Yay! The Christmas season is HERE! I am super excited this year because I get to decorate the new house and E is finally old enough to realize Santa is coming again. We have already decorated the tree but MR. SCROOGE (aka Mark) is procrastinating about putting up some lights.
Last week, we went with some friends to see the COOLEST thing ever. It was a Christmas train! They had about 4 train cars that were decorated inside and out with all things Christmas. IT WAS AWESOME! Well, I loved it at least. E didn't really like waiting in line but he actually sat in Santa's lap without crying. It was a proud moment for mommy!
You can still see the uncertainty in his eyes BUT, he didn't cry. He actually walked away and said "Mom, Santa is a weelly nice guy" "Mom, I think Santa is my new buddy".
JOY!!!!!
Well, I also get to start to work TODAY. I haven't worked in over 2 yrs and E is not to happy about it. I asked him how he felt about mommy going to work like daddy. E said, "NO, you can't go to work. I will throw myself in the fwoor (floor) and cry, cry, cry, cry." Needless to say, I don't want to leave him because Mommy may cry cry cry too.
Here's hoping everything stays calm and the tears are a minimum today.
Today has been a long day. I now have a new appreciation for the House Parents at the village. I love the children there but after being there and volunteering/helping for just about 8 hours, I am exhausted. I know taking care of my child can be tiring on a day with little sleep but having 4-6 other kids at the same time is so much. Especially when the ages differ so greatly, I am so greatful the Lord has sent wonderful house parents to the village to work and care for these kids because honestly I do not think I could do for 10 days straight. I absolutely LOVED having fun with them today, but now I am happy to be able to come home and rest and sleep and only have one little boy to bathe and get to sleep.
After talking to one of the younger ones today, I asked "are you excited for santa to visit you this year?". He gave me a puzzled look and I said, "Is santa going to visit you?" I was astonished at his answer...... "I don't know??? Probably not." Never in my life did I ever wonder if Santa was going to visit me. I always had a Christmas on Christmas morning. It breaks my heart to know someone so small was unsure if Santa was going to visit. I never want my child to have any doubt that he will not get what he needs and even what he wants especially at Christmas. It breaks my heart to realize not all children have the opportunity to experience Christmas morning. I have decided next year we will of course do a 'shoebox' and try to find something better to give to as a family. We will see!
ANYWAY, I love having a 3 yr old. The comments that come out of his mouth are priceless, and even some of mine. Never did I think I would have to get onto someone for LICKING a public window, or chewing on a table pretending to be a dog haha. I also yelled earlier this week, "HEY, get that dinosaur out of my tea" and lied to him saying there was dirty poop on the floor just to get him off the floor of a restaurant, surprisingly it worked, after he asked who's poop of course. The things that come with parenting are unbelievable. His comments tonight were also great. He said, "we need to put a big'ol piece of tape on the moon, that way it will stay in the sky forever and ever". Mark asked "Can you reach it to put it up there?" E said, "NO, but Uncle Baba can fly his airplane up there and do it for me". Of course he loves that Uncle Bobby flys planes and his faith in people is amazing.
Everyone is in our prayers this week because many ppl will be traveling and some may even try to get out and about on Friday (which is just cray-cray). Keep praying for our family as we keep unpacking and try to meet new families. We have already met many great people at a new church we are planning on joining. It is just hard to realize we will not be members of OUR church in Mt. Pleasant with our friends. Hopefully, we can make this church OURS too! Night
As a tradition we make Halloween Cookies and just make breads at Christmas.
SO... Halloween is just right around the corner and you can just guess what we did today.
How to bake with an almost 3 yr old.
Step 1: Pick the best melt in your mouth sugar cookie recipe EVER! Thanks to a super sweet Ms. Nancy Kelly for mine.
Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup conf. sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup wesson oil
1 stick of butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp soda
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
Cream butter, oil and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients. Chill several hours. Form into small balls and press with small water glass dipped in granulated sugar. Bake at 375* for 9-10 mins.
Proberbs 16:24
Step 2: Do what the recipe says. Let "wild man" stir and be excited to make cookies.
Step 3: Instead of us letting it cool and presing it out with a cup. We decided to use our halloween cookie cutters and I let "wild man" stamp some out.
Step 4: Let "wild man" play with it like playdoh.
Step 5: Let him throw half of it on the floor and rake flour and cookie dough off the counter onto you and him.
Step 6: Make him roll the remaining dough that didn't end up on the flour into small balls while he is screaming at you for taking the rest of his cookies and bake them as directed.
