Green Ombre Rose Cake (Wedding Shower)

I made this cake for my soon to be sister-in-law! Her wedding color is clover green. I think the cake was a bit brighter than that, but it went beautiful with the flower arrangement my aunt made! I followed directions for making this rose cake on i am baker. I also looked on Pinterest for ideas and found this Aqua Ombre Rose Cake as well as many others like it.

The day I made this cake, I just happened to be going to dinner for my friend's birthday. So, I used left over cake and frosting and made her a little birthday cupcake!

Conversation Jar

Have you ever heard of a conversation jar?  It's a jar filled with questions to ask each other during dinner. Questions like "If you could be any animal, what would it be?" Or "What is something that makes you happy?" I found the idea, and the list of questions to print on the Kids Activities Blog. My kids colored the back of the paper to make it colorful. Then we just folded the strips in half and stuffed them in the jar. It's a fun way to get to know things about your kids, and to share stories with them about you that you wouldn't have thought to share.

Have fun sharing with each other!

Up-cycled Girls Dress - Bed Sheet & Ladies Skirt

Love this dress! In it's former life, it was a bed sheet and a ladies skirt, total cost: $2. Love up-cycling! I used one of Rebekah's dresses as a pattern for the top (an old blue knit bed sheet). It was a jumper, so I had to wing the sleeves. I made them much bigger than I should have. I thought it would be a complete flop until she put it on. I call them butterfly sleeves! I joined the bodice and the skirt together, no hemming necessary. It needed a tie, so I pulled out some wide pink ribbon from my stash. I think this dress will grow with her and hopefully she'll get two summers out of it!

Altering Girl Clothes

I love thrift store shopping!  I found 3 dresses and 2 skirts for Rebekah, but needed to do a bit of altering on a couple. The blue dress pictured above is perfect as a play dress, made out of knit fabric. The waist was much too big though. I was able to sew a white ribbon (already had it) to each side to make a tie. Perfect! Now it will fit much better!

Another skirt that was too big. The problem we always seem to have is if it fits in the waist, it's too short. I'm so glad I can alter clothes for her! On this skirt I just added 2 darts to make it smaller. I can easily take the darts out with a seem ripper once she grows, so this should last a long time. (Well, if she doesn't go play in the mud with it...)

One more. This is an old red skirt that I made Rebekah for her 3rd birthday (with a matching doll skirt). Yikes, it still fits her and she still loves wearing it, but it's much too short now that she's almost 6! I had some cute pink and red lady bug fabric already in my stash that I used to lengthen it. Do you think it'll fit her for another 3 years?!

Eraser Stamped T-Shirts For July 4th

The kids and I made these eraser stamped shirts for the 4th of July parade.  I found the idea at Cutesy Crafts.  I opted for dark blue shirts instead of white because my kids are so messy!  I showed them the pictures online and then I let them paint them by themselves.  I really like Caleb's creativity!

I only had acrylic craft paint.  After some internet searching, I decided to mix it with hair conditioner and use it.  It did turn out a bit crunchy, but none of the kids complained.  I haven't washed them yet, so I'm not sure how it will be after a wash.

This was a fun, easy project.  I was hoping to get pictures of all 4 of them lined up, but Matthew was sleeping when we got to the parade so that never happened.  I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Letter From President Obama

One of the things suggested in our curriculum for the last week was to write a letter to the President. You can see Caleb's letter to the President on this post: Week 34 MFW Adventures & K. About a month later he got a packet from the White House! It included a letter from President Obama, a picture if him, 2 cards with pictures of their dogs, a map of the White House with an interview with the President, information about the artwork hung in the White House, and an activity paper about the White House garden with stickers! No matter what your opinion is about the current President, it's still really cool to get a letter from him!!!

Here is the address if you'd like your child to send a letter:

President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500