End of Year Gifts

With school ending this week, the gals and I decided to bust out our crafting supplies and make some gifts for our fantastic teachers this year. We have had several special teachers this year and because we actually started our crafts early, we were able to make a few different projects.

First up was an easy project.  We had all the supplies right here:  fabric scraps, empty wine bottles (of course!) and Mod Podge.
We cut up some fabric scraps, covered the bottles in Mod Podge, placed fabric on the bottles, and covered the fabric in Mod Podge.  The end result was a funky vase.

 

 

 

 

We also thought a few of our teachers could use a beverage (or three) after this long school year.  We decided to make accessories to go along with those beverages.  We pulled out and old favorite from our files.  You can click here to see the previous post I made that has instructions on these awesome alcohol ink tiles.  We had the ink and primer already and the tiles cost 44 cents each at Home Depot. I glued felt squares on the bottom of the tiles and they will make perfect outdoor drink coasters.

 

 

Lastly, I decided to reconnect with my Singer, as it's been some time. I made two casserole carries and etched the glassware with my Silhouette machine.  Oh how I love that machine...it makes me look so fancy ;)

 



 

 

We have been so lucky with the girls getting phenomenal teachers since they started school. We just wanted to show them small tokens of how much we appreciate their hard work and dedication. 

 



Community

We had a great weekend in our neighborhood, kicking off the summer season at our community park.  Our park is quite unusual from other parks in town, being that it is not a municipal park nor a park funded by a homeowners association.  Our park is a grassroots effort created and maintained by like-minded people that live in our neighborhood.

Egg hunt at the park

 

 

Just an early spring Sunday at the park

 

Our neighborhood is filled with so many interesting people and the park is the epicenter of it all. For the past decade Dave and I have built many relationships through volunteering and socializing with people supporting the same cause--community.



Volleyball on Sundays

It seems unreal that Dave and I have actually settled somewhere for 10 years.  Roots have spread, history is being made. We have seen friends move away, get divorced, get married, have babies, etc.  There have been many ups and downs in our lives as well as our friends' lives.  The ups are great, the blows from the downs are just a little easier, just knowing we have a network of support just right outside our door.  We did well, he and I, we ended up living in the right place at the right time.



Family camp out at the park

 

 

 



Memories are always in the making.  In years from now the gals' view of the "good old days" may be different from Dave's and my view of the "good old days" (drunken shenanigans, anyone?) but they will all originate from the same place. The place where we put forth the effort to make it a community worth living in, the place where we will go the extra mile just to have some fun, the place we are proud to call home.

 

4th of July at our house last summer











Wrapping it up

This past weekend the girls finished dance for the year. A recital at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium marks their last time on stage for the season. They did fabulous and are looking forward to both being competitive dancers next year.

I'm looking forward to the days ahead of slowing down as our activity schedule is becoming less demanding. School's out in 11 days and I welcome the days ahead of clear agendas, loose structure, days in the sun, and lazy afternoons. 

May Day!

Months ago I was reading a chapter book with Marlee and there was a little blurb about a girl making May Day baskets.  Marlee wanted to learn a little more about this day and those baskets. 

So we referred to our favorite book of holidays "Festivals, Family, and Food".  It's a wonderful book that explains holidays that nobody really celebrates anymore...except for us, it seems.  <insert eye roll here!!> Click here to peek at the book.

Marlee and her bud Hayden put a lot of work into this project the past few weeks. The baskets were to be filled with spring flowers (ahem, weeds), but pretty yellow and purple all the same.  They made little May Day greeting cards and slipped a few pieces of candy in each one.

 

We found some old baskets at a thrift store for 20 cents each.  When we were short a few baskets, the girls did not lack in creativity on how to make additional baskets!

 

 

 

 

According to tradition, the baskets are to be hung on friends' doorknobs at dawn.  The basket is meant to be a surprise, so our friends were not supposed to know who delivered the baskets.

 

The big morning arrived.  We left the house at 6:10(!!), in our PJs of course, to tiptoe through the yards of friends to deliver these pleasant surprises.