Step 7: After cookies are in the oven. Chase him around trying to keep him from putting his cookie dough and flour covered hands all over everything in the house.
Step 8: After being unsuccessful at step 7, hold him down to clean him off and then backtrack throughout the house trying to clean and find everything he touched during the rampage.
Step 9: Pull out your pretty (um.... not really) cookies and sprinkle with yummy halloween colored sprinkles.
Step 10: Enjoy! And allow "wild man" to eat 4 and feed the dog 3. :)
Yes. I love my Halloween placemats that I made last year!
After spending almost 5 days without seeing my sweet boy, I decided we needed some mommy-son time. So, yesterday we went to the zoo. He was so excited and he kept saying he wanted to see the fish.
Im sorry but the FISH.... REALLY!?!? Of all the stinking exhibits and animals at the zoo. THE FISH?!?!? When we got there we went straight to the fish then over to ride the CAMEL!
I am scared to death of heights and that camel was super tall. Needless to say I was FREAKING OUT! Eason rode that stinking camel with a huge smile on his face he loved every second of the day and I loved spending some quality time with the love of my life :)
They have already started decorating for ZOO BOO and E loved the jack-o-lanterns.
E looking at the koi fish.
He obviously missed me because he has not stopped talking for 2 whole days.
Typical E!
God's beautiful creatures.
Me and E notice how scared I am and how happy that boy is. haha
Loved my mommy-son day!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
I just felt like I needed to say....
When I found out I was pregnant, I never knew how much I would be so madly in love with someone like I am in love with my baby boy. The love of a mother and a son is just completely overwhelming. It is so unexplainable how this is and it is exactly how God planned it.
He is my world and I wouldn't change it for anything.
Some times I just watch him and thank the Lord for giving me the greatest gift.
I do not know if anyone has ever tried to take pictures of a small child but I must say.... It is not easy.
Today I decided I was going to try for some fall pictures of lil E. He is turning 3 in just one month and I can't believe how big he is getting. I knew I needed something..... I was really proud because my pictures didn't turn out too bad.
Here are a few of my favs.
mr. serious
really want to blow this up and put it above the fireplace :)
Yes, he was yelling
One of the best.
He depotted our flowers and put it on his head
These are the best... Now I have to find a place to put them which won't be hard in a new house :) ENJOY!
This is probably my favorite month. Perfect weather, pumpkins, and candy :)
We officially have a house that needs some serious painting. Hopefully I will be able to get to it by this weekend.
I have math, history, and english homework that needs to be done by friday and I just started meal planning.
This morning I made home-made granola! It's a little bit crumbly but super delicious and all natural!
ALSO, I stripped the brown out of my hair trying to lighten it because it had gotten too dark. Instead, I know have hair to match the season. It is about the color of a pumpkin. IM OFFICIALLY A GINGER! :) It really isn't too terrible though it is more of a strawberry blonde but I will wait a week and strip it again and use a brass banisher to get some of the orange/red out. Yeah, I color my hair more than I paint my nails.
anyway, hooray for October!
I just found out the children where Mark works have a $17 budget for their food each week. That means if a cottage has 3 kids and 2 houseparents they get $85 a week for 5 people. I don't know about you but we spend about $300 every 2 weeks on groceries. That is about $600 a month and so about $200 per person a month and $50 a week per person. For a family of 3 that is ridiculous! I decided something needs to be done about our grocery bill.
I have a friend who is a meal planner and said she has learned to cut her grocery bill in half. I have tried and it normally lasts a week :) SO... I have decided to start AGAIN and hopefully this time keep it up. I found out that if you try to eat more natural foods you won't buy a lot of junk food that is actually expensive. I'm not saying I am about to become a health nut because PIZZA and chocolate milk are amazing, but I am saying I have decided to buy plain vanilla yogurt instead of the go-gurt. I am not buying poptarts and granola bars but learning to make most things from scratch. SO... kitchen adventures here I come.
I am trying to go to the grocery on the same day every week and spend NO MORE than $100. By deciding ahead of time what the exact breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack will be for each day I can figure out what I need and stay away from everything else. I have started planning for next week and plan to go to the grocery on MONDAY because it is Oct. 1! We are going to have leftovers on Sunday nights, Meatfree Mondays, Temptation Tuesdays (the only night we will have desserts), and make an easy recipe on Fridays, like a pizza, hamburgers, breakfast for dinner, or something else that doesn't take much time or thought. :)
I am also going to try to stick to buying more produce and staying away from the middle aisles because they have the expensive, unhealthy goodies that I love so much....tee-hee. Here is the weekly planner I am using and I just printed a big calendar to write notes on and kind of have an idea of what I already made or want to make for the month.
