Holiday Weekend

I hope you all have enjoyed your holiday weekend and remembered to thank those who fight for our freedoms each and every day as well as their families! I have been taking an extra long holiday weekend (my hubby has as had some time off so we're spending time together as a family) but plan to be back the beginning of next week in full force :)

Swifter Refills

When I saw this great idea I had to give it a try! It seemed so simple and yet we spend tons to the swifter refills they have out there! All you do is boil the tip in a pot of water for about 20-30 seconds, then we a rag (to keep you from burning yourself) you twist off the lid! As easy as that!!! Then fill it with whatever solution you have! I used Mr. Clean multi surface (cause that's what I have on hand from a good deal awhile ago) and it seems to be working great and is for floors as well as bathrooms and kitchens! You can make any tip of cleaning solution to put in side then just pop it on and you're ready to go!!

Message in a Bottle

I was remembering back to when we were just newly weds and what I did for our anniversary:) I made a scavenger hunt to all the places we made memories at. Then I went to the DI and found some bottles that look like those ones you would put messages in and send around the world. When he got home we headed out. It was really simple and it was so much fun going down memory lane together to all the places that were meaningful to us. Just to give you an idea of somethings that were on the notes (since I can't seem to find them at this moment)...

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Where we first met was
Where I feel in love with you

Then you'd meet at that place and give him the next clue...and you can take it from there:) Hope you guys have as much with this as we did. It's always a treat going down memory lane

My New Lamp Shade!!

I'm so excited with how this came out!! I love it! I must say though I wasn't liking it when I first started, it just didn't seem cute or right or anything like that! That was when I only had one on, after a few more it really started to grow on me and now I love it!!

This is a time consuming project but it was worth it to me! Thanks to Mama says sew for the great tutorial! She gives great step by step instructions! This project cost me a totally of $2!!! (plus the stand that I got at Ikea awhile ago for maybe around 5 dollars).

Here's the wonderful before lamp shade I picked up at the DI for 2 dollars! Not so pretty but works great!

I put my roses farther apart and then went back and filled in the wholes with smaller roses.

And the finally product!

FHE - Sabbath Day

Last night for family home evening we learning about the importance of the Sabbath Day and what activities are appropriate for Sunday. Here is the guideline for this FHE.

Here are the figures that go with the story. They are each laminated and have magnets on the back.

 Here's the story...

And here's what our jar looks like. This is the one that I grew up with and that my mom handed down to me (as well as all our FHE folders:) )

Some of the activities listed inside are:

~Have your parents help you set some goals. Write you goals down. When you have complete a goal report back to your parents.

~Draw a picture for, or write a note to a friend

~Call Grandma, or Grandpa on the telephone, and visit with them.

~Memorize an Article of Faith each week until all thirteen are memorized

~Go on a nature walk with someone. Talk about the beautiful world Heavenly Father has created for us.

~Look at family pictures

~Go for a walk with your family.

~Tell your family about your primary lesson

~Have someone older read you a scripture story from the scriptures

~Have Mom or Dad tell you a story about one of your ancestors

~Write a letter to your grandparents, draw them a picture, and tell them how much you love them.

~Have someone tell you about when you were a baby. Look at your baby picture. How much have you changed?

~Write a talk

~Fill out a family group sheet

~Write a letter to your mom, tell her ow much you appreciate all she does for you.

~Draw a picture of one of the beautiful things you saw on the way home from church.

~Draw a picture of  temple to remind you that you want to get married in the temple.

~Look at books about the scriptures, and have someone tell you a scripture story.

~Visit a neighbor who is lonely, elderly, or shut-in, and doesn't get out of the house very often, take a card, or fresh flowers to this friend

~Make a puppet out of paper sack. Have a puppet show about always telling the truth

~Write a letter to your favorite missionary

And the list goes on!! There are tons of things we can do on Sunday we sometimes just need a little help thinking of a few!!

German Pancakes

Sorry this didn't make it up yesterday, it was a very busy day for us and we were able to get a lot done! Since we were so busy we resorted to a quick easy dinner - German Pancakes! These are wonderful and easy to pull together!!

