Worldly Summer: Antarctica

The second place in the world Abby wanted to study was Antarctica. So, while it has been 90 degrees here in Texas, we've had fun with cold things inside!

We made a snow globe and decided to let our little friend Olaf live inside. You can see directions here. It really is simple- glue a toy on the lid, fill with water and glitter, screw on the lid, and shake!

The next thing we made was snow! It only took two ingredients and a few minutes to make a big mess, I mean big fun times! Abby's littlest pet shop enjoyed throwing snow, sliding in the snow and burying each other. The directions are here.... just note, it takes a few minutes to set. It felt like shaving cream for a while and then suddenly was more "snow" like. 

We also watched Happy Feet this week and learned a lot about penguins, sea lions, whales and the environment. Such a cute movie!

The library was our trusty friend and we found lots of books on Antarctica and learned about weather, climate, researchers, animals, ice, snow, and even how the Earth and the Sun rotate.

Since there are not people living in Antarctica, our food had to be a little more creative. We made two types of COLD ice cream this week.

Pineapple Whip was delicious and super healthy. We will make this again for sure! I like that it is only 3 clean ingredients and tastes like sweet whipped pineapples.

 Finally, we pulled out my Perfect Pops cookbook and molds and Abby picked Cookies and Cream popsicles. We enjoyed those to conclude our cold study of Antarctica!

It really has been fun and easy to travel the world this summer. I know I am enjoying having some easy activities during the day when swimming and iPad time are done.

To see more of our summer, click here or check out all my World Summer pins here. Next up, we are studying the parts of the world Jesus visited!

Abby's Kindergarten Luncheon

Hello! Long time no blog! I haven't had the time or desire to blog this summer, but have a couple of fun posts to share with you before summer wraps up. Later this week I'll share my 3 big home improvement projects, but today we are all about Abby's kindergarten luncheon. 

We invited 5 of Abby's friends that are all starting kinder next week over for lunch. She has known these kids most of her life from preschool and church. When they first arrived, I gave them all 2027 shirts representing the year they will all graduate and we went outside for pictures.

Back inside we sat down for lunch with only these six little ones in the formal dining room which had been decorated for the occasion. 

The dining room buffet table includes a chalkboard, apple and bell that I had on hand. I also bought a dozen globe stress balls on Zulily months ago and had the balloon topiary gifted as leftovers from a friends birthday party.

On the other side of the buffet were these adorable cookies from my friend Kelly who owns Cookies by Kelly. They were the perfect sweet touch after lunch! 

 The center of the table had lots of fun school supplies including my favorite globes from my office. I made the "ruler" runner on the table from a piece of white fabric my Mom hemmed and a black sharpie marker.

I decorated the windows with bunting from Modern June and a chalkboard bunting from the Target party section. 

Each place setting was decorated with a yellow crayon cup, a plain red paper plate with a felt stem and leaf hot glued on and the cutest napkins! I found these in the $1 spot last year and I just wrote each child's name on the napkin.

Inside the kitchen, I set up a simple lunch buffet and made it fun with another chalk board banner from Target. The little ham sandwiches were still in the oven when I snapped this picture. Along with those we served chips and dip, fruit salad, and had lunchables for the special kindergartners. I also had water, tea, lemonade, and a variety of juice boxes and old bottled sodas.

I served everything on my favorite stove top cover!

We had one little game planned for the kids. They went on an alphabet scavenger hunt. They had classic brown paper sacks where I had written the letters of the alphabet. They each started with a sack and then moved to the letter station.

At this station they dug through plastic magnets to find their letter and found the matching flashcard. Both were placed in their sack and it was taken to the toy station!

Here each kid dug in the bucket to find a toy that started with the letter sack they were holding. The kids had lots of fun looking for something with their letter and often worked together!

 After playing a little while longer, the kids left with these little packages of writing utensils and their own globe ball. I bought these notebooks on 90% off after school started last year! If you plan to throw a party like this next year, I recommend shopping in the next few weeks. Supplies go cheap fast!

These sweet six kids are some of my favorite little people in all the world and I'm so glad we could celebrate their upcoming big day together before we all go separate ways! As you can tell from their little signs, they have big futures ahead of them!

 

I found lots of ideas for this party on Pinterest. Check out my Back to School Party board here. 

Easy Kid Popsicles

My niece was visiting us for VBS earlier this summer and I wanted a fun food for her to help me make and also eat while she was here. So, after searching Pinterest, we bought the supplies needed for these crazy kid popsicles!

You simply place a handful of gummy bears in your popsicle molds and then fill them with Sprite before freezing them. The Sprite takes on much of the gummy fruit flavors. The kids loved them!

Summer Chevron Burlap Wreath

I made a new wreath for my front door today just in time for summer! It was quick and easy, so I wanted to share the simple steps with you.

Here are my supplies- burlap, chevron and denim ribbon, a flower, a cheap straw wreath and floral pins. Floral pins may be my new best friend!

I started by wrapping the entire wreath in burlap. I just pinned the back side, wrapped it tight and pinned the end. Afterward, I went back and added a few extra pins along the way to keep it extra secure. No need to even take the plastic off the straw wreath.

