Packers burlap wreath

So forever ago I bought a wire wreath with the intention of making a burlap Packers wreath for football season. As it turns out, I had a harder time finding burlap locally than I thought I would. After a year, I finally decided to order online. I have finally started making my wreath after over a year of planning it.

I am not really go into a huge tutorial for this, mainly because I didn't think to actually focus on how I did it, while I was doing it. I will give you the general idea though. I actually started, and redid the wreath about 5 times before I found a system I liked and kept it up. I just weaved the burlap and fabric back and forth, you pull it through and make the loops however big or small you want them. I ended up using this tutorial as the general basis behind my wreath (pretty obviously it was only the general thought behind mine, but it is a good start).I alternated between burlap and Packers fabric. Once I was satisfied with the look/fullness I hot glued the loose ends down on the back side (this probably isn't necessary, but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't fall apart right away). My original plan had been to use only burlap on the wreath and then use the fabric to make bows and hot glue them. When I started making the wreath I changed my mind and just used one large fabric bow at the top.

Things you need:
2-3 rolls of burlap ribbon (I ended up using 2.5 rolls, they were 15 ft each)
Packers fabric (I don't really have an estimate on how much, since I used scraps that my sent that had been left over when she made Bret's bedding)
scissors
hot glue gun
extra fabric or ribbon if you want a bow
Once I finally got the hang of it, and found a rhythm I liked, it only took about 30 minutes. I am very happy with it, and it has already replaced the wreath that has been sitting on the door since last Christmas.

Thanksgiving Crafts

After a few days of no school, and some not nice weather, I am OVER sitting on the couch with the kids and watching movies. It was nice at first, since I have been stuffed up and achy, and even though the kids beg to just watch movies, they get bored quickly and start purposefully bugging each other until one finally snaps (thank you so much week with only one full day of school). Today I decided to break the cycle. Instead of settling back in the couch for another movie marathon after naps, we were going to get up and do something. Enter Thanksgiving crafting; Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away, and usually by now I have already had the kids make hand print turkeys, color Thanksgiving coloring pages, make thankful wreaths, and more. I have been slacking this year. So, armed with some sweaters and a cup of tea it was time to go in search of some nice leaves to make some turkeys.

Leaf Turkeys:
assortment of colorful leaves
white paper
glue
markers (or crayons)
red, yellow, orange, and brown crayon, marker, or construction paper (if you want to cut bodies instead of drawing them)

Collect your leaves. Glue them on white paper to look like turkey feathers. Either cut out gobbler, feet, and body, or draw them directly onto the white paper. You can use googly eyes if you have some on hand, if not (as was the case for us) you can just draw them on.

Thankful Turkeys:
colored paper (reds, yellows, browns, and oranges)
pen or marker
toilet paper roll
glue

Cut colored paper into feather shapes. Write something you (or your child) are thankful for on each feather. Glue the feathers onto the toilet paper roll, draw a face onto the toilet paper roll.

Free Photoshop/PSE actions

I have been so busy that I haven't posted in almost a month!! WHAT?!? I feel like I have committed some sort of crime, so here I am (even though I should be making dinner at the current moment). Dinner can wait half an hour, right?!? Of course it can!
Today I want to share some awesome free photoshop actions that I have found while doing some photo editing. I have been fairly obsessed with having "photo shoots" with the kids lately, and then spending hours upon hours editing to make some awesome images. (If you are my facebook friend and tired of seeing photos of the kids, sorry not sorry, and I won't be stopping any time soon.)

I found some on deviant art, but I found most from there either didn't work at all in Elements or were uneditable in Elements (which kinda sucks, but oh well), so I am not going to focus on those ones right now (I did find 1 or 2 that I liked even though I wasn't really able to personalize them the way I would like).

The first ones I would like to share are from OhSoPosh. If you head on over her to website she has a few free actions to download. I will show some of my favorites.

This is the original photo (well, not quite, I did sharpen the eyes). My favorite way to sharpen eyes is to duplicate the layer, lasso the eye, then click on adjust sharpness (adjust levels to your liking). For this particular photo the pixels is set to 96% and the radius is set to 3.0. It's a cute photo on it's own, but I wanted an extra touch.

This is the same photo with the OSP Belle Air action. It just adds something to do it don't you think?

OSP Cleopatra action.

OSP Day Dream action.

OSP Fresh Wonder Action.

OSP Love Couture action.

OSP Little Miss Muffet action with Opacity set to 1%.

This is not all of the free actions, but gives you a good idea. I am in LOVE!!! I would also head on over to TheCoffeeShopBlog. The have way too many free actions for photoshop to even attempt to show you them!! Seriously, go on over there and click on the Free Stuff tab. You will find free downloads for photoshop/PSE actions, Lightroom Presets, storyboards and more!! I mean, really SOO many!! I downloaded at least 10 free actions, with at least 20 more on the list. After I make dinner I plan on testing them out on some old photos.

Have fun editing!!

My Little Pony party

Obviously there is currently a My Little Pony obsession going on this house. I'm not even sure obsession can cover it. It's My Little Pony EVERYTHING around here (and even the little man is in on it). On top of Sophie being Twilight Sparkle for Halloween, we had a My Little Pony birthday party for her this weekend. Instead of ordering ALL my little pony stuff and spending a million and one dollars, I did most of the decor/activities myself. (So I might be exaggerating slightly about the million and one dollars, but that stuff is EXPENSIVE).

I did order the Pinky Pie pin the cutie mark on the pony game (it cost $6 on Amazon Prime), and I ordered the 8 count My Little Pony party set. It came with 8 napkins, 8 cups, 8 plates, and 1 table cloth (it cost $17 on Amazon). For the rest of plates/cups/tablecloth, I decided to to just go with purple and pink (since it went with the pony theme nicely). 

The birthday banner I made myself with some colored construction paper and glitter foam leftover from making her Halloween costume. It took maybe 15-20 minutes total to make, and saved $$ since I had everything already. 

