Planting Flowers

I'm finding that some things on the list will be done more than once, but I want to make sure I photograph them just in case they don't.  I've said before that The List isn't supposed to start until June, but for one, I'm anxious to get started and for another, some things just have to be done earlier.  Like planting flowers.

Brock and I went out and planted some flowers today.  It was one of the first things I added to the list when I adapted the original list.  Brock had a blast, until he got bored.

Things I learned planting flowers with Brock:

• He knows that worms and bugs are good for the flowers.
• He knows that rain is good for the flowers.
• When he gets bored, he'll stomp on my flowers (ugh!).
• He is more scared of bugs than I originally thought.

Please excuse my garden.  It's a mess.  When we moved into this house, it was even worse!  It is filled with thick, thick roots and flowers that I'm not sure if they are weeds or plants.  My thumb is really not green at all!  I'm hoping next year it will be better.  We planted some seeds too. 

Sponge Bomb Tutorial

You can find these tutorials all over, I can't remember where I found the idea to do these at so I can't give thanks.

Materials Needed:

*Sponges without the scrubby side

*Fishing line or embroidery floss

*Scissors

Step One: Cut the sponges in half the long way.

Step Two: Now cut each half in half the long way.  Yes I know my

halves are a little off.

Then you have a bunch of strips of sponge

Step Three: Stack the sponges like this.  Or you could just do one color.

Or you could do two different colors. Just make sure you stack them up 2 high

and 4 wide.

Step Four: Tie your string around the ball in a knot. Pull tight. 

*Note: I do remember the tutorial I found the idea on said to use fishing line.  I don't

have fishing line handy and the only thing I fear with the embroidery floss is that it might break.

But we'll deal with that if it happens this summer.

Ta-da! Sponge Bombs!  Throw them in a bucket of water and have a water fight!

Store in a garment bag for drying.

I got the bright colored sponges at Target (4pk for 1.69) and the primary colored ones at Dollar Tree (10pk for 1.00).  I kind of prefer the Dollar Tree ones but I think the Target ones will hold more water. Again, we will see this summer.

Butterfly Gardens

Okay!  I have pictures from our first thing of The List.  Thank you to my good friend Lindsay or I wouldn't have these pictures. 

Things I learned from this trip:

• Don't forget your memory card!
• I can do things with the kids alone (meaning without my husband)
• I LOVE my homemade baby wrap/carrier
• The big diaper bag doesn't fit in the double stroller basket.
• Brock is like a sponge and learns new things all the time, whether  I'm teaching him it or not.



Brock listening to me remind him about The Very Hungry Caterpillar






Notice the bag not fitting...Ugh!






Brock playing with the boats






Brock and C playing in the sand box.






Brock and C playing a fun game of tag






I LOVE this picture!  It captures Brock perfectly







Brock is a butterfly!





You can just see him soaking up all the knowledge :)



Little Miss Emma...Sorry about the headband little girl ha ha





Forgot the Camera

Ugh! I'm so mad.  The List isn't off to a good start.  I forgot the memory card for my camera!  Good thing the friend I went with had hers.  I told her to make sure she got a couple shots of my kids for me.  I'm so happy she had hers!

Anyway, the trip to the Butterfly Gardens went really well.  The night before we went we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and The Crunching Muching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain.  On the way to the gardens we recited The Very Hungry Caterpillar (one of our favorites) from memory.  It was so neat to hear him talking about caterpillars, cacoons and butterflies because he knew a little more about them.  We go to the gardens every year, but this year Brock had just grown so much.  I look forward to Emma growing too.

Brock in 2010

Brock in 2011

I will post a 2012 picture as soon as my friend gets them to me.  I'm so mad at myself for forgetting it!  

1st Thing on the List

Tomorrow we will be completing the first thing off our list.  We will be going to see Butterflies at a Butterfly Garden!  It's a little early, as I hadn't planned on starting the list till June 1st, but the butterflies are only there until April 30th.  We will read The Very Hungry Caterpillar today (one of our favorites). I promise to share pictures.

Another thing on the list we'll probably do early is the pinata.  I'm going to have one at Brock's birthday party and that is May 26th.

We added a few more things to the list--Give Maci (our chocolate lab) a bath and mail a letter.  I can not wait till June.  I think that I'm going to see my little guy develop so much in all these adventures.  I hope this will be a very memorable summer for him.

Traveling in Style

Our New (to us) Stroller

After much searching and contacting people on Craigslist, I ended up with not one, but two double strollers.  How you might ask?  Well I saw the one pictured first for $50 and I loved it!  I contacted the seller and she said it had sold.  I was really bummed.  So then I found another one that I liked, but definitly not as much as I liked this one, for $40.  I went and picked that one up and the very same day, the seller of the original one said her buyer didn't come through and this one was still available!  So I offered her $40 and she said yes.  So now I have two.  I'm going to sell the other one at our garage sale this summer.

Aside from the fact that this thing is really heavy, I'm very excited to have a double stroller for our adventues this summer. 

My Job

I thought I'd post a little more about me.  I'm trying to keep this blog a little interesting before Summer so I don't lose all my followers :) 

As I've mentioned before, I'm a stay at home mom  and I love it!  I would love to be able to stay home with my kids as long as possible but will probably end up going back to work soon.   I have student loans to pay off and such.   

In the mean time, I'm trying to start a little business.  Check out some of my stuff Here or here.  I do custom orders too.  I love to sew!  I wish I could do it every day for a living.  Every day I try to expand my knowledge of sewing and I'm constantly looking for inexpensive fabric.  My dream would be for this business to just take off and do really well.

I'm starting to do a few local craft shows, so hopefully that will help me get my name out there too.  So I promise not to overwhelm this blog with Sensory Emporium related stuff, but I've got to get my name out there somehow and I'm hoping this blog will reach a lot of people.  But like I said, I promise to keep this mostly focused on my 100 Things List.