Meet the teacher

We visited Allison's new school tonight to meet her teachers. It's only two days a week, I'm excited to see Allison learn and grow, but I can't believe we will have her first day of school next week! I know she's in good hands and as room mom I will be up there often, but it's still a big adjustment for both of us.

Bunny bath

Bunny is THE toy at our house. Bunny is required for all naps and night times, and most car rides. Normally Allison loves baths - especially since she discovered bubble bath (my bribe when she doesn't want to take one). Today however Allison insisted on bringing bunny in the bath, even after a long chat about how bunny doesn't like to get wet. you can see the photo of Allison's compromise - she held onto bunny with one hand the entire time. So cute!

Ready for school

In one week Allison starts a two day per week preschool. Don't know how she feels about that, but she enjoys carrying her backpack around. Photos are from Saturday dinner with my dad at Tres Casas.

Towel rack upgrade

Here's the successful Pinterest project of the week - we replaced our old towel rack in the master bathroom with hooks and a shelf to add some display space in our bathroom.  We used to display the glass around the edges of our tub, but had to put them away once we started using that tub for Allison's baths.

Total cost: $40 - Hobby Lobby
Time: 2 hours - most of which was picking the letters, then sizing them

I was afraid I was going to pull down our towel bar cramming on the extra fluffy towels (it happened once at the last house).  I saw a couple ideas for hooks, and happened to see this shelf combo on sale a couple weeks ago - at about 1/3 of the price of ones I had been looking at on Amazon.  I wasn't looking for one with picture frames, but since this is what we had, I used another Pinterest idea for free letters and spelled out our last name.  I pulled the free letters, then sized them in powerpoint to print them.  I used regular paper - probably would have come out nicer on photo paper, but this worked.

Inspiration websites/pins:
http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2011/11/letter-photo-art-for-christmas.html#comment-28729

http://pinterest.com/pin/140174607122200602/

Dried Strawberries

I love Pinterest and looking for project and recipe ideas. This week I've done two projects off Pinterest ideas - one turned out great, and one spectacular fail.

Major fail - dried/dehydrated strawberries!

Mine after 3 hours

The idea is simple - 3 hours in a very low oven (210 degrees). Mine we still puffy after 3 hours. After 3.5 hours I cranked up the heat to 275 - I needed this to finish do I could get dinner in the oven! I gave up after 4.5 hours, my strawberries weren't dried out, the juice burned and my pan might be ruined. Yuck!

Here is the original link:
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/dried-strawberries-ruscalleda/


How they were supposed to look:                                                         How mine looked:




                                                             

Drum Solo

The highlight of music class seems to be the drums.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn

Today we got to celebrate Brooklyn's third birthday. It has been a joy seeing Brooklyn grow. She was a brand new baby at our wedding, and such a sweet girl every time I see her.

Holly and TD threw a great party at their home. All the kids loved the bounce house! Allison swung on a regular swing for I think the first time. Just a few weeks and it will be Allison's turn to celebrate.

Say cheese

Check out my little photographer. She cracked up when she told me to say cheese!

Allison and Papa D

I got to cook my dad dinner for his birthday. Here he is with Allison playing on the floor.

Coloring with granddaddy

Lego party

The Warrens hosted a Lego house party this morning. The guys snuck off to watch the Olympics and discuss what should qualify as a 'real' sport. The kids ran through the house and played while we had coffee, then they came down to explore the Legos. Lego sent 4 new Duplo Read and Build sets, and some fun promos (coloring sheets, stickers). It was a great morning with friends and some new toys.

Girls lunch date

Today Allison and I had a lunch date with Holly and Brooklyn at Chickfila. Allison was so excited and picked out a cute dress to wear. All morning she practiced saying Brooklyn's name although she could only manage 'Brook'. A friend and nuggets - it doesn't get much better in our book! Here are some photos of the girls playing after we ate. They are such sweet friends.