{Buckets Of Love}

I just want to start out by saying...I don't even have the right words now to express my emotions to you....all the words and scripture and personal stories and advice, has truly affected my soul. Honestly, I was having a really bad morning with my spouse when I opened my email to your inspiring words. I couldn't help but weap and for some reason whatever disagreements we were having seemed so petty. Yes, they were pretty big...but I just felt a weight lifted. When I started choosing my words better, my husband did as well. We still have stuff to talk about and work-on and I wrote down every single Bible verse you wrote to me to meditate on....but I know things are going to be fine. Thank you from my heart.

O.k....got to get this lump out of my throat so I can type.

We found these buckets at Walmart $1.50 each a few weeks ago. They still had a ton when we went yesterday. I decided to fill them with cookies to give out to my family and friends.

With the Bucket Of Love, we are giving a Cookie Recipe with a Bible Verse on the back.

Love One Another...... But Love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18

Ten Weeks To Get Healthy

Recipe Girl challenged us with 10 weeks to get healthy in 2010, then we challenged ourselves I guess. Well, I've fallen off the wagon!

I didn't know if I should post this under this particular label, but I just can't get it together.

This point in my life has got to be the lowest that I have ever fallen- ever!

I just feel like I have a "Kick Me" sign posted on my back for everyone just to keep kicking while I'm down.

Our finances are so tight right now. The worse that it's ever been. We are stretching every single penny. There's not enough income coming in to pay for the basic bills anymore. This is causing a huge strain on our marriage. I can't remember ever feeling so disconnected. We're both so stressed that it boils over into our relationship.

I feel like I'm barely able to survive lately, let alone try to achieve these goals in my life. I'm tired and irriatable with everyone, especially my kids. They want things that I can't give them, they want to do things that I can't take them to, they want all my time. I just feel so bad. I'm a walking zombie just going through the motions of life.

Spiritually I have never been so lost. Just going to church isn't enough for me. I don't ask God for answers, I don't talk to him regularly unless I'm whinning about something, I am not living for him passionately.

I just lost the passion in every aspect of my life.

When I write my posts, I'm not a fake person. Everything that I say or write is how I feel at the time. I can't be one way on the computer and another way at home. How I am is how I am. So, you may get a glimpse of how I feel at a certain time. Especially since I write most of my posts while the kids are asleep....life seems so simple when everything is quiet.

My heart has gone. My passion has left.

I've been such a bad Mom, a bad wife, a bad daughter and sister and friend and Christian.

I guess in a time like this, even as low as I feel, I do want people to reach out to me. I know it sounds selfish, me not being there for others and wanting them to be there for me. I can't put my hope on you all. But even just a smidge of kindness can make my day.

At this bottom, the lowest I (hopefully) can possible go.....feeling beat up by life in every aspect....the only place to go is Up!

But first I need to be down here on my knees.

One thing that I do feel inside.....is Hope. That feeling never left. Thank you Jesus, it never left. Hope is the only reason, I feel like things can get better.

I don't know how....but I know they can.

The Year Of The TIGER!

Chinese New Year is this week, so we celebrated it this weekend. It's just fun to try new things and new cultures. 2010 is the Year of the Tiger!

I'm just giving my husband a hard time. We are both from small towns and our two high schools are really BIG rivals. In fact, people still tell me to this day that I'm a traitor for marrying him (jokingly of course!) My high school mascot is the Tiger. So, I've been rubbing the Year of the Tiger in his face, just a little, all in good spirits!

We decorated the table in red with oranges (good luck & fortune.) We dipped fortune cookies in chocolate and sprinkles.

For dinner we had Orange Chicken, Green Tea, Pierogies, Fried Rice. That is almost my extent of Asian Cuisine. I can make stir fry and teriyaki meat also...and really that is all! I really should try new Asian recipes.

Noe had the kids make some Chinese Lanterns. I had some other activities planned, but got caught up in making jam (I found a really good deal on strawberries which is rare in the winter.)

We looked up what year the kids were born and they drew their animal.

Noah is the Year of the Dragon 2000!

Maelyn is the Year of the Sheep 2003.
She drew her and a BOY sheep and their kids!

Patience was born in the Year of the Rooster 2005.

What a cute Rooster?!

{Guest Blogger- Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans}

Hello Casa Camacho Readers! I am so excited to be blog swapping with Bobbi today... She has some really fun Valentine's ideas...I love the pop rock! Bobbi Rocks!

