Superhero capes/ Masks

In November the kids were invited to a superhero theme birthday party.  Judah already had a batman shirt with a velcro attached cape, so I wanted to make him a matching mask.  And Naomi had nothing so I decided to make her a cape and mask.  I found this great blog tutorial for superhero masks!  So I used that.  And I found this tutorial for the cape.

Here's how they came out!

Cutting out my patterns

Naomi's finished cape...

The kids before the party!

Kindergarten Word Bingo!

I've been using a wonderful curriculum for writing for the past few weeks.  It's called Spell to Write and Read (SWR), and I am totally obsessed with it.  My kindergartener, on the other hand, is not as thrilled about learning to spell to write and read 20 words per week.  She's doing great, but I try to give her a break and make it fun while still meeting our weekly goals.  I get her to do the tough part by promising a fun game or activity afterward.

Today I put together a bingo game using the 4 lists of words we've had so far.  I found this template and decided to make my own so I could use the words I wanted.

Since I only have one student I played against her.  I printed all the words and cut them out.  We took turns drawing a word and reading it then trying to find it on our card.  We used coins as bingo markers and played until the whole card was filled up.  It was fun!

If you want to make your own I can email my template.  :)

Recipe Share

This is how I feel a lot of times... But this week was a good one for dinner recipes so I thought I'd share!

We went camping last weekend, and I came home with a few left over hotdogs.  I didn't feel like eating hot dogs again, but I wanted to use them.  So I found this mini corn dog recipe on Pinterest.  It's pretty simple, and the kids (and I) loved it!

I got the idea from a friend to make chicken skewers for camping, so I've been doing that the past few years.  This year though I didn't make enough, and all the teenagers wanted them so Pete didn't get any, and I only got one.  So I decided to make them again this week.
I just cut the chicken breast into chunks and marinate with whatever I have on hand.  For camping I used BBQ sauce and beer.  This week I used TJ's Soyaki sauce.  Then just skewer the chunks of meat (you can add veggies if you want) and throw them on the grill.  So easy and delicious!
I also tried this ramen salad from Pinterest with a little modification.  I made a half recipe, and it was a plenty!  Here's my version:
SALAD:
1 package ramen noodles (calls for beef but I used Ichiban original)
1 12 oz package broccoli slaw
1/2 cu. slivered almonds
1/2 cu. sunflower seeds
2-3 green onions, chopped
DRESSING:
1/4 (or less) honey or agave
1/3 cu. oil (I used olive and a dash of sesame)
1/4 cu. white rice vinegar
dash of soy sauce
flavor packets

Just put the salad ingredients in a bowl.  In a separate bowl mix the dressing ingredients.  Pour the dressing over the salad and toss it all together.
I will definitely be making this again!

I've been wanting to try a recipe using soda for a long time... My husband had bought a 2 liter of root beer, we drank maybe 1 glass each, and I knew we weren't ever going to drink the rest so I decided to try this bbq pork stuffed sweet potato recipe I saw on (you guessed it... ) Pinterest!  I obviously used rootbeer instead of coke, and it came out great!  But I wanted a little extra topping so I decided to make shoestring fried onions.  Here is the recipe I used.  I didn't even tell the kids they were onions, and they were none the wiser... Everyone loved it!  I was a little worried that I was crowding the onions too much in the oil, but they came out perfect.

 And last but not least was last night's amazing dinner... Fish taco bowls.  I used tilapia rather than cod simply because it was cheaper.  Any my husband doesn't eat fish so I made his with chicken breast.

Can you tell I love cilantro?

Mermaid Birthday Party

My first born just turned 5!  I knew I wanted to do a pool party for her and just invite a few of her friends.  When I saw this mermaid tail idea on Pinterest I wanted to try it.  It looked simple enough.  But I couldn't find towels that were in my budget that I thought would look cute.  I found some lime green beach towels at dd's for $6 each and thought they would work, but we'd need to embellish it somehow.  So after some brainstorming and fabric shopping I decided to sew a fin onto each towel with the help of my seamstress step-mom.

I drew a pattern on a big sheet of paper and cut it out.

Then pinned it to the fabric for the tails.  We were making 5.

 Once we had the 2 sides cut out we turned them inside out and sewed all but the top edge.
Then turned them right side out and ironed them flat.
We only had 3 beach towels so we cut them in half and folded over and finished the unfinished edge. The towels were big, and the girls were small enough that half a towel was long enough for them.  We just sewed the tail onto the bottom edge of the towel.

We measured the girls and sewed two pieces of velcro onto each towel.

Here's the finished product.

