Category Archives: Alex

Moustaches for the Masses

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When looking around blog world I noticed many handmade Valentine’s. I especially liked the idea I found on Cupcakes Kisses n ‘Crumbs and thought my boys would too.

Steps we took to make Valentine Moustaches:

1) Alex found a mustache shape he liked on the Silhouette machine. We played with the size until he was satisfied with “the look.” The machine then cut out 50 moustaches from black card stock.

2) Next I took paint pens and wrote “Happy (Heart) Day!” Alex then wrote his name.

moustache3) Buy a ridiculously huge bag of Dum Dum lollipops since it’s the only bag at Walmart. I’m talking 300 Dum Dums people. I’ll have these for the next two Halloweens. Well, at least till the beginning of March.

4) The tricky part was getting just the right size hold to place our lollipop in. We made the hole by using an awl.

5)  We then simply slid the lollipop on.

Here’s a look at the finished project. Not the best photo. It was bedtime and I thought this was good enough at the time. Probably should have been patient for another photo.The boys were thrilled with the lollipop moustaches and can’t wait to give them to their friends.

Do you have any Valentine’s Day creations or plans?

Your Mom

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For the last three weeks I have been tutoring some kids in math to get ready for our state test. The school didn’t need me this week for various reasons so I decided to see if I could volunteer at Alex’s school. Caroline was already going to be at her school so I thought I’d use the free time to help out. I emailed Alex’s 3rd grade teacher a week before and asked if she had anything she would like me to work on; stapling packets, cutting out laminating, or making something for the room. She asked if I would be willing to take a small group of kids in math. I said, “Sure, I would love to.”

I showed up at 9:30 like she requested and found out which fraction concepts she wanted me to review with them. She showed us the place in hall where we would be working (a luxurious carpet area next to the water fountains and apparently the main thoroughfare for 2nd graders.)

At my tutoring job I have groups every 30 minutes so I figured I was in store for something similar. I asked what time they needed to be back and she said 11:00. Using my amazing calculation skills, I quickly ascertained that I would have these 3 students for an hour and a half. Wow, she must: 1)have some confidence in my teaching ability 2) have no confidence in my teaching ability and thinks it will take forever to review or 3) is ready to have a break from these kiddos.

What ever the reason, I was happy to take them. We drew pictures of fractions, put fractions on a number line, compared fractions, and played a fraction game.

At the end of the lesson, Burke turned to Shelly and said,”Alex has a really nice mom.”

Then turning to me, Burke said, “You are really nice.”

I said, “You should tell Alex that.”

We packed up our things and went back into the classroom.

I watched Burke go up to Alex and say, “Your mom is really nice.”

Alex stared at Burke.

The left side of his mouth turned up in a snarl.

And he rolled his eyes.

Yes, he did.

Oh boy, buddy. If you think I’m embarrassing at 3rd grade, just wait to see what I have planned for your 5th grade year.

My Very First Giveaway!

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I thought the best way to celebrate my first guest posting was to have my first giveaway. When I told my husband he said, “Wait a minute…shouldn’t we think about this.” I told him to relax and not to worry. It’s not like I was planning on giving away our car or even his flannel pj’s…although on second thought. No, no I’ll stick with the plan.

What I am giving away is one completed coupon box of activity cards.

Activity Card Holder with pencils, eraser, and pencil sharpner.The winner will receive 48 activity cards, 3 pencils, 1 pencil sharpener, and 1 eraser.

In case you are not familiar with my activity coupon box, go here to read about my idea.

Here are the ways you can enter:

1 entry if you make a comment on this post

1 additional entry if you are a follower (leave a comment to let me know)

*You have until Sunday Jan 16 to enter*

Thanks and good luck to everyone!

Christmas Pics: A Little Late

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I realize this is late but I figure better late than never.We managed to decorate our house a bit for Christmas so I thought I’d show you some of the pictures and a few of the activities we did.

Here’s our Christmas mantle. I decided to go with a red, silver, and blue theme. I thought those colors might be a nice change from the typical red and green. The JOY letters were stuck on the wall until they came crashing down one night at 3 am. They have been sitting on the mantle ever since. I bought them at JoAnn’s, painted them red, and modge podged them with glitter.christmas mantleI took a frame and hung snowflakes in it. I placed it next to my Pier 1 glitter trees. Boy oh boy I wish my sister still worked there. The only thing I bought bedsides the JOY letters were the blue ornaments.

left side of the mantleThese are a couple of branches I took and spray painted white. I hung various blue ornaments from the branches. I placed some white and silver Mardi Gras beads inside the jar to keep the branches stable. treeHere’s our cheap and easy Christmas card display. I wanted to create this elaborate yarn and metal display that I have floating around in my head but it never happened so I’ll keep that in mind for next year.

