A Birthday Party! Hooray!

Well, I'm officially a Stepmom to a 9 year old! Last week we celebrated Dylan's Birthday.  It seems like just yesterday the little monster was calling me "Doda" and teaching me what my life would be like when I had kids of my own.We've been through hell and back with him, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

 Recently I introduced the kids to Harry Potter. It's been a love/obsession of mine for a while and I couldn't wait for them to be old enough to watch them without being afraid. Dylan instantly fell in love. I'm proud to say he officially has my obsession. I beam with pride whenever the kids run around with their wands and spell books, casting spells on each other.

I knew right away that we would have to make it a Harry Potter birthday. We ordered a cake from Walmart (which I will never do again, but that's another post) and I got started on making him a Deathly Hollows Pinata.

 We had some very good friends over for a BBQ, cake and fun! The Pinata was a huge hit, but really, who doesn't like hitting things and receiving candy for it? Surprisingly for a homemade pinata that thing held up really well! Although I think David had the most fun spinning the kids around and raising/lowering the Pinata.

 Yay for Candy!!!

Our friends brought over the new puppy they had gotten that morning, which I proudly named. Stella. She's just the cutest thing! I'm pretty sure our dogs head is bigger then her! I was terrified that someone was going to crush her, but she made it through the night. Tired, but unharmed.

 The next morning, Dylan had to go back to his Mom's for the day. Bright and early I woke David up to go cover his bed and floor with balloons while he was sleeping. He woke up pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately I had forgot that my camera lens was on manual focus and I'm not awake enough to think that early in the morning, so the pictures are blurry. Oh well...blame it on the lack of coffee.

 We also made The Best Birthday Cake. Ever. A big ol pile of donuts with a candle on top. I would like to wake up every morning to this. Cough. Cough. David. Cough. Cough.

All in all it was a great birthday. I'm pretty sure the smile says it all. I'm so lucky to be a part of this Monsters life!

Just Me.

Hey guess what? It's been a while. Are you surprised?  I seem to be on this blog for a few month, take a few off, schedule. Maybe someday I'll consistently blog...but let's not get excited here. I haven't made any promises yet.

I don't have anything exciting to post today. Unless you count random, pointless facts about me exciting. Which obviously you should. 

This is my "start slow and see if we can get this going again" blog. Some random facts with be realllly random. Some will be WTF?? facts. Some will be deep. All will be awesome. Enjoy. 

1.) I love those plastic tumblers with straws. The adult "sippy" cup. Those things rock...and I collect them like a stamp collector collects stamps. Does anyone collect stamps anymore?  P.S. I actually have the cup pictured below...and I loves it.

2.) Whatever anyone thinks, I do not cheat at Words With Friends. Yes, some of my words are random and are things you've never heard of. I don't look them up, I randomly put letters in and pray they make something. It usually works. 35 points? Yes, please.

 

3.) I ramble and mumble and say lots of stuff that doesn't make sense. I also say a lot of things that I was thinking and probably shouldn't have said.  All. Day. Long.

4.) If I'm really confortable with you, I'm crazy and goofy as hell. If I don't act crazy or goofy, I'm not comfortable with you. 

5.) Being unorganized makes me extremely anxious. I'm on a never ending mission on organizing things in my house. The only problem is, I can never find anything when I need it. 

6.) Just because I'm not serious very often, doesn't mean I'm stupid. I'm actually pretty smart when I want or need to be, it's just not needed that often. 

7.) I will never turn down a baked good. Cookies? Of course, I'll take 8. Cupcakes? Yes, please. I'll take that one with the extra frosting...oh and that one...oh hell that one too. 

8.) I'm the most indecisive person you will ever meet. Seriously. I need an assistant with the sole purpose of making decisions for me.

9.) I will make fun of you. 

10.) This face...

 is the best face. Ever. 

10.) I never think I can do as good at anything as I actually can do. I am my own worst critic. 

11.) I like walks. Especially in nature. David hates them. Sigh. He sucks. 

12.) I worry more about what people think than I really should. 

13.) I read myself to sleep every night. 

14.) I collect snowbabies. I want all 80 million of them. Or whatever the count is. I especially like the ones with penguins.

15.) I freaking love penguins. I want one...or 6. Just a small family of penguins in my freezer would make me happy. I'd have to get a bigger freezer though...

  16.) I don't follow trends. I like what I like and that's that. I'm not the most fashionable person and I'm ok with that. I actually don't understand half of the trends out there at any given time. I'm actually pretty anti-trend. I've been known to stop liking something the minute it becomes too popular because it starts to annoy me.

17.) I get bored and fidgety extremely quick. Like 2.3 seconds quick. This has actually taken me a lot longer to write (going on almost 2 hours!) because I've bounced from this to facebook, to pinterest, to random shit on the internet. 

