project 365 photo: 09.11.2011 {how to eat watermelon}

With your top off, of course!

- Posted from my iPhone

project 365 photo: 01.16.2011

read anything good lately?

art showcase.

Over the past year Cassidy started expressing her creativity with art projects here & there. She made projects at Sunday School, at home with me, Michael, Aunt Jenny or Grandma or at library story time. After a pile of "keepers" lived on our dresser for a few too many months, I decided that we needed a new display/storage solution. 

We have a wall in our back stairwell that was boring, white & empty. I figured that with a few adhesive mini-hooks, some picture hanging wire & cute little clothespins we could make our own gallery. Michael & Jenny were kind enough to put my plan into action one day when I was at work & it worked perfectly. Once Kalea starts adding to the display, it will be easy to add another line too!

The next task was to figure out what to do with all these masterpieces. I couldn't, in good mommy conscience, just recycle them when one got bumped from the gallery in order to replace it with a new one, but I also have little interest in keeping every single piece of construction paper with feathers & beads falling off of it. So, we went digital. Now, before a piece of art gets promoted from dining room table to art gallery I snap a picture & save it on our computer. I plan to include a page or two in each of the girls' yearly picture album of their artwork. Then we can keep a few of the favorites, but recycle the rest guilt free! 

I totally stole the idea from Pottery Barn Kids, but think it turned out pretty cute & about $30 cheaper! For more ideas on what to do with things your little Picasso makes, visit this great website where I found a few more great ideas. Happy Friday!

not a product endorsement.

(but these two things are pretty awesome*)

Summer has arrived here in Utah. Today the temperature hovered around 92° F with a nice breeze, which in all honesty isn't that bad as long as you can find some shade. My social two year old wants to be out doing something every day all day. Today's adventures took us to The Little Gym & then over to the Gateway for lunch, a quick trip into Gymboree & then to an appointment at the Apple store to see if my phone could be fixed. (it can't. awesome.)

This afternoon we ventured out into the heat to use our new Bubble Ooodles - the sole reason we visited Gymboree. This thing is awesome. Although she's been getting better about it lately, for the most part Cassidy tends to lick the bubble wand when she "blows" bubbles. Clearly it isn't effective & she ends up frustrated with a yucky taste in her mouth. However, this thing - this fantastic, wonderful invention - lets her blow ridiculous amounts of bubbles without the previously mentioned issues. The wonderful teachers at The Little Gym have a couple that they use at the end of each class & the kids go wild every.single.time. Get one.

courtesy: The Innocent Primate Vegan Blog

Playing outside when it's 92° F gets a little warm. The girls have recently discovered a love for all things popsicle related. Most of the stuff I've been able to find is either complete sugar water or, if it's real-fruit-based it isn't contained in any sort of squeezable container that prevents complete drippage down the face, shirt, shoes & any other body part that happens to be in the way. But there is this one product that we should buy stock in because it's so good & we buy it way too much. Smooze. Yes, you read that right, Smooze. It's frozen fruit + coconut goodness. It's vegan & gluten-free so it has to be good for you, right? Thanks to Ryan & Lindsay for introducing it to us. We're totally hooked.

How are you beating the heat these days?

*I was in no way, shape or form compensated for raving about these two products. I simply think they're awesome & wanted to share.

advice of the day

Don't leave a "helpful" potty training toddler upstairs alone for even a minute with a new roll of toilet paper accessible. It's way too interesting. (On a side note, she slept through the night with no accidents last night! Whoohoo!)