Saturday Speak!

Hello friends, I am so sorry that my post has come so late today, but it has been one crazy and tiring day. I woke up at 445am in order to get 15 miles in before the sun became too powerful. Let me tell you, I was EXHAUSTED and just wanted to roll back over when that alarm went off. It's so easy to pull that blanket over my head and snuggle up next to my husband and just pretend nothing happened, but I knew I would feel like a failure if I didn't do it. I laced up and took off and I had an awful run. I felt all out of sort, I fell and at the end, I cried. I even asked myself: 'why am I doing this?' I was ready to quit and just say, oh well, I tried. I'm scared, I am terrified, I am afraid! My fear is of being laughed at, ridiculed, I mean come on, what am I doing out there?! All these professional runners and I'm struggling at 15. What if I crack on Marathon Day. Ladies and gents, this was a BAD day for me.

I got home and must have spent 20 minutes in the shower, I just wanted to cry myself back to bed, but we were in a rush to get school uniforms, supplies and the like, because I had to drop the kids off and we were volunteering at BINGO tonight. As I rested my forehead in defeat and the water streamed over my body, this quote above entered my mind. THAT was exactly what I needed. So what if I'm not going to be the most fit one out there or even close to it, at least I am out there, at least I am trying. It's more than many can say and I shouldn't beat myself up about it. Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but my Dad saw how bummed I was today when I dropped the kids off, that he took me to Dick's and bought me a cute new running outfit. Now, I think I will do a slight 3 miles in the morning and remind myself, that even if I am walking, I am still taking a monumental step.

Then as I collected my mail, I noticed that I had a package! My team running shirt came in! WOW, it's so official now and I was triggered with fear for a moment, but alas, I relaxed and just told myself as long as I have faith in myself, I can accomplish anything. I am trying and that's all that matters...

When I came across this today, I have decided to adopt this as my motto. I LOVE it and I know it will help get me through those runs where I am crying the last miles and cursing myself for even getting into something like this. 

"There will be days I don't know if I can do a marathon. There will be a lifetime knowing that I have."

Friends, I would love to thank you so much for your advice, words of encouragement and praise. I love that you all take a minute out of your day to read my posts and even comment. Little words like that go a long way, when I hit that trail and thoughts of quitting cross my mind. I have 17 miles to run on Saturday! YIKES!

40 Bags in 40 Days Fridays!

Friday?! Wow, what happened with the week! It's been a brutal week of heat, storms and fun lol! I have tackled 5 more rooms and this time I went over the garbage bag limit, so I started filling Rubbermaid bins and such! The Bathrooms didn't furnish as much as I had hoped, since we don't keep too much in them. I was able to fill the bags with shower curtains though and old bath toys. It was pretty easy to get organized there. The garage offered some resistance, but the best part is that my husband wanted to deal with that! hahah! 

He's awesome because as I sent stuff down, he was photographing it, to make listing it on craigslist so easy. Before the week was up, we have sold everything that we listed and have 3 big bins and boxes heading to the Goodwill tomorrow! Check out my list of cleaning places HERE. I have a more challenging week ahead of me, as I want to get my bedroom done along with a few other difficult clutter spots, like my studio! YIKES!

How have you moved towards a clutter-free lifestyle?

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Craft in a Minute: Crafty Center

We are a very creative family, which means there are always artistic baubles laying about. I had containers for everything, but by the week's end, there was usually a little bit of this over here and a little of that over there, with a good amount under tables and such.  I needed to come up with something easier for little hands to use straight away and put away as they work. After trolling Pinterest forever, I found the perfect idea that I could adapt to my needs and use the items I had on hand!

I made up 3 of these, 1 for each creative table center in the house. (Bedroooms and the playroom) I gathered the materials needed:

Glue (E600), small plant pots (leftover from a garden sensory box), Vintage aluminum cups, small plastic bathroom cup and tiny take out container pots. 3 Ikea Lazy Susans & 3 Ikea Pails.

After gluing them all down, I began to fill them up and then left them at each table to dry! Now, even if all 3 kids are working at the same table, they just spin to grab what they need!

