Science? Art? Fun? Yes... Fun!

What would you do with an ice cream bucket FULL of crayons? 

Well I'll tell you what I did.  I sorted them by color and save all of them longer than 2 inches for precious little hands to color with. The ones under about 2 inches went back in the bucket to be melted into new exciting shapes!

I did this a few years ago with my playgroup friends.  At the time it was just about Easter & we made butterflies, eggs, and girly/spring things.  

But today it's just me and my little guy, so we are making dinosaur shapes!

So far I have had them at 170 (the lowest my oven will go) for about 20 minutes.  I checked them at 15 and they weren't totally melted yet.
I'll post an update when they're completed!  I hope they turn out well, but if they don't, I'm not too worried about it.  These were just pieces of crayons that had already had lots of love.  And really, more than anything it's something for the short guy and I to do together until his big sister comes home from school.


*Update:  My dinosaur took FOREVER.  I know this is because I didn't break mine into little pieces.  So the result was it took longer (about 50 minutes), and the back of my dinosaur looked like it had bones and a horn where there were still pieces that hadn't melted.  The front of both looked just right though!  Mine is the brownish/red (I used all the dark crayons I was sure the kids wouldn't want to use). 

Now the two creatures are playing with each other and the little guy is occupied because it's like he has a new toy.  Success!

2 Ways To Be Romantic

I picked up a book at the thrift shop (this is a great place to find books for all ages) several months back . The book I picked up was called 1001 Ways To Be Romantic by Gregory J.P. GodekActually I first handed it to my mom and said, “Hey you should get this for dad!”. After we had a good laugh I set it back down… then picked it up again, this time putting it in my cart.
I thought, well surely I could read even a half a dozen of these to my husband and he would be bound to hear at least one of the ideas and it would be magical.
So I bought it, brought it home, and put it on the bookshelf in our bedroom. It must have looked pretty good there, because nobody touched it again after I first placed it there.
Today I opened it and these are the first things I read:
#51 Carry stamps in your wallet at all times! (Preferably several LOVE stamps!) I really don't think anyone does this, and if they do, it's probably by coincidence, not because they are really trying to be romantic.
#557 Be extra nice to her during her menstrual periods. (Mark the dates on your calendar as a reminder!)  umm, okay...
　
　
At that point I had another good laugh, just like the day in the store with my mom.
Then a quote on the bottom of page 238 jumped out at me:

“The root of our problems- all of our problems- is a lack of love.

-GJPG

After I read that, I felt like the book was worth the 25 cents I paid for it. & really, it’s so true, we all just need to show some love. I LOVE YOU WORLD!


Thank you God for creating me, and loving me.  Please God, guide my heart  to express love to everyone who I am blessed to cross paths with.  Amen.

Problem Solved!

Alright, have a sense of humor here...

I have now found a solution for all of my problems!

Check out this web-site Magic Eight Ball

So I just ask the 8 Ball any question that is on your mind and click submit.. Poof!  No thinking neccessary, it does all the problem solving for you.  Why oh why did it take so long to find this wonderful tool?

haha!

Happy Wednesday!

My Friday Thoughts

Here is what is on my mind:

• Visiting a Farmers Market tomorrow with my little family & my fun niece.

• I'm feeling content with the stage the basement is at.  I'm thrilled with being able to actually go down there and use the space!  LOVE that the kids have their own hang out to explore, be creative and bond with each other.

• Thankful to be back at church where our children can go and learn about Gods love while my husband and I get time for us.  Then getting to worship as a family, it's wonderful.  Praying for all of those volunteering and leading to have patience with the little ones and that they themselves would grow spiritually from the experience of helping others.  Wishing I could help, but also knowing that my marriage needs to be the priority and our weekly chats cannot be compromised.

• Happy that MOPS has started back up for the year, and I'm getting used to not being on the steering team (I stepped down at the end of last year when I thought we would be homeschooling and I wouldn't be able to attend meetings).  I miss it greatly, but feel like there is a wonderful group of women leading the group and I know they will all do an awesome job this year.  I do like getting to just go and enjoy a meeting without tons of prep work and clean up.  Praying for the women who are leading that they can easily balance their roles between MOPS and their families.

• Oh, SO grateful for "us" time! :)

• Wishing bedtime was easier for our prince, but so happy that he is starting to outgrow his shyness.  He is such a delight & we enjoy our days together.

• Best of all, I'm feeling blessed that my little princess is reading & proud of her for reading most of her book by herself last night.  ♥ I love that she is making so many friends in the neighborhood and think that they are helping her to mature and work on her social skills.

• Feeling discontent with our decision to send the girl back to public school, but trying to pray on it and make the very best of it & not show her my fears.  Wondering how the transition would go if we did decided to bring her back home & wondering if God could equip me to provide for her educationally and be sure she learns all that she needs to learn.  

• Considering adding a cupboard with counter where my hutch is (it would match the kitchen).  I'm wondering if it would make the kitchen seem bigger and tie the room all together, or if it would look ducky and I'd be stuck with it.  If we don't do that I would like to get cupboards put in down stairs.  I have a ton of kitchen stuff.  I ♥ kitchen stuff!

• Oh lastly, I'm so hooked on pinterest.com (Thanks A LOT Courtney!  Really, thanks!)

Back to Blogging

I would love to get back to blogging!  I can't blog from my phone (although it can do just about everything else!).  I can bring up the web-site but I can't type anything in. :(  So I am going to make an honest effort to turn on the laptop at least once a week & blog.  It makes me feel good to write out my thoughts & it makes me feel bad to realize I haven't been doing it.  But we have had an awesome summer and kept very busy.

Okay- My goal of becoming a better homemaker has been going well. 
A wonderful woman from church has given me her bread maker.  Making fresh, nutritional bread for my family is amazing!
I've realized in the past year how seriously important the food we eat really is.  I can tell what types of food my kids have eaten based on their attitudes & attention span.  My body feels so different based on the food I've put in it.  I compare it to how your car would run if you filled your tank with water instead of gasoline.

Starting Sept. 26th I'm joining in on Menu Planning with Keeper of the Home.  I'm hoping that doing this will help me be more prepared for meal time so I can serve nutritional food & save money on our food.  Because saving money is always a good deal. :)