German Pancakes

6 eggs

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter (I really don't use that much, I maybe use about 3-4 Tbsp)

In oven, heat butter in 9x13 pan. Whip eggs until lemon colored. Add milk, flour and salt. Pour batter into pan of melted butter. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with cinnamon-sugar, syrup, jam, or fruit. Serve immediately.

Our favorite to top with (well at least mine is cottage cheese and fruit, a great time of year for that!)

Star Gazing!

The spring we got a trampoline for our girls but it's going to be used for more then just jumping...we're going to star gaze on it, just me and my hubby! We're going to place candles around the outside (mosquito repelling kind) pop some popcorn, and watch the stars under a nice blanket with some sparkling cider together! With this great weather it's going to feel perfect outside at night and you really don't need a tramp to watch the stars :)

Lecklace Organizer

So I've loved all the necklace organizers I see on pinterest but the only problem I was having was most my necklaces are long...so I came up with this simple solution!! I put hooks on the side of my night stand!! Then I organized them into blacks, white, silver and gold and then colors! It's been working great for me and keeps them from getting tangled and out of the way!

Liquid Chalk!

This was a fun activity! It's liquid chalk made from 1 cup water and 1 cup cornstarch and food coloring!! We called it paint cause my daughter loves to paint but this way I can wash it off when we're done and don't have to worry about a huge mess!!!!!! (thank goodness) And don't you worry I checked it to make sure it would wash off and I believe it washes off better then chalk itself.


Thanks to Domestic Charm for this wonderful idea!! Check out her blog for some other wonderful ideas!

Spinach Salad

I hope you all enjoyed your Mother's Day as much as I did!! What a relaxing day it was...at least as much as possible :) My family got together for a BBQ and we were incharge of the salad, so my hubby made it! That just tells you how easy it is to throw together (you did a great job hubby:) )!!

Spinach Salad

1 10oz bag of Spinach

1 8oz bag of roman lettuce

Swiss cheese (grated)

2 cans mandarin oranges (drained well)

1 bag romaine noodles (crumbled)

Candied pecans (2 handfuls)

Mix above ingredients together. To make candied pecans - you can have whole or half pecans, 4 Tbsp sugar, cook over medium heat for about 5 mins stirring constantly. Cook just until sugar sticks to the pecans in liquid form. Poor onto plate.

Dressing:

2/3 cup red wine vinegar

2 tsp prepared mustard

1 tsp chopped fine onions

2 tsp poppy seed

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

1 cup light olive oil

Combine all but oil in a bowl, mix well. Slowly add oil in while mixing.

Pour dressing onto salad just before serving or place on the side to add to own plate!

Enjoy this nice spring salad!!

Keep the Cat OUT of the Garden

I seriously have a hard time with cats, I don't hate them I just hate that they love my yard as they're litter box especially my garden beds! So last year I tried everything from leaving a 2 litter out in the garden to turning on the sprinklers every time I saw him out there and planting a No Cat plant from the nursery...nothing worked. So my last resort was chicken coop!! This stuff is great and makes it so the cat can't dig in my garden beds which means no more poop!! I used the plastic stuff (it's near the wire chicken coop stuff at the hardware store) because I can cut out a box for my plants to fit in instead of trying to get all the leaves through one hole which would be nearly impossible!

My New Shout Stain Remover - Home Made

I'm excited that I have finally found something that works as a great stain remover for all our clothes and trust me when I saw if you have kids you will love what this stuff does!

Now the first time I used this stuff I was very impatient and didn't let it sit on there for very long before throwing it in the washer...I highly recommend waiting at least 15-20 minutes. I usually spray as I'm putting in the wash but now I just leave out the stuff that needs spraying and put it in the next load so it has time to sit! (the picture above is one that I didn't let sit but it's worked better on others that I let soak!).

So what is the magic stuff? It's as simple as 2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide to 1 part Dawn. Which means if you do 1/2 cup dish soap you'll do 1 cup Hydrogen Peroxide...Now the sit I read said to use the original dawn blue dish soap...I tried it with that first and yes it works great. Next time I'll be using just whatever I have on hand to see if it really matters :) Let me know if you try it before me and if it works or not!!!

Note: I more recently sprayed half and stain with shout and the other half with this mixture and the mixture did better then shout!! (and it's much cheaper which is wonderful seeing how we have to use it on everything with the two kiddos I have!!!)

