cans, motivation, responsibility, the girls

I decorated another can for pencils and pens - I really like this one - much better than the first one.

I also decorated a whole bunch of cans for a motivation system that I created for the girls, one that will 'hopefully' encourage them to be self-motivated and responsible. If you want to know how it works, you can check it out on my homeschool blog. If you just want to see the pretty cans, look below. ;)

happy mail

Last Friday, I dropped some Easter Eggs in the mail. I had weighed them at home and put the proper amount of postage on them. I was going to drop them in the blue box. Unfortunately, a rather sour postal worker was collecting the mail and made dour predictions about me having them returned for insufficient postage. She did, however, ungraciously accepted them.

On Monday, my sister B's three little girls, my Mom, Tim's Mom, and his Mom's cat Charlotte all got Easter Eggs in the mail.

I put a little cat toy in Charlotte's, and erasers in the eggs for my nieces. The Grandmothers received nifty little light bulb key chains. The girls used an Ed Emberly's book to make thumbprint art for the packages and they included little messages. The light bulb key chains said "You bring light into my life."

I got the idea for the eggs from the Giver's Log via Pinterest.

I recently sent a birthday card to Tim's Dad. The card was an inexpensive joke card but I decided to make a fun envelope.

weekend with my sister's family and my parents

A and R had a rather emotionally draining week last week. On Friday, it looked like BG was going to need open heart surgery. However, God blessed them and the doctors decided that drug therapy may be enough to close the hole in his heart. I asked my sister if it would be okay if I shared her CaringBridge page and she said it would be so now you can read firsthand accounts of  Bryson and Bennett.

A did get to hold Bennett on Saturday (you need to look at the photos on the CaringBridge page - it is amazing how tiny they are) and I think it did her aching arms and heart a lot of good. My parents came up for the weekend and so we all headed over to the Minneapolis Convention Center so the kids could hang out and see the animals at the Pet Fair.

This cockatoo knew how to put away his toys.

I was amazed out how many little ones in strollers were at the fair and at how they could sleep; the din was unimaginable!!

All the photos above makes it look like we had a weekend full of activity. However, the kids might remember that there was a lot of standing around. As you know, adults stand around a lot, especially when making plans. Of course, hospitals are a place where you spend a lot of time waiting. Poor K. I took a lot of shots trying to see the world through his eyes.

When you think about it, kids put up with a lot. :)

Mom and Dad needed a shot for their Church Directory. This is an outtake - I love the smirks. The girls wanted their picture with Mom and Dad. You can see it below.

For the curious, my magnolia is happily blooming behind them.

quotes, verses, poems, rhymes, sayings, proverbs, thoughts, bits and bobs, songs, mottos and wisdom (maybe) - round journal for a friend

I've been working on this journal for a friend for awhile - is a collection of quotes. The denim pocket above is full of tags with quotes about stars.

The page above is frustrating. I sanded a mirror on the back so we can see the cross through it but I also left it reflective...the mirror itself is quite effective when you look into it because your eyes spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to look at before finding their own reflection. I am just not sure how I feel about the collage as a whole - clunky, I think.

I've always got a charge out of the above proverb.

Love the simplicity of the above page. The image is one of Van Gogh's from an art book I got from my sister.

When the book is assembled it will go into this box.

I also made my friend this little pencil can.