Fairy Garden with Bunnies

I have seen so many amazingly beautiful and intricate Fairy Gardens around the internet and love looking at them.  But honestly none has spoken to me quite like the one I saw at Debbie-Dabble (click on her name to go and see).  You know how sometimes you see something and it's not that you want to duplicate, but it sparks an idea and you run with it based on what you saw?  What I saw in her fairy garden was a great amount of fun to be had for Brooklyn and I.

This is what I ended up with, total cost about five dollars by repurposing some things I already had.  To start with, this pot never did get any perky posies this year, so rather than leave it looking like a ghost town I snagged it for this project.

I went to the local Goodwill and found a box of with Mr. and Mrs. Bunny, the fence and a small pot of posies.  That's when I decided my theme would be bunnies.

This shows off the little ceramic potted posies - too cute!  I also found a set of two bunnies, this little girl is one of them.

My original plan was to buy a few succulents to plant in this garden since they are so low maintenance.  But when Keith and I visited our favorite nursery we discovered the succulents were $5.99 each!  Instead I picked up two petunias at the mark down price of only .99 cents.  It's still hot in Texas, so they should last for a little bit.  And I'll just replace them in the spring.

And here's the little boy!  Then I found the little wooden house that has a nice hinged roof.  I think that Brooklyn will enjoy putting things in there.

The boy is sitting on a bed of shells and you might have noticed some behind the little girl above.  The thrift store had a brand new bag of shells for quite cheap.

I also wanted a little pond, so I sacrificed the half cup measure that I got in a set at Dollar Tree one year at Thanksgiving (since I knew there would be so many of us cooking in the kitchen at the same time I bought an extra set!).  Keith cut off the handle, then filed it smooth so that Brooklyn wouldn't hurt herself on the sharp plastic edge.  I thought it would be cute to put shells at the bottom of the pond, but once I added water the silly things floated!  Ah well, I suspect we'll still have fun with it.  And I don't plan on leaving water in it - I'll just add water when we're ready to play.

This was really a lot of fun to put together and now I can't wait for Brooklyn to come over and play with me!  :)

Deep Thoughts:  "Grandmas are just antique little girls!"


Linking to:  Friday Flair Link Party, Cottage Garden Party, Home Sweet Home, Simple and Sweet Fridays, Thrifty Things Friday

National Watermelon Day

Well how about that - today is National Watermelon Day! 

Today we were going to have the happy engaged couple over for lunch to go over last minute wedding plans (only two more weeks - oh em gee!!!!).  I called the other kids to see if they wanted to come and we had a rather impromptu family lunch - perfect afternoon for any mama!

Few things taste as good on a hot summer day as a grilled burger, so that's what we went with.  I got a text that Brooklyn had picked out a watermelon, so they were bringing it over for dessert.

She really goes to the best summer daycare - I'm so impressed.  Now that she is school age they have some truly unique and awesome field trips a couple of days a week.  This week one such field trip was to the farmers market, where they learned about many different fruits and vegetables.  One tidbit of knowledge that she came home with was how to choose a perfect watermelon.  Well since this is not a great skill of ours Keith asked Brooklyn to tell him about it (he is such an awesome grandpa!).

First they had to wash the watermelon because it did have dirt on it.  Then she told him that you put your ear on it while thumping all around.  She said choose a watermelon that sounds hollow all around.

I wish I had taken a picture of the slices as they were the prettiest red and just dripping with juice.  As tasty as it was Brooklyn really must have learned the secret to choosing a good watermelon!  I think grandpa might have been a tad disappointed though when he found out it was seedless because he was wanting to teach her the fine art of watermelon seed spitting.  But as they say, always leave wanting more.....

Deep Thoughts:  "The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of their worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the every day moments." 

Movies on Monday - Despicable Me 2

I don't know if there are even enough words to describe how much we enjoyed seeing this movie!  We made plans to meet the kids at a theater (a different one that also serves meals!) to see Despicable Me 2 and I was like a kid before Christmas I was so excited!

