Two Tips on Tuesday

A beautiful day for a beautiful girl! Yesterday our Princess turned 10 and we had a great day planned for her with a few surprised that even her detective skills couldn't sniff out. The holiday season is always a mess for us with travel and so many different family houses to see and then add in 2 birthday parties and today the Epiphany. Tomorrow I am glad to see the tree come down and the house slowly get back to normal. We are peppering school here and there but won't get officially back at it until mid January when all has calmed down and the house is beginning to look like a home again and not a warehouse!

My daughter wants to be a spy for the US government when she grows up and she studies spies like nothing else. When she isn't studying how to become a spy or creating spy devices she loves to design fashions and watch movies. One of her surprises was to take her to the movie theater when 3-4 different movies were starting within 40 minutes and let her pick anything she wanted to see. She picked Night at the Museum again and it was still just as great the second time around. One tip that we use often because we are frequent movie goers is to bring plastic or paper bags with us to the theater.We buy the largest size popcorn they have and then give each child a paper bag with popcorn. All of our theaters offer free refills on popcorn so we then refill it for us to share and we are all set! No talking in the movie for someone to pass the popcorn and no freaking out when someone has had it too long. We do the same with a large drink and split it between 3 small reusable covered cups. This keeps movie going cost effective and the chatting to a minimum. Now that the older kids are 9 & 10, they wanted to sit on their own, so we outfitted them with goodies and away they went (5 aisles in front of us when we had the entire theater to ourselves!)

As we begin to re-do our classroom, one thing I always put out first and have handy is the paper. We keep a wide assortment of paper on hand, this allows little hands to always have access to art supplies and creativity. There are notebooks for on the go, colored paper, cardstock, textured papers, lined papers...you name it, we've got it! Organize your paper and you will also always have a visual reminder of what needs to be refilled or replaced.

Making books stand out and look inviting is all it takes to bring children to the library. Long lost books always seem to find a way into little hands when they are on display!

Happy Tuesday my friends and remember to enoy every minute!

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Thoughts & Musings...

Happy day, it's Friday of course! I finally bought a 2015 planner and have been keeping busy filling it in. How is it that a year can fill up without even having arrived yet? My goodness we spend too much time being busy don't we? My husband leaves for work around 5 in the morning and I try to get up with him and then enjoy my quiet time for 2 hours. I grab my favorite mug, put on the kettle and then have a seat. I catch up on my favorite blogs, organize my day and send any emails or return any.

My favorite mug is the Minnie one from this set in Disney World. While it is a completely ordinary mug, it was a time that I broke down in tears while on vacation and my husband even shed a few tears as we sat on the floor in Epcot. Why? Well we were on vacation for our 10 year anniversary, as we were married in Disney World 10 years ago. We were having an absolute blast and had just finished shopping for our youngest's birthday, he turned 7 in Disney World. Our older kids asked if they could wander the store alone for 15 minutes. They were armed with a cellphone and told to stick together and away they went. As we stepped out of the shop, the kids shoved a bag in our hands and said "happy anniversary." Yup, that did me in, they had spend their own money that they have taken a full year to collect and bought US something. They saw them in someones basket as we were all together, which is why they asked to leave apart from us. They ran up to that person and asked where they got them from, but when they got in line it was huge, so they told everyone that they were trying to buy a present for their parents for their anniversary but it was time to meet us at the front of the shop and they didn't want to get in trouble. Everyone let them ahead of them and complimented them on how sweet they were. Well that story made me sob even more and that is when my husband lost it. We wiped our tears and had a group hug right there in the middle of Epcot, on the ground, in the boiling sun. As I think about that story again, I am once again tearing up. My kids, so sweet, so kind and so amazing. We must be doing something right, right?

There are a few places I can get lost in during the quiet of the morning and if you get a chance, pop over and pay them a visit!
TwoBirdsBoutique are gals that you wish you could hang out with daily!

The Goodwillista always makes me wish I could find such cute clothes!

The Zen Spot is a great place to check out learning freebies online!

The Ewenique Boutique has me oohing and aahing over the babies and cute stuff!

Butterfly Blue Rosaries & Gifts is a place where I like to check out her creativity!

Phyllis at All Things Beautiful has an awesome homeschool going on over there!

That's if for my Follow Friday this week! Who do you enjoy following? Let me know in the comments, I love checking out new people!

