Homemade Gifts: How to make DIY personalized cups #CraftForKids

I love giving gifts and I try to make personalized gifts whenever I can. I believe that a personalized gift shows that you put thought and effort into the gift and who doesn’t like to feel like someone cared enough about them to create something specifically for them? I decided to take on a little DIY personalized cup project and see where it took me.

I made a number of these cups for a holiday gift. I created a little family fun night package that included these personalized cups with everyone’s name, DIY Coasters, DVD’s, Games, and Treats {cookies and truffles}. They were a big hit. And although it was a great holiday gift, it would also make a great end of year gift for a teacher, or a birthday gift… or just a fun project to try with the kids. I used inexpensive dollar store reusable water cups that come with a straw, but you could use glass or water bottles too. Have fun with it!

Waddle Waddle #Pregnancy Week 34

I waddle. I like to think that it is more of a sashay, as I do have quite the sense of humor about my pregnancies. But once the rose colored glasses come off I am forced to come to the realization that my walk is no sassy sashay, but a full blown waddle.

How Far Along: 

34 Weeks Pregnant {34 weeks 5 days}

Due Date: 

June 22^nd, 2013

Boy or girl: 

Girl!

Bump Picture: 

I am HUGE!

How I spent my Mother’s Day

I had the best Mother’s Day ever this year! In fact, it was more of a Mother’s Day Weekend. On Saturday we took the boys to Medieval Times in Shamburg IL and they had a blast. On Sunday we spent the morning at Brookfield Zoo, came home mid afternoon and took a nap, grilled out for dinner, and then hit up the Colonial Café for some ice cream. Thought and planning went into the weekend and I appreciate all of the effort! When someone PLANS something, it tells me that they care.

My boys snuggled with me and gave me as many cuddles as I wanted. They held my hand and walked with me through the zoo. They played together without fighting and/or bickering. It was an awesome weekend. The best!

Make a Cheesy Turkey Spinach Omelet! #Recipe

Over the years my tastes have changed. Instead of ordering the country fried steak smothered in gravy that I used to get for breakfast when dining out, I now usually order an omelet of some kind. For a very long time I was afraid to make these in my kitchen… I have no idea why. I guess I thought that they were a lot more complicated than they were.

Let me tell you, making an omelet is not difficult. In fact it is quite easy. I like to make one large omelet for my husband and I to split. Even my kiddos love to eat omelets! The best part about making your own omelets at home is the fact that you can put whatever you want in them, as much or as little as you want. I like to eat mine with a side of salsa and a slice of whole wheat toast!

Baby Trend Inertia Infant Car Seat

Baby Trend has just launched their newest product – the Baby Trend Inertia Car Seat and they offered me a car seat to review! I could not have been more excited about this, as I am expecting baby number three this June. While I still have an infant car seat from my previous children, I also have a sister who is pregnant and without ANY baby gear. So my old infant car seat and travel system are being given to my little sister and I am having a blast playing with my new Inertia infant car seat.

No Fuss Window Must: Window Sensory Bag #CraftForKids

I am always looking for things that my toddler can do to entertain himself throughout the day. I am especially happy when I find something that can occupy both my 4 year old and my 2 year old for longer than 10 minutes. This week has been a bit rainy and I thought I would head over to my bag of tricks and try to come up with an indoor  rainy day activity for my boys.

We took a trip to our dollar store and picked up some beads, glow in the dark toys, and aloe for this little craft. Once home we got busy making our window sensory bag. The boys had fun dumping everything in the bag and they had even more fun with this activity once it was stationed at the window. We call this our No Fuss Window Must Sensory Bag, as it was no fuss to make and no fuss to take down. There was essentially no clean up and it provided hours of entertainment.

Slow moving #Pregnancy Week 33

I take FOREVER to move from one place to the next. Yes, we have reached the stage where I am past waddling and have moved up to full fledge pokiness. Oh my goodness I am getting big. I have been asking my boys to “help” me up whenever I get up from the sitting position {which they love – my big strong boys both totally flex their muscles whenever they do this}. It takes me a lot longer to walk {I use the word walk with humor} from one place to the next. If it wasn’t so funny I would think it was sad. Thank goodness I can laugh at myself.

How Far Along: 

33 Weeks Pregnant {33 weeks 5 days}

Due Date: 

June 22^nd, 2013

Boy or girl: 

Girl!

Bump Picture: 

The bump seems to be growing by leaps and bounds lately.

Sleepy Time

I love it when the boys sleep. As a stay at home mother I look forward to nap time like no other. It is when there is peace a quiet in my home and maybe even a little relaxation. I love my boys and I adore interacting with them throughout the day. The fact that I look forward to nap time does not diminish my love for them. It just means that I am not completely crazy – I need some sanity time too.

Sometimes I sneak in and check on them when they are napping and giggle at the funny positions they seem to get themselves into. They look so peaceful that you would not believe they were just running and screaming throughout the house like mad men. I find it especially humorous when they play so hard they just crash and sleep where they land. I love naptime.

