Wonderful Wednesday: Fresh Lettuce from the Garden!

Today was definitely a Wonderful Wednesday. Look what my daughter brought home from school today:


garden fresh lettuce. Lettuce they had grown themselves. You should have seen their faces glowing with pride as they each came home with the reward of their hard work. They were so proud of what they grew.

I was honored to have the first salad at our house. It was freshness that not even the Farmer's Market could match. They picked it right before they left school. Thanks for all your hard work Ms. Smith's class! It was delicious!

Classroom at Sea

One of the best parts about living in Southern California, is all the exposure my kids have to the ocean. We have so many opportunities to learn about ocean animals and their habitats. They are truly one of God's most fascinating creations if you ask my family. Today my daughter said "out of all the things God created...besides my family...this (the ocean & its creatures) is my favorite."

Today we moved from their classrooms out to the high sea, and spent the day on a whale watching cruise. I haven't been whale watching since I was a little girl...and I honestly don't remember much about the experience. Maybe that is why I have waited so long to take my own kids...I wanted it to be something they remembered.

It was truly amazing! I will never look out across the ocean the same again. It is unbelievable to realize all of the creatures that are just outside our little world.

The first animals we saw were California Sea Lions.


They are so cute. We actually saw quite a few of them in the water, but those guys are fast! They pop up and disappear before my camera ever had a chance to catch them!



We were supposed to see Gray Whales migrating to Alaska, but unfortunately we did not see any. I'm not surprised. Apparently Alaskan whales do not care for my family. We took two boat tours in Alaska last year and didn't see a single whale. Not one. We met a lovely family at our hotel who saw multiple whales and...the most painful to hear...multiple pods of Orcas. Not fair!

We did however, see a Fin Whale today (sometimes called a Finback Whale or Razorback). It is called a Fin Whale because it has a dorsal fin on its back just like a dolphin.


It is a baleen whale so it does not have teeth and only eats tiny creatures like krill. Although it eats such tiny food, it is the second largest living animal after the Blue Whale. They are now an endangered species with less than 3,000 of them found in the world. They are also really fast swimmers and are sometimes referred to as the Greyhounds of the Sea.

It was really an amazing experience to see this beautiful creature so closely. We got to see her several times, which definitely made up for not seeing any Gray Whales!

My favorite part of the trip was when we went through a massive pod of Common Dolphins. I have never seen anything like it! I knew there were super pods of dolphins with thousands of dolphins living together, but I couldn't even begin to comprehend that until today. We must have seen over 100 dolphins all in one place! It was unreal. I can't even begin to express how beautiful it was!

My camera really did not want to cooperate with me today. It was very frustrating! Until today I have only had this problem of the lens freaking out on the Alaskan cruise...but today it was much warmer, and my lens freaked out again. Uugh! I think my camera must have a case of seasickness. Is that possible? I had some great video, but my computer just doesn't want me to share. Electronics and I are just not getting along today!

Despite my ridiculously temperamental camera, I was able to catch a few dolphins that were closer to the shore.


These weren't a part of the massive pod, but they sure make a beautiful picture!

It was an amazing day...one I'm sure we won't ever forget. You can't say that about every day at school...

Locks of Love

For the last two years my sweet girl has been growing her hair out. Not because she was particularly interested in having long hair, but for a much sweeter reason. We follow the lives of two young children with cancer online...lives that have touched my daughters heart. Children whose young lives have been completely turned upside down due to cancer.

From the moment she heard of "Locks of Love" she was determined she would donate her hair. I thought it was a phase. I didn't give her enough credit. I thought when we were dealing with serious tangles, she would change her mind. We had a few nights with monster sized tangles. I didn't realize how much she understood. Tangles in your hair are minor...an inconvenience...nothing compared to the seriousness of cancer.

In the last year she has really begun to love her long hair. I had wondered if she would change her mind...or decide to wait two more years so it would remain long despite the donation. Today however, was the day...



I love her caring and compassionate heart. I love the way she loves so completely and selflessly. Today she simply got a haircut. I know it was nothing compared to the battle fought every day by children with cancer. But I must admit, I have never been more proud of my little girl. I love you honey!

Easter Decorations Transformation

Look at this little guy...


