a new year, a new me!

Seriously! I have been on a rampage!
Let me back track a little...

Dec 26th I flooded our basement. As soon as my 6 yr old said " Mom, the floor is wet!" I knew, my "quick fix" on the sump pump went wrong, terribly wrong and we now had 3 inches of water in our basement. Carpet, furniture, boxes of papers and clothes, yep, everything! We had to remove EVERYTHING including the padding under the carpet. It was a very long day but our friends with a carpet cleaning company came to our rescue with industrial fans and dehumidifiers! Since everything had to be moved I figured I would organize...EVERYTHING! We have made MANY trips to Goodwill and the dumpster. Things I had been holding on to for YEARS I was now able to let go of (100 napkins from our wedding!!! We now use them daily!) Cleaning out the basement felt so good I started upstairs also. I have now cleaned out every drawer, closet, cabinet, pantry cubbie , box, shelf and corner in my house, including the attic full of LOTS of boxes of teaching materials. In the days to follow I will post pictures of some of my new found organization.

More Randomness

Being the mother of 3 boys is defiantly a full time job, so, my posting schedule is very erratic! Here is a little "catch me up" on what we have been up to

We ate pancakes with bacon in them..Kind of like a mcGriddle with no syrup in them!

I made Back to School gifts for the teachers!

Everything came from Wal-Mart and was on sale the other day

I tried a new hairdo.. no, that is not the new do, but check out the curls I got from this!

It is no heat and only took me 3 minutes! I know the picture isn't great but you can go watch the tutorial here
You just wrap damp hair around a cloth headband and sleep...In the morning beautiful Hollywood curls with NO heat!

Don't they look so happy? We read "blueberries for Sal" and then made some blueberry muffins

Minus a few blueberries!

Isn't team work great?

Zan decided he wanted a pizza and movie night...see them lovin their pizzas?

But what was so fun is that the only thing we had to make pizzas with were biscuits, so I pulled out these ingredients and made do!
And yes that is a huge bag of pepperoni from our Subway days! and this is what I managed to make!

The boys loved them and we only used ingredients we already had so FREE!

We have been up to a lot more but will have to update later! I have another no heat curls idea, some easy dry erase activities and a few more!

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment

I have been looking for some kindergarten readiness assessments and found a pretty good one over at childfun.com
READINESS CHECKLIST



1.Will your child be 5 years when he/she enters kindergarten?
2.Can others easily understand your child when he/she speaks to them?
3.Does your child pay attention to a short story when it is read and answer simple questions about it?
4.Is your child able to draw and color a picture, beyond a scribble?
5.Is your child able to zip or button up his sweater or jacket?
6.Can your child tie a knot?
7.Is your child able to walk backwards for 5 or 6 feet?
8.Is your child able to stand on one foot for 5 or 10 seconds?
9.Is your child able to walk in a straight line?
10.Is your child able to fasten buttons he/she can see?
11.Is your child able to tell the left hand from the right?
12.Is your child able to take care of his/her toilet needs?
13.Is your child able to be away from his/her parents for about two or three hours without being upset?
14.Is your child able to cross a street safely?
15.Is your child able to repeat a series of 4 numbers without practice, such as "Say after me 7-2-6-3 ?
16.Is your child able to repeat 8 and 10 word sentences if you say them once-- "The girl ran all the way to the store for her mother?
17.20. Is your child able to follow about 2 or 3 directions after being told once, such as "Bring me a book; skip around the room; shut the door?
18.Is your child able to give the last word to all of the following:
A fire is hot; ice is ____
A jet goes fast; but a turtle goes _____
Daddy is a man; Mother is a ______
19.Is your child able to count 4 objects?
20.Is your child able to put together a simple puzzle?
21.Can your child tell what is missing if you draw a stick picture of a man and leave out eyes, or a leg, or an arm?
22.Is your child able to draw or copy a square?
23.Can your child name a triangle, a square and a circle when he/she sees it?
24.Can your child name about 3 or 4 colors to which you point?
25.Can your child fell you what his/her eyes, ears and mouth are used for?
26.Is your child able to tell you in what way a sweater, shoe and hat are the same?
27.Does your child take an interest in the books and magazines that are around the house?
28.Have you attempted to create in your child the idea of looking forward to school experiences rather than fear of school?

RESULTS:

Count the number of items you were able to answer with a "YES" response. Consult the table below for information relative to state of readiness for school.

Number of items answered "Yes" should be 26 to 28 (readiness assured)
Number of items answered "Yes" should be 22 to 25 (readiness probable)
Number of items answered "Yes" should be 18 to 21 (readiness questionable)
Number of items answered "Yes" should be 15 to 17 (Readiness doubtful)
Number of items answered "Yes" should be 13 or below (readiness Unlikely)


Z passed with "readiness assured" and R (who is only 3) fell under "readiness doubtful" but I was impressed with how well he did!

I find a great preschool assessment over at me and marie learning

a few days in one post

So, after a few days of fighting with Blogger and being really mad and wishing I hadn't started with Blogger, here is a post. It took me about 40 mins to upload pictures because the set up is such a joke. So, the title for yesterdays post was Day 1: 5 days-5 rooms.... And, here you go. Now remeber, our haouse has been under construction for over 2 years. We added a second story so we had to replace all the windows and headers on the 1st floor so that is why things may look a little crazy in some pictures. This is my future mud room. THe closets will come out and walls will go up but for now, I make do. The shoe area is always nuts and here is the before:
THis is the first area I see when I enter my house and it is not welcoming. My house does not make me feel relaxed, always stressed and I want that to change so, I dumped all the shoes, paired them and laid them all out... see?

