Spray Tye-Dye Shirts

My mom and I co-crafted last week because the pool was closed for a swim meet. We decided to make tye-dye shirts for the Forth of July. To avoid the mess that would happen with the rubber bands and the dunking of t-shirts into buckets of dye, we spray painted them. You can buy tye-dye already in spray bottles but is cost more and there's not much in them. So we made our own. 
            To make the dye we poured a little bit over a fourth of the bottle of Rit liquid dye into a spray bottle. I picked our spray bottles up at the Dollar Tree and our dye up at Walmart. 

We then filled up our bottles with HOT water and were ready to go. You may have to add or use less dye just depending on the size of your spray bottle and how you want your color to look on the fabric. 

After we made the dye we laid mats on the patio and helped the kids spray their shirts. 

Look at all of the pretty shirts :)

Look at my pretty hand...

It was in the line of fire. But at least it's festive. :)

REALLY?! SERIOUSLY!? Come On, It's Supposed to be Summer...

I had three awesome crafts planned this weekend, but when I woke up at 2 in the morning on Saturday with a fever and a swollen throat I knew it wasn't going to happen. My mom and I went to Urgent Care and sure enough my strep test was positive. I haven't had strep in forever! I also have no clue how I got it. I'll get the new posts up as soon as my head stops spinning. :) For now   enjoy this picture that I sent to my friends. Isn't my hair just lovely?

At least I still look a little tan :P

Obleck Slime!

If you are a neat freak don't attempt this. I tried to keep it as clean as possible and it didn't work so well. But the boys had a lot of fun with it and it kept them busy for a really long time so it was totally worth it. Here it is Obleck! 

It's really easy to make, almost too simple! I used a 2:1 ratio, 2 parts cornstarch and 1 part water. I also added some food coloring which turned my hands green... Obleck is not easy to mix together. It likes to be stubborn. I ended up just using my hands to mix it together. 

After I got it all mixed up, I put some disposable placemats down on the table. They have sticky backs so they stayed on the table. They ended up doing absolutely nothing!  

Ollie decided that the tractor needed to be slimed... 

I poured the slime into 3 different cups and gave them to the boys. They had a lot of fun with it and I had a lovely time cleaning it all up. :P 

Popsicle Cupcakes

Aren't these super cute?! I saw a picture of them on Pintrest and decided that I was going to make them tonight. They're super easy too. All you have to do is cut a bunch of toothpicks and stick them into Mike and Ike's. It's just that easy! :)

Look at all of those pretty little Popsicle. I put Josh to work to make the sticks. We started out using flat toothpicks but then I would have to poke the candy with a normal toothpick to make a hole so the flat toothpick wouldn't break when I was trying to put it in the candy. That got really frustrating so I just started using normal toothpicks. 

He really enjoyed being my helper :P He got a new game in his phone and he was super enthralled with it. 

Hope these cool you off on a hot Summer day :)

Ranch Potato Bites

I really like homemade ranch fries an this recipe was branched off from them. We make them when we're camping because they are so super easy! 

Ingredients:
Mini Potatoes (I used 3 pounds for 7 people and there were some left over.)
1.5 Ranch Seasoning Dip/Dressing packets
1/2c Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 stick of Salted Butter - Cubed  (Margarine doesn't work the same) 
1.5 Tbsp Olive or Veggie Oil


*Please Note: We use Dutch Ovens around here but you could easily but them in a foil packet and put them on the grill or in a baking dish and put them into the oven.


First slice all of your baby potatoes to a similar size. I cut most of them in half but if they were bigger I cut them into thirds. Place them into the Dutch Oven. As for potatoes I used Gemstone potatoes which we get at our Hyvee. They come in bags like this and they are baby reds, yellows, and purples (Who knew?! Purple potatoes, they're delish!) 

This is the package that the potatoes came in. I used 2 bags.

Next drizzle olive oil over the potatoes. You don't need a whole lot, just enough to coat the potatoes. I used about 1.5 Tbsp.  Stir oil around so oil coats potatoes. (This is to ensure that the ranch seasoning sticks to the potatoes. 

Now add the Ranch seasoning packets. This can be adjusted to your taste. I like mine ranchy (if that's a word) so I used 1.5 large size packets. Stir Ranch seasoning around so it coats potatoes. Then sprinkle the butter cubes around the pot. (You can sprinkle a little bit of the cheese on now if you'd like)

*If using a Dutch Oven use top and bottom heat for about 20-25 minutes and then remove from bottom heat (but keeping top heat) for about 5-10 minutes or until potatoes are done. 

*If using a foil packet on the grill put on indirect heat for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are done.

*If making in the oven: Set oven to 375 degrees and place covered baking dish in oven for about 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are done. 

When potatoes are 5 minutes from being done sprinkle cheese on top and let cheese melt and get golden. 

Enjoy and Happy Father's Day!

Adventuring With Mom and Noah

Mom, Noah, and I went shopping on Saturday. We needed to get Father's Day stuff and supplies for crafts next week. We got most of what we needed at the Dollar Tree. I happen to love the Dollar Tree, because well every things a dollar... Anyways, I was able to get enough supplies for 5 new crafts for twenty-five dollars! And Mom and I got to mess around. :)

Dino Hats!

Noah and his super cheesy grin. We were playing hide and seek in Penny's.

I love these cinnamon mini doughnuts. But I only like them from one vendor.
His cart is older than I am, but it makes all the difference. They are the best ever!  

Today is Father's Day and we are making home made ice cream! Mom bought this one on sale at Target last week. It's a Sunbeam and it works great! When the ice cream is all done the machine will shut off all by it's self which is pretty nifty. 

Happy Father's Day! I'll be posting a yummy recipe in just a bit! 

Fireworks Season Has Begun!

This weekend is Festival of Trails. If you enjoy slushies, pitas, mini doughnuts, or crab ragoons you should make an appearance. Oh and add shifty carnival rides to that list! I would really only go for the food if I were you. The rain managed to hold off until the very last fireworks. I love fireworks! But here in Iowa they are against the law unless if you have a licence. So we can't really shoot them off on our own (although I do go to school in Wisconsin and will be living there in due time sooo maybe firework pyrotechnics are in my future. Ha! Who am I kidding? I get nervous lighting a candle.). Any who I took some pictures for you. 

Ooooooo

Ahhh

So Pretty

The Big Finale 

I wanted to get a picture of Josh and I before it started raining but that
didn't happen what so ever. So please do enjoy my lovely rain hair!

But at least it didn't look like this lovely hair style that I had this morning. My family has crazy hair in the morning no matter how much I straighten it the night before. It's pretty bad I took a picture for you all to see. I think that we should take a picture and use it for our family picture. It'd be cute. Usually it's crazier than this but I kind of smoshed it down before I took a picture. 

Operation Lemonade Stand

The boys have been begging me to let them have a lemonade stand. I finally agreed last week but it took us about a week to just get things together. I had them make signs last week. I told them that they had to be super awesome and they had to decorate them. 

Then yesterday morning they set up a picnic table and taped their signs on to the table. And then people came and bought lemonade and KoolAid. I sat near by in a chair and acted as money keeper. The boys made a total of four dollars, which I thought was pretty good considering that it was cloudy and cold yesterday. They want to have another one next week but they want to add cookies to their list... 

Oliver was all into the whole lemonade stand until the big boys told
him he was too little to help him so he rode his bike instead.