Nature Centers, State Parks & National Parks

This is a list of NWA nature centers, nearby Arkansas state parks & national parks. It will be updated as needed. If we've missed anything, please comment below and let us know. And don't forget to check out the calendar!

Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks of the Ozarks - Fayetteville
Withrow Springs State Park - Huntsville
Ozark Natural Science Center - Huntsville
Pea Ridge National Military Park - Pea Ridge
Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park - Prairie Grove
Hobbs State Park - Conservation Area - Rogers
Devil's Den - West Fork
Arkansas Heritage Commission Natural Areas
Beaver Lake

Ladybug Kid's Birthday Party Theme

We recently celebrated my daughter's 4th birthday and I've been looking back through all of her birthday party pictures. She's only had four, but I love them all! Her 2nd birthday in particular was a lot of fun. She actually picked her own theme. Ladybugs!

We start all her birthdays by filling her room with balloons while she's asleep. Gotta start her special day off right!

We had her birthday party at a park in Gentry. We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers and we had raw cut veggies and fruit, lemonade, red and black candy, olive and tomato ladybugs on crackers plus ladybug cupcakes.

One of the great things about the ladybug theme is you can find so many different things!  

We got puffy ladybug stickers and put them down the center of the tablecloths instead of using a runner. Lala loved them! She kept trying to pull them off the tablecloths, which wasn't so great for the plastic tablecloths, but at least she enjoyed them!

The centerpieces we made ourselves. The flowers, flowerpots & moss came from Dollar Tree. The stand in the middle is from Dollar Tree as well. It's a ladybug shaped bubble wand! We painted them black and red and alternated them along the table. The sheet underneath is scrapbook paper with rows of little ladybugs.

We decorated the posts with ladybug die cuts that Lala glued together herself. She was so excited to make things for her birthday! The big balloons came from The Balloon Closet in Siloam Springs. Wonderful addition to the party. Besides being giant and pretty, they stayed aired up for about 2 weeks! We also used them for her birthday pictures. You can see one at the bottom of this post.

These are just straight cylinder vases we already had on hand. We glued the ribbon on with hot glue and filled them with all the red and black candy we could find.

These were an idea from Taste of Home. They are a great place to check out for themed food ideas. So super cute!

We did the cupcakes ourselves but we did have a bit of a complication when it came to these. Lala is allergic to red dye 40! So am I and so is my nephew. Usually, we just try to avoid anything with artificial red (or purple or orange or some blues - it's harder than you would think!), but ladybugs just happen to be red and black. All the red and black icing we could find contained red dye 40 (yes, the black too). BUT the liquid icing dye does not. Go figure! So we took plain white vanilla icing and dyed it ourselves, adding powdered sugar to bring it back to the right consistency. The cupcakes were super cute, but they didn't hold up too well to the August heat.

The adults took these and left the unmelted cute ones for the kids.

They sure were tasty. Oh, and bonus DIY - I added a ladybug button to a plain white bow for her hair.

Since I am the photographer, party planner, decorator, server, assistant gift opener, etc...I didn't quite manage to get pictures of everything. Not pictured are the red and black paper plates, the extra-ladybug-decked serving tables, the bunting around her highchair tray and Lala's adorable ladybug dress. Oh, and the plastic ware! We put 3 stick-on rhinestones on the end of each fork. They fell off eventually and they were disposable forks anyway. But we had fun doing them and every girl's party needs some sparkle!

We had a lot of fun celebrating my happy girl's birthday. I thought she was so grown up, turning two. Now two seems so long ago and just like yesterday, all at the same time.

Visiting Crystal Bridges -Things To Do With Kids In NWA

I went to Crystal Bridges for the first time this weekend. Seriously, my first time. Crazy right? A free activity in northwest Arkansas that has received worldwide acclaim and I've never been. We keep intending to go and it just keeps not happening. So this weekend I packed up the kiddo and we went.

It was awesome! My daughter was a little young for it, as I knew she would be, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway. If you're looking for something to do with or without kids in Northwest Arkansas, Crystal Bridges should be near the top of your list!