Let me introduce myself!
I am Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans a little DIY blog that I co-author with my best friend Jeannine. Mi Casa es su casa... so come on over and check us out!
I am a mom to a 2 year old son (Who is the joy of my life!) I am a part time math tutor for High School math and I LOVE to create!

I love sewing, paper crafts, re-purposing and generally anything crafty!

I love to take on a new project and share my knowledge with others!

Today I have a fun craft for you all! Do you have a Reed Diffuser? I have a few on each level of my house! I am going to show you a fun way to accessorize your Reed Diffuser with a book page flower. Come on! It is easy and cheap and I am going to show you how to do it!

Here is what you will need:

Book pages

Ink

Bamboo Skewers

Scissors

Green Floral tape (I got mine from the Dollar Tree!)

Ribbon (Not pictured)

1.) Fold the corner of your page to the other side and cut off the right triangle that you created.

2.) You should not have a square. For your square in half and in half again to make it into 1/4ths

3.) Use your scissors to cut a curve on the OPEN side (NOT the folded side)

4.) Fold in half again... these crease will help shape the flower!

Now you should have a circular shape... it is OK if it is not perfect it will come out in the end!

5.) Ink the edges and the BOTH sides of your circle

6.) Make a smaller circle the same way and push your skewer through the middle of your two circles. (I used zigzag scissors for the littler circle)

7.) Shape your flower by pinching the bottom of the flower and twisting just a little

8.) Use your green floral tape to wrap around the bottom of the flower and around the skewer to hold it in place.

9.) Tie a ribbon around the stem to make leaves and put it in your Reed Diffuser! The skewer will soak up the oil and bring it to the flower!

I hope that you enjoyed my craft! I am going to be making more fun things with book pages in the next few weeks so be sure to stop by Fireflies and Jellybeans for some more fun projects!
Thanks Bobbi for letting me invade your blog today! It was so much fun!

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If you all are wondering where I am...head on over to Fireflies and Jellybeans and see my Tattoo Tutorial.

Thank you Fawnda for the wonderful flower tutorial!

{Valentines: Take 2}

As I started making the You Rock Valentines, the cost of the candy was getting outrageous. I needed about 60 Pop Rocks for 2 classes, not counting cousins and friends we usually give out to. The cheapest I found of Pop Rocks was .66 each.

So, I decided to revise that idea and might give the ones I already made to family.

In the supermarket, I found these Candy Rocks in the bulk section (they also had Rock Candy Lollipops which would be adorable.) I already have a bunch of Rock Star Scrapbook Paper from my scrapbooking supplies. Plus, I already had about half of these treat bags from Michael's. For the rest, I have a 40% off coupon.

These turned out to be much more cheaper than the original idea. The kids wrote a little message in the tags.

Now they are REALLY ROCKIN!

Valentine Favorites

I have seen so many CUTE Valentine ideas lately. You all are so crafty and FUN!

Here are a few of my favorite things that we have done for LOVE DAY.

{Alot are posted from last year. The linky's are on the other posts. If you need help finding them or want helping with a certain project, just email me. I Love helping!}

{Strawberry Shortcake With Chocolate Leaves}

{Valentine Heart Clippie}

{Cupcakes with Fondant Hearts & Spray Coloring}

{Heart Hugs}


{Chocolate Covered Strawberries}


{Bouquet of Roses Cupcakes}

{Heart Window Cling}

{Heart Postage Cookie}

I used these food writers to write messages on their sandwiches and quesadillas. Cute!

{Love Snail}

{Embellished Mailbox}

{Love Birds Sugar Cookie}

{Homemade Valentine Lunchable}

{Chocolate Heart Topper}

{Pipe cleaner Heart Garland}

{Conversation Heart Brownies}

{Treats Necklaces}

{Candlelight Dinner}

{Heart Cookie Bouquet}

{Valentine Handprint Wreaths}

{Teddy Grahams & Gummi Bear Hugs}

{Decorating Heart Rice Krispy Treats}

{"Orange you glad it's Valentines Day?"}

{"I don't mean to be Corny, but you're the greatest!" Teachers Gift}

{"You're the apple of my eye!"}
{I go banana's over you Valentine!"}

{Guest Blogger- Hanna Camacho}

From time to time, I'm going to have a Guest Blogger. It just gets busier and busier over here. Plus, there are so many wonderful ideas that you all create that I would love to be shared.

