Sew many things

My best friend is about to "PoP!" and I got a chance to sew her a few baby essentials.

::References::
Felt Booties
Herringbone stitch tutorial aka Blanket Stitch
Diaper Case pattern
Burp Cloth pattern from "Go Baby Go!"


To be continued...comfort blankies  and baby shower to come

Parenting 101...nope, make this Parenting 201 (a quick advanced course)

I'm a mom and I have a short fuse sometimes...so sue me.

well, don't do that. ...but I probably deserve a good slap on the face sometimes.

I changed my title from Parenting 101 to 201 b/c this is beyond diaper changing and patting the back for comfort. I wish I read this article sooner b/c my older daughter has heard a lot of "reacting" from me that I now need to unwind.

Kids whine and they tantrum BUT I just read an article that mentioned "Responding vs. Reacting." How powerful is that? It floored me b/c I am a reactor forcing compliance rather than speaking from the heart and communicating with a response that I heard my daughters' problems and that I'm their guardian/safety net. As a Christian parent don't you think that this is the way God nurtures us? How horrific would it be if He reacted each time we were naughty? geez, I'd be in deep trouble.

Here is the article I found: Circle of Moms

I'm sharing this because I'm not the world's greatest mom but I can help those who come after me. I promise I'll try my best to respond to my children's needs vs. reacting.

Confessions of a Super Mom

Cheat.

Not at everything but cheat in cooking here and there...voila! ~

I love holidays because you can be creative...especially with the help of blogs these days. For Halloween we celebrated at our Harvest Festival at church but the next day the game was on! We hosted our Bible Study group so Sweet little A and I went to town on some festive treats. Our friend Crystal came a little early and gave us a hand too! Thanks~

Here are some of our treats:

Hot Dog Mummies. Recipe. I didn't put the cheese inside.

Pumpkin Pops with paper spiral straws (cut in half) as sticks. Note for next time: Put more filling b/c the pie crust can be salty if the ratio isn't right. Recipe.

"Bone Appetit" everyone!!!~ On the very top you'll find oreo spiders made by Sweet Little A all by herself. We tried to make oreo pumpkin pops but the melted coat didn't come out perfectly so it's a project for next year.

So you're probably wondering how I cheated...You don't make
the dough, you appreciate the coupons and the pre-made packages of Pillsbury crescent and pie crust dough. You also appreciate friends who offer to help and  friends who make the pie fillings for your pumpkin pie pops. :9 Thanks Jenny!~

My picture that reveals all my dirty secrets. (And yes, the cookie cutters were washed. The stickers were so hard to get off. I'd rather keep them on than to push them into the dough with sticky yucky stuff.)

 

Hope everyone had a  

Happy Harvest-y Halloween!!!!!~

I :heart: Cheap Thrills

I'm happy to say that my couponing efforts have paid off and it held me over until my first paycheck. This past year we've been trying to live under our means instead of within our means and it's been a healthy challenge for us. It's not fun but it's safe. Since work started up again I haven't been able to keep up with the coupons but I plan on squeezing it in when I can and going to Costco in between.

Anyways~some cheap thrills that I discovered in the mean time are 1) make up remover and 2) lipstick.

Some of these things are right under our noses and we don't stop to realize. Last year I experimented with lots of different make up and water-proof make up removers. The best make up remover thus far...

Baby Wipes!!!!! and guess what? We have lots of it in our house. The make up wipes right off and I didn't have to think about a separate purchase. I don't have a preference in a brand of wipes and I've been purchasing whatever was on sale and they all work. A friend told me about it and I love it! Water-proof make up wipes right off with no raccoon eyes or smudged lips. Your face is clean&soft like a baby's bottom. 

 

Secondly, as a teacher and mom with very precious time, I'm looking for make up that will utilize the least amount of effort, cost, and give me the most longevity of beauty. Lipstick has been my item of unlimited cost with the least amount of guilt b/c it makes or breaks a look. I've spent anywhere from $1 to $40 on a lip product (shame on me). Now I know better. So~ for the past month or two I've been using Revlon Lip Color Stay Overtime...of course, purchased with a coupon~

I put it on at a stop light on the way to drop off my kids and it stays on until after school and into my most favorite tv shows at night! Now when I watch the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and see them lookin' good in the morning scenes I know that they didn't wash their face rather than assuming they got all dolled up for that scene. 

