An Obstacle of a "New" Mom

So, being new to this whole mom thing I really used all the help I could get when I was FIRST starting out. Now, when I say "new" I don't mean that I'm a new mother to an infant, having just given birth to him/her. I mean I'm new coming into a home with a toddler running around!! I NEEDED some help! Jocelyn loves me and I have no doubts about that, and I her... But we had some serious problems when I first became her Mom. Problems that I didn't even know I was going to be facing and having to deal with. I knew I was going to have to help potty train her and teach her and help her learn different things and cook and clean and... Well, raise her! But being a young mother some things never really crossed my mind about raising a child until those things happened.

For instance, after Jocelyn's birth mother left my husband and step-daughter she began to sleep with my husband in his bed at night. Which is COMPLETELY understandable! However, once we were married that needed to stop. That's not my four-year-old's bed... It's mine and my husband's and it's one of the FEW times we can be alone together and have time to ourselves. We both felt that it was an invasion of space. So, we started having her sleep in her own bed.... It.... didn't really work as well as planned. 

She started waking up in the middle of the night around 2:00 AM and coming in there then and waking us both up!! It was horrible! We didn't know what to do, because no matter what we did she would come in there and crawl right into bed. We started looking at this saying it needed to stop now! We didn't want a 6 or 7 year-old doing this in a few years and that's what was going to happen if we didn't solve this!

I started researching different ways to prevent this from continuing. We tried so many different things, nothing really worked. I finally found a solution, though!! 

Every night we put her in her bed, explaining as we did this that this was her bed, her big girl bed and that this is where she slept, not with mommy and daddy. She asked questions, of course, and we answered them truthfully... And every night she still would come into our bed. And when she did one of us would scoop her up and take her back to her bed, crying and all, and explain again to her that this was her bed and where she slept. We also told her that if it were storming, or if she had a nightmare, or something serious like that, she could come and wake us up, but that those were the only times she could come to our bed.

This continued for a good few weeks, but slowly it started to stop!! She did come crawl into bed every morning that she got up for a while after we started doing this. We decided to let it happen and work on that once we got the middle of the night trips taken care of!

And we did!!! She doesn't come in there unless she needs us or it's stormy anymore, and the only time she comes into our room in the morning is to state that she's hungry!

If you're having issues with your toddlers I would strongly suggest lots of research on whatever it is! You'll either run across the same solution a number of times, proving that it works, or you'll try out a ton of different ones that may or may not work for you! But in the end just follow your gut and you'll figure out what's best for you and your family!

Thanks so much for listening to my story on being "new." I'm sure there'll be many more to come!!

- Stephanie

Cookie Mummy Pops

These yummy mummies look like so much fun to make with your kids for Halloween!! I found them over at Catch My Party and they are just adorable!!

All you need to make these cute cookies is:

Sugar cookie dough

Vanilla icing

Fondant

Candy eyes

Lollipop sticks

And you put them all together and you create this super cute Halloween treats for you kids or party or classroom!!

The full tutorial for these cookies can be found on Catch My Party here: http://catchmyparty.com/blog/easy-mummy-cookie-pops-diy

All I need to make these happen are the eyes and sticks!! Seriously thinking about going out to find those two things to make these in a few weeks for Jocelyn and her classroom, maybe!!

- Stephanie

Fall Work Packets for Kids

Here's something fun for kids, of all ages, to do to celebrate the arrival of fall and help them learn more!! It has three different downloadable packets to work with and a fourth one for toddlers to practice writing, patterns, shapes, and some letters!

The first three packets had so many different activities to choose from! A good bit on writing, and sentence structure, and word families. Then a number of different hands on math worksheets, and then some patterns and matching!!

The activities looked like fun and it'd be great for those home schoolers to work on!!

Go download some of them!! They're totally FREE too!!!

http://www.3dinosaurs.com/printables/packs/leaves.php 

- Stephanie

BIRCHBOX!!!

I would like to talk a little about something that I'm new to, but LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! 

Birchbox!

I received my first one this week, but have known about this amazing little treat for a while now... It's seriously amazing if you don't know what it is!

Birchbox is a company here to help you find new products to love for women and men! If you sign up with them you'll get a sample box once a month filled with new goodies every time to try out for your personal use! It's $10.00 a month!!!! I seriously thought it was going to be way more than that, one of the reasons I hadn't looked into this sooner.

Once you're signed up you create an account with them all about you and your personality and body! They ask about your hair type and complexion and products that you already love! It's so much fun! And I love getting a little present in the mail just for me and my needs!!