I put them in their party favor buckets.

 The girls were stoked on their mermaid tails!

 I also had a table full of craft stuff where they could decorate tiaras, make bead necklaces, and paint with watercolors.

Summer Library Program

I meant to post this last month, but I have just been so busy!

When I went to sign the kids up for the "Dig into Reading" summer reading program at the local library, I discovered the adult summer reading program called "Beneath the Surface."  Kids win prizes and adults get entered into drawings as they complete different tasks.  One Saturday morning I spent the whole morning looking at the different activities to be completed on my summer reading card. I discovered a world of free activities I never knew existed on the library website!

Free eBook or eAudioBooks and Music downloads
Free or Discounted museum tickets
Mango Languages - Free online language courses
Free Interactive Children's eBooks (Tumblebooks)

So go sign up or just check out the library website!

A New Adventure...

Last October I applied for a job I'd always thought would be cool... Dispatcher for the SJPD.  I figured I'd just see what happened and if the Lord closed the door I'd know it wasn't meant for me.  I didn't hear anything from then until February when I had almost completely forgotten about it.  I took an exam to begin the application process for the position.  There was more testing and interviewing along the way.  I honestly didn't think I would make it as far as I did, and when I realized a few weeks ago that I may actually get this job I began to get anxious over the whole thing.  Talking it out dissolved most of my fears, and I decided to continue with the process unless I felt like for sure I wasn't supposed to.  My family wasn't thrilled about the idea of me going back to work.  My dad was the most openly unsupportive.  I was annoyed, probably more so because I knew he had a point.  While my income would make our lives easier in some aspects it would come at a cost.  I would be sacrificing time with my husband and kids.

I was planning to send the kids to a nice Christian school I toured on Thursday, but Pete and I were concerned that Judah wasn't ready to be apart from me all day for at least 3 days a week.  And when I visited my homeschool mom friend on Friday I was inspired that homeschooling is something I could actually do with her help.  I was so inspired by different methods of teaching she showed me that I realized I wanted to teach Naomi a certain way, and if I sent her to school full time I wouldn't be in control of the way she was taught.

I thought everything over a lot.  I went back and forth in my head thinking of examples of working moms and homeschool moms I admired.  There were good examples of both.  But what was right for our family?  I had been praying that God would close the door if this was not the right thing for me.  But my friend I visited on Friday prayed that regardless of the opportunity, The Lord would put on my and Pete's hearts what He wanted for us. 

Monday morning during my quiet time I knew what I would do.  I came to a point where I was so motivated to homeschool, that even if I could afford to put the kids in private school right now I wouldn't.  I had a peace about it.  And I was excited to get started!  So excited in fact that I spent the whole morning cleaning and organizing the playroom to start getting it ready for school.  

After confirming that my husband and I were on the same page we made a decision that I would disqualify myself from the process and spare us all from the extensive police department background check that was to be conducted next.  

This morning I sent the email.  I was thrilled, and scared, excited, and nervous. I was almost in tears because the feelings were so overwhelming, but overall I was relieved, because I have no doubt that putting off going back to work to be with my kids is the best thing for them right now.

Here's to new adventures in being (not just a stay at home mom anymore) a homeschool mom!

On Water... Drink Up!

My kids think "lemonade" is just water with lemon :) 

Yesterday my husband sent me this link to a video about the effects dehydration.  I was shocked when they said that 90% of Americans are chronically dehydrated!  With summer approaching (it already feels like summer here) I figured it's pretty important that we make sure we're drinking enough water.

The convincing points in the video for me:

• Dehydration slows down your metabolism
• Dehydration causes excessive cravings (Sometimes when we think we're hungry we're really just thirsty)

At one point I was intentionally drinking a gallon of water a day.  What really helped me was measuring out my water the night before.  I just stuck a gallon jug full of filtered water into the fridge each night and filled my glass or water bottle from that jug throughout the day.  Another thing that seemed to make a difference for me was making sure to drink a full glass of water first thing in the morning before having my coffee, tea, or anything else.  If I could drink a large glass of water first I found it made it easier to get to the bottom of the jug before bedtime.

So here are some tips of mine as well as some from the video:

• Drink half your body weight in ounces each day (i.e. If you're 150 lbs drink 75 oz of water)
• Measure out your water for the next day each night so you can track how much your drinking
• Feel free to add things to your jug of water like sliced cucumber, mint leaves, or lemon slices (these can actually increase your metabolism)
• Start your day with a large glass of water before consuming anything else
• If you're having cravings try drinking a large glass of water before giving into them

Now if only I can follow my own advice....