First thing Keith and I did was plan our lunch at McD so that we could get the Happy Meal toys to give to Brooklyn at the movie.  The little whistle thingy didn't work on either toy, but really that was ok because B and I used them to have sword fights and all was good.  ;)   And when I posted this to FB one of my cousins left a comment reminding me that you can buy just the Happy Meal toy for only a dollar, so next time we'll probably do without the meal.  Although it has been many years between the time my kids were Happy Meal age and now my granddaughter is Happy Meal age and I have to say that I thought the little french fry holder was CUTE!!

I forgot to take a picture of B & I at the theater until after the movie had already started and the photo turned out really dark.  But the wonders of post-processing at least made it to where we are visible and that's a memory right there.

Just in case you're on the fence about whether or not to see this movie, my advice is get thee there as quickly as you can!  There were so many Laugh Out Loud moments for Brooklyn and of course hearing her laugh made me laugh even harder.  And now one of the family sayings just happens to be "Bee-Dough, Bee-Dough, Bee-Dough" from the movie.  Just too funny!

Movies on Monday - Epic

One of the most fun movies I've seen recently was with my daughter-in-law and granddaughter.  I had been asking Brooklyn for some time if she wanted to go to a movie and she kept telling me no.  Finally when they were all over one weekend to help Keith with the kitchen remodel we decided to just go, especially since the house was in such a disarray.

We really are lucky to have quite a number of theaters in the DFW area that serve food during the show.  It's also nice that you can pick your seat and reserve it online, so no worries about having to get there early.

This picture is Brooklyn and Loni before the show started.  When we got in our seats Brooklyn started seeing that this would be fun.  Shortly after they started playing the previews of upcoming movies and she kept laughing at them, especially the new Minion movie.  I leaned over and told her that grandma LOVES to go to movies and can never find anybody to go with, so any time she wants to go she should pick up the phone and give me a call.

Such a beautiful selfie of Brooklyn and me before the movie.  This is an untouched, unedited photo - seriously, could I have done anything this splendid in Photoshop???  ;)

The movie started after our photos and shortly after the waiter delivered a brownie sundae for the three of us to share.  I think it was at that point that Brooklyn decided movies are awesome.

And the movie?  It was pretty cute, but I will never understand why a movie made for littles has to have such intense "bad guys" to make a point.  There was a little girl behind us that started crying at the climax of the movie and told her mama "I wanna go home", so they did.  Why try to terrify 5 and 6 year olds???

But as we walked out of the movie Brooklyn was all smiles and saying she wanted to go again.  I would say that Epic got 3 thumbs up from our group!

Kindergarten Graduation

A quick post before finally heading to bed tonight.  Today was such a special day I just couldn't go to bed without posting!

Today was Brooklyn's Kindergarten Graduation program at school.  Keith and I both took the day off work to attend with James and Loni.  We are so blessed that not only do they invite us, but they genuinely want us to be there.  And Brooklyn's face just lights up when she sees Grandma and Papa there for her. Family is one of the most important things in the world and I hope we're always able to support her in all that she does.

Moving on - and not so deep now - here's a picture of the four of us while waiting for the program to start.  My beautiful daughter-in-law Loni and I sat together, behind us you can see James' in the picture and the silly bunny ear fingers belong to Keith.  Any time we are with the kids there is laughter - and I wouldn't have it any other way.

This is 100% why we were there.  Brooklyn is holding her Kindergarten certificate and kept directing us to different places at school where she wanted her picture taken.  Both of these pictures were taken with my phone, but I have a camera full of photos waiting to be downloaded (and who can wait for that when you're a Grandma wanting to brag a bit???).

The first part of the program was in the cafeteria and each Kindergarten class went on stage one at a time and sang a song.  This worked out perfectly as it gave the parents and guests a little extra room to move up front and take pictures.  Her smile when she saw us up close on our knees with cameras was worth every minute of that sore knee.  ;)

After that program we were dismissed to the students' classrooms.  Brooklyn's teacher, Ms. B, gave out the certificates and an award for each student.  Brooklyn got an Art Award and that came as no surprise to any of us - she LOVES art!  The teacher did such a good job and told a little story about each of the children when they got their award and posed for a minute so we could take pictures.  She said that she was so glad to have a good artist in her classroom because she really cannot draw pictures.  Now when she needs something drawn on the board she asks Brooklyn to do it for her.

