Do the Loco-motion

Sydney had her first dance recital today. All of the songs were from the 1980's (love!) so Sydney danced to 'The Loco-Motion'. All of the girls did a great job but most of them did freeze up at one point or another. Sydney kept looking at the ground and not at her teacher so she missed a few steps but she did awesome. She was very proud of herself and so were we. My little tiny dancer!

Can you handle the cuteness? Gah.

Instagram Friday: Camping

Camping for Mother's Day is a tradition that my Mom and I & my best friend and her Mom have done for years when we were younger but then I had Sydney and my best friend moved far away and we haven't been camping together in about 4 years. Well this year my bestie flew home and we all went on a one night camping trip! It was Sydney's first time camping and she loved it. I think her favorite part was watching all the animals, i.e. bunnies, bird, and squirrels. The trip was a success except for the failed geocaching experience (epic fail) and the aggressive raccoon we encountered so I think I see another campout in our future.

 Playing mini golf at the campground.

Lounging in her fox chair.

Our sunprint craft.

Sitting by the tent singing to wake everyone up.

Drinking Yoohoo in style.

Trying a S'more for the first time. 

Outdoor cooking.

Roasting a marshmallow for s'mores.

Moma Style & A New Do

I haven't done a Moma Style post in FOREVER! I always forget to take pictures in the morning and by the end of the day when I get home, I'm like blah, forget it, I just wanna be in my comfy clothes. So I wrangled the hubs to take a few shots for me. Also, you may notice that I cut about 5 inches or so off my hair and I LOVE it! It's so easy to fix in the mornings now and it's easy to style with my naturally curly hair.

The lowdown:

Everything I'm wearing is from Target.

Target is awesome. The end.

Mother's Day: Toddler Friendly DIY

This Mother's Day project is simple, quick, and toddler friendly. Sydney and I made these to give to both of her Grandma's and I think they will love it.

Supplies Needed:

Construction paper and tissue paper

Scissors

Mod Podge and/or any medium gel

Pencil

Paintbrush

Hole puncher and ribbon/string

Glass vase (we got ours a Wal-Mart)

Pipe cleaners (we used green)

Stapler

Cardstock & printed poem

Dull knife or letter opener

 First we traced Sydney's hand-print on 4 different colors of construction paper.

 I then folded them in half and cut them out so that I got 2 prints from each color.

 We then took our polka dot tissue paper and tore it into little strips.

 We then covered the vase with mod podge using a paintbrush. (This was Syd's favorite part.)

 We then adhered the pieces of tissue paper to the vase and then mod podged over it again when we were done. (The vase needs to dry overnight.)

 Here is the poem that I tied to the vase using a piece of purple raffia. (I got the poem from one of the teachers at my school.)

 Then you fold each hand-print around a green pipe cleaner and staple it into place at the bottom.

 Then take a dull knife or letter opener and curl the edges down to give the fingers a petal effect. (I used a butter knife.)

 When you're done, your Mom or Grandma will have a wonderful, thoughtful gift that they can keep forever. Easy Peasey!

Our Weekend - Festival Time

This weekend our town (Amelia Island, FL) held their annual Shrimp Festival celebration and Sydney was finally old enough this year to really enjoy the kids activities and it was her first time seeing the fireworks. She had a blast! I just love watching her eyes fill with wonder and amazement every time she experiences something new. She was so funny giving high fives to all of the inflatable characters (example - the Geico gecko) and telling all the Pirates, 'Argh Matey', so they would give her a beaded necklace. (Pirates are our town mascot here.) It was so hot but we had a great time as a family and enjoyed my favorite part...all the yummy shrimp!

I took my I phone since lugging around my Nikon was not a option:

 1. Sydney rockin' her Hello Kitty tattoo. (and awesome shades!)

2. Enjoying the view from Daddy's shoulders.

3. Fireworks time!

4. Pony ride. She got upset with me because I wouldn't let her hug it.

1. My little pirate.

2. Beautiful sunset at the harbor. 

3. The Georgia Aquarium had an exhibit with horseshoe crabs.

4. Sydney met a mermaid.

Mother's Day Finds: Around the Web

As promised, here's another round of fabulous and affordable Mother's Day gifts from some of my favorite shops around the web. My favorite picks are circled. Now if only my husband would read my blog, then I may actually get some of these goodies! (My kiddo isn't quite old enough to read them herself.) Happy shopping!

To Buy: 

West Elm Owl Measuring Cups.  Anthropologie Candle.  Barnes & Noble Nook Cover.

Amazon Mamarazzi Photography Book. Photojojo Camera Cookie Cutters.

To Buy:

ASOS Polka Dot Purse. Modcloth Sandals. Marc Jocobs Perfume. 

Stella & Dot Bangles. Uncommon Goods Mother/Daughter Necklace.

Instagram Friday

Happy Friday! This week really seemed to fly by. (No complaining here.) 

