Spring Wreath {DIY}

Spring is here and it has been giving me decorating urges. I usually don't get "spring cleaning" urges. I am what some would refer to as a "neat freak" and I always keep a pretty tidy house. But, there are a few areas of the house that are still not decorated 2 years later (pathetic I know) that are really starting to bug me. We also have a few honey-do projects that I am getting anxious about and I really wanted a wreath to replace the one I made last year that didn't work out so well.

Has anyone ever tried the genius Pinterest idea of making a wreath from a pool noodle? Well, I did and I declare it to be the dumbest idea ever. If this method worked for you, PLEASE let me know what you did, so I can figure out where I went wrong! What started out as a mostly round beautiful wreath ended up looking rather egg shaped, lop sided and unattractive. I was sad and disappointed. I had made several felt flowers for it so I yanked them off the best I could and put them in the craft closet to sit. Until this week.
First off, to make a yarn wrapped wreath the best thing you can use is a straw wreath from your local craft store. They are cheap and come wrapped in plastic. Use a 40% off coupon, leave the plastic on and get to wrapping and wrapping and wrapping and wrapping!

I used about 3 types of yarn I had and ended up with this.

I found burlap ribbon for 50% off.  I am always a sucker for mustard yellow.

Then I got out my flowers. Thankfully I salvaged just enough to not have to make more.

Now I have a beautiful, spring wreath that is sturdy and with a little luck, won't need replaced next year.

Which project will I take on next... .



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It's The Little Things /Kids Workshops

We are a pretty blue collar family. We work, and we work hard. My husband isn't afraid to tackle just about any project big or small and I stand by nervous, but always cheering him on. I love being married to a man that can or will figure out how to fix just about anything.
I said all of that to say that hammers aren't unfamiliar objects to our girls. We have owned more than one tool toy set and our girls actually have their own real tool box complete with a tape measure, screw driver, hammer, and even a saw. Yes, a saw. I was a bit shocked to. But don't worry, it isn't in reach!
Ever since Marissa was about 2 we have been active in going to the local home improvement stores kids clinics. Thankfully we are only minutes away from both Lowes and Home Depot and they have provided us with MANY free Saturday morning family outings.

This past weekend we hit up Home Depot, it is definitely our favorite. We love that we get to paint there most weeks. We love the pins they give us for our aprons and we love our local Home Depot crew. They are so great with the kids. Home Depot is also on an easy schedule we know the first Saturday of every month we can run up there and build something.

This week we made bird bath/feeders.

Family fun and hammers, it doesn't get much better than that for us!

Do you ever take your kids to building clinics?
Check your local stores out for a schedule to see if workshops are offered in your area.

Home Depot

Lowes

Passport to the world: Italy

We are currently wrapping up our home school year, wahoo! I have LOVED this year but I am beyond excited and ready for Summer. Everyday I feel that I sound a little more and more like Olaf. "Oh, I don't know why but I've always loved the idea of summer and sun..."
In Social Studies we have been taking one country every week and learning about it. This week our country was Italy. Oh Italy, you are beautiful and captivating. I would love to go visit you but for now I will just wish and dream myself into Google image pictures. 
Here are some activities from this week:
Coloring the Italian Flag

 I made some easy Roman numeral worksheets and a little test for her to do.

We also talked about The Leaning Tower of Pisa and watched this video

After the video we decided to be crafty and make our own Leaning Tower of Pisa. I searched the internet for ideas and didn't find anything I could just print, so we got crafty and came up with this. 

Supplies needed:

Toilet paper roll

White and green paint

Sharpie

4x4 /6x6 piece of cardboard

Hot glue gun

Markers

toothpick

small piece of paper

First, I took the piece of cardboard traced the toilet paper circle around it and cut out a hole so I could easily fit the toilet paper roll into the piece of cardboard. Then we painted our pieces to let them dry.

Painting a cylinder was a bit tricky so I helped her.

