Mrs B, Author at World Traveling Military Family

Book Tree

November 8, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

I loved my book pumpkin so much that I decided I would try to make something else…I love how Pinterest gives you an idea but then it also spawns tons of other ideas in your brain! So I decided to make a tree!

This shows how choosing books of various heights can make larger or smaller shapes

It was super easy! I just drew a quick template (like above) and then removed cover from the paperback book and trace it on there. I cut the pages with scissors and glued together. It got a bath in green spray paint too! I may add a star or something to the top…but I’ll work on that as it gets closer to time to decorate for Christmas…I still have several fall projects to get knocked out 😉

Fort Toulouse Round 3

November 7, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

Mr. B & I went on a field trip with Bea on Friday to Fort Toulouse, it was my 3rd time there and I’m so over it 😉 It was only Mr. B’s 2nd time so maybe he has another round left in him?! Thankfully next year it will not be on the field trip list. And of course it was the coldest morning so far on Friday..a chilly 52 as we’re out walking around freezing to death, LOL! Thankfully by 11 am the sun peaked out a little and warmed things up to the 60’s…good times I tell ya.

Having been there 3 times I was feeling very uninspired taking photos (since the past 2 times I’ve taken tons!) so I took a few and called it good 🙂

There was a new couple who did natural magical wonders and that was a treat to have something new…the rest was pretty much the same.

The new magical wonder couple had these creepy puppets…the lady even said the kids tell her all the time they are creepy…this monkey is made from wax, the kids could pull the spoon and make it dance…weird and creepy at the same time, LOL! Bea wasn’t even sure if she wanted to do it!

Then the lady was also making these creepy rodents dance…I know it’s blurry I was going to take another but the guy started talking to us and insisted that I take a photo of this:

A book that he says everyone should read, how to make a homemade peepshow…no it’s not what yoru thinking it’s a science project for kids from the old days. The one he had was the ocean and it really was cool

Bea

Arrows

Indian loading his bow

I should have took a picture of the Roast Beef Sundae I had…I know sounds tasty right?! Despite the off putting name it was actually good. It was 2 scoops of mashed potatoes with roast beef gravy and a dash of shredded cheese. Yummy and easy on my sore teeth from my new wire.

Book Pumpkin

October 25, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

Another Pinterest project completed, LOL! I’ve still got a good list of things I want to do yet…SOO addicted to that site!

I made this awesome book pumpkin:

It was super easy….WAY easier than the book letter! I think I’m gonna get a few smaller (aka shorter) paperbacks and make 2 more smaller sized ones, this one is pretty good sized!

All I did was take a thrift store book and remove the cover…hence why it was so much easier than the letter. Then I made a ‘template’ and traced it onto the book (I have it open in the picture but I only used it folded so I could have used just 1 piece of paper)

I traced and cut the pages with scissors until it was all finished. Then I went out back and found a stick on the ground to use as the stem. I hot glued the stick in and the pages around and fanned them out. Then I sprayed it with light touch of orange spray paint and tied a ribbon on it!

And yes I’m obsessed with books ;p

I also learned a few nifty things about spray paint today with this and another project…I being the dork that I am should always wear gloves…otherwise I’ll end up with painted sticky hands that the paint will NOT wash off but will come off on everything I touch! Thankfully Google came to the rescue and I was able to get the paint off my hands using acetone nail polish remover and lots of elbow grease!

Sweet Gum Bottom Bed & Breakfast

October 24, 2011 By: Mrs B1 Comment

Mr. B & I were able to stay Saturday night at Sweet Gum Bottom Bed & Breakfast in Andalusia, AL.
This was our first Bed & Breakfast experience and we really enjoyed it! Mr. B’s parents were here for the weekend so they were gracious enough to keep the kids for us.

