Hitty Dolls!

A few years ago, a wonderful friend who enlightens me on fun books and lots of other great things, told me about a neat book to read to my girls called Hitty, Her First Hundred Years.

We read the book and fell in love with the little doll. The girls and I wanted our own Hitty dolls so we could take them on adventures with us and write about her next hundred years. Well at least start the next hundred. I looked for Hitty dolls to purchase only to find that they are a little pricey and I didn't really love the way they looked. So of course I thought "I will make them myself." I have never carved before but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way they turned out. They are beautiful and personal to the girls. They love them. We have had so much fun with them and I have been working on them for a while. I was determined to finish the girls's Hitty dolls before Christmas. I did and it made Christmas with the dolls sooo much fun!

Here they are in progress. Introducing Hitty Belle and Hitty Emma.

Welcome Fall!

Fall starts when I make wassail. The house fills with the wonderful smell of fall spices. The first thing the kids say is "Oh it smells like Christmas is coming."

This year we added gingersnap cookies to our yummy smelling, and tasting, fall tradition. It made everything twice as good so I think we will keep it. I cooked them so they stayed soft.

It was a perfect crisp fall day outside and a warm, cozy day inside. A perfect way to welcome fall.

(I'll add the recipes later :-)

Sensational Summer!

WE HAD A SENSATIONAL SUMMER! 

 We spent it observing............. (This deer came right in our backyard for the whole day!)



Making flower crowns.......

Loving Puppies...............



Shopping with BFF's...............

HIKING!.....................

Jumping in Puddles ...........



Visiting the ZOO....



Watching Baby Zuri - the new baby elephant.........



Picking wildflowers......



Swimming........

Camping with Cousins........

Catching frogs - the little tiny kind.........

Making frog habitats..........

Winning!!!!..............

Laughing..............

Increasing our cultural experience at the Shakespeare Festival and visiting Justin..........



Catering and holding a Magnificent Bunny Wedding.......





Finding Fairy homes and hideouts.............





Receiving awesome blessings.....in the form of an AWESOME new TRACTOR!............

Gathering Sunshine...............

Creating beautiful arrangements.............

ENJOYING LIFE!!!!

The Magic of Birthday's, Life, & the Amazing Butterfly!

My beautiful birthday girl!!! It has been an amazing journey and I am so grateful that she is here with us with her toothless grin :) She is an angel straight from Heaven. She wanted a rainforest party this year. She loves animals and doing good things for the earth. She loved the butterflies from Kaity's party so we decided to do that again. (http://www.insectlore.com/ the school refill kit for painted lady caterpillars) Hope you can get some creative ideas from this and enjoy the magic of birthdays & the amazing butterfly.

Her big brothers decorated the porch posts to look like jungle trees. They really turned out awesome.

Everyone went on a bug hunt! They had little bags and searched the yard for little plastic bugs. I got the bugs & bags from the dollar store and hid them all over the yard.

The bubble machine made everything magical.

For the invitations we copied & enlarged a clipart butterfly and printed the words on the back.

Then we cut the center to make a pencil holder.

Our best party favors were of course the painted ladies. They come in a little jar with food and all you have to do is watch them until they make their chrysalis. They got to go home in this cute little basket.

We made awesome rainforest bug jars. At the party store I found strands of wooden beads for a dollar. Their were lots of beads on a strand. I put all of the beads in a bowl and everyone picked their own "flavors". I got screen door mesh from the hardware store and cut it into small squares and then I had green wire on hand.

I put the wire under the lip of the mason jar and twisted it together leaving a small loop on the opposite side to hook the end of the wire in and then looped it over the top. The jars were ready that way for the party. Then the kids all strung their beads on and then I put the end of the wire in the loop I had made and twisted it together. (I used pliers with the wire so it was nice and tight.)

Kaity & my good friend Kim decorated the cake. The birthday girl loves m&m's, animals & chocolate so it was perfect! What a fabulous day! The funnest thing about the caterpillars is we get to watch them for a couple of weeks, growing, and growing and then finally becoming a chrysalis and then magically hatching into a beautiful butterfly. After that we also get to release them - so this party lasts for a long time!!!