Very Merry Snack Mix

There are SO many fun holiday snack mixes out there!  I looked at several, and came up with my own version.  The great thing about this mix is that the kids can do it themselves, because there's NO COOKING (one of my favorite phrases).  We are going to give these to all of our church teachers tomorrow (and we may have sampled some today).  

Very Merry Snack Mix

1 box Golden Grahams cereal

1 box Vanilla Chex cereal

1 package mini marshmallows

1 package Holiday M & Ms

1 package Goldfish Grahams Holiday Vanilla Cupcake

Pour everything into a bowl, mix, and put in treat bags.

I bought the cute reindeer bags from Dollar Tree, and printed the free gift tags here. 

Happy Giving!

Easy, Last-Minute Countdown to Christmas

There are so many Advent Calendar ideas out there, it's overwhelming.  Thankfully, I found this post and knew I could make it.  I decided to do a 12 Days of Christmas Countdown so I wouldn't have to come up with as many items.

 I used rope, two 3M hooks, clothespins, paper bags, and these adorable, free number printables.

Once that's done, I decided what would go in each bag.

For Day One, my children will get to "shop" the World Vision catalog and choose something that we can purchase - fruit trees, ducks, drinking water; something that will help others in need.

 The remaining items are small, fun toys and candy that they'll enjoy.  Here's a sampling, and I'll put the complete list of my ideas at the end.

On the 1^st day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

A chance to help someone needy.

On the 2^nd day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

2 packages of Smarties.

On the 3^rd day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

A doughnut date for our family.

On the 4^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

A new Christmas DVD.

On the 5^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Ornaments to hang on our tree.

On the 6^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Candy canes that taste so yummy.

On the 7^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Hex bugs so creepy-crawly.

On the 8^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Flashlights to help us see.

On the 9^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Pez snowmen with some candy.

On the 10^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Jamba Juice to keep us healthy.

On the 11^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Dollar bills to spend at Dollar Tree.

On the 12^th day of Christmas

We looked inside to see

Toothbrushes to keep us plaque-free.

30 Days of Thanks

 I love countdowns - I've done them for just about every holiday that happened A.D.P. (after discovering Pinterest).  They've all been about the kids getting things each day, though, and I wanted to shift the focus for the Thanksgiving season.  I mixed a few ideas together and came up with this:

I used a sheet of poster board, construction paper for pockets, scrapbook paper from Target's dollar section for the flowers (which I punched with a Stampin' Up punch),sticker letters for title (also from Target) cardstock (I printed the numbers on it), and a small punch, both from Joann Fabric.

Since my children are five and two, I decided to give each day a theme so that it would be easier to think of what they're thankful for.  Every night at bedtime, I pull out the white card, say the theme, and then we all think of one thing that we're thankful for within that theme.  For example, Day 1 was nature:  my son was thankful for pincher bugs, my daughter, pinecones, my husband, oceans, and I was thankful for flowers.  I'm also trying to remember to ask why they're thankful for that particular thing.  Then I write down each person's answer; I plan on saving the cards and adding to them each year.  For the "Mommy/Daddy/Son/Daughter," we will say something that we're thankful for about that person.  Here's my complete theme list:

Nature Colors Books

Music Animals Friends

Holidays Toys Restaurants

Vacations Free Choice Tasting

Daddy Mommy Son

Daughter Bodies Gifts

Family Members God Church

Places Stores         Accomplishments

TV Shows Weather Touch

Sight         Hearing Smelling

Hopefully this will inspire you to create a board, elaborate or simple, and get your family in the habit of being thankful!

What I Do When I'm Not on Facebook or Pinterest

Are you like me? Do you have several necklaces but end up wearing the same few over and over because you can't remember what you have? My previous "display" was a plastic hanger, but the necklaces kept sliding to one end. Several Pinterest pictures and a trip to Home Depot later, and I have my solution!

One threading rod ($1.97), one set of mug hooks ($1.98) and ten minutes of my time produced this little number! It makes me happy every time I walk in my closet.

Now, onto the morning routine. My son is starting KINDERGARTEN in a week. I know, I don't look old enough...anyway, he's been doing more things independently and I wanted to encourage that while minimizing my nagging helpful words. This was more of a project, but being a former preschool teacher, I love doing things like this! I took pictures of every step of his routine and made cards using my digital scrapbook program (Memory Mixer - worth every penny). Each item has a number in the order that he should complete it. When he finishes a task, he flips the number card to reveal a happy face.

If you are interested in doing something like this but don't want to go to the trouble of printing and taking pictures, the dollar section at Target has pocket charts the same size as this RIGHT NOW with white cardboard tabs in each section. You could hand write each item or print it on printer paper and simply attach to the cardboard with a clip art picture. My son is quite excited to use this and I'm looking forward to his increased independence!

Our Not-Birthday Party

We were inspired by a Little Bill episode to have a Not-Birthday Party! Dollar Tree had everything we needed to decorate: streamers, hats, balloons, and blowers.

Colson wanted to decorate the table by putting a balloon in a vase.

Carridy did her part by drawing happy faces on balloons - pretty good for a two-year-old!

We had party pizza and watched the Curious George movie, enjoying snickerdoodles after dinner.

Every party needs presents! They each got a Pez dispenser - Green Lantern and Cinderella - and new bath towels, again from Dollar Tree

"Happy, Happy,

Happy, Happy,

Happy, Happy, Happy Not-Birthday!"

My Version of a Summer List

I love all of the summer lists and activity charts out there. I've pinned and pinned some more. But when I got to thinking about my kids, I realized that I needed to know what we were going to do before the actual day. So I came up with this:

Our monthly summer calendar!

I found a template of a monthly 5-day calendar online and printed it onto scrapbook paper (cut to printer paper size). I then trimmed it to 8x10 size and put it into an inexpensive frame (Target). I chose projects from my various Pinterest boards as well as daily activities and wrote them with wet-erase markers. My husband laughed a little, saying, "Why don't you just type that stuff into your phone?" I realized that it is the preschool teacher in me that loves the lesson-plan-type board. It makes me feel like, yes, I have a plan; no, I won't be going crazy on this day. And if plans need to change, I can easily erase and re-write.

How Time Flies

Grandpa and Colson in Carmel, 2008 (age 2)

Grandpa and Colson in Carmel, 2012 (age 5)