See much better already! At this point, you have a blank canvas to add whatever you want! Fabric or felt flowers would be cute.... your monogram or wooden letter of your last name.... a giant bow.... some festive seasonal flowers. There are so many options and you've spent less than $10!

I wanted a summery look that also worked for 4th of July. So, I decided to add in reds, denim and a good ol' country sunflower! I wrapped the wreath more sparingly in red and burlap chevron. It gave me the trendy chevron look I like and brought in some color. Just use the floral pins as you did on the basic burlap base.

I then made a big poofy bow from the denim looking ribbon. I learned how to make these multi loop bows back in college while working at a craft store. I am sure there are plenty of You Tube tutorials if you need help. You essentially make loops alternating between the left and right side of the middle loop and tighten it with a pipe cleaner. I secured the bow with floral pins.

At the base of the bow, I pinned in two green leaves and my big sunflower made from burlap. This flower was $3.50 at Hobby Lobby when flowers were on sale. They had roses and white burlap options, too.

My final touch was a denim ribbon loop to hang my wreath with. 

I love the colors mixed with the burlap on my new front door just in time for summer!

Summertime Food Favorite- Popsicle!

One of my favorite things to make in the summertime is homemade Popsicles. They taste so much better than the sugar water ones in the store. I started off with a cookbook last year and then we just branched out to more fun options, our favorite was the Peach Pie!

Don't these look divine- cheesecake with fresh fruit and graham cracker crumbs. Get the recipe from Kitchen Meets Girl here.

My husband loves creamsicles- so I know these will be a hit. 

According to Pinterest, the recipe is pretty simple:

1 c. orange juice

1 c. coconut milk

3 T honey

1/4 t orange extract

1/2 t vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients together and pour into molds. Freeze.

 Pudding Pops are always an easy option- these make me think of Bill Cosby, you too? Visit My Pinterest Affair for the full recipe.

Finally, these frozen yogurt trail mix bars caught my eye. I can't wait to try Lean Green Bean's recipe this summer.

What is your favorite summer food?

4th of July Mantle and Cake Stands

I never know what to do with my mantle over the summer and decided to make it happen this year! We normally have a couple of friends over on the 4th and I hated not being decorated on that day. They likely don't even notice, but I do :)

Here is my new 4th of July mantle. It is simple and was inexpensive to complete!

I found this pennant on Etsy, but you could easily make your own. I didn't own enough fabric scraps or have the jute, so it was cheaper to just buy it. It is 9 feet long and works perfectly. I paid $12 for it, but if you have the fabric, very easy to make and would cost you nothing! The only sewing is at the top of each scrap to keep it tightly secured on the jute.

I bought 6 3-packs of flags at the Dollar Spot at Target and placed 3 flags in each mason jar with a little jute on tied around the jars. The jute wasn't necessary in the end because you can't even see it!

I wanted the words PEACE in the middle, but I couldn't find that; however, I do feel very blessed that we live in a country where we are free to worship our God, speak out for and against one another, and that we have so many cultures to learn from every day. Blessed fits us just perfectly! It was 50% off at Hobby Lobby and I spray painted it navy since it came in black only.

A view of the mantle from a distance... love it!

I visited a friend of mine's home on Wednesday afternoon. She lives 2 hours away or I would sneak over for inspiration weekly. I promise to give her more warning next time and bring my camera- she is my design goddess. I love her style. It is kitschy, country, comfortable, everything has a story and I just love it. She has piles of quilts, bookcases of luggage, and her liquor is in an old Coca Cola crate. Genius! I picked up on a few things she did and made some changes at my house.

My Dr. Pepper crate was lost on top my cabinets, so I brought it down and loaded it with fun stuff in my living room. I really want a yellow Coca Cola one now :)

Alison had 2 cake stands holding items in her kitchen and now I do, too :) This one holds a mix of candles on the bar. I can light whichever send I am feeling that day.

Next to my sink, I used another pedestal for the soap, sweet & low, toothpicks and my vintage salt and pepper shakers. It is a fun touch to the kitchen.

Thanks Alison for letting me visit and take home a few fun new tips for my home!

Come Back to Me!

Ya'll, I fell madly in love with this dress in early March. I splurged and ordered it as my Easter dress and for my garden party this July. It came in, I was super excited and then I tried it on and it was too big. That is exciting, but not when you've ordered a dress online. So, I filled out the form to have one size smaller sent to me. After waiting 2 weeks, I called Nordstrom's only to discover the size I needed was on back order and wouldn't be available to ship until the Friday one week prior to Easter. That was just too close for comfort, so I cancelled the order and decided to look for another dress. I didn't find another dress I liked, so I didn't buy anything new for Easter. I have ooh and aahed over this dress since, but they always had other sizes pop up as available or would say the item is currently unavailable. I literally have looked at it daily for 2 months. Yesterday I decided to clean up my favorites and went to delete the dress that would never be. Well lo and behold, they had my size! I ordered that puppy within 2 minutes.

Cross your fingers that it fits or is close enough I can have it altered! Momma has a garden party to attend!