It's a Sad Day

It's always a sad day when the telephone books arrive! So much waste of paper and so much gas and fumes in the air from the driving by delivery of them and that PLASTIC they are wrapped in!! I wish that they would either get rid of them altogether as they had spoken of in the past or just have a sign up for them on their web site. I understand that there are still people that use them, but for the most part they go straight to the trash. Why not take a step in the right direction and let US decide if we need them. Save the TREES (5 million are cut down every year for these books), Save the ENVIRONMENT! Sign the petition to BAN THE BOOK!! Head over and join their FACEBOOK PAGE!

The Week in Photos!

Look at what the Leprechaun brought! The kids had to follow his footsteps to see all the goodies he brought them! After finding out the mischief that he caused! (He put the boys sock bin in Autumn's room and her sock bin in the Boy's dresser! He also dropped some green food coloring in the milk!). We are looking to make a small herb container garden, so he brought us those goodies and some Science books to read an also some fantastic reference fan out cards about the 50 states for our geography corner and one about trees for our nature table to help us identify the leaves we find!

BOATS! We made sponge boats while learning about floating and sinking and wind power! We made them for our craft-of-the-day and then floated them in the newly-uncovered-for-the-Season water table! (can you tell how excited we are for Spring in the Midwest??)
Our Nature Table is finally ready for Spring, now that we have cleared out the Winter finds!

Read more on yesterday's post at Corner of my Home!
This is our educational nook, it was a disaster from a busy weekend, so I got to work this week in organizing it back to how it should look! I will go into more depth on this corner of my home next week!

Another craft-of-the-day project! We made tea bags Waldorf style for our tea parties! This was an easy and fun project that even the 3 year old got involved with!

Another excellent week has gone by and I would like to think I am quite Blessed!

Right Now...

Right Now, I am:

::Sifting through today's thrift store finds

::Drinking Chamomile tea out of a Disney World mug

::Wishing that today was Friday

::Thankful for my husband and children

::Debating on whether or not to start a new Family Central binder

::Wondering how to get my hands on a Waldorf set of log blocks and not spend a fortune.

::Wanting a hot bath and massage

::Listening to Vivaldi's 4 Seasons

Corner of my Home...

Hello friends! I am starting a new weekly segment of my blog entitled 'Corner of My Home' in which I will share with you a little nook of my home and let you know why I love or hate that corner! This will begin tomorrow! Hope you love it! This blog has become so neglected, I am hoping with bringing in segments that happen weekly, I can stay more on top of it!

This weeks corner is our nature table. My kids are always wanting to bring stuff from the outdoors in, this is a great way for them to be able to do it and we can keep it under control. With old man Winter that was pretty hard, but with our bike rides and walks starting up, they are able to start up a new collection! These are just 3 jars from thrifting and a wooden tray that I saved from some magnetic dolls that Autumn got. That postcard of the Tower London bridge was found by Gabriel in a library book. He wants to go to college in London to become a bridge builder all because of that bridge, is that FATE or what?? Keep a magnifying glass at bay and you will see little Scientists come out of your children!! A Giant clothespin allows you to change out focal point photos regularly or just keep adding to them!

During the Fall Season, we usually hang a small rope with clothespins for the kids to hang their leaves up! This way we only have 5 or 6 leaves at a time and not just a bunch making a crispy mess!! Hope you love coming into my house! If you want to share a corner of your home, place your link in the comments!!

Right Now...

Right Now, I Am.....

:: Feeling peaceful after some green tea and time with God.

:: Dreading having to put away laundry that is piled in my bedroom.

:: Looking forward to a bike ride this afternoon!

:: Smiling softly while I think about what a wonderful man I am married to.

:: Appreciating the warmer weather that Spring has to offer!

:: Hoping that today will be better than yesterday and tomorrow will still be better than today.

:: Aiming to put the finishing touches on my Tips for Parents of Pre-Schoolers book!

:: Wanting a vacation...

:: Loving being a Mommy!

:: Practicing willpower, by NOT thinking about the new box of thin mints in the cupboard!

:: Planning this Summer's curriculum for my little ones.

:: Cleaning some of the outdoor toys, that have been weathered by Winter.

New Stuff!!

New Stuff Listed in MichellesCharmWorld!!

Box Tops!

Box Tops University is coming to Chicago and I'm going! Anyone else planning on attending the April 1st event?