I LOVE Sugarbomb!!!! I was so excited to see this in my box!! This is seriously some of my favorite lip gloss!! :)

I'm looking forward to using this in the next week! I some serious curls in my hair and they can me incredibly frizzy at times, even with product, so I'm hoping I enjoy this tester out!!

 

 I have used this twice! It's a hand and nail cream/lotion. This makes my hands feel so soft and really helps the dryness I get from working all day. OH! And it smells fantastic!!

Both of these were in the "September surprise package." LOVE that color nail polish! I wasn't sure about it at first, but I tried it on and it looks so great!

My feet could severely use a good moisturizer on them... I can't find one that really, REALLY does the job great (like you get with a pedi) and I'm so hoping this is amazing!! It looks like it! Fingers crossed!!!!

That is the contents of my box this month! I'm pretty excited!!

If you haven't checked out Birchbox yet you SO need to! Go check them out: http://www.birchbox.com/

You won't regret it and it's so inexpensive... You won't even miss that $10 a month! I promise!!

- Stephanie

Homeschoolers

This is for those of you out there that are homeschooling your children (Bless you ALL!!!) I just don't think I could do all of that.... I have patience, but I can't seem to teach my child to do anything. It's awful!

This website has links for all sorts of different things for the homeschooling moms. Found here: http://moneysavingmom.com/2013/09/free-homeschool-curriculum-resources-19.html
They have links to David and Goliath coloring sheets, multiplication activities, character building, and patterns.
Through the process of looking at all of this I also found another blog for the homeschooling mom!! It looked so interesting, even to me! She's biblical based, which I always love, and she has tons of resources for you to filter through as well as a blog!
Homeschoolin' Mama: http://homeschoolinmama.com/ Go check it out! You might find something you needed or are interested in!

- Stephanie

Unique Decorations

HOW cute are these????

So so SO cute!!!

First, paint your pumpkins white; then paint a stencil on them! It looks like the polka dots and bats could even be stickers. The lager one looks like they painted into some of the grooves of the pumpkin, too. After that make yourself a decorative bow and glue it onto the stem... and Va la!!

I love "different" decorations for your home, like these. They could have just bought the pumpkins and set them out or carved them like everyone, but they thought into it a little further and decided to be unique!

You can find 14 more super cute, and unique, Halloween crafts over here: http://bit.ly/14LNuaM

- Stephanie

Chalk Board Banner

I saw this on Catch My Party... It looks like so much fun!!

This project looks like so much fun!! You could use this for parties and holidays and all sorts of events... Know why?? Because it's REUSABLE!!!! I love things that you can make and then keep them to use again another time. It makes life so much easier when you have things like that laying around, too!

You'll need:

• ½ - 1 yard of chalkboard fabric(depending on the length of your banner)
• ⅛ hole punch
• ⅛ inch eyelets
• Eyelet setter tool, hammer, and setting mat
• Ribbon or twine (3-4 yards)
• Chalk and chalk marker
• Banner template
• Scissors

See, the FULL DIY for this awesome party addition can be found on Catch My Party's website..... right here: http://catchmyparty.com/blog/diy-chalkboard-fabric-banner :)

I just love that website! They've seriously made my life so much easier when it comes to planning parties now!!

- Stephanie

Time Management for the Busy Mom

So, I just stumbled upon this blog for busy moms... it's really pretty cool. The blog sold me with it's advertisement for their "life wheel tool" and the "action sheets" that they have on their site! I'm such a sucker for planning sheets and the like, I love being organized in that manner of life. I try to plan out meals with a planner sheet weekly, I unfortunately lack in that one thing. (SERIOUSLY... It's horrible, I just can't seem to plan out my meals!!)
This blog has a lot of planning sheets on it for the organized mom, though!

The Life Wheel Tool that they have, they email to you once you join their mailing list. This is something that will help you manage your time better in ALL areas of your life. You print it and follow the instructions for it. It asks you questions regarding certain areas of your life and you give each a score at the end and then you get to start changing that area in your life for the better!! AND you have action sheets to help organize it!!! :)

Please go check this place out! The link is right over HERE: http://myprojectme.com/

- Stephanie 

For the Artists Out There

I found this neat template for drawing the minions from Despicable Me! I personally adore the minions, they are so funny and Jocelyn loves them too!! We took her to see Despicable Me 2 in theaters over the summer.... She was glued!!! She hardly looked away from the screen the whole time we were there... She LOVES those funny little guys to pieces!!

