finger paint

 
Ty and I have been having a lot of fun making messes lately. He loves to help make dinner and getting his hands dirty. What boy doesn't? Most of the time I love his help. I think its darling. However sometimes I am in a hurry and just need to do it myself. So what could Ty do to get his hands dirty, have fun and stay out of my hair for a bit?? I wasn't sure.... So I searches through my Kid Activities pin board and found this.

She makes it so easy to follow along. There was only three ingredients and like four steps. It took maybe ten minutes to make and kept Ty busy for an hour straight. At first he didn't want to touch it but after a while he had no problem getting his hands dirty. 

What I love about this project. Honestly it is so so cheap. Really flour, salt and some food coloring. If you don't have food coloring use coolaid. 

She put the paint in squeeezy things like empty mustard or honey containers. I didn't have any on hand so I pulled out my large collection of baby food jars. They are so handy for so many things so I just hang on to them. Probably not as fun as squeezing it out of a container, but this way was easy to stick a paint brush or finger in.

If you don't have either squeezy containers or baby food jars just use small Tupperware.

Another thing I seriously love about this is you can make a big batch and after your done playing put it in the fridge. It doesn't take up much space and you can pull it out while your making dinner, showering or doing anything you would like an hour of peace for.

I noticed after it had been in the fridge a while the colors were brighter and the paint was thicker. I think Ty liked it better.

One last thing I love about this is that it is non toxic. I doubt Ty would try and eat it but if he did it is totally harmless.

Now we need to invite our cousins over and play some more. 

Hope you have fun! If you try let me know. I would love to see your post with your littles enjoying this!!

Remember get the full tutorial on how to make the paint here

Tell me Tuesday

Hey ladies. Welcome to Tell me Tuesday. 

Hope your week is fabulous so far. 

Love ya!

 I would love to have you in May! 
email me with any questions. 
ashleywhetman@hotmail.com
THANKS 
XOXO

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MMM healthy snack

I had so many people love the Banana Bites and request more healthy snack ideas. These are one of my all time favorite healthy snacks. I love them, Jayson loves them and Ty loves them.

Yummy Apple Snacks.

Buy any type of apple. I usually get Gala because they are yummy and much cheaper.

Cut them up. If you don't have one of these apple cutters just use a knife. It will taste the same:)

We love Nutella but you can also use peanut butter.

Spread it on.

Then sprinkle with granola. 

Easy check. Yummy check. Cheap check. 

comfort

Linking up today with The Growing Tree for my Husband Rocks linky.

Topic: a time when your husband helped you through a difficult point in your life, or how he supports you when you're having a bad day!



After thinking about this for a while I realized Jayson and I have been very fortunate in not having any major difficult times. I am sure we will have many however in our three years of being married we have been very blessed with healthy kids and family, good finances, a roof over our head and food in our tummies. 

Jayson does support me through everything though. The most memorable moment I have of my true love for Jayson besides looking into his eyes while we promised to be each others for eternity was when we were having Ty. I was in labor for a really really long time. I was worn both physically and mentally. I thought there was no way I was going to live through the delivery. Sounds a bit dramatic I know but I was scared. Jayson was always right there. He said so many positive and heart warming things that made my heart swell. The moment Ty came out the first thing I saw was Jaysons face. I remember thinking that I could never have done this with out his support. I saw him look at Ty and saw true love in his eyes. Then he looked over at me and we just smiled at each other for a second. He kissed my forehead and told me he was so proud of me. I knew then that no matter how hard things got Jayson would always be at my side. 

Since then I have had a lot of times where I needed his help on day to day things. After having Ty I was in heaven. I always knew I wanted to be a wife and mommy. To nurture and protect my family. After staying at home for a time I soon realized I also missed my busy life style. I missed being in a salon all day visiting women and feeling like I made a difference in others lives. I had always had amazing clients. Ones who would come in and tell me everything on their hearts. I missed communicating with adults. I missed making women feel better about themselves. The look on their face when I turned the chair around. Pure happiness. 

I never once thought that I regretted starting our family so soon. I just felt like I lost a little bit of myself. I lost the energetic talkative spontaneous girl I was. My family use to joke about how friendly I was. They would say I could become best friends with a rock. I had a way of talking with someone and finding something we were both passionate about. I never felt awkward talking to knew people or being in difficult situatons. 

I felt like being home all day with a baby made me weird. I soon lost that talent of being a people person. I lost being able to communicate with others easily. When I realized this I had a hard time excepting it. I cried to Jayson telling him that I thought I was weird. Of course while crying in his arms he was not about to admit to me that he agreed. He simply hugged me and supported me. 

He talked to me about finding things I can do that was not just for Ty. Some new things I could do. Discovering new talents. I knew I loved being at home with Ty. I knew I was happy...just something was off. Jayson soon realized how much joy I was having making things for Ty. That I was making things for our house. I was sewing, cooking, writing...He also knew how much I enjoyed blogging. 

He started really encouraging me in blogging. He saw that it gave me something to do to feel good about myself. I could share the things I loved the most in my life. Number one my family. I could share my story. I could write anything and everything I wanted. Sharing things I made or activities we do. I was meeting new friends who were going through similar things. I was happy. 

Jayson helped me find a passion and is my biggest supporter. I may not be a social butterfly anymore and maybe I am awkward and shy around people when I actually get out of the house now.

Especially with Ember here now. Having two kids means a lot more time focused on them and their needs and less on my own. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Raising my babies and making sure they are protected and happy is my number one concern and joy. 

