you've got to try this...

diana's bananas
Here's a new find we discovered at Target: Diana's bananas. When we got in the car we broke open the box and were immediately delighted. I even said, "I'm just going to pretend like this is the food I'm craving during this pregnancy so we can eat these nonstop for the next three months." To which Rory replied that I should just make them on my own...how hard could it be to freeze a chocolate covered banana?

My mind started racing, I told him I would call my version Banana BeccaAnna and we made jokes about Speggy and Meatballs from King of the Hill. I went home and froze some bananas, and the next day melted my chocolate. I learned a lot. Like how a frozen banana will immediately harden your melted chocolate. By the end, I was scooping chunks of partly solidified chocolate onto my bananas. I put them in the freezer, and let's be honest, they didn't look at all like Diana's bananas.

A few nights later I was running around telling Rory I needed to bring something to the women's potluck at our church. He opened the freezer and said, "you could bring these frozen turds."

All this to say, I am going to leave the chocolate-dipped bananas to Diana.

my weekend creative: color crayon abc's

I saw these molds used on another blog, and I loved the idea. They are Sillycone brand. I ordered them a week ago after realizing I had missed yet another 3 year-old's birthday...this time my niece, Ruby. It seems I have a lot of 3-year-olds in my life right now, all of them the kiddo of someone very dear to me which makes me want to give a gift to all of them...

I figured I could get the molds and then have this be my creative, thoughtful and inexpensive gift to be given to every kid for their birthday for ages to come. Paired with a blank art tablet, I think it's a pretty fun idea.

Craziest thing was that I have no old crayons in my life. I find this worthy to note, because within four years my guess is that I will have an abundance of old crayons surrounding me. But in this season I had to go out and purchase BRAND NEW crayons to be peeled and broken. There was no re in this recycling...

And here's the thing. Taking the paper off of brand new crayons is ridiculously hard. Crayola wants their paper wrapping to stay put. I had to use a knife on every single crayon, peeling the paper off. And then I used that knife to cut up the crayons into tiny pieces because if I broke them by hand, I could usually only get four parts per crayon.

All this to say: I thought this was going to be a quick project, but it took a lot of time. Thankfully I had the time today, but I way underestimated the prep work involved in this one.

Once I had the crayons peeled and broken into their letters, I placed them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 275 degrees. This was a complete guess, and maybe there is an exact science to this, but it worked for me, and it just might work for you too.

When I took them out of the oven, it was obvious that the letters where I used two contrasting colors ended up more vivid and bright than the letters where I used two similar colors. I liked the letter I, because both colors were still so bright. I'll keep this in mind for next time...

I read on one site that the fumes from melted crayon wax aren't very good to inhale. I was mindful of this, and had fans running everywhere and I tried not to breathe too deeply. I have no idea if this is actually true, but I figured I would be careful anyway. I left them in the freezer for 15 minutes and then let them come to room temperature before taking them out.

The Sillycone molds were awesome...I popped most letters out without a whole lot of heartache. The letter N and S both broke on me, so they went back into the oven. The N came out the second time with no problems and the S broke again...and it is just going to be broken. S is for sorry, as in, 'Ruby, I am sorry I sent you a broken S.'

I packaged them up and am super excited to get them in the mail.

laptop vacation #3

Are you ready for another tour of my favorite sites/blogs/internet places? Remember to right click on the link and to "open in a new tab" so that you don't have to reopen this page every single time. (Mostly that tip is for my mom. Does that make sense mom?)

First, 1,000 Awesome Things. This is a really cool blog and I am guessing a pretty cool book. I like the premise and am excited to take a look at the paper version the next time I'm at Barnes and Noble. Until then, the blog is entertaining and so fun and positive.

On Friday I posted a great video by Andrew Peterson. He is a really talented songwriter, who I was first introduced to through Sara and Troy when they toured with his Christmas tour a few years back. He hosts a collaborative blog of sorts, called The Rabbit Room, written by artists, song writers, pastors and authors. Whenever I revisit The Rabbit Room I end up staying for a long, long time. The store at this site has all sorts of book and music recommendations that are either 1) by the artists who write the blog 2) recommended by the blog authors or 3) Christian classics that have stood the test of time. When I looked through their book section today I realized this should be my "next reads" list. Annie Dillard, Walt Wengerin, C.S. Lewis, Frederick Buechner, Madeleine L'Engle and Flannery O'Conner all frequent the list and it makes me excited to get reading.

I've also been drooling over Heather Bailey's website, especially her sewing patterns. It makes me want to learn how to sew so badly. I would love to make that fabric ring baby toy pictured right in the middle of the page when you click over to her site...

And finally, I saved this one for last, because you may never, ever leave this site once you find it. I remember when my brother sent this on to me when they were picking names for their kiddos. It is a super entertaining way to look up your kid's names, how popular that name is, when it was most popular, what it means, as well as possible sibling names that would go with your pick. Just take a minute to play...I think you'll be hooked too. It's called babynamewizard, but I am going to link you directly to the Name Voyager. Get ready to play.

andrew peterson

I have been a fan of this guy for a long time now, and just came across his latest video. Happy Friday, everybody. (ps...let the video buffer for a few moments before you start it...)

the little patio garden that could

Rory got excited this spring and planted all sorts of vegetables out on our deck. He had started many of these plants as seeds in his office window, nursing them along in an egg crate. I was sceptical when he transplanted his baby plants, because everything was planted right on top of each other in our flower boxes. Rory didn't really know what to expect either, but he was much more optimistic.

Well I'll be. We are reaping a harvest and it is impressive. In one planter that is six inches wide and two feet long he has basil, green pepper and tomato plants. I had absolutely no belief that these plants would be able to survive with so little soil to pull nutrients from. But everything seems to be thriving at this point, and we're adding basil and tomatoes and green peppers to everything.