We went through it pretty quickly - much more quickly than the place warrants - but I wanted to let Fia go at her own pace. She liked looking at everything, though, and describing the pictures. She's entered this phase where she talks. All the time. She likes to talk to people and to describe things and she doesn't have any sort of filter at all. It's pretty cute and funny. When we're at home.

I don't remember what she said about everything, but here are some of the highlights. Click the quote to see the piece she was talking about.

She took her dress off. She's going swimming.

Oh, no! He dropped it. It's messy.

It's a monkey right there. He's drinking coffee. There's a scary face in there. (Scary faces are skulls. Not sure where the coffee comes in...)

She has a balloon! Can me see it? She has a chest. That is look like my mommy!

 

 And we left the gallery after that last one. I'm sure the other museum-goers appreciated that explanation. For the record the sculpture is lovely, but does not look like me. Also I don't twirl around naked with balloons. Just so there's no confusion.

After that we walked around outside for a while, but it was so hot and muggy that we didn't linger outside too long. But the little bit we saw was wonderful. We definitely need to come back when the weather is a bit milder.

I have to go inside because it's too hot. I'm too sweaty. See my armpits? My armpits are yucky.

So then we went inside to the Experience Art Studio, or as we call it, The Kids Part.



















I didn't get to take too many pictures there because I was too busy playing with my girl! It's a bright space with lots of light and silly monsters painted on the walls. They have lots of hands on activities: blocks, puppets, books, and a bunch of things I don't even know how to describe. And they have different simple art activities. That day they had sheets of sandpaper to color on. Fia thought that was weird and only wanted me to do it. But she loved coloring on the regular paper and looking at the art other kids had posted up on the wall.

All in all, we had a blast! I am so grateful to have such a wonderful place here in NWA. We will definitely be back!

5 DIY Decorations with Buttons + Bonus Project and Bragging

Button, button, who's got the button? Get them out of that old cookie tin and decorate!

I love buttons! Button décor is so cute and quaint and it seems like everybody's got a stash of buttons somewhere. I've gathered some of my favorite button DIY decorations and at the end of this post I show off the one I made for my daughter's room! Click on the pics to go to the original site for more information on each project.

If you've got a great button project share the pic or link to the project in the comments or on our facebook page. I wanna see!
 

1. Button Monogram 

C for cute! Ok, maybe I hang out with a preschooler too much. But there's no denying that this is adorable.

 

2. Button Animals on Canvas

Not much of a tutorial, but these don't take much. Adorable for a kids room. Besides the buttons, I love the rickrack!

 

3. Button Lampshades

I have looked and looked for a tutorial on these and I can't find it. If you know where that is, please comment and let me know!

 

4. Button Heart in a Frame

This one is really intended for Valentine's day, but I think it could work anytime. You could also use the same technique to make any shape, if hearts aren't your thing.

 

5. Button Tree

I think this one requires more artistic talent than I have but it is so pretty! Also would be great as a fall activity for kids to do and it looks like a great stash-buster for those mismatched buttons.

BONUS PROJECT

 

I've posted this project already on my other blog, but I think it fits well here. And doggone it I like the thing and I feel like sharing it again.

 

I basically followed the fabulous tutorial by Busted Button.

I made a few very minor changes. I did not use her elephant outline; I did my own. I also put it on fabric in an embroidery hoop instead of on a frame. I like hoops. I thought about sewing the buttons on instead of gluing them, but then I wouldn't have been able to make more than one layer, which makes it more dense so less fabric shows through the buttons on the elephant. Plus the layering is super cute.

Overall, I like it. I wish I had made the yarn for the flowers (balloons?) a little straighter. I was trying to make it not quite straight and I ended up going too far the other way. But once it's glued, it's glued, so I say it looks great.

It was also really quick. I did it all in one evening after my daughter went to bed. (Hot glue + 18-month-old = trouble)

This is now hanging in Fia's room and it goes great with her paisley elephant curtains.

 

I've got 2 more embroidery hoops.....Oh, the possibilities!

See more projects like these by following us on Pinterest. Don't forget, I want to see your projects too! Share 'em if you got 'em!