For the photo backdrop I tried to replicate Rarity's boutique. I used a trifold board, some purple scrapbook paper and glitter scrapbook paper, and pink wrapping paper, and colored washi tape. I think it turned out well, and the most expensive part was the trifold boar. Altogether it cost me less than $15 to make. For the photo props I downloaded a my little pony set from http://www.amandakeyt.com/. It cost $4.99 and was an instant download. Plus you get a ton of stuff! I just used one of our stools with a sheet over it for the kids to sit on. 

The other  game was Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack's pony races. I set up a few cones and the kids weaved in out and of the them to wall. The really just enjoyed running around randomly, but the point is that they had a ton of fun. The other activity was Twilight's bookmark corner, where they could color their own "bookmark". I wasn't sure that would be a hit, but it was probably the most popular area!

For goodie bags I got a $5 bag of bling rings, ring pops, and $5 bag of star sun glasses, plus some bouncy balls. The kid's loved it, and they also got to "adopt" a pet at Fluttershy's pet adoption before they left. I made up some adoption certificates for the parent's to fill out. (I figured that was way better than a TON of cheap junk.)

For the food I kept it simple, we had Rainbow's rainbow fruit platter, Fluttershy's bunny food, Rarity's fancy tea sandwiches, Pinky's party treats, and Twilight's mystery brew (purple Hawaiian punch). I made the cake myself. It was supposed to have Twilight on it (and I made a PERFECT twilight, but I messed it up transferring it). I think it still turned out great though.

All the signs I made myself on http://www.picmonkey.com/. I love that site!!

Carnitas and Salsa Verde Chicken

Today I am going to post about pork carnitas. We LOVE pork carnitas! I make them at least twice a month and now I even double the recipe when I make them. It is a fairly easy recipe to make and it's a crock pot recipe which means I LOVE it!

The only issue we had with the original recipe was that it was a bit bland for us. The meat didn't have much flavor, and while we still love it, we NEEDED more flavor to it. You can find the original recipe here: Weary Chef. Definitely follow the notes in her update. Omit the beef broth, and add less water (I use between 1/4-1/3 cup). Cut the roast into chunks and pierce all over to allow the flavor in.

Last time we made this, I decided to also add some fajita seasoning to see if that would help with the flavor. It did help some, but it still wasn't quite how we would like it. Today I decided to add some chipotle peppers and also some of the adobo sauce they came in. It definitely added more flavor!

We serve them with sour cream, a pinch of cheese, and for everyone other than the hubster, we add either avocado chunks or homemade guacamole. I use small flour tortillas (we have tried corn, but we just aren't big fans of them).

I also used this in a new recipe that was a huge hit last night: Chicken salsa verde. The original recipe can be found here  Salsa Verde Chicken. It was very good, but there are a few things to change. The main thing is that it was SOO runny. I only used 1 can of beer and not 1 bottle, but it was still SUPER runny. Next time I will only use 1/2 can of beer. It says you can add a jalapeno if you want for more spice (of course our store decided to not have them the one time I want to buy them). I bought the can of chipotle peppers since they didn't have jalapenos. I tossed a few in there, and then shredded when I shredded the chicken. It was super delicious, and it makes me sort of happy that the store didn't have jalapenos. I will keep making it this way, even if they do start to have jalapenos. We served with flour tortillas, sour cream, and cheese. Even my kid who doesn't usually do "spicy" asked for seconds (when he asks for more of something, it means that is a recipe to keep around...getting this kid to eat dinner at all is usually a feat).

DIY my little pony costume

After much deliberating and flip-flopping between ideas, my daughter finally decided on princess Twilight Sparkle for Halloween this year. It was touch and go for awhile, she kept flip-flopping between Twilight Sparkle, Black Widow, and Maleficent. (Honestly, Black Widow would have been the easiest out of the choices, maybe she will still want to be that next year.) She did make up her mind to go with Twilight Sparkle this year. She told me she will be Black Widow next year and Maleficent the year after that.

I like the feeling of making her costumes by myself (even though I am not really that great at sewing), and to be honest all of the my little pony costumes I saw online were awful. So after searching on Pinterest a bit, I came up with the perfect costume. While I am going to give you the details specifically for Twilight, the general idea for this costume would work for any of the ponies. You would just have to change up the colors and some of the details.

Things you will need:
Wig (in the hair color for the pony you want)
leggings/t shirt (in the color for your pony-if you need to dye it, see my dying fabric tutorial)
tutu-in the color hair for your pony
3 foam sheets-if your pony has wings
2 felt sheets-if your pony isn't a unicorn you will only 1.
headband
hot glue

I found a My Little Pony wig on amazon for $13 (which is actually really cheap, and it's an adjustable kid sized wig). For the tail I am using a my little pony hair extension that someone sent for Sophie a long time ago (her hair is to fine to actually use it). I ordered light purple leggings on Amazon for $6 (I love amazon), and had a plain white t-shirt in her size to dye to match the leggings.

For the wings, I got 2 pieces of a darker purple foam and 1 sheet light purple foam. I free handed a wing design on the dark purple and cut it out. I free handed a smaller wing design on the light purple, then an even smaller one on the last dark purple sheet. I glue those altogether like so. Then hot glue them to the back of the shirt (I haven't done this yet because I ran out of hot glue...a travesty really).

For the headband I made 2 ear templates on a piece of paper and cut out 4 (hot glue 2 together for 1 ear). Then to be fancy I cut out a smaller ear template on glitter foam and hot glued it to the ears. For the horn I used this tutorial Unicorn headband. I ended up making it much smaller though. After gluing it to the headband the first time, I realized it was huge, so I cut about half of it off and redid it

Princess Twilight Sparkle also has a crown (she is only one other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that does). I used gold glitter foam and found a crown template that I liked to cut it out (I actually think it was an Elsa crown template, but it works just as well). I cut out some small diamond shapes out of the other glitter foam and glued them on, and cut a diamond out of magenta sparkle scrapbook paper I had on hand for the main gem.