Something about him called to me...despite the fact that I absolutely hate the terra cotta look. I don't have anything against terra cotta in general, but it just wasn't working for him. Maybe it was the tempting cry of RustOleum...begging me to try and transform him...to make him loveable again.

I think I paid 25 cents for him...maybe it was a whopping 50 cents. Either way, it was a challenge that seemed worth the risk. In my mind I could see it, and it was adorable. With pottery you just never know how it will turn out. But I was willing to give it a try. Besides, I already had my RustOleum Primer and Heirloom White patiently waiting at home.

It wasn't until I found this basket that I knew the perfect home for him.


I know what you are thinking. If you have looked around my blog for awhile, you know things are very beach cottage around here. This bright green basket just doesn't seem like my style. While I admit, I do love the colors and that basket is sitting full of those bright colorful eggs waiting for our Easter Egg hunt...it wasn't the decor I was looking for. I wanted something more subdued. Something calmer. Something less obvious. Something I would want to pull out year after year despite the popular color changes.

The price of the basket was good...$2.50 at Target. You know, in the "fake" side of the Dollar Section. The color was not so good. So out came the RustOleum once again. Just look at them now...


So sweet. So simple. So understated. I love it!

Wonderful Wednesday: You've Been Egged!

I am sure most of you have probably already seen this idea. I however, have been living under a rock for the past month. Ok, maybe not literally under a rock, but it sure seems like it. The Yearbook was that time consuming. Not only was I not blogging, but I wasn't blog hopping either. I had not seen a single Easter idea until this weekend! Not one. I know, it is sad.

On my first peak at Pinterest in a month...yes, my first look in a MONTH...I found this:


How cute is this sign? It is the Easter version of "Booing."

I knew I HAD to share it with the few people who may not have already gotten their hands on it. Would you believe it is a FREE printable? Free! Go take a look over at "eighteen25." I can not say THANK YOU enough for this fabulous idea and the adorable printable!! Thank you ladies!!

I knew what we needed. The Dollar Section at Target had really cute metal buckets, but when I got there, they had some I hadn't seen before. Look how cute these are:


I don't know why, but I was completely smitten by the wood bead on the handle. SMITTEN. See, the details really do matter to me. Yes, I know I am strange.

I mounted my FREE printable on a piece of polka dot cardstock from my paper stash and used the scraps to punch out tags for the buckets. I tied them on with the same ribbon I used to make a hanger for our sign. Ribbon I had won from a blog giveaway...a FREE printable and FREE ribbon. Yippee!

I was sure I could find eggs that coordinated with the colors of the printable, so I took it with me to Target. Remember, the beauty is in the details...coordinating colors matter. I found a pack of eggs that quite honestly just hadn't appealed to me before. I wasn't thrilled with the colors...until I held it next to my new favorite printable. They were practically perfect! I am wondering if they had the eggs and used them for their color pallet...


There were more colors in the bag, but I liked the look of these the best. I think the whole bag was $1.99...and there are a ton of eggs in there. Just look how great they are:


Could they be any cuter?




On the back of each of the name tags, I wrote a personalized note. I had my kids tell me what they liked about their friends. It was really sweet. It turns out we needed bigger tags to write all of the nice things. Ben, Anna and Halle...we think you guys are pretty amazing!

Instead of leaving the eggs in the baskets, we hid them all around their yard. Who doesn't love an Easter egg hunt?








These were some of the easy ones to find. The kids hid 24 eggs. I honestly have no idea where most of them were.

These were my helpers basking in the glory of their sneakiness. They were so nervous when we got there...but once they realized we were going to actually be able to hide all the eggs without getting caught...they were pretty funny.

We had so much fun planning the "attack." Thanks for your help Sadie and for coming along for the adventure! We didn't want to leave you out of the reward...


I hope you enjoyed being "Egged" too!


My only regret is that I didn't find this sooner. We have a lot of people we would like to have "Egged", but they are out of town.

IF your kids aren't on Spring Break yet, this would be a GREAT way to spread some Easter cheer in the classroom! You could hang the sign on the door when they are at lunch and hide a few eggs in each child's desk. Some kids might not be able to find the eggs in their messy desk! It almost makes me wish my kids weren't on Spring Break yet...almost.