I got a great idea from a fellow blogger on how to organize recipes. I know I print recipes off of pinterest and I even get the Rachael Ray Magazine and this is great way to declutter everything and actually USE the recipes. You can find that link
Well... It is official! As of tomorrow we will sign our names to about 4000 places and become homeowners. It has taken well over 6 months and some long drawn-out weeks to finally have a place to call ours. Mark has been working a in Meridian for almost 3 months now and I have had to be at home alone for most weeks. Having a two-year old all to myself with not even a small break to shower has been (how do I say this nicely) um.... difficult. :) E has been trying to give up napping these past months and I really don't think I am ready.
We will finally be moving into our house in about 3 weeks. Hopefully, this house was built in 1988. It has had absolutely NOOO updating or anything so that is where I get to jump in.
We have always lived rent free and so my job as the wife and stay at home mom is to now find extra money to pay for things with and at the same time be able to make our home OURS! We start next week by putting a brand new roof and carpet all throughout and hopefully painting a few rooms :)
Let me just explain, this home was a foreclosed home. It has NO gutters, the roof is about 15 years old. Almost all the doors have holes in them like someone punched it. It is completely cedar and some siding is rotting.There is a creepy steeple thing haha. The lights (if there are any) are all hanging by wires. The cabinets look like they were from the 70s and the carpet is DISGUSTING and I absolutely LOVE IT!!! :)
We have a guest bedroom and french doors out to the fenced in backyard. In the best school district in Meridian, MS (even though that is not saying much, the schools are awful) We are within a walking distance from a neighbor. NEVER IN MY LIFE have I been within walking distance of a neighbor. My son can actually trick-or-treat! The excitement is completely overwhelming. I will be posting some dos and don'ts of home renovations soon and also some awesome before and afters so GET READY! This is going to be fun a $4 budget ha.
Here is the official picture taken by the inspector.
Eason is so excited he calls it, "my house with the steps and my room up the steps and it will have my toys and bed UPSTAIRS".
This is from a corner of the back yard
The drive-way :)
THE WORST KITCHEN CABINETS EVER! :) and not to add... but some pretty rough wallpaper also ha.
I can't wait to get started on this! I told Mark I have about 30 years to make it just how I want it. WISH US LUCK!
HI. I am just thinking today. Cleaning house and eating :) Healthy at least. So let me be RANDOM today.
RANDOM THOUGHT THURSDAY!
1. First off, It's stinking August! Where has the year gone? I can't believe school is about to start back.
2. I really have to learn to watch my mouth around my 2 yr old. He keeps saying he has a "FEEKIN BOO-BOO". I know he means freaking because I say it ALL the time. It actually sounds terrible coming out of his little mouth, so I have got to watch what I say.
3. I got up at 6:30 this AM and ran. I pushed E in a regular stroller and the poor kid was bouncing all over the place on the gravel. It was hilarious. I usually like to run in the mornings but can never get myself up out of bed to actually do it. I really need to start though it felt great! I feel great today because of it, even though I'm not a fast/distance runner. I started doing the couch to 5K workout and I am on week 4 and it actually works.
4. Mark has been gone since early Monday morning and I'm ready for him to come home. It is pretty boring and lonely here with just me and E. BUT, at least the house is really clean :)
5. I am counting calories. I love weight watchers but ever since they moved me down to 23 points a day I haven't been able to do it without going over EVERYDAY. So, I am running and just watching what I eat and the calories I take in. I realize I eat A LOT from about 2-4 and then 8-10. I am having some problems not snacking during those hours so it is being a small struggle. But I found this awesome app/website that is free and EASY, which is what I need. Try --> IT <-- out.
6. Friday night I am having a slumber party at my house :-/. What am I thinking? I am letting the youth girls come over and trash out my apartment. Hopefully, they will be calm and this is going to be my last HOORAH with them. I will miss them terribly when I move. I love my girls.
