butterflies!

Our second topic of the summer we chose to read about was butterflies!  Little Bit is all about butterflies, she says they are her favorite! ;)   Here are the books we checked out from the library...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Don't Worry Bear by Greg Foley
Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly by Jane O'Connor
Velma Gratch & the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison

These were all such fun books.  I especially loved reading the Fancy Nancy...she is too cute!

We attended the summer reading program at our local library and the first week they talked about The Very Hungry Caterpillar and did a craft.  Here is Little Bit coloring the butterfly that appears at the end of the story.

We made this butterfly craft at home.  I drew a butterfly shape on purple construction paper and had Little Bit cut it out.  {She is getting so good with scissors!  One of many great things she learned at preschool this past year!}  Then she decorated the wings and the body {toilet paper roll}.  We attached them with staples and then added the pipe cleaner antennae.  

I ripped a few pages from various magazines that had butterflies on them.  Little Bit cut out the butterflies and glued them on blue paper.  Then she drew some grass and flowers to create a scene.  Love it!

She is all about doing mazes so I found this butterfly maze for her to complete and we read and talked about the bible verse. 

Next up....princesses

cheap coppertone sport at walgreens!

I am always excited when I find a great sunscreen deal...sorry I didn't share this sooner but hopefully you already knew about it or will have time to run out tonight or tomorrow!  ;)  Walgreens has Coppertone Sport sunscreen on sale this week for $9.79 and when you buy 2 you get a $10 register rewards coupon to use on your next purchase!  There was a coupon for $5 off 2 Coppertone products in this past Sundays paper which can be used to make this a great deal.  But if you happened to pick up a copy of the Walgreens Skin Care Guide from the beauty counter, there is a coupon in there for $1 off Coppertone Sport.  This will take $1 off for each Coppertone Sport sunscreen purchased! 

So this is how it works...
Buy 2 Coppertone Sport sunscreens at $9.79 each
Use one $5.00/2 Coppertone Suncare Products, 2 oz or larger from SS 6/24 (exp 7/31)
And use one $1.00/1 Coppertone Sport coupon, from Walgreens Skin Care Guide (exp 8/10)
Pay $12.58, Receive $10.00 Register Reward

That makes them only $1.29 each after all the coupons and register rewards!  SWEET!

BBQ sauce

I wanted to make BBQ chicken but didn't have any BBQ sauce...so I got to looking online and found a few recipes that looked good.  This is what I ended up with...

Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
1 cup coca cola
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp hot sauce {optional}

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and pour over desired meat.  I put 4-5 chicken breasts in the crock pot, poured the sauce over and let it cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Then I shredded the meat and we enjoyed some yummo sandwiches!  ;)

and the winner.....

of the Bible Bingo giveaway is Jamie!  Hope you enjoy your new games!!! 

Thanks to those who entered and thanks again to Grandma Mouse for sponsoring the giveaway!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday ~ rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, bread

Tuesday ~ ranch turkey burgers, sweet potato chips, sauteed zucchini

Wednesday ~ tortellini, salad, bread

Thursday ~ sausage cups, eggs, fruit

Friday ~ honey coconut salmon, green beans, rice

Linking up with Org Junkie...check them out for more recipes.

don't forget...

...to enter for a chance to win 2 free bible bingo games i posted about here! 

Essie's Summer Collection...

Dive into gorgeous color with Essie's new 2012 summer collection.

Meijer graciously sent me my very own set of the summer collection to try and share my thoughts with you all.  And my thoughts are....I am still in love with Essie! ;)  The colors are always so appealing and I just love how great the coverage is. 

They always come packaged up so cute!  It's like Christmas, unwrapping your most anticipated gift! 

The colors in the summer line include...fear or desire, mojito madness, off the shoulder, all tied up, bikini so teeny and cascade cool!  What a great variety of shades to choose from. I am loving them all...especially the mojito madness!!!  Anytime is a great time to pick up a new nail color....so stop by your local Meijer and grab yourself a new yummy Essie color or two!  ;)

Watch for some upcoming posts of me sporting some of these new colors!!!

{BINGO}....a giveaway!

Little Bit and I were recently given the opportunity to try out a fun new game from Gramdma Mouse.  Grandma Mouse offers all kinds of games in pdf format.  There are a variety of wonderful children and family games, preschool learning games, shower games and bible games.  The particular game we received was Jesus Loves Me Bingo.  This game helps remind children of the different ways that Jesus loves them.  

When I received the pdf version of the game I printed it out at home.  I then slid the bingo card into an 8.5x11 page protector to keep it from getting bent up.  You could also laminate if you had that available to you.  I only have a small one and was able to use that to laminate the calling cards.  This game came with a regular 3x3 version and a simpler 2x2 version where you try to cover the whole card. 

Here is the 3x3 version that we chose to play, and the calling cards....

 

and here is the 2x2 version...

