Father's Day & Staying In Touch

Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.
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Well it's June and it's time to start thinking about Father's Day!

I say "Daddy" a lot in my everyday life. It's almost always in reference to my husband, whilst talking to my daughters. Just over 5 years ago though, when I said Daddy, I was usually referring to my own.

I think my dad is pretty amazing. The choices that he has made in his life and the commitment and conviction that he has are something that I have and will always admire and feel proud of. He's a great man who is always thinking of others and being considerate of their feelings.


My dad & I one year, with the fish I caught
(I was scared to hold them ;)
My dad has served in our church in numerous ways throughout my life. Sometimes this required him to need to type things out. My dad is not a speedy typist, so he would often call on me to help him out when I could. This is one of my happy memories of working with my dad, because I felt like I could do something worthwhile & helpful to him. I loved it when he would shake his head and make a comment about how fast I was. :)

That was back in the days that I lived at home. When I went away to school in another country, I kept in touch with my parents through long distance phone calls & email (which had a positive influence on my parents' phone bill!). Even now, I live a good distance from my parents and we often communicate through email.

I love it when my dad emails me because I know he has taken some time to compose it. And I love it when his emails are decorated with smileys and other little emoticons. It totally brightens my day :)

How do you stay in touch with your family when you're far apart?

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Here's a cute little video from Yahoo! Mail that goes along with the subject of Dads:

Rice Krispie Dishes

This is what my mom served lunch on one day when we were over. You better believe the girls loved it! :) All you need to do is make Rice Krispie squares as usual, but shape them into dishes with your hands, instead of pressing them into a dish. This would be a fun thing to make with your kids, too. 

Moments- Handprints on the Mirror

How I will miss these days, someday in the future, when I would walk into the bathroom and find this amusing little statement, left behind by some cute little hands.


It totally made me smile. :)

Sharing Time- June 2011

Come on over & check out this month's Sharing Time!

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Making A Parachute Out of an Umbrella

A couple of nights ago, I made a parachute out of a broken old umbrella. It was fun to be sewing again. I took pictures along the way and made a tutorial up to show you how I did it, incase you want to make one like it.

See how much fun they're having with it? ;)


The tutorial is over at HowDoesShe. If you didn't see it there yesterday, go on over & check it out! I'm excited to tell you that I'm their newest writer! I'll be posting a couple of times a month with fun ideas like the ones I share here. I hope you'll come over & visit me there :) (and you should probably read that blog all the time anyway, if you don't already, cuz it's full of great ideas! ;)

How To Get Pen Off of Wall Decals

In my last post I showed you the cute wall decals that my mom & I put up in the girls' playroom. Today I'm going to show you how much Katrina loved the little animals. Unfortunately, her mom was not very proud of her artistic interpretation of the playroom wall masterpiece.

Well, the Internet came to the rescue. I googled & I asked you on my facebook page, and eventually I discovered how to get ink out of wall decals.



Based on my experience, here's what I can tell you:

1. Do not use magic eraser (I tried- it didn't work, so I pressed harder, then I saw the colour coming out of the sticker. However, the magic eraser always works wonders on our ikea mammut kid sized table- and you better believe I've had to use it many a time ;)

2. Do not use Vim. (I find that Vim works for a lot of things, but not wall stickers- it'll take the colour out)

3. Do not use a cloth with soap. (well you could try it- it didn't take the colour out. But it won't take the pen out either)

4. DO use Rubbing Alcohol! (It really works & it doesn't mess with the colour of the vinyl.)

5. Depending on how hard your little artist pressed with her pen, you may be left with some colour & an indent on your stickers, but they'll look a lot better than they did right after she finished her work.

6. I am told that Goo Be Gone spray gel will also do the trick. And I even heard someone suggest milk on a cloth... has anyone ever tried that? Sounds strange to me.

Now, please tell me.... does anyone know how to get pen off of a painted wall, without taking the paint off? Cuz that little bit you see in the picture isn't all I'm working with ;)