Activity Bags

Campmeeting is just around the corner and I found just the thing to encourage quiet sitting.  Although generally I have found the less we take to church with us, the quieter my younger boys are, I will make exceptions for campmeeting services because they tend to run muuuuch longer.  It's hard for ME to sit still sometimes.  ;-)  When I saw this pattern for activity bags, complete with crayon pockets, 

I just had to make them.  

This pattern is free from Moda Bake Shop

I didn't order the fabric they used mainly because I have never ordered fabric online before.  (Stupid reason, huh?)  I think I will definitely order soon, though, because I paid a whole lot more by shopping at my nearby JoAnn's.  The choices weren't as adorable, either. 

Pretty much, the choices were puppies, or puppies.  We went with puppies.  

 The outside has a crayon pocket on the front...

...and a double patch pocket on the back.

The inside is fully lined with a magnetic snap AND another pocket!  

Gotta run....the heart shaped flat bread I made for the Valentine's party tomorrow is nearly gone

so I hafta make more!

AND, my parents arrive tomorrow for camp!  So excited!  But....lots to get done.  

Have a blessed weekend, everybody!

For the love of bread.

Have you ever had an "I can make thaaaat" moment?  I had one such moment a couple weeks ago while sitting in a hair salon thumbing through a magazine, waiting for my client to get her hair washed and styled.  I saw an ad for this...

Another picture in the ad showed the dough all rolled out flat like biscuit dough, and being cut out with a circle cutter.  Surely I COULD make these!


Double light bulb moment!  I can use a HEART cutter and make cutzie little sandwiches to take to the Valentine's party!  Tonight was the night to try it out.  I used my favorite bread recipe, but didn't double it like I normally do....'cause....it COULD have flopped and I would have wasted a lot of honey!  And freshly ground wheat.  BUT......Ta-da!  It worked!

The hearts sliced beautifully and were light and delicate.

A little mayo and tiny spoonful of leftover chicken salad.  Isn't it cute?  Yummy!

Oh yeah....yummy! 

Never have met a carb I didn't like!  Before you leave, take a look at my cousin's blog HERE and read about how her sweet little daughter, Carly, accidentally bought an iTunes app for $349.99, and how she learned a lesson about God's mercy and forgiveness.

Valentine Shtuff.

I promised to show our Valentine "boxes" (that aren't actually boxes at all) that the boys helped me make for their party this Friday with the homeschool group.  Now that they are finished and my creative juices started flowing, I had other ideas that I wish I had thought of first.  (Like covering the entire canister with brown paper and cutting out  individual Scooby's.  I would have liked to have a brown velvety ribbon or maybe strips of faux leather for the handle, instead of the red ribbon I found in my Christmas stash.  The possibilities are endless, of course!

Sticking a mouse through the slots in the lid.

Cover the canister in mod podge.  Apply whatever decorations you want and cover everything with 2 coats of mod podge, letting it dry between coats.

We also finished our mousy valentines to pass out.  I found this idea at the family fun website and changed it a little to suit my little guy's abilities to assemble.  You can see what we used here.

The body of the mouse is a white heart folded in half.  

Winter Paradise

Truly, we live in paradise!  Although I was raised in Pennsylvania where we were never bored in the winter, I'm finding it hard to beat the winters in South Florida!  We met a couple families at nearby Halpatiokee Park and enjoyed God's creation via long meandering trails that eventually led to beautiful waterways.  The boys were like magnets to the water.  What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?  We live about a mile from the beach, but that isn't all Florida offers!  This is the other face of Florida:  woods, critters, bike trails, cypress and Australian pine trees.  I love it.

Long Live the Vikings!

Christmas money comes in handy if you save it for the after Christmas sales.  The "littles" have had their eyes on these "How to Train Your Dragon" viking battle kits for months, now.  Today we discovered two of them on the clearance shelf for less than 1/2 of the original price.  SCORE!   

They were more than happy to open their wallets!

You don't think I would let them play with the toys without testing them first, do you?  

I mean, these things can be DANGEROUS!   

The toys passed inspection, but the jury is still out on the question of whether or not these toys are safe in the hands of 4 and 5 year old boys.  However, no blood was shed today, so it's all good!  Wait....there WAS blood shed today.  Eli sliced his foot in the woods (barefoot...doesn't the boy listen to me?) while building a fort for the vikings.  But that's another blog.