7. I want a dog! No, a puppy. Eason and I went and looked at the puppy corral the other day just to see what kind we should be looking into. I want a smaller dog that is STURDY. I looked at a schnauzer and got him out to play with him and he was so cute and jumpy. Eason was so excited and loved throwing the ball to him and then all of the sudden. THAT DOG started HUMPING my baby boy. OMGSH! Everytime I tried to pull it off of E it would turn around and start going at it on MY arm, so I would shake it off me and it would run over back to E. Mark just stood there laughing. UGHHH!!!! Anyway, after that we decided the PUG was the way to go. :) I love Cujo the pug that I grew up with and E does too. She has always been nice and not too much to handle but she is sturdy enough to handle being squeezed by a two year old haha. So tomorrow I am going to look at some and I CAN'T wait!
8. GO USA! I love the olympics and gymnastics is probably the best thing to watch. Did anyone else see that little USA Mckayla's vault. It was unbelievable! When she stuck it they zoomed on the judges faces and their mouths were wide open! WOW! I'm proud to be an American. And we have some Amazing looking swimming boys :)
YES PLEASE!!!
9. I really want to go see the new Batman movie. It looks great! Hopefully Mark and I can go this weekend.
Geez, that is enough randomness for the day. :) Hope it was enough!
Good Morning!!! It's MONDAY.... ugh. My husband has left for his job this morning at about 7 and he will be there till Friday about lunch. I really don't like him staying there all week but it sure beats him having to drive 4 hours one way. It normally doesn't bother me because I know as soon as we close on our house he will be here more often but, today is our anniversary. :) We have been married for TWO whole years today. At exactly 4, (which is about 20 more mins), two years ago I was walking down the LONG boardwalk with my daddy to the sand where my family and future husband were waiting.
Kissing my daddy.
Happy Anniversary
Anyway, I decided to get a little crafty and try some of the things I found on PINTEREST. I love that website :) SO... Here is what I did today. OK... I have been slowly trying to potty train my 2 year old for a few months. We will try it for about 2 days and then give up. I just don't feel like he is ready. I bought some training pants which I thought with the extra padding it wouldn't leak through but I was wrong. I dunno if it is boys or if every little kid pees as much as mine does but those things are just as bad when he pees in regular undies without padding. anyway I decided I needed to BULK these suckers up so we could actually use them.
Has anyone ever seen these things?? Look how huge the blue waterproof one is. It is actually a 2T and the white one is a 3T. WHAT??? The blue one on Eason comes all the way up to his chest and it balloons out making his butt HUGE. He just giggles when he puts them on and we will NEVER use them. It makes me sad to waste money so, I found how to make training pants on PINTEREST . <--That takes you to the page. I used her idea on how to make a pattern.
I used E's old receiving blankets as my interior cloth. We had at least 40 of those things and he didn't even use a lot of them, so it didn't bother me to use them.
I folded one and used the pattern to cut it out. It is about 4 layers of flannel cloth.
It kind of looks like a soaker that you put in a cloth diaper. *yes I made some of those last year* Just pin it and sew it to the inside of some training pants.
Now, here is where the GIANT waterproof trainers fit in. :) If you just pull them at the seams the would just come right off. The tutorial I used said use PUL. It is an awesome type of fabric that I used for my cloth diapers last year. So I have some left over but I wanted to use these things up first.
Then you use your pattern that you made to cut out a water proof patch and sew it on the front of your trainers.
EASY HUH.. Now we will use these for sure. I know they will be perfect for long car trips and overnight.
I feel very productive today. I started my diet yesterday. I have not had a cigarette in 2 days. I am FINALLY blogging and sewing again. My bathrooms are Sparkling and I re-arranged my furniture in the living room :) I feel like wonder woman after all that today.
Today, I got up real early and I am trying to keep myself busy so I dont want a cigarette. SO, I have to keep my hands busy which is why I have been cleaning and sewing. I made E a new shirt. It was super easy. I bought him a pack of the little white undershirts a while back so today I appliqued a cute TIE onto one. Just make and cut out a little tie. Heat it with the iron, stick that sticky back on it and SEW AWAY. I can post pics in a little bit.
I also made us a dry erase board. I took an old picture frame and wrapped some cute cloth around it then I took a big piece of tulle and tied it in a bow in one corner because I didn't feel like wrapping anymore corners haha. I just put a piece of white paper in it and we can write on it with dry erase markers. Eason has already colored all over it and loved how he could just wipe it away when he was done. But it looks nice enough to leave little notes on it and keep it out. Not just a toy for E.