The skirt I made because I felt like the costume was a little bit plain. As my daughter lovingly pointed out "Twilight doesn't wear a skirt!!". I made the skirt out of the colors of her hair and I feel like it really adds to the costume. Then I attached a cutie mark to the side for the finishing touch.

**Will post pictures when she wears it.

Diying farbic

Don't you hate when you are looking for a specific item and can't find it anywhere? I do!! I looked for a plain light purple shirt for 2 months before giving up. Everything I found was either the wrong shade of purple, or had a graphic on it. I was getting fed up and annoyed. I needed a plain light purple shirt (with no logos or graphics on it) for my daughter's Halloween costume and was beginning to think I would NEVER find what I was looking for.
Then yesterday when I was grabbing a long sleeve shirt for my son out of his closet (first time pulling them out since last winter), I saw a plain white long sleeved shirt that was in a bag of clothes given to me by a friend. It was about the right size for her, so today I tried it on her, and it would work! Woop woop! Now I just needed to dye it. I use RIT dye (I have dyed a few things in the past, so I have a few colors on hand). They are about $5 per bottle, and last forever because you really don't need much. You can use just one color or you can mix them to create another color. RIT even has a color mixing guide on their website. I am experimenting since I don't have the exact colors they used to get the color I want, but before buying 2 more bottles, I figured I would give it a try (you can always dye again if your item doesn't turn out the way you want). The guide said to use purple and denim blue, I am attempting with wine and evening blue. It only takes about 1/8 tsp of dye per quart of water.

To dye:
Liquid or powder dye (RIT comes in both forms)
fabric to dye (t-shirts, onesies, receiving blankets)
bucket or large bowl
mixing spoon you don't care about (will get dyed)
hot water

Fill bucket or bowl with hot water (as hot as your tap will get). You need enough water to be able to submerge your items (you can dye more than 1 at a time). Measure out your dye and place in water, and mix with spoon. Thoroughly wet your fabric before submerging (helps it absorb dye). Submerge items and swirl around to evenly coat. Dye an hour (or more for brighter result), mixing and swirling every 10-15 minutes. Mixing it makes sure it dyes evenly.

Get the led out

So, as anyone who knows me well knows, I am a HUGE Green Bay fan. I mean huge, my biggest concern when getting admitted while in labor with our first was if I was going to be able to watch the Green Bay game the next day. The nurses thought I was crazy. Both of the kid's first outfits were Green Bay outfits.

The problem (especially when living overseas) is that NFL merchandise is SO expensive! Plus a lot of places won't ship to APO, or charge just as much as the item for shipping. I don't have nearly enough Packers gear (and neither do the kids for that matter). While browsing on Pinterest I came across a really awesome shirt that I really wanted. I clicked on it, and the link lead nowhere (don't you HATE that!?!?). Best I can tell it was from Target but is no longer available. In my determination to find a shirt similiar I came across this :

It's not exactly the same as the original shirt I was looking for, but still great. I clicked and the link actually worked!! WHAT!?!? Get The Led Out is the website where you can find this shirt (and other Wisconsin apparel). To my surprise not only did the link lead somewhere, the shirts are very decently priced. This shirt was $15.99 plus I think $5 shipping (which is is not bad at all). The best part was that they shipped super quickly (normally any site that isn't Amazon takes a month or more to ship here). I got this shirt less than 2 weeks after ordering. The best part was that there were 2 shirts! I only ordered 1! Inside was a note saying "Thank you for serving our country. As a special thank you I sent you another shirt with your order. Thank you."

Never have I received such quick service and awesome costumer service before. I want every Wisconsin fan to know that they should check out the merchandise on this site. They can also make custom orders, as they are a small tee shirt printing company. They will definitely be getting more service from me in the future!

Chipotle pork burrito bowls

Crock pot meals...who doesn't love them?!? If you say you don't, you must crazy, or maybe you are just single and have no need for crock pot meals. I LOVE them because for the most part, you just toss everything in and leave it. Great for moms who are sleep deprived, or moms who just have a crazy hectic life and are always out and about. I really don't know what I would do without my crock pot (and I haven't even been able to utilize the best feature yet because of the hertz difference here-it's the timed feature. I can set it to turn off or turn to warm after a certain number of hours, how awesome is that!? So if my meal only needs to cook for 6 hours, but I'm not home right at the 6 hour mark, I don't need to worry about it over cooking!!!). I get to test that feature out soon enough though, 6 months and counting!!

Today I tried a new meal: chipotle pork burrito bowls. Super easy recipe, and yummy! You just throw a 3-4 lb pork lion roast in the crock pot with 1/2 cup of chipotle bbq sauce, and 8 oz of tomato sauce and leave it for 8 hours on low (only 3-4 hours if on high). I made my own chipotle bbq sauce using Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, some seasonings, and a can of green chilis (I would have used other chilis if they didn't cost so dang much here). I didn't really measure out the seasonings, it is basically by preference (you can always taste test and add more if needed, or more bbq if it's too much). I used a pinch of chili powder, cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt, ancho chile powder, and adobo seasoning, mixed it, and added a small can of green chilis.

Once the pork is done cooking shred it, and serve or cilantro lime rice (or any rice you prefer) with your choice of toppings. We used homemade guacamole, sour cream, cheese. You could use pico de gallo or taco sauce as well.

**Disclaimer, next time I will add more spice. It didn't have the kick I was looking for today. Tastes great, just not enough spice.

First Day

Well, today was Sophie's first day of school. It went smoothly, other than the ridiculous rain. The kids did really well with waking up early, I was actually impressed. We were even able to talk Sophie out of changing her first day outfit with no tears (she wanted to wear a my little pony dress, but it was pouring and not very warm). Bret even did ok with being woken up early today.

