First Communion Candy Bar Wrappers

One of our Facebook friends asked for some candy bar wrappers for first communion. We obliged.

Click to download these first communion (or baptism) candy bar wrappers,

Vegetable Wordstrip Printable Puzzles

My kids love to do puzzles, so I like to find ways to make them cheaply and also maybe sort of teach them something.  These printable wordstrip puzzles have vegetables on them - they include a riddle about each vegetable and spell out the word as the puzzle comes together.

Make sure to print these on thick paper and then laminate the pieces so that they last longer in the hands of little kids.

Check out our animal wordstrip puzzles too!

Pink and Zebra Cupcake Printables

If you're having a pink and zebra birthday party these cupcake wrappers and toppers are perfect-o.  They come with 3 cupcake wrappers and a sheet of 1.25" circles as toppers.

Six Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

The end of the school year is heading our way and we've really enjoyed our teachers so we want to show our appreciation.  But creative ideas just weren't flowing in the way of teacher appreciation gifts, so I decided to see what other people have done.  These are my six favorite gift ideas:

This is an adorable bucket from Simply Organized.  In the post she even lists what she put inside and how she made it.  My favorite part is that flower pinwheel that apparently only cost a $1.50.

I know this one says "swim teacher" but I like the idea for a regular teacher, and the container and colors are super adorable.  You can get the full tutorial at Lil' Luna.

This is a cute candybar wrapper that sells on etsy.  I really like the look and idea of it - the lined paper is a good touch.

These cards are great, and funny, and are kind of the way I'm leaning.  Then all I have to do is print something instead of taking time to put something together.  Plus, who doesn't love a good giftcard?  You can download the printables for free from Chicka Bug.

This is just a small printable note, a CD sleeve, and some homemade cookies - so easy and cost-effective.  And if there's one thing that I love, it's being lazy and cheap.  You can get see the tutorial and printables at Nothing But Country.

This is a super simple idea, and different than the usual edible treat.  Skip to my Lou has a short tutorial about it, and says that it makes a great last-minute gift (which is they way I tend to do things).


So now, all I have to do is decide which gift idea I'm going to go with....I can't decide.  Which idea is your number one favorite?

Plans

All of the original fish died because our pond water was too clean. That's a thing, I guess. Luckily, when I went back to the pet store (yeah, there's a two week warranty on fish lives) I got to talk to a guy who actually knows about fish instead of the random teenage employee. We got some healthy bacteria something or other, put it in the pond and let it circulate for a week, then we got more fish. But just the cheap goldfish, because that's what the guy TOLD us to do, and so far, so good. Also: we have a lot of goldfish, because I told Troy to get $2 worth of fish, and at ten cents a pop, we have our very own habitat.

In other news, on one of those late nights when I could sleep because my back was hurting so bad, I made a purchase. The problem with late night television is that it's all informercials, and they just make everything look so danged appealing. Add in to that the brain fog that accompanies sleeplessness, and you have a captivated audience that will buy just about anything. At any rate, I now own the Zumba Exhilarate fitness DVD's. I have not tried them or anything, I just wanted to let you know.

I also finally got my office cleaned out, and the mystery pictures put away. I feel very good about not hanging more pictures. I am going to eventually print out some photos of the kids and hang those up, but that day is not today, or possibly even this month. I'm so good at making plans.

Meanwhile, I have a new favorite TV show. Vikings on History Channel. If I have to explain to you why a show about Vikings would be good, then we can't be friends.

Monster Match: Printable Matching Game

Monsters are awesome.  And playing games with monsters - also awesome.  This printable game teaches basic matching skills and turn taking.   Plus, it's just fun to play.

This printable includes:
• 6 different cards (so you can play with a total of 6 players)
• a printable die
• instructions

Disney Princess Party Printables

This download features 12 Disney princesses. You get cupcake toppers and garlands, and this set coordinates with all our Disney Princess printables. This download makes is easy to mix and match so that you can have the party of your little one's dream!

For the other princess printables, click the links below!

Ariel	Aurora	Belle
Cinderella	Pocahontas	Tiana
Jasmine	Merida	Mulan
Rapunzel	Snow White	Sofia

Princess Merida Party Printables

Princess Merida is the download of the day. This freebie includes:

• 5x7 blank cards
• cupcake toppers/favor tags
• cupcake wrappers
• fry box
• 5 inch party circles
• foldable place cards

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Printables

My daughter loves this show.  If you have your own Daniel fan you'll love this free Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood printable party pack. 

It includes:

• 3 cupcake wrappers
• 4 little fry boxes
• 6 tent lables
• a sheet of 1.25" circles

Free Bubble Guppies Party Printables

How awesome is that mermaids are now boy friendly?  We love this show, and hopefully you'll love this Bubble Guppy Printable Party Pack.

It includes:
• 6 tent labels
• 2 small fry boxes
• a sheet of 1.25" circles
• 2 water bottle labels
• 6 cupcake wrappers

MS Relapse

So my whole lower back pain issue? Was an MS relapse.

Which I guess is nice to know, because I didn't realize that that could be an MS thing.