The Best Alfredo Recipe EVER!

I have been playing around with my creamy Alfredo sauce recipe for what seems like forever. This has been a labor of love and one that has taken me quite a while. There has been a lot of tweaking and quite a few times there have been inedible meals… But I have finally perfected this recipe - at least I think it is perfect.

One of the best parts of this recipe is the fact that the Alfredo sauce is creamy without being sticky and the recipe makes enough for a meal tonight and another meal later in the week. I cooked it with chicken for the first meal and then put the remaining sauce in a jar and served it with a seafood medley later in the week. Both were equally delicious and I was happy to know that this recipe reheated well. Can you believe it? 2 meals for the work of 1!

Q-Tip Painting #CraftsForKids

Looking for a new way to explore painting? How about using q-tips? We typically use paintbrushes and stamps and even our fingers to paint, but this was a first for q-tips and I have to say that it went much better than expected. It was less messy and made the materials last much longer than usual, as they were using a smaller instrument to distribute the paint.

I originally thought that q-tip painting was going to be a terrible idea. I figured the kids would either try to eat the paint or stick the paint covered q-tips in their ears. Neither of those things happened –thank goodness!

Starting the countdown #Pregnancy Week 32

Normally I don’t start to countdown to my due date until I am about a month away. But with my sister-in-law giving birth to her beautiful baby girl and most of my girl friends having babies I am more than ready to meet little miss Julia! I am 8 weeks away from my due date and although my home is not ready for the arrival of a new baby {AT ALL} I am very much looking forward to June arriving so that I can hold her in my arms and get baby snuggles.

How Far Along: 

32 Weeks Pregnant {32 weeks 5 days}

Due Date: 

June 22^nd, 2013

Boy or girl: 

Girl!

Bump Picture: 

Running out of room means that baby Julia is kicking and pushing up a storm {especially when I sing with the boys}.

Boys will be boys

My life is filled with constant “boy” things. Pirates, Knights, and Kings are big make believe games we play in our home. But when the weather cooperated and the sun is shining we head outside for some serious fun… I am talking digging for worms and sports.

Although saying sports is exaggerating a bit. We really just like to take out all of the toys and my youngest likes to hoard them. It is comical.

Black Bean Avocado Corn Salsa Recipe

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo is this amazing {yes I said amazing- just try it and tell me you don’t want to eat it by the bowl full. I dare you!} This has become one of my favorite things to eat – as a snack… or a meal! I love it and the fact that it is really darn healthy for you only adds to its awesomeness.

My aunt makes a black bean, corn, and avocado salsa that is out of this world. I swear that she has given me her recipe about a gazillion times and I keep misplacing it! Needless to say, I have been trying to re-create her masterpiece to the best of my ability without the actual recipe. I think I have come pretty close, and even if I have not – I LOVE this salsa and can {and will} eat it by the bowl full.

Complete Pregnancy Fitness Program {Lindsay Brin’s 4 DVD Workout Set} Review

Something that I have come to enjoy over the years is having a fitness routine. I like to change it up and try new things constantly. But no matter what I am doing I AM doing something to stay active and healthy.  I have to in order to keep up with my 4 year-old and my 2 year-old boys. Now that I have a third baby on the way, staying healthy and active is even more important.

With all of my pregnancies I have suffered from morning sickness throughout my first trimester, making any form of exercise all but impossible until the morning sickness subsides. Then once the second trimester hits I am feeling up to exercising, but am having to take things slowly as to regain my strength. I was given the Moms Into Fitness Complete Pregnancy Fitness Program for review and once my second trimester hit I was more than ready to get back into the thick of it.

I started off slowly working on the program a couple days a week until my body adjusted to what I was asking of it. I found these DVD’s to be fun, upbeat, and educational. With my previous pregnancies my only true form of exercise came from keeping up with my classroom and the pre-K kids I taught {pregnancy #1} and keeping up with my toddler {pregnancy #2}. I have found that by exercising throughout this pregnancy I have more energy and am better able to keep up with my children.

Leaping Lizard Brew #CraftsForKids

As a mother of two little boys I find myself constantly digging in the dirt for worms or pretending to be a pirate captain. These activities are all well and good, but can only be done so much before the entertainment factor in them wears thin. So I have been racking my brain trying to think of some fun alternative activities.

While I was never great at the math part of most science experiments, I always enjoyed the wow factor science experiments brought to the table. So while the Chicagoland area has been bombarded with rain I have been working on remembering all the experiments I enjoyed as a child.  I have put together a little list of some fun crafts for the kids that have a little mad scientist feel to them. This should be a fun spring!

The first experiment is something called Leaping Lizard Brew! I saw it for the first time when I was in middle school and I remember thinking, “Oh SNAP! That is so cool!” So I figured my children would have a pretty similar reaction and I was not disappointed.