She was so excited about starting school, she went right in and sat on a shape, she wasn't even interested in giving hugs until we waited and asked her to give us some hugs before we left. She was just ready. At first Bret was sad about Sophie being gone all day, saying he missed her. After a bit, and some fun; we had coffee/snack time with some friends while making some diaper cakes (Bret played). Today is the first day in a long time that Bret hasn't had a complete freak out moment. We came home, danced a little, he colored, then read a book before lunch. 

He was not impressed when it was time to pick her up from school, he wanted her to stay there. She had a blast. They got yummy snacks, and a special treat (a ring pop). She made a lot of new friends (though she didn't think to ask anyone's name), they had lunch, and played. She is already begging to go back, and is sad that she has to wait until tomorrow. 

*Her first day of school pictures didn't turn out how I would have liked. I wanted to do them outside, but it was raining, and the lightning in our house is awful. I just had to make due with it though if I wanted the pictures. I made a little sign for her pictures using PicMonkey (our printer kind of messed up so it looks a little off).

Busy

Today is the day before Sophie starts preschool. OMG!!She is super excited. She had her student orientation and picture day yesterday. They did their school pictures and then they got tour the class room, and do a little playing. She was super sad to leave, when it was time to go she said, "Are you leaving now?" When I told her we were both leaving she got upset.

After nap time yesterday Sophie and I went to Showa Park and did part of her  5 year photo shoot (I did it a little early so I could take advantage of the perfect weather). We did a Cinderella shoot and it was so much fun! Sophie had a blast, Mommy had a blast, everyone at the park thought she was the most adorable thing ever. She has such personality, I maybe posed her myself a handful of times, and the other 90% was just me capturing her being 110% herself. I started editing those pictures today in between baking 64 cakes for the upcoming festival. (Did you know mixing up batter for 64 cakes takes FOREVER?!? Seriously, I was mixing cake for about 3 hours.) All the counter tops/tables/my desk are covered in cake, whether it be cooked or waiting to go in the oven. The kids were super upset that they don't get to eat all this cake (it would be cake for days up in here).

They were happy, Mommy opened the windows and blasted some music BakeFest 2015 (at least until nap time). Mommy took advantage of Daddy being at work and decided it was Christmas music time! (He has a rule about starting Christmas stuff too soon, but he's not home, so I don't have to follow his rule!) Now I'm enjoying some Christmas movies while the kids sleep and waiting to switch out cakes. I still have a lot of pictures to edit too. (I will say after editing a large amount of photos I totally understand why photographers charge as much as they do. Last night I only edited about 4 and it took me about 2 hours!) It's worth it though, they turned out so well. The second half of her 5 year photos is going to be a glitter photo shoot, but that will be closer to her birthday. I needed a nice day so that she wouldn't freeze/get wet in her Cinderella dress.

Turkey sloppy joes

We have had some pretty rainy days lately. I don't know about you, but when it's chilly and rainy I want things like chili, soup, and stew for dinner. They are nice and warming and make up for the gloomy rainy weather outside. I also love to bake when the weather is like this, but I'm on a 30 day eating challenge, so cupcakes and cookies are a no go for me. 

I don't think there is anything better than being in the kitchen cooking/baking while dancing to and belting out some good music. It's probably one of my favorite things to do, I put my playlist on iTunes on the computer, crank it up, and get busy. Plus, on days like that, dancing warms you up. Also, it's perfectly OK to use your mixing spoon as a microphone during a power ballad. 

Last night I was busy in the kitchen. I was mixing up some healthy sloppy joes for the family for dinner, and mixing up some pumpkin cupcakes for my husband to take to work this morning, along with some homemade frosting. 

Today I am going to share with you the delicious sloppy joe recipe from last night. These are made with ground turkey and are delicious! My husband is not a fan of sloppy joes but he liked these (he just said smaller chunks of pepper next time). It says to use red pepper, I used a green one because I cut my red one open and it was all rotten inside. This recipe is pretty quick and easy (easy enough that I was mixing up cupcakes while cooking it). 

Football Season

Football season is finally here!! Week 1 is only days away (for those that aren't aware, football season is probably my favorite season). I'm super excited! I am a huge Packers fan and our season opener is against the Bears (football rivalry at it's best). I am that fan that wakes up at 2 am so that I can watch the game (one of the joys of living overseas). 

Even though the Packers will always by my #1 team. Green and Gold until I'm dead and cold! I just like watching football in general. I watch even when they aren't playing, because I like knowing how other player's stats are and where the other teams are in the standing. I like to scout out the other teams to see how we will do against them. 

My husband I started a football card last year and it is honestly HUGE now, I like just going through our binders of football cards and reading stats (really, I could spend hours doing it). I also like just organizing them in general (not sure why, but I do). We have a few kick ass cards including a signed Brett Favre, a gold Aaron Rodgers and a gold Brett Favre. Other signatures we have from the Packers are: Jeff Janis, Jonathon Franklin, Davante Adams, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, and Richard Rodgers. We also have Dion Jordan's auto from the Dolphins. We have a few awesome jersey cards (means they contain a piece cut from an Authentic jersey personally worn by the player in an official game). These cards are usually numbered because they are rare. The Donald Driver jersey card we have is 9/25, meaning there are only 25 in existence and we own the 9th made (the lower the number the more rare the card). We have a Bart Starr jersey card numbered 11/25. We also have jersey cards for James Jones, and Greg Jennings, and Jordy Nelson. We have a Superbowl patch card for Aaron Rodgers. A card we just got today is an old Jets card: Joe Namath numbered 28/99.  We have a lot more numbered cards, but this post would never end if I listed them all. 

I just joined a fantasy football league with a few other Packers fans (my first time playing fantasy football, but I'm pretty excited about it). While I didn't get all of my first choice (obviously Aaron Rodgers was gone in the blink of an eye),  I got a decent team. My QB's are Andrew Luck and Johnny Manziel (bench). My WR's are Dez Bryant, DeSean Jackson, and Brandon LaFell (bench). Running backs are Frank Gore (didn't get any of my top choices for this position), Rashad Jennings, and Ameer Abdullah (bench). Tight ends are Dwayne Allen and Charles Clay (bench). Kicker is Sean Gostkowski (this was my number 1 pick for a kicker). My main defense is the Bills with the Colts as back up. I am still waiting for my waiver for Anquan Boldin and Andre Williams to be approved for my 2 open slots. While this might not be the best line up, now I know what to expect and I will be better prepared for next season and fantasy football. 