I'm making my efforts to "keep up." ;) wink

I love my Revlon Color Stay!!!~ I've tried long-wear lipsticks before and they've always dried out my mouth or leaves a weird residue BUT this has been great. I also have a Chanel one but I've only used it twice for a girls night out and I paid way too much for it (don't ask). Although my Chanel long-wear lip gloss makes me feel extravagant, my Revlon Color Stay treats me the same for fraction of the cost. I think I purchased my color stay at Target for maybe $6. I <3 Cheap Thrills!

Yes, I'm alive. :)

I've been having a really great year with students...which has also been keeping me busy preparing upper grade instructional materials. Man, teachers can spend all day AND night in their classrooms if they could.

Anyways, I found this cute printable from "Honey We're Home" a cute blog that features family life, recipes, organization ideas...and everything I love. :) This little bit says it all for me. Very simply sums it all up. I'm sure my mommy friends can relate. :)

First Day Jitters

One of my favorite books to read on the first day of school (Besides the Kissing Hand) is called

First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and Judith DuFour Love (Mar 2000) where the teacher is the one nervous at the end of the story.

 Eek! I have the jitters b/c I'm moving schools with a new staff, kids that I'm semi familiar with and a classroom that went from rags to riches. So~ I've been looking up blogs a lot but here is a cute clipboard of rules that I came across from one of my favorite blogs Eighteen25

 I think I"ll post this in my entry way. I sure hope the kids follow it. :)

But most of all, I can't wait to frame it and give it as a teacher present to one of my kids' teachers. It's probably more elementary school appropriate so I'll have to be patient for a couple of years.

What a wonderful and budget friendly teacher gift!

Lastly, I came across this great one that I'd like to post on my wall as well:

Special ed can get very rewarding but not without some uphill challenges ...SO~ I must Keep Calm and Teach On. (Post from Hands on Housewife)

To All my Teacher Friends and kiddos...Have a great year!!!!~

AND, Thank you friends who gave me encouraging words to start the year.
Thank you
::Hus & sisters for keeping me safe & preparing with me til 11pm in my classroom as I worked
:: My Mother In Law helped me watch my kids and even helped me in the classroom a bit
::Thanks Hannah S. & Irene for coming to my classroom

You guys are all super stars and out of this world to me!!!!

Back To School

Summer is now behind me...summer vacation, that is. But the New School year is ahead of me and I'm all stocked up with my supplies from my handy coupons and I'm pretty confident that your child's teacher would love Love LOVE more donations and what better way to donate than to use your coupons.

Anyways...Something that totally spurs me on are printables...FREE printables. And Catch My Party has some awesome CUTE back to school printables to either include with a note in your child's lunch or label inside books and properties. This site also has some welcome back or back to school themed sets for teachers! :)

One thing that I like to do is to leave a note for My Sweet A in her lunch pail. I try to use the high frequency words (or familiar words) or symbols that she already knows how to read. My mom use to put a list of my spelling words when I was little and at the end say <3 Mom. Last year I left Addy a napkin with each letter of the week and some pictures. I usually leave notes on a napkin but what a cute surprise to use a cute note card from Catch My Party! I think I might use something for my husband too. I put notes on his napkin and he'll bring it back in tact...I ask why he didn't use it and he'll say b/c it had a note on it and he didn't want to wipe his mouth on it. lol. silly guy. I would love to see a black pen mustache on him one day. Anyhow...check out these cute printables!

Here's a link to these awesome FREE printables! Enjoy! Leave a comment on how you think you'll use it or if you do use it. I'd love to see how you guys got creative!

Take it outside

So~ Day tripping Mom is one of my long time favorite blogs. She recently started a series called "Take it outside" and she promotes the priority of playing outside. I started to spend time in our backyard more and my sister got my Sweet A a bike also. I let my kids get dirty...like bum dirty, it's kinda fun for me but skirmish when they touch things I wouldn't.

Today I got the chance to babysit my nephew and it was a blast! He is full of energy and is very observant of all things around him.We ate breakfast, played with all sorts of toys, built things...and cleaned up before heading out.