I am so blessed to have Jayson in my life to pick me up when I am down. To tell me I am doing a good job with our babies. To have him thank me for cleaning the house or making dinner. For walking in while I am getting ready and telling me he has never seen something as lovely as me. 

Being a mother is wonderful. I feel like its my calling in life. With out Jayson helping me through it...there is no way I would survive. He is a wonderful husband and father. Marriage is truly a partnership. One between man and women. To support each other and complement each other in strengths and weaknesses. 

Everything I believe about marriage and family can be read here in the Proclamation to the World.

8 months my little girl

Ember...What more can I say about her than she has completely changed the way I look at life. I fall more in love with her every day. Her smile melts me to the core. Her rolls make me giddy inside and her laugh is the sweetest sound on earth. She is so tender and sweet yet dramatic and feisty. She definitely knows she can get what she wants when it comes to her dad and I.

At eight months Ember is now Eating mostly solids. She rolls and scoots everywhere. Not crawling yet but that doesn't slow her down one bit. She is sleeping through the night and taking two naps a day. Has yet to take a bottle and doesn't really like the sippy cup so she drinks right out of a glass.

The best thing Ember is now doing....

Saying "mama" cutest thing in the world. I know she means it. She looks right at me 

and when she says it its like she is telling me she loves me. I can't help but get teary eyed.

Currently & get 5dollars off add space

eating, drinking, wishing, loving

I am Currently 

EATING- healthy healthy healthy. I have been going crazy with healthy snack ideas on pinterest! 

DRINKING- Water and Diet Coke. That is about all I ever drink.

WISHING- For more good weather.
LOVING- That Jayson and I got a new TV. It was quite a story. To make it short we ordered a new 42" LCD from Wal mart. We did site to store and had to go pick it up in Hurricane. (about 45 min away from us) No big deal but my brother in law was driving through so he stopped to pick it up for us. When he brought it back it was oddly not in a box. I was like "uh what????" Called the store in Hurricane and talked to customer service. I guess they sold our TV so they gave us the display model...uh what??? Pretty sure those things run 24hrs a day and she said it had been on display for a year. They also forgot to send the remote and the manuals. I was pretty frustrated to say the least. I asked if we could return it to our local Wal Mart and they said yes. Jayson and I went down to return it. Before to long we had three managers around trying to figure out the problem. They felt so bad and were mad that it happened. So to sum this long story up....They hooked us up with a bigger nicer way cooler TV for no extra charge. Now we have a 46" LED with internet connection. Yup, definitely loving that!

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scrub with love tutorial

My obsession with the dollar store has begun to get a little out of hand. I absolutely love to find things I would spend three times as much or more anywhere else. I really like this post about things worth buying and things to avoid at the dollar store.  My most favorite thing though is to see what crafts I can make. Its no secrete if you follow along that I am pretty cheap. Jayson will be starting graduate school in a few months while I stay at home with our two littles. So it goes with out being said that we try to watch our money. That doesn't mean a girl can't get crafty!

My mom actually received one of these towels for Christmas from a friend. It was a red towel with a green sponge. The possibilities are endless. You could buy some pretty cute towels and make them to fit your personality or theme of your kitchen. Today I will just be doing basic white towels with multicolored sponges. 

Get your sharp scissors and cut out any shape you would like. 

I did hearts because they are easy for me. Plus they are cute!

Once you start sewing you really don't need the pins. The sponge is so stiff and heavy it wont move but I always like to pin and make sure its in the exact right spot.

I used a basic zig-zag stitch. I also used white thread for all towels. I debated on using thread to match the different colors but thought it would look tacky on the white towels. I ended up really liking the look of the white thread on the hearts. I think it looks fun :)

I love mine. Its nice to be able to wash the dishes with a towel and have a scrubber end to get off tough spots or hardened food. They are perfect for neighbor gifts at Christmas or a friends birthday or a housewarming gift...Like I said possibilities are endless. Hope you enjoy!!

Tell Me Tuesday -- Link UP

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these two

I can't stop watching this video of my two little ones.

Seriously melts my heart. 

Banana bites

 

How about a healthy snack today!?

  

I have seen these all over Pinterest and have had a lot of friends tell me to try them. I thought it would be fun and yummy but was too lazy to actually make them. Then I had a batch of bananas start to go bad. It was shocking because bananas usually don't make it through the week at our house. I have to buy two or three batches at a time. I tend to get one batch of yellow and two really green ones. However we have been gone a lot lately and just didn't get around to eating them this time. The thought of throwing away food makes me sad. It is so expensive to buy healthy food so there was no way I was going to let these babies go bad.

So they're not totally bad but one more day and in my opinion they would have been nasty. So I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make the banana bites I have heard so much about.

You can cut them up as thick or thin as you would like. Ty helped me cut them so mine are all sorts of sizes.

Seriously who doesn't love peanut butter??! I could eat it every day.

I really wasn't planning on having Ty help me. I actually told him to stop when he started. I was nervous about him using the knife but he totally rocked it. He is just way too big and I have to stop thinking of him as a baby. We used butter knifes and I was right by him the whole time. He absolutely loved them. It was hard to keep some to freeze when he ate them as he went. He loves bananas and peanut butter so it was a perfect snack for him.

You can also put as little or as much peanut butter as you like. If you are doing it for a super healthy snack I wouldn't put a ton on. We were having fun and Ty kept layering it on so our peanut butter is busting out the sides.

I debated on posting this picture of our freezer. It is pretty sad looking. I put them in on a plate so they would freeze individually. Then after one hour I took them out and transferred them from the plate to a zip-lock bag. Jayson came home for lunch and we ate them all!

Maybe they will last longer at your house.