Simple Saturday

Ty left a bunch of great bird nest supplies supplies behind. Just check it out! We've got the produce bag webbed netting, some snazzy yarns, threads, and ribbon, and a pair of scissors. All right! Mama Dove is about to get an  upgrade!

Let's begin by cutting pieces of yarn and ribbon into...oh...say...five inch pieces long. (Wow...Ty even left a roll of some glimmering gold lame'. Oooo, la la!) Go ahead. Cut a cluster of pieces. We'll make good use of them.

Now all you have to do is weave a piece of yarn/ribbon into a space in the webbed netting. Simple! No need to knot it. We don't want to have to make Mama Dove work hard, do we? Just poke the end of the thread into one of the holes in the webbing, pull it through a little, and let the thread hang loosely in the net. Go on...use all of the colors. Fill your net with colorful nest making options.

When you're finished, simply tie your netted bag to a tree limb. That's all you have to do. All Mama Dove needs to do is grab one of these gorgeous threads in her sweet little beak and tug. That's easier than any trip to Home Depot!

Are you ready for the reveal? Since we don't have a bus, a bright red umbrella will have to do. Oh...where did I put that blow horn?

Here we go...John! Ready?

On three...One

Two...

Three...

MOVE THAT UMBRELLA!

Ahhh! Can you hear those doves cheering?

Jumping! 

Weeping!

Saying, "It's so beautiful..."

For three years now a beautiful white-winged dove comes back to her nest snuggled in a scrawny limb in our backyard Live Oak tree. As predictable as the sunrise, she and her mate return to work together spiffing up their drab, grassy home, and then she precedes to lay a nestful of eggs. John and I...even Tripod...enjoy checking in on her daily. She simply ignores us and goes about her sitting as if we weren't even there. 

I'm thrilled to announce that the dove family has returned a little earlier this year. They're currently busy in the spiffing up stage, flying about with bits of dry grass in their beaks. So this Saturday I thought we'd give Mama and Papa Dove a little hand. What do you say?  Let's add a little pizzazz to their crib...an Extreme Makeover - Bird Edition. I contacted my good buddy Ty Pennington to give me a hand with this renovation project. 

Here's what we need for the renovations: an empty netted produce bag (I used a red netted bag that was once full of Clementines. Yum.), bits of brightly colored curling ribbon, colorful yarn, and/or string.

Sadly, there won't be any bus to move when we're done. Oh well...

You don't scare me, you big brut!Ready for big Makayla showdown? Pennies/me vs. washers/John? Let's get ready to rumble!!!!!

Game supplies....couldn't be simpler.Behold Makayla supplies, in the truest of Simple Saturday style...an egg carton, 18 pennies and 18 washers. To create the game board, simply cut the top and side flap off of the carton. Let the battle begin!

Place 3 of your objects in each egg cup. See how I've placed my pennies down one row and John has placed his washers down the other?

Menacing, eh?

I'm first, naturally. I pick up a group of 3 pennies and, beginning at the cup to the right of my starting point, drop one penny at a time, moving to the right, towards John's washers. As I move, I drop one object in each consecutive cup. I start on my side of the carton and then move to John's. Because my last penny landed in John's first cup of washers, that means that I can scoop up his three washers for my See my last penny on top of John's washers? Got em!own. Ha! Take that!

That's the way you move around and around and around the board. You place an object in each consecutive cup beginning to the right of the cup with which you began. When your last object happens to land in a cup with some of your opponent's objects in it, they're yours! It is all about creating a strategy for your last object in your series to land in a cup filled with some of your partner's playing pieces.  

Now it is John's turn. He follows my plan and takes three of my washers. That's okay, I'll get him back. And so it goes, around the egg carton game board we go. He gets a few of mine. I get a lot more of his.

Poor John...he's all washed up. Get it? Washed up?And in the end, I am the victor!! I have scooped up all of John's washers. I'm the last penny standing!!!!

I'm the Makayla champion of the world!!!

Oh, John...don't be sore loser.  

Come on.

Let's play again. You can go first this time.