Remember to enjoy every minute my friends!

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My Kids Wish They Had a Mom Like Me Too!

Happy Halloween!!! If there is one thing I noticed this year, it is that my kids are NOT fond of carving pumpkins! I truly believe that we keep doing it for ourselves. They don't like picking out the pumpkins, cleaning them our or helping to carve them. What do they like? Drawing the faces on them. My kids love to draw, but that's about it. I find the pumpkin pick and carve to be a tradition dating back to when I was a kid, even if my parents weren't getting along (which in all honesty, when were they ever??), we always did this one small thing together. Oh well at least they are still young enough that they don't have a choice! Hahahah!!

As I sit here drinking my smoothie this morning, I realize that this blog post is about to take a different angle than where I was originally headed. Today was going to be an educational game round-up, but after getting another e-mail that pretty much asked the exact same thing as others before...well it was time to address it publicly and not just by replying in messages.

My kids wish they had a mom like me too! Yes, it's true! So many e-mails I get speak of how lucky my kids are to have a mom like me and how their kids would absolutely love it and how they

wish they had the energy, the time, the means to do it all too...wait...WHAT?! Oh dear, is that what it truly seems like? I then hear how mommy bloggers are depressing! Ohhhh no?! Really?!! STOP THAT TRAIN!! There is so much that goes on behind the scenes of a mommy blog that in reality you are just seeing a tiny sliver of our lives. My kids often look back at the blog and remark about how awesome and fun a certain day was and then of course that is when I have to remind them that in that very moment the youngest was behind me pitching a fit because he didn't want to do school or to the left of that photo with our craft of the day is a massive pile of laundry waiting to be folded and put away...or that Roman is the only one in that picture, because the big kids were arguing about something rather ridiculous at that very moment. Sometimes it is comments about how I have time to make breakfast, homeschool, craft, blog, run a business and the like...the simple answer is that I don't.  Plenty of things get pushed on the back burner to get it all done. Look at the long lapses there are on this blog when I just don't have the time and I often get paid to blog! I prioritize, but of course it is not always done right.

Sometimes days and projects look so perfect, but in the blogosphere you don't know how long it took that blogger to actually finish. The beginning photo could have been from 1 year ago and the end photo from 2 months ago and they are just NOW getting around to blogging about it. Meals may look impressive, but what you don't see is the giant mess in the kitchen! Houses may look absolutely perfect, but what you are missing is the pile of bills that it took to make it look that way or the artful angle at which it was taken to obscure the other not-so-perfect half of the house.

 Mommy Bloggers are only blogging about what they love, they are not out to feel superior, just out to make friends, reach out and help someone but certainly not to make you feel inferior. I think each and every one of you is pretty darn awesome and I think I am too! Our children are happy and they love us as much as we love them, we're all doing something right!

Believe me, we are all the same, whether we are working or at home, rich or poor, single or married, homeowners or renters...we are all women that love our children. That is all I ever wanted to convey in my blog posts, I am a mother that loves her children. I yell and lose my temper, I may be madly in love with my husband but he drives me crazy as I KNOW I also do to him. There are not enough hours in the day, I have not seen my family in over a month and they live only 2 hours from me, I have not seen my mother in law in MONTHS and she is around the same distance...Yes, I would LOVE to do it all, but nobody can. We do what we can with what we have and you know what? THAT is what makes a good parent. THAT is what makes a good human being and THAT is what we teach our children, to only do what we can do and the rest will fall into place. Motherhood is not a competition, it is an adventure in which we all take different paths, have different outcomes but always the same intentions, to do what is best for the ones we love. No, my life is not perfect, but I love it that way. It makes it unique to me.

Go on my friends, head out and enjoy every minute!

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Counting Fun!

I found this fun apple page at Homeschool Parent and knew it was just what I was looking for!! I'm trying to get my little guy to start counting higher than 10 and also identify the numbers! (we use lego flowers, since I use a lot of lego in my shop! I slipped it into a page protector, so that we can use it over and over again! Share one of your favorite print outs!!

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!!

Thankful Times

Lolita Glam Cake Slice Bracelet by MichellesCharmWorld 20.00

WARNING ahead of time, this is a looong one!