Happy Hunting!

Easter Egg Goody Bags

My daughters birthday was two days before Spring Break. Our school has a pretty strict policy about not bringing in cupcakes or sugary treats for birthdays. There are guidelines about what is acceptable and what is not. The most frustrating part is not being able to bring food made from home. No cupcakes. No cake pops. What is a crafty mom to do? It definitely makes it a bit more challenging to make the day special.

Of course you can always bring goody bags, but you know where those little things end up. My kids bring them home, usually leave them lying on the floor...and I put them in the trash. So when I have goody bags, I try REALLY hard to make it something that might actually get used. The added difficulty comes because I am so picky and they must color coordinate, look good and not cost a fortune. Yeah...believe me, it is not the easiest task.

I was thrilled to find a pack of Easter eggs at Target in shades of blues and greens. They are beautiful colors and my daughters favorite colors. I knew this was a great start.


Aren't they pretty? That is $2 worth of plastic eggs and a $2.50 basket from the "Dollar Section." Pretty cute. The eggs come in different sizes. The ones pictured are the smaller ones, but we used the large eggs for our goody bags.

We went to Party City to look for some "fillers." We took a bag of eggs with us, since I am a PICKY color coordinator. Believe me, I know it pretty much only matters to me, but it is the details that make things special. Even if people don't realize it or can't verbalize what makes an event special...trust me, it is the details.

I found these small bubbles in the clearance section:


They had paper wrappers that I knew would be easy to remove and the colors were pretty good. They also had just enough bubbles to cover everyone in her class. They were meant for us to take home!

We removed all of the wrappers that came on the bubbles and I pulled out my stash of scrapbook paper. I found a pattern that would work well and ran it through the printer to print out each child's name. I used two sheets of paper and a little bit of adhesive...


Aren't they cute? Who wouldn't appreciate the personalization? I know that the kids with unique names appreciated it! How often do you find personalized items for Gui or Raph? I know how hard it is to find them for Katelyn...so I can only imagine.

I took the bubbles and added them to a bag with the large egg. I probably should have put the bubbles in the egg and called it a day, but since they were so cute personalized, I wanted them to show. My daughter knew right away what she wanted to put in the boys egg...remember our Valentines? The boys LOVED the mustaches...so she knew they needed another mustache. The girls got cute ice cream erasers and each kid also had a few tiny chocolate eggs.

They looked ok, but needed one more thing...


What 3rd Grader doesn't enjoy a cheesy play on words? That is what makes them so EGG-cellent!

Easter Slap Bracelets

Hello friends! Oh how I have missed my "regular" life. I have been gone FOREVER because of a commitment to create the Yearbook for my kids school. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I will write more about it later, but for now, I want to show you an idea for a cute Easter treat. Well, according to my daughter this couldn't be a treat. She thinks a treat is something you eat. Isn't a pedicure a treat? Let's just say we have agreed to disagree.

I found these adorable slap bracelets in the Easter section at WalMart:


They have several different styles with different wording. I lead an AWANA group at church on Wednesday night and I wanted something to give the boys for Easter. Something besides candy. Trust me, those boys have enough energy without candy in their systems! :)

These jumped out at me because of their great colors for boys and the word "Awesome." When I was in High School we always sang a song in church about our Awesome God. As I have gotten older, I have become more aware of just how AWESOME my God truly is.

I thought with a little added touch, these would be perfect for the boys. I used my word processor and created a tag to staple to the top of the package. I would usually make them more detailed, but I was in a hurry...and lets get real...they are boys. 5 and 6 year old boys. They don't care about the package, I do. So this time I kept it simple.

Look how personal the little added touch makes these:



The possibilities for these bracelets are endless. To begin with, they are 97 cents...just think what a great score they would be after Easter! To save for another time, you could open the package and remove the bunny paper. You would never know they were from Easter! Your added paper could say anything: "Thanks for being an AWESOME friend." "1st Graders are AWESOME." I love an easy, inexpensive treat that is so versatile. They would make great party favors to pass out at school for a birthday instead of cupcakes that have been outlawed at our school.



I will definitely be on the lookout for the sales after Easter!