My first Guest Blogger is my sister-in-law Hanna. Here is her tutorial for Paper Bag Mini Albums. You have got to make these. They are adorable!

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Hello, my name is Hanna. I am the mother of 3 adorable kids. My oldest is 6 yrs, my princess is 3 yrs, and my little mister is 2 yrs old. I love making things and being crafty.

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We are a busy family and we love to do crafts. I forget that I scrapbooked some events and found that I had more photos than I needed for my pages or had doubles of some.

One day I found this cute little paper scrapbook and fell in love. Especially with the cost! It was done up with beautiful papers, ribbons, brads and die cuts. So, I went straight home and got to tinkering with my leftovers and scraps!

Using no extra money, I whipped this together with things that I had on hand.

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For this project you will need:

Paper Bags- Small/Medium

Markers or Watercolor Paints- to color the bags if desired.

Ribbon- to hold the book together and for tags and extra photos.

Hole Punch- you only need 2 holes along the center.

Stapler- to secure the base of the bag shut for pockets.

Photos- a given.

Papers- all kinds to go with your theme and color scheme.

Souvenirs- if you have some brochures, pins, tickets, tags, etc.

Accents- Stickers, Die Cuts, Brads, Flowers (You name it!)

I hope that you have fun making your Mini Albums.

I bet they come out wonderful!

~Hanna

{Winners}

The Winners of our Fabulous Giveaway....drumroll please........

I went to Random.org to generate the winners to make it all fair and square.

The winner of the Beaded Interchangeable Watch, number #2 is .......

The Litchfield Family!

Her comment said:

me me me!!! that is a beautiful watch!!!!

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The Winner of the Flower Crocheted Headband, number #8, is......

Pink and Green Mama!

Her comment said:

Just Gorgeous and I love your fabulous headband, every hip mama needs one of those to rock at the bus stop, grocery store, car line- you know...where all the cool moms hang out! :)
{Congratulations Ladies}

Thank you to all of you that entered. I have to admit, I took the watch out of the bag and tried it on. It's cuter than the photo looked even! I have been wearing my flower headband everywhere!

{Stay tuned tomorrow for a guest blogger. My sister-in-law is giving a tutorial on Paper Bag Photo Albums. They are adorable!}

{Canvas Photo Frames}

I cannot take credit for these Canvas Photo Frames. My local Scrapbooking Store had made a similar canvas for Halloween and I have been wanting to make one ever since (wanna give credit where credit is due!)

I thought it would be an adorable gift for Valentines Day for the Grandparents. I just need to add a picture onto the glitter paper part. We're not quite finished with their Valentine shirts. Once they are done, we'll get those pictures taken and mounted onto these.

I bought a pack of 2 small canvas' from Michael's. $5 can't beat that!

Simply paint around the sides of the canvas with your chosen color. I did a couple of layers to get it darker around.

Next, I cut a piece of tulle and layed it on top of the canvas. I trimmed it up to the size that it needed to be. Just eye-ball what you want. We all have different tastes!

Cut a piece of black cardstock the size of the canvas. With the tulle underneath (I kind of bunched mine up in some places) staple the cardstock on to the four corners. I used a staple gun, my weapon of choice! I then painted over the staples with black paint.

This glitter paper is a little pricey, but gorgeous. 1 paper is enough for 2 canvas'. I think my size was 8 by 8. I mounted the paper with the hot glue gun. You can use any kind of adhesive really, I just wanted this thick paper to stay put.

The last step always the most fun step, is the accents! Again, I hot glued it all on to the paper. Click here for instructions to the fabric flowers. You can also use felt to make them. Since I started making those from fabric scraps, I think almost everything in my house has a flower accent! They are so stinkin cute!

I super recommend an eyelet hole punch if you do tons of crafts (that's how I put the brad in the flower.)

I just need the to add the kid's Valentine picture.
I really want one of these. Do you ever feel like that when you make something for people? Maybe in the girls room? We're re-doing it hot pink and black, since they think they are Rock Stars!

100th Day Of School

Today was the kids 100th Day of School.

We celebrated here at the house doing a few fun things!

This was their 100th Day Breakfast!

They made necklaces that say "100 Days Smarter!"

We also made hats/crowns that are BookWorms. I was going to draw Brains and write "Brainiac" but the girls kept saying "ew gross!"

