A-Z (in which I make a confession about Totino's pizza)

This was over at Where We Can Live Like Jack and Sally and it seemed like a fun thing to do.  If you join in, leave a link in the comments so I can go see and visit!

A. Age: Never ask a lady her age.  Also, never ask me.

B. Bed size: Queen

C. Chore you hate:  Dishes

D. Dogs: Oh you've seen our garden thief 

E. Essential start to your day: Coffee. With a lot of vanilla creamer.

F. Favorite color: All of them

G. Gold or Silver: Usually silver

H. Height: average

I. Instruments you play: Air guitar

J. Job Title: "Mooooommmmmyyyyyy"

K. Kids: One in heaven, two at home

L. Live: What does this even mean?

M. Married: Yes

N. Nicknames: Probably some I don't know about. ;)

O. Overnight hospital stays: With the birth of each of my 3 children

P. Pet peeve: If my socks are crooked in my tennis shoes.

Q. Quote:  I'm a quote junkie.  I have a bunch on pinterest.
Like this gem:
 

R. Righty or Lefty:  I am right handed

S. Siblings: One by birth, many by marriage

T. Time you wake up: Depends on the day

U. University attended: One right now, transferring in the fall.

V. Vegetables you dislike:  Collard Greens.  I tried to like them but it isn't happening.

W. What makes you run late: Poopy diapers right before walking out the door.

X. X-rays you've had: Chest (yay for pneumonia!), shoulder, ultrasounds, etc.

Y. Yummy food: Yesterday I confessed to my husband that I really like Totino's Party Pizzas.

Z. Zoo animal favorite: Elephants.  Although monkey's flinging poop would be fun to see.

"Welcome December" Family Night

December 1st I treated the kids (and the husband) to a "Welcome December" Family Night.  I think we'll keep this tradition on December 1st in the years to come!  I made up a batch of these pretzel/hershey's/m&m treats.

This was before they went in the oven to melt down a bit, then they got topped with an m&m.  

We made popcorn too, along with having some store bought Christmas cookies while watching the movie Elf together.

And, I treated everyone to hot chocolate...not the microwave kind...they home-made-real-cocoa-and-milk on the stovetop kind!  You can see it was a big hit!

shared at Serenity Now and Weekly Kids Co-op

They sell teacher stuff?!

Dork?  Maybe.  But today when I went into JoAnn's for the first time in several months, and discovered they had several aisles of teacher stuff?  Mega excitement.



If I were Snoopy, I'd have done the Snoopy Happy Dance.


Did you already know they sell teacher supplies now?  Maybe I just don't get out enough.  It isn't a fully stocked teacher store by any means, but they had a good selection of:

• bulletin board borders
• award certificates (Snoopy, Suzi's Zoo, Cat in the Hat)
• bookmarks
• incentive charts
• stickers
• pre cut letters (limited variety)

The prices were not fantastic, but JoAnn's frequently prints coupons so if you could use a 40% off coupon, it would make a big difference.

Believe it or not, I resisted all the teacher goodies and instead grabbed up some other supplies for making busy bags and DIY Montessori activities for my youngest son.  Stay tuned!

P.S. ^^See that new blog header up there?   Pretty proud of that thing...I did it using a photo I took while in New York (the bright, fun, beach chairs) and picmonkey!  I know it isn't polite to brag....and I'm like the last blogger ever to figure out how to make a big header....but still.  I'm proud.  :)

13 Stocking Stuffers for 8-10 yr old BOYS!

Stumped on stocking stuffers for older boys?  Here are 13 things you could include for a boy in the 8-10 yr old age group!

*Links are affiliate links. Full disclosure here.

1. Socks (told you it was going in everyone's stocking this year!)

2. Scented Pencils.  Smencils are all the rage at our school.  Kids love to get to use them!  They come in a ton of different patterns (regular, Ninja Turtle, Princess, etc).  I thought these Finding Dory ones were super cute.  

3. Yo Yo
4. Paperback book (Popular series include "Magic Treehouse" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid")

5. Hex Bugs (I prefer the fish to the beetles! Less creepy!)

6. Lego Blind Bag (Or any small set or mini figure.  My son loves the blind bags and they are inexpensive and small enough to put in a stocking!)

7. New Wallet (I got our son a Shawn White wallet for 75% off at Target and have it set back for his stocking.  Shhh!)

8. Suduko or Word Search book

9. Can of silly string*

10. Mini boxes of cereal

11. Earbuds

12. Boxer shorts

13. Small notepads

*only if you are really, really brave

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Related Post: Stocking Stuffers for Kids Under 2
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11 Stocking Stuffers for 2-4 yr old Boys

Continuing with the series on stocking stuffers for BOYS.  Here are 11 ideas for boys in the 2-4 age group:

2-4 yrs old:

Socks (yes, this is on every list!)

Crayons

Homemade playdoh

Baggie of Kix cereal

Sippy Cups

Underwear!!  :)

Small book

Bubbles

Musical toys (maracas, triangle, etc)

Homemade I-Spy bottle*

Character Toothbrush (for us it is Thomas the Train this year)

*For the I Spy Bottle, here is one I have pinned that is very similar to one my MOPS group made.  I love it!  Great for quiet time, playing in the car, waiting at restaurants or offices, etc!

