Sick days!!!

I'm taking the day off due to my little boy having the stomach flu...YUCK!!

Happy St.Patrick's Day!!!

Happy all things green day!!
Today we decided to have a happy green day. The little boys don't really get the St. Pats thing, so we celebrated by doing every thing green.
First we went to the park to see if we could point out anything green. It is getting warm here in the Midwest, so the grass is starting to turn green. I had to take my shoes off...nothing is better than walking barefoot in new grass.






We looked for anything green...from the swing set to the trash can.
We had a picnic...we had some green celery with our lunchables. I had some green broccoli and bacon salad...which I highly recommend...I got it at Target.
Tonight we are having corn beef and cabbage. I just bought some sliced corned beef and some coleslaw mix...they were out of heads of cabbage. I am not sure how I'm going to fix this yet...I will let you know how it turned out.







Also today...while the boys took a nap I did a little research on St.Patrick's day, I didn't know the history behind it, so I thought it was interesting to share with my kids and with you all. Here is what I found out....

The History of St. Patrick's Day
By Dan O'Donnell

We may all be a little bit Irish today, but how many of us know how St. Patrick’s Day began? How many of us know who the real St. Patrick really was?
“Well he was not a leprechaun who drank green beer or had a blarney stone or a pot of gold,” explains historian William Federer, who wrote St. Patrick: The Real History of His Life, From Tragedy to Triumph. “He was actually a missionary and he converted 120,000 druids from paganism to Christianity.”
In fact, Federer contends that in the fifth century A.D., Patrick did more than perhaps anyone in history to spread this new religion through Europe.


THE IRISH SHAMROCK
The origins of the shamrock are lost in antiquity, but legend suggests that it was used by St. Patrick in the fifth century to demonstrate the meaning of the Trinity. The shamrock is found on Irish medieval tombs and on old copper coins, known as St. Patrick's money. The plant was reputed to have mystic powers... the leaves standing upright to warn of an approaching storm.

I thought this was kind of interesting...Happy St.Pat's Day!!!

Just another day!!

My new babysitting tool...just kidding!!!



Yesterday my little boys decided the dog kennel was a great play house and they threw a fit when I made them get out of it.

Product sugestions and reviews...

You all know, I love a good deal! Well, I was at my favorite store...Target...the other day and browsing the nail polish aisle. I saw that they are now carrying O.P.I brand, which has been my favorite brand in the past. I have used it for several years now. Their price was 8.00. I had forgotten how expensive it was, but I love the brink pink color for painting my toe nails in the summer. I couldn't justify spending 8.00 on nail polish. I thought. I will look for a cheaper brand in the same color. You know all nail polish has gotten really expensive. I wandered around for a while, I then spotted the wet n wild. It was around a dollar (I think they are .88 cents at Walmart) I have never used this brand because I assumed it was of a poorer quality than it's more expensive counter parts. I thought " what the heck" I will try anything for a dollar. They had the bright pink that I was looking for and it was a pretty close match.
I first painted my toe tails to see how it would do. I was amazed that it went on in nice thin layers and dries very quick. I put on two coats and forgot about it for a couple of days. It's been over a week now and it is still going strong. I touched up a spot where my shoe rubs, but other than that it did really well.
I then painted my finger nails to see how it would last on them. I don't usually wear colors on my nails, but I wanted to test it before I bought another bottle for my nails. I was impressed, it lasted a good four days before I had to touch it up.
I think this is a good product for the money. I am not one to wear acrylic nails or have long nails. I know some of my friends only wear certain kinds because of that.
For a mom of four, with no time and who just wants to paint her toe nails....it works great!!!

Craft time for the week...

Craft time for the week!!!

I had a little free time yesterday so I thought I would get some crafting in. I made a few Easter cards. I got the the art work from this website...
http://family.webshots.com/album/549064538eNfwmB
If you can't get this to work, just google "Victorian Easter cards" and it will pop up as the second website.
Any who I just printed these out and then glued a couple different colors of paper behind them. I didn't do a step by step because I don't ever do things the same like that. I just start cutting and glueing and hope it comes out straight. I thought the website was worth sharing.

If I have time later this week I will show you the Easter baskets I working on for the kids...they are super cheep and cute.

Planning for the year....Holidays, celebrations and traditions.

Planning for the year....you may ask, what is this all about? Well, its the way I like to live my life. I love to sit down and plan out things in advance....as much as a year in advance. This gives me a chance to create traditions with my family and maybe do things I wouldn't have time for if I didn't plan it out. I know what your thinking...how can you know what you are going to be doing six months to a year from now. Well, this is not set in stone type of thing. It is kind of like a wish list of activities, recipes and decorating ideas that you want to do.
This is how to get started.
I like to use large index cards and write the month at the top. Then as I think of things I would like to do, I jot them down.
I also get ideas for websites like this http://www.suelebeau.com/march.htm. This website has all kinds of ideas and history information. I also plan in some recipes that are our family traditions or new things I would like to try. Then as that month gets closer I lok at my calendar and fill in activities that we are not doing real life stuff (you know doctors apt and stuff like that). I have found that it is much easier to have thought of a fun idea, researched it and prepared for it rather than try to do it all in one day.

For example:
I set down and look at, this is the month of March what activities do I have planned for my family? Most of us think of St. Pats Day, but did you know there are many other things that are celebrated this month as well. This is Woman's history month. What a great time to talk about a woman who has influenced your life, it could be someone you know or a figure from history.
Also, it is Dr Seuss, Alexander Bell, and Albert Einsteins birthdays. I like to hit the library and find a book or two about these people. This gives my kids a chance to learn about someone new. How fun would it be to let your kids have a birthday party for Dr. Seuss. You could make all kinds of silly decoration and have green eggs and ham for dinner. That would be something they will always remember.
Any who, I try to make a plan for at least a month in advance so that we can plan all the fun activities around all the real life stuff.

Other things that I plan:
Birthdays... I have a stack of stuff I have been collecting for my babies 2nd birthday. I am doing a western theme, so I have been collecting everything cow boyish for several months now.
Holidays...always buy and anything I can on sale to prepare for the next year. I love to try some new traditions and recipe for each hliday along with the old.

Once you start doing this you will find out how much easier it is to get some fun activities in, have all your parties ready to go and how much more prepared you will feel.

Here is another fun website that has been around for a long time, but it has really great planning printables, I have uses them for several years now...http://organizedhome.com/

I'm still here!!!

I'm still here. I can't believe how long it's been since I have been on here. It's has been a very busy and crazy couple of weeks. I will fill you in on all of our happenings:
My mom came back to my house to recover after her surgury. She is doing very well. She stayed for about ten days.
My son was in a robotics compitition, he as been staying after school every day for about six weeks. They placed 7th out of 60 schools and were invited to go to state and the national compitions.






























Then there is the every day stuff...this is a typical day at my house. My little ones decided to make their own stawberry milk...they didn't quite get the concept of putting the powder in the milk.

































Well, I hope that anyone that reads this blog will check back in. I have many ideas that I want to share...so don't give up on me.