- Stephanie

Fall Crafts for Kids

I love autumn. It's my favorite time of year. My heart warms and glows at this time of year! I prefer the cold so much over being hot in the summer... I love fall! The sweaters, boots, hot chocolate, the leaves changing... It's perfect to me!!
What better way to celebrate fall than to do fun crafts with your kids! Here is a link to 20 really cool fall leaf crafts: http://bit.ly/1fuOS60
They have the painting with leaves (which I always loved!), they made leaf mobiles, a leaf fan, foliage friends (this looks super cute to do!!), and so so much more!

This is the leaf painting I mentioned above... It was always so fun to do. I think I liked the prospect of getting to play with that really think paint when we made ours in school!

This is the foliage friends!!!! Doesn't it look precious!! I think the kids would love to be able to go out and find leaves and then finish a picture with them to put on their walls!

I hope you enjoy these fall friendly crafts!

- Stephanie

More Halloween Treats!

The link to these cute Halloween designs can be found here: http://bit.ly/1ajcIO8

Totally loving the RIP cupcakes!! Such a cute idea for a party! And the Frankenstein lollipop bucket idea is adorable!! You could have those strategic placed throughout your home for a party and allow the guests to grab one as they please! You could easily make any traditional Halloween character for this, too. Like a vampire, witch, or mummy!

The rest of my Halloween crafts are coming together well!! It's getting so close!!!!!! I seriously can't wait to decorate this year! Last year we had so much going on with your wedding and things that we just didn't have the time, nor the supplies, to decorate the house with... I'm so ready this year!!

- Stephanie

A quick update

I did try out the glowing eyes in the bushes last night... It worked out so well!!

I used a pink glow sick, it was so cute! I will away this, if you're really looking for it or if you're looking directly at the eyes you can tell that there's a glow stick in it to emit the light. I would say if you want to place a sheer cloth around the rolls or maybe line the insides to prevent seeing through to the glow sticks for a better appearance.
However if you're casually walking by and just see something out of the corner of your eyes it looks like eyes!!!

Hope everyone has a great Monday!!

- Stephanie

Potions Kit Pt. 2 - Halloween Day 7

You will now have a very stiff, wrinkly piece of paper! Mine took right around two hours to dry, by the way.

And you'll need some scissors for this part as well, and a pen. I'm using a sharpie pen to write my potion names onto the paper.

  

Part One: cut off a good sized piece of your paper. After you cut it start to tear around the edges to make it look old and worn some more. Have some fun with this and make it really uneven around the edges!

This is my first "label" for my potions.

Step Two: You get to have the fun, creative part of naming all your ingredients!! I have found a website that gives a list of all the potions ingredients that were used throughout the Harry Potter books! The website can be found here: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_potion_ingredients

There are some pretty cool names for ingredients here, some that I'd even forgotten about!

Step Three: After you've written your name on your label rub some hot glue onto the back of your label and then place it on your bottle where you see fit! Your result should be a pretty cool, hand-made, potions jar!

I've made a "Dragon's Blood," "Unicorn Hair," and a "Night Shade" so far!

I'm so excited to be able to make he rest of them! I'll post a photo of my whole set together once I'm done with everything!

- Stephanie

Potions Kit Pt. 1 - Halloween Day 6

I'm having to split this one craft up into two segments... There's a good bit to do for it. 

So, Potions Kit Part 1:

I love witches. I was a witch 9/10 times as a kid for Halloween, I LOVE the movie Hocus Pocus, Hermione was always one of my favorite Harry Potter characters... Witches, are cool!

So, naturally I'd want to make a witch's potions kit! I have found one that is so much simpler than most of the others out there. I have seen some that just look way too hard to make, they look too time consuming and are just as good as some of the simpler ones!

You'll need:

1. Empty glass jars

2. Spray paint (I'm using a glossy black... It's only $.98 at Walmart!)

3. A tall bowl, or cup

4. One tea bag

5. Scissors

6. Small paper bag

As you can see I have an assortment of jars here... A wine bottle, pasta sauce jar, and Parmesan cheese jar. I just saved some jars and bottles that ended up having a really neat and different shape to them for this project to make it look really eclectic.

Step One: You'll want to peal off all those pretty labels from your jars!

 I found this on Pinterest... It says some hot water, the Oxi Clean, and then a dash of soap will EASILY remove these!

I just used a hot water/Dawn dish detergent soak and sprayed on (before putting the jars into the bath) some Windex. Mine worked well, I had to very minimal scrubbing to get the last little bits off.

Step Two: Spray paint your jars and bottles! You'll need to really cover those, too. I take mine all outside at once and spray them down then come back in about 15 minutes and spray them again if needed. These are some more that I've already painted.

The wine bottle on the left has a red tint to it if you notice.... It was originally an all red bottle and while spraying it I started to look and noticed how neat it looked, so I only dusted that one. I'm labeling it "Dragon's Blood" in the end!! :)

Step Three: Cut up your paper bag! I kinda butchered mine, oops! :)

But it still works! It doesn't have to be completely together for it to do it's part!

