive mom crazy" mode as I type this.

Three Legs

The three-legged race portion of field day deserves it own post, as it was always my favorite event.  Miles and his buddy fell down at least four times, but laughed the entire time.

Owen and Ty dove across the finish line to try and beat the competition.  Not sure where the robot moves come from.

Field Day 2012

I was lucky to have a flexible enough schedule today that I could attend the boys' field day.  They were happy to have Grandma Jean on hand as well.  Add great weather and lunch with friends, and it was a pretty perfect day.  

Owen moved up to the big kids group this year which meant that they substituted hurdles and relays for the sack and tractor races.  He's a pretty fast dude and enjoyed all of the events.

Miles had a great time at his first field day.  His best events were the dashes, but he had fun participating in all of them.  We made a little tent with a towel and lawn chairs so he could get out of the sun.  It didn't take long for about ten kids to crowd under and the talk turned to boogers and poop pretty quickly.

Half-Birthdays

The big boys both celebrated their summer birthdays at school today.  Grandma Jean (thank you, thank you) offered to make them KSU cookies to share with their classes--you don't have to ask me twice to take you up on your offer! I sound like a loser, but I've actually taken a ton of food to school(s) lately with teacher appreciation, student teacher going away parties, etc.  Plus I did not inherit my mom's ability to make the perfect sugar cookie.  Miles' buddy Aiden is a KU fan (boo!) so we dug out the Jayhawk cookie cutter as well.  Miles did notice that the Powercats were much bigger :)

Happy Mother's Day

I'm so lucky to be these three dudes' mom.  They are a constant source of laughter, pride, fun, questions, dirt, noise, rising grocery bills, etc.  I wish I could magically keep them these ages for a long time.  Happy Mother's Day to my mom, mother-in-law, and all the other moms out there!

Pinterest #14

Desperately need to catch up on my Pinterest posts.  Still trying out a lot of recipes, a few projects--and wishing I had more time to sort through all of my "school" and "photo" pins.

Potato "Chips"

These potatoes were wonderful and so, so easy.  I might even cook them longer next time as I like things border-line charred :)  I didn't use the garlic, but I'm sure it would be good too.