Spring

 Spring has always been my favorite time of year.  The temperature is perfect, the flowers bloom, and the earth reawakens after a long winter's rest.  Of course that means that the bees come out to work, and for a few weeks there is lots of screaming and crying.  But I think by now everyone has now figured out how to get along with them.

These pictures are for Grandma and Grandpa who sent all the lovely Easter dresses for the girls.

Thank you for the pretty dresses!

Dress Up

Sarah has entered the dress up stage, which she quickly learned from her sisters.

And there is lots and lots of dancing.

Meatballs

Do you make and freeze food?  I learned to make these really great meatballs using Stove Top stuffing mix. I used a mixture of pork, beef, and turkey and the Stove Top with herbs for extra flavor.  After they have cooled they can be frozen on the same pan used to cook them on and then throw them into a freezer bag.  They are so much better than the kind you buy from the store and it makes meal time a cinch.

Sarah ate maybe 4 after they cooled a little.

And Emily ate so many the first time that she now requests spaghetti without meatballs, but we just limit the number she eats.

Attempt to Catch Up

Ok, I'm trying to make an attempt to get caught up!  Our lives have been a bit crazy since December.  Marshall has accepted a new job in a different state, which starts at the end of the summer, and so we are preparing for another big move.  In-spite of the craziness of it all, we recognize the Lord's hand in our lives, and we know that we have been extremely blessed.

Another Recycle Project

I don't know about you, but when I see cardboard I do not see trash.  The last time we moved, I made sure that our empty cardboard boxes were moved and not thrown out...and I got lots of crazy looks from the people helping us move.  We're getting ready to move again and not only will it be an exciting change in our lives, but that means new cardboard to work with!  Yes, I'm excited.

We had a little friend with a birthday and we came up with this dollhouse made from most of the extra cardboard from the recycle game project.  The girls helped with the wall art.

And we designed the furniture pieces together.  Yes, there is a toilet.  It's awesome, sorry there isn't a close up.

Recycle Art

Since it's Earth week, did you know that PETE-6 plastic containers can be used like shrinky dink paper?  I made these magnets by tracing over resized printable art (about 1/4 of a page) with sharpies and then put them in a 250F oven until they were flat (maybe 5 min.).

After they've cooled you can paint or mod podge paper to the back and glue on a sturdy magnet.  I love how they turned out.  I hope that now I'm not the only one who checks all my clear containers!

Here are the art references that I used: 

Love you printable

Be Kind printable

I Love Everything about YOU printable

Recycle Game

I took on the responsibility for choosing and making the new game made from recycled materials for each class for Earth week at Hannah's school. The game is based on a colonial game (Troll My Dame) and instead of marbles we used caps. Today they are playing this and games made in past years as part of their Earth week celebration. Tomorrow we are digging in the dirt and beautifying the school!



Pigeon Hole Cap Game

Set Up:

• To assemble the gameboard, attach the back by sliding the back slots into the side slots. 
• Place the gameboard on a flat, smooth surface, like a table or non-carpeted floor. 
• Mark a starting point about 2 feet or more from the game board using tape or a sticker. 

Scoring:

• Keep score by using tally marks or adding points based on the hole the cap goes in.
• Optional: the large orange cap gets double points if it goes into a hole.

How to play:

• This game can be played with any number of players. 
• A player places a cap on the starting point and tries to slide or flick the cap into a hole. 
• The player continues until all caps have been used.