November is usually thought of a time to give thanks, and celebrate with family for all we are thankful for. Unfortunately for me it's become a time to think about stuff that I should always be thankful for and not just in a certain month of the year! I wish it wasn't so hard remembering to give thanks. There are so many people in real life that I would love to give thanks to daily. How about you? Don't let time pass you buy and then you will be filled with regrets! Let's let Thanksgiving be a year round thing, not something just reserved for a date on a calendar.

Mainly my dad, my hero. He is the kind of parent that I hope I can be when my kids are grown and married. He's the guy that's always there with his hand out to help you out when you are down, the guy that you can chat with no matter what is on your mind and the guy that can make you laugh no matter how heavy the drama in your life is. I always remember to be thankful that I have an awesome husband at home that doesn't believe in women doing all the housework or cooking or what not and if not for the business he would be a stay at home dad in a heartbeat (or so he claims! heehee). He's the kind of husband that rubs your back at night and snuggles with you in the morning. Yes, I'm thankful for him; but sometimes I forget about the basics. The people that raised me into who I am today (pretty darn fabulous). I take those people for granted so much, because they will always be there. I never forget to tell my dad I love him, because I do, but sometimes I just want to say: Hey dad, thanks for all you do, you don't know how much it really helps! He really is my hero.

As far back as I could remember November would bring it's chilly air to the Chicagoland area and my grandmother and grandfather would be there to take us to the store and get us our yearly winter coats (my sister and I, not my whole family haha!). It was so fun and glamorous picking out a great coat to spend the winter in! So many colors and choices and it was all up to us! I miss my grandma and wish that before she passed, I had told her how much I was thankful for little moments like that. She made me feel like I was the center of her world and I'm sure it gave me the confidence that I have today. She was a great pillar in keeping my self esteem high. I wish she truly knew how much I loved her and was grateful for all she did. Now my grandfather is getting on in years and quite a busy man, so I use that as an excuse to not pick up the phone as often or not make plans for a visit. I don't want to regret all he did for me as I was growing up. He picked me up on days the bus abandoned me at school, drove me home when I didn't have it in me to wait for a late pick up. He was a grandfather that my dad has become to my kids, amazing and wonderful. I only hope that they will be thankful to him every day.

Cheer Bear Necklace by MichellesCharmWorld

We all have a silent cheerleader that doesn't make themselves too well known, maybe they don't want the credit, maybe they just know all along that you can do it and feel they don't need to tell you. For me, it's my mother. She's an amazing woman who has come head to head with me all these years. We don't mesh well personality wise in our views and standpoints, but no matter what I choose to do, I know I make her proud. She doesn't tell me, but I can see it in her eyes, her smile, her voice. When I made captain of the cheer squad, there was no party, no excitement, just a smile that seemed to say 'Well, Duh of course you did'. When I wanted to go study in Europe for college, there was never a No, it costs too much or I will miss you. She let me go and she worked hard to send me, never complaining just doing. She wasn't the type to lavish gifts on me while growing up. In fact the one time she bought me a gorgeous red coat out of the blue that I had my eye on, is a memory I carry still to this day with me. (She doesn't know it, but I still have that coat that doesn't fit and is a bit faded, it's part of a memory that I will always forget). Big ticket things are things we sometimes forget to be thankful for. (home down payments, college, trips to Europe, Disney World). She had an amazing impact on my life and I too hope upon hope that I will one day become that mother that she is to me. (Gasp! Did I just say that?! heehee). Mothers are not made to be your best friend, they are made to nurture you and make you ready for the world and she did that, she made me ready for a world that was so big I never knew it. They were strict parents and at almost 30 years old, if I still lived at home, I bet I would still have a curfew too! That discipline is what I needed and what I know I will carry on as a parent as much as I hated it!

Then there is the online world of people we don't really know, yet helped us out! I want to thank those people!

Mod Business Card Holder by MissKnits 5.00

MissKnits she was a customer on Ebay that pointed me in the direction of Etsy, without her, there would be no online world for me! She had a hand in the success I carry right now! It's been awhile since i've spoken to her, so I will take this moment to drop her a message.
MelissasMagicSpot Missy has been a friend since I met her over on the Dis Boards , she helped me when I need to sound about online problems and I hope that I have been the virtual friend to her that she has been to me!

Gumdrops Kilt Pin by MelissasMagicSpot 3.00

Lists like these can go on and on, so I better stop now before I get carried away more than I already have. I'm thankful for so much this time of year, I wish I could remember to be this thankful year round.