Hope you all had a great week!

Tiny strawberries from our strawberry plant.

Old school fun at Toys R' Us.

Pioneer Woman Mac n' Cheese = yummy.

Sydney & Ringo dancing the afternoon away.

Chocolate teeth.

On our way to school. 

Silly ballerina in Target. (Check out the neon purse she picked out.) 

Foam sticker queen.

Mother's Day Finds: Etsy

I just realized that Mother's Day is only a mere 3 weeks away! What! I am really bad at keeping up with holidays that are at the beginning of the month. So I decided that each week I will come up with some great gifts for Mom that you can buy and some great gifts that you can make yourself. 

First off, one of the best places (in my opinion) for gifts, Etsy!

To buy: 

Moon Necklace. (My personal fav!) Chevron Bracelet. T-shirt.

Tote Bag. Bird Necklace. Shoe Clips.

To Buy:

Tea Towel. Art Print. (My fav!) Jewelry Dish.

Coaster Set. Wall Sign. Wall Hanging. 

Wooden Flowers. Tote Bag. Tissue Cozy.

IPhone Case. (my fav!) Canary Planter. Bicycle Notecards.

Earth Day Festival

 Today Sydney's Montessori school had an Earth Day Festival and it ended up being a perfect day.

The threat of rain loomed all morning but luckily it held off until the late afternoon and all of the kids were able to enjoy the events.

 Sydney enjoyed her organic strawberry popsicle.

Also, she is very serious about frozen treats.

 The face painting station was a big hit (as usual) and we waited about 30 minutes to get this kitty cat face drawn on that somehow morphed into a purple, glittered covered mythical cat. (Cheshire cat maybe?) She loved it and insisted that I not wash it off tonight. Her request was denied.

 We then planted some daisy seeds.

 Syd made a lovely twine, macaroni and paper butterfly necklace. Such concentration.

 Then it was on to painting on the Earth Day canvas which ended looking like graffiti by the end of it all.  

 Sydney's pink 'smiley' faces that she contributed to the mural.

Mommy & Syd in our matching t-shirts after a fun day celebrating the Earth. As Syd always tells me, 'Mother Earth is good to us, she makes the flowers grow.' Indeed my little tree hugger. 

Instagram Friday

Happy Friday!
I have a sick kiddo (croup & an ear infection) on my hands so I will let the pics do the talking:

Teeny tiny Ice Cream cone.
New shoes. Love.
Cutest Lemonade bottle ever.
Little gardener.

Egg hunt at school.

Cracker Barrel is fun. 

Me & my little.

Making pancakes.

Easter = Candy Coma

So has everyone come down from their Easter candy sugar high yet? I have been trying to hide the remaining candy but Sydney keeping sniffing it out! So I guess I'll be forced to stash it in my purse for snacks at work. Hehe.

As you can see from the photographic evidence below, we had a great Easter.

Easter in Instagrams: Bunny pancakes! Happy faces! 

Play dough messages from the Easter bunny! 'Dude looks like a lady' egg!

My attempt at an ombre egg. I dug it. Also, horse egg. We are super fancy over here.

Sydney decides to opt for the do-a-dot paints for her eggs. 

It actually turned out cool, it had a marbled look to it.

Sydney admiring her eggs. The hunt is on folks!

Nothing beats a basket full of eggs and a sparkly pair of Toms.

I made that and it was glorious!

My sweet little bunny. 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday!

DIY: PVC Sprinkler for the Kiddos

Inspired by a picture I saw on Pinterest, we decided to construct Sydney her own PVC Sprinkler/Waterfall to play in on the hot summer days we have here in Florida. This was a super easy project and very inexpensive. I think it took us maybe an hour and cost around $10.

We designed the sprinkler to be 5 feet tall by 4 feet wide. 

Here are the materials we used:

(3) 3/4" PVC pipes that we 10 feet long each.

8 oz. pack of purple primer & solvent cement (glue) 

(2) 90 degree 3/4" PVC elbows

(2) 3/4" PVC tees

(3) 3/4" PVC caps

(1) threaded hose connector

Drill with 3/16" drill bit

PVC pipe cutter

Measuring tape & pencil

Time to cut:

2 sections at 5' (just cut the 10' in half) - sides

1 section at 4' - top

4 sections at 18" - legs

Assembly:

Start with the legs on the bottom. 

Put the primer/glue on each end of the 18 inch sections and connect one side to each PVC tee. 

Then prime/glue the caps onto the 3 ends of the tee'd sections. Be sure to leave one end open for the hose connector.

 Prime/glue the threaded hose connector onto the last open end of the tee'd section.

Then prime/glue in each side 5' foot section as below.

 Prime/glue on one 3/4" elbow to each side section.

 Prime/glue the top 4' foot section to connect the two side panels together.

Then you can drill in the holes however far apart you want them. We did one every inch or so directly underneath and then we added some to each side.

 Have fun!