The shoes on the far right that are cut off are the ones with out a match. And I cleaned...and two garbage canse later we have....

This makes me a little happier but the space still needs work, also, to help all the males in the house we now have labels:

Now, On to SUndays post, I ahve always disliked the akward space over my fire place and have always wanted a photo wall such as this:

So I purchased some frames from Goodwill for $6.00 for 2 boxes of frames and threw in a couple of ones I already have. I put in some pictures and others are waiting for the perfect picture

I meausred my space, taped it on the floor and started arranging, rearranging again and a gain...then I realized my tape was the ENTIRE space and not just the photo space so I had to start over and we have this:

Which became this!

I am still not completely finished because I am waiting on some vinyl word art for the lower right which I will post about when it gets here!


In the meantime...Sat was Sharefest. Local shurches get together to do community projects and also have a free lunch and a free sale...Mom, aunt and I helped organinze the free sale and check out the awesome Tupperware Fridgesmart set I scored!
This is something I have been wanting and it is over $62 value! I am SOOOO excited!

So, that is all for now! Thanks for stopping by!

food fun

The 14Th of June was Flag Day so we had a mini celebration with a Flag Day lunch. The boys loved it and Z asked if we could do it again the next day.

We then had another a special day where I was making homemade pizza lunchables. I have been working on ideas for homemade lunchables and this is what we have!

I used cookie cutters to cut out the tortillas and the pepperoni was cut out using the mini cutters from Pampered Chef.

"look mommy, it is a heart!" So, we even got in a little shape lesson with lunch as he identified all the shapes.

Inspired and completed!

I am so tickled with myself this week because I completed THREE projects and love them all! Doesn't it make you feel good when you actually like something you make? A little back story on the first project. If you have young children you have probably had a conversation like this...
Child:When are we going to Grandma's?
Me: On Wed.
Child: So after nap?
Me:No after 2 naps and one night time
Child: so after church day?
Me: No, before church day but after school day
and on and on it goes...
So, enter in clever craft one I found over at Love Sweet Love


Isn't it so clever? So I went to Lowe's and bought the sheet metal and instead of making a frame I used blue painters tape and wrapped the edges. The pictures I downloaded

her site and I laminated them and added magnets. The Star was purchased at Michael's for like 19 cents or something crazy. I hung it with 3M and voila....here it is!

I know the picture isn't the greatest but there was a horrible glare so this is the best you get.

Next is this little cutey I found at Ellie and Abbie

I already had canvas and I purchased a Martha Stewart butterfly hole punch at Michael's and the pink acrylic paint. The boys did the painting and I did the rest. I LOVE it hanging in my laundry room.

And then...AHHH...I am in love!

I found this great tutorial for this wreath over at Artsy Fartsy Mama

and just knew I had to make it in turquoise which is my current favorite color!

HERS:

MINE:

Isn't it cute: I keep my door open just so I can look at it!

So, there you have it, my three fun projects. The next couple days I will be working on Father's Day stuff. I'll let you know how that goes and hopefully by Monday my fabric will be here and I can start making my T-shirt dress.

Success! Little things make me happy.

I was very busy last weekend creating thins and hope to spend this weekend doing the same. Check out last weeks project

Isn't it ugly? Well, check it out now!!!i am so in love with this and feel so accomplished!

Fail one...

So my sewing of the curtains didn't turn out so well.

As you can see, I hae a wad of mess, so after many days of fighting with the machine, we determined it is messed up, but I received a new on for my birthday and transformed a skirt that makes me look very fat into an adorable purse. Which I will have to post a pic of later because I can't find it! But how cute is this wreath my aunt made with peeps????

So, I didn't make it so well as the homemaker, but I keep trying. My latest venture is sewing. I borrowed my grnadmother's sewing machine and have started with a curtian...I'll post how it goes!

June Cleaver

So I told you in my original post (I think) that I want to be a home maker... It took the quiz on Facebook and it says I already am! Check this out!

What TV mom are you? was the quiz!

June Cleaver
You are a blissfully happy stay-at-home mom who is completely dedicated to the care of your family. Your life is too good to be true. Really!


I have been on a roll making bread. Ready to try a bread that has a little flavor next.

I have not convinced my husband to return the car cleaner. This week has felt so hectic. We "had" to go to dinner Tues night for DH's dad's birthday and it was a little pricey. We frugally split a meal and had a coupon for an appetizer.

Last night was our standard Thurs. night family night dinner with my parents and grandpa. BUT I had a coupon for buy one get on 50% off which was great and my 3 yr old DS shared with my mom! YEAH to that also. We quit drinking soda out a long time ago so that is not a problem anymore




I thought of another money saving tip the other day. Most people rent their "waste wheeler" from their garbage company but did you know you can buy it? For $48 (or something close) We purchased our Waste Wheeler instead of paying $3.50 a month to rent it. This will not save us money right now but after a year we will so it is a long term savings.