Completed diorama!

Would you like to see Gaines Mill battleground in miniature?  The diorama is finally complete and not a moment too soon.  It is due on Monday.  The boys have both been so excited about this project!  I have never seen a kid beg to do homework before!

The blue are the Union troops.  The gray the Confederate Army.  I love those tall grasses, and I think my hubby did a great job on that wagon!  How creative is that?  It is made of coffee stirrers (is that a real word?), clay, tooth picks, and buttons!  He also came up with the fence.  The cannons were my idea.

In the heat of battle crossing Boatswain Creek.

This is about where my great-great grandfather would have been during the battle.  He was a rifleman, promoted to Sargent.  He fought alongside two of his brothers, one of whom died at Gaines Mill.

Now he just has to finish his little mini report. :)  I think it deserves an A+ what about you?

Also, I'm linked up over at the Pinkapotamus Blog Hop for the next few days.  Go check out all the featured blogs.

Memorial Day

Today we are reminded of all those who have served our country bravely since its beginning... all those who have paid the price so that we may call this the land of the free, home of the brave.  We didn't barbecue or go to the lake or any of the usual things people do on Memorial Day, but we did do something kind of interesting.  My son has a fourth grade social studies project that is due June 1st.  Appropriately enough it is a diorama of the battle of Gaines Mill from the Civil War.  We decided that since my great-great grandfather served in the Civil War and was actually at Appomattox Court House when Robert E. Lee surrendered that we would use that as a personal touch.  When we have finished it completely I will post pictures.  Even my 6-year-old is getting into the spirit. 

This is what the battle map looks like.  http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gainesmill/maps/gainesmillmap.html

The only physical things we have left to add to the diorama are the trees, soldiers, and artillery.  I painted Boatswain Creek onto the diorama, and my 6-year-old kept telling me I make the best lakes in the world. :)

Just in case you are interested in the Civil War history, I took this picture at the Smithsonian back in April.  They are the actual chairs and table from Appomattox Court House that Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant sat in when the surrender was signed.

This is an example of the uniform my great-great grandfather would have worn.



J-Bird's Party

Well, J-Bird's party was a success!  The cupcakes I posted two days ago were a big hit, even if my boys weren't big fans themselves.  The cake I made turned out incredibly cute if I do say so myself, even though I had doubts while I was making a huge mess in the pink and white icing.  The kids played hard, and little J herself loved her first cake!  It was so cute watching her tear into it.  I was going to post this last night, but the day's festivities had me worn out, and I was falling asleep when I sat down to the computer which is always a good sign isn't it?

Here is a pic of the table with the cake.  Little J said "kitty" when she saw it.  It made my heart melt that it was immediately recognizable to her.

She seemed to enjoy the way it tasted, too.

And here is another shot of the cake itself.  I got my inspiration from this pin on Pinterest so I can't take full credit.

My cuppycakes

I am now the mother of a 1-year-old!  Happy birthday my little J-bird!  I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by.  It seems like just yesterday I was looking at that little baby face on ultrasound.  She took her first steps yesterday, too.  I'm thinking I can't afford to blink or I might miss something!

We had put the shopping off until the last minute for her party unfortunately, and we had to go get everything today.  I really don't like Wal-Mart I have decided.  I think there is some sort of time warp you have to pass through to go into the store, because when you leave it never fails that you have lost a couple of hours of your life!  This trip was no different.

I decided I wanted to try something different for the cupcakes for the party, so I pulled up my Pinterest and looked up the Jello Tie Dye Fruity Cupcake recipe.  Super easy recipe to follow.  I was so excited to let my boys try them tonight because I thought it sounded so good.  Note to self, your boys are picky, and they are not a good judge of what tastes good.  So, the boys were not thrilled with it I could tell, but were reluctant to say they did not like them because they didn't want to hurt my feelings.  I think the problem was the lime.  I love key lime pie and I thought they were good and so did my husband.

You make the cake batter just like normal, and then you divide it into three bowls and add 3 different flavors of Jell-O mix.

Then you add a spoonful of each into 24 cupcake liners and bake.

And once cooled completely you pipe on your white icing.  This is what my finished results looked like.