I made a tank top bag and I can post the link I found it on pinterest and I had a tank I NEVER wore just hanging out in the bottom of my drawer so I decided I would make it into a bag. I dont need a new bag but it wont hurt :)
Super Fun Day being creative. Can't wait to start back to school in a few weeks and actually have something to do when Mark is gone.
Here is our family quote for the day on the new dry erase board. It has to do with our bible study E and I did this morning about friendships. Like David and Jonathan's
AND here is the shirt I made. No he is NOT asleep! I had to hold him down and told him to say cheese but he is actually yelling NOOO in this picture. ha
Today My father in law, Shelby, had surgery. He has had prostate problems for 2 years now and I told him he needed to go get it checked (Weird conversation to have with your father in law btw) and finally after two years his prostate swelled so bad that he couldn't pee for a 3 days. He was rushed to the emergency room and they told him this. I told him 2 years ago!!!! Anyway he has had a catheter for at least 8 weeks now and finally had his surgery this morning. I am so happy that he is already starting to recover. He seems so much calmer and happier. (that may be the meds hes on though) He is doing fine and thank you all who have had him in your prayers. Keep it up because he still has a tough recovery.
I am also thankful that my friend Jordan who has waited about 3 years for kidney. Got her kidney today! Im not sure how she is doing because no facebook updates have been posted but she and her donor our in my prayers for their speedy recovery. I remember cheering with this little girl in high-school and her sweet personality it amazes me that someone like her would have to put up with all the troubles she has had and she is a super strong person for it. :)
I also need yall to keep my best friend Stella in your prayers, her sweet boyfriend of 3 years just left for Afghanistan this week. She is handling it better than I am. haha I want to be with her all the time and just hug her until he comes back but she is doing great. Just keep all of our service men in your prayers especially this 4th of July.
ANYWAY, thanks for listening to my prayer request now I must rant. I hate house hunting. I feel like that is all I talk about now and we have put contracts on 3 different houses and something always comes up to where we can't get the house. We were supposed to be out of our apartment on the 2nd. (Yeah I know, Yesterday) and we still have no place to go. We are luckily able to stay here until we find a place but I start school the 2nd week in Aug. and Mark is driving 3 1/2 hours to work and 3 1/2 back everyday. I keep telling myself that God will show us our house and we won't have to jump through hoops or struggle to even figure how to afford it. God will say here it is and this is it!! And we will know it..... Well, that hasn't happened yet. We are homeless, and I'm getting sick of waiting. My patience is starting to run out. So I have been looking up scripture about patience for the past few days trying to calm myself down. It's not that I am mad it's just that I am tired of driving all over the place and looking at houses Im ready to move in.
I also was told by some family members that I need to potty train E. He is over 2 1/2 and I still don't think he understands it. He knows that he pees but not that he HAS to. I know it's complicated. I didn't want to potty train until we got in our new house but we don't even have one so, that is out of the question. If anyone has ANY advice about potty training PLEASE, don't tell me just come to my house and do it for me! JUST KIDDING! Any help would be great. That is about it for the day I am home alone with E tonight because Mark is staying the night at the hospital to give his poor mom a break. :) I'm gonna sleep great tonight hahaha
I had a moment at church today where a small boy from my sunday school class came and asked me a question. He asked, "Jesus is God's Son, right?" I said "Yes" Then he asked "Well, I am God's son too. Because aren't we all one big family of Christians? Which would make me Jesus brother?"
Thinking to myself, how I could answer this question so a first grader could understand. I finally said, "Yes but Jesus is His one true Son and we as christians are adopted into His family." "So YES, we are God's children but not really Jesus' brothers and sisters." He shook his head like he understood and walked away content with my answer.
This shocked me in so many ways...
1. This little boy actually asked a question I had never thought about.
2. I felt honored that someone would actually come to me with a question about the Lord. I don't view myself as a very mature Christian because I have sinned a lot and know I am no where near where I should be. But to have someone think to ask ME and not my husband (the youth minister) or even the preacher who is very easy to talk to and knows all the children at the church. I was actually HONORED to answer his question.
3. The fact that a little boy understood enough to ask a question like this, Yes it was not a difficult question but he understood how we are actually members of one large family in Christ. It made me think of the verse
Matthew 18:3 "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
Childlike Faith, What simplicity! He accepted everything I said he accepts that he is a child of God with ease. I need this type of faith, like a little child that doesn't have to understand ALL the minute details and worry about things I can't change. This little boy made me realize that I should not worry and accept everything the Lord has told me and tried to tell me over the past couple years. I need to understand and accept that he has forgiven me for my past sins and that I can move on. It's that simple!! I am not meant to forget because how would I learn from my mistakes if I don't remember them. It makes it ok that I can't forget about what I have done. It's simple, He forgave me for them and now I need to use them to further my walk with him and lead others to realize how SIMPLE it is. So I want to let everyone know how thankful I am for my Lord Savior and his forgiveness. He is Amazing!