I'm sure I'll have a smile on my face while sleeping tonight.   :)

Deep Thoughts:  "You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself, any direction you choose."  Dr. Seuss

Brooklyn Loves the Park!

We met the kids for dinner and had the best time!  Funny how you think you’re just going to go eat and chat and you end up with great memories.  :)

 

We started off with a picture by the Giant Chicken outside the restaurant….

 

… and followed up with a picture on the 3 legged horse!

 

After we ate we walked to a nearby park.  Brooklyn had a lot of fun on the slides and I just LOVE static hair!  She got to giggling and did the slide over and over so that grandma could take a bunch of pictures.  She is so good to me…  :)

 

Then Grandpa and Brooklyn started having fun with ‘Brooklyn coming down the slide and the two of them touching fingers’ – thereby setting off the static spark!  MUCH laughter!!!

 

After the slide fun the two of them played hide and seek in the park, then back to the slide.  This photo is kind of a combination of slide fun and hide and seek fun.

 

Grab the joy any time you can – enjoy life with those you love!

Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

Early morning on Black Friday some of the girls wanted to brave the crowds at the Big Box Stores.  I stayed home with the 2 Littles, Brooklyn and her cousin Kaitlynn so that we could do a craft.

I’ve looked all over my bookmarks and can’t find the original site to credit – and really I’m shocked that I must not have pinned it.  I’ll keep looking though.

What we made were Stuffed Turkeys!

The instructions were to take a small plastic container (I found mine at Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon) and use brown fun foam in the shape of a peanut for the turkey head.  I let the girls cut their own and since they are 4 they wanted to do it their way – and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.  They had quite a bit of fun doing the cutting.

We glued on googly eyes and they cut orange noses from fun foam.  The tail feathers are pipe cleaners folded over and twisted together, then taped to the back. 

Our turkeys were ‘stuffed’ with m&m’s.  And of course, as grandmas sometimes do, I said something that became one of those family sayings.  The girls were VERY interested in eating the m&m’s and I told them they couldn’t eat them all because they would go crazy with all that sugar.  Later I heard Brooklyn telling her mom that m&m’s make you crazy.  sigh….   4 year olds can be quite literal!

I really think this concept could be used for other holidays and animals.  Perhaps a Rudolph for Christmas with his red nose, antlers and cute felt tail!

Brooklyn Loves Weddings

We recently were so thrilled to attend the wedding of a young couple that just mean the world to us.  Danny has been a friend of my son’s since they were in the 8th grade.  I always felt close to him because during the 8th grade I picked them up from school and took them home every day.  You don’t spend that kind of quality time with kids and not learn a thing or two about them!

And through the years we’ve gotten close to his bride, Rachel, as well.  They’ve spend several weekends at the lake with us and again, you don’t spend that much time with people without getting to know them!

This wedding was made extra special because my son was the Best Man, daughter-in-law was a Bridesmaid, and granddaughter was the Flower Girl!

 

This is little Brooklyn after the wedding was over.  She did a spectacular job of dropping the rose petals down the aisle.  In fact, she was very, very meticulous about the whole thing!  {love her little shoe peeking out from beneath her dress}

 

Our son and daughter-in-law….aren’t they beautiful?  The fun part of this picture is that Brooklyn took the picture of her parents!  Of course, grandma did assist a little in the post-processing, but nobody really needs to know that.  Love, love this picture of the two of them.

 

This picture makes me giggle!  We discovered that little Miss B LOVES to dance!  She was on the dance floor for practically every dance and her dance card was never empty.  Here she’s dancing with Grandpa and the camera caught her in a bit of a mid-twirl.

 

This picture dad was trying to get her to look at the camera, but she was very intent on “Gotta Dance!”

It really was a night to remember.  These are the times that a person feels truly blessed.

Minky Monkey Pillowcase

Isn’t this CUTE???  While looking through Pinterest I found a tutorial for a Minky Pillowcase and just knew I needed to make one for Brooklyn.  The tutorial is so well written and easy to follow.

I found the fabric at a local quilt shop and it was kind of funny because when the gal cut the fabric and then looked on the bolt to get the price she said “WOW!”  I felt the need to explain that I was making a pillowcase for my granddaughter and knew that in addition to having the fun of making it I would also have the fun of giving it to her. 

