Food Friday - Babybel Yumminess

* Since I LOVE both photography and food I figured I would switch off between Photography Fun Fridays and Food Fridays. *

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Happy Friday everyone! First things first the winner (chosen using Random.org) of the ebook -The Key To Taking Pictures Like A Professional Photographer by Katie Evans is:

Commenter #5 Lytles said: 

"The book looks great! I would love to win it!"

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did!

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Now on to Food Friday. I don't know about you but my family LOVES cheese in pretty much every kind and shape. One of our particular favorites are Laughing Cows Mini Babybel cheese.

They are so cute and just the perfect size for lunches and snacking. If you haven't tried them you totally should! Of course if they aren't quite cute enough you can always follow Tiffany's directions on Cute Food For Kids and do the following:

You can go with these simple babybel umbrella's. Or..

These super duper Cute babybel girls!  Or my personal favorite

This awesome babyel Angry Bird!

And this is just a few of the adorable creations on Cute Food for Kids. I am not sure if there is anything Tiffany can't make out of babybel cheese! She has a gift for making the most ADORABLE kids food. Her adorable babybel creations are only the beginning. I seriously spent and entire evening pouring over her blog! She has so many easy cute food ideas that there is sure to be something that both you and your kids will love. I cannot wait to pick up some more babybels so I can make them even cuter. Now I just have to decided which one to make first...

Pretty Pretty Nails

*We didn't have power all day so this post is a bit late. Better late than never though - right?*

With a house full of girls nail polish is obviously a very beloved item. There is nothing my girls and I love more than getting our nails painted. Now that the girls are getting older and getting better about sitting still I think we are ready to venture out from the same old pink nails. I have spent the last couple of weeks tagging cute nail polish ideas on Pinterest like these.

I am sure I won't be able to do something as cute an elaborate as those pictures but I am willing to try! I picked up some new nail polish at the store last week and I am just waiting for the perfect day to get creative with the girls nails. Why just their fingernails? Well we are lucky enough to have a local shop that does AMAZING artwork on our toenails.

I could NEVER do anything this elaborate or cute if I tried! Are you doing anything special to your toes or fingers for summer time?

Plain Slip to Fancy Slip

Summer is full swing here in Okinawa which means it is hot and humid. I do not like hot and humid weather because it makes me feel soo gross. After 3 years of living here I have come to realize that dresses are the way to go during the summer. So to start off the summer I bought a handful of dresses from various places, some long and some short. I ALWAYS order dresses in tall to give me a bit more length but it doesn't always work. I ended up with a couple of dresses that were a bit too short and I for one do not like showing off my undies to the world. So I stuck them in the back of the closet till I could decide what to do with them.

I was browsing on Etsy one day when I came across A Slip Shop. I was instantly in love with all of the adorable slips for sale in the shop. It was all the inspiration I needed and the perfect solution to my short dress problem. Yesterday I hit the store and bought a plain slip, some eyelet lace and here is what I ended up with:

Yes I took all the pictures outside and yes I looked like a crazy lady but my neighbors are use to it. My house has abysmal lighting and I could not get a good picture no matter what I did. So I drug my mirror outside and snapped away. Ok back to the adorable slip. It was super easy and simple to make. The entire project took me about 15 minutes beginning to end. Here are a few notes about making your own fancy slip. 

1. You can make the slip from scratch but I choose to take a shortcut and went with a store bought half slip. I just made sure it was long enough for what I wanted which was 20 inches.

2. Buy enough lace! I cannot stress this enough. I thought a yard would be more than enough lace for the slip. Had I watched her cut it I would have know to ask for another 1/2 yard of lace. Instead I was trying to wrangle my little stinkers and keep them for running over the sweet Japanese ladies at the fabric store. I ended up taking the slip in so the lace I bought would work. It wasn't a big deal but the slip is a bit tighter that what I hoped for. Of course you could always do the smart thing and  measure the end of your slip to know exactly how much lace you will need.