The Bed & Breakfast was so neat. It has a great story to go with it. It was bought it Evergreen, AL and then cut into 3 sections and moved to Andalusia and restored. It has 4 rooms and we stayed in the Bethany Dawn room, and we were even lucky enough to the have the place to ourselves that weekend! The breakfast was divine! Scrumptious pecan/maple french toast with eggs and bacon as well as fresh fruit and juice. The grounds were well kept and provided a peaceful escape from the hassles of the ‘real world.’ We ate dinner at a local Mom & Pop Italian restaurant. It was delicious and quiet. I know I should’ve taken the camera with me…shame on me 😉

The entry hall to the Bed & Breakfast

Bethany Dawn room

Fireplace & love seat, as well as rocker with a electric back massager on it

Another view of window

View of bathroom, also had large jacuzzi tub with jets

Sun porch, great spot to sit and relax!

View from the best seat in the house, a vintage love seat hung on rope from the ceiling!

View of the backyard towards the sun porch

Mr. B trying out the hammock…it was quite the learning experience for him to get situated, LOL!

I managed to join him without tipping us both over, our view from the hammock

We got out the tripod and decided to take some pictures

Here you can see that my shoe flew off as I jumped up after running and pressing the button on the timer

These were done for Mr. B, LOL!

Our walk led us to the 2 donkeys on the property

Mr. B going in to get some corn for them, they were very interested in that!

Mr. B feeding the donkey

The path on one side of the 12 acres that we walked down

Sign out front of the Bed & Breakfast

Front of Bed & Breakfast, I swear it looks way smaller in the pictures (all that we seen as well) than it really is! It’s quite huge!

Mr. B and I on the front steps

My surprise anniversary gift! Yes, our anniversary was last month…this get away was supposed to be our ‘gift’ but Mr. B doesn’t always listen well ;p I’ve been wanting a butterfly necklace for quite awhile (since after the Captivating Bible study) yet I’d never told him that. He not only got me a butterfly necklace but one with my birthstones, I was so excited! I LOVE it!

For those who know my butterfly stories know that is a great reminder for me of His promises

Great weekend spent with great company, my amazing husband! It was great to get away for a bit and recharge. If your ever in Andalusia and looking for a Bed & Breakfast I highly recommend this one!!

Dreamfield Farms/Pumpkin Patch 2011

October 20, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

This past Saturday we decieded to check out a local pumpkin patch as we haven’t been to one since we’ve been here…and this year makes 3 years.

We drove out to Dreamfield Farms in Union Springs, AL, which is about 45 minutes from us. We had a fun day on the farm, here are some pictures:

As you can see Bubby was not wanting to participate easily in the photo

This one cracks me up

The boys playing a game of checkers over lunch

Feeding the animals was a hit

They even got to give them bottles of water

Mr. B even got in on the action, brings back horrible early morning memories from my childhood…LOL

Bea trying to pet the racing pigs, they weren’t the most friendliest fellows

Boo getting ready to enter the corn maze

Mr. B & Bea heading into the corn maze

Bea & I in the maze

Boo & Bub racing ‘ducks’

Burying Bub in the cornbox, it was hilarious when they had him covered a kid came and sat on him not realizing he was under there!

Boo jumping on the rolled up hay bales, I think this was the highlight of the day for all the kids

Mr. B getting in on the action…although I did warn him that we would NOT be making an ER visit that day ;p

Bub & Boo playing tag

There were even pretty butterflies!

The hay bales everyone loved playing on

The inflatables area. This was where Boo found that he could still do a back flip, which was both amazing and scary! He has not done one since he was 11 in Japan and dislocated his C1 & C2 in his neck!

The hay rides

Area with little pedal tractors, my kids did not visit this area

Arriving in the pumpkin patch, Bea was all about heading out to get her pumpkin

Bub with his pumpkin

Bub is king of the hay 😉

Overall it was a great day with a few more things to check off our Fall ‘to-do’ list 😉

Newborn & Sibling Photo Shoot

October 14, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

I had a great photo shoot yesterday! Despite the weather being crazy with rain & dark clouds limiting my natural lighting I was able to get some great shots 🙂 It was a great hands-on learning for what to do in those types of situations. Still lots to learn but it’s getting easier each time 😉

It was also great for getting some hands-on experience with siblings, in the past the siblings really did not want to have anything to do with getting pictures with the baby. This precious big sister was more than happy to hold her sister and take pictures.