Step Four: Crumple up your bag! I did mine twice to ensure it wrinkled well.

Then place it inside your bowl or cup.

Step Five: Add REALLY hot water to your bowl for the bag to soak in for a little bit! Once the bag has submerged into the water and has started to expand again. Add your tea bag into the mix!

This ages the paper and helps hold those wrinkles, so it looks old and ancient!

I let mine sit in this mix for about five minutes. I made sure to dip the tea bag multiple times to release it into the water for the bag to soak up.

Step Six: Remove your paper bag and lay it flat on a towel or something to dry. I'm not quite sure how long this will take. I'm guessing at least an hour or two! (Which is why this is a two part blog!!)

At this point if you need to paint more jars or something for this project I'd do it now! You'll have plenty of time to do so! :)

That's all the steps I have for you now! My papers are drying and I have to go get ready for a wedding in a few hours!! We'll finish this project tomorrow!!!

- Stephanie

Jar Filled with Memories

I love this idea!! This could be filled with special days to the Zoo, movie dates, family picnics, and other fun family outings... the ideas are limitless!!
And once your kids are old enough to write you could keep it on a desk for everyone to reach and be able to add things to! It could become a fun piece of decor to display within your home.

My husband and I are currently doing this for each other! We have a big fish bowl that we're filling with some of our favorite moments and days from 2013. On New Years Eve we'll spend part of the night opening up all the notes that are in there and re-living those moments with each other as we look forward to the next year!

- Stephanie

Glowing Eyes! - Halloween Day 5

I found this really easy Halloween DIY on Pinterest not too long ago... It looks like it'd be a really fun addition to the outside of your house for Halloween night.
Now... I have not actually made these yet. I was planning on waiting till Halloween to do so, but I'm going to do a test run tomorrow night to see if these eyeballs really can glow at night!

All you need are some glow sticks (red, white, green, or pink should do it), toilet paper rolls, masking tape, and scissors!
Cut out your eyes of choice, tape one end of the toilet paper roll, then break your glow stick. Once it's placed inside the roll tape up the other side so it won't slide back out!
Then find a visible place to set the eyes in your bushes and watch them glow!

I'm really hoping these work!! I was so planning on lining the bushes in our drive way with these. I promise I'll let y'all know whether this works or not late Sunday night!
If you happen to already know whether they do or not drop a comment for everyone to see!

- Stephanie

Sparkly Spider Webs - Halloween Day 4

I found the idea for this on Pinterest... Sparkly webs to display around your home! I thought they were pretty cute!

This is my first one! They are SO easy to make AND your kids can help you or make their own with you!!

You'll need:

1. Elmer's glue bottle(s)
2. Glitter
3. Wax paper

To make these, lay out your wax paper (SHINY SIDE UP!!!). Think of the pattern you want to lay out, then just start to use the glue as your pen or pencil and draw your web! Do it a little thicker than you'd think, it can break once it's all dried.
Once you're done with your drawing start shaking that glitter!! Cover it all up with glitter. You can easily pour excess back into your container, LET THE WHOLE THING DRY BEFORE YOU SHAKE OFF THE GLITTER!!!
After it's dried and you've re-stored the remaining glitter, peel it off. Be careful as you're doing this. I started at the corner of my web and peel it up then started to run my thumb nail up each of the lines to get it off the paper.

I'm thinking of putting some of mine on my door with my wreath to make it a little more fun and then in the corners of doors around the house.
My full webs, circles, I'm placing under pumpkins on tables!
Be creative with yours!! Encourage your kids to use different colors and designs, if they want to! Jocelyn, I think, wants to make a pink one for her room... I'm laying out a lot more paper when we make hers!!

Please enjoy this sparkly craft for Halloween! It's something fun for the kids to get involved in, too (which is always good!) And I LOVE how easy these are to make!!!!

- Stephanie

A Creepy Crawly Halloween Wreath - Halloween Day 3

I have found many similar wreaths like this one for Halloween, but I completely free-handed this one! No help from Pinterest what so ever! I can NOT wait to put this super fun addition to our house up on our door next month when we start to decorate!
I really hope that it creeps some people out when they come to the door and see it!

I, unfortunately, made this over a month ago so I have no tutorial images to share with you all. I will explain how I made this fun wreath as best I can, though!

