Halloween Milk Jug Ghost Lights

Now that it is getting closer to Halloween, there are so many cool crafts you can do.  One of my favorites are Milk Jug Ghost Lights. 

Image from Easy Crafts Wiki.

For this project, you need empty milk jugs (a lot of them), a black marker, scissors, and a string of lights. 

1. Take the empty milk jugs and draw faces on them with a black marker.
2. Then, cut a hole in the back of each jug.
3. Take the strand (or strands) of lights and put a few lights in each jug.
4. Ta-da!

On Pinterest, many people have used clear lights.  To be more festive, I decided to use orange lights. I thought they looked even "spookier" than the ones on Pinterest.  My husband thinks the faces look like those ghosts on PacMan :)

William's First Birthday: The Hungry Caterpillar

For my son's first birthday, I took a little inspiration from Pinterest and decided to throw a Hungry Caterpillar party.

The Hungry Caterpillar book by Eric Carle has a fantastic color palette (primary colors).  I covered our art (above) in wrapping paper from Michaels.  Then, I taped a paper bunting banner from Party City on the front of it.  The chalkboard sign came from Hobby Lobby.  I took paper plates in red and green to make the caterpillar.  I used cardboard paper to create the face and legs of the caterpillar.

Now, to the part that we all love.... the food!  In the book, the caterpillar eats a LOT of things, and eventually becomes a butterfly.  We served the same foods.

Strawberries.... oranges.... apples.... sausages.... lollipops.... pears.... pie.... cupcakes.... pickles....

Yumm!

We even poked holes through our strawberries to make it look like a caterpillar had been there.  We used a straw for that little extra :)

Our "sausages" ended up being pigs-in-a-blanket.  Yumm!

Oh, and to get into the "caterpillar" spirit, we also served grapes on a skewer that looked like caterpillars, sour gummy worms, and the cake was in the shape of a caterpillar.

Our little boy had a wonderful time. 

PS: I printed the food labels from Polka Dots and Puppies, available here. 

Tank Top Organization

I recently pinned a cute idea on Pinterest where someone had organized their tanks in their closet like this:

My mom immediately re-pinned it, and told me over the phone -- "I am going to do that tank top organization thing you pinned."

My mom has a lot of tank tops.  Like probably 40 (not kidding).  So, when I visited her this summer, she wanted to go buy some shower curtain rings.

We bought two packs (they are $1 for packs of 10 at Walmart).

She grabbed some hangers..... and.... well, it didn't work that well at first.  While we would start them out looking like this:

They would end up looking like this:

 Here's what we can tell you about this cool idea.  First, plastic hangers don't work that well for this.  If you put any type of weight on the hangers, they will sag in the middle (and possibly break depending on how many tanks you have).  On some of the rings, we have one tank, and on others we put two.  

Plastic hangers also are very likely to tilt to one side (as you see above). 

To get around these issues, we bought a better hanger.  This is a hanger designed for scarves.  We took it and arranged our tanks on it with shower curtain rings.  It works great and is easier to have level in your closet.

Have any of you tried this organization idea?  How did it work for you?

Rainy Day Activities -- Pop Bottle Bowling and Playing in the Rain

I live in Texas, and recently we had multiple warnings about a tropical storm that was moving through the area (Bill).  Due to the weather they thought we would experience, daycare was cancelled that day -- so I kept both my kids home.

Those with kids will tell you that when you keep kids home for an extended period of time, they become like caged animals -- constantly seeking for a way to escape.  Each time the door would open, my son would jump up and run like he was a contestant on the Amazing Race.

Here are two ways I kept my two (ages 1 and 4) entertained that day.


Pop Bottle Bowling

My son loves to knock things over.  My daughter likes building things with blocks -- and it never fails that as soon as she completes some cool sculpture, he runs in the room and attacks.

Since I drink Mountain Dew like it is going out of style, I have many empty bottles in our recycling.  I grabbed a few and set up a game of bowling. 

This was a perfect game for my two -- she got to set up the pins, and he got to knock them over.

Now I will say that after a few times, she got really annoyed that all he wanted to do was knock down the pins with his hands instead of the ball.