 

 

 







There was quite a stir by the time the neighborhood kids loaded the bus that morning.  All kinds of musings and theories were floating around.  It seems not only the givers, but also the receivers got a little lesson about May Day. 

Teeth and Tulips

 

 

This week some teeth came out and some tulips came in. Mya has been struggling with her last stubborn top tooth.  With much effort (an quite a few tugs from friends, teachers, and neighbors) it finally fell out.

In the photos below, she offers more poses of her missing tooth in her "Laura Ingalls bonnet" that she must wear everywhere.  I'm wondering when she will decide to wear the bonnet and glasses together. That should be a treat.

 

 

The tulips coming in every year is a big deal.  First, it the girls note the beginning of spring.  Second, we get to see the magic we planted in the fall.  Every October we plant a few new bulbs in different colors and place them strategically in our small fairy garden in the front yard. We are always pleased to see how our flowers grow each year. Mostly because we forget what we planted by the time April rolls around.

We are also enjoying the other spring blooms that our yard has to offer.  After the bleakness of winter, it is always refreshing to see everything so colorful and alive.

 

 

 

 

 

Gettin' Our Bling On

 

 

So when my cute kid decided she wanted to dance for the performing company at the studio, I thought it made sense, she's been dancing since she was 3 years old.  I must admit though, I became a little apprehensive: Would my kid become a demanding diva? a psychotic perfectionist? Would I be a "dance mom"? get into catty fights with other moms? Will we be reality TV material?

Worries aside, we took the plunge.  Here's a few things we discovered along the way:

 

 

 



1.  Teamwork!  At such a young age, these girls are really rooting for each other.  I've seen many laughs, praises, and comforting hugs exchanged between these gals.

 

2. Moving out of our comfort zone.  Marlee (and myself) had to reach out and get to know other people we would otherwise never would have met.  (We're not in Bent Creek anymore...) We all became very close, very quickly, especially when you travel, eat, and dress with one another.

 

 

 

 

3. We actually enjoy make up and "blinging"!  Who knew?

 

 

 







 4.  We really have a great time with the people we've met.  The other moms in our small group are funny, supportive, and always helpful.  The moms have just as much fun misbehaving as the kids!

5.  Marlee has gained confidence, confidence, confidence!  She started in August from not knowing how to do a proper cartwheel to almost perfecting a back walkover.  She is learning what her body can accomplish with some practice and effort.

 

We had a great experience our first year of competitive dance. Marlee is looking forward to dancing again next year.  I'm glad she has decided to take her dance lessons to the next level and move out of her comfort zone.

 

*on a side note...look at the photo below and notice who is all the way on the left, warming up with the girls.  It looks like we may have two company dancers next year.  Talk about leaving a comfort zone...yikes!

 

 



 

 

Spring Break!

It was so nice to have 10 days off for spring break!  Although the weather was not typical, (it felt more like winter break) we still had a great time.

We kicked off the week by heading down to Atlanta to see our best lady friends. We got to swim in the fancy pool at Georgia Tech, experience a cool thunderstorm, watch a few movies, and take our usual trip at Ikea.  Even "Hot-lanta" was not so hot, as we spent every moment indoors this time.

 

 

Our homecoming was greeted with 3 days in the in 30's with cold rain and snow. All three days were declared as pajama days.  We had a grand time lounging around, starting new crafts, and just enjoying days with no agenda.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was finally a thaw in the second half of spring break and we gravitated outside.  We took a trip with some friends to Elijah Mountain Gem Mine. The kids LOVED it!  It was a great time for different ages & genders- the oldest being Garrett, a 5th grader and the youngest being Mya.  Everything was fun from the tacky décor to the actual mining itself!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course we wrapped up the week with our Annual Egg Hunt at our community park on Saturday.  This is one of my favorite traditions.

 

 

 

Easter was spent with our extended family across the street as they hosted their annual Spring Brunch & Egg Hunt.

 



 

 

 



Way too much candy and so much fun!  This gives us a glimpse of what's to come as we shift from our cozy slacking pajama days to spending our days outside.