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Wednesday Treasures...Recycled Fun

It's time for another episode of recycled treasures! We love to reuse items here in this house, as proof that it's possible to turn something into anything! we also love to do it, because it saves the earth just a little bit. Today, we are in the mood for a scavenger hunt and since it's cooled down a little bit, we are taking it outside! As we grabbed our outdoor field guides, magnifying glasses and specimen containers, an idea hit!

We needed something to hold all our goodies, so that we didn't have to keep digging them out of the backpack and I knew just the thing. A quick rummage in our recycling bin and I found this fantastic container, that housed kiwi's! I punched a hole on each side, added a pipe cleaner handle and then the kids taped some fun animal shapes on each side! We had all our goodies contained!

As the kids began their hunt and collection, they all began to wander in search of the next big thing! Their specimen jars were full in no time and we lounged around outdoors having lunch too. They were not ready to go in yet, so another idea was born!

I ran inside and printed out a fun scavenger hunt sheet, this was made up of items actually found in our neighborhood! This way, we would incorporate a walk into a nature hike and scavenger hunt all in one! I laminated it, punched a hole in it and added a book ring. Now it was ready for the kids to clip wherever they wanted to keep it handy! Add in a dry erase marker to the tool bin and we were set.  This was so that they could put the initial of the person who found that item on the photo, to keep track of who found what! Oh wait! We need more specimen containers!!

Another rummage through the bin and egg cartons were produced! I only needed 1 for this, but we made 3 just in case they wanted to use them in the back at a later time!  I added a pipe cleaner handle through each side and we had an open specimen container! This way, they could put a small sampling of each item in each of the smaller cups, for us to observe once we got back to home base! 

What have you recycled lately??

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Fresh Juice and Fun Ice

I'm having a secret love affair. I am singing in the kitchen all the time, I am constantly smiling and oh-so-happy. Yes, I am 31 and in love again! This time it's with my juicer! hahah! My husband bought me a juicer 2 years ago and I have been hooked ever since! It's so much healthier, easier, quicker. Whenever a fruit or veggie is getting overripe, instead of tossing it, I can juice it! When we just don't feel like having water or milk, I can hop over to the fridge and grab a little of this and a little of that and create the ultimate juice! My kids love trying different ones and I love making them!

As the juice usually goes straight to the table, I always have ice cubes at the ready! I make them chunky and fresh with cupcake tins on Sunday and then replace them as I use them.

Run them under a little warm water and they pop right out and are ready to use, look how pretty they look! Sometimes my kids grab one and it's an instant popsicle! 

Today, it was a fresh squeezed Strawberry-Limeade! The strawberries and the limes were so perfect and juicy, I didn't have to use too many of them! Add in water and then the ice cubes and it's liquid perfection!

Next, I am looking to purchase a bread maker, any suggestions?

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Read with Props!

I always find that when you add props to a story book, it makes it so much more fun! My kids love re- enacting the story as I read along and then they take turns reading the book as the others play with the props. 

A toilet tube Pigeon from the Mo Willems books was a fun project to undertake! We did this together and couldn't wait to have him perform in our puppet shows!

Add in a bus prop and NOOOO!!! Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, becomes so much more fun and exciting! one little hand held up pigeon, the other moved the bus and the 3rd  read the book! Mommy got to sit back and watch.

Adding in a little puppy!

A fluffy teddy bear and blanket and this Pigeon is ready for a nap!

We made up interactive page sheets for our favorite Mouse and Cookie book too! It was fun to make together and read as we created. Now the kids even play with the pages without reading the book word for word, but from their memory! The cookies come off and on with velcro, the napkin comes off, the tinfoil acts as a mirror and the straw can come out of the glass!

I just made up a fun sheet of Hungry Caterpillar Props too! These have been a blast to play with! Check them out HERE! Props turn reading into a game! It's a game that never seems to get tired! Do you use props when reading?

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Hot Tea Time PLUS a Craft in a Minute at the end!

When my youngest wanted to play with mommy today, I wasn't sure what he had in mind. He came out of his room with his smaller box of kitchen stuff and brought it over to our educational nook. As we are in China this week for our Virtual Vacation, I knew we could spin this in that direction! We were going to have a tea party in a Chinese tea house!