Wow. What a week! I was the head teacher this week for preschool VBS. It was some serious stuff. I had an average of 14 preschoolers every day this week thursday we had 16. When I say preschool I mean 3-5 yr olds. :) That is a huge age difference but it was fun. I realized it can be difficult to get and maintain their attention especially for a couple of them. I am exhausted, I came home yesterday and took a 3 hour nap and it was glorious. I also had my own baby boy in my class and that made it difficult because he didn't really want me to teach the other kids because I am "HIS MAMA". I do believe that kids are walking germs because I haven't been sick in over a year and today, I can't even breathe out of my nose and Im sneezing like crazy!
BEWARE MAY BE TMI! Today was also a first for me because one of my preschoolers had "an accident". One little one came out of the bath room and said, "I had a bad poop and I left a mark on the toilet". I was thinking oh it was a streak I can just flush it and it will go down. I opened the door and it was like..... On dumb and dumberer when Bob Sagget opened the door to the bathroom and Loyd had put melted chocolate all over the walls and toilet and windows. Except there was actual poop EVERYWHERE!!!! I don't know how a little person like that could get it all over the place like she did but OMGSH! I ran out of the room trying to find gloves and clorox and anything else.
Anyway, I have also come to realize that house hunting is not for the faint. :) It takes time and commitment and some serious driving. We found the perfect house but we are having to JUMP literally JUMP through hoops to get it and it just doesn't feel like the Lord wants us at this place. I feel like He would make it happen and we wouldn't be struggling and trying to get loans that aren't working out. BUT, I feel like He is looking at us saying "HEY, I already gave you a house, I offered you a house and why are you trying to find another one". When I say he has already offered us one it is because we had a friend offer us a house for free and we just pay utilities. It is her mother's home and her mother is in a assisted living facility. We just wanted OUR house. One that we will OWN!! But the Lord will provide and He will provide what we NEED and maybe not what we exactly want.
It is just taking me a while to understand and accept this fact. I want what I want, I want God to give me what I want not what I need, I guess it is because I feel like I NEED what I want. It is just hard to wrap my brain around and not be so selfish. I realize I am a selfish person and need to just accept what God gives me and be content and happy with it, because everything is a blessing from Him.
Keep us and the kids in your prayers next week as we host youth camp for the last time and as we try to find our home and get adjusted to moving away from our family and friends for a wonderful ministry.
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
I just wanted to let yall know we are super busy this week with VBS and putting our first contract on a house :) It is so exciting and I have had very little time to post anything. I do know I have found my calling as a teacher and believe that the Lord is trying to show me that, that is what he wants me to do. I love every minute of it but I don't see how teachers do it ALL DAY. I have these preschoolers from 8-12 and I'm exhausted. God Bless the teachers. :) Anyway I will post later with all of the fun things we have been doing.
Hey I wanted to share what I did yesterday. It was super easy and you can do it with pretty much ANYTHING! I got the idea from pinterest except they were doing it with a mirror. I'm sure it would be beautiful but I honestly have no place to put a mirror right now. SO.... Here's my time out chair. :) E is 2 1/2 and so we have a time out chair. It was an old ratty brown chair that someone donated to the village (a LONG time ago). It also had some "pictures" drawn on it that really were not good to have on a toddlers chair. (You know what I mean) Anyway, so I told Mark I wanted to spray paint E's chair. He just laughed and said alright whatever you want.
Here is the "before".
First, I figured out where I wanted my letters and spray-painted it white. I knew I was going to paint over most of the white so I didn't have to make it perfect.
After it dried (Make sure it is completely dry, you don't want to pull of any paint), I put my stickers on it. I didn't want it to be straight because I feel like crooked letters made it look more childish and I probably couldn't get it completely straight if I tried. I used stickers from the scrap booking that I had sitting around.
Finally, you get to paint it WHATEVER color you want. I just used spray paint. Leave your stickers on and just paint over them. Then, when it dries CAREFULLY peel your stickers off.
TA-DA!!! How stinking easy was that! I'm sure you can use this for classroom signs and just about anything. Your letters always look amazing! :)
