For One Night Only 3 Generations On Stage .....

Top left to right: Riley trying a step (Our teacher shows some of the audience how to do a step), Sunny Bunny during a practice break having fun with a friend, Sunny Bunny back stage, Our 3 hand reel Center:  3 Generations Preforming together!  Left Side top to bottom: Riley and Grandpa D waiting for the performance to start, Adult dance, Adult dance, Sunny Bunny's feet  Right Side top to bottom: Our 3 hand reel, Sunny Bunny picture for cat dance, Sunny Bunny on stage before practice, Sunny Bunny visiting with friends before a group photo Bottom 3 middle photos: Sunny Bunny performing a jig, Sunny Bunny and her Honey pot dance, Sunny Bunny and her cat dance.

       This month was mine, my daughters and mom m's dance recital. We all take Irish Dance classes.  Sunny Bunny takes classes on her own. She takes hard shoe and soft shoe classes. While Mom M and I take the adult class together. Which is a lot of fun and a great way to burn some calories. Especially when we have performance coming up and our teacher gets us into a drill mode to get us ready.

   We practice every week for an entire year and then at the end of the year is the recital. The kids are pretty much expected to preform but our teacher lets us adults decide whether or not we want to preform. Which for some reason I always do and convince myself it was fun and not stressful or embarrassing at all. The first year was dreadfully embarrassing but afterwards all of the parents and families cheered for us and gave us such huge compliments. So it was less horrible than I was thinking it would be. We even had some new people try out the class because of it.

   This last year Sunny Bunny started dancing so this was the first year to be able to preform with her. This meant that there was 3 generations preforming together on the stage. We all had different performance sets.There was of course the school group dances but also individual class dances. There was another adult who preformed with us and our teacher. That dance was/is a nightmare but so fun. Then near the end Sunny Bunny, Mom M and I all preformed a 3 hand together. Which means it was just the 3 of us doing our dance together.

  I was so happy to get to preform with them like that. I hope to remember it always but I have pictures for when the memories start to fade. I know some day hopefully far off I won't have my mom to do things with, so the times I get now I grab up. I also know that someday far to soon Sunny Bunny will be grown with a full life and we may not be able spend as much time as I will want with her. So I grab up all the time I can with her too. Hopefully also this performance will be something she looks back on fondly too.So if you were wondering if you should take that ******* class or are you to old? or would it be weird to do **** with my daughter/son? I say in most cases no. I would say jump in  and have fun and if you get the privilege to do it with your kid then soak it up.
 
This summer Sunny Bunny will be moving up in class and going to camp. I will be sweating it out in my class this summer as well and maybe just maybe working towards another performance. I hope you will be doing something that you really enjoy and making some awesome memories too.  Thank you for reading.

Life with Asthma

    My little Sunny Bunny has Asthma and sometimes we have to make adjustments and preparations. Our goal is that she live as normal and active a life as possible. Her doctor was hopeful she would possibly out grow it and thought some of it was from her lungs being undeveloped and being filled with liquid and blood at birth. The odds are this is permanent for her becasue she rapidly reaching an age where the doctor will call it a permanent condition. She has a nurse assigned to her that calls weekly to check on her asthma. This is so that we can make an effective asthma plan with the doctor. We have learned her triggers and how best to avoid or control them. She has learned to be able to be able to tell us when her breathing is bothering her. We have learned tips and tricks for handling asthma. Like hardwood floors, changing our air filters every 3 months, a coke is helpful when she has wondered off with out her emergency inhaler but to be avoided when she is on her Albuterol (talk about wound up). This is now just a part of life for us and her.
  We recently had our dance recital. That was so much fun. I loved being able to preform with her and my mom. I loved watching her in her first recital. The smiles and joy on her face were beyond priceless. I can't wait till she preforms her summer one from her Irish dance camp.  It was such a great bonding time. There was a little of a stressful edge though. She kept having minor attacks during the dress rehearsals. I think it was the heat and the length of the rehearsals on top of the lovely spring allergies.  She is allergic to just about  everything that grows around us plus cats and dogs. She had her emergency puffer and that kept things under control and she was able to enjoy her time.

 During last weeks Tornadoes outbreaks we had to leave our house because we had 2 different hook echos lined up to hit our home. Our home is not the best type to ride out a strong tornado so we leave and seek better shelter if we have the option to. Thankfully we were not hit. One went north of us and one was burned out because the storm that hit Moore Oklahoma drained it's energy. Like I have said before we pack go bags and we had packed her emergency puffer and her asthma steroid. Just to be safe and sure. She didn't have an attack but it was good to know we had it just in  case.
   Even normal childhood activities like sleepovers require making sure she has not only a toothbrush,pjs and a pillow but also finding out things like do they have pets or what activities are planned? If they have pets then extra allergy pills are sent along with her asthma medications. She knows how to take her meds on her own now but I always like to tell someone in charge and write it on all the meds just in case a big one hits her. We have had more than a few ER trips in her little life. Especially before her diagnoses. It has made a few friends and even a few family members nervous about having her stay over but they have quickly seen what we know. She is a little trooper. Plus she talks way to much to ever be able to completely lose her breath. haha. Yes I do make jokes about it. This is life and no point in being serious and freaked out all the time about it.
   I will admit there are days and nights that I still freak out. Days that are really bad for her and nights when she has a cold. I had a friend who lost one her twins to asthma over night before Bunny was born. The grief she went through has stuck with me. So yeah sometimes I don't put my trust in GOD like I should and I fret over my daughter even when I know I have done all that I can to prevent things. Most days though are just our normal flow with no huge worry about her being ok. Just life being lived and normal precautions being taken.
   Thank you for reading.  Sorry for being gone for a little while.

