A Day at The Farm

Now that the weather is getting warmer, and my babies are getting bigger, I've been looking for different places we can visit that are educational and fun. One of the awesome things about living where we do is that if we travel in one direction we can visit big cities and museums; then head in the other direction to visit farms and small towns. We live in a city, but this farm is only like 15 minutes from our house and it was totally free!

'B' thought all the animals were just so funny

The farm had chickens just running around and B loved it while A was scared. As long at they stayed at a safe distance from her she was fine, but as soon as one got too close she would freak out.

This was a safe distance lol

After I took this shot she tried to jump on the chicken! 

Another really cool thing about this farm is how close we were able to get to the animals. We could of literally touched them. We didn't, lol, but we could of. I've never been so close to a cow before in my life. It was awesome. I think the hubs and I had just as much fun as the kids.

I thought this calf was just the cutest thing!

Do you have plans for fun and/or educational trips planned for this spring/summer?

DIY: Book Sling

 

I saw this when I was looking around on Pinterest and just knew I had to make it. All the tutorials I saw for this required that the sling be bolted to the wall. Like this one I found at Penny Carnival, which is what I based my sling portion off of.  But we rent and can't really do much to change how our place looks. So I figured out a way to put the sling up, without messing up the walls. 

To start you need to gather your supplies. For the sling you need fabric, wooden dowels, thread, and pins. For mounting it to the wall you need two double rod brackets, some sort of wall safe adhesive, and wood to act as a buffer. I used Oval Rossette fittings. 

For the sling portion I just took some fabric sewed it up right sides together, snipped the corners (to reduce bulk), turned it right side out, and top stitched the opening closed. here are some pictures to help you see what I did. 

Then once that was all sewn up I used the dowels to measure out the casing.

After I finished up the sling I started on the mounting. I took my wood piece and my rod brackets (that I got at walmart for $.97!) and put them together. If you get a different kind of bracket just attach it to the wood as you would to the wall.

Then I took my UGlu (that I won in a giveaway! Yay!) and attached it to the back of the wood. You can use any kind of wall safe adhesive just make sure that it will hold the weight of the books.

 Next I measured the space where I wanted to put the sling and "glued" the wood with the brackets to the wall. I ended up with a great storage solution and a cute addition to my girls' play space! 

What do you think would you make this? 

I'm linking up at:

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DIY: Sneaker Makeover

Since the weather is getting warmer we figured it was time to get our girls some new shoes to run around in. After all who wants to be wearing boots in 60 degree weather? So we found these sneakers at walmart for $5. I couldn't resist! But I know my kid. White sneakers for a 3 year old, bad idea. So I decided I would just dye them! 

We went outside for 30 minutes and this is what her new sneakers looked like:

As you see my decision to dye them was for the best! But before I dyed them I wanted to clean them up a little bit. So I used my hubby's secret sneaker cleaning trick. He uses an old toothbrush and toothpaste. 

Yes, you read that correctly. When we get to the end of a tube I just stash it under the sink for him to use, and it works like a charm on the rubber part. 

Can you see the difference?

I love this trick!

Once I got both of the sneakers cleaned I started the dye process. We decided to dye them denim blue, because she wears denim skirts 95% of the time when out playing. 

I used the bucket method to dye them. So I took a huge bowl, that I normally use for cleaning, and filled it with HOT water. I'm talking steaming hot. Then added the dye to the water and stirred it.

I wet the sneakers with clear HOT water. Then I dipped the sneakers in, moved them around for a bit, and let them sit for around 30 minutes.

Then I rinsed them with cool water until the water ran clear. Once the water was clear I squeezed them a little to try and pull out any extra water. Then I set them to the side to dry.

As they dried they got a little bit lighter but I still really like the color. The whole process took less than an hour and now 'A' can run in the grass without me cringing. :o)

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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Food Allergies

I don't have any food allergies. But growing up my little brother was allergic to pretty much everything. For awhile all he ate was meat and french fries. Then slowly he started to eat vegetables. Now (at 18) he can eat most things, but he still can't have any dairy, eggs, seafood, or certain nuts. My mom used to have to cook two dinners. One for him and one for everyone else. I never thought this was weird growing up, it was just our life. Some things were C's food and the other things were all of ours.

Never did I imagine that watching my mom deal with my little brother's allergies would help me deal with my own child's allergies. Our youngest daughter, B, has mild food allergies. I say mild because my brother's allergies landed him in the hospital a few times, but B's allergies just need a dose of Benadryl. So far we know that she is allergic to dairy, peaches, and bananas. Thankfully those things are easy to avoid and making food for her is easy. The hard part is getting her to keep her hands out of everyone else's plate!

Our current plan of action is to just always keep Benadryl on hand and just be very careful. But, I'm still nervous every time she tries a new food or when I'm baking things at the same time. I used to read labels but now I HAVE to read labels. Having a child with allergies totally changes things and makes life more interesting, and scary. In the grand scheme of things though I'd rather deal with mild allergies than any of the other millions of things that could be wrong.

Do any of you have children with allergies? How do you deal with them? Are they mild or severe?
Leave a comment and let me know.