Treasure Hunt

Saturday was looking to be a LOOOOOONG day.  We ~ as in Bo, is an early riser & by 9 a.m. we have often been up for 3 hours. 

This Saturday we went on a treasure hunt.  First up...we all made our own treasure maps.  Since Bo cut his up trying to "decorate" it...I gave him mine.

Then, we slapped it into contact paper to make it easy to roll up...keeping a lot on the ends makes it extra fun for the little hands to roll up.

And you just HAVE to roll it up so you can have a telescope...

...to assist in finding the treasure.

My favorite part was Bo dragging me around & around the house with his little hand in mine, following the map.  "We need to go into the jungle to find the letter, mom."  He kept calling the letter X on the map "the letter."  We never did find "the letter" but we found lots & lots of treasure.

Little Surprises

I have had some fun surprises lately.  Winning Grandma Yellow Hair's giveaway & receiving not one but TWO pans of fudge in the mail.  She is one of my favorite reads.  You would never believe the things that happen to her...HI MAGGIE!  We shared don't worry-but it sure was good!

And even when my sister Kate (Auntie Cake) won a giveaway from Zany Mayd ~ Cheryl included a little something for me!

How lucky can you get! 

Thanks Cheryl!

Bo left me a surprise in the fridge.

That is the shelf we always shove our leftovers onto.  Nothing usually comes off that shelf once it goes on there :)   Elmo might be the first thing to make it off the shelf before his expiration date.  Oh & that little piece of wodden cake came out too :)

And Rocco leaves me surprises daily.

I know, I should have warned you...sorry about that.  Hope you aren't eating :)

Never know what tomorrow will hold!  :)

Sunny Days

Because of this long dreary winter I snatched up this shirt from Target when I saw it:

When she outgrows it I am thinking of framing it & making it into art for my laundry room (It wouldn't really match any other room:)

Hopefully it would look much cuter than that :) ~All stretched out nice, in a white frame. 

    Two days after we bought it we were driving in the car & Annie said, "Mom, it is cloudy." 

     I agreed, "It sure is!" 

     She then said, "But I thought that shirt said "Sunny days are here again."  That is when we had the Sometimes, sunny days are just on the inside talk.

They still have them at Target if you need one!

Fuuny Kid 9

It amazes me how quick Bo is.  I walk out of the room, leaving him quietly eating lunch & come back a second later only to find an astronaut in my kitchen.

He looked so cute I almost didn't want to make him get off the table, but I did. 

Water

I have been trying soooooo hard to drink my water, 8 cups a day.

One way I love to drink is in the UNSWEETENED waters that are out there these days.

The first sip is TERRIBLE out of every bottle.  But then you start to get used to the no sugar & now...I crave it!

But I do hate to pay $1.00 PER water, that is what they charge for these.  And I hate to use so many plastic bottles!  So I came up with my own.

I actually wash the bottles in the top rack of my dishwasher, refill them, and then comes the secret ingredient:

Baking flavors!

I just add 2 or 3 drops, shake the bottle up & throw it in the fridge.

My favorite flavor right now is Orange.

I also like

Mint & Coconut.

Now I do have to warn you, I don't think it is for everyone...but when I am sick of water & still need to get a little more in, this is the way I like to drink it.  And remember the first sip is ALWAYS TERRIBLE.  But by sip 3, you might be hooked :)  Let me know if you try it!

Shoe Shopping

When I took Bo shoe shopping I immediately wanted these shoes:

Clean, sensible shoes.

Bo however fell IN LOVE with these shoes:

They are called POLICE shoes.  They even light up all over. 

He had them on very fast and he smiled so big & said, in his sweetest voice, "Pleeeeeease mom?  Pleeease?" 

Instantly I wanted to say no, but then I looked at his old white sneakers that were all dirty & had been since the second time he had worn them, then I looked out the window at the Minnesota gray slush & I said, "Okay".

Yes, I had to make siren sounds all the way home...but you wouldn't believe how many bad guys he has caught! 

WOW! What a Week!

Thank you sooooo much for all your loving comments about my last post, Annie's bracelets.   Your sweet thoughts brought me to tears MANY MANY times! 

I can't believe what this week has been!  We are in bracelets up to our knees over here!  That is one reason I have not been able to visit many of you, my friends.  I have been beading with Annie & our family filling orders.  Even tonight my family sat around making bracelets for Annie to sell.  My mom, Auntie Cake & Annie's cousins have all been called in as reinforcments. 

Here is a picture of our HARDEST WORKING volunteer:

Auntie Cake's "Nature Girl" kicked out more bracelets than anyone this weekend!

She even stayed the night, stayed up late beading & then...spent her whole 13th birthday beading!!!  Seriously, this girl is an angel!

