This weekend we pulled out our Halloween stuff and started decorating the house. I found the following printable which we used at our Halloween party last year.
Just find an empty jar, count candy corns as you fill up the jar, write down the total somewhere you will remember, and let the party goers guess away.
Click here to download the Estimation_Candy_Corns Page
Enjoy!
Folks, it’s time we get serious here.
I’m going to tell you something that may excite you but it may panic you.
Are you ready?
Christmas is less than 100 days away!
In fact, it’s only 94 days away!
Yep.
For some (my children), it seems far away and for others it seems like it’s right around the corner.
I must confess that I have started shopping already. In fact, I’ve almost completed some people off my list. What can I say, buying for my little nephews is just so much fun. Big people, well, they’re a little trickier.
I came across this site the other day with free Christmas organizing printables and I thought it would be worth it to share.
I have in the past, bought something for someone, completely forgotten about it, and bought them a second gift. Not that anyone is complaining but I do plan on using some of the printables in order to avoid that mistake this year- the shopping list, the gift list, and I kind of love the master checklist.
So confess now…
Are you a Christmas shopping planner or are you a the last minute shopper?
We were supposed to be at a 3 day soccer tournament this weekend but sadly it was cancelled.
And by sadly, I mean YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
So instead of sweating all day long watching kids run back and forth, we decided to sweat all day long while eating beignets, crawfish, and shrimp po-boys.
Definitely a better option.
So as you read this we are on our way back from visiting New Orleans and headed directly on our way to a week straight of Lean Cuisines.
Happy 4th of July (and a belated Happy July 1st for everyone in Canada)!
Hope you are getting to spend some time relaxing at the pool!
My goal for today is the same goal I have for every national holiday.
Somehow I never accomplish it.
My goal is to not be that neighborhood idiot who goes and checks to see if they have any mail.
Every. Single. National. Holiday. I. Am. Out. There.
Once I’ve opened the mailbox, seen no mail, and remembered there should be no mail, I have to do the walk of shame back to my house, casually glancing this way and that way, hoping no one saw me this time.
Wishing you all a wonderful Memorial Day and hoping none of you take the walk of shame with me.
Two days ago we had tornadoes come through the Dallas Metroplex.
Around 2:00 the sky started to look ominous. My oldest was home sick so I went to see if I could get my six year old out of school a little early. I was told the school was on lock down due to the tornado threats; no children were being released. I went back home and watched the news coverage for the next hour, all the while listening to our city’s tornado sirens. I knew my six year old was safe in the school but it was quite nerve racking to not have him in my sight during this time.
Roughly an hour after school should have let out, the school starting releasing students. I picked up my son who enthusiastically told of being stuck in the teacher’s bathroom for an hour with his class. (In my mind, his teacher should receive Teacher of the Year for being in a bathroom for an hour with twenty-two kindergarteners – can you even imagine?)
So… because of the storm…our night activities were cancelled…so….we were able to do two Easter “crafts.”
First off, dying Easter eggs (and yes, Caroline does not have clothes on, it’s cleaner this way for everyone).
Notice the fingers…that’s what happens when your technique for dying the eggs is completely hands on.
Once the eggs were dried, it was time to decorate with stickers.
Just because it was time didn’t mean it actually occurred.
Apparently, peeling your eggs was more fun (I’m looking at it from the perspective that it was a scientific learning experience).
My six year old said, “Oh yuck! These smell like rotten cheese! No, wait. They smell like rotten ham!”
Just for the record, he has never been served either one of those options.
For our second craft of the night, I thought it would be fun to create some No Bake Chocolate Egg Nests which I saw on the Chef in Training blog.
This is what we were going for…
but this is what we ended up with…
but we sure had fun making them…
although I’m not sure if anyone but Mom really completed any nests…
since they were too busy “cleaning up.”
Easter Mess
=’s
Easter Fun
Here’s a Spring / Easter bingo game you can download and play with your family.
Click here to download the 12 bingo cards and 23 calling cards
If you decide to download, please become a follower of Big D & Me.
Spring break is over today but we had a busy week doing a lot of kid chosen activities.
*First haircut
*Went to see the movie “Tin Tin”
* Trip to the zoo
*IKEA trip for lunch and closet supplies (OK, so not all trips were kid chosen)
* 3 days of half day soccer camp
*Having a friend over to play
*Dinner & Painting Class for Mom with her friends
* Watching 3 Netflix movies
* Eating green St. Patrick’s Day pancakes
* Making Rainbow cupcakes
* Lunch date for mom and dad (Believe me when I say the kids enjoyed this one too)
*Everyone in family to see “Big Miracle” movie (Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski movie about saving three whales – comes highly recommended from our family)
* Dinner at In & Out
Yes, it was a good break.
But if any one of my three wake up tomorrow morning sick and can’t go to school, I will not be pleased.
I took my kids and one of their friends to the dollar show on Monday.
It was President’s Day and the place was swamped.
I had to drop the oldest two off and have them stand in line while I parked the car.
Several movies were already sold out so we made contingency plans in case ours was sold out by the time we got to the ticket counter.
“I only want to see Tin Tin if Arthur’s Christmas and the Muppets are sold out.”
“I really want to see the Muppets but will go see Tin Tin as my second choice.”
“I already saw the Muppets and Arthur’s Christmas so I want to see Tin Tin.”
Thankfully we didn’t need to come to a concensus since our movie was still available.
I ushered us all into the building only to find the concession stand line was enormous.
Not really a problem for us until my son’s friend said, “I want to buy something.”
I left the two of them to stand in line together while I found seats with the youngest two.
Thankfully we got great seats and were settled in no time.
But the 9 year olds didn’t come back.
For 30 minutes!
I was starting to get a neck crick and strange stares from the people behind me since I kept turning around to look for the boys.
The theater was packed by now and I was having to fend off desperate moms and grandparents who were looking for extra seats.
Finally they returned when the movie started and I was able to enjoy the movie.
That is until about three fourths of the way through the movie when my daughter had decided she had seen enough and wanted to leave. I was able to use my mom negotiating skills and convince her to sit on my lap for the next 20 minutes. Some talk of candy when we got home might have been whispered several times.
After the movie I got everyone to the car and congratulated myself on a successful outing. We rarely go to the movies so in my mind this was a nice treat, especially getting to bring a friend along.
As we were driving away I heard the friend say, “I wonder why the movies were so crowded today?”
My nine year old volunteered, “Well, it’s Presidents Day and kids don’t have school. Their parents probably took them to the movies because they didn’t know what else to do with them.”
After hearing that I can assure you that I know exactly what my children will be doing on the next school holiday.
It starts with CHORE and end with an S.
Oh, and me?
I’ll be on the couch watching Parenthood reruns.
While the Angry Bird Valentines I made for my boys are great, they weren’t really appropriate for my 2 year old.
So…I made Storybook Valentines.
All of her favorites characters are here.
We taped a silly band bracelet to the back of the card and called it DONE!
If you’d like a copy of these valentines,click here.
If you decide to download, please consider becoming a follower of Big D & Me.