How we spent Earth Day

We cleaned house....
Well yes we did clean house but afterward the girl went on a walk around our yard, their assignment was to photograph thing that are important to them that the Earth has gives us. I wonted them to understand that all of the thing that we enjoy on a daily basics are of the earth. The grass they walk upon, the wonderful scent of flowers that fills the air, even those cute cotton dresses they wear. I gave a big speech about why we recycle and how recycling helps to keep the ecosystem functioning properly. Before it was over I had created a couple of eco-worriers which turned out great because they stopped complaining about my constant "Could you please go put this in the recycle bin?" no one ever said the recycling wasn't work.
So here are a few of my eco-princesses photos.

I think the girls did a pretty good job with the photos! Birdie is very proud of herself Her favorite photos are"the bee flowers'(clovers),"those purple ones", "the fed one that i pressed the T button for"


 Now here are some of my favorite pic that i have taken over the past couple of weeks.

The Best Reason to Keep your wedding dress

I planned to post today of my attempt to clean the oven and refrigerator. Instead I will have to post about a slightly more romantic thing; my wedding day.

For quite sometime now Lou-Lou has been asking me  "When you gonna  put on your big puffy dress and twirl with me mama". Usually i can come up with a good excuses but today i was out witted. The dress and the shoes were laid out and the invitation mandatory. There was no way i could refuse the little doe eyed girl and her equally "puffy" and "twirly"dress.  I sucked in as much as i could, wiggled it gently over my hips and thought for a moment that i would never get it zipped, but i did,although breathing was quite a task.  Lou-Lou assured me that i was going to be alright. She breathed in deeply as though she was going to blow out a hundred birthday candles, placed my hand upon her chest, and exhaled. "See mama you just do like that." Luckily the zipper was stronger than i thought and it made it through my burst of  laughter.
We thumbed through my  tiny wedding album and she was amazed by my cake, flowers,and how hansom her daddy looked. My eyes welled with tears. Our wedding had only three people in attendance, my husband, myself, and an odd little preacher. I loved this day for its simplicity and the dress was an afterthought. Who knew that five years later it would become the catalyst to sharing  our love story with our children.
Lou-Lou and i danced to my favorite Allen Jackson songs as Pemmie chased the hems of our twirling gowns. I wonted my husband to be there; I found him in Lou-Lou's smile.

Caine, thank you for marrying me at that little cabin in the woods, for thinking it was funny that i wore pink flip flops, for gently wiping my wedding day tears, and for loving every part of it just as i do.

HEADBAND SHOW DOWN featuring pattern Links to other Great Blogs

Our show case today features some lovely head band patterns from my favorite blogs. In the quest for the perfect headband i came across several pattern, so i picked out a few from trusted sources and thus began my quest.

        Our first contestant is this lovely little number from mmmcrafts (click for pattern and link to post). What a great idea! What a great pattern, all instructions are are printed with in the patter piece. No guessing where it came from, no having to copy instructions on to the pattern. She truly has an eye for details and is offering up the goodies for your taking. this band is great, i made several and have been changing the covers to match my outfit. Having one headband with several covers diffidently eliminates the clutter of having several hard bands.This is fun and fast give it a try.

Next up in our showcase the fat and skinny of it, better known by foofanagle as the Best Band Ever(narrow and wide versions). I do like this pattern, i like the wide for its unique shape, and the with of the narrow is perfect for wearing my hair down.

I chose to cover the band. Simply cut a 1.5 x 8 inch strip of fabric, make a tube and thread the elastic through the tube sealing it at both ends. Insert it into the open ends of your headband before closing and wah- la, a covered elastic band. Now before you do all this measure your head i found i did not need quite as long a piece of elastic(although my but is big my head is small???) All in all this was a nice band its length was easily adjusted and it looked great on. In fact i received the most compliments while wearing it and had several friend request one. Stand in line girls i still need a few more.

 
It's bonus time at the long thread where a great pattern exist featuring a nice wide band with a child size version. Hurray!!headbands for everyone(well except my husband, the girls couldn't convince him to wear his:) I covered the elastic here too. This way if you wear a pony and a headband it still looks cutie.

I loved doing all of these and have even come up with a few versions of my own that i will share with you a little later. Here are a few tip  for happy head band making.

•  Do cut the edges with pink-n -shears: it will turn easier and iron down better.

• Do use a light weight stabilizer:the added body helps to keep it nice and firm on the head

• Do get a pair of hemostats they flip any thing in seconds.

• Do encase your elastic: presentation is everything!
• Always, always iron down your work: saves on time and will help straighten things out, if you know what i mean ;)