 

This was some seriously cute fabric!  And there is nothing in the world as soft as minky.  I decided to make this pillowcase travel pillow size because that just seemed like the right size for a four year old.

 

It took no time at all to sew this and I used the serger since I didn’t want all those little minky snippets to get all over the place when Brooklyn took it home.  Really I think the only reason it took as long as it did to sew it was that I kept stopping to stroke the soft fabric.  :)

 

I gave it to her this weekend and she loved laying on the floor and playing with the toys.  She kept telling me how soft it was!

Since she likes this I might even see what other minky fabrics they have and make a second one for her.  Grandmas get to do stuff like that you know. 

 

Linking to – Get Your Craft On, Take a Look Tuesday, Topsy Turvy Tuesday

Wordy Wednesday–Dogs Love to Swim!

Once again this post and picture is in honor of our upper 90’s weather.  Tomorrow they say we’ll be flirting with 100 degrees again.  *insert long-suffering sigh here*

 

This photo was taken earlier this summer while playing at the beach at the lake.  My grand dog is pictured – Xena – wearing her life jacket and I want you to notice the yellow ball at the top.  Xena, like most labs, just loves the water, running, swimming and BALLS! She had a BLAST running after that ball and was just exhausted after a while. 

Unfortunately dogs just don’t have the sense to stop running and chasing when they get worn out, so we had to intervene a bit.  No matter what we did with that silly ball she would find it, so finally Loni stuck it in the handle of the life jacket and it WORKED!  Xena went back to more leisurely swimming and her breathing returned to normal.

And of course you’ll see Miss B sitting on the back of the boat.  Rarely do I remember her sitting much while on the boat, so this must have been one of those moments of getting her second wind as well.

Oh how that water looks inviting right now! 

Wordy Wednesday–Cousins on a Boat

I’ve seen so many people do a Wordless Wednesday post where all they do is share a picture.  I’m not able to do that because, as my beloved says, I can make even a long story longer. 

However….  in honor of our temperature back up in the 90’s again I wanted to share a picture from this summer.  Because with this heat it would’ve been a GREAT day to be on the water.  Well except for the pesky problem of the blue green algae that has our lake closed right now. 

 

These two Cutie Patooties (or as Uncle Gary calls Brooklyn, Cutie on Duty!) were sitting up at the front of the boat as we headed out of the cove one day this summer.  They were all grins and giggles and highly anticipating the swimming and beach fun we were about to have.  That anticipation is even more fun when you have your cousin next to you!  On the left is my precious granddaughter Brooklyn and next to her is her cousin Kaitlyn, who is 3 months to the day older than Brooklyn.

(And lest anybody worry, we are in the No Wake Zone here and going very slow, which is why they are sitting up there like that. And you can see the pink and green sandals of their mamas right there!)

Watermelon Pops

I’ve shared before how much our family loves the Rocket Pops from Kraft every 4th of July.  And here’s a picture of Brooklyn eating one for the first time because Grandma likes to show off her precious granddaughter:

But sometimes you want popsicles on a holiday that doesn’t require red, white and blue and Kraft came to the rescue again.  We found a recipe for Watermelon Pops and they were so cute that we had to try them.  Unfortunately I only had my camera phone with me that weekend, so fill in the blanks with your imagination. 

 

What doesn’t show up very well is that the red layer has mini chocolate chips sprinkled throughout – aka watermelon seeds!  Is that not the cutest thing ever!?!?

WATERMELON POPS
adapted from Kraft Foods

1 cup sugar, divided
1 pkg. (3 oz.) lime jello
2 cups boiling water, divided
Ice cubes
1 cup cold water, divided
1 pkg. (3 oz.) strawberry jello
3 T miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip

Mix1/3 cup sugar and strawberry jello in medium bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water and stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to 1/2 cup cold water to measure 3/4 cup. Add to strawberry jello and stir until ice is completely melted.  Pour into 16 (3-oz.) paper/plastic cups. Freeze 20 min. Stir 1/2 tsp. chocolate chips into gelatin in each cup.

Spread a layer of Cool Whip over each popsicle and return to freezer until green jello is ready.

Mix 1/3 cup sugar and lime jello in medium bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water and stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to 1/2 cup cold water to measure 3/4 cup. Add to lime jello and  stir until ice is completely melted. Refrigerate 25 minutes.

