Not all spiders are bad

Wait what?  Did I say not all spiders are bad?  Yep, that's right.  I have one spider in particular that is currently my fav...  His name is Itsy Bitsy.   We are obsessed with Itsy Bitsy around here.  Turns out its the cure all for grumpy times.   Adella is Itsy Bitsy's biggest fan.

Although she doesn't look super happy in these pics, what you should now is that moments before these was major meltdown city.   But once itsy bitsy starts playing, all is well!

Before and After

Going to goodwill can be so much fun sometimes; you just never know what you will find!  It's especially fun on half price day!   A few weeks ago we went, I can't remember for sure what we were actually searching for but I spotted this from far away (I mean how could you not see it the thing is HUGE!)

Oh how I had to have it!  This Canvas is a whopping 3ftx4ft!  And the price?  A STEAL at $5!!!!  How could I pass it up?  I wasn't completely sure what I wanted to do with it at the time, but for $5, who cares!!!  

I did finally decide to try something out and that began with painting over the whole thing in black (Adam was quite upset about this because he was quite taken with the original painting)

Originally I just did the edges, but decided you might be able to see through to the other colors so just did the whole thing to be safe.

This little guy supervised.

And here is what I ended up with!! 

I'm not gonna lie, I like it but I don't LOVE it.   I think it might be the fact that everything around it is brownish.  I thought about trying to antique the paper but I am pretty sure that would have been disaster.   So in case anyone is wondering how I actually did this, its some music I got off the web, edited in Photoshop and then blown up as an engineering print at staples ($7.50).  Then I used spray adhesive to put it on the canvas and modge podge over the whole thing.  The modge podge actually didn't work out the best, there are some definite wrinkles and the paper tore in a couple spots.  From far away you can't really tell, but they are there and I know it!   It's not too bad though for a giant piece of 'art' that cost less than $15.  I might just need to find somewhere else to put it (though this spot fits perfectly and I don't know where else in my house a giant 3ft by 4ft piece would fit!)

REVIEW: Quaker Soft Baked Banana Nut Bar"

I received this complimentary Quaker banana nut bread bar for review from influenster.com in my VOXBOX.   I kinda had high hopes but it was really just OK.  It tasted like banana, but it was also kinda dry.  It was soft, but also crunchy in some places almost like it was overdone.  There was a lot of fiber in it which was nice and so I do feel full from eating it.  I think I will stick with Quaker Granola Bars - their always a winner!

Quaker Soft Baked Bar - Banana Nut Bread

Made with real bananas and almonds, Quaker Soft Baked Bars Banana Nut Bread flavor has tasty ingredients and key nutrients to help provide fuel to start your day.

-5g Fiber*
-20% daily value of 5 B Vitamins
-6g of Protein
*Contains 3.5g of total fat per serving

Where to Buy

You can find Quaker Soft Baked Bars at most major retailers.

Suggested retail price: $3.29 for a box of 5 bars

VOXBOX

So I recently joined influenster.com; it's a review site and they send you free stuff to sample and review.  So if you see some random posts with random reviews that's why!

Trying so hard

Charlie is trying SOOOOOOO hard to crawl.   Both Charlie and Adella really want to move and mostly they can get wherever they want by rolling or scooting, but Charlie is super determined to crawl.  He started off by just getting on his toes and putting his head down and using any amount of strength to propel himself forward a few inches.  Now he's actually starting to figure out how to get on his knees and I have caught him basically army crawling a couple of times - he only goes a few inches at a time.   The crazy thing is that neither of them can sit up unassisted (they are close to that too but just haven't quite got the ab strength I guess).   I was fairly certain that you had to be able to sit before you can crawl, but Charlie might just prove that wrong!

I've tried to get better pictures but I have to be super sneaky; as soon as they see the camera they zone in on it and stop whatever adorable thing they were doing.   But you can clearly see in this one that he is up on his knees, if you look close you can see he is down on his right elbow ready to army crawl away!  As I watch my babies learn things its just amazing how things just start to come naturally.  It's really amazing to watch growth and development in such a little body!