Blog Swap

Hello Mommie Guide readers! I am so excited to be guest posting here today!
Let me introduce myself!

I am Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans a little DIY blog that I co-author with my best friend Jeannine.

I am a mom to a 2 year old son (who we adopted from Korea about 1.5 years ago!) and a wife to an amazing man! I love all things crafty!
We have all kinds of fun stuff going one at Fireflies and Jellybeans! We have a Show Off Your Stuff Party every Thursday where you can link up your posts that you want to show off!

We also have many great tutorials! Here are a few of our favorites:
Travel First Aid kit

Book Page Wreath
Scrabble Tile Ring

Chalkboard Mugs


Ribbon Bead Necklace

Leg Warmers

Crinkle Tag Blanket

Ruffle Butt Onesie with leg warmers for baby

Come on over and check us out at Fireflies and Jellybeans We love to meet new friends!
Thanks Kylee for letting me invade your blog today! It has been so FUN! :)

THIS WEEKEND

This weekend, May 14-16, here is what is going on:

Kids Night Out at Sunflower Farmer's Market (Highlands Ranch location, May 14, 5 pm-7pm) "Bring the kids in for snacks, face-painting and fun activities."

Make a FREE mini megaphone at Lakeshore Learning Centers (May 15, 11 am-3pm)

Parker Kids Kulture, it's FREE . (May 15, 10am-11:30am). The theme this year is 'Animals and their habitat', and the topic on the 15th is 'Bees.' "Each Kidz Kulture! presentation will consist of a live performance, plus hands-on art projects brought to you by the Parker Artists Guild. Kidz Kulture! is a free event, but pre-registration is requested. Register on line at www.ParkerRec.com or by calling 303.434.1560. "

Castle Pines North Community Garage Sale is May 14, 10am-2pm, and May 15, 9 am-3pm. There will be "hundreds of sellers and thousands of items." Click HERE to read more and get a list of the garage sale participants.

Ginormous Chalkboard

Sorry, I've been busy and missed Tuesday, but still wanted to feature a cool blog, and the feature this week is Joy's Hope. She did this post awhile ago and I loved it. The second I have a enough wall space somewhere, I want to make a 'ginormous chalkboard.' I like how she has the trim around it and the pictures hung up with the clothes pins. so cute! Anyway, here is her blog button:

and HERE is the direct link to the tutorial

Shadow Boxes

So I think I pretty much got the blog back to normal for the most time and pretty quick too. My Mom is opening an etsy shop in a couple weeks, so I will be doing my first giveaway then for something from her shop. She makes homemade bows, headbands, jewelry and lots more so stay tuned! Here are my shadow boxes.

I got a pack of three wooden shadow boxes at Michaels. I painted the frames, traced the back part of the frame onto scrapbook paper. I mod podged the scrapbook paper on the back. When everything was dry I hot glued the little decorations inside. My girl's room was in Hello Kitty, so I used to little stuffed animals and a pair of baby ballet slippers. My boy's room was in sports, so I used a sporty Snoopy stuffed animal and some sports balls. Pretty easy room decorations and pretty cheap. You could fill the shadow boxes with more meaningful stuff as well. My friend, called her's 'Memory boxes', and put in her new baby's hospital bracelets and little hospital hat, some pictures of the newborn baby in the hospital and stuff like that that reminds her of the birth. A very cute way to display all that stuff that is a little bulky for a scrapbook, but still precious keepsakes.

Oops!

Okay, I tried to put a new template/background thing on my blog today, and it totally erased everything except my posts pretty much. That's why it looks like this. I am going to try to restore it to even better than it's original look over the next couple weeks, but because I am not very computer savvy it might take me awhile to get it how it was. I am hoping to have a HUGE welcome back post with a giveaway I have lined up and some cool crafts and recipes. I might do a post here and there, but not everyday like I have been, as I am going to be trying to edit my HTML and all that good stuff. SORRY!

THIS WEEKEND

This weekend, (May 7-9) Here is what is going on:

First, again to start a little early...