And I even go to use the vintage scale that I scored at the flea market and the vintage washbasin from the thrift store the day before! I so wish I knew how to do this when my kids were smaller, LOL!

Book Letter Art

October 13, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

I had seen a vintage book made into a letter on Pinterest and I just knew I had to try it. That website has given me so many great ideas!

I went to a local thrift store and bought some vintage books. Last night I decided that I’d attempt to make my first letter, I’m sure Mr. B loved walking in to the chaos of this project after a long day at work 😉

I decided that I’d better use a pencil and draw lines to cut as freehanding it would not have been pretty

Book with letter outlined on front

Apparently Bea got a hold of the camera and decided to help document the process, including Mac under the chair wondering what was going on

I then decided if I was going to saw through the whole book I should tape it so it would stay together

Using the power saw…it didn’t work as good as I thought it would

Bea’s photo of me

Trying to cut through the whole thing

Having Mr. B get in on the action

Sawdust flying, Bea did a good job with this one

Moved to a hacksaw which worked better

But it was still hard work! I ended up untaping the book and cutting the front cover. I first used the hacksaw and then found the best tool to use…a Pampered Chef knife! It cut the cover great and I only ‘almost’ cut myself once, LOL! Those knives are sharp! So after I cut the front cover I then cut out the pages with scissors which was much safer but a slow and steady process. I then used the knife again for the back cover and viola:

A Book Letter! I LOVE it and I want to do one for all the kids but it did take about an hour…some of that was probably ‘growing pains’ figuring out the process but I’ll wait awhile before I attempt another 😉

Alabama State Fair 2011

October 11, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

I really meant to blog this morning…I did! But as life would have it, it’s one of ‘those’ days. I have 2 kids home not feeling well…I think it may be a case of ‘Fairitis’ LOL! Both Bea & Boo’s stomachs were not feeling well last night, and when I picked Boo up from practice he had a sore throat. Fast forward to this morning and Bea is now fine, Bubby his yelling from stomach pains, and Boo can’t even swallow anything other than water without severe pain and it feeling like it’s stuck!

I gave Boo some meds and he attempted to go to school, that ended at 10:38 am when he called and said it was getting worse, so I went to get him and he has an appt. at 3 pm today. I mean why can’t the kid have ‘normal’ stuff happen…who has problems where you can’t swallow because it feels like it gets stuck? It’s also very painful when he hiccups…hoping we’ll get some answers and relief this afternoon. It’s weird to see him not eating because he’s ALWAYS eating something to keep up with all the calories they burn off in football..he was able to eat some yogurt and some gummies but that’s it. The biscuit he tried at school during break about did him in on the pain scale…which to me is crazy because he has such a HIGH pain tolerance…so it does make me a bit concerned.

Needless to say I’m just getting around to working on the blog. We went to the Alabama State Fair yesterday…it was our first time since we’ve been back here the past 3 years (YES it will be 3 years at the end of this month!!) we went when we were here before when Boo was small, but I remember it being much cheaper then 😉

Really it can’t even compare to what I’m used to with the Western Idaho State Fair, but the kids had a great time and that’s all that matters. I didn’t take my ‘good’ camera because I knew it was supposed to rain so I took the point & shoot, which was fine but with the weather being overcast the ISO was so low that any hand shake resulted in some blur…next time I’ll pack the big one and a big trash bag for weather protection 😉

Our first stop was to the livestock barns as my kids, especially Bubby love animals of all sorts

Baby Potbellied pigs that were just too cute!

View down the food vendors lane

A stop at the petting zoo is a must, this goat could not wait to get some yummy treats

Boo feeding a calf

Mr. B was in charge of dividing up the food, the goats were patiently waiting

Bea feeding the Llama

Walter the water buffalo sure gave Boo a good licking…maybe he has ‘Oxitis’ today, LOL!

