A Recipe Contest for Olive Lovers

Give me a delicious ingredient and a challenge to use it well, and ideas usually spring forth.  So I am entering this year's "Love This Recipe Contest", sponsored by Lindsay Olives.  And you can too.  The contest ends June 30, 2011, so head to the contest website and share your best recipes this month while there's still time!
     

Disclosure:  As an entrant with a blog, the contest rules stated that I am expected to announce the contest.  I was not compensated for writing this post.

Adding a Pet to Our Family: Introducing...Mocha!

Exactly one month ago, we welcomed a beautiful addition to our family.  She's a year old already, and her name is Mocha.

Though I was a little reluctant to have another body in the house to feed and care for, she's been a good fit for our family.  As a young girl, I always wished for a cat of my own; as an adult I thought a pet would cost more money and energy than it was worth.  I was wrong about that.  My husband, who grew up with pets, knew she would be good for the kids.  Though I won't ever be sending her to a pet spa, we're very glad she's become a part of our home and family.

Painting Themselves Silly

On the week of my daughter's birthday, we decided it would be fun to take the family to a paint-your-own-pottery shop here in town.  To save on the cost, we let the kids each pick out a piece of pottery and had fun watching their creativity in action.  A week later, after the pieces were glazed and fired, we picked up our hand-painted ceramic pieces.

 

My husband and I are already planning to return on a date night so we can try painting for ourselves.  Not that we get out that often, but still it's refreshing to have alternatives to dinner and a movie, isn't it?

 

Painted donut prior to firing

Final result: A glazed donut

I'm linking up with fellow adventurers at Try New Adventures Thursday this week!

Father's Day Idea: A Surprise Banner in the Car

Since driving across Iowa is not my husband's favorite way to spend a day, I tried to think of how to add a little cheer to the start us off.  I decided to adapt our Mosaic Birthday Banner, clipping each letter to the seat belt.  Hopefully on the morning of Father's Day, the kids and I can manage to sneak out ahead of my husband to pull off this idea.  Meanwhile, I'm storing the letters in the glove compartment.  And thankfully he never reads this blog.

For more helpful tips and ideas, head to Works for Me Wednesday.  This week's road trip tips are just what I need!  You can also find more Father's Day ideas at Somewhat Simple's link party.

Making a Unicorn Birthday Pinata

A certain little person requested a unicorn as her pinata of choice for her birthday party this month. "How about a strawberry instead?", I suggested.  No, she had her heart set on a unicorn.  And I obliged, with a sigh.  Here's what resulted:

The unicorn was inspired by the one in Goldalicious (part of the Pinkalicious book series). This creation wasn't as quite sturdy as other pinatas I've made and thus won't be making a return appearance.  Still, taking the time to make it was a meaningful way to show my middle child how very special she is to me.

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Further Notes:  I have a step-by-step tutorial of a star pinata which is much simpler to make, published at AC.  Also, if you'd like to know more about the homemade banner in the background, see my Mosaic Birthday Banner post.

Vanilla Sprinkle Ice Cream Bites

Ice cream sandwiches are the ideal summer treat in my world.  They are cool, sweet, and easy to assemble.  And they be eaten without a dish, which means less clean up!

All you need are these three ingredients:

• Vanilla wafers or cookies
• Vanilla ice cream
• Candy sprinkles

These colorful bites may be tiny, but they are just as delicious as my other favorite, Summer Spice Ice Cream Sandwiches.  Stay tuned for more ice cream variations in the weeks ahead.  As my husband likes to say, "There's always room for ice cream!"

I am also sharing this at Tasty Tuesday.

Our Alphabet Hunt = Backyard Treasures + Sidewalk Chalk

A few thoughts spring to mind when I think of spending the summer with my kids:

Anticipation of fun; apprehension about the change in routine
         Books to read; boredom to battle
                 Creative outdoor activities; creepy crawlies to study up close...

Last summer we made up songs and had fun together, with a bit of structure thrown in to keep the time from slipping away too haphazardly.  I intend to return to the summer activity calendars from Thriving Family again, but also am looking for more ways to spur fun and learning.

And happily, now I've got another resource in The We Teach: Summer Learning E-book. Join the We Teach forum and you can download it for free.  Click on the button below if you would like to go and get it for yourself:



 

The e-book is brimming with 25+ ideas to get our summer off to a great start. Today I'll share our variation on an idea from the literacy section of the e-book.  I loved Amy Mascott's idea to have a backyard alphabet hunt.  We simply made our hunt paperless.

What we did:

1.  Instead of a roll of paper we used pavement and sidewalk chalk.  We made a grid to write in the 26 letters.

2.  We filled in the grid with corresponding objects.
                                                                                                         

"R" is for rope,"V" is for vine, "W" is for wrapper, "S" is for stick...

Our "A" specimen was prone to wandering off the grid.

3.  We took Amy's idea one step further and tried to see what words we could spell with just the filled letters.  For a kinesthetic experience, we jumped on each letter square while spelling the word.  Fun for all!

Find more inspiration at Show and Tell this week!

Mosaic Birthday Banner

We've been experimenting with making mosaic crafts the past few months.  With a daughter's birthday to celebrate this week, I decided to assemble a banner created from colorful paper scrap squares.  This project requires an initial investment of time, but the results are sturdy and reusable.  And this month we can use the banner again twice--for my son's birthday and Father's Day!

Here's what we did:

1. Cut out squares of colored paper.  I used strips from colored paper in the recycle bin and text-free patterns from coupon inserts.  Sort and group colors.
2. Cut out letters from scrap paperboard.  I used a cracker box.
3. Glue squares onto the letters.  Trim edges to make them straight.
4. Hang the letters on ribbon, approximately 5 feet in length.  I taped paper clips so that I could clip them on and then rearrange the letters later for future occasions.  If you are pressed for time, just tape them.

I am sharing this at Tip Me Tuesday, Friday Flair and Creative Bloggers Party & Hop.