Sick

It seems like my family has been sick forever!  We've had the stomach bug (twice actually one bad, one horrible), we've had colds, allergies, etc on an off since I don't even remember when.  We are in the middle of a nasty cold bug with a lingering cough.  It just makes things much more difficult with work and keeping up with everything.  Sick kids have a hard time sleeping.  I'm looking forward to some healthy months ahead (fingers crossed).  I think Bubby is starting to get over it and hopefully Sissy's won't last as long.  We even had flu shots hoping to avoid some if the sickness going around.  My kids aren't even in daycare. :P  That doesn't really matter much though because I know I bring home a lot of the germs from school and so does my husband.

We are definitely sick of being sick.

I hope all of you are healthy.  Do you have any great home remedy for cold symptoms (mostly runny nose and cough)?   Cold/Flu season is almost over right?!  Soon... :)

Pictures

I've been taking lots of pictures lately.  It seems like it is becoming a part time job, but one that actually pays a lot less than teaching considering I haven't ever taken money for them.  I love doing it and I've only taken pictures of family and friends, so I don't mind. :)  It just takes a lot of time for editing.  I wish I had more time for photography.  I'd love to take a class and actually learn "real" photography.

I think, from now on, I'll just set out a donation box for any future photoshoots.  I really don't want to get paid, I just want to buy better lenses and equipment. :P

Here is a picture of one of my little sisters that I took today.  She has a big year ahead of her. :)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Did you celebrate in any way this year? We don't usually celebrate any more than wearing green, but this year we did a couple things.

The kids had green cereal. I let Sissy pick cereal, eggs, or pancakes.


We all wore green and went out to dinner. Thankfully, before the big crowds hit.

I made a giant cupcake. It was going to be rainbow colors, but I had a sad boy hanging on my legs. It is funfetti instead...which technically has rainbow pieces. Right?



Notice the finger mark through the frosting? That is compliments of Sissy and she said "it still looks beautiful Mommy.". Stinker.

Bubby LOVED it. Sissy did too, but she almost didn't get a piece. She was naughty today (not just sneaking the frosting). :/

I hope you had a good day!

Wholesale Halloween Costumes - Review

I have many great childhood memories of Halloween. Halloween was such a fun tradition for our family.  My Mom and Step-Dad planned out costumes months and months ahead of time.  They almost always made their own costumes.  I remember watching them make costumes that included the Simpsons, Star Trek, Old Lady in a Shoe (complete with a huge shoe with wheels that Mom could stand in and push around with all of our pictures on the outside "looking" out of the windows), Flintstones, and even California Raisins.  Our costumes were always great too!  Unfortunately, I didn't exactly inherit the creativeness and sewing abilities from my Mom.  

Thankfully, there places like Wholesale Halloween Costumes where I can search through tons of different costumes available while sitting at home.  Plus I can find what I need year round.  As a Music teacher, I sometimes need costumes for programs and plays throughout the year and not just for Halloween. 

My all time favorite costume for Halloween was the Goldilocks costume my daughter wore.  She was two years old.

Her all time favorite costume (so far) was her pink Supergirl costume.  It was actually perfect that she picked this because Bubby hates anything on his head (hats, towels, jacket hoods, etc) and he was Superman/boy.

I was looking through some infant/toddler costumes and I found this adorable Wiggle Worm Bunting Infant Costume.  

Forget waiting for Halloween!  This is great for a photoshoot.  My friend's little girl was the perfect model.  She might have gotten a little too comfy because she fell asleep not long after we put it on her.  She's 2 months old and the costume is 3-6mos.  

She looks like she should be in a Dr. Seuss book!

If you are in the market for baby and toddler costumes, check out Wholesale Halloween Costumes.  They have costumes for everyone in the family young and..."advanced" and for every occasion or Holiday.  They have a great selection.  You could spend hours (I already did) looking through all of their costumes.  Wholesale prices, flat rate shipping, and only $1 to upgrade to expedited shipping.  This is my kind of store. :) 

  
Follow them on twitter: Wholesale Halloween Costumes' Twitter 

Don't pay full retail on these costumes or this may be you in the Fall.

I still think she's a cutie even when mad or sad.

I was not compensated for this review.  I did receive the Wiggle Worm Bunting Costume to review.  All other costumes were previously purchased by me.  All opinions are my own.

Sweet Girl Photoshoot

My friend had a sweet little girl in January. She was in the NICU for awhile and I was supposed to photograph her as soon as she got home. She finally made it home and our house was hit with the stomach bug. Bubby got it first and then everyone seemed fine the next day. I'm glad I went with my gut and waited another day before deciding to go because everyone got sick. It was awful. So...I can't take credit for these photos. I sent my camera over with my friend, Jennifer (yep...another one) and she took these for baby and Mama. I edited them.

She is such a sweet baby!

Rainbow Craft for St. Patrick's Day

We decided to continue with the Saint Patrick's theme this week and made rainbows.  I love that it was easy enough for my one year old to do...I know, I know he's almost two, but I have exactly 2 months to keep calling him one.

Step one: Tear up paper.  Bubby LOVED this.  He enjoys tearing things up.  I let Sissy use scissors to start with because my friend, the art teacher, always tells me how kids just don't know how to use scissors.  Turns out Sissy does okay with scissors (for a 4 yr old at least), but she did not know how to tear paper.  She kept trying to pull at it instead of tearing it.  The fact that she was having trouble with this was an eye opener for me.

I love the look on Bubby's face in this pic!! lol

I put the glue on paper plates for them.  With Sissy, I gave her a whole plate to use.  She had to look for the glue and help make the rainbow shape.  She did want to make it go all the way around a couple times.  For Bubby, though, I cut the plate into a rainbow shape.  I figured it would help show exactly what it is.