18.) I'm running out of random things to tell you. Mainly because I'm bored with talking about myself. 

At that note, I'll end this shenanigans and let you carry on with your day. Farewell!

Map Necklaces

 We all have that favorite city. Whether it be the town we grew up in, the town we live in, our favorite vacation spot or the town you found love in, you have it.

 This is the perfect way to keep it close to you and show it off. 

 You would be surprised at how hard it is to find an actual map with all the fancy electronics out there now but I finally found one, at the bookstore of all things.

 If you don't want to deal with buying a map, you could also google map images and print them out with a laser printer. 

 For supplies you need:

 Tiles of some sort. I used glass tiles, (and the tut will be based off the glass tiles) but you could use scrabble tiles, dominos, wood discs or whatever else that suits your fancy.

Mod Podge

Diamond Glaze or Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

Bails

Map image

Start with a rough cut out of the image you want. Just a slightly bit bigger than the tiles. I used a permanent marker to draw hearts over the dot of the city. I was hoping to use stickers, but I didn't have any small enough. Sad face.

 Apply a layer of mod podge to the back of the glass tile, and press the map into place. Make sure to get rid of all air bubbles, wrinkles, etc. 

It will look a little foggy at first, but it will go away as it dries. No worries. 

Let it dry for about 30 min or so (make more tiles in between!). Use and exacto knife to cut the excess paper off as close to the tile as you can get.

Put another coat of Mod Podge on the back of the tile on top of the paper and let it dry for a few minutes.

After the few minute drying period put a small drop of glaze on the back of the tile. 

Using a paint brush, put a light coat of the glaze all over the back of the tiles, lightly brushing over the edges of the paper to seal it in.

Allow the glaze to dry for about an hr. Using your glaze put a small drop of it on the back of your bail and attach it on the back in the middle of the pendant.

 There you have it! Custom Map necklaces!

Hiking/Adventure Packs

A while back I found this tutorial for an easy cinch bag , from Make it and Love it. It was perfect for the boys to take on nature hikes. Light enough that they can carry them without complaint and big enough to fit a few things in them. 

I asked David to make them for the boys...well I kinda told him he should make them for the boys and than we bought the stuff to do it.

I went out and found a few kid friendly nature things to put in the backpacks. Binoculars, head lamps, flashlights, compasses, bug tents and magnifiers. It ended up being a perfect Easter gift.

The boys couldn't wait to use them, so the next nice weekend we had we went on nature hike. 

  

The older boys never once complained about their bags bothering them, even though we hiked for 2 hrs. Corbin lasted about 30 min before I took his for him.

They didn't hinder their ability to hike and climb at all. Half the time I don't even think they noticed they still had them. 

They fit a lot of stuff too. They had all the stuff that was in the above picture, a small bottle of water and their cameras, with room to spare!

If you are looking for a bag for your little ones and you have the ability to sew, make one of these! You won't regret it!

Painting words on wood, the easy way.

I can't even tell you how much I love our Easter baskets. I bought them at Michaels a few years back. I was tired of buying an replacing the cheap kids baskets every year and this was an easy way to not have to do that ever again...hopefully.

 The only problem was that they were plain. The kids never knew who's basket was who's. They needed a name plate. 

 I went to Michaels, my not so guilty addiction, and found some adorable wooden plaques. 

 I painted them a basic white. Exciting, right? And yes, I painted them on my children's lap trays. Back off. I use what's available to me.

 I personally have horrible, horrible handwriting. I don't even like writing grocery lists because my handwriting is so...embarrassing. I will attempt to show you what method I used to make the names look more presentable. 

I'm missing some pictures, but if you can follow written instructions you'll be ok. Trust me.

On my computer (I used photoshop) I found a font that I liked and that was thick enough for me to outline and paint. I typed up the boys names into the size I wanted and printed them out.

I laid the name, yup right side up, on top of the plaque.

 This is where I missed a picture step, but it's hard to take a picture when you have one hand holding the paper down and one hand tracing the letters. Forgive me.

With a firm hand, trace over the letters, making sure to press into the wood really well. I had to go over mine a few times in a couple places where the wood was harder and the imprint didn't show up.

When you're done you should be able to see the name imprinted into the wood. I tried to get a good picture of one done, but it didn't work out so well. If you look reaaaaalllly close you might be able to see the "n" and the "o". 

From there all I had to do was fill in the imprints. Easy Peasy. I used paint, but I'm sure it would work out just fine with a variety of other things (marker, puffy paint, glitter glue, etc).

 Honestly it was so easy that even the artistically challenged could do it and get compliments. So go...try it. Paint all the things!!!

It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last post. It's not that we haven't been doing anything, it's just that we've had some changes in our life and we've all had some adjusting to do and blogging wasn't my first priority.