After the paint was completely dry we took a sharpie and made LOTS of arches all the way around it.

 Then we inserted the toilet paper roll into the base. You want the tower to lean (obviously) so we trimmed about 1/4" off one side of the toilet paper roll before we glued it in. 

 Next, we made this cute little flag with a tiny piece of paper and a toothpick and glue it to the top. 

Finished product. I thought this turned out really cute.

That just about wraps up Italy except for a tasty Italian treat. What Study unit is complete without some kind of food, right?! 

Stick around and see what we made later this week. 

Happy Monday!

Ultimate Blog Party 2014

Hello! I am so excited to be a part of Ultimate Blog Party 2014. I found out about this event just about a week ago and I was thrilled. I was a mixture of squeals of excitement and relief that I hadn't missed out on it. That would have been a huge bummer!
UBP comes at a perfect time for me, I am a new-by blogger. I tried about a year ago and failed miserably. But a lot has changed and I jumped back in about a month ago. Blogging has been different this time around and I am LOVING using it as my creative outlet.

For those of you who are thinking what is Ultimate Blog Party?! It is a way to say who you are, link your blogs in one place and meet other bloggers. I am super excited about that last part. I want to meet more bloggers! Networking is fun, but hard. I am so glad to have this week of fun to hopefully make it a bit easier and make some new friends along the way!
Let's get started...
My name is Beth! I have been married to Russell for almost 7 years now. I love that man, even when he mercilessly teases me to the point of insanity. Nobody can make me laugh like he does and he really does understand me better than I do myself.

These are our girls Marissa, almost 6 and Emily, who just turned 3. I LOVE being a girl mom. Half of the things in our house are pink and/or covered in glitter and I couldn't imagine our life any other way. They bring more life and love to everyday.

I am a... nerd, knitter, runner, athlete, baker, Cardinals baseball lover, gardener, food preserver, nature enthusiast, home-schooling mama, DIY'er, classic car loving girl, NASCAR fan, and a VERY stubborn individual who can sometimes be a bit of a hypochondriac.

We are Christians. We are part of the most amazing church. I know a lot of people feel that way but, I couldn't mean it any more. 
Almost 3 years ago our home was destroyed by an F5 tornado that demolished 1/3 of our city. We got to see our church be THE church. When I reflect back on that first year of life post tornado and living in recovery mode, it was the hardest thing we have ever been through so far. I can't imagine how much more difficult that would have been without so many people helping us along and even propping us up at times.
We are part of an amazing church.

Most of our blogs are about what we're up to. What we're learning, baking, making, and doing. And sometimes even what we are thinking. 

I hope you stick around. If you would like to leave a comment, that would be great. I would love to be able to get back to you!
Connect with Me: Facebook
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Twitter
Happy partying fellow bloggers!

Abc, color with me

Okay, so let's take a mommy minute to talk abc color pages...

Any mom with kids 5 and under at some point gives the abc's some thought. Introducing them, learning the song, the letters, how to write them and their sounds. All are basic building blocks for eventually learning how to read.  As we have worked through our handwriting book over the course of this school year, we have included a coloring page when we learn a new letter. I did this eventually planning to make an abc book with them for Marissa to have.

While doing this project I discovered that not all ABC color page sites are the same. At the beginning of the year I quickly chose one and printed off all the pages. Woo-hoo we were done.... or so I thought. When we started coloring the lower case letters, a few months down the road, Marissa was quick to point out that they were the same pictures as the uppercase letters. One thinks that a five year old is not this observant but, NEVER underestimate their absorbent mind. I didn't even notice right away but sure enough she was right. 

So I did some digging and I found Make Learning Fun. In my opinion they hands down have the best abc color pages for kids. Why? Each letter has several pictures to choose from, you can choose a picture that you feel your kid will find the most interesting. The pages are simple, not to big and they are perfect for turning into a book when you complete the alphabet.