christmas card holderI took a 3M Command Strip (which failed to keep my JOY letters up) and placed them on the wall. I took strips of ribbon, punched a hole at the top, and hung the strips. We then hung the cards with clothespins.close up holderGetting ready to visit Santa. Alex was feeling very sick that day so only Caroline and Andrew went. Turns out they were only willing to look at him and neither one would go close to Santa.before going to see santaMaking gingerbread houses – yes, it’s a pre-made kit, they loved itmaking gingerbread house

Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas as a family.Who knew I had six chins?

The Action Nativity SetnativityA wise man watching from the trees, ready to attackaction nativityEvery day Andrew would move the figures around and have a whisper dialogue with them. I desperately tried to hear some specifics but never could get close enough. All I know is that one day the wise men were on their sides, the animals were on top of the stable, and baby Jesus was behind the trees.nativityFamily photo I took of everyone before we went into the ICE exhibit in Grapevine.ervyoneHope your holidays were wonderful!

Sweets for School

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I decided at the last minute to make some treats for the boys to take to school for their friends. Usually they come home from every holiday celebration at school with bags of goodies. There have been cellophane bags filled with miniature puzzles, themed pencils, candy, and even a stuffed animal one year. I never make these goodie bags because I kind of thought they were a waste of money and unnecessary. But I thought…new schools…new traditions.

Since I thought this would be a wonderful project to take on at 9:00 the night before the parties, I went to the pantry a little doubtful. I looked up into our dessert box and found marshmallows and chocolate chips – perfect!

I had seen something in blog world about using marshmallows as ghost  poop during Halloween so I thought I would do something along those lines.

I scooped little handfuls of marshmallows and chocolate chips into plastic bags and tied them off. I attached a note that said,”Enjoy your Texas snow and snowman buttons.”

marshmellows and chocolatesAlex wanted to put “Enjoy your Texas snow and reindeer poop.”

Clever, but I was afraid that wouldn’t go over so well at Andrew’s religious school so we went with the other version.

school giftsNow I say I implemented this plan at 9:00 at night but the thought about doing a treat had occurred earlier in the day. When driving through the car pool line I asked Andrew’s teacher if he could bring something for all of the kids in his classroom. She said sure, “As long as it doesn’t have too many sweets.”

Could she possibly be referring to the large box of Christmas candy I gave her the day before? I choose to think not. But I’m not too sure.

Listening Around the House

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“Poopy face”

“Go poop in a bucket, pooper”

“Why did the chicken cross the road?…to get poop”

What? You are not laughing hysterically?

You must not be an 8 and under boy.

The above is what life at my house is like right now.

Wait till I introduce them to: defecation, excrement, stool, and dung.

Then we’ll really be having good times.

Just Like her Brothers

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Caroline loves Alex and Andrew more than anything in this world.

She also has a love for clothes.

She is always trying to take things off the rack and try them on in stores.

Folding laundry at home with her is difficult because she’s always trying to put things on.

Today she insisted on combining her 2 loves.

caroline in alex's underwearI drew the line when it was time to leave the house.

The Best Made Plans

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Derek and I have had today scheduled for weeks as a designated “Santa Works Around the House & Helps Mrs. Claus finish Christmas shopping and wrapping day”. He was planning on taking the day off from work and help with the above. Boy oh boy I have had plenty of plans for projects just brewing in my head.

And then Friday Alex gets sick.

Why do they always get sick on a Friday afternoon?

Is it their way of avoiding the doctor but still ruining your weekend? Perhaps a little harsh.

So the whole weekend Alex was sick. He was mopey, tired, lethargic, running a high fever.

Out the window went Angel shopping, seeing Santa ice skate & do back flips, going out to eat, and visiting Santa.

Monday when he woke up he immediately started to complain that his throat hurt. It looked red to me but the fact that he was literally wrestling with Andrew made me question the seriousness of the problem.

So Derek and I pondered and pondered, “Should he go to school?”

I decided to take him to the doctor. I immediately started second guessing my decision since he was singing, laughing, and hopping around in the parking lot.

Turns out he has strep throat. With lots of energy.

Doctor said he can’t go back to school until Wednesday.

Now what are Santa & Mrs. Claus going to do about their day? Mrs. Claus is pretty sure she is going to ban Alex to his bedroom from 1-3 so that serious Santaring can get done.

Two days home. These are the only days Alex has been absent from school all year.

I think he knew the plan and wanted to be an elf.