They painted with dot rollers.

We read a story together and counted to 100!

For snack, we had 10 groups of 10 things. 100 pieces of food in all!

Don't they look so smart?!

Random Dancing!

If you've ever watched the show iCarly, you might have noticed during their show they do something called "Random Dancing." It's where Freddie starts playing the music and they just start dancing out of the blue.

We started "Random Dancing" when we do our chores.

I usually always play music while we clean up everyday. My stereo has mostly kids music, if I'm lucky one of my cd's will be in there. The preschoolers have their toddler music and then we have teeny bop music for the older kids like Wizards of Waverly Place, Jonas, Hannah Montana. BTW....the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack is really great. I totally recommend it. It's a good cd to clean up to as well. I taught Maelyn's friends how to do the Hoedown Throwdown (haha it's true.)

The kids have to clean up their playroom then clean their bedrooms and other chores. So, in between chores they come into the living room and we all do "Random Dancing." It makes it really fun and then we're off to clean (and sing while we clean) and then meet to Random Dance again.

Chores can be fun!

Groundhog's Day Treat

(Repost 2008)

February 2nd is Groundhog's Day. It's right around the corner. This is a yummy treat that we make almost every year.

We look up pictures on the internet of Groundhog's and print them out. They glue them onto popsicle sticks. The treat is just chocolate pudding, whipped cream and crushed Oreo cookies in layers....make sure the Oreo layer ends up on top to resemble dirt. Put the Groundhog in the cup to make it look like he's coming out of the ground.

My son already requested it, so I thought I would make a post out of it.

Wordless Wednesday: Bake Sale: Valentine & S'more Cupcakes

Letter Qq Week

Last week the preschoolers studied the Letter Qq.

These Queens are from No Time For Flashcards.

They turned out Quite adorable!

They also did Quarter Rubbings with Daddy.

The girls made Quilts out of construction paper.

I read the Josefina Story Quilt. In the story, she made a square for each memory she had on the road. So, Patience wanted to draw lots and lots of memories on her Quilt. The inside was stuffed with tissues. It usually turns out better, but this time my stapler broke. I had to use tape, so they don't look as uniform and plump like I like.

The kids all painted snow pictures using Q-Tips.

They also stamped Question Marks and Qq's onto a piece of construction paper.

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These were the books we read last week with the exemption of our Martin Luther King Jr books that I forgot to post.

{My Week}

Make a Smilebox collage

{Brightened the house with the light gray paint. Niece turned 2. Martin Luther King Jr lesson. New bookshelves. Snowman Cookies. Snowman Projects. Baby Luke's Dedication. Nurse called- Maelyn slipped and fell at school on muddy playground. 2 School Meetings. Cousin's Basketball Game. Mama's Crafts. Church. Home Cooked Meals. Rearranged Furniture. Noe stenciled awesome Sailor Moon shirt. Watched Twilight and Cuddled with Noe. Pokemon Card Tournament. Special Treat- Cinnabuns. }

{Valentines}

You know the Valentines cards that come in a box that are in every character possible? Kids love those things right? When my older kids were really little, preschool age, we would buy them for friends and family. They would do a little scribble or try to write their name and we were good to go.

When Noah started Kindergarten, he picked out his favorite Super Hero cards to take to his class and Maelyn wanted to hand out Princess Valentines. Well, by the time February came around he knew how to read. So when he read the Valentine cards as he signed his name, he got so embarrassed. Most of the cards said stuff like Be Mine Valentine. He used the little bunch that actually used the word "friend" and I had to convince him that he needed to give out the rest. Maelyn wanted to know what her cards said. She blushed when I told her.

Needless to say, we haven't bought those cards since. We make them homemade every year. They can put whatever they want them to say!

We love the whole Rock Star theme.

We have conservative Christian ideals, nerdy hobbies with a Rock Star twist.

These are library envelopes that I used. They are like .10 cents at the teaching supply store. You can also cut an envelope in half to make some. I added scrapbook paper to the front. I used distress ink for the sides. With my Cricut I cut out the guitar and the skull. I just printed the words using the computer. For this guitar one, I added a flower for a girlie accent.

Pop Rocks are awesome!