 

 

NWA City Parks

 

This is a list of city park directories in Northwest Arkansas. It will be updated as needed. If we've missed anything, please comment below and let us know. And don't forget to check out the calendar!

Fayetteville City Parks
Bentonville City Parks
Springdale City Parks
Rogers City Parks
Lowell City Parks
Bella Vista City Parks
Bethel Heights City Parks
Siloam Springs City Parks
Tontitown City Park
Gentry City Park
Prairie Grove City Parks

Making Moon Sand

Moon sand! Also known as cloud dough, warm snow, moon dust and probably has some other names as well.

Moon sand is easy to make, stores well and is a lot of fun. It's a lot like wet sand. You can mold it, squeeze it or smooth into shapes and crumble it back into sand. It's great for a sensory activity for toddlers. You could use it with cookie cutters or molds to go along with certain lessons. You can hide things in it for kids to find, like fish or dinosaurs or whatever you like. Plus it's super simple to make and only requires 2 cheap ingredients - flour & baby oil. You'll also need a bowl, a cup measure, something to stir with & something to store the finished product in.

 

You can see I have Family Dollar flour and baby oil. Nothing but the best! A lot of recipes online use eight cups of flour. For my single child, I use four. 

 

I started off with 1/2 cup of baby oil and then added more until I got the texture I was going for. I ended up using not quite 3/4 cup.

 

 

Stir that in really well. I start off with a whisk and end up using my hands to make sure it's completely mixed. I also added a couple scoops of cosmetic iridescent glitter because I happened to have it on hand and because everything's better with a little sparkle.

 

Then put it in a container and you're done!



 

You can add little toys, cookie cutters, scoops, molds...whatever you like!

My daughter said it made her hands "yucky" so I gave her a scoop. She'll scoop it up into a pile and then move the pile to a new place scoop-by-scoop and do it all over again. She does sometimes scoop it out of the container, but it sweeps right up. She also likes making imprints of things in the sand. We haven't tried molds yet, but I think she'll be fascinated!

 

 

Short version of the recipe:

 

4 c flour

1/2 c + 1/4 c baby oil

1 tsp glitter, optional

 

Mix flour and 1/2 cup baby oil together. Slowly add remaining baby oil until you reach the desired texture. Add glitter, if desired.

 

Enjoy, and let us know how you like it!

 



 

5 Back-to-School Photo Ideas

 

It's back to school time! Tax-free weekend has passed. Parents are double checking vaccination records. Stores are full of backpacks and 15 cent folders.

 

 My daughter still says home with her Papaw, but my nephew is headed off to kindergarten this year. Back-to-school photo ideas are flooding Pinterest. Here are my five favorites. Click on the pics to go to the original site.

 

 

Easy to do and super cute, especially for the younger grades.  You could also spell out the name of the grade.

 

Another one that's easy to do, but has a big impact. The only problem is finding a safe place to do it that is big enough. Well, that and my terrible handwriting...

 

More complicated, but a wonderful effect. Completely DIY with the right editing software.

 



This one is similar in content and also done in editing, but has a completely different look. I love it!

 

 

And the chalkboard. It was made with chalkboard paint which is really popular right now and for good reason! Incredibly adorable. Except I still have the issue of my handwriting.

 

I love all of these, but I especially love the ones with their favorite things listed. It'll be great to be able to look back later and remember. Time flies by so fast!

 

 

 



NWA Libraries

This is a list of public libraries in Northwest Arkansas. It will be updated as needed. If we've missed anything, please comment below and let us know. And don't forget to check out the calendar!

Bella Vista Public Library - Bella Vista
Bentonville Public Library - Bentonville
Elkins Public Library - Elkins
Eureka Springs Public Library- Eureka Springs
Fayetteville Public Library - Fayetteville
Gentry Public Library - Gentry
Gravette Public Library - Gravette
Greenland Library - Greenland
Lincoln Public Library - Lincoln
Pea Ridge Community Library - Pea Ridge
Prairie Grove Library - Prairie Grove
Rogers Public Library - Rogers
Siloam Springs Public Library - Siloam Springs
Springdale Public Library - Springdale