I am the box top coordinator for our school, are you? Share your tips and blog posts concerning box tops!! I am hoping to remind everyone to keep on collecting all through Summer, so that we can come back with a bang!!

Featured!

Featured in an 80s treasury!!!!

I was also featured in this delightfully scrumptious treasury!!!

An Apple A Day!!

Check out some SWEET Etsy Finds!

CLICK HERE to view the juiciest Apple Finds on Etsy!

Love....

“You may not be his first, his last, or his only. He loved before, he may love again. But if he loves you now, what else matters? He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold on to him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break - his heart. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.”

- Bob Marley

No day Off for a Mommy

This morning I woke with a bit of a sore throat and the sniffles. I ran quickly to the bathroom and took some vitamins and cold medicine. All that ran through my mind, was I CANNOT get sick this week. I have 3 kids in 4 different schools, I have to volunteer this afternoon, parents meeting tomorrow morning, All School Mass tomorrow afternoon and my Daughter has a birthday party to go to tomorrow night. Then my son goes in for surgery next week and will be staying in the hospital, so next week is not a good week to get sick either! All this started rushing through my mind and I began to think, when IS a good time for Mommy's to get sick? I had a tonsil and adenoidectomy on the 23rd of December last year, right before Christmas, so that I didn't inconvenience anyone or mess up the kids' school schedule.

My first thought was.....hmmm I need a vacation, a little Mommy get-a-way! That would then require my husband to take off work to get the kids to all their appointments, then I figured well if he is taking the time off, we could all get away for a vacation and once again the Mommy takes charge of everything and I am left needing a vacation AFTER the vacation.

I try to get away on my own for at least 1 hour once a week and yet in that time, I still get calls to my cell phone or my thoughts just wander to what the kids need while I am out. The life of a Mother is a tough one, even when our children are grown and out of the house. How do I know this? When I got my sons surgery schedule for next week, I realized that it fell right in the middle of the school hour and it would be awhile and he would be staying in the hospital as well. First thing I did? Call my mother to see if she would be able to help out with our schedule.

When my son was violently throwing up at 3am and shivering, the first person I called, was my mother! She was dead asleep as she wakes at 5 am and yet she was still able to calm me down and talk me through getting my son back to a normal temperature. A mothers job lasts forever, I just have to get used to that!

I found it quite ironic that after all that, my husband finally wakes up hours later (He works 16 hour days, so I'm NOT expecting him to help out with the morning run arounds) and says: 'ughhh' I'm sick, I think I may call in and stay in bed all day'

Where is my sick day?

Wow, Hello?

WOW! In need of a pink bear? I have an auction ending soon! Check it out!!! Feel free to drop in a bid before it's too late!!

Sorry it's been so long, life has gotten away from me. Running around with the 3 kids and their schools, helping out as much as I can with homework and outside of school activities it's just been so much! I haven't even been able to add new things to the shop in goodness knows how long! Hopefully time will come back to me soon!

Mail is Fun!!!

Yay for a good mail day! A big thank you, to my friends that sent in these goodies to my house! I believe in Karma and appreciate all you do! Thank you! Have a wonderful weekend!

Organizing!

Today I have been feeling a bit exhausted from the whole back-to-school thing, that I wanted to get some work done, but wanted to take it easy! Since I'm making Meatloaf for dinner, I need to stay close to the kitchen and spend time with my kids too! I figured it was time to sort my big bin of charms. This is a nice way of getting everyone involved and getting stuff done! What do you like to accomplish, that still allows you time to hang out with your little ones?

5 a Day Book Project!

The Imagination Tree posted about a fantastic project that I knew we had to be part of straight away and this is how we embarked on the 5 a Day Book Project! Please Follow along with us AND share your lists too!!

 The idea is that you choose 5 titles from among your usual books (or from the library) and read them every single day for at least a week. They suggest choosing short picture books which feature strong rhythm and/ or repeated refrain so that the children can quickly memorise the words and join in with the story-telling. This empowers them to be able to "read" and re-tell stories from a young age, and also makes them very fluent in a range of text types and literature styles. 

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

Please continue to follow our adventures!!

Have You Added Me Yet?

Twitter: @MichellesCharmW

Facebook: MichellesCharmWorld

Box Top Check In

So far so good! I will start posting this weekly, if I have a drastic change, like I did last week! Thank you so much to everyone that helped me out! Our family did our shopping last week by following the list of items with box tops on them! It was wonderful getting coupons from the site and spending the same if not less than we would have using our regular brands!

