Day 99... Making Crayon Creations

We tried this melting crayon project that I had seen on Pinterest. Really neat but ours did not turn out as pretty!! See video below of the melting crayons!!
1 project down 1 to go. Ready to make new rainbow crayons with our old crayons!!
Melting in the oven. It only took about 8 minutes on 275 degrees.
Out of the oven. So pretty!
They turned out so bright and colorful.
I think a jar of these would make a cute party favor, or you could give it as a present with a gift card attached. Cute!


The Melting Project!!

Day 98... Making Crock Pot Apple Pie

Did you know you can make an apple pie in a crock pot? Neither did we until this morning!!
The girls mixing 8 peeled and sliced apples with cinnamon and nutmeg!!
How many boys does it take to measure a cup of milk? Apparently two!!
Everything is layered. Now to let it cook for 6 hours on low in the crock pot.
Small scoop of pie with some vanilla ice cream!! YUM!!

This recipe was easy to make and really yummy. The best part was the smell in the house for 6 hours while this was cooking. The Greeneteam gives it two thumbs way up. Fun to make and definitely delicious to eat!!

Day 97... OWL CRAFT

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WE ARE ABOUT TO MAKE??
We were inspired by our friend at the Zoo yesterday!!
Carson working on his furry friend!!
Makenna used duct tape to create her owl!!
Our Owl creations..

The kids and I had fun making owls tonight. I loved the picture I took at the zoo yesterday and was inspired to make some owl friends I had seen on Pinterest. Ours look nothing like the owls featured there. That is ok, it is art after all. I always tell the kids there are no mistakes when you are crafting... Just have fun!!

In case you can't tell these little guys were made using recycled TP tubes and Paper towel tubes. We also used construction paper, duct tape, bottle caps, cotton balls, and foam mosaics. FUN!!

Day 96... Zoo Atlanta

Today ZOO ATLANTA sponsored the Greeneteam for a day of fun. Thank you Zoo Atlanta we had a fantastic day! Not only was the weather perfect, but this must be the perfect time of year to go to the zoo because there were babies everywhere. Baby tigers, baby pandas, baby giraffes, and baby gorillas. This made for a very fun and very exciting day!!

The first babies we got to see were the baby tiger cubs. They are about 10 weeks old, named Sohni & Sanjiv and have only been out for viewing for a week!! Really fun to see them. Next we saw the baby panda Po. So cute and really very active while we were visiting. We also got to see her mom Lun Lun eating away at bamboo, and her dad Yang Yang walking around outside. Maddie had just read about Panda's in Science yesterday, so she was over the moon at getting to see them today at Zoo Atlanta.

We moved on and saw Lily, the new baby giraffe born on July 22. She was far away but the kids just loved seeing her walking with the other giraffes. Last we saw the cutest baby gorilla with his mom. They were sitting in a hammock when we first saw them. Then the mama grabbed him by his little arm and popped him right on her shoulders. They took a little stroll right towards us. The kids were thrilled!!

There were so many other neat animals/reptiles/birds at the zoo. Meerkats, Naked Mole Rats, Owls, Birds, Bears. I could go on and on. We loved it all!! Thanks again, Zoo Atlanta, for a wildly great time!!

Zoo Atlanta
800 Cherokee Avenue,SE
Atlanta, GA 30315


Arriving at Zoo Atlanta.
Family shot of the 6 of us!
Baby Po
Mama Tiger and babies
The Greeneteam by the elephants!!
Little baby riding mama's back!
Maddie and Makenna with the mama panda.
Baby Lily the giraffe with friends!
Meerkat Fun with Maddie and Carson!

Baby day at Zoo Atlanta by Maddie Greene

Day 95... Toothpick Dinner

I stole this idea from my friend Jamie. Her families Christmas Eve Tradition is to have a toothpick dinner. I thought I would try it with the Greeneteam tonight. I wasn't sure what to include so, I used some things I had on hand that the kids could help with.

Our menu: Kielbasa, grapes, strawberries, cucumbers, mini marshmallows, mini brownie bites, and cheese cubes!!

Quick, Simple, and Easy!! I gave everyone a quick job and we had the dinner on the picnic table in about 15 minutes. Delicious, and a fun way to have dinner!! Thanks Jamie for the inspiration!!


I chose the number of items to make/eat based on my handy little snack bucket container!!
The girls job was to prep the fruit. Apparently Maddie did some taste testing as well.
Carson was the Cheese boy.
Jack was my saute man!!
The team ready for dinner!
Ready to feast on round 1.
Carson loved the kielbasa bites!!
"Yummy Delicious mama!" Maddie gave it a 10 !!

Day 94.. Watch Old Home Movies

This is one of my favorite snapshots that I took from the videos. I love that it is my little brother and I. There were NOT a lot of videos or pictures taken of the two of us at such a young age.


Tonight for family fun we watched an old home movie that was an hour and half. The movie was a retirement gift to my parents from my brothers and sisters and I. My kids have never seen it. I usually watch it alone around Christmas and remember all the wonderful times I had growing up. It is filled with so many memories and so therefore very sentimental.

Tonight I thought I would share the video with the Greeneteam. They loved it. They laughed at how young everyone was, they thought that every baby had to be me. They loved watching the video, and were absolutely amazed at how much all of their Great Aunts and Uncles had changed. The Great Aunts and Uncles are now old, much like the Grandparents that were shown in the video.

They laughed at their Aunt Lisa and Dee Dee, and their Uncle Craig and Gary doing funny things like sliding down backwards on a water slide. They could not believe the hair styles. They also were amazed at the old cars and televisions. It was neat for the kids to watch videos of their Grandparents, Great Aunts and Uncles, and Great Grandparents hugging, kissing, cooking, laughing and passing out presents. Truly priceless things for them to see and watch.

I loved this activity as much or more than they did. It was fun showing them a little bit of my history. I read somewhere once that men share the history of our country through battles,war stories, and medals. It is the women who share the history of their family. We do it through pictures, videos and family stories. We are what keep the family traditions and stories alive. I hope tonight I shared a little of that with my kids.


The Greeneteam settling in to watch "Moments to Remember".
"Oh my gosh mom they were hippies"..LOL.. Not exactly.
They loved seeing my old pop up camper.
They were embarrassed that I was taking a bath with my brothers. LOL
I had told them about the story of Aunt Dee Dee being R2D2 in a play. Here they got to see her in action!
Maddie's reaction to seeing Aunt Dee Dee as R2D2!! They all laughed and laughed!!
Something none of them could understand??? MY BIG HAIR.. LOL

Day 93... Quiddler

It was cool and rainy here in Georgia today. We decided to play a game of Quiddler for family fun. I have blogged about this on Living the life before. It is one of our favorite family games. Big Daddy was the winner today with Carson coming in 2nd and Jack coming in 3rd. Way to go boys!!

Quiddler runs about $10. It is designed for ages 8 and up. Maddie has been playing since she was 5 years old. I am convinced one of the reasons she is such a great speller is because of this game. It is educational and so fun we highly reccomend it.


Maddie psyched to play the game!!
Baby John was the dealer for most of the game today.
Looking good Kenna!!
Nice points on round 1 Jack!!
Not happy with a hand of all vowels. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!!
Awesome word for 6's Maddie!!