You spin me right round, Baby

Seriously, was this not one of the best dance songs of the 80's? 

How I remember dancing to it at every single house party I ever went to,... 

And trust me, there were many! 

Good times, let me tell ya!

Although my title reference has everything to do with a fabulous 1980's song, 

which til this day I still love, 

this post has nothing to do with Dead or Alive and their total awesomeness.

This post however, has everything to do with a certain toy Santa brought 

Isabella a couple years ago which is still a family favorite. 

Don't you just love it when that happens?!

I'm talking about this here little gem:

As you can see, our Spin Art machine has been well loved, 

for a couple years in fact. 

Santa got it from the Discovery Store and even though they no longer 

carry this exact model, they do offer something similar. 

And you can't beat it for the$25 price tag. 

 Or, you could Google Spin Art and check out the available assortment.

Yes, we ran out of the paper and the paint included in the kit, 

but that hasn't slowed us down at all. 

We just cut our own paper and added more tempera paint to the containers... 

DUH! 

And it continues to work like a charm!

Sam just recently discovered the fun involved with our crafty little machine.

 And I think it's safe to say he can't get enough of it!

 And for all of you clean OCD readers, it makes NO mess!

It's a thing of beauty, this fun little toy!

So anyway after quite a while of playing and creating, 

we decided to display our art in the kitchen.

Mine is the one on the left. (Apparently I like red!)

Isabella's in in the center.

Sam's is on the right. (He REALLY likes blue!)

Aren't they purty?

So anyway, if you have young children, this would be a perfect gift for them. 

Think birthday, graduation, Easter basket, rainy days, or just because!

They will love it and so will you!

And no, I am in no way compensated for this here post, 

but I do enjoy sharing a great find with my dear friends!

Have a great weekend!

Ten on Tuesday

I know, I've been AWOL for, like, ever! And I am so very sorry about that. But I'm going to attempt to catch you up with our comings and goings in this here post. Here we go....

(1) I've been in the worst funk lately. And I hate it. I hate it because it does nothing but heighten my feelings of being out of control, overwhelmed, sad and feeling super tired. I hate it because I'm not taking the time to really sit and enjoy ALL the good things going on around me. And I especially hate it because this is my most favorite time of year and it'll be over before I know it, and I would have wasted it by being in a terrible funk. So, I am trying as hard as I can to snap out of it,... PRONTO!

(2) After our Jacksonville trip, our pet sitter called and told us she was fostering a year-old beagle she found roaming around her place, but he really needed a permanent home, and she was sure we would love him and he would fit right in. Being the suckers pet lovers that we are, we told her to bring him by so we could meet him. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn't have agreed to our little meet-n-greet. Meet Rocky, the new addition to our family:

Don't let his adorable face fool you,... he's a very active puppy, who loves to chew (anything and everything!), run and play, and hates being crated. With Copper being 10 years old and Mick being 8, this crazy puppy stage was nothing but a very distant memory. Oy vey!

(3) Our household has been hit HARD with illnesses in these last few weeks; sinus and ear infections, 24-hour stomach bugs, the flu, more 24-48-hour stomach bugs.... it's enough to drive anyone crazy! I think we're finally starting to see the light at the end of this germ-infested tunnel. And I, for one, could not be happier!

(4) The kids have loved their Advent Calendar this year. It's filled with all kinds of fun events, including reading Christmas books, watching Christmas movies, baking cookies, driving around to see the lights, Christmas crafts, and so on. One of their favorite activities was when we decorated our gingerbread house. I thought instead of buying one house, we could get a village and that would surely minimize the arguing that can be heard around our house ALL. THE. TIME! Anyway, they had a blast decorating their houses.

 

As you can see, most of the icing was actually consumed, but they did manage to incorporate some into their decor. Much fun was had by all!

(5) We visited Alpine Village again this year and the kids LOVED every minute of it!  I love this little family tradition of ours and I love that even though this was our sixth consecutive year of attending, we all still have a great time. This year we took my mom and my niece along with us, and based on their reaction, I'm pretty sure they'll be coming with us again in the future.

 

(6) Sam participated in his first ever Mother's Day Out Christmas program. Can you say ADORABLE? His class sang Jingle Bells and two other songs, and he did such a good job. He was so very proud of himself up on that stage. And don't even get me started on how proud we were of him. He is such a ham! A natural performer...