We had 20box tops alone on our own!

My parents got involved (anything to help out their grandkids!!) and had 15 for us ready to go when we stopped in and then I had 10 mailed to me by 2 different people! That's FANTASTIC! I truly appreciate all you do to help us out!

To show my appreciation, I have pledged to donate in cash to the school the same amount of box tops collected by the kind people of the blogosphere! With 45 collected in the past week, I rounded up and donated 5.00 to the school! Let's get rolling!! Remember, every little bit helps!

Lesson Learned

Back to school Haircuts are as common as School Supplies and New Shoes! With the Summer, we let it all grow out and wreak havoc on heads. Well this year, we decided to try someplace new, other than our regular Barber for the boys. We were drawn in by a new place with shiny new signs that boasted GRAND OPENING 5.00 Kids Cuts (Regular Price 13.95)! We pay around 15.00 per box to have their hair cut, and figured this was a great deal!

We should have known right?

Warning Signs to look for:

1. Anything that says GRAND OPENING (no clue as to how their past clientele was or any sign at all as to what people think)

2. An Empty waiting area with only 1 other name on the sign in sheet.

(A good place is always busy, no matter what time of day!)

3. Only 1 chair occupied by a stylist and the others are empty.

(Even on slow days, there should be someone else on hand should it get unusually busy)

4. When told what kind of hair cut to give, she asks if we really meant something else.

All these signs were against us, and yet we put the hair of our little guys at her mercy.....

She hacked away at the hair and it looked BEYOND awful. At first it was hard to tell, but when the hair dried (once we were gone of course) it was a DISASTER! There were some parts she hacked all the way to the scalp!

Many would be quick to say 'head back and make her fix it!!' Is this really the smart solution? She hacked it so bad, her only choice in her eyes would be to shave the head!! We headed back to our regular barber, who could only shake his head at us. Fixed and ready for school, we have certainly learned our lesson.

Did we save money? Nope, we overspent! 15.00 at our regular barber PLUS the 5.00 'special'.

What did I do? Took photos of the bad hair and contacted the Better Business Bureau. I contacted the Rockford Association of Businesses and really, truly hope that this was a one time mistake. At least they can check and see if she has her license up to date!

School Lunches

Does the thought of Hot lunch in a school cafeteria skeeve you out? Do you want your kids to have healthy fun, lunches but you just don't have the time to throw them together? I used to think the same thing, but last year I started getting on a fun food kick. I LOVE the idea of the Japanese Bento Lunch and how fun and creative it can be. Keep in mind it will take a few more minutes than your normal box lunch, but imagine the face your child will have when they open it! Cookie cutters and Cupcake picks can take you to a whole other level! Have fun with it! The kids at school always tell me that they wish they had Autumn's lunch and the teacher's have said that they crowd around to see what she will have each day! (YIKES! The pressure is on!).

It's not hard to get creative, but it can be hard to stick with it! Make it a routine (I do most of the work at night) and then it will just become habit! Shave 5 minutes off your morning shower, get up earlier, go to bed later, it can be done!

I will do a post on my supplies and keeping it all organized coming up soon!

A New Focus

Hi everyone! My little girl has started Kindergarten and is already in her 3rd week! She's having an absolute blast and we have fallen in love with this small school. This school is extremely tiny and we want to help as much as we can. I've taken to collecting box tops for her school. Did you know that each box top is worth .10? On the first day of school when I found out about this program, I went through my pantry and with no shopping, just what I had in the house I collected 13 box tops! Want to know what products carry these tops? CHECK IT OUT HERE!

If you have some of these laying around and are not donating them to a school, I would LOVE to take them off your hands! I will pay postage, all you have to do is message me at MichellesCharmWorld @ Gmail.com (no spaces). I have pledged to donate the EXACT same amount in cash as the box tops are worth to the school.

Just how small is this school? It is Kindergarten thru High School and there are 26 students. Yup, I typed that correctly. There are only 2 children in Kindergarten! (One of them is Autumn!)

If you can help, YAY! If not, just spread the word on how AWESOME this program is!

Thanks so much!!!!

~Michelle!~

Kids in the Kitchen!

Make Room for the Kids in your Kitchen!
I 100% believe in letting the kids have an active roll in the kitchen. It teaches them about food and they are more apt to eat anything they create.

I gave them an entire low cabinet for their cups, silverware and plates and bowls. This allows them to set the table and serve themselves snacks