Today (May 6) Thursday is 'Ladies Only Sample Tour' in Downtown Littleton. You have to have a bracelet to participate, but if you go to the information office right at 4 pm when it starts, they sell any extras they have. Click HERE to read more. I'm be there with my friend, so hope to see you!

Make a Mother's Day one of a kind t-shirt at Michaels, (May 6, 6 pm - 8 pm) (tshirt purchase required, the rest supplied by Michaels)

Now, the weekend:

Make a Mother's Day Frame at Michael's (May 7, 6 pm - 8 pm) (frame purchase required, the rest supplied by Michael's)

It's FREE day at the Denver Botanic Garden in Chatfield, located at:

8500 Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton

Make a FREE Mother's Day Card at Michael's (May 8, 10 am - 12 pm)

FREE Wilton Cookie Demonstration at Michael's (May 8, 12 pm - 1 pm)

Build a FREE trellis planter for Mother's Day at Lowes, (May 8, 10 am - 11 am), click HERE to register

Make a FREE Mother's Day jewelry holder at Lakeshore Learning Centers

(May 8, 11 am - 3 pm)

Make FREE tissue paper flowers at Pottery Barn Kids

(May 8 & 9, 2 - 4 pm)

FREE: Sunflower Farmers Market (Highlands Ranch location) is having a 'Just for Moms Spa Day'. (May 8, 10 am - 2 pm) "Moms come in to be pampered and treated. Indulge your sweet tooth and your soul in in fun and free event." Click HERE to read more.

FREE: Mom and Daughter mini makeovers at Sprouts Farmers Market, Parker Location (Parker Rd & Lincoln Ave.) (May 8, 11am-2pm) "An Aubrey Organics make-up artist will be on hand to give you tips and techniques to bring out your very best. Aubrey Organics is an all natural, make-up!"

FREE: You DON'T want to miss 'Olde Town Market.' It's called a whimsical artisans emporium, with antiques, vintage, unique, and artisan vendors. Takes place in Historic Downtown Littleton (May 8), click HERE to read more

FREE: Centennial Spring Fling at deKoevend Park (6315 S University Blvd. Centennial, 1/2 of a mile north of Arapahoe on University) (May 8, 10 am - 2 am)"The event is designed as a hands-on interactive festival for children of all ages." Click HERE to read more.

FREE: Celebrate with the Cinco de Mayo Festival in Denver. (May 8-9, 10 am- 8 pm). The event includes live entertainment, art exhibitions, children's entertainment and food and drink stalls. Located at the Civic Center Park (Broadway and Colfax Ave.), Click HERE to read more.

Highlands Ranch Indoor Garage Sale (May 8, 8 am - 3 pm), "Be sure to swing by the gym at Eastridge for a great show! We have a ton of vendors which means a great selection of items." Click HERE to read more.

And don't forget to have your kids participate in the FREE National Park and Recreation Month coloring contest at the Castle Rock Rec Center.

"Help celebrate National Park and Recreation Month by submitting an original work of art that depicts how your child enjoys our parks, open spaces or trails. The winning artwork will be featured in the fall / winter 2010 issue of the Recreation Guide, and the top three contestants will be awarded a goodie bag of Recreation Center prizes, including a 20-punch admission pass.

The contest is open to youth ages 3 to 18. Include the child's name, phone number, e-mail or mailing address and age with all entries. Entries must be received by May 17."

Click HERE to read more

Ladybug Cookies

I made these cookies for a friend's daughter's birthday party. She turned one and was having a ladybug birthday party. I got 2 packages of oreo cookies, some red melting chocolate from Michael's (they are called Wilton Candy Melts and come in a variety of colors for $2.99 a bag, one bag was plenty for this) , and some chocolate frosting tube (from Walmart) found by all the birthday candles and sprinkles in the baking isle. First I melted the red chocolate, then dipped the oreo in it (I just covered the front side, I didn't completely cover the whole oreo. Then I put all the oreos in the fridge for a while for the chocolate to harden. Then I took out the chocolate frosting tube and made little heads. I put them back in the fridge for about 15 minutes for the little heads to harden, then I made a line down the middle (wings) and three dots on each side. Refrigerate until ready to eat. I decided not to do eyes. I thought they looked cute just how they were. Pretty easy and the kids loved them!