YAY football!! My daughter will be playing flag football this year. They start in October and I am so excited for her! The teams are NFL teams, so fingers crossed she gets placed on the Packers!! I might die if she ends up with a Bears or Vikings jersey for flag football. 

Simple at home lesson plan

My last post was about wanting to start working with Bret one-on-one once his sister starts school next week. I've started working on a fairly simple (nothing too detailed) lesson plan to follow starting that next week (since she starts school on a Thursday), and we are going to need to get used to getting up and ready for the day much earlier than we currently do.

I want to somewhat get him on the new schedule before actually starting with jumping into at home learning. He doesn't really do well with change so I am sure the first few weeks are going to be a challenge. He normally wakes up between 7:30-8 and doesn't want to do anything until after 9. We will need to be at the bus stop at 7:30, which means leaving our house by 7:15 (fully dressed and ready). I also wanted to keep the lesson plan fairly simple so that if something comes up, it's not a huge deal. Both myself and my husband will be volunteering at the school on his days off, so it needs to be something that both of us can do with him (if it falls on a day where I'm at the school and Daddy is home with him). 

I didn't want it too detailed because I learned from experience that if you try to plan every second down the T, things usually don't work out the way you want. One the things you will see for every day is the letter of the day. We learned with Sophie (who had a very hard time learning her letters) that focusing on one letter each day, and just doing a quick review of the others is much more helpful. You will also see things like yoga, "movement", and sports in there; that goes back to the article I referenced the other day about physical activity helping with cognition. There are also life skills in there for him to work on. I also repeat a lot of the things instead of doing something brand new each time, that way it really sticks. I also have things like deep breathing in there, that is for teaching him how to calm himself down.

I decided to just focus on 4 things a day, that way I'm asking him to focus for an extended amount of time. I know that expecting him to focus for 1-2 hours at a time is just setting myself up for failure. Also why I add a lot of physical activity and things like music in there; because I know those are things he really enjoys, and I can use that to help him learn. You will also see one week I don't have Monday on there; that is a day that Sophie doesn't have school, and I figured we would do something all together as a family.

Working on calming/focusing with a preschooler

With Sophie starting school soon, I will have more time to focus on Bret and work with him one-on-one. I have tried "at home preschool" with both of them (or what we call "learning time"). When trying to do learning time with both kids, almost every day ended horribly with Bret in full on meltdown mode, Sophie angry because he was taking away from her learning, and Mommy frustrated because every time I tried do fun learning things with them it blew up in my face. We eventually took it from 2 hours down to about 30 minutes a day, then completely stopped because I was too burnt out trying to get Bret to focus for more than 1 minute, trying to keep Sophie from getting distracted by her brother, and stopping all the fights that came up.

It's very obvious to my husband and I, our close family, and close friends that Bret has some form of either ADD or ADHD (he is not diagnosed as he is not old enough, but we will not be shocked at all when the time comes that a teacher/doctor tells us that). We both have a family history, so we knew the likelihood of one or both of our kids having it was high. Bret is a very sweet little boy, but he has problems focusing. I know everyone wants to say that is normal for a 3 year old, and to some degree that is true, but I KNOW his problem is above and beyond that of a normal 3 year old (people seem to forget that he is not my first and only child). He can't sit still for a minute (this is no exaggeration, even when occupied by something that can keep his attention, which doesn't happen often, it's almost like he NEEDS to fidget). He goes from super happy and sweet, to completely destructive and disruptive in less than 5 minutes when he gets frustrated (which happens about once an hour at least). He is smart, and we can definitely see that, but he has the hardest time with seemingly simple tasks (such as putting socks on). 

I am currently doing some research on how to work with him at home, so that when the time comes for him to start school, we don't have a complete train wreck on our hands. The Atlantic is a great resource. It is geared more toward school aged kids, but is still really great information. It goes into detail about how exercise can improve childhood cognition and brain health, and can be a great alternative to medication for children with ADHD. I definitely plan to work some physical activity into our learning time (much easier when I can do one-on-one time with Bret at home). One of my other main focuses for while sister is at school is teaching Bret ways to calm himself when he gets into his super frustrated/meltdown phase (which unfortunately can happen at the drop of a hat). The only time he really gets physical with other kids is when he gets to this point, so my main goal is to get him to notice BEFORE he gets to that out of control point, and learn how he can calm himself down when he is there. After reading a few different blogs/articles about this and one thing that seems constant is setting up an area in a room that will act as their personal space/calm down area. Almost all of the articles I read also included giving different objects to help the child soothe themselves (sensory objects such a squishy ball, play-dough, rice bin, etc). We have tried "calm down" bottles in the past and while kids thought they were really cool, the first time we made them use them, the bottles got thrown at each other. We are setting up a "calm down area" in Bret's room. He has a little chair in one corner of his room that will work nicely (as long as we keep reminding Sophie that she cannot invade his personal area). I am working on getting a basket to fill with some sensory objects, noise canceling headphones (since noise can be a huge trigger for him), a soft pillow he can yell into if he needs it, his favorite book, and some pipe cleaners or other object he can twist and bend. I have already started working with him a little bit on taking a deep breathe when he starts to get frustrated when something doesn't go his way (like putting his socks or pants on), and this seems to be working in those situations. I may also incorporate some yoga into our one-on-one time and teach him some calming poses for him to do when he gets frustrated or upset.

DIY cake

I found a really awesome tutorial for putting images on cakes a while back and decided I wanted to do that for Sophie's birthday. I am going to be making her a Twilight Sparkle cake, but I wanted to test it out first to make sure it would actually work (as most of us know sometimes Pinterest tutorials don't always work out as promised). 

