Halloween Series #7 - Goodie Bags

Will you be making goodie bags for a Halloween party, or for your trick or treaters?  I've got a way to make them just a little more fun.

Get yourself some latex, non-powdered gloves.  (you don't want powder all over your treats that you will be eating)  I have seen these in random stores, but they are out there. My husband gets them to wear for work, to give him more grip when working on cars, and to keep his hands from getting filthy. I would suggest checking Walmart, or even Amazon.com.

 Next, get a couple of bags of Smarties candies. You will need 5 per goodie bag.

 Put a roll os smarties in each finger slot. This will help the hand shape keep form.

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Fill the rest of the glove with other candies. Tie off the top. Voila!  Spooky goodie bags for your Halloween party, or trick or treaters.

Cheese Crisps

Need a fast after-school snack for the kiddies?Mine love these - cheese crisps. 
My mom used to make these when I was a kid, and I just recently remembered the snack and started making it for mine. 
All you need is shredded cheese and tortillas. Those 2 items have become a staple in our house, so we always have them.
Depending on the type of pan you will be using, depends on how you do this. I have 2 pizza pans, one with holes and one without.

Using a cookie sheet or pan with a solid (no holes) bottom:
*Put the tortilla on the tray, in an oven at about 400 degrees, and cook for about 2 minutes.
*Spread cheese all over the tortilla, and place back in to the oven until all cheese is melted.

Using a pizza pan with holes in the bottom:
*Spread cheese on tortilla while oven is preheating to about 40 degrees.
*Cook for about 5 minutes or until all cheese is melted.

If you use a solid bottom pan, and do not pre-cook the tortillas, they will not be horrible. Just not as crispy. They will come out with crunchy edged and a soft/chewy center where the cheese is. I have cooked them like this as well.

To put a little twist on this (and something my 7yr old often makes herself), is the homemade version of cheese rolls. This is the only thing my one daughter will eat from Taco Bell, and I hate paying for it because its sooooo easy.
Place tortilla with cheese on a plate. Microwave for 20-30 seconds, until cheese is all melted.
While still hot, roll the tortilla. This is when my daughter needs my help, and I use a fork and my nails to assist the rolling action, because it is very hot at this point. But if you don't roll it right away, you do not get the same results.

Quick and simple and even a version the kids can do themselves. 

Mommy Scenario Tag

I have seen this tag going around YouTube, and thought it might be interesting. Although my children are older, I still thought I would do this, and answer with how we did (or still do) handle these scenarios.

1 - If your kids refuse to eat what you cooked for dinner, would you force them to eat or cook something else for them?
 
Answer: My kids are VERY picky eaters. I have one who will try anything and eat almost anything, main dish wise, but not much on veggies. Another only eats veggies really. Another changes her mind every week. So typically what I'll do it cool a meal and have side dishes choices, to ensure that each child will eat at least 1 or 2 things our of 3 or 4. if they don't want to eat ANYTHING, mine are old enough, I tell them to figure it out for themselves then - whether it be a sandwich, or cheese roll, or soup, etc.

2 - Your child has a meltdown at the store, do you continue your shopping or leave?

Answer:  Mine never really has major meltdowns at the store once they were older. When they were babies, I always had bottles and snacks, that worked. As they got older, I would talk sternly to them in a corner of the store, and that worked, they would behave. Sometimes, I would have to resort to bribing, but...I never leave a store. I don't always have time to "go back later".

3 - Your child received too many toys for their Birthday, do you return some or stash away for another time?

Answer: my children never receive "too many" toys, so we don't stash any or return any.

4 - Your child is protesting sleep in the middle of the night, do you give in and turn on a movie at 3am, or do all you can to rock/nurse them back to sleep?

Answer:  My kids pretty much as babies, just needed

5 - You have an appointment, but no sitter. Do you take you kids with you or reschedule for another time?

Answer:  Depends on the appointment and the age of the children. When they were younger, I tried my best to take minimal kids. But now they are older, and I find myself just taking them more often.

6 - You find out you are having an unexpected guest in about 20 minutes. Do you rush around to clean your house, or leave the mess?

Answer:  Depends on who the guest is and how messy the place is. If it looks like we have completely ignore all housework for days, I will clean until they get there. But if it was clean the night before and its not the bad, I won't worry too much about it. I pick up as I go along, while they are here.

7 - Another child pushes yours at the park. Do you go find the parents, or reprimand the child yourself?

