Some More Smiles For You!
Pie Pie with the cutest little marshmallow cupcake!
Pants and her Springtime Snowman!
Finding a Smiley on Pants Dress!
Have a Smiley Day!
Smiles,
Nikki!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Smiles
I have been doing posts about Smiles for a while now. It is something I love to do, but since I have started to read a special book I feel I need to be ever more intentional about my Smiles posts. I 'm sure you have all heard of this book by now. I am always late and reading this book is no exception to that rule.
I've only just started reading this book, but I can tell it is something special. I might not do the same format as her, but my goal is pretty much the same. I will still be sharing favorite pictures of things that make me Smile. I will just be getting my camera out even more. I'm not sure if that is possible, but I will try! (I take a lot of pictures!)
My niece enjoying Doggie Kisses!
Beautiful and fragrant Spring Flowers.
My Mom's Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Icing!
Pants enjoying God's Creation!
Giving Away a Spontaneous Smiley Tote Bag!
And the winner is..................
I will be contacting Jennifer to get her address so I can mail to her a brand new Smiley Tote Bag!
We hope it brings you lots of Smiles!
I don't know if I will get to 1,000, but I will definitely take the time to be more intentional about my thankfulness!
Smiles,
Nikki!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
It's Playtime!~Days 17-19
It's time for some more Playtime!
I finally feel like I got most of my brain back! The weather and plants growing outside clogged up my head and made me feel positively yucky. That doesn't mean my writing is going to be any better, but I know you love me anyway!
Day # 17
Play with Trash
Recycling is probably a better way to put it.
On this day we made tissue box houses. I saved some tissue boxes and we cut out doors and windows. Then the girls got to work decorating. The girls used stickers and made or put furniture inside the boxes.
Day # 18
Play with some more Trash!
(I skipped a couple of days in this challenge because I didn't want to do them or I thought they were something my girls would not be interested in doing.)
I came up with the idea to make rockets out of paper towel tubes. The girls decided they wanted to do this day's challenge with my nephew. We were watching him one day so we brought all the supplies over to his house. I helped Pants and him, while Pie Pie worked on her own. They came out pretty neat. The kids all had fun flying them around and driving cars through them.
Day # 19
Sticky Play
We decided to make Sticky Smileys! We ripped up some paper and glued all the pieces into a circle. Then we glued on the eyes and mouth. Pie Pie also added a nose.
I'm not sure why the first one didn't post right. Oh well, you can still see it.
We are still looking for Smileys at our house. Are you?
I also have a Giveaway going on right now to enter go here.
We found this Smiley on our porch!
More Play and Smiles to Come!
Nikki
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Share A Smile Giveaway! -Giveaway is now over-
The time has come for our first giveaway!
I am very happy to be giving away a Super Spectacular Smiley Tote Bag!
The reason I am giving this wonderful tote bag away is to help raise awareness for Spontaneous Smiley! What is a Spontaneous Smiley? Here is an example:
They are basically a Smiley that was not intentionally created by you. Take a quick look around and you will probably find some, because they are everywhere!
Now you may ask, "What is so great about Spontaneous Smiley?". For every Smiley that is uploaded to their website they will donate a dollar to Operation Smile. Operation Smile is an organization that provides surgeries for facial deformities. If you would like more information about Operation Smile go here.
This fabulous tote bag which will bring a Smile to your face and others. It is not only fun to look at, but also very useful. It is very sturdy and has an extra long handle. You could use it for groceries, a baby bag, a purse or just about anything!
*To enter this giveaway leave a comment on this post about something that makes you smile! Please leave your email address a well so I can contact whoever wins.*
**Comment that you did these for optional additional entries.**
~Visit the Spontaneous Smiley's Website and upload a Smiley photo with "Elizabeth Sent Me" in The "Who are you section".
~Share this blog post on your Facebook page.~
I am not very good at technical things so we will be going old school with picking the winner! I will put all the entries in the tote bag and one of my girls will pick out the winner. If you are okay with this way of choosing the winner, please enter. If you are not okay with this, please do not enter this giveaway.
The giveaway ends at midnight on Tuesday March 27th.
The winner will be chosen on Wednesday March 28th, so you have a whole week to get in your entries!