Today was the perfect opportunity to test it out. We are having a BBQ to celebrate my husband getting promoted. So, I figured, make him a staff sergeant cake! 

To start out; I usually use a box cake because it saves time and effort for me. To make a box cake taste a little better though, all you really need is a few things. To make a box cake taste homemade you will need: 1 box cake mix, 3 whole eggs, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup sour cream, 1 tbsp vanilla extract, and a dash of salt. **Note: use cake flour if you can.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together and add half of the dry mix. Mix well, then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Beat well, about 3 minutes. Preheat oven to 300 and grease pans. Bake at 300 for 20-30 minutes (depending on size of cakes, I used 2 8inch round cake pans and baked for 20 minutes). Then turn heat up to 325 and bake for an equal amount of time. **These cakes are delicious!

I used to have issues with my cake crumbling when frosting it (even after letting it cool completely). This time around I put the cake in the fridge overnight before crumb -coating it, and it make all the difference. I crumb-coated, then place back in the fridge. After it hardened, I finished frosting it and placed back in the fridge. This is the link for the tutorial for transferring an image, Image Transfer. I made my image while waiting for the crumb coat to harden and then placed in the freezer. The image for this cake was very simple.

The frosting is a homemade buttercream frosting that is very simple to make. 4.5 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter, 1.5 tsp vanilla, 5-6 tbsp milk. Beat butter until creamy, add milk, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. (The blue frosting was a store bought tube because I didn't have food coloring, but it still worked well.)


**This is probably the first cake I have made that I am 100% proud of.

Getting back on track

It can be easy to get derailed, life happens and things come up. Last year I was doing awesome, working out every day, going to trainer, eating super healthy. I lost about 25 lbs. Then I went on vacation; out come the bad eating habits (can't exactly expect my family to cater to my new eating habits), and the fast food, and everything else that comes with traveling. Then came the knee injury and not being able to do much. When we got back home I kept up those bad habits. 

I tried to get back into the working out, but I was still eating like crap, not much of a change. Then my knee got even worse. After some physical therapy my knee can still hurt (mainly when running or doing extensive leg stuff, like squats). I have been trying to get back into the groove (especially since I have gained ALL the weight I lost back). I have been working 4-5 times a week, but after a month hadn't really seen much of a change. Still weigh the same, haven't noticed much getting smaller. I used to use BodySpace workouts, but unfortunately almost every one of those has things I can't do (like running, jump squats, etc). I have kind of tailored my own leg workouts to what I can do without making my knee hurt (some body-weight squats, leg curls, leg press, leg extension, and others). 

This month I started a 30 day challenge to help with getting back on track and losing some weight. The challenge is :

I am making one exception to this, I committed to doing this before my husband got promoted and this weekend we decided to throw a party for him, so I will be breaking it that day and that day only to help him celebrate. I also decided to commit to no alcohol for those 30 days (aside from hubby's party), and I am adding a day on the end to make up for the day I am cheating.

I have also started buying more lean meats, buying the leaner options for meats that we eat regularly. Also buying more produce (even though our bank account takes a hit on that one).

For October my goal is to limited processed food as much as possible, and find healthier alternatives to my favorite snacks. November the food goal is to eat no refined gains at all that month. December the goal is to not go crazy with holiday treats, and limit it to 1-2 treats per week (I LOVE holiday baking and tend to go overboard and end up eating a ton). My goal is to lose 20 lbs by January, and tone up my muscles (mainly in the midsection). The ultimate goal is to be down 40-45 lbs in the next year or so. It is going to take a lot of work, dedication, and will on my part, but I am getting there.

Meal planning

I made a post about meal planning a while back, and figured it was time for another. I only started meal planning a few months ago. Before that, I thought meal planning just took more time/effort when making a list and shopping, and thought it was just too much work for me to consider. I am VERY glad I decided to give it a shot, and I'm sure my husband is too.

Before I started meal planning, I just bought random stuff at the store that I think we might need or use, and I usually made a million trips to the store throughout the week because I was missing 1 or 2 ingredients for whatever meal I decided to make that day. Half the time I would forget to even take something out (pretty sure my husband is happy that has come to an end), or I would decide at the last minute what I wanted to make and we wouldn't have the stuff to make it.

Now I make a meal plan for the entire month, then make a list of the things I need for the meals for the first half of the month. 1 I am saving money because I am not buying random stuff that I don't need, I only buy what we need for meals, and the other things we need (like cereal, milk, eggs). 2 shopping gets done faster because I am not aimlessly walking around the store trying to decide what to buy. I have a detailed list of everything I need. (I do buy extra of stuff if I have a coupon for it, that way I have it in the pantry for the next time.) 3, I only make 2 grocery trips a month. I do go for small things throughout the month that go bad, like milk and eggs.

Now I can't imagine NOT meal planning. It saves me time at the grocery store (and I HATE the grocery store, it saves me money, and it saves me trips to the grocery. I am sure my husband is happy that there is a meal on the table almost every night (I do factor in left over nights a few times in each 2 weeks). Before I started meal planning, he was lucky if I even remembered to take something out for dinner and it was chicken nuggets or a can of soup for dinner (or if he was really unlucky, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). Now I can't even remember the last time anyone had chicken nuggets for dinner in this house. 

I also have started making a "special" breakfast on weekends that my husband has off. So basically twice a month I make a big "special" breakfast. We call them special breakfasts because it's not cereal, oatmeal, or the things they eat for breakfast on a day to day basis. These range from cinnamon rolls to waffles to egg scrambles or french toast. The kids love these not only because it's a change from what we normally have, but because Daddy is home for breakfast too and it's like a family event. You will notice there are only 25 meals on there for a 30 day month. That is because my shopping days (the 1st and the 15th) are always left over days, and then we have 3 other leftover days throughout the month, to make sure the leftovers are getting eaten and not just left in the fridge to rot. I also have started doubling a few of the recipes (husband's choice on which ones), so that we have enough leftovers for him to have lunches to bring to work with him as well.  While it might cost us slightly more at the grocery store buying double ingredients, it saves us money in the long run because he isn't eating out. Those doubled meals will feed the 4 us for 1 night, and him for at least 3-4 days, plus leftovers for leftover nights. I chose to double 4 meals from the 1-15th, he chose which since they will be his lunches for those 2 weeks.

