root beer sampler - happy father's day!

 Does your guy LOVE rootbeer?  Mine, too.

When I first saw the idea for a rootbeer sampler on The Indigo Bunting (via Oh Happy Day), I thought it was so brilliant!  And I tucked it away to use on Jared's birthday.  Then promptly forgot.

Thankfully, the Giver's Log featured a similar idea for a root beer tour just last weekend, so I got to work for Father's Day.

I found a few good root beer selections at my regular grocery store, but the best supplier in my town was Whole Foods, who carried eight varieties.  Score!  I collected twelve brews total and put one of each kind in a simple wood crate (found at Michael's).

I loved the sampler guide on Erin's blog, so I made a smaller-scale version of my own, using plain old powerpoint.  I used her descriptions where our brands matched up, and searched for descriptions of the rest on various root beer fanatics' blogs (such as Anthony's Root Beer Barrel, Cosmo's Root Beer Reviews, Spike's Root Beer Reviews and Kingofsoda.com).

I have a happy husband today (he deserves it - what a great dad).  Plus, I get to sample some yummy root beer, too, because I had to buy a lot more than one bottle of each brand (in fact, my father-in-law got a duplicate crate).  It will be fun to try them all out.

We haven't sampled Margo's Bark yet, but it has my favorite brand story.  It was originally brewed by a seven-year-old boy named Oscar for a science fair project.  He named the family brew after his dog, Margo, and all the profits go to helping dogs in animal shelters.  Love that.

Hope you had a happy weekend!

superhero snack pack

My father-in-law is celebrating a birthday next week, but he'll be off on a 3 week road trip.  We decided to send him off well-equipped with plenty of fun snacks.

I used Jordan Ferney's Superhero Supply labels and packed a box full of all our favorite Trader Joe's goodies.  Oscar believes his grandpa can do anything (if something is broken, "grandpa can fix it!"), so this was a fun gift to put together.   Jordan's labels were originally designed for a Father's Day gift, but I think it works for any guy-gift occasion! 

I used my Silhouette to make a fun pop-up birthday cake card.  Love you, Silhouette! 

Oscar really wanted to make his grandpa a rocket ship for his birthday, so we dove into the world of toilet paper roll crafts for the first time.  He is surprisingly good with a glue stick.

Can you tell how proud he was?  His project was almost too precious to him to give up, so I sense more rockets in our future.

father's day idea: desktop planter

Need a last-minute Father's Day idea?  How about a desktop planter?

We got together with friends today to make these easy succulent planters for Father's Day.   Start with a simple container and fill it with a layer of rocks (for drainage), soil, a few small plants and wood chips or more decorative rocks to top. 

I printed small pictures of the kids (about 2 inches tall), laminated them so they wouldn't get wet, stuck them on a toothpick and hid those little sweeties among the plants.  I think it will make a cute addition to daddy's office.

Oscar loves gardening, thanks to his awesome Aunt Holly, so he was all over this project.  Although, I think he would have filled the vase to the top with rocks, had we let him.

We've been participating in Summer Camp Adventure Club for June, and this week's theme is Growing & the Outdoors.   Just for fun, my friend Sonja bought a tub of ladybugs at the nursery today and we released them into her garden ... all 1,500 of them!   The kids were (mostly) delighted, and we mamas thought it was a lot of fun.  

The Summer Camp Adventure Club is wonderful and has been keeping us so busy.  I'll show you more of what we've been up to towards the end of the month.  In the meantime, you should check it out!  July is quickly approaching, and there will be new themes and new fun to be had.