I wanted to cut this cassette out smaller with my Cricut and put it on some as well. My kids didn't even know what a cassette is! Geez! I need a cartridge with a cd. (The cartridge I used, my favorite so far, is the Indie cartridge.....so Rockstarish)

We have some more to do before Valentines but we're off to a good start!

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Since I'm in a lovey dovey mood, I just wanted to tell you all thanks for all the emails and kind words you always have to say.

I feel like I haven't been able to get to talk to you lately just been busy....had a computer virus (again).....had sick kids.....painting our home.

I still appreciate you all!

Chore Chart

Have you ever embarked on a craft with a vision and discovered that it wasn't possible? The whole process ends up frustrating and discouraging. Ok....so I felt like kicking this Chore Chart at one point!

Noe came in from the garage and said we had a couple of magnetic boards (from Ikea) that we should do something with. He suggested doing our Chore Chart on one of them. Great idea! I never go into the garage because it's so disorganized. Everytime I do go in there, all I can think about for days are different ways to organize it in my head. It's my husband's chore to do the garage, so I leave it alone and just don't bother or close my eyes! For the sake of my marriage.

This is the end product of my madness.......

Originally, I thought with the metal board we would paint black lines on it with different sections or the chores. As Noe used the acrylic paint on it and masking tape, the paint peeled off with the tape.

Then.....he thought using black spray paint would work. Doing the board the opposite way with the tape, leaving only the lines exposed. Noe did a couple coats and peeled off the tape slowly and the paint peeled off too! So, he spray paint more coats....and the same thing happened.

We couldn't get the paint to stay onto the magnetic board.

Instead of heading to Lowe's again to ask about our dilema, I decided to scrap the whole metal board and black lines look.
Scrapbooking was the way to go. It is more of my element (not to say that I'm an expert at it) just more comfortable with making things work.
By the way if you don't have IKEA near you, I have seen metal boards at most stores. At home improvement stores they also sell metal sheets cut down to any size. Really affordable!

A little Mod Podge to make the Scrapbook paper stick onto the metal. A little bit of ribbon here and there.

A few stickers for the words. Doing the vinyl on my Cricut was difficult to get the letters this small and to not have any of them mess up. After a few tries, stickers were my last sane resort.

A few flowers hot glued together with a button and ribbon accents.

A few clothespins Mod Podged with scrapbook paper to hold pictures of my kids.

A little paint around the edges for the finished look.

I'm not sure about the magnets yet. I made mine really small because I have 4 children that I had to fit onto here. I might end up making some Chores out of Clip Art for my youngest two that can't read. I'll give it some time to see how it works out.

I must say that I'm rather fond of it. I experienced a vast ray of emotions while making this.

I'm glad in the end, I'm content!
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My children have always done chores. I think they just learn to help as they see me cleaning up. As young as 1 year old, they start helping putting laundry in the dirty clothes. We have tried lots and lots of Chore Charts and ways to give out allowances. My son is almost 10, so since he was little we have done the Chore system.

At this moment, each child has many of the same chores. With this chart, I wanted to be able to rotate chores more often such as setting the dinner table and feeding the guinea pig. My kids actually argue over the chores that only 1 person gets to do.

I do not do their chores for them. If there is a special occasion like a birthday...they don't have to do their chores. Either Noe and I might be in the room with the little ones to make sure they get it done. Helping them fold a blanket, and so forth.

They don't get an "allowance" for chores. They have to do their chores. We don't say "if you do your chores you get your allowance." They do their chores, otherwise who has to do them? Me!

Since they are so young they don't really need money. However, every Sunday after church we take them to the store and they get to buy one thing that is around $1. It's their treat. If they choose to save their allowance, we hand them $1. I know this may not sound like alot, but my kids really have everything that they need. Plus, if they are saving for something special like my son was saving for a video game.....we tend to give them money for grades or Student of the Month in order for them to achieve their goals.

Trust me, we have tried so many ways. I have alot of parenting books. This is just what works for us. We all have to work together in order for our home to be successful. I think we all know this and actually have a good time serving each other.

Read Aloud Presentation

When a teacher writes a lesson plan some of the things she/he keep in mind when planning what to teach is how to get the most out of the lesson and what will the children learn from the lesson. Reading to your child at home can be approached in the same way. We want our children to get the most out of the book, out of our time reading to them. So many lessons can be taught from a book.

In the book "If You Give A Cat A Cupcake," I can teach my children about the letter Cc throughout the book. I can also show them about the sequence of events that take place. They can also learn about repetition in the story.