Bubby giving a baby goat some love. One downside to the petting zoo was that I had to alert the lady attendant that one of the sheep in the pen was dead. It was lying right where all the others were standing and they kept stepping on it’s face and it didn’t move…good indicator that something was wrong. Oh joy to experience the circle of life at the petting zoo

Bea waiting for Mr. B to get the wristbands for the rides

Boo determined not to smile in my photos yesterday

Bubby waiting near the fairway

Tons of people at the ticket booths

Sporting his wristband

It was hilarious to watch all 3 kiddos on this ride

Bea being flung around in circles by the arm power of her brothers, LOL!

Her face when the ride kept dropping was priceless!

Not too sure about this ride…and afterwards wasn’t anymore sure of it either

Bea asked to go on this, we had been on one at Busch Gardens…as soon as it got going I knew she was regretting it

Thankfully Boo stepped up into the big brother role and wrapped his arm around her and let her lean onto him and cry…awww

This was the ride that Boo smacked his head into the pole…see he can’t even go to the fair without getting hurt, I’m not crazy people, he’s a walking time bomb I tell ya!! LOL

Boo’s must ride, not so sure he thought it was a good idea after it was over since he’d just about knocked himself out on the previous ride

Bubby playing one of ‘those’ games on the way out…I tried to tell him they rig them so you can’t win easily…but he had to try it to believe it 😉

All in all we had a fun time but I’m not sure it’s worth the $$ every year..maybe a once in awhile treat…although I wouldn’t’ be sad if we weren’t here next year to even have to think about it ;p Also I didn’t like that you couldn’t re-enter after you exited…just another way for them to make some extra $$ I guess. We’re glad we took the kids as the fair was always something I looked forward to as a kid but really it was a take it or leave it kinda thing, so now at least they can’t say we never took them LOL!

Taste of the River Region 2011

October 3, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

Last night Mr. B & I had the opportunity to attend the 2011 Taste of the River Region. We were given the tickets by a friend so we decided to go try it out.

First and foremost this was stepping way outside the boundaries for me 😉 I’m much more of an in introvert and Mr. B is the extrovert in our family. Since I knew it would be something that he’d enjoy and be a impromptu date nite for the both of us I decided to step outside my ‘comfort’ zone and throw caution to the wind and go.

Did I mention that I’m not a fan of crowds? And boy oh boy did it get crowded! Thankfully the tickets were VIP tickets so we got in before the mass of people and were able to get food and seats before the never ending line formed around the room

It actually turned out to be a neat experience. We were able to sample tasty cuisine from over 35 local vendors! It was a great way to try new foods as I always hate to order something new at the restaurant because I hate to pay $10+ and not like something. I even got to finally try hummus…I’ve been wanting to try it for awhile but you know how it goes…not waiting to buy something and not like it…LOL! I found that I really enjoyed it! Mr. B even gave it a taste and found that it was good.

This was at least plate number 5…by then I was really lacking in room for much else

Our favorites ended up being grilled chicken nachos and a really tasty chicken from Longhorns…I mean who would’ve even guessed that Longhorns would have such a yummy chicken?! And I was delighted to find the water provided for the meal was a large bottle of Icelandic water…straight out of Selfoss! This was so entertaining because we lived in Iceland for 2 years and have been to Selfoss. I asked Mr. B what he though the statistics of people in the room drinking the water had actually been to Iceland…we concluded that we were probably the minority. Just the smile at remembering Iceland and our time there was a hit for me 🙂

Iceland will always hold a special place in my heart

Destin, FL 2011

September 30, 2011 By: Mrs Bcomment

Thankfully the weather was great for our trip to the beach, it was hot but a constant breeze made it enjoyable. We got a bit of sun despite our many attempts at sunscreen applications, all except Bub who managed to get less sun than the rest.