We've been extremely lucky in the past for years. David has had the pleasure (and I'm sure the occasional stress) of staying home with all of us while he finishes school. Most families can't afford to have both parents home to watch their kids grow. Between David's disability pay (he's a disabled veteran) and the little bit of money we get while he went to school, neither of us had to work. 

But David graduated last December and was able to find a job. It's been a huge adjustment for us...for all of us. I no longer have the constant help of David or an adult to converse with whenever I need a break from kid talk. The boys no longer have Daddy here all day to play with them, talk to them and teach them about "boy" things. For most of you this is normal, for us, it isn't. With anything out of the norm it takes time to get used to it, so cut me some slack.

But I'm ready to get back on track. See, I already made a post. Take that. Alright, I'm off to prepare some not so boring posts. Take care!

Mini Caramel Apple Pies

So they aren't the prettiest things, but they are flipping delicious. Oh and cute. Everything mini is cute. 

Cracking Open Geodes on a Beautiful Day!

We bought this awesome "Crack Open Geodes" kit at the Science Museum last Friday. It only cost $10 and I knew the boys would love it!

Super Saturday....Melty Beads and Mini Caramel apple pies

Whew! Today was a busy day! Go, go, go from the moment we woke up. First of all it was GORGEOUS outside. Most people south of Minnesota wouldn't think that, but for us that live in the frozen tundra we were extremely happy. We spent most of the day outside playing.

Momma Gets a New Strap for her Camera

Pinterest gives me the best ideas ever. Most of these ideas involve David doing a lot of work. I'm not sure how he feels about that, but once I have my mind set on something, eventually I will get it. Usually it involves some pouting and lots of nagging, but I do get what I want, most of the time.

Dresser Revamp, Part 2. The painting!

This is part 2 of my Dresser Revamp. Part One is HERE. If you haven't seen it. Visit it now. I'll wait.

Dresser Revamp Part 1. Fixing and Preparing the Dresser.

 When I was a teenager I painted my dresser. I had an obsession with clouds, stars, butterflies, etc. My dresser was boring and plain. I got an itch to paint it and I busted out my paints and went to town. Mind you I didn't have permission, but I rarely did when I was a teenager. I loved what I had created and it fit my room perfectly.

How to make a pizza, according to a 2 year old.

 Making pizza can be kind of tricky. Today I thought I would help make it a bit easier for you, by letting my 2 year old show you how it's done.

Super Saturday...Pizza (again) and a nature walk!

 This Super Saturday was a little different than our usual Super Saturdays. I had plans for our typical night, but it was gorgeous outside and I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a little fresh air.

Super Saturday...Pancakes and handprints

  Pancakes. Delicious, fluffy goodness. How I devour adore them. How I hate that I am on a diet and pancakes would completely destroy said diet in a matter of minutes. Sigh. At least I was able to drool over them while the Monsters ate them...and I did sneak in a few bites. In the name of quality control of course. 

Super Saturday...Quesadillas and cloud dough

  Every week we ask the boys for some insight into what we do for Super Saturday. We throw out some food suggestions and activities. They ponder them, throw other totally odd ideas back at us. This goes back and forth for a while until we finally tell them what we will be doing and move on.

Super Saturday! Sandwiches, Lego Cars and Smores Pie

 Admit it. That picture made you laugh. Butt in the air, nothing but underwear and cowboy boots on. This is how Corbin spent this Super Saturday, looking like a stud and acting crazy. Now on to how the rest of us spent our Saturday.

When the dreaded 3-0 rolls around...

  Last Sunday someone turned 30. I can happily say it wasn't me...it was David. I taunted him with those numbers for months. It was wonderful.  

Super Saturday...Pizza and marshmallow shooters

  Oh Super Saturday number 2. We had fun. We made a HUGE mess. We ate delicious food. I forgot to take pictures of our dessert. I was to busy eating. Free pass used.

Rated "R" for strong language. (You have been warned)

  I've been having a mental battle with myself the last few days. I've been back and forth on whether I've wanted to include profanity on this blog or not. Not extreme profanity but dropping a nice, big "F" bomb here and there. 

DIY Word Magnets

A while back I came across my old word magnets. You remember when they were all the rage? Almost every house in town had a set on a fridge or filing cabinet, and if you didn't, you wanted one. 

Introducing.... SUPER SATURDAYS!!

  One of our New Years Resolutions was to spend more quality time with the Monsters. Well, it was more so mine, but he had no choice in the matter. He just comes along for the ride 99% of the time. Don't worry, he enjoys it. ;)  

2012 is here. Can I keep up with this blog?

  Well, the year 2012 is here. To me it came very quickly. 2011 passed in a blur. Mostly great moments, with a few bad moments tossed in for spice. It's been a LONG time since I posted last, too long. One of my New Years resolutions was to be consistent about posting...and here I finally am, 2 weeks later. A little late, but it's a start.