We went a little crazy tearing paper.  We have extra for another project someday.

When they were done with the gluing all the pieces on they each picked a pot and got to stick on some gold.  We had some leftover metallic stickers from a mosaic project that were perfect.

This was their favorite part.  They didn't want to stop!

 

 We are ready for St. Patrick's day!  Actually, I have one more project to work on before then, but it's an edible/cooking project.  It will have to wait, so that it's nice and fresh.  It does involve rainbow colors. :)

St. Patrick's Day Garland

My daughter made a cute heart garland to hand up for Valentine's Day.  She was missing all the Christmas decorations, so she went with the next holiday.  She's really big on Holidays right now.  She made the pink and purple hearts with pipe cleaners.

Valentine's is over, so I decided to let her update it to St. Patrick's Day.  She had fun coloring all the little Shamrocks and stringing them.  It's great for developing motor skills as children thread them onto the string.

 It's something simple and easy to do.  She is proud of it though because it is hanging up for everyone to see.

Children and Modesty

 I bought this bathing suit for my daughter because she needs a new bathings suit and it was on clearance (I'm a sucker for clearance).  It's warm enough here in FL for swimming, playing the the water, etc.  I'm not a fan of bikini's for my little girl, but I do love two piece bathing suits.  They are much easier to take off when running to the bathroom.  I bought this knowing we would not use the halter top bikini part.  Why does a 4-5 yr old need a bikini top cut like that anyway?  She doesn't have a chest and if she did I sure as heck wouldn't want to accentuate it.  I do love the shirt type tops because we are such fair skin and the more sun protection the better.  I figured it was still worth the clearance price for the shirt and bikini bottom untill I pulled the bottom off the hanger.

I thought it was just a regular bathing suit bottom.  Why would they make a little girl's bikni/bathing suit bottom with such a high cut?  We are taking it back.  My husband doesn't want our 4 yr old wearing it either.  This is just one small example of the many outfits I see for children that just aren't modest.  This is size 4/5 (4 and 5 year olds will be wearing it).  I guess this could explain why they were clearanced.  Why are they making children's clothes sexy?  I do not want my child to wear clothes that look sexy.  She's 4 and isn't sexy.  The thought of her ever being sexy isn't something I even want to think about.  She's my baby and she's cute.  That's how I will always see her.

Am I just one of those crazy Mom's?  Wait...I don't know if I want the answer to that. :P

Hamburger Helper Prize Pack Giveaway!

As you may know, my husband and I are both teachers.  Teaching is exhausting.    On busy days we have very little time to make and plan out meals, just like most busy families.  On many nights we are both exhausted and don't want to cook.  If we forgot to plan something ahead of time, we end up with two starving children that get grumpier by the minute especially after 5:30pm.  Even if they don't always say, it their eyes are screaming "What's for dinner?!"  We don't have the money to eat out on these nights (there are quite a few).     One of our easy go to meals is Hamburger Helper.  It's such a quick and easy meal option for us.  It's very affordable too. There are over 40 varieties, so even if we end up eating it more than once during the week it's not the exact same thing.   My daughter's favorite is the sloppy joe's.

We were very happy to receive Hamburger Helpers two newest varieties.

Two more favorites to add to our list of quick and easy foods for dinner. 

I love how fast and easy it is to make any of the Hamburger Helper varieties.  Less than 30 minutes (16 minutes to simmer) and the meal is on the table.

Need more veggies?  No problem.  There are lots of ideas to "make it your own" and to add more variety on their site and on the box.

The first one we tried was the cheesy italian beef.  The kids loved it.  I'm SO glad we didn't have to fight with them to eat during this meal.  It's now one of my favorite of all the 40+ varieties.  You can see the italian seasonings in it.

 One of my lucky readers will win this Hamburger Helper Prize pack!!!

Your Hamburger Helper winner prize pack will contain:

• Box of Hamburger Helper Ultimate Beef Stroganoff
• Box of Hamburger Helper Cheesy Italian  Beef
• Serving dish
• Slotted serving spoon
• Trivet

These are nice items!  The serving dish is a large ceramic dish (not plastic).  My daughter keeps stealing my trivet for her play kitchen because "I don't have one Mommy!" 

All of my readers can Save 70¢ when you buy ONE Hamburger Helper® Ultimate Beef Stroganoff OR Cheesy Italian Beef Home Cooked Skillet Meals Here.

Disclosure:  The Hamburger Helper New Varieties information, product, and prize pack have been provided free of charge by Betty Crocker® and General Mills®, through MyBlogSpark.  All opinions are my own.

Dinosaur World - Teachers Free - March

 

Has anyone ever been to Dinosaur World?  There are three locations (FL, KY, TX).  We've never been before, but we are planning a trip soon mostly because teachers are free in March.  My friend took her kids a few weeks ago and they loved it.  I'm sure my kids will love it.  We took them to Downtown Disney where they got to dig for dinosaur bones.  They loved looking in the dinosaur restaurant and shops.

They don't provide any food service (except ordering Pizza to be delivered), but that is actually better.  We can pack a picnic and not feel guilty for bringing food in like some of the theme parks.  I know it's not the same, but it seems like it will be something fun, educational, and cheap to try out. 

I will have to update you and let you know how it is.  Spring Break is next week!! :)  We have lots of fun things we hope to do.

They have a new special every month.  http://www.dinosaurworld.com/special-events/

 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss..

I have had the urge to rhyme all week. It will continue as my Kindergartners and 1st grades sing and play a song I wrote that goes with Green Eggs and Ham.