I am linked to THESE parties!

Mother's Day Roundup

So I am going to try a link party. With Mother's Day coming up, I would LOVE to see all the good ideas for presents out there. It's also Tuesday, so I am going to feature a blog. I think this craft would be an awesome Mother's Day (or Grandmother) present.

Mod Podged Hand Trees from At Second Street

Click HERE to see the tutorial, or click on the button to go directly to the website

These two things are things I am doing for the kids in my primary class at church:

Mother's Day Questionnaire, which I am SO excited to see how the kids answer the questions, found HERE

Mother's Day Hand print and Poem:

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing -

I'll be grown some day

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away.

So here's a little handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small.

(to look something like this, this is actually my husband's from a long time ago that he gave to his mom)

Now for the link party,

1. Link up your Mother's Day crafts, recipes, presents, whatever you have Mother's Day

2. Make sure you link to your actual post and NOT your blog's home page

3. Here's my button if you want to link back to the party from your blog post.

<a href="http://www.mommieguide.blogspot.com" target="_blank"&gt<img src="http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr185/kyleeduff/Picture15.png

" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /&gt</a&gt

Thanks. I'm excited to see what you all have!

Scotch A Roos

These are an amazing spin on regular rice crispy treats. My Mom got them from someone at her work, and passed the recipe on to me. Try them, they are awesome!

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup sugar

Heat until bubbling. remove from heat and add 1 cup peanut butter and 6 cups rice crispies. Spread into 9x13 pan. Melt 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. Spread over squares.

***I did not have butterscotch chips but DID have butterscotch ice cream topping, so I mixed in some of the topping in when I put the peanut butter in, and it was AWESOME. Then I just melted the semi sweet chocolate and drizzled it on top.

Jump Street

Click HERE to visit the Jump Street website. These pictures and review reflect the Earthquake and Tremors parts of Jump Street (7 and under and 3 and under).

the big crocodile slide

The little area for kids 3 and under, it's hard to tell, but there is a little car roller coaster thing in the back that the kids loved, there are about 7 little houses and kitchens, and little jungle gyms with slides.

game area

trampoline (jump street)

The castle with the obstacle course and slide inside

the little coffee house

We got free tickets in the mail for Jump Street, so we went and it was a lot of fun. The kids were never bored and I was wondering if they would even make a full hour, but they kept wanting to stay longer, (they are 4 and 2); I think we ended up staying an hour and a half. Very fun place, I would recommend it.

Location:

10081 W. Bowles Ave.
Littleton, CO 80127
303-339-3030

Hours:

Sunday - Monday

11 am - 9 pm

Tuesday - Thursday

10 am - 10 pm

Friday and Saturday

10 am - midnight

*jump sessions are in one hour increments and begin on the hour and half hour.

Prices:

Monday - Thursday: $8 all day

Fri/Sat/Sun : $6 hour

(these prices are for the 7 and under part of Jump Street, to see a full pricing list, click HERE)

Going on a Trip Presents

So JUST me and my little baby went on a short weekend trip (for a family event) to Utah, leaving my husband and two other kids at home. Fearing that this might be a problem for the two kids (I've never left them before), I came up with a GREAT idea. I shopped around in the dollar section at Target (but the Dollar Store, Walmart, or anywhere will do, really), and found them a cool small little thing. Then I grabbed some lunch sack type gift bags and made them all (not forgetting the hubby), a little present to open each day. It was a BIG hit and the kids (they knew of the presents but not what was in them) kept asking me to leave early so they could open the presents. Examples of things I got (just FYI) were: playdough, Styrofoam dart gun, sticker scrapbook, harmonica (hey, I wasn't going to be there), little candy or crackers, ect, all found for $1 each. Then I labeled them so they knew who they were for and for which day. Really fun for the kids, and fun to have them tell me all about it on the phone. Only downside...this has now set a precedence for all future trips. oh well.