Radio Silence

As many of you know I live in Oklahoma. My family is ok, though we had a close call for a couple of my sisters and my dad and stepmom. It miss their homes by less than a mile and two of them work in Moore schools. So yesterday had me in near panic as I was trying to just reach them. Sunday was stressful with tornados going north and south of us. Places where I have some very dear friends. My hear i just broken for the families affected by the tornados of the last few days. The next few days my family will be praying, hugging our kiddos and doing what we can to help our friends, family and nieghbors, so my blog and shop will be silent for a little while. Thank you so much for reading and the personal messages of concern I have gotten. I promise to return soon.

Family Time is Precious So Soak It Up

.

The warm spring weather has been so much fun to enjoy with my family. Family time doesn't have to be in front of the TV or even inside.It doesn't need to cost you anything but your time.  As the weather has been warming up we have been moving more and more of our time outdoors.  I made a collage of some of the things we have been doing outside.

1.Lizard had lifted Coyote up to help her reach a "perfect" leaf.  She is always on the look out for that perfect flower or leaf to pick. 
2 -4. Are pictures from an impromptu game of how far can you throw the water bottle. We were out on a walk on one of the walking paths/parks in our small city.  Brother bear accidentally flung his water bottle and in that moment the challenge to see who could toss it the furthest was born. 
5. While sitting in our front yard a lovely hot air balloon floated by. The kids were enamored and it opened up the topic for the types of air travel over the ages.
6. Bos knows how to juggle and Sunny Bunny wanted him to teacher how. It has been watching them together.
7. This bush is the worst smelling bush. We pass by it on our walks in the evening because it is just down the street from us and on the way to the park. It smells like warm old dog food and cat urine. The smell permeates half the block. It's terrible and I can not for the life of me not figure out why someone would not get rid of the stinky thing. My kids run from it when we walk by. It really is that bad.
8. All of the walking paths and parks in our little city have working water fountains. Coyote loves stopping to get a drink from them.  She looks so cute up on her tip toes reaching up for a drink.

  As you can see family time doesn't need to be planned to be fun and a little adventurous. You just need to get together and often.  The fun will happen on it's own. I personally love drinking up the small moments in my life. The time with my family is precious and the only thing that is finite and infinite at the same time. You have so little of it to live but the memories you create with others in your life can last beyond your own lifetime. Well I hope this inspires you to get out there and make some memories and to enjoy the small things in life like family time. Thank you for reading.

Outdoor Fun During A Garage Sale

The warm spring weather was just perfect for outdoor activities this weekend. We soaked up the sun while we played and ran a garage sale this weekend.  Garage Sales are such an awesome way to earn a little extra cash and get rid of some of the things you discovered you don't really want or need during all of your spring cleaning. There is a lot of work going into a garage sale. You have to go through your stuff, price your items, post it some where, make a few signs, get up early on your weekend to set it up and then after sitting outside all day you have to drag somewhere to put it up.  We had to have one in order to raise the funds in order to pay some bills due to some car troubles for us and then Bos's parents ( whose car broke down 3 times). These things were not in our budget.  We had a good time during it though. Spending the time playing out side and enjoying each others company. We had to put some of their things in the sale. They had a blast with it because they were allowed to keep the money from their sold items.

  While we were out side I went ahead and tried a pin on how to make sidewalk paint from Pinterest. I did adjust the recipe to 2 parts Cornstarch and 3 parts water to five drops of food coloring. *Tip... make only one color at a time other wise the cornstarch clumps together on the bottom making it hard to mix. 
 

 I love the recipe because it was very low cost and is nontoxic. All of the ingredients are items many of us already have in our kitchen to use in edible recipes. I mixed up my batch in  cupcake tin.
I also blended the colors to make orange and purple for them to paint with. I provided a cup of water for rinsing their paint brushes between colors.

The girls grabbed some of their craft paint brushes and went to town.At first I was very unsure the recipe was going to work very well, but it ended up providing a enough color to be well worth it.

Even Brother Bear got in on the fun. After a little bit they took their water squirter ( it is in the picture below and it only cost a dollar at our local dollar tree) to suck up the paint and paint big pictures. That made the paint even more entertaining for them.