Answer:  I don't like confrontation, so I was the mom who would tell their kid to shake it off and go play somewhere else.


Now that I have done this tag, and answered for what I used to do, I will try to create a Mommy Tag for older children now, as mine are 8,8 and 11 yrs.  Let me know if you would be interested!

Holiday photo cards

Hey all!
I know I have been MIA lately and I apologize. This is the time of year things get a little crazy around here with all the birthdays and parties and getting back into our school routines.
But its also that time of year where I need to start thinking about photos for our yearly Christmas card.
I used to just take my kids school pictures, scan them, and upload to a template onto a photo website. But then, we started getting the professionally done. We have friends and family who are photographers, and I thought it was pretty cool I could choose from way more then going to a store and only being able to pick a few.
Last year however, I still wanted to "posed" photo, but couldn't afford a photographer. And then i thought...Why I can't I do it myself???  So onto Pintrest I went. I browsed all kinds of ideas on how to photograph siblings. 
Then one afternoon, we went to the park we hadn't been to in a long time. And there was a woodsy trail back there, and it clicked in my head...photos in the woods.
After some more researching, I decided I wanted a few funny ones as well. I chose neutral colors for the girls outfits, because I knew we were going to have bold red props.  (their shirts has sparkle but it didn't come through in photo too well) Below is the final result.

And now, its time to research for this years card. I would love to get a family photo, to represent how we have all bonded through this tough year we have had. But...Brian doesn't like photos and I am not at a weight I wish to display.  But we shall see.

So if you like to get creative with your yearly cards, have fun with it. You can do it yourself! And Pinterest can be your new BFF to help you with ideas too.  The season is fast approaching us.

Please feel free to share your past ideas as well.

Baby Girls's Birthday Weekend

Hey all!  So I know I have been MIA, but its been a busy weekend. My older daughter, Madison, turned 11 this weekend!!!And although I decided to NOT have a party, I once again still just couldn't stop adding in types of celebrations, which made it a loooonnnggggg weekend.

Friday was her actual birthday and she had school. So not too much that day. We DID have her closest friends and family over for cake that night. And she got some gifts from all of us.

Then Saturday we went to my parents house, because they had a gift for her and wanted to celebrate with her.
That evening, it was shopping spree time!! woot woot   Her gift from us was a gift card for the store Justice. now I never buy anything in there, so I thought it would be a treat, it would teach her a lesson on how fast a large amount of money can do, in certain stores. WELL......not only did they have 40% off everything, but we walked in on a flash sale of an extra 20% off. So everything was basically 60% off. Didn't do too darn bad -- shirt, tank top, bedazzled hair brush, funky hand sanitizer and holder, nail polish, 2 piece PJ set -- all for $55.

Sunday we took her out, for her special BD treat. (it was also our 12th anniversary). She begged to go to Sky Zone, so we took her. For those of you who may not know, Sky Zone is an indoor trampoline park.
Before we left I got a text from her friends mom, saying her kids were bored and would we mind if they met us there. So she even got to jump with some of her friends.

After that, we met some family at Cracker Barrel for lunch.

Although I ended up NOT saving much money by NOT having a party, it was still a pretty nice weekend, without the extra stress of a party.

Birth story of my first born

Hey all! So, my oldest daughter is 11 today!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!  In honor of her BD, I thought I would tell the little story of her birth.

First off, she was completely planned! We tried for about 4 months and started to really get discouraged. Our doctor told us that we had nothing to fear, yet, and to just keep trying. The next month I decided to try one of those ovulation kits. well from that, we found out that with my own calculations of ovulation were about 2 weeks off. So with the help of that kit, BAM, 1 try and we were pregnant!!!

The next 6 months seemed to drag on. I just wanted to be pregnant already. I wanted to have a belly, I wanted to waddle, I wanted to dress in cute clothes. Then the last 2-3 months went too fast. I didn't want it to end. I was not ready to not be pregnant anymore. (Yes am that annoying women who loves pregnancy)

My due date was 10/9/03.

10/8/03: My husband had off work and we decided to go out and buy a dresser for the baby. During the shopping, I kept getting braxton hicks contractions, that would make me have to stop walking and let them pass. But they weren't frequent really at all.  That night his cousin and his new wife came over to help put together the dresser, and to tell us all about their honeymoon, they just came back from.  The pains were happening more frequently, but not as painful. I kept going as is, tomorrow I was set to have an appointment. I will pack my bag int he morning and take it with me to the docs, just in case.

