2015 Free Dowloadable Calendar

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Jennifer

Well, it’s been awhile.

Between the kids activities, working, and my vow to get off the electronics to spend time with my husband at night, it doesn’t leave a lot of time for this space.

But I am going to try to post more often.

Over the holidays I searched for a 2015 calendar but couldn’t find anything I liked – simple, but with color – so I made my own.

I think it’s kind of fun.

I’ve hung ours on a clip board in the kitchen and have already started filling it up.

In the bottom section (the part that says 2015) we are going to write down something special that someone in the family wants to do. For example, my 9 year old wanted everyone to participate in a darts tournament (at our house) so that will be our special event for the month. Next month, someone else gets to choose something fun. Now I need to go write that on the calendar so I don’t forget.

You can click here to download the calendar for your personal use.

I’ll be back soon to share with you our family words for 2015.

Hopefully it will be before 2016.

The – Shrek the Musical – Party

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Jennifer

For my daughter’s 5th birthday party she decided on a “Shrek the Musical,” party. We found this musical on Netflix and she feel in love with it, watching it probably 20 times.

In my opinion, this musical is FAB.U.LOUS! Go and put it on your netflix list right now!

For days after we watch it, I’ll hear my family humming the tunes or sometimes they bust out with the words. Alright, I’ll admit it, I sing and dance around the house to it as well.

A Shrek the Musical 5th Birthday Party. Hmmm…I put my thinking cap on and came up with what I think was a pretty fun party. So here’s the party recap:

Caroline greeted her guests outside with some sidewalk chalk paint. Using cornstarch, water, and food coloring I used this recipe to make the paint.

After everyone had arrived at the party, we went inside to watch our first clip of the movie which was the opening scene introducing Shrek. After watching the movie for about 8 -10 minutes we stopped and played, Stinky Shrek, our own version of hot potato. Several years ago my mom gave us a hot potato game with a built in beeper. I simply covered the hot potato in green fabric and we played Stinky Shrek – last person with the Stinky Shrek (hot potato) was the winner.

We then watched another clip of the musical which introduces the donkey.

After the clip we played – Pin the Tail on the donkey – a classic birthday game. I once again used our tracer and made the donkey out of construction paper.

Next was a clip which introduced the gingerbread man and Lord Farquaad.

Since I had enough to do to get ready for this party, I paid a friend who was just starting up a baking business to make sugar cookie gingerbread men for me. The kids enjoyed decorating their gingerbread men with frosting and candy. I had little baggies for the kids to take the gingerbread men home in but that did not work out since everyone wanted to eat their creation immediately.

Next up was the musical scene which introduced Princess Fiona. Sutton Foster plays Fiona in the Netflix musical and she is just outstanding. She was nominated for a Tony for this role.

To celebrate being a Princess like Fiona the girls made princess necklaces. The necklaces were plastic beads with large holes through the center. I also gave the girls a castle charm that they could place somewhere on their necklace. Since this party was for 4, 5, and 6 yr. olds I thought using a needle and stretchy thread might be a little difficult for them so I glued (using a glue gun) the needle to the piece of thread so the needle couldn’t fall off. I then glued a piece of fabric at the end of the thread so that the plastic beads wouldn’t come off on the other side. The girls really enjoyed making their necklaces. It was fun to see some of the girls where their necklaces to school the next week.

The last musical scene the girls watched was Princess Fiona tap dancing with the Pied Piper’s rats.

I decided to make tap shoes for the girls – the cheap way! I bought bottle caps at Hobby Lobby and glued (with a glue gun) them to a rubber band. I placed the hot glue in the bottom section of the bottle caps. The “tap shoes” were easy to put on since they just slipped right over their shoes.

At this time the girls also received their green Princess Fiona crown – the same one Caroline had been sporting the whole party.

The girls “tapping” like Princess Fiona in our garage.

Last up on the party agenda were cupcakes with Shrek character toppers. Normally I try and make a character cake for birthday but Caroline requested cupcakes so cupcakes it was. She helped me choose the characters she wanted on the toppers and we printed them right out.

So that’s it.

A “Shrek the Musical Birthday” party for my daughter’s 5th birthday.

I think I enjoyed planning it as much as she enjoyed sharing it with her friends.

And seriously, go watch this musical, it’s terrific!

Missing Socks

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Jennifer

I’ll give you one guess as to who is not getting their socks to the laundry bin…

Nope.

It’s not little one.

And no, my eight year old did not suddenly start wearing itty bitty teeny tiny pink socks.

He wears white athletic socks.

Don’t see them on here?

That’s because just about all his socks are missing.

There’s not even one loose one to be found.

I’m waiting for that day when I open a drawer, look under a cushion, or empty a box and they all fall out.

