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The kids and I just returned from a little mini vacation at the Jersey Shore with my sister and her family.  The kids had a blast with their cousins and I was excited to snap this funny photo "capturing" the cousins under a huge sand bucket. Check it out... I originally saw the idea on Pinterest from THIS Flickr photo.  My photography skills aren't as good as the original, but it was a simple shot to capture.  I just asked the kids to go a little ways down the beach, then held the beach bucket in my left hand and the camera in my right.  I told the kids to pretend something was attacking them from above (which they gladly acted out).  Because I just used the auto focus on my camera, I had to lock the focus on the kids, then move the bucket into the shot (otherwise the kids would have been too blurry and the bucket would be in sharp focus) .   I got a few funny looks from other beachgoers, but it was worth it for this cute photo.

I'd seen this idea for using chalk pastels to color hair several times over the past year or so, but I finally had the perfect opportunity to test it out when the kids were visiting their cousins last week.  I searched again on Pinterest,  found this tutorial at Little Pink Monster and ran out to the craft store to pick up some soft chalk pastels. Check out the fun hair... The girls loved it and it was really easy and inexpensive. Here's what we did... First, I picked up this set of soft chalk pastels (Amazon affiliate link) at the craft store, using a 40% off coupon it was less than $5! Next we got to work putting colorful streaks in the girls' hair. 1.  We brushed their hair to get rid of any tangles and the girls chose a color. 2.  I took a section of hair where we wanted color and dampened it with a wet paper towel, then rubbed the pastel over the section.  A spray bottle of water would also work well. 3.  I rubbed the pastel over the section a few mo...

Yikes, can you believe it's been over 3 months since I last posted?!  Life always gets busy once Spring rolls around, but this year seemed even busier than usual.     My past few months in collage form... Those same few months in list form... 3 days a week of baseball 2 days a week of soccer one 4th grade STEM fair project (which won 1st place at her school!) one 3rd grade research presentation on conjoined twins (really interesting) one 1st grade research presentation on Bald Eagles 3 end-of-the-year art shows and Spring concerts (one for each kid, all on separate nights) one long-term subsitute job for several weeks in Kindergarten (wow, was that exhausting) an embarrassing amount of time playing Candy Crush Saga instead of doing something more productive once the kids were in bed at night   Yup, no real excuses, I was just a mom, alternating between being super busy and totally wiped out.    In any case, though, I'm back.  I have several cool ...