Springtime Tradition

When I was growing up my mom's extended family had a May Day tradition where we would call each other on the phone and shout "Hey, hey, the month of May! Outside lovin' starts today!" and then hang up. It was kind of a competition to see who remembered and did it first. It always made me really happy because my birthday is in May so I loved having something special to remind me that "my month" was here. I think the saying may have started off as something else but that's how I remember it and that's how I say it when I call people now. 

So I wanted to share our little saying in true free-printable fashion. All fun things should be printable right?These are sized to be 4x6 and I think they would be cute as greeting cards (I tried to share this early to give you time to mail them) or a springtime framed decoration. If you want a larger size for framing just leave me a comment and I'll upload whatever size you'd like.

Click to enlarge chosen image. 

Right click. Save as. 

Open and Print using preferred program. 

Enjoy!



Links to sources for the digi-scrapbooking elements I used.
Summertime Designs Free Dance with Me kit
Rakscraps Sept 2010 Megakit
Shabby Princess Free 2006 Seasonal Sampler

Fresh Bread!

If you've been following me on Facebook or Twitter you know that my awesome hubby gave me an early birthday present last Thursday. As always, he had found a really good deal on something and needed to order it in a timely manner. He didn't actually mean to give it to me early but this was the outer box it came in.

Kevin had told me he ordered something for my birthday so I knew not to open any packages that came in the next few days. What can you do when the box says what it is, though? It came while Kevin was at work so I could have just left it on the front porch and pretended I didn't see it. I've long since determined that I'm not a good enough liar for that kind of thing, though. So when he got home that night I said, "I really hate to burst your bubble, sweetie, but I think my birthday present came today and it says what it is on the box. Thank you for the bread maker." He was a little disappointed but he was kind of impatient for me to try it to make sure it works anyway. 

We went and got ingredients Friday evening so we could try a plain white loaf. The bread maker has a timer feature so you can put the ingredients in and walk away and it will start the process by itself about 4 hours before you want the bread done. So we put in our ingredients and set the timer so the bread would be ready Saturday morning around 9am.

Results

Waking up to warm, fresh baked bread is officially one of the best things ever. 

So yummy!

Since then we've made two more loaves for a grand total of three loaves in three days. The machine is so easy to use. (And as the Georgia summer is approaching it's especially nice to be able to make bread without having the oven on heating the house up.) So far we've tried plain white bread and plain wheat bread and we like the white bread better. We have a whole bunch of this stuff in our food storage, though, so we're getting a grinder and we're going to try some honey wheat and cinnamon raisin and other recipes until we find a wheat recipe we love.

Do you have a favorite bread recipe (wheat or otherwise)? Do tell!

Baby Communication 101

I love this product. Our family has all four Baby Signing Time! videos and my kids love them. My 2 (almost 3) year old, Alexander, can't talk or sign yet but we're working hard on both. If nothing else, having Baby Signing Time on helped me learn the signs so I can be a better teacher for him. Really great stuff. Check it out.
Baby Signing Time Dvds
All About Baby Signing 

Invitation!

I just completed my tour guide training last night and I'm so excited! If you're interested in coming on the day I'm going to be giving tours, let me know and I'll get you the info for my times. 

Just so you know, you don't even really need a ticket to come, but they're easy to download and I think having a reservation is always nice.

Come see the Temple! A great family experience!

Get your ticket/reservation here

Find out more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and our Temples

Dealy Dealy

Barnes and Noble has a listing on Ebay for a refursbished Nook with a buy it now price of $79 and free shipping! It's the regular Nook not the color or I wouldn't be typing this post, I'd be putting a couple of Nook Colors in my Ebay cart. I've had my Kindle for a couple of years now and it's still working great but if I had a use for a second E-reader, I'd jump on this fast! Kevin and I get great deals like this all the time buying refurbished electronics and such and if you don't mind some times having less of a warranty I would definitely recommend it as the way to go.

Simple Expressions

 

Click. Print on card stock. Share!

Gratitude

I just looked over my little blog stats for the month of March and I want to take a moment to thank all the people who have been reading my blog lately. My google friend followers alone have more than quadrupled in  the last month and I can't even tell you how happy I am about that! I love sharing my little projects with you and I hope you continue to enjoy it too.



You all rock!
*Muah!*

Our Prophet

This is a clip from the Priesthood Session of General Conference (of the LDS church) in April 2008. President Monson always tells the best stories. He never fails to make me smile. I can't wait for Conference this weekend! I'm definitely feeling the need for a spiritual boost.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head!

Yesterday was kind of a poopy day over here and today I've decided it's because Spring isn't doing what I want it to do. I want warmth and sun and it's cold and rainy instead. I know rain is part of Spring just as much as sunshine is but having to still run the heater is bumming me out. So, to put myself in a better mood...a little creation. Something cute in honor of rain!

Click to enlarge. Right click. Save image as. Save.
Print. Share. Enjoy.

(Bottom floral artwork from Promise Collection by ShabbyPrincess. More fabulous free downloads at ShabbyPrincess.com)

Random Insightful Quote of the Day

When a child is born, a father is born. A mother is born, too of course, but at least for her it's a gradual process. Body and soul, she has nine months to get used to what's happening. She becomes what's happening. But for even the best-prepared father, it happens all at once. On the other side of a plate-glass window, a nurse is holding up something roughly the size of a loaf of bread for him to see for the first time. Even if he should decide to abandon it forever ten minutes later, the memory will nag him to the grave. He has seen the creation of the world. It has his mark on it. He has its mark on him. Both marks are, for better or for worse, indelible.
~ Frederick Buechner,'Whistling in the Dark'