This particular time I chose to teach them how to sequence events.

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Engagement Activity (opener): I asked the kids to tell me every step of making a cupcake. Props can be used or a dry erase board to draw and write the steps out. Another idea is to have a child who is older write the steps onto paper and draw a cupcake when finished.

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Anticipatory Set: Reinterate the cupcake idea. What are your favorite types of cupcakes? Do you use sprinkles on them? Have you ever fed your cat a cupcake? If you have a cat, where have you taken the cat before? At this time I usually ask.... where the cover page is, where the author's name appears, what is an author, what is an illustrator, where is the back cover of the book?

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Vocabulary: I try to go over the words ahead of time or while reading so they know the defintions.

Science Museum

Rowing

Treadmill

Mane

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Active Listening Strategy: When there is repetition, have the children say the words out loud.

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Assessment: This part is important to gain an understanding of what the children learned. You can simply ask the questions, or do more complex assessments. We went through the book one more time to talk about the sequence of events that took place. We also wrote them down. "Where did the cat go?" "What did the cat look at in the Science Museum?" "What exercises did cat do at the gym?"

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Closing Activity: Since we were studying event sequences, I had the kids tell me how they get ready in the morning. They went through all the events in order.

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Tying a book into activities and lessons for the week helps them to learn. While teaching math, I can cut cupcakes out and have the children count them. For art, we can make a cat out of a paper plate or a puppet. For science, I could talk about the Science Museum in the book and the Dinosaurs or the Beach. Of course, baking cupcakes is always a fun project!

Sleepover

My daughter Maelyn turned 7 this week. Wow, 7!

We decided to let her have her very first Sleepover Party. I'm still exhausted from it. The girls had so much fun!

We handed out these invitations that I made out of some scrapbook paper.

Super girly and fun!

The tablecloth is fabric that I had lying around, which is why it's so wrinkled! My husband surprised me with those flowers the other day. They looked perfect as a centerpiece. He also bought my daughter a plant on her birthday. She loved it. Those teal and pink frames were at Michaels $1. We sprinkled some Valentine Hershey Kisses on the table and added some plates. The Walmart I went to, ran out of plain girly color plates. I grabbed these Hannah Montana ones because I didn't want to go anywhere else. They worked because she got a few Hannah Montana things. We also layed candy necklaces on the top of the plates.

We're on a budget here!

For the favors, I bought all this from the Michaels $1 section. Eye masks (which they adored), lotion and nail kit. My mom also made them kits from her work (Dentist office) with toothbrushes, toothpaste, Hannah Montana stickers- all in glittery pink and teal cases.

The banner that says Maelyn was all made on my Cricut. For the accents I used the Home Decor Cartridge. Of course, we needed pictures of the birthday girl.

We put pictures of the guests on the wall as well. They loved seeing themselves. I let them take their pictures home. The girls from her class that she invited, when I took treats to Maelyn's class on her actual birthday...I was able to snap a picture of them.


Maelyn's Sleepover Birthday Cake that I made. I found this idea on the web. The original idea used fondant for the blanket, which would have been easier to drape. My kids don't really like fondant though, so I used buttercream. Twinkies are used for the body and Vanilla Wafer heads.


"Happy Birthday To You!"


They wanted to put their faces in their cake.


Before bed, they made pillowcases with fabric paint.


Time to style each others hair!


{Beautiful Patience}


One of her gifts was a Hannah Montana bracelet making kit. So they wanted to make bracelets.


{Sleeping Bag Races}


Time to paint each others nails.


Daddy painting my little Carm's nails.

{Gorgeous Girls}

They were still in high spirits in the morning!
I needed a BIG cup of coffee.

Postcard Swap

Join the Learn The States Postcard Swap.

Head on over to Our Adventures In Education to read what it is all about and also see what states still need to be filled.

If you have friends or family members that live in those states, you might want to pass this opportunity on to them.

It will be a fun and simple way to teach the kids about US geography.

Have an Educational Day!

{Giveaway}

I happen to be a Tip Junkie fanatic. When I stumbled upon this Beaded Interchangeable Watch, I instantly fell in love. This is what I've been nudging my husband to get me. *nudge* Isn't it beautiful in all it's glory? Can't you just imagine it on your arm?

You can look at Time For Beads etsy shop right here. {click the link}

A giveaway for this gorgeous watch pictured below was made possible by me and Time For Beads.