This giveaway is open to the United States and Canada.
For more information on our Smile-a-Thon, which is going on until the end of March, check out my earlier post.
The time has come to give, share and find!
Smiles!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Top Chef: Doughnuts
I know you have been patiently waiting for this post. I have been patiently waiting for a chance to write this post! This night was a family event for Lighthouse Learning Christian Homeschool Co-op. It was also the Ultimate in Fun! All of the families worked hard to prepare projects and yummy food to share with all the other families!
We started our project by reading some books about Doughnuts and by having my Mom teach us how to make them. We used an old family recipe that my Mom made with her Grandmother! While my Mom and the girls were hard at work I took pictures of all the steps to make a little how to book for our presentation.
The end result. Yummy Doughnuts! This is the four most popular ways to eat them: plain, powdered sugar, sugar, and with table syrup.
We did three Doughnut book reports. We also had a taste test challenge. We went to four different places that make doughnuts. We bought and tried each one. Then we made some graphs. It added a little Math to our project!
When the day of Top Chef arrived it was back to the kitchen for us. We had to make a fresh batch of doughnuts!
It was a bit of a time crunch, but we go the doughnuts made and fried up. When we got to Top Chef you could feel the excitement as we set up our table! Check out the BIG doughnut! (We all ate it for breakfast the next morning.)
There was also some fun food competitions! The kids were split up into two teams and they each had to perform certain food tasks. Whichever team was the fastest won.
They had to peel a banana, cut it up and put it on a skewer,
They also had to peel an orange and cut up an apple and spread it with peanut butter. Each team member had to participate so it was quite funny to watch.
Then we had Make The Best Pancake Competition. There was some special ingredients they had to use and pancake batter. I did not taste them, but they did look (kinda) tasty!
What do you think?
It was a very fun night for everyone involved. At the end of the evening all of the families were given a prize for participating. Thank you so much to Donna and Angela for all of their had work and for coming up with the idea for this super fun night!
The Doughnuts were a hit! We left with empty bags and the plan to make more Doughnuts very soon! I owe Donna a couple! Don't worry I will make you some!
My friend is also doing a giveaway at Broken Treasures. I know I have some scrap booking friends who would love this prize!
Tomorrow is my Giveaway!
I am not an early bird so look for it in the afternoon, it will be going on for a whole week so you will have lots of time to enter!
Who wants the worm anyway?!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Smiles-Do You Know?!
Do you know that there are children who can't smile?
Now I know what you're thinking, "Isn't that a little depressing for a post with the title Smiles in It?". Don't worry it gets better, I promise!
Do you know that YOU can do something to change the lives of these children?
I have teamed up with my life-long friend Elizabeth at Broken Treasures.The two of us, 6 other bloggers and Ruth Kaiser of Spontaneous Smileys want to show you how you can help change the lives of these children and bring a Smile to your face too!
We have gotten together to help raise awareness and funds for the group Operation Smile. They are a Worldwide Children's Charity Organization that provides free surgeries to repair cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities. These are deformities that can make it hard for the children to eat and drink. They are also made fun of and don't like to leave their house even to go to school.
Now for the Super Spectacular Smiley part!
Do you see it? Do you see the Smiley? This was the first Smiley Pie Pie found and I later posted to the Spontaneous Smiley Gallery(for even more examples click on the link.) You notice how it says Pie Pie, my daughter actually found our first Smiley! There have been many more since then, once you start looking they are everywhere!
Now it's your turn to go out and find pictures of Spontaneous Smileys! I know I have a lot of friends and family who love to take pictures. When you find one, (and I know you will) take a picture and upload it to Spontaneous Smiley. Make sure you put "Elizabeth Sent Me" in the Who are you section. (We have a goal to raise a certain amount of money and want you to help us!)
When you have finished you just donated a dollar to Operation Smile! That wasn't so hard was it!
Are you up for the not-so-hard Challenge!?
If you are not a fan of taking pictures you can help by sponsoring a blogger who is finding smiles. It is just like a walk-a-thon. You would pledge a certain amount per smile I or another blogger would find. If you would like to do that you can contact me in a comment below or talk to me in person.
If you are up for an even bigger challenge you can get some sponsors of your own and raise money that way. You can find the sponsor sheets here.
