Happy Birthday!

My dear husband's birthday is coming up. He puts up with a lot. He has been a stay at home dad all winter, and is so excited for Spring. He is returning to work, and couldn't be more thrilled. He has been so wonderful with the boys, even though I know I complain that they watch to much TV and don't spend enough time outside. (It has been a very wet and cold winter.) He has done art projects, cooks dinner, and does most of the laundry and all of the dishes. He is amazing. And as hard as it was for me, to have him stay at home and not me, I know it was just as hard on him, to be living my dream.

In honor of his birthday, and all upcoming birthdays in our family, I created this "Happy Birthday Wreath".

I first saw it on my favorite food blog, Our Best Bites. There are several other blogs featuring this or similar wreaths, and I thought it ws too cute to not duplicate. One of the blogs (I forget which - sorry was kind enough to point out that, at least in the Boise area, the cheapest place to buy ballons is Honks. And she was right. I found that I could get 25 balloons for $2 at most local stores, but Honks carries a wide variety of colors, at only $1 for a bag of 25. And apparently, if you go on Tuesdays, they are only 88 cents.

Happy Birthday, B! I love you!

Shamrock Shirts

I made these shirts for my boys a couple of years ago, and originally posted this on my old blog, but thought I would share it again here. These shirts have long been tucked away in one of the many boxes of too little clothes I'm storing in the garage.

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The boys are going to daycare on Tuesday -- which also happens to be St. Patrick's Day. I really wanted them to have something festive to wear, seeing how they missed every single Boise State Friday during the football season. So I made them each a Shamrock T-Shirt.I had hoped to find white t-shirts for them at a thrift store. After not having any luck, I figured that not many little boys' white t-shirts end up at thrift stores. At least not if they look anything like my boys' white shirts by time they outgrow them (which is why I think we don't have any that fit right now.) I ended up going to Walmart, and buying a 5 pack of 18 month onsies. We need more onsies any ways -- our biggest right now are 9 monthers.

What you need:

• White T-Shirt
• Green Fabric Paint
• Old Sponge
• Heavy Duty Scissors
• Card stock
• Big Safety Pin

First, using your heavy duty scissors, cut your sponge into the shape of a heart. Optional: Put the safety pin on the back of your heart, this provides a handle for your stamp, and helps keep fingers clean.Practice using your heart stamp to make a shamrock on a piece of paper. I used a piece of the remnant sponge for the stem. This is a good time to check that the shamrock created with your heart will fit on your t-shirt. This was a recommendation from my very smart husband -- my first shamrock was too big for my little boys' shirts.

Next, place the card stock into the shirt. This will prevent the paint from soaking through to the backside of the shirt.
Finally, stamp a shamrock onto the shirt and let dry.

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