Color Changing Carnations - Spring Break Pt 2

One of the experiments we decided to do over spring break was dye carnations.  I never thought we'd have to check several places to find white ones!  Roses were more readily available, but that could get expensive in a hurry!

Without doing any research on this, we snipped the stems of our carnations at an angle, stuck them in colored water and waited....

The kids were super excited to get up in the mornings to check for color change.  The next day, the carnation in the orange water had picked up quite a bit of yellow and the carnation in the purple water was picking up some blue.

On the forth day, the carnation in the blue water was picking up some color also, the carnation in the green water had a slight green hue, but nothing from the pink.  The carnation in the orange water still had the most color.

All smooshed together, it looks like maybe the pink picked up a little color after all.

We were a bit disappointed not to get more color change, so I did a little reading online and we plan to try again soon.  Next time, we will make the colored water more potent.  More dye = more color uptake.  Also, instead of clipping the stems at an angle, we will slice them up about an inch.

The kids are eager for round 2!

LynBDesigns Polish Review & Giveaway

I purchased one of these polishes for myself.  The other 3, plus the giveaway has been provided by LynBDesigns.  Please see my full disclosure at the end of the post.

Do you remember The Land Before Time?  If you saw the original in the theater, I'm sure you can't forget bawling like a baby when Little Foot lost his mommy at the very beginning of the movie when you hadn't even made a dent in your giant tub of popcorn.  Who can eat after that?!  Not me!

Let's create some new fun Land Before Time memories, shall we?!

Indie polish maker, LynBDesigns (who is in no way affiliated with Land Before Time) created a fun new line of polish inspired by these adorable little dinos!

Ducky is the polish I purchased myself due to my love of green and this one is awesome.  Ducky is a bright springy green with a ton of green, gold, and yellow small glitters.  This decidedly one of my favorite greens (and I have a lot).  It was easy to apply and dried quickly, even with 3 coats.

Little Foot is a super pretty color that is perfect for any season.  Little Foot is a purpley grey crelly base with small white hexes, and various silver glitters.

The minute I saw Spike, I knew I wanted to layer it over black and what a better black than LynB's Quoth the Raven!  Spike is a glitter bomb. There are iridescent squares, gold flowers, gold holo hexes, and so many more colors.  For a glitter bomb, this applies like a dream and I LOVE the flowers!

Cera is such a pretty spring/summer color!  Cera is a creamy light orange color with scattered small yellow, orange, and pink glitters. There are even a few flakies tossed in there for fun.

Last is Petrie (not pictured).  Petrie is a creamy white base that features larger black hexes, strips, and diamonds.   Plus gold flakies, and various small glitters.

Since Cera is perfect for spring/summer, which is right around the corner, LynBDesigns provided an extra to giveaway!!

Now through the end of the month, LynBDesigns is offering a buy two polishes get a third polish free promotion.  Make sure to put your free polish choice in the buyer's notes when you checkout. Limit of 5 free polishes per person.
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Disclosure: I purchased Ducky for myself.  The rest of the polishes plus the giveaway were provided by LynBDesigns.  The opinions expressed here are my own and may differ from other's experience.

Spring Break Part 1

I look forward to spring break every year.  I always have the whole week off and it's so much fun spending all day with all three kids.  I can't fib...I enjoy not waking up at 5:30am too!

One of the first activities we did this week was make floam!  I used my go-to slime recipe and just added tiny styrofoam beads.  I had trouble locating the beads at the store, so Mimi gave us an old squish pillow and we used the filling.  Katie was sure Mimi would be mad when I cut it open. 

First we mixed up the slime...

Then we added the little beads and they kind of made a mess...

I think we may have added just a bit too much of the styrofoam beads because the children became covered in tiny beads as they played.  Although messy, it was fun because it was more moldable than regular slime.  Plus, messes are fun!

While I cleaned up millions of teenie tiny beads (and it seriously took awhile - they are elusive little things), Kelton read a book.

Then we moved onto our next fun activity, balloon rockets!

So much fun! 
Stay tuned for the next installment of our spring break fun!

Kiss Me I'm Irish! St.Patrick's Day 2013

In preparation for the best holiday of the year, I made some little goodie bags for Kelton's teacher and Konny's therapist. 