Pour lime jello over the cool whip layer and insert wooden craft stick  in the center of each cup. Freeze 3 hours or until firm. Remove pops from cups just before serving.

NOTE: We used the smallest size plastic dixie cups for these.  The craft sticks can be found in the craft department of the Big Box Superstore.  To remove the pops from the cup, be careful not to just pull.  Run the cup under warm water for a few seconds and it should just come right out.

 

KK, Brooklyn’s cousin, is on the left and Brooklyn on the right.  I think they like them!  

 

* Linking to:  I’m Lovin’ It, It’s a Hodgepodge Friday

Grandma Loves Dora Cereal!

(first let me assure you this is not a sponsored post….)

When we were all together for the 4th of July weekend I impulse bought a box of Dora cereal for just in case Brooklyn didn’t like whatever we cooked for breakfast. Turned out to be unnecessary as she ate anything we did, so I had this box at the house.

 

Well lo and behold, I tried it and liked it!  I’ve always LOVED the uber sugar sweetened cereals, but don’t get them since I know they’re so bad for us. But it turns out this sweetened cereal is actually about the same carb level as my Cheerio’s!

And it makes me smile and think of Miss B every time I sit down to a bowl of Dora cereal.  Because really Grandmas are just little girls at heart. 

Brooklyn’s Felt Bat Man Mask

There’s no secret that I love the internet. I love all the inspiration and ideas that can be found and sometimes, something will strike that I have to make right that minute.

That’s what happened with the Bat Mask – the minute I saw it I knew I had to make one for Brooklyn.  It didn’t even matter that she might or might not know who Batman is – the mask should be fun!

 

Since the pattern was downloadable at Living With Punks I’m going to say it took 20-30 minutes total, start to finish, to make this mask.  The part that took the longest for me was finding my thread since my sewing area isn’t quite organized yet. 

 

She put it right on and thought it was rather grand.  The cutest part was that she insisted on cleaning her nose first (maybe that’s only super cute if you’re the grandma???)!

 

I loved that she was this tickled … and that the mask was upside down!

 

 

We did manage to get it on the right way so that we could get a picture.

And then she took it off and scampered off to play with her cars.  I had started out with visions of making several masks in different shapes as part of her birthday present, but she wasn’t really impressed so I don’t know.  But she did look quite darling and they are super fast to make, so I highly recommend this easy project!

 

** Linking to Sew Cute Tuesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, We Did It Wednesday, Look What I Made, Hoo’s Got Talent?, What I Made Wednesday, Inspired By You Wednesdays

Brooklyn Loves 4th of July at the Lake!

We had such a tremendously grand time at the lake for 4th of July this year!  Family and friends filled the cabin with I think more than have ever spent the night before – so awesomely blessed. And any time you come out of a big weekend like that and wish you’d had more time it’s a great indication of how well it all went.

Hold on for a picture heavy grandma bragging post!

 

Brooklyn had so much fun in the water this year! Last year she was still kind of iffy about the whole thing, but the last few weeks she’s been in swimming lessons and they are obviously worth every single penny.  She loved jumping off the back of the boat, mostly to mommy, but you know that Papa is always there for her as well.

 

She also enjoyed just kind of hanging out and floating in the water. It’s one of our favorite things to do as well, so we were happy to see that it was fun for her too.

 

I never realized just how important “noodle” selection is!  However, my goofy family loves to get the noodles with the hole down the center, push it under water to fill it, then aim and blow the water at unsuspecting friends!  Brooklyn got the hang of this very fast and her laugh is sweetness to this grandma’s ears.

 

Papa and Brooklyn swam over to the shore and she got a lesson on skipping rocks. She came back so excited and telling us about it and Papa confirmed that she actually skipped a rock for one bounce!  Hey – that’s better than grandma does!!!  

 

I gotta confess though that before we headed out on the boat she was a trooper and helped do the breakfast dishes. Actually, it was all her idea and she had FUN messing around in the water!  Papa was right there to be sure they were actually clean, but do you know she stood there and did them all – and even laughed while she did it?

 

Washing dishes is really quite a serious thing that requires great concentration!

 

“GRANDPA - so simple even a child can operate!” – unknown