3. My slips were fairly low cost to make. I bought cheap slips (about $5) but the lace is what really cost me. It might be something about Japan but my eyelet lace was $7 a yard. It was actually the most expensive lace they had there. Still the project was cheaper (and faster) than buying one online.

4. If you are not up to making your own slip go to A Slip Shop and check our their amazing selection of gorgeous slips. The prices are great especially if it means you can pull all those too short dresses out of the back of your closet!

 My first slip was a learning experience to be sure but I think it turned out well. I cannot wait to make another one. Maybe I will make the next one with a double layer of lace!

I am linking up to these great parties!

Summer Fun List - Pet Rocks

The girls got to pick out of the summer fun bucket for the very first time today! They were very excited when they read the slip - Pet Rocks. I remember making very large pet rocks as a little girl and dragging them around everywhere. I loved them, even if it hurt SUPER bad when I dropped them on my foot which I did  a lot. I had such fond memories of making them I just had to make some with the girls. Needless to say I was excited as they were to get started on our project.

I did not think through this project before we started. I knew I had markers and I thought I had googly eyes (I didn't) and the rocks would be easy to find - right? WRONG. The only rocks we could find were the small black decortive ones in the front yard. The were not quite the right size for pet rocks but we didn't have much of a choice. 

 Our pet rocks turned into more of a rock decorating session. We used the paint markers to make faces and draw pictures on a couple dozen rocks. They aren't quite pet rocks but they are adorable and the girls had a great time making them. Even though the project didn't go quite the way I had envisioned it was still a success.

PS Our Summer Snack System is working VERY well so far. The girls caught on quickly and are having fun using their "money"!

Summer Snack System

It is officially summer here! The girls are home and having tons of fun together - for the most part. Of course having the girls home all day means that the phrase "I am HUNGRY!" If I let the girls they would snack all day long. I cannot tell you how many times I have told them they could have a few pretzels only to find an empty bag on the counter 15 minutes later! I would also like to encourage them to eat more fruits and veggies rather than needless processed snacks. I have been racking my brain to come up with a way to both of those and at the same time make it a fun learning experience for the girls. Then miracle of miracles I found this post (Streamlining Summer Snacking) from Kristen Duke Photography tagged on Pinterest. Oh how I LOVE Pinterest! 

After reading Kristen's post I was very inspired so I hit the store grabbed a few supplies and set to work on our summer snack plan. Here is what I cam up with:

Our Summer Snack System

The cost/plan:

The girls will each get 10 $1 bills and 5 $5 bills each week. They will be encouraged  use 2 of their $1 bills and one of their $5 each day. I plan to print out the money (found here) in different colors for each of the girls so we can keep them straight. The money will be stored in coordinating pouches and hung on the fridge.

The snacks:

The first and perhaps most important thing the girls will know is that they can have fruits and veggies anytime they want and those will not cost them anything. I came up different types of snacks for the $1 and $5 dollar snack bins and it was rather difficult. I am all about healthy snacks for the girls but most easy snacks are not the best for the girls. After some contemplation I came with a decent list. The $1 snacks will be things like goldfish crackers, Gogurts, granola bars, Popsicles, cheese sticks, pretzels and other semi-healthy snacks. The $5 snacks will consist of dessert type snacks like Oreos, Poptarts, chocolate chip cookies, fruit snacks and other homemade desserts. I plan to separate the snacks into serving sizes (using sandwich bags) and store them in plastic bins labeled with the "price" on the outside. They will be stored up high so my little stinkers have to get permission and pay up before they can get to them!

I picked up a small magnetic dry erase board so I could write out the weekly snack inventory (starting with the free fruits and veggies of course) so they girls know what they have to spend their "money" on. I am REALLY hoping this new snack system will help cut back on the snacks and amount of "boredom" eating the girls are doing. How do you deal with kids and snacking during the summer?

I am linking up to these great parties!