Family, Fairs, Fun and Food

Things are starting to get *back to normal* around here today. Since last Friday its been one busy moment after the other. I tend to get a little crazy as "activities coordinator"--in general, not just when we have company or are on a trip:) My parents and sister came in town Friday night. I had quite the day lined out for us on Saturday. Our city was having its annual arts & crafts festival so we all headed downtown for some shopping and, of course, *fair food*.

I found some beautiful jewelry at The Charming Cherub booth. I checked her out last year, and have regretted it all year that I didn't buy some of her vintage postcard jewelry. Next time I want some of her broken china!

Before we left we had to sample fudge, hand-shaken lemonade, funnel cakes and snow cones! Delish! After that it was back home for nap time...Next on my "activities schedule" was a local park. So we took off for carousel rides, train rides and some neck-jarring fun on the kiddie coaster. I had to show you the picture (two below) of my mom & me in the kiddie-size roller coaster. We were *ahem* squeezed in so tightly we could hardly breathe, let alone move. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

Later that evening--after we'd quite recovered from our roller coaster ride--we had a lovely dinner at a local Italian place and then dessert at home. We were celebrating Mom's birthday a little early since we won't see them again for a while. I made The Pioneer Woman's apple dumplings for the special occasion--yum!! If you haven't tried those, you MUST!!

My parents had to go to Birmingham on Sunday, but my sister got to hang around for another couple of days. We had a lot of fun together shopping, watching some Jane Austen, eating more good food and just hanging out. Then we took her down to B'ham yesterday to meet up with my parents for one last visit before they headed back home. Needless to say, I slept like a rock last night. I'm ready for a little slower pace today. Although the house is a disaster from all of that fun and I've got laundry piled up and duties at church to take care of....oh well...it was worth it!

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

my blessed life

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