Which means that if it ever happens again, I'll go to the doctor right away and get on some steroids instead of  trying to talk myself out of going to the doctor because "I think I just pulled something."

I am also realizing how little I know about Multiple Sclerosis, and I should probably should do a little more research.

The good thing is that magically, yesterday afternoon, my back just stopped hurting. After a week of wanting to die, it stopped hurting, and I could walk again, and I could lay down, and I didn't feel like I was going to wet my pants anymore. (Yeah, that's a thing too. GO MS!) And I had done NOTHING that would explain why the back pain started, or why it suddenly stopped. And I mean suddenly, and completely STOPPED.

Sunday night, I couldn't even lay in my bed, because it hurt so much. Instead, I fixed myself a spot on the love seat and put pillows behind my back, and under my bottom, and under my knees, and I took a lot of pain pills and anti-inflammatory's, and I just sat there, unable to sleep because my body hurt so bad. The kids were totally on their own for breakfast and getting off to school Monday morning, while I continued to hurt. And then, it just stopped. Which is when I knew that it wasn't a typical back problem, because that's not how things heal. You don't just go from a 10 on a pain scale to a 0 with no intervention. Typically, you get a little better, every day, over time.

It just blows my mind, the way this disease can mimic other health problems. I seriously thought I had a herniated disc or something. I have not felt that kind of pain and pressure since childbirth. It was excruciating, and today, it's just gone.

SO. MS Relapse. I had one. It sucked, big time.

On the plus side, I now have really good pain pills in my medicine cabinet.

Animals Word Strip Puzzles Printable

These printable animal puzzles are lots of fun for little fingers.  Just print them on thick paper and laminate them so that your kids can play with them over and over.  All the cut lines are on the pictures so it's super easy to make the puzzles.  And as your kids are putting the picture together they're also spelling the word.

Life and Death and Cash

I'm thinking my self-diagnosis of a pinched nerve is wrong. This is because despite my best efforts, my back (and the pain in my back) is getting progressively worse.

I'm going to actually go to the actual doctor tomorrow, and actually take care of actual business. This is kinda a big deal, because for a person who has quite a few things "wrong" with her, I avoid the doctor like the plague. I see an MRI in the near future.

Even still, I was 100% planning on going to church today, then I woke up with pink eye. This is how God tells me to do things. He was all, "Girl, you know if you try to go to church today you will die," and I was all, "Yeah, but I can do it," and he was all, "PINK EYE - YOU'RE CONTAGIOUS AND CAN'T BE AROUND CHILDREN," and I'm all "Well played, God, well played."

And now I'm going to consume vast amount of over-the-counter meds and wait for 8am to call the doctor.

OH ALSO: We have implemented a new system in our house. The kids get "Bingham Bucks" They're like real dollars, and the kids can earn them like real dollars, and then trade them in for stuff. Except that they also have to pay for their own stuff. And I don't reimburse lost bucks. And everyone only gets 30 minutes of "tech time" a week, and it costs $1 for each additional 15 minutes, with a maximum purchase of an hour.

So far, so good. To earn extra bucks, the front planting beds got weeded. I pay $1/bag. And the grocery bag has to be FULL of weeds. I also bought back toys. Depending on the toy, I only gave 25 cents or so, so people got rid of some stuff too. Like I said, so far so good with this whole thing.

The kids only get $3 a week, and they have to do their chores and household responsibilities every day. I don't pay people to do things they should be doing anyways. I do pay for extra jobs, like weeding, and cleaning walls and baseboards.

Anyways, the kids got their Bingham Bucks, and we have been working on the yard lately. In the front of our house, we have a little pond feature, and we decided that we wanted to put some fish in there, because that would be fun.

We went to the pet store and everyone got their own fish (the super cheap ones... you know, the eleven cent version?) but they had to pay their Dad and I $2 for the fish, AND the fish food.

Unfortunately, those crappy fish died already, so we've had four fish burials. Daniel's fish was the first to go, and he was very upset. But then when everyone else's fish died, he felt much better, because then NOBODY had  special pet. We like to be fair in all things, you know.

At any rate, tomorrow for family home evening, we're going BACK to the pet store, and we're taking a water sample, and then we'll try to keep our new fish alive for more than a day. (Don't hold your breath)

In a Pinch

Three days later, and I'm almost done with the laundry. Hallelujah. 

I also decided that instead of trying to hang up the remaining pictures in this house, I'll pack them back up and when we move again, I'll worry about it. It gets rid of all sorts of stupid stress and mess. 

I also was not sick... MS or otherwise. I have a pinched nerve in my back, which is making life delightful, and it's getting a little better every day, but really, there's not a whole lot to be done about it. So joyous to have things that can't be fixed immediately. At least I don't have to go up and down stairs at this house. I can be on one floor the whole day. It's like MAGIC. 

Make a Wish Party Printables

I love the idea of pink and green party printables - they just jive well together, I think.  This printable pack features the saying "Make a Wish"  and stars.  It would be great for a birthday part for any age of girl.