The Future

(this is defiantly my dream patio!)

One of mine and my husbands favorite things to do is it drive around looking at nice homes and discussing what we like and don't like on the homes! This is a great conversation piece as well!! So find a nice area around you and start window shopping :) You could even go to the library and find some home builders books and go through them together at home!! One of our favorite places to look at homes is now on Pinterest :) these are for sure dream homes but we love to dream together!!

Binky clips for Soothies!

Would work for other binkies as well!

I am so in love with the new binky clips I made. As some of you might know it's hard to find binky clips that work for the soothie kind, well that's all my kids take so I needed to come up with something that would work...and here they are!

These are easy to pull together in just a few minutes (a great nap time craft to work on!), I cheated and bought the ribbon like that but there are tutorials out there on how to make your own, I used about 1/4 yard. I sewed a loop on one end (I just ribbon cause that's what I had on hand, I think elastic would work great here cause then you don't have to worry about the size of loop). Keep in mind that your loop needs to be big enough to fit the binky through it as well as the ribbon. At the other end I hot glued a clip on that I got at Hobby Lobby (or any craft store would work!). That's it!!! You'll just put your loop through one of the holes and pull the ribbon through it!

To me this is pretty basic but if you'd like pictures to go along with it let me know, I'd be happy to whip up another one:) You can never have too many!!

Link ups:

Prayer - FHE (Perfect for Toddlers)

I really have a love hate relationship with my computer right now but I was finally able to get things worked out so that you can see the images and clink and print on them. Here's what we used for our Family Home Evening lesson last night. My 2 year old loved being apart of the story!! You can print out these figures by just clicking on them. I have them cut out and laminated with a popsicle stick on the back so they're easier to hold up! Then every time you come to an underlines word you hold up the popsicle stick and let them say the word! Hope you enjoy this story as much as we did!!

I also wanted to include this cute saying, it would go great if you had a big teddy lover in your family!

Breakfast Burritos

These breakfast burritos were easy to put together and great for freezing! You can just grab and throw into the microwave for a few minutes and they're ready to go!

All I did was cook the bacon and sausage first (use how much you'd like), then I through in the hash browns (about 1 lb bag) and then cooked the eggs (1 dozen eggs). I mixed all together and filled it in the tortillas ( warm up the tortillas so they're easier to work with, I use a wet paper towel over them to keep them moist in the microwave).

If you plan on freezing them make sure to freeze them separate, I would wrap them in saran wrap first them put them in a zip lock bag! (I learned the hard way!) Enjoy

Date Night at the Course

My Dad will enjoy this date night:) Head to the golf course and hit some balls around. They have the driving range where you could just hit or I enjoy the putting area (which is free to use and you only need one ball!) where we'll pick a hole and have a starting place, then you see who can get to the hole with the least puts. That person receives a point, you keep choosing holes until you're done or reach your goal. You could have the winner decide on a treat to go get or a treat at home!

Challenge!

So today I want to extend a challenge to each of you to find one place in your home that you'd like to organize. Mine is going to be my closet!! It's a mess for sure and I plan (sometime in the near future) on redoing the inside but as for now I am in need of cleaning out old clothes and putting away the winter clothes. So find your space and make it your goal to clean and organize it today! (I suggest a smaller space like a drawer or hall closet so you can actually accomplish it in one day!) Be sure to take before and after pictures to see your great work and to share it here with us!!! (Be sure to add your blog in the comments below so we can all see your great work!!) Good Luck Everyone!!!

Feelings

So yesterday I did Family Home Evening with my little girl (2 years old) and we learned about feelings. I copied this wheel from my mom and just had her color in each face (happy, frightened, tired, angry, surprised, sad) as we talked about the different feelings you can have. We also sang "If You're Happy And You Know It...", we did:

if you're happy and you know it make a smile
if you're sad and you know it make a frown
if you're sleepy and you know it make a yawn
if you're angry and you know it make a scowl

Our Family Home Evenings are usually short but we're putting forth the effort! You could also make sugar cookies and decorate them with faces as your treat for the evening!!

There was this other idea I found online that including reading this book...

I think that would go great along with the feelings theme! So many ideas, so little time:)