Season of Change

Fall usually means changes. Not only changes in weather and leaves. Kids go back to school, or start school. Routines and schedules change, it's the season of change.

We will have some BIG changes come September. One major one, my awesome hubby is promoting on Sept 1, which means a lot of changes for him, and some for our family in general as well. I am super proud of him, he works really hard and deserves the promotion. I just came from his pin on ceremony, so I'm still beaming with pride.

Another big change for September is that our oldest is starting preschool on the 17th. She has been begging to go to school for a year now, and since her birthday is in October, she misses the cut off for kindergarten. We applied for on base preschool back in April, but there are not many slots and it can be hard to get into. We just got the confirmation in the mail that she got in. Starting the 17th she will be in school 5 days a week from 8-2.

This change is not only a change for her, it is going to change our entire routine. Her brother will no longer be able to nap from 12-3, since we will have to pick her up at 2. It also means they actually have to get up and be productive before 8 am ( this will be a challenge for the younger of the 2). I will let you know how the disruption to the routine works out in a few weeks. I'm sure our son will NOT be on board for the first few days at least, since he doesn't even like to talk to people before 8-8:30 in the morning. 

I am so excited about this for her. I know I will cry her first day, but she wants to go to school so badly, and I am so excited that she is finally getting that opportunity. I literally came home and typed this out right after receiving the letter in the mail. First preschool, she starts flag football in October after her birthday, she is growing up!! (She is nervous about making friends though, since she found out this preschool isn't at the daycare where she knows the kids and teachers. I am sure once she starts, she will do great though. She makes friends very easily.)

Putting together a disaster kit

I'm a little embarrassed to say that we are 100% not prepared if a disaster hits us. We should be, living in a place with plenty of potential natural disasters. In the 3.5 years that we have lived here we have never sat down and put one together (all we have is some bottled water in a closet, which is better than nothing, but still not great). Since I come from a place where we were taught about emergency kits in homes and cars in Elementary School, you would think I would be better prepared. 

I know there are many store or websites you can visit to purchase an emergency/survival kit, but they are really not that hard to put together yourself. The main things you need are water, canned food, flashlights (or lanterns), batteries, radio, important documents (birth certificates, social security cards, marriage certificate, etc), appropriate clothing, blankets. 

Building a 72-hour kit can get pricey, but you if collect the items over time, it won't but a huge dent in your budget. You want a 3 day supply of food and water for each person (think of special considerations, if you have a baby or someone with diet restrictions). Simple toiletries (toilet paper, soap, toothbrush, deodorant, wet wipes in case of no water), flashlights with extra batteries, radio with extra batteries, a first aid kit, some cash, blankets (you can find emergency blankets for cheap at some places), at least a 7 day supply of any medications. Also think about the types of disasters you would be preparing for. If you live in area where blizzards are common, you might want to add things like hand warmers and frostbite kits. We need to think about typhoons, which means storing kits in an a waterproof tub. Another thing to think about is water treatment, you can buy tablets that treat water. Make sure you switch things out as needed (about every 6 months). 

Food items to consider for 72 hour kit:
Tuna pouches
peanut butter
beef jerky
instant soup
granola bars
instant oatmeal
trail mix
dried fruit
goldfish
fruit cups
energy bars
*This is just an example of food to put in a kit. It is recommended to have 1 gallon of water per person per day. 

There are also good ideas for car kits (in the event that you must evacuate quickly.

Breakfast casseroles

Today is a post about breakfast casseroles and crock pot breakfasts. I like to make a nice breakfast for family on weekends when my husband is home with us, but I don't like to spend a majority of my morning flipping pancakes or waffles. I prefer something I can toss together and forget about it (either in the oven or the crock pot). It saves time for me, and instead of me being stuck in the kitchen all morning, I can cuddle on the couch with my family while it cooks. I also like to do this for holidays, like Christmas morning. That way I'm not stuck in the kitchen while the kids are opening their gifts from Santa.

 I would like to share with you some of my favorite breakfast casserole/crock pot dishes. Some are super easy, others take a little more effort, but all are equally delicious. Just remember with crock pots, each one cooks a little differently. I hope you enjoy these breakfasts as much as my family does.

This Sunday brunch casserole was a huge hit. I made it for the first time at our Super Bowl Party earlier this year. Everyone LOVED it. While preparing it my husband thought it looked gross, but I think he liked it the most out of everyone and always begs for me to make it again. You can find the recipe here Sunday brunch casserole. This one did take a bit more effort than some, but it is totally worth it in the end. Plus we always end up with tons of leftovers for other breakfasts.

I made crock pot cinnamon roll casserole for the first time yesterday. This one while delicious takes some time, so if you like to eat right in the morning I wouldn't suggest it. It takes about 3 hours to cook. I whipped it up and popped it in the crock pot on my way to the gym at 5 and we ate at 8. This is was is an "indulge" one, since it's so sweet (and probably fattening). You can find the recipe here, crock pot cinnamon casserole, enjoy.

If you are looking for a little bit healthier option, baked berry oatmeal may be just your thing. It's pretty easy, and very yummy (my husband isn't an oatmeal fan, so this one isn't his favorite, but the kids LOVE it). It's not overly bad for you, and it's nice for cold mornings. You can find the recipe here. baked berry oatmeal.

Crock pot french toast is nice because you cook it on low overnight. This is usually what we do for Christmas morning. I throw it in the crock pot right before we head to bed on Christmas Eve (which is usually super late because we are up doing last minute wrapping and making everything magical after kids go to bed). I check it on it before we open gifts, if it looks done I turn the crock pot to warm until we are ready to eat, if not, I let it keep cooking while we do the gift opening. It's easy to whip up and since you just leave it overnight and don't have to fret I LOVE it. Here is the link for the recipe, crock pot french toast.