Some of the bloggers involved are doing some Giveaways!
Yeah!
Prizes and Free Stuff!
Check out these blogs for the giveaways:
March 18-Broken Treasures
March 20th-Boo Boo Princesses (that's me!)
March 23rd-Broken Treasures
March 27th-Broken Treasures
March 31st-Spontaneous Smiley Book Giveaway
The March 31st giveaway is The Smiley Book of Colors by Ruth Kaiser, the founder of Spontaneous Smileys. If you would like to learn more about her check out her website or her Facebook page. If you don't win any of the cool prizes we are giving away or just want to add even more Smiles to you life check out the Spontaneous Smiley Store.
I also want to share the love with my fellow bloggers who have joined in on this Smiley Project!
This is definitely the linkiest post I have ever written, but it is worth it!
I want to issue a special challenge to my family and friends. I have about 130 friends on Facebook, so that means if you all find one Smiley and upload it we will have raised more than half of the amount for one of these surgeries. Our goal for this whole special project is to raise enough money for five surgeries by the end of March. I know we can do it!
On Your Mark,
Get Set,
Go!
Get out there and find some Smileys!
Smiles,
Nikki!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Sew A Needle Pulling Thread and A Tisket A Tasket!
You're getting a two-fer here! We have been super busy lately, which is good because I will have something to write about! You have to actually do stuff to blog about it! This post is about Sessions 4 and 5 from the A'La Carte Sessions at our Homeschool Co-op. I missed the third session due to a little thing most people call the stomach bug. I prefer to call it the stomach monster, maybe evil creature or just plain nastiness! It definitely didn't just bug me!
Anyway, our fourth session was about Sewing!
Sewing isn't my thing, but we did our best and had fun! Pie Pie learned how to sew a button on. (The older kids used actual needles, buttons and fabric.)
She also learned how to do the running stitch. Pants had a good time coloring. The big kids had the opportunity to use a sewing machine too.
The fifth session was all about weaving.
The big kids made actual baskets and the little kids made paper baskets.
I think we had it a little easier!
The little kids had a chance to make some fun little creatures out of pipe cleaners and styrofoam balls. Here's Pants with her pink kitty.
Top Chef is coming!
I promise!
Here's a quick sneak peek!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Smiles
I love taking pictures, especially ones that bring a Smile to my face! I was recently asked to be part of a special project that captures pictures of Spontaneous Smileys. Once you start looking for them, they are everywhere! I found this one at the park.
This one was a result of painting pinto beans for Math.
There is more to come about this fabulous project. For more information now check out Spontaneous Smiley.
I will also be hosting my first giveaway!
You do not want to miss out, so check back frequently for more information!
Smiles,
Nikki!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
It's Playtime! Days~13-16
We finally got some more Playtime in!
Day # 13
Paint Play
I found this fun craft on my friend Elizabeth's blog. We decided to try it too. You need some shaving cream and paint. She goes into more detail on her post if you are interested in the particulars. My girls loved getting messy.
They pretended the paint was lollipops,
put some on their noses
and had a great time swirling up the paint!
I just want to give a little warning: this stains. We now have some swirly pink on our green towels. My girls did get a bit carried away though. The finished result beautifully decorated our home for Valentine's Day. We might make some more, they would work for just about any season or holiday. Just change the shapes and colors.
Day # 14
Party Play
We celebrated my niece's birthday party recently. I figured since they have a Wii and we have a Wii, we could all play together. I know I didn't actually plan the original party, but the Wii play was my idea. The kids had a great time racing and many of the adults joined in on the action.
I joined in later when we played Dance Party. I'm actually pretty good at that game, which is surprising considering how uncoordinated I am.
Day # 15 and # 16
Outdoor Play and Go On a Hunt
I cheated a little and combined two play challenges. I needed something to do with the kids outside and I'm not very creative. We decided to have an egg hunt outside. Since we don't have a yard we played at my in-laws' house. We also included my nephew. I'm sure some neighbors thought we were a little silly hunting eggs, but it was good practice for Easter. Leaves make very good hiding places. My girls had fun finding the eggs for them and then they helped my nephew find the rest.
We're more than halfway done!
More Play to Come!
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