We had just finished a round of messy play so I gave them cups with water and a paintbrush. They were given no boundaries to "paint water" in the patio. This is a fun activities for any age as well.

When they're little you can have them draw shapes or imagine their most exciting interests and/or simply pretend that they're painting the fence/house/box. But for older kiddos use this time to practice phonics and letter recognition. Later they can practice spelling words and as the sun dries up their last word, they can replace it. Next thing you know, it's 10x's each. :)

After I noticed that the water fun was getting to a lull, we moved into real colors and they had a blast!

Here's Sweet lil C and her first water painting piece. She was so cute faking the funk by dipping her paintbrush, picking a random color (once in a while getting yelled at by her older sis and cousin for mixing colors), and dab dab dabbing her paper as if she knew exactly what she was doing. I'm framing this one. :)

So spend some time outside. Enjoy the beautiful weather and God's nature around you!

From my heart and soul

I have a friend who recently adopted one of the cutest little boys ever from Korea. I've had a heart for adoption since elementary school as well and my hus and I talk about it often. My cousin has also adopted 3 children of her own and is the most beautiful mother and has the most beautiful family ever. It's an awesome calling and it deserves a lot of love from your "heart and soul."

When this particular little boy got adopted they had a coming home celebration that included an airport fanfare with a few posters that read "born in my heart and seoul:" (Seoul, Korea). So I decided to stick with that theme for his first birthday present. I knew that he would get a lot of clothes and toys...and his parents have already spoiled this little one with TonS of goodies and even his first Ferrari to match his daddy's so ~ I gifted him a quilt to keep him warm and bundled along with one of my favorite gifts to give: a personalized hoodie towel. These gifts were simple but I hope that it's a daily warmth and cuddle from us. He has a doggy of his own so I decided to go with a doggy theme.

Close up. It took 7 fabrics. 18 6 1/2"x6 1/2" squres, 1 18x20piece, boarder fabric and one large backing flannel fabric.

Entire blanket. Wish I took a picture of the corresponding piece on the back.

All wrapped and ready to go.

I love giving home made gifts because I know it's one of a kind. I always worry that people might think that it's cheesy or not significant but I put in my effort because it was worth it. :)

I missed you SEW!!!!!~

Guess what I've been doing? 

SEwiNG! :)

 

I eased my way back to sewing with an easy Go-Baby-Go set. The pattern was already on the large fabric with the prints already there so all I had to do was cut, put top sides together, sew, and flip.

End Results:

(I wish I took pictures of the coordinating fabrics on the backs and insides)

diaper & wipes carry sleeve

Bib with coordinating colored fabric on the back and velcro latch on the neck

All wrapped and ready to be gifted to my dear friend Lina who is ready to be a first time mom. Hope she likes it.

I'm Back~

But, fruit flies really need to be gone!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy trying to get some summer projects out of the way before I go back to work in 8 days :(

One of the projects was to get rid of FRUIT FLIES from our kitchen! Gross! I hate fruit flies!...more than ants.

I usually try to use homeopathic methods before resulting to chemicals b/c of my kiddos but I've read about remedies that say to put red wine vinegar in a shallow bowl and to cover with foil with holes in it BUT they've never worked when I've tried.

One of my sisters was visiting and said she's done that remedy but in a wine class with a funnel and she said it worked. SO~ here's our version:

Materials:

Wine glass

Paper

tape

Red Wine Vinegar 

OR any Wine 

(we used merlot that was already opened...we're high class like that)

:wink:

Instructions:

Pour a little wine in a wine glass

Make a funnel out of paper

(we used one of addy's drawings...we're all about reusing & recycling)

Tape the funnel to seal it to the glass on the outside

Place the glass at the problem source or the trash can area

Then,

watch the flies accumulate and eventually drown

Sorry Fruit Flies.

Big opening at the top. Little opening into the wine. Huge entrance, slim exit.

End result? We caught dozens and dozens! OMG over a span of 5 days we caught probably 6-8 at a time and we slowly saw them drowning. Now there are no more fruit flies in our kitchen! :) Thank you natural remedies! I love Wine!!!! Wine (in moderation) cures all things. :P

Obesses with me

Another friend started a CUTE blog called Obsess with Jess. She's got cute fashion taste with make up talent that will blow your socks off.