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Related Post: Stocking Stuffers for Kids Ages 8-10
Related Post: Stocking Stuffers for Kids Ages 2 and Under

10 Stocking Stuffers for Boys (ages 2 and under)

Do you realize we have less than a month until Christmas?!

We are <this close> to being done with our shopping.  Over the weekend I bought gives, wrapped, and started on the stockings.  This week I'll be doing a series on stocking stuffer ideas for BOYS.

I made these lists to give you some ideas of non-candy stocking stuffers for boys (we moms of boys can't get by with throwing hair clips in a stocking!).

Everyone seems to vary on how much they spend at Christmas and how full they actually "stuff " a stocking.  If you are like us, you may choose just a couple things off each list to include in a stocking.  If you feel like splurging, try to get ALL of it in there!  It really is up to you.

Today we look at the 2 and under crowd:

Under 2 yrs old:

Socks

bath soap

cute washcloth

Gerber Graduates Puffs

baggie of cheerios

small board book

rubber ducky

comb/brush

jar of baby food

baby/toddler spoons

Yes I am putting socks in the stockings this year!  We seem to always need them this time of year and I think they will help "fill" up the stockings.  There is no candy on the list above...we do put in a little bit but I try not to do too much. Kids + Candy = Crazy House.



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Related Post: Stocking Stuffers for Kids Ages 2-4
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For my American readers-Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States.  Enjoy your feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie!



You know what holiday is coming up next....  :)

Donation: Complete!

Blogger has been giving me FITS!  This is at least the fourth time I've tried to post this.  Looks like it will finally go through so hooray for that!

Remember the poll we had?  Where you all voted where I should send the money I earned blogging?  Samaritan's Purse was the option that won and I completed the donation to partially stock a fish pond for a community in need.

As it turns out, when I went to make the donation, this was listed as an "urgent need" category.

Thank you all for your votes and for your support, you made this happen!

Joy in a Shoebox-- Operation Christmas Child (Boy Edition)

You saw the Operation Christmas Child boxes we packed for girls.  Now you can see what we put in our boxes for the boys!

We did 3 boxes for boys, one for each age group: 2-4yrs old, 5-9yrs old, and 10-14yrs old.

Here is the box for the 2-4 yr old:

The jump rope was a last minute addition...found for 9cents at a CVS clearance!

Box for the boy in the 5-9 age group:

Box for the boy in the oldest, 10-14yrs old, age group:

Just like with our girl boxes, I tried to make sure each child's box has something soft and cuddly in it along with school supplies and soap (double bagged) and toys.  The older boy got a toy skateboard, same kind my own son likes to play with, and the skateboard pencils...same kind we bought our older son for school this year.  I also packed a baggie of Legos for him.

I can't wait to track our boxes this year with Operation Christmas Child and find out what countries they go to!

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Related Post: Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes for Girls!
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Packing Joy (in a Shoebox)--Girl's Edition

Christmas is coming.

We don't spend a lot on gifts for our kids (see this post for how we did 4 gifts last year).  But they get gifts.  Grandparents get them gifts, they get birthday gifts.

Imagine a child not having ever been given a gift.  Nothing. Nada.  That's the sad reality for millions in our world.

Samaritan's Purse runs a super cool program aimed at giving kids a gift. Operation Christmas Child asks you to pack a shoe box with items for a boy or girl.  Then they deliver these all around the world.  Shoe boxes aren't just about toys, they include school supplies, often making the difference for a child being able to go to school or not.  Did you know that in Uganda, a box of crayon costs the equivalent of a week's salary!?  No wonder kids don't have the supplies they need for school.

This year we've done 6 boxes in our family.
They are on a storage shelf in our room and I can add to them as I purchase stuff. I find that the easiest way to keep organized and keep an eye on what is still needed.

I spelled "hygiene" incorrectly in this picture.  Oops.  Don't send hate mail.

Today, I will show you what our girl boxes contain.  There are lots of photos of each of the 3 boxes so you can get a detailed look at what's inside!

Our Dial soap is double bagged so the scent doesn't permeate every item in the boxes.

First, the box for the youngest age category of girls: 2-4 yr olds

Here's a list of everything stuffed into the box!  I've never sent silverware before but this year all my boxes include  forks.  They were a great deal at my grocery store during back-to-school season and I thought many of the children getting boxes may not have enough forks for each member of the house, so this would help them.

Girl box ages 5-9

List of everything in our box for the girl in the 5-9 yr old age group.  For some reason the headbands really excite me about this box.  I hope the girl who gets it was HOPING for headbands!  She also will get two stuffed animals.  Everyone needs something cuddly!

The box for the oldest girl age group:

I was lucky to find some water bottles on clearance at a craft store after the summer.  You'll see some again when I get to the boys' boxes!  To make everything fit in the box, that is another washcloth stuffed into the bottle.

Do you pack boxes?  You can join the OCC Virtual Packing Party!  I just love seeing what creative ideas people have for putting things in the boxes!

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Related Post: Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes for Boys!