Now I could have stopped right there, but I happened to order me one of these Crocheted Flower Headbands because well, I wanted to be fabulous. I was thinking, maybe one of you would like to be fabulous in one of these as well. So, I'm also giving away this same Adult Crocheted Headband that is featured below. Taylor Tengelsen has some really cute hair accessories in her etsy shop. You can find her shop right here {click on this link}.

(photos courtesy of Time For Beads and Taylor Tengelsen)
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To enter the GIVEAWAY simply write a comment in my comment section of this post.
If you do not have a blogsite or website that you can link to, leave your email so I can get ahold of you if you are the winner.
Simple as that!
The last day to enter is Jan. 31st.
Anyone can enter this giveaway so feel free to tell all your friends.
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While you are here, become a follower.

I'm rooting for you so Good Luck!

This Spuds For You!

Wow, clever title. Please forgive me for my cheesiness. Cheese is good with potatoes right?

I'm sure many of you have crafted a potato out of paper. It's an every day occurance in your home. {grin}

This weekend I had the kiddos make some potatoes out of brown paper.

I wrote this poem on the back of the little kids potatoes. The two older kids wrote their own potato poems.

On the front of their spuds, they glued "eyes." Get it? The potatoes have eyes! I know, hilarious.

We've been talking about leveling out our backyard and putting in a garden. The kids really love potatoes, who doesn't really? So, they're excited about planting the potatoes and seeing them grow from under the ground.

{100 Followers}

Happy New Year!

I hope you are all rested and feeling good about this year. Let's make 2010 the best year of our lives!

I know as a Mom, heck a woman in general....we have so many obligations and responsibilities. Even when we are fortunate to have wonderful, supportive men to help us many of the everyday responsibilities still seem to weigh more heavily upon woman. Trying to balance out our lives the best that we can sometimes can be a struggle. We are all in the same boat. Don't ever feel like you are alone. We all have a common thread that ties us. I love when you comment or email me and are so open with me about your lives. It becomes therapy for me (haha) and really makes me appreciate who I am and my challenges in life. I can dwell or be stressed or I can overcome and achieve.

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Thank you for being a follower of our family. Thank you for letting us into your lives.

When I saw that I had 99 followers, I talked with my husband and we both agreed that we could have a little giveaway when we hit 100 followers. So, I ordered the cutest thing off of esty.com and am patiently waiting for it to reach my home. Guess what? 100 followers!

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Stay tuned to find out what we are giving away. It is adorable and I am nudging my someone to get me one.

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Have a wonderful Sabbath!

First Week of 10 in 2010

If you haven't joined Ten Weeks to get Healthy in 2010, you can register here. It's never too late!

These are my goals.

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~I took my multi-vitamin everyday this week.

~According to my fat little Wii Fit person, I lost weight. I can't stand seeing my Wii Fit avatar fat! I guess I didn't see myself looking like that, so when I stepped on the board....my avatar gained weight particularly in the butt. My kids never laughed so hard.

~I've worked out on the Wii Fit this week and rode a bike with a carrier to pick the kids up from school. My school aged kids ran beside me back home. I think this week, I'll stick scooters in the back of the bike carrier for them to ride home on. Also, my husband has gotten up super early before taking the 2 kids to school and they have been stretching and doing the Yoga on the Wii Fit every single morning. Fitness starts carrying over to every aspect of your lives.

~As for night time snacking I did good all week, except for one day.....I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at night. My stomach was growling, we had an early dinner. No excuses though. I feel guilty!

~I started the week off good with less caffeine. For myself, I can't go cold turkey. The last time I did, I had a fever and was nauseous for a week. I'm trying to slowly ween myself off of it. Towards the end of the week though, I started getting more tired. I didn't drink as much as I usually did, but was still disappointed in myself.

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My first week to getting healthy overall was pretty good. We have been eating at home everyday, healthy foods. You know what? It takes more time to prepare, and look up recipes and I get cravings some times...but in the end it feels better doing the right thing and making the right choices.

My family seems happier!

Music Notes

We created these Music Mosiacs today with some scraps from around the house. Patience asked "Why are we learning about music Mom?" She knew what music notes looked like- pretty neat. Sometimes, they surprise me with what they know. We went over the shapes and colors of the scraps. Both the girls liked making these. They look like party music notes! Great for the New Year!