Until then, I guess I’m off to buy more socks.

Or maybe he can just wear some of his sister’s socks, some of which are getting to the laundry bin.

Children’s Thanksgiving Books

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Jennifer

I have shared some of our family’s favorite Christmas books (along with our Christmas Eve tradition) before so I thought it would be good to share some of our favorite Thanksgiving books.

I keep all of our holiday books together and only take out the ones that pertain to that month at the beginning of the month. I’m pretty sure that’s the former teacher in me coming out.

Nothing fancy for storing them – just some old milk crates in our storage closet. (Christmas – bottom shelf; Halloween – left of top shelf; February – right of top shelf)

It’s exciting to see all of our favorite books come out and sit and enjoy them. Please tell me about any favorites your family might have.

Ten Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston

-Cute rhyming & counting book with each turkey falling off the fence after some mishap-

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I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

*My friend Betty gave this book to my children years ago & it’s always a favorite – the illustrations show grandma eating the entire Thanksgiving dinner, even the pot it was cooked in!

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Arthur’s Thanksgiving by Marc Brown

Arthur is in charge of the school Thanksgiving play and he can’t find anyone willing to be the turkey –

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Thanksgiving Mice! By Bethany Roberts

-Adorable board book about mice putting on a Thanksgiving play, one of our favorites-

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Franklin’s Thanksgiving by Paulette Bourgeois

Franklin is sad because his grandparents can’t come for Thanksgiving. He decides to invite some friends to dinner without telling his parents.

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Olivia Talks Turkey by Farrah McDoogle

Olivia is up to her usual antics this time learning how to “call” turkeys with the help of her teacher Mrs. Higenmuller

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We Gather Together…Now Please Get Lost! by Diane DeGroat

We added this book to our Thanksgiving pile last year – Gilbert is not happy with his partner on the school field trip to Pilgrim Town so he ditches him once they arrive. Unfortunately it was not a good move for Gilbert.

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The First Thanksgiving by Garnet Jackson

– Simple reader that shares the Thanksgiving story –

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We’re Gong on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

Not necessarily a Thanksgiving book but the illustrations indicate it’s cold and windy so I put it in our pile.

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A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving DVD

Not a book but one of my kids favorite holiday DVD’s – always fun to pull this out in November

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And here’s our new Thanksgiving book this year (book fairs sucker me in everytime)…my 8 year old LOVED this book and read the whole thing in one day, constantly spouting out facts he found interesting.

What Was the First Thanksgiving? by Joan Holub

This 100 page book is filled with illustrations, maps, pictures, and information about both the Indians and the Pilgrims.

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I’m already thinking about adding these books to our collection next year…

The Berenstain Bears Thanksgiving Blessings by Mike Berenstain

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The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing

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Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of The Puppeteer of the Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet

Obviously, I have a love for children’s books.

Happy Thanksgiving Reading everyone!

Our Daily Schedule

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Jennifer

I know it’s summer and it’s supposed to be a carefree anything goes time but I need to have some sort of timeline for the day.

Here’s a rough sketch of what our day usually looks like:

7:30 – 8:00 Wake up and eat

9:00 Swim practice

10:30 Snack

11:00 Play a board game as a group

12:00 Eat lunch

12:30 Play

1:00 – 2:00 Quiet time – reading, playing in room (Mommy’s time on computer)

2:00 – 5:00 Play, pool, movies, friends, tv, games, video games, errands

5:45 Dinner

I am totally open to this being flexible but at some point of the day MOMMA NEEDS HER QUIET TIME.

Before the kids are allowed to do anything tv, computer, or video game related they need to do their chores.

They already bring their dishes to the sink, bring their clothes to the hamper, as well as other tasks so the chores I’m talking about are extras.

Having a simple chart has made completing chores no big deal. And let’s face it, there’s only two chores per day per person.

Is it a fancy chart that involves stickers, puffy paint, and ribbon?

H*LL no!

It’s written on paper each week by me and it works just fine.

Take a look at last week’s chart:

The big exciting change on the chart this week is that there are no chores scheduled for Saturday. We are usually exhausted from day long swim meets so I figured what’s the point.

Don’t worry, I’m not finished filling this weeks out yet. But I think you get the idea.

Do you have anything that’s making your summer a little easier?

Paper Organizer for the Kitchen

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Jennifer

Ever since we moved into our house, almost three years ago, I have wanted a pin board in the kitchen – somewhere to hang school notes, store deals, and reminders.

I was looking at an “extra” pile we had in our guest room and I came across this old poster we had hanging in our old house.

Here’s the mess I wanted to have organized on the kitchen counters.

I took the frame apart and found this foam board behind the poster.

I wrapped the foam board with some extra fabric and then glued it on.