(7) We celebrated Christmas with my in-laws this past weekend and had a great time catching up, exchanging presents and "doing" some wonderful art projects. My MIL is an unbelievably talented artist. She and Isabella shared some creative quality time in her amazing art studio.

She even managed to send me home with a bunch of art supplies,... I can't wait to get started, but I must warn you, to avoid some serious disappointment, you best keep your expectations low.

(8) We visited the Christmas Wonderland light display in Alton, IL. It had been years since the last time we went and I knew the kids would absolutely love it. You drive a mile and a half route decorated with millions of lights, hundreds of displays, and there's even a petting zoo. The one word I'd use to describe it is magical. The car was filled with little oohs and ahhs throughout the entire drive. Memphis has a similar concept called Starry Nights, and even though it's nice, in my opinion it pales in comparison to Alton's Christmas Wonderland. I'm so glad we were able to fit it into our visit.

(9) Our Christmas tree is finally up and decorated. Remember the funk I wrote about in (1), well the Christmas tree/decor situation did not help with it. When we finally brought the tree down from the attic, about half the lights weren't working. So after I had myself a good cry, I went out and bought us a new unlit tree and a bunch of strands of colorful lights, per Isabella's request. So even though our tree looks totally different than it ever has (yeah, I'm pretty much ALL about white/clear lights), I love it! It's fun and bright and colorful and happy!

And the best part was the kids' reaction the first time they saw it and all the comments they've made about their colorful tree ever since. I think having it up and decorated has certainly lightened all of our spirits. Now, if only I could get our Christmas cards sent...

(10) For those of you with children who believe in Santa, you must send them one of the Portable North Pole Santa messages. My kids went crazy when they first watched it. So cute! There's also an adult version you can send. So go check it out and send it to your favorite people!

Well, I think that about covers it . Once again, I am so sorry for my extended absence. But thanks for hanging in there with me.

Sticky Masterpieces

Remember this craft? The one I've been wanting to try? It's called Corn Syrup Art. Well, we did it. Last night. And it is awesome. And messy and sticky, but we all had a blast. Even Tata came over and joined in the fun. So after eating dinner, and a good deal of watermelon, we got right to work.

The first step is to use a crayon to draw your design.

Once you have outlined your picture, and mixed your "paints", 

then it's time to go to town:

And go to town is exactly what we did. All of us!

We all really got into it. It was different and fun and relaxing.

And everyone's picture looked so different!

Scott's funky dancing elephant:

Isabella's building has a pond filled with beautiful fish (bottom right corner):

Tata's colorful house and flower garden:

Sam's abstract masterpiece:

We think he might be going through some sort of blue period,...

And finally, my ocean scene:

We're waiting for them to dry, which will most likely take forever, and then we're planning on framing them and putting them up in our playroom. Seriously! How fun and colorful will that look?

He's One Happy Daddy

We had such a nice Father's Day weekend. Busy, but fun. We showered Daddy with presents and we made sure to give him lots of time to do "his" thing, whatever that may have been.

I wanted to quickly share one of the presents we gave him. Every year I make it a point to give him something handmade.  And as the kids grow older, they are able to participate more actively on the creation of these gifts. For his first Father's Day, I made him a mini book filled with pictures of him and Isabella. I cannot for the life of me remember what he got for his second Father's Day, but for his third he got this, which, in all honestly, has been quite impossible to top.

Anyway, this year his hand-made creation was a collaboration by Isabella, Sam, my beloved Silhouette and I:

I used the Silhouette to die cut the word "daddy" and a heart. I only used the negative space. Isabella completely covered a white piece of card stock with colorful crayons. We adhered the card stock behind the cut outs, added the writing, the doodling, and the signatures. I then bought a frame at Marshall's and we were done.

And the best part is that he really liked it! It's already sitting on his desk right next to the hand prints one.

Simple, cute and so fun!

Corn Syrup Art

Who knew corn syrup could be so pretty?

I love this! 

I'm definitely adding it to our Summer Crafts list.

 You can find the full tutorial here, featured on the Eighteen25 blog.
And while you're there, be sure to check out all their other awesome craft ideas.