I rummaged through my tea collection and came up with just the right tea and set the kettle. While I did that, I had him set the table, so that it would be ready for our tea time. 

While letting the kettle cool a little after brewing our tea, we whipped up a quick batch of mini cupcakes (not quite Chinese, but still fun!). He was in charge of icing and sprinkles.

He was so proud of his sweets, that he put himself in charge of serving them up. It was so cute to watch him be extra careful. This special afternoon party with just him and I was a fun memory!

After our tea was just about done, he decided that he wanted to make some more, just like Mommy did! I didn't want to have to move everything to the playroom, where the big kitchen set and the rest of the kitchen stuff was so I decided to get creative! As we were in the educational nook, I decided to just create something using items that I had right within reach. I turned his small kitchen container upside down, created burners with construction paper and taped those on. He wanted knobs to turn and this was tricky, since I wanted the container to still lie flat for storage. After looking around, I saw foam letters and we used the O's to make the knobs! He had an absolute blast with this the entire afternoon. When the big kids were done with their reading, the wanted to join in the fun too! 

*Stove took about 3 minutes from start to finish!

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Virtual Destinations and Beyond! India to China

Namaste! India last week was an absolute blessing. It was truly amazing and so much fun. We fell short of some of things we wanted to do, but not to worry we will still squeeze them in at some point in time!

Did you know that it took 1,000 elephants to carry all the materials for the Taj Mahal when it was built about 370 years ago? We colored our own Taj Mahals and ours were so colorful, that I think they would fit right in in the bright and colorful Country of India!

Rubber is a large export of India! We took 2 normal household ingredients and made our own rubber blobs!  These were fun to play with, but we couldn't get them to bounce! If we had added corn starch, they would have had more shape and enough dexterity to bounce about 1 foot high! This is one of the projects we will attempt later!

Curry Chicken was a success and many of my friends were surprised to hear the kids talking about how good it was at our play date on Friday! I always tell them that if you let kids in the kitchen, they will always try (and most often like), anything that they cook! Yes, the process took us longer than it would had I been alone, but we had fun, made great food and ever lasting memories! My kid's eat all kinds of food in restuarants and at home and that's because I have always let them cook in the kitchen, pull weeds in the garden, pick their own plants to grow and even cut their own herbs! Kids just want to be included!

In India, they dance and tell stories with their hands, while wearing rows and rows of bells on ankles and wrists! We made our own with pipe cleaners and these were a fast favorite! They wore these the entire day and then some the next.

I printed out a plain flag of India and read the kid's a simple description and with this description, they were challenged to color the flag as it should be. It was a great test in Listening Skills! They loved learning as many facts as they could absorb:

 The Flag of India. The colours are saffron, white and green. The navy blue wheel in the center of the flag has a diameter approximately the width of the white band and is called Ashoka's Dharma Chakra, with 24 spokes (after Ashoka, the Great). Each spoke depicts one hour of the day, portraying the prevalence of righteousness all 24 hours of it. 

Our trip was enchanting for sure! There is so much more that we did, you can look at the sheet I made up for our fellow travelers HERE! Thank you so much for joining us, it's time for another plane ride!

Ni hao!

Our flight from New Delhi, India to Hong Kong, China is 4 hours and 51 minutes. We left early in the morning, so that we can arrive in the afternoon. The time difference is only 2 days, so there is not any jet lag to worry about! We have so much planned for this little trip and we are even hoping to squeeze in a trip to China Town, but it's a busy week, so not too sure if we will make it.

I will have the kids build their own Great Wall of China, while I read some facts about the longest structure ever built. 

My kids studied Chinese last year, so they are more than ready to tackle the numbers we usually do in each Country! I've also added in the alphabet for them too! We will look at the Chinese the Chinese Zodiac and see if the kids can find their birth years and read the information about it! 

We also plan on making a dragon! So much to think of and do, we can't wait to get started! I will share more as the week goes on and of course next Monday! Thank you for following along with us!

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