pick of the patch....

I can't think of a better way to spent a warm, breezy early summer day than a trip to the berry patch. After all the strawberry shortcake hoopla earlier this spring in our house, it was fun for the kids to see a real strawberry patch.

Tonight we have some thunderstorms rolling through.

Summer has definitely begun!

summer journaling class giveaway...

Summer is here...and it's raining!

That keeps us inside thinking about all the fun things we will do when the sun comes out and making stuff! I really need to get started on my summer mini book, the kids and I love looking through the one I made last year.

Can't think of a better thing to motivate me than a new class that Kara has put together called Summer of Love. It's all about my two favorite things, art journaling and photography. She has some amazing stuff planned and really fun guest designers. Find all the details HERE. Can't wait!!

If you pop on over to my summer blog, ArtsyMama's Ice Cream Social she's giving away a spot in the class to one lucky winner. You must enter by this Wednesday at midnight CST.

Let the summer art making begin!

five senses friday: school's out edition

School is out, so the first thing we did this morning is go to the mpls. farmer's market. After seeing the amazing blooms that Eric got at the farmer's market while we were in San Diego, I was anxious to see what ours had to offer early in the season. It was the perfect place for playing along with abby's five senses friday. seeing: so many beautiful colors, so rich and electric

hearing: the kids saying what they wanted to buy as we passed fresh lettuce, carrots, cucumber and snap peas. I'm happy to say that when we came home Chloe ate a big helping of farmer's market veggies. Yum!

smelling: so much fresh, earthy goodness. We also smelled the sweet, buttery kettle corn, something the kids really look forward to and were diappointed to see that he was just cleaning his cooker and not making any. The smell itself was almost as good.

tasting: fresh, home grown strawberrries We then took a walk in the woods, marsh and prairie over at the wildflower garden.feeling: squish, oozy mud after a heavy rain.
I spy two kids gleefully running through the prairie.

Our state flower, the showy lady's slipper was in full bloom!

The wild indigo were gorgeous peppering the prairie with bright purple blossoms.

What a great first day of summer break!!

enchanted woodland party...

Chloe and I are back from an amazing weekend with my sister and her family in San Diego to celebrate my nieces golden birthday.When we got to their home on Friday night we went right to work getting ready for our enhanted woodland themed birthday party the next afternoon. We began by making many tissue paper pom poms to put all around the house, originally seen here. My brother-in-law went to the farmer's market on Saturday morning and came back with many stunning bunches of fresh blossoms.

He made several large arrangements around the house that added a lot of fresh color to our theme.

The oreo cookie balls were a huge hit!

OREO COOKIE BALLS

1 Package Oreos
1 8 oz. Package Cream Cheese (I use lower fat)
1 Package Melting Chocolate (I buy the chocolate from the baking section that already comes in a cup. It takes about 1 minute in microwave)
1 Package Almond Bark (If you want 2 colors)

-Crush Oreos until they are very fine. Use a food processor or I throw them in a Ziploc and crush them with a rolling pin.
-Mix cookies with softened cream cheese until completely mixed
-Let sit for about ½ hour so the cookie softens, stir
-Put in fridge to harden up a bit
-Roll into walnut size balls
-Put balls back in fridge or freezer (This makes it easier to dip in chocolate)
-Melt chocolate and almond bark
-Use toothpick to dip into the first color and let that harden
-Use toothpick to drizzle the second color on the top for decoration

The girls did a scavenger hunt to find all kinds of embellishments to decorate their "fairy houses" with.

Chloe and I made the red and white mushrooms on the airplane with sculpty clay. The results were adorable!

After weeks and weeks of party planning that my sister and I did together, it was definitely a wonderful experience for all! Chloe and I loved all the gorgeous blooms and birds of California.

On our final day we hit the beach. I can't think of a better way to wrap up our amazing trip to California!

heading out...

Chloe and I are off to California for a woodland birthday party . My sister and I have been planning it for my nieces golden birthday and I am so excited to celebrate together! What a fun little adventure Chloe and I will have. Catch ya next week!

Paper flowers from paperglitter. She has lots of adorable free downloads for parties on her blog.

Have a great weekend!

it's that time of year...

The flowers in my parents yard are amazing right now!Oh yes, it's that time of year. Many thank you's being given to the wonderful teachers and support staff that have helped my kids grow and blossom this school year. I am just so touched and gratious for all that are a part of our lives.