What you'll need for this project:

1. wreath
2. plastic spiders
3. hot glue gun
4. ribbon
5. spider webbing

I used a hay wreath (bought from Michael's!!). They have three different sizes, I chose the medium sized wreath. I almost bought one that was made out of a similar material as the traditional Christmas wreaths are made out of, only it was black and sparkly! I'm SO glad that I found the hay wreaths... I think it looks more like the spiders took it over while it was "put away."

I also bought all of my spiders from Michael's. I bought two 6 packs of black spiders and then another set of three that could be clipped onto something (a headband, perhaps!). One of those three was larger, so I made her the "queen" and placed her on top.

The webbing is that stuff that everyone uses to decorate doors, windows, and porches and can be found at Michael's, Wal-Mart, K Mart, and probably a few other places around your area.

I started out by cutting a section of the webbing off of the bundle. I started to stretch and stretch that stuff all around my wreath till it covered it and looked realistic. The hay really helps tack the webbing down so I didn't have to do a whole lot of work on keeping it in place.
When I did need some help, I took needles and pinned the webbing down where I needed to come back and glue it in place so as to hold it better.

Once the webbing was stretched and glued, where it needed it, I then wrapped my ribbon around the top of the wreath. I chose that particular one because it went to well with my idea... It's black and sparkly, too!

Then the fun part was placing all my creepy crawlers around their new home!

The one hanging in the middle is doing just that, hanging. I didn't need to glue him. He was pretty stuck once I tried to pull him back out.
I also stuck a really little one on the inside of my wreath, you can barely see him from this photo.

I had so much fun making this! I don't like real spiders, but fake ones are pretty okay in my book.

Here's the full view of it all put together!

I wish you all good luck on your own wreaths, webbed out or not!! :)

- Stephanie

Some Cute Halloween Friends - Halloween Day 2

These super cute and easy Mummies are such a fun addition to your holiday!!

Once completed fill them with your favorite Halloween candies and give them out to your kids! I'm making some for Jocelyn's 4K class and the kids that are in our small group through church!

What you'll need:

 

1. Scissors
2. Hot glue
3. Googly eyes
4. Gauze OR a cheese cloth
5. a Pen or marker
6. An empty and dried water bottle

 Step one is to cut your water bottle in half. I cut mine right under the wrapper. You'll need to leave enough room for trimming it, because the plastic will be sticking out in all sorts of ways. I clean mine up to be nice and smooth all the way around to prevent a little one getting poked and crying!

 Step two is to cover one layer of your cloth all the way around your bottle. Do this so that it looks covered even around the eyes once they're on! I'll also, if I can, put some glue around the inner rim and fold the cloth down over it to cover it up completely! (On a side note: I cut my gauze with fabric scissors! The first one I made was with regular ones and it was pretty frustrating trying to cut it straight and without there being a huge mess on the ends!)

Step three is to place on your eye balls! I'll usually place mine on there to get a good visual for them and then mark the places with a pen or marker to make sure they're on there straight and where I really want them to be.

Step four unroll a section of the cloth, cut it, then start to fold it up length wise to wrap around the bottle. It doesn't have to be perfect, the messier the better... Then it looks more realistic! Once you like the way it's sitting I glue each end of my cloth down, I don't run the glue all the way around because the cloth base helps to hold the wrappings on there everywhere else.

Step five repeat step four till your mummy is covered in his gauze! Mine usually take four layers of gauze to cover them. Three under the eyes and then one above them. I also will "mold" my cloth a little around the eyes to make it look a little spookier and have them half way hidden some times!

Then you're done! And you have an adorable little mummy friend to give out to your kid's class or party! I can't wait until all mine are finished up and filled, ready to be delivered to all the kids that are getting these!!

I'll take a group photo of all of mine once they're ready!!!

I hope you love these cute fellas as much as I do and find them fun to make! And make them your own!! If you have some really cool addition to these guys once you start yours please post your design for everyone else to see! :)

- Stephanie

Flying to Neverland

I found this Neverland inspired dual party here at: http://catchmyparty.com
They split the party into mermaids for the little girls and pirates for the little guys!! How precious and such a clever way to combine the party for two kids to be able to enjoy it equally.

My daughter's birthday isn't until Feb. but I'm starting to look now for themes and she LOVES Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney Jr. This could be a serious contender for her party, with some modifications of my own. I love the idea of the cakes and decorations for the pirate's side of the party!

The first photo is the mermaid's cake... Isn't it gorgeous!?? And that treasure chest is so amazing for the little pirates to dive into!!
The invitations are so cute and then the ship..... I love it! The kids are actually able to sit it while the birthday boy is blowing out his candles.

Please check out more of these super cute photos from this party from a far off place where you never grow up!!
http://catchmyparty.com/parties/neverland-inspired-mermaidpirate

- Stephanie