It also turns out Kate's "Captian Awesome" has a serious eye for design :)  All the girls were going crazy trying to think up new patterns & he (14) sits down & starts whipping out the coolest bracelets...who knew!

We have had different people helping us in different ways so we decided to make a special bracelet just for people who volunteer to help us out.

Just kinda Fun.

We had a friend offer to sell some at her 

Salon "La Court Hair Design."

One fun surprise today was finding that a writer Lisa Belkin from the New York Times mentioned Annie's cause on the

 New York Times Parenting Blog.

Pretty Cool :)

I am not sure we are making a ton of money-the one dollar price tag is not adding up very quickly :)  BUT Annie is learning, caring & inspiring (me).

So we are BUSY & really just enjoying the surprises each day & most importantly, enjoying the support from all of you friends!

So, please forgive me if I don't stop by this week.  Believe me, I MISS YOU!  And I know that life will be back to normal next week :) so I will be back bugging you all :)

It is amazing what a little fist full of bracelets & a whole bunch of caring hearts can turn into.

It is amazing how many smiles you have given our family.

Thank You.

Annie's Bracelets

     When I told Annie about all that is going on in Haiti...I will never forget the horror on her face.  She said, "Mom we have to go there no matter how far away it is & help." 

     When I explained that we can't go there but we could help in other ways she said, "Let's give them ALL our money and send Dad to work tomorrow to make more money for us." 

     That is when I said, "Annie, we can't give away ALL our money, but, if you had money you could give it to them.  Maybe you could make something to sell." 

    When she got home from Kindergarten at noon she worked for 6 hours stright making bracelets.  I could not believe how hard she worked!

Beading here...

Beads there...

Beading, beading everywhere!

   She could hardly wait to start selling!  She put on her hat & coat & with her little fist full of bracelets she turned and said, "I can do this alone.  I want to go alone."  So I stood back, told her what homes she could go to, (did A TON of spying) and let her go.

   She came back with 4 dollars and she was so happy!  (She is asking 1 dollar a piece.)  She also said, "One house had no money, so we need to make more bracelets to sell so we can give them some money."   Oh, how I love her!!!

   After hitting up the Grandparents, Annie had sold 15 bracelets and made over 50 dollars.  She worked again today to make a whole new batch & she took them to church tonight.  She has raised over 100 dollars ~ thanks to all of our generous friends! 

   We have more to make for Sunday because some more requests came in but I am just so happy to see my daughter not only have compassion, but taking action!  SO you see...to me...these little plastic bracelets...are the most beautiful jewelry in the world.

Ballerinas

Look at this little lovely lady.

She caught my eye at a flea market this summer. 

But, the best part is where she lives.

Can you guess?

Isn't she wonderful? 

I got her for 10 bucks!  I do need to get her fixed though.  I need to make that my January goal!  I have been keeping her hidden from Annie so I always forget to make a few calls about where to get her fixed.  Out of sight, out of mind.

But, I think my little ballerina will LOVE her!

It was TWIN DAY at her school last week &

"the Annies"

(best friends with the same name)

decided to dress up as twin ballerinas.

If you love flea markets & antique stores you will LOVE Jeanette's Giveaway...it is the coolest!  You get to look at pictures of their antique store booth & then pick out what you would like if you win!  Good Luck!  (But I really hope I will :)

I am having problems getting my pics from my camera to my computer so if it takes me too long to post...so sorry!

Wild Wild West

You all know about our Murder Mystery Weekend in Mabel, MN,  complete with Bo spraying the hotel's fire extinguisher & our Amish visit.  But, here are a few pictures from our dinner.

Here was the vicitm:  Uncle Pete

My charater's name was Annie & my husband's character name was Bo!  SO we shared names with our kids for the night.

2 Annies

You can't really see my sister-in-law but she planned this whole weekend for us!  Hiubby's cousin Lisa here...she was the doc.

The kids had more fun than anyone!  They took solving the crime very seriously.

And of course Bo just shot us all, "Put your hands up!"

But the kids were pretty sure either my husband or I did it.  (He does look a little suspicous to me too actually.)

So...this is what I looked at all night..."Where were you when Uncle Pete died?"  "We know you did it."

And even though I had these guns about 3 inches from my face most of the night...

...I was innocent! 

And we had a wonderful night!  Thanks Tricia!

The Bear Egg

Can you believe this is an egg?!

Isn't he cute?

I found these Japenese Egg Molds when I was ordering my neice a Bento Box for Christmas.

     The directions were in Japenese, thank goodness for the internet!  Just boil an egg & while it is still warm put it in the mold. Then put it in the fridge for 10 minutes.  It stays this way when you take it out.

They travel well in a lunch box & they are our favorite afterschool snack!

If you go to that site you will find lots of other cool things under Bento Box Accessories.