Marissa was so excited to have her book done she immediately read it to her sister and later that night when dad got home he got to listen to.



I love it when she is proud of something that she has done.

Cinnamon Crunch Bagels

I warned you guys I am a bread maker...
 For my next bread recipe, I want to talk about bagels. I love bagels! I mean who doesn't like eating the equivalent to 5 pieces of bread in one sitting. In lovely JoMo we don't have a lot of bagel store options, Panera Bread pretty much has the market cornered. They do make delicious bagels, but buying all of our bagels there isn't exactly "in the budget" Recently, I discovered an okay bagel recipe that I tweaked a bit and turned it into a recipe very similar to the cinnamon crunch bagels at Panera. I hope you love them as much as we do!
Cinnamon Crunch Bagels

Ingredients:

1 Cup warm (not hot) water 1 1/2 tsp salt 2 T brown sugar 3 Cups flour (I use all purpose unbleached) 2 1/4 tsp yeast 3 quarts boiling water 3 T sugar cornmeal for sprinkling pan 1 egg white
Topping Ingredients: 1/4 Cup sugar 1/4 Cup Brown sugar 3 tsp cinnamon
Directions: 1. Place water, salt, sugar, yeast and flour in a stand mixer. Using the dough hook mix until the dough has come into a ball and knead until it is smooth and elasticy. The dough should be slightly sticky, but it should not stick to your hands. 
2. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise 2/3 hours or until doubled in size.

3. In a large pot bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and stir in the 3T of sugar. 

4. Punch the dough down. Divide the dough into equal portions. You can make 9 smaller bagels, but we prefer to do 7 larger ones. Form a ball with dough, flatten the ball and push your finger through the middle to form a hole. Twirl the dough on your finger to enlarge the hole and to even out the dough around the hole. Cover the bagels with a clean cloth an allow them to rest for about 20 minutes.

5.Preheat oven to 375F

6. Sprinkle an ungreased cookie sheet with cornmeal. Carefully transfer the bagels one at a time to the boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds on each side. Drain briefly on a clean towel, then transfer to the prepared cookie sheet. Glaze top with egg whites then sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugars mixture. 

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes until well browned. Once completely cooled store in an airtight container, or in the freezer.

Try it, share it, Pin it!

This is my favorite original recipe so far, and I am so excited to share it with you!

The Netherlands Part two: Boterkoek

One of my favorite parts of studying countries has been trying so many new foods. We have tried a new recipe every week and we have definitely found a few keepers. This weeks recipe is a traditional Dutch dessert. From the research I did, it isn't a delicacy or something fancy for a special occasion but, it is "working man's" dessert. Our favorite part of this recipe was the name, Boterkoek (Boat-er-coke) The girls would repeat it over and over and over, it was adorable. If I had to rate all the recipes we have tried this one might be my least favorite. But, I think that is just because it tasted pretty familiar. I would compare it to an almond sugar cookie.

Boterkoek

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup unsalted butter

1 Cup superfine, or regular sugar

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Handful of almonds (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line your tin, I use a 9" springform, you could also use a 9" pie plate.

2. Mix together butter, sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy. (If you do not have super fine sugar you can put regular sugar in the blender to make your own)

3. Add the beaten egg to the mixture, but leave a tsp or so in the bowl for glazing at the end. Stir in egg then add flour and baking powder and mix until the dough comes together. 
4. Place mixture in the prepared baking pan and gently press until level. 
5. With a sharp knife score the surface to create a diamond criss-cross pattern. I apparently didn't score ours deep enough. I had to go back over it with a knife to get it to appear. 
6. Mix the tsp of egg with a tsp of water and brush over the cake (I did this step and ours didn't get golden brown like I expected it, but tested done so I didn't wait.)
7. Sprinkle with flaked almonds (optional) and bake for 25-30 minutes until it tests done with a toothpick.

Original recipe from lovefoodies.com