On the side of fashion and make up, she got me obsessed with the yummiest drink on earth! It probably has a billion calories but we won't acknowledge that part. lol.

 

 I <3 Phoenix Cafe's Mixed Fruit Drink.

Ingredients (that I know of)

Ice

Coconut Milk

Pretty sure it has condensed milk

Tiny Clear Tapioca Balls

Watermelon

Mango

and mixed fruits.

YUMMY I'm OBSESSED with MIXED FRUIT DRINK!!!

::Featured blog: Obsess with Jess

Donations

My initial interest in couponing began with an interest to be a good steward of my financial spending. Since I've began, I saved 50% of my typical spending for household products (not so much foods yet). Yay. BUT!~ then I joined a fb Christian Couponing group and it dawned on me that we could be good stewards of our couponing to donate things to church. I was a little behind some of them so I didn't get to coupon to donate snacks to VBS or send of the India team with deodorant or cleansing wipes...but I caught onto the tail end for the Haiti Team. :) They just e-mailed a donation list for beauty products and school supplies so~...

this is what I'll be sending off. I wish I could've done more but now I know to utilize things around me to send of with prayer and consideration. In this batch I have :

2 scotch tapes, 2 sharpies, John Frieda Shampoo, glue, 3 nail polishes, 1 make up remover, 2 twizzler candies, cottenelle wipes, 2 neutragena chapsticks, 2 packages of pens, 2 nail files, nail clippers, and tweezer. 

You'll notice that I have 2 of each b/c I was only limited to coupon 2 of each product. Next time I can accrue more or gather church friends to coupon too. :)

Stay at Home ART!

Are you a stay at home mom and always on the look out for a creative project for the kids to explore on a cheap budget? A friend of mine, who is a fun & creative kindergarten teacher, started her own blog. In her well designed blog page she just featured an art project recycling things that may be lying around your own home. Try this project at home and have a beautiful day!

Got an empty gift card floating around?

Use it in the original form

OR trim the edges and gift it a unique texture

That tree needs a little more life...What about rubber bands? 

Cut, bundle, and tie it together

Dab and paint!

Give it the finishing touch and voila! Recent trainings for teachers have been to raise 21st century thinkers who use the things around them to be innovative. By doing this project...You've got a creative 21st century artist who re-uses the things around them in innovating ways! After it's all done, do what I do in class and KiSs that BrAiN!

::Guest Blog Featured: It's a Beautiful Day

Thanks Lynn, Kiss that brain of yours for sharing!

Vietnamese Vermicelli...my way

A great summer dish that's easy to make is Vietnamese Vermicelli...my way. :) My way = with Korean Bulgogi.

I used the sauce recipe from Serious Eats  and I altered the Vermicelli Salad recipe by using Korean pre-marinated Bulgogi. I also used the white daikon instead of shallots. So here's my altered version below:

Serving Size of 6 adults and 2 children

Ingredients

•  For the marinade meat:    
• Korean Pre-marinated Bulgogi

Preparation: Broil and chop

• For the sauce (also known as nuoc cham):
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup fish sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced or julienned (depending on your preference)
• 1 to 2 teaspoons chili paste

Preparation: Mix together and refrigerate while preparing all the other dishes.

•  Salad 
• 1 Shredded Lettuce
• 1 Shredded Daikon (Japanese Raddish)
• 2 Shredded Carrot  
• 1 small bag Bean Sprouts
• Cilantro

Preparation: wash, chop, shred, and set aside. Shredding the carrots and daikon make it thinner and softer so that it was easier for my 16 month old to enjoy this meal. Vermicelli takes only 2 mins to boil. Make sure to take off the heat and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. It will still look clear but will take on a white color as it dries.

Preparation: wash, take off the bean and tail. I rinsed it one more time b/c everyone's hands were helping to prepare this.

• Served With 
• Hoison Sauce
• Sriracha Rooster Sauce
 

 ENJOY!

Preparation: Pile all the ingredients into a large bowl and arrange it to look pretty to serve.

This is a great summer dish that leaves you feeling refreshed and healthy...unless you eat 2 & 3 servings like we did tonight. :P