Since they turned out so super cute, I decided to make some little goodie bags for the high school girls youth group.  It was a fun pinterest idea and the girls really liked them.

We can't have a holiday without fun gel window clings.

They always want to take funny face pictures also. 
I can't help but laugh!

On Saturday, Kelton and I got up early to go run a St Patrick's Day 5K.  Too bad it was chilly AND windy!

He ran with a friend from school and I ran with a group of girls from church.  It was one of my friend's first 5K, so we all ran together to encourage her.  It was really fun!

Kelton and his buddy did great, although he was little bummed that he wasn't under 30 min.  He finished 9th in the 14 and under age group and only older boys beat him!

That night when everyone was asleep, the leprechauns must have snuck in to cause some mischief!

The kids quickly devoured the candy.

Then we donned our green and headed to church.  Konnor was slightly uncooperative for picture time.

After church, Eric and I went to the Carlos O'Kellys we ate at after our wedding to celebrate our 6th anniversary. 

Of course, we've also been feasting on lots of soda bread, shepherd's pie and corned beef and cabbage!

The wearing of the green seems to always come and go so quickly!  I already can't wait until next year!

TeeChia Review & Giveaway. 25 Winners!

Awhile back, I got to try TeeChia though Naturally Savvy.  I was sold after the first bite. Sold!  I ate up all my samples and immediately ordered more through Vitacost.  Fast and easy to prepare, I eat it for breakfast everyday that I'm not working and sometimes take it to work with me too! 

With ingredients like gluten free oats, quinoa, chia, flax, amaranth, pumpkin and ramon seeds, this delicious "super seeds" cereal keeps me full (6 grams of fiber!) and gives me the energy (6 grams of protein!) to make it through the morning.  TeeChia contains 26 grams of whole grains, 1100mg ALA Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and since it's sweetened with dates, there's no added sugar!  It's the perfect start to my morning and even makes a great snack!

There are two super yummy flavors of TeeChia...Cinnamon Cranberry and Blueberry Date.  You can purchase both varieties in 1, 6, or 20 serving pouches. 

My favorite is the blueberry date.  I like to prepare it with a little extra water and when I'm craving a treat, I'll add a sprinkle of turbindo or a squeeze of honey. 

I love TeeChia so much, I felt like everyone needed to try it too!  I'm so excited that TeeChia is going to give away 25 single serve pouches (flavor selected at random) to my readers!

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Disclosure: TeeChia is providing the giveaway samples.  The opinions expressed here are my own and may differ from other's experience.

Happy 5th Birthday Katie-Bug!

Five seems like such a big birthday.  She's growing up so fast right before my eyes!  With the boys bday's before hers, the princess waited patiently and was so excited when it was finally her day!

We had birthday brownies at lunch and birthday pizza for dinner!

I had the treats made and her decorations ready before I went to bed on Saturday evening....

Before my alarm even went off for church, the poor girl was up, super sick and it lasted half the week.  Another postponed party.  This winter has been a doozy for illness around here!

Thankfully, everyone was healthy and we were able to finally celebrate on Saturday with a super fun pony party!

We played pin the cutie mark on the pony. 

Then it was time for treats and there was a whole table full of them!

The frosting was a pinterest find.  Delicious AND allergy friendly!  Oh how I wish I would have known about it years ago!  I was surprised how the girls devoured every last piece of fruit!  The rock candy suckers were a big hit also.  We prescooped the frozen yogurt into cupcake papers and just pulled it out of the freezer when it was time for cake (thank you again, pinterest).  We've done this the last couple years and it is by far the easiest way to serve ice cream at a party!

After we finished snacking, everyone got pony tattoos and their own pony to take home!  (Yet another reason, I love Dollar Tree!)

Our extra special guest was, Miss Scarlett, who just happened to be born on Kelton's bday!  Her momma, Lisa, is one of my sweetest friends and her big sister, Savannah, is Katie's best buddy.  We were so happy to see her again and I finally got to give her the quilt I made!

Definitely a fun (and tiring) day!  Our whirlwind of parties is finally over and now I can start planning some fun for spring break!