The great thing about this is you can take it with you anywhere and play.  I packed it in our library bag and we were able to play there...{while we had to be out of our house for showings last week!}  

I just store the calling cards inside the page protector.  I meant to cut some colored squares to use as markers but I forgot....so we just improvised and borrowed some legos to use while at the library!

Little Bit thoroughly enjoyed playing this game....I think we ended up playing it at least 10 times in a row.  Then she started going through the cards by herself, matching up the pictures until she covered the whole board.  We are a game loving family and I'm always glad to be playing a game that has a good message!

Grandma Mouse would love to offer one lucky blog reader their very own copy of Jesus Loves Me Bingo along with another Bible game of their choice!  Just leave a comment on this blog post telling me which game from Grandma Mouse you would love to win.  You will have until Monday, June 18th to enter. 

Thank you to Grandma Mouse for the opportunity to try out this game and offer a giveaway to my readers!

Menu Plan Monday

 

Monday ~ sloppy joes, chips, pickles, fruit

Tuesday ~ parmesan tilapia, green beans, mashed potatoes

Wednesday ~ ranch turkey burgers, sweet potato fries, corn on the cob

Thursday ~ sausage cups, eggs, fruit

Friday ~ chicken fajitas, chips & salsa, refried beans

Linking up with Org Junkie...check them out for more recipes.

HOUSE {updates}...

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything on the house SO I thought I would share a few pics of the progress made so far....we are really closing in on the home stretch!

Drywall is up and they are in the finishing process of that now.  I love the rounded corners and how the archways are turning out!  We are working on picking out paint colors now...think we are getting close to having them all picked out.  A big part of the house is going to be contracted out to paint but we thought it would be fun to do a few rooms ourselves.  Little Bit can't wait to start painting in her room! 

On the outside...stone is done and siding is getting close to being finished up!  We are loving the way it is turning out!!!

As for our current house.....WE HAVE A CONTRACT!!!  Closing the end of July if everything goes smoothly.  We are so excited and feel so blessed to be on this journey right now!

fun with {castles}

I asked Little Bit for a list of topics she wanted to read books about this summer and this is what she came up with....castles, princesses, butterflies, flowers, unicorns, rainbows.  All of which are very fun and girly!  ;)   I'm also going to throw in some general summer themed books as well. 

So we started off with castles.  Here are the books we checked out from the library...

The Princess and the Pig by Heather Amery

The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum by Kate Bernheimer

Over at the Castle by Boni Ashburn

We Just Moved! by Stephen Krensky

She loved all these books very much...especially the first 2 listed.  We Just Moved was fun since we are going to be moving soon!

We also did a few activities...

castle building {we used our wooden blocks to build castles for the little princesses}

shape castle {used this idea from pinterest and gave Little Bit some shapes to create her own castle.  She ended up cutting more shapes to add and used some buttons.}

castle coloring page

castle maze

What fun books/themes do you have planned with your kids for the summer?  We are gearing up for our local library's summer reading program too.  Be sure and check to see if your local library has one you can get your kids involved in! 

{pinwheel} mantel

 

I made some pinwheels for a 4th of July wreath a few years ago and they were super easy and fun to make.  I was wanting to change up the mantel to a more summery theme so I decided pinwheels would be the perfect element to add to my display!

I used this tutorial to make the pinwheels.  Then I needed to attach them to something so they could stand up in the jars.  So I grabbed a few straws and punched a little hole in them.

Then I used the brad in the pinwheel to attach the straw!

Here are a few close ups....I love the whimsy they add!  {I just love the chalkboard too!}

Linking up with...

Menu Plan Monday

Monday ~ ranch chicken tenders, tater tots, salad

Tuesday ~ shrimp bruscheta, orzo pasta

Wednesday ~ parmesan tilapia, green beans, mashed potatoes

Thursday ~ zucchini pasta, salad, bread 

Friday ~ sausage cups, eggs, fruit

Linking up with Org Junkie...check them out for more recipes.

project {life}...weeks 12 & 13

 Week 12...

This was Little Bit's spring break week and the end of our long weekend getaway! 

On the way home from Branson we stopping in St. Louis at the zoo.  It was super crowded and a little on the warm side but we had a great time.  Little Bit loved going from one animal to the next, discovering all that were at the zoo!  We also kept seeing progress on the new house....stud walls went up and Little Bit got to stand in her room! 

We enjoyed some time at Chuck E Cheese with good friends celebrating a birthday, looked at scrapbooks with my girl, mommy got a haircut, more items were purchased for the new house, and yummy lunch at Noodles & Co. {one of our favs to eat!}!


Week 13...

Lots of fun this week and some firsts!

Little Bit recently informed me that her favorite hairstyle was curly...even though she has only had it done once...lol.  So I curled her hair for school on Monday!  Fun times at the park and shopping with friends {we found out our Gap store was closing, boo} and had a fun night out with some girlfriends.

Library storytime, first time camping!!! {in the backyard}, egg hunt at Little Bit's preschool, trying out our new sponge rollers for curly church hair!, and trying out a new restaurant.