I hope you enjoy these recipes with your family.

Birthday Interviews

I came across this idea before my oldest was really old enough to answer the questions, but I thought it was not only adorable, but that the book of interviews would make either a great 18th birthday or graduation gift. You ask your child the same set of questions every year on their birthday. It's really fun to see how the answers change (or don't) throughout the years.
The best age to start is 3-4 (when they can actually answer questions). We started at 3 with both kids, unfortunately my husband accidentally deleted the document with Sophia's 3 year interview, so her book will start with her 4 year interview. I love asking the questions not only to see how the answers to change, but sometimes the answers totally surprise me because they don't say what I expect them to say.

I remember a few of Sophia's answers from the one we lost. She wanted to be Lightning McQueen when she grew up. Her favorite place to eat was at the table. He best friend was Adam.

Put them together into a book when they are 18. I am also going to be taking first day of school pictures every year with a cute little chalk sign with age, date, and a few fun facts. The book will be all their birthday interviews and all their first day of school pictures. Hopefully this year will mark Sophie's first year of preschool (fingers crossed, we are still waiting to hear if she got in).

Sibling fighting

Right now we are dealing with a big problem in our house; fighting. Our kids have always bickered, it's normal, especially with 2 so close in age. The last month though, it has taken on a whole new level.

Our son always wants to play with his sister and it always ends with her hurting him multiple times. Whether it's her pushing him, kicking him, hitting him, or throwing a toy at him. Time outs haven't been working, talking to her hasn't been working. This past weekend after her 3rd warning we took her toys away (since they seem to be the cause of the issues, she hits him for touching something, or throws one at him). Today we are right back in the same spot. He wanted to play with her and in less than an hour she has already hit her 3 strikes. 

Today I am trying something new and asking her how she can fix things. Right now she is still upset so her answer is "I can't fix anything", but I am trying to show her that she can think of something to help the situation. I think the most frustrating thing to me about it, is that Bret just really wants to play tea party with his sister but she doesn't want him to touch any of her stuff (but it's perfectly fine for her to touch all of his stuff).

I've gotten so frustrated by all this, that I have gone right back to yelling at her constantly (which I know doesn't help at all, but sometimes I feel like it's the only way she hears my voice). So today I stopped the yelling and just asked her why she feels she needs to hit him. So far she only answer is "I don't know" and "I can't fix anything". 

We do separate play time almost every day, but Bret always feels like that is a punishment because he loves playing with her in her room (until he gets hurt of course). We haven't gotten the time to do separate time for each of them with Mommy and Daddy yet (Daddy has a full work schedule), but I am also thinking that doing that and giving them some alone time will help with the amount of fighting that goes on in this house. If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to share them.

Sophia's 5th My Little Pony Party (plans)

Today I am working on plans for Sophia's 5th birthday (we are about a month and a half out from it right now). I figured since I have spending most of my time working out the plans/details, I would share it with you (I will do another post later on with pictures to show the finished party). I am quickly realizing that this is going to be quite an undertaking. We are having a My Little Pony party, with the focus on Sophie's favorite, Twilight Sparkle. I am doing most of the stuff myself, so a lot of planning and searching for what I need is going into this party.

Yesterday I did order some basic supplies (My Little Pony themed plates, napkins, cups, and a tablecloth). However they are a bit prices and the set I bought only comes with 1 tablecloth and dinnerware for 8, I don't even have a full guest list yet and we are already at about 15. My plan is to buy colored silverware/dinnerware and tablecloths in pony colors (light pink, light purple, light blue, yellow, etc.). 

There will be a few Pinky's Party Games to kick the party off:

Pony cornhole: I am going to make this with plyboard, 2x4's and paint. I will post a tutorial for it once it is completed. I plan on making the bean bags with the different "cutie marks" on them.

Pin the cutie mark on the pony: This game I actually purchased from amazon for $7 with prime free shipping. I knew from my last attempt at making a pin the tail on a pony game that I kind of suck at it (since I can't really draw). I figured I splurge on this game.

Next we have Rainbow Dash and Applejack's Pony Race.

I'm making felt pony ears and tails for the kids to wear while racing through cones. There will be prize bags (candy and temporary cutie mark tattoos) for all the kids.

Rarity's Photo Boutique is where they can get all their pictures taken. 

A trifold poster-board decorated to look like Rarity's boutique will be the background, with a plush cushioned stool (made to look her chaise) for the kids to sit on). I order photobooth props from photo props (click the link to go the page, she has a ton of themes and most are only $4.99). It's a downloadable file, so no shipping required. Just print and attach to a stick.

Twilight's Corner will have blank My Little Pony bookmarks for the kids to color and take home.

Instead of goodie bags, we are having Fluttershy's Adopt-A-Pet. The kids will get to pick their own pet (stuffed animal), and I am going to make some blank printable birth certificates for the kids to fill out with the pet's info. 

As far as food goes we will have Pinky's Party treats (multicolored macaroons, pink muddie buddies, pony themed cupcakes, and of course the Twilight Sparkle cake). I am attempting to do the cake myself, so I will be doing a few trail runs before hand. We will also have Applejack's apple snacks (apple slices with a few homemade dips), Fluttershy's bunny food (veggies with ranch dipping sauce), Rainbow's fruit tray, Twilight's punch (a purple fizzy punch), Pinky's lemonade (pink lemonade), and Rarity's tea party sandwiches. 

I am also planning on making a balloon rainbow backdrop behind the food table. I will also be making a few other decorations myself, a pony colored birthday banner, and some cutie mark wall decorations to bring the whole thing together. 

**I know buying all this stuff instead of doing it all myself would save time and probably stress, but I am really excited about pulling this off for Sophia. I will make update posts as the progress for this party comes along.