Yay! Simple! Free! Organized!

UPDATE:It’s all a lie.

I wrote this post 2 weeks ago and at the time it was clean. But two weeks later the area is completely messy again. You can barely see the board and no part of the counter is visible.

Just keepin’ it real folks.

42 Pains in the Arse

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Jennifer

I’ve mentioned a few times about a project my husband and I were working on, one that nearly drove us over the edge.

This was the sneak peak.

Now here’s the story.

My daughter’s preschool had a school auction to raise money for an outdoor cover on the playground so I decided to donate a gift certificate to my etsy shop.

I tried to think of a way to make an eye catching display and settled on a picture frame with chicken wire.

I found a large detailed frame, spray painted it black, and had my husband add chicken wire to the back. I then spray painted some clothespins and hung up information about my shop.

It looked something like this (I, of course, forgot to take pictures of the actual frame):

I also had a book of products with the frame:

After dropping off my donation, which I valued at just under $7,000 (or slightly less), I received an email from the school director asking if I could make 40 of the chicken wire frames for her staff for their end of the year gift.

“Jackpot!”

“Yippe!”

“Who needs Powerball?!”

We do, that’s who.

My husband and I jumped at the opportunity to make a little cash. Boy were we fools.

After saying “yes,” to the job, I scowered area Goodwill, thrift store, resale shop, and garage sale for about 3 weeks. I’m fairly sure there are no more 8 x 10 inch frames left in the DFW area.

After sanding down and spray painting about 9 of the frames, we decided to add the chicken wire. That’s where we ran into TROUBLE.

Out of the 9 frames, only 2 didn’t break.

At this point, we were a week out from the delivery date and freaking out a bit.

We were using a hand stapler and it just was not working.

So I decided to buy an automatic staple gun from Home Depot for $59 and hope that would help.

Thankfully, it worked (most of the time) and we were back on track.

Each frame also had glued on ribbon on the back so that the chicken wire scratch anyone.

Texas received quite a bit of rain during this time which under different circumstances would have been wonderful, though when you are trying to spray paint 40 frames, it really is awful.

Mix that with room mom meetings, field days at two schools, and a soccer tournament weekend and we were sprinting to get the frames completed.

A lot of the spray painting occurred in our garage (with the door up) but we are fairly sure we were high for two thirds of this project. Complex math was not our friend at this time.

In the end we finished on time (even providing an extra 2 frames, hence the 42 pains in the arse title), although I was drying clothespins with a hair dryer 30 minutes before the drop off.

Turned in, done!

A little money was made and a lot of learning too.

You would think I’m done with renovating frames but I’ve actually got some bigger frames just waiting in my garage. I’m going to start spray painting those soon.

Maybe next week.

On second thought, maybe next month.

Minute to Win It Night

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Jennifer

For the last 4 years, my family has all gathered for a week in Florida.

Since we are all spread out – Texas, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Canada – it’s a wonderful time for us to come together and have fun.

Last year we started, what my boys hope, is a new tradition – Minute to Win It Night.

The boys loved watching Minute to Win It on tv so I thought it would be perfect for them to set up a night where everyone plays the games.

The boys spent a week of their summer, making posters, choosing teams (red team vs blue team), watching video clips, choosing the games, gathering supplies, and emailing everyone.

Take a look at how our Minute to Win It Night went.

Getting Forked – roll a quarter into the prongs of a fork – good game

Ready Spaghetti – place spaghetti noodles through a soda can, carry the can from one table to another table while holding the spaghetti noodles in your mouth – okay game

Breakfast Scramble – Take the front covers of cereal boxes, cut each box into 16 pieces, and then race to see who can complete their puzzle first – good game

Hut, Hut, Hike! – Bend over and hike toilet paper rolls between your legs and through a person’s arms 15 feet away – Hilarious game

Marshmallow Match – Throw mini marshmallows into a bucket that is on top of a player’s head – good game

Rapid Fire – Player must shoot rubber bands to knock a triangle stack of 6 cans completely off a platform – good game

I’m pretty sure good times were had by all.

To me, the best part of the night is it involves everyone in the family, kids, adults, and grandparents. Truly lots of fun.

And family, you better start training for this year – word on the street this year is that there are new games a comin’!

Art Holder for Markers, Crayons, Pencils, Glue Sticks, and Scissors

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Jennifer

I have wanted an art holder for our kitchen table for awhile now.

I looked around the garage and found an old tea light candle holder that I bought at Goodwill for $3 several years ago.

My husband drilled the holes further down & then I sanded it to create this new piece.

I could sand it further & then paint it but frankly that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

When the art holder is on the table I have noticed the kids drawing and creating more than usual. I place various drawing books we have as well as blank paper and watch them go to town.