This set includes:
• 1 party hat
• 2 water bottle labels
• 3 cupcake wrappers
• 4 tent labels
• a sheet of circle labels

April 8, 2013

The most annoying thing about having MS is that sometimes when I don't feel good, I don't know if it's because I just don't feel good, or if it's because I'm having a relapse. Also, I hate the word relapse, but I think calling it an exacerbation is worse.

At any rate, I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to see if I'm just normal sick, or MS sick, because FRANKLY, I can't tell the difference. It's super obnoxious.

I've been trying to catch up on laundry all day too. I celebrated spring break by boycotting laundry, and now I'm in laundry hell, and life would be better if everyone was a nudist.

(What's the most annoying thing about blogging? Coming up with post titles. Sometimes posts have obvious titles, and the rest of the time, meh.)

Snacks celebrating the number 100

We took this snack to school on the 100the day of school, but it would be great anytime you want to highlight the number 100 in a yummy and fun way.  Our snacks were: 100 Skittles, 100 green grapes, 100 purple grapes and 100 curly herb breadsticks (recipe found here).

I had the glass containers just hanging around, but I had to make the big box -it's one of those massive goldfish cracker boxes with the top cut off.  I just covered the outside in scrapbook paper.  It was amazingly easy and the kids thought it was fab.


Then I cut out the number 100 on some matching scrapbook paper and taped it to some bamboo skewers to put in the containers of snacks.

I love when snacks are easy and fun and can be passed off as a lesson about numbers.

The Koala

I have a problem. Her name is Taylor, and she is five, and she sneaks into my bed every night.... Every stinking one. 

I take her back to bed, to no avail. Last night, I took her back to her own bed three times. Finally, I made a nest for her on the floor so she could be next to me, but not touching me, but it wasn't good enough. We call her "Koala girl" because of the way she hugs me. It is uncomfortable, and it is hot and sweaty, and I have no idea what to do with her. All I know is that today, my body is killing me because I am tired, and my lower back hurts from being kicked all night. 

In other news, the kids go back to school tomorrow, and we are all sorts of excited. My kids like school, and I like that it gives them something to do. Easter to Spring Break to General Conference has led to too much togetherness. I'm all for family time, but I'm also for alone time. And I get to enjoy some much needed alone time tomorrow morning at 7:28 am. Hallelujah. 

Pressure

I like not having any plans for Spring Break. It takes a lot of pressure off of me, and it makes the kids interact with each other more. It's interesting to see who likes who best any given hour.

Also: we got the house all cleaned up. It looks and smells awesome, which is the predominant factor in how I decided if the house is clean. It can be messy, but still clean. Clean means that there's not layers of filth and gunk built up and breeding. Messy means that people live here. Plus, if it's messy clean, it can all be "picked up" really quickly, which is good because sometimes in life you get surprise visitors. (I actually am not a general fan of surprise visitors. I prefer a two minute heads up text or phone call. That way, I can make sure that everyone has on pants.... Pants are our arch nemesis.)

I still haven't heard back from VCU. I think I'm going to register at the local community college, and then if I get in, I'll unregister, but if I don't, then I'm golden.

Also: I have a wicked headache, and it is no fun.

Rapunzel Birthday Freebies

Last but not least, we have RAPUNZEL! Currently, both of my daughters are trying to grow out their hair "like Tangled" so we're very familiar with this movie. In the Rapunzel download, you get:

• 5x7 blank cards
• cupcake toppers/favor tags
• cupcake wrappers
• fry box
• 5 inch party circles
• foldable place cards

Princess Tiana Party Set

Princess Tiana is our Princess of the Day! This printable party set includes: 

• 5x7 blank cards
• cupcake toppers/favor tags
• cupcake wrappers
• fry box
• 5 inch party circles
• foldable place cards

Sleeping Beauty Printables: Princess Aurora

A dream is a wish your heart makes.... and this heart is loving these free Princess Aurora party printables.

Download includes:

• 5x7 blank cards
• cupcake toppers/favor tags
• cupcake wrappers
• fry box
• 5 inch party circles
• foldable place cards

Clear

Everything went great today at my appointment. The surgeon said that everything looked great, and I had no growths, and since this makes 5 years without any further intestinal problems, I'm officially off the watch list and don't have to have anything else done or monitored until I'm 50. Unless of course, I have more problems, but let's all cross our fingers and hope that I don't.

The kids got to spend the night at their friends house, and they had a really good time. They're dog tired though, because it's exhausting to fit a week of spring break fun into one overnight visit.

AND tomorrow we're spring cleaning the house. Dinner is already planned (I love my crock pot) and if the house gets all the way clean, then we'll go somewhere on Friday. I WAS thinking about getting season passes to one of the theme parks around here (we're between Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens) but holy expensive Batman! I am not spending that much money when half of us are still too short to go on half the rides. Also: I am a cheapskate.

Princess Ariel Birthday Party

Who doesn't love the Little Mermaid? Make your birthday special with these Princess Ariel printables. Download includes: 

• 5x7 blank cards
• cupcake toppers/favor tags
• cupcake wrappers
• fry box
• 5 inch party circles
• foldable place cards