10/9,  about 7:00am:  I am in and out of the bathroom, while my husband gets ready for work. I tell him "be prepared for a call today, I have a feeling the doc might send me to the hospital. My mucus plug is coming out like FOR REAL."  he asked if he should just stay home and I tell him NO, because if I end up not going, he will lose that days pay. So off he goes. (mind you he works about 45-60 minutes away)

About 8am, it dawns on me that everytime I feel like I have gas pains and go to the bathroom, the pain just STOPS. Hmmm, is it really gas???  I better start timing this. Sure enough, I run to the bathroom about every 10-15 minutes and the pain just STOPS.

8:30am - call my mom who is supposed to be taking me to the docs at 11:30 anyway. Tell her what is going on. She says "You are in real labor, I will get dressed and come over. Start getting the bag together."  At this point I decided I better eat something, so i ate some cereal. Yeah, baby didn't like that.  And from that point, baby didn't like ANYTHING I put in my belly.
Mom came over, saw what was going on and told me to call the doc office to see what they wanted me to do.  Docs told me to skip my appointment, and head to hospital to be monitored and very possibly admitted. OK!!!!!!!! Its baby day!!!! And ON my due date. I always tell people that I am ALWAYS RIGHT ON TIME. Ha Ha

By now its about 10am, and my mom reminds me to call my husband - OH CRAP! I call him and he made it home in 25 minutes.  We all get final stuff together and head to the hospital about 11:30am.

12:00pm - In the pre-labor room getting contractions timed and checked every 30 minutes. I am only 2 cm dilated, and nothing much is happening. But I feel like I'm dying for 30 seconds every 5-7 minutes. The nurse decides they need to send me home, and goes to get the paperwork together. I ask her "Since I am going home, can I have something real to drink?" She brings me a ginger-ale. Yeah, baby didn't like that either. As I threw up in the bedpan, I thought I peed myself. Nope, that was A LOT. Nurse comes back, we inform her of what happened, she checks and says "You really didn't want to go home did you? You are staying put for a few days." YES, I'M HAVING A BABY TODAY!!!

1:30pm - I get admitted into a room. Still only at about 4cm, I ask when I can have epidural. Of course everyone laughs and thinks it cute, and politely tell me I'm not ready yet. For the next couple of hours, I threw up with every single contraction. Every couple of minutes. I couldn't take it anymore, and was dehydrating myself, so they gave me the epidural about 4pm.. Once I couldn't feel them anymore, I stopped getting sick.  At this point, I was trying to nap but the excitement wasn't allowing me. I talked with friends on the phone and visited with family who came to see me.

10pm - My epidural started wearing off, just as the doctors told me I could start pushing. The pain wasn't allowing me to push, I just wanted to stay still and not move or do anything. The doctor was being a real meanie head about it.

11pm - doctors switched over and I got a new one.  As my old doc walked out, she said to the new doc "good luck". Excuse me????  (this mean doc is who I ended up with delivery my twins 3 yrs later and was soooo awesome that time around)  I convinced the new doc that I couldn't go on without more pain meds. She gave them to me. And we started our thing.

Apparently she couldn't just be born on her due date, she HAD to wait a few more minutes.
10/10/03, 12:06am - Madison Lynn was born. 7lbs, 18 in, and red hair.

It was like there was an elephant in the room. I looks at my husband like "OK, now what?" All that trying and excitement and now it was all over, she was here.  I didn't know how to react. I didn't feel the need to cry and gush all over her, but felt like if I didn't I wasn't being a mom. So I just held her, and stared at her. My precious baby girl that I had been dreaming about for what seemed to be forever.

Halloween Series #6 - Swarm of bats

For a fun and creative way of decorating on a budget, think construction paper. Yes, there are a lot of things you can do, but putting a swarm of bats in your house, and a pretty cool way of getting that slightly spooky effect. 

I found you can get an entire package of construction paper in just a single color at AC Moore, or other craft stores like that. 

Next, go online and find yourself a bat template. There are a lot of free sites out there you can find. Just find the one you like and print it out. 

Next, use that template to cut out a main template on something with more substance like poster board or even a box.

Once you have your template, take a sheet of construction paper and fold it on half. You can trace your bat onto one side, then cut 2 out, at the same time.

 

 (My girls just couldn't resist decorating my template)

Once you have them cut out, fold the wings both inward, so they pop off the surface a little bit. 

Lastly, get some double stick take, and  tape them to the walls in a flying pattern. If you get a large amount, you can make it look like a swarm of bats flying through your house.