Super SEVEN

Kami turned 7 (last week)! She had a great birthday party with her family and friends. It was carnival style so there were fun games to play and prizes (mostly candy) for anyone who tried to play one of the games. What a better way to spend a 100 degree day!! Gotta love those summer birthdays. Here are some pics of the party and the birthday girl. Thanks to all who attended!

Solar Oven

This summer has been nice and warm with lots of great sunshine - a great opportunity to do a little "summer school" and build a solar oven. The kids are always asking how hot it is outside and I always say "hot enough to fry an egg" which they then give me a silly (yeah sure mom) look. So after doing a little googling and finding some great instructions and recipes we went about building our own solar oven. Instead of a pizza box we used a USPS priority box and just used one of the front openings to insert our cookie sheet with peanut butter cookie dough. Don't you just love the pink duct tape! The girls and Drew checked the solar cooker every 10 - 15 minutes to make sure the sunlight was properly reflected into our oven for maximum heat. After awhile (I lost track of the time!!) we brought in the solar oven and using an oven mitt extracted a tray full of solar baked peanut butter cookies! Since we propped up the solar oven in the beginning the cookies kind of ran together but they still tasted great! Here are some pics of our summer science experiment!

SAHM of Etsy Blog

Check this out!! I was featured on the SAHM of Etsy Blog.

Have a good week!! More belated postings to come in the near future!!

Rian and the Worm

For those of you who were hoping to see the video of Rian and her worm Kayla I apologize that it is no longer posted here. Gary and I sent the video to America's Funniest Videos (AFV) and one of the requirements per the agreement we signed with them was to remove the video from our blog. I am happy to report however that Rian is no longer traumatized by returning rescued worms to their natural habitat. She is actually the best worm saver on our block and I bet if worms could talk they would be cheering her on for all of her heroic worm rescues this spring (post rain storms!). Her trained eye can spot a wiggling worm a block away!! We will keep you posted on her infamous video and if we hear that it will be aired on AFV.

Go Fish Felt Fishing Game

As a member of the Etsy community I've had a great time meeting other creators and getting their input on the items offered in my shop. Recently I was approached by a super sweet homeschooling momma who was interested in my Go Fish Felt Fishing Game. After sending her a sample and allowing her youngsters to play with this fun toy she wrote a review about it on her blog. You can check it out here. These felt fishing games can be found in my etsy shop Sapucha on Etsy.

Thanks!

Mom & Me Camp 2011

The girls and I just returned from a great weekend at Camp Newaygo where we participated in the Mommy & Me weekend camp program. My cousin Meg O'Brien and her daughter Claire joined us for the second year. Meg and Claire drove to Grand Rapids on Friday to spend the night and then on Saturday morning we packed up and headed to camp! The "excitement meter" was OFF THE CHARTS and the girls were ready to get to camp. Our weekend was packed with so many activities - tye dying, rock climbing, archery, swimming, water wonder (study of the lake), canoe trip, GaGa Court (hand ball type of game), shelter building, scavenger hunt, bonfire, cookout, hiking, nature trail exploration, zoo school, fencing, singing camp songs...WOW I think I covered most of the activities but I'm sure there were more that I left out. Anyway I think you get the picture and can see that we were busy and having a ton of fun! Here are some pictures and short videos highlighting our experiences:

Soccer Chick

Since Rian took a ballet / hip hop class (see previous post) Kami chose to sign up for spring soccer. She had a great time and really improved her skills. Here she is in action on the field. She is the one with pig tails and in a lime green shirt with black shorts. I also added a second video so I didn't leave Drew out of all this blogging. The video with him shows how he occupies himself while his big sis plays soccer.

Hip Hop Ballet

Rian just completed a five week ballet & hip hop class for 4 & 5 year olds. She really enjoyed the portion of the class dedicated to the hip hop dancing. Here she is in action! (sorry you have to tilt your head to watch these!)

Birthday Boy!

Drew turned 2 on April 30. He has grown so much over the last year! He is all boy, loves throwing anything he can pick up, likes cars, dumping sand from the sandbox onto the patio and playing on the swing set. He is a great little brother who can't resist a big squeeze from his big sisters. Here are some pics from his birthday party. Happy Birthday Drew "Bear" - we love you!!

Blog Hop - Check this out

Below is a link for a blog hop. What is a blog hop you ask? Well it is when a bunch of different blogs post the same code (html) for the same pics/info and that info/pics appears on all of the participating blogs. Basically it is a way to get a lot more exposure to what you want to showcase (like Etsy shops!). Here is my first attempt in participating in a blog hop. Hope it works!!