Here are a couple pics of my son getting into the action:

"No William, you drink from the other end!"

 Drawing in the Rain

Since it was raining all day, and my daughter loves to color, I decided -- why not just let her color in the rain.  We grabbed some sidewalk chalk, put a raincoat on her, and voila!  The chalk colors are always more vibrant when they are used on surfaces that are wet.  Here's a pic of her from that day:

Both of these activities were great for passing the time and keeping the kids entertained while being cooped up in the house all day. 

How do you keep your kids entertained when it rains?  Feel free to post some ideas below. 
 

Blue Dawn is a Lifesaver!

I'm sure you have all been there.  You know the scene.  You are cooking in your kitchen and making pasta.  The stove gets a little too hot and some sauce ends up on your shirt.  ARRRGH!  Now your shirt is ruined!

Or is it?

Ok, for years when I would get little grease stains on my clothes, I would try to treat them with Shout, which would sometimes work, and eventually donate them or trash them depending on how bad the stains were.

I tell my husband to remove his work shirts before he has Italian food with us :)

Then about three years ago, I started buying Matilda Jane clothes for my little girl.  She has been known to dirty up her MJ.  For those of you that own this brand - you also know that it is a little expensive (compared to Carter's) and so taking care of it and making sure it doesn't get ruined is important.  At the same time though, I'm a firm believer in letting my kids get dirty and be kids!

I joined a bunch of mom groups on Facebook and a few ladies mentioned getting "blue dawn" to get out stains like that.  I had no clue what they were talking about.  It sounded like a fancy detergent.  WRONG!  They literally meant the blue Dawn dish soap.

I've been using the stuff for years now and it actually does work!  There's something about the fact that it works on removing oil from pots and pans -- it does the same for your clothes.  Here's a pic of me using some this afternoon.

All you have to do is apply it directly to the stains -- and then wash the items like you normally would.  That's that!  No more freaking out when pasta sauce gets on your shirts.  Let kids be kids... and let husbands be husbands :)

Samantha's 4th Birthday: A Royal Event

For Samantha's 4th birthday, she asked if we could have a princess themed party.  She never asked for a specific princess.  Unlike a bunch of other little girls who swoon over either Elsa or Anna, she doesn't really have a favorite.  Instead, she wanted a party with lots of princess details.  I immediately turned to Pinterest for inspiration. 


Here were some of the party details...


We had a dress-themed cake.  I liked the one that was pinned from this blog.  Here's my adaptation :)

My little girl helped with a lot of the food :)

We made "Princess Popcorn" which we ended up calling "Pocahontas Popcorn."   All you need to make princess popcorn is (1) popcorn, (2) pink chocolate or white chocolate with red food coloring, and (3) sprinkles.  Here is where we found the recipe. 

We also made "Princess Chex Mix" which we decided to call "Cinderella Chex Mix." All you need for this Chex party mix is Chex cereal, white chocolate, and sprinkles. 

We also had "Snow White's Not So Poison Apples" and "Ariels Fish Friends." 

One of our family members, Alyssa, also made rice krispy fairy wands for the party.  They turned out fantastic!  

Since we had a princess party, everyone needed a little bling.  We decided to have a "Sparkle Station" where everyone could pick up a necklace, bracelet, ring, wand, and crown.

I loved making the fairy crowns!

My daughter had a wonderful time!  I hope this has given you a little inspiration for your little princesses. 

~Princess Heather~

Teacher Appreciation Ideas

Each year for Teacher Appreciation Week, we do something special for my children's daycare teachers.  Last year, we took some pampering items (lotion, makeup, candles) and put them in a mason jar.  We then attached these cute labels that I found on Pinterest.

Let me just say -- teachers appreciate any little thing that you do.  Teachers love something creative that you have found on Pinterest, or even a simple thank you card!  As my college students will tell you -- all it takes is a Mountain Dew to make my semester brighter! :)

This year, I looked around again for a cute idea, but I decided that gift cards are a better option :)  I may never do anything else again.  I found this awesome free printable from Chickabug. Check it out!