When the paints dried they turned in to some very pretty neon pastel colors. I thought it was actually very pretty so in days it doesn't get removed right away it will be at least look like pretty art and not a mess. Well that's my theory at least, a mom can hope right. haha

Another awesome bonus to this paint recipe is that it washes away super easily. Removing all evidence of the messy fun that had taken place.

I give this recipe two big thumbs up and will be using it again. Thank you for reading.

Wordless Wednesday

 Some pictures from the past few weeks. We have been keeping busy and having fun.

Thank you for stopping by.

I'm on Etsy and I am running a Mother's Day special

    Having a small business should reflect who you are and be something the you like to do. Something that inspires you to keep going.  You can find my shop at craft shows which are listed on my website and on Etsy. I love being on Etsy. It really is a great community to be a part of. This week for Mother's Day I am running a special on Etsy. Use this Coupon Code....MOTHERSDAY13 when you order to get 10% off all orders of $10 or more
   I make a really eclectic array of items. I started them all with inspirations with in my own life and go from there. I love that most of them can be for everyday use or special occasions and events in your life. My tutus are great for inspiring imaginations during playtime, as sweet gift for a baby shower or a little birthday girl who loves princess and fairies. They are also great for photographers who want a sweet and easy photo prop, costumes or for flower girls in your wedding. They are just one type of product in my lines of products. Here is some pics of some of the types of items in my shop.

  * If you do order from send me a picture and a recommendation I can use. I love to hear from my customers and to see my items in use.
  **Photographers/Models/Brides I have special just for you. Contact me for more info.
 I have been running my current business for a little while now and just like everything else in my life I tweak it here and there. Making changes to make the whole thing just right and to reflect me. So you will a shifting here and there in where you find my products to even the types of products I carry. 
  I run my business to help my family. Hopefully it will grow big enough some day to really support us in a bigger way than it does now but I feel blessed in the ways that it does already. I love doing the business because of all the new people I meet. Some from far off lands. To know that some little girl is twirling around in one of my tutu dresses in England is simply amazing to me.
 Well thank you for reading.

Spring Time Craft and Color Blending Lesson

Spring time begs for walks and fun outdoor activities for lessons. I found a dragonfly craft on here. She did hers in the fall but the maple seeds fall in the spring here. Go here to see a picture of a maple seed if you don't what one looks like. We call them helicopter seeds because you can toss them in the air and watch spin and float of like a helicopters blade We have them all over the place in my neighborhood. We also had a strong storm move through and it knocked a lot of small twigs down.  I of course tweaked the craft a little bit.  So the first thing we did was take a walk as a family and gathered the items needed for the craft and lesson together.

A young weeping willow can be to much temptation not to walk through

Coyote stopping to smell the flowers

collecting some seeds

our collection of maple seeds

I tried to hot glue the seeds on to the twigs first but quickly figured out that I needed to let the younger girls paint theirs "wings" first before I glued them on.

Things you need for this craft twigs,maple seeds,hot glue,paint,jewels

The first dragonfly's made before being painted. Can you see why the needed painted first?

Next I took the smaller girls out side onto the porch.  I used this time to show Coyote and to reemphasize to Sunny Bunny color blending to make new colors. We used our fingers to paint the wings and to mix the colors.

I put a small amount of  primary colored paint on some Freezer Paper

                                           *** Freezer Paper rocks for craft time the waxed side makes it perfect for holding and mixing things like paint or glue with out drying them out by absorbing the moisture and it hardly ever allows it to wick through. It also is good for making stencils you can iron on to fabrics and the paper side is good for coloring or painting on. Plus it is usually fairly cheap for large amounts and you can throw it away when you are done making clean up a breeze.

The girls had fun mixing the colors and investigating the seeds as the painted them.

Painting with your hands is messy fun. Coyote had a lot of fun till she was done and then she was upset at being dirty.

 After the girls finished painting theirs I glued the wings and eyes (jewels) on to the twig bodies and then I took some pictures of their wonderful creations. The older ones are going to make some more detailed versions. I am also going to be adding lessons on bugs and seeds for the kids. I vary the degree of depth for each lesson for my kids.This is a fairly green art project since the seeds and twigs are renewable resources and it encourages your kids to get out and explore nature even in their own neighborhood. Here are some of the finished dragonflies. I am going to be adding some little loops and string to try and make mobile out the dragonflies.

Some helpful hints if you are going to try this yourself.
1. if you cut the actual seed out they are easier to glue together.
2. presort the seeds to size
3. lay out the seeds to help make sure the seeds painted on the right side for the wing shape later
4. I found it easier to glue the bottoms together and the the tops one at a time to the bottoms and then glue the whole thing to the stick.
5. You don't really need sticks that are very big.
6. glue the eyes one one at a time to avoid burning your fingers.
7. Have and just enjoy the time with your family.
Thank you for reading.

Wordless Wednesday- A Park Adventure

We went to the park and played together as a family enjoying the spring weather.