shrinky dinks fun and a little more

For Bella's birthday, I bought her some Shrinky Dinks paper and a book that has a bunch of images that you can trace/copy and color in.  Today was the first time that we have used the stuff.  The girls had never done any Shrinky Dinks before.  And, as I expected, they loved it!

I remember being little and loving them, too.  I figured this would make a nice supplemental lesson to our homeschooling.  And, let us have some fun at the same time.  One of the workbooks that we do in homeschooling is tracing.  The girls practice being SLOW and actually staying on the lines in their workbooks.  So, the Shrinky Dinks paper was extra practice for them.  I think they did pretty well.

Emily and Bella colored in their names.  Bella did everything on the butterfly (tracing and coloring) and most of the snowman.  I had to help finish tracing for her.  Emily traced most of the airplane and colored it.  I did the house with the snow.  Emily did help me color it a little.

Here is Emily showing off her name and the airplane. 

Bella was more than proud of her butterfly and snowman.

After we finished school and our Shrinky Dinks project, we ate lunch and followed lunch up with some cake.  This cake is something else!  Leslie found the recipe in one of her cookbooks and was willing to give it a go.  When she blogged about it, there was no way I wasn't going to try it out.  She claimed it tasted like a pumpkin cake.

Now, you might not remember, but I can't find pumpkin anything here.  Not pumpkin puree or an actual pumpkin.  So, the thought that I could make a cake that tasted like it...  Well, that was pretty spectacular.  And, the kicker is that one of the ingredients in the cake is TOMATO SAUCE!  Yes!  I know!  Crazy!  Try it!  Really.  It is good!  Just look at it!  Recipe here!

And, one last thing on this post.  Jorge painted the accent wall in my living room last night.  So, I wanted to give you a little preview! I love the color of blue.  It, of course, is a tad different in person than in the photo.  But, this is pretty close.  I would say it is a bit more tealish than this.  The color is called "adaptation".  But, I would say it should be called "peacock".  It is beautiful!

We bought paint for the girls' room this past Sunday at Home Depot.  Once that is done, we will head back for the kitchen paint.  After that, I am going to give you another "tour" of my house!  I am very happy with how it is all turning out!  It definitely feels like a home now!