Redecorating my Bedroom

So I'm in the works of redecorating again!! I know, its so exciting!! Even more this time than the last, because its my room, YEA!!!  My room right now consists of the brown and orange leopard print. I'm ready for a new look and not to see any animal print in my bedroom.  I found some ideas from a blogger I love over at House of Turquoise.  I'm starting to think this will be the name of my house when I'm finished.  My bathroom, hallway, Haylee's room, and soon to be my room will all consist of the color turquoise.   I want something more calmer and relaxing.  My room is the place where I spend most of my time studying.  SO I think I deserve a relaxing room!! The picture below is from the House of Turquoise, and these are the colors that I want coordinate into my bedroom.

 I love the blues, greens, & I'm thinking of even throwing a little pink into my room somewhere.

I bought this comforter from target.  With these shams below to go with it.

Now I'm waiting on this fabric to come in to make my accent pillows from Hawthorne Threads. 
Check them out, they have great fabric for really CHEAP!!

I love this saying I want to get this poster & have it framed along with the red vase.

I also in the process of painting and refurbishing Haylee's chair for her desk, the fabric below is also from Hawthorne Threads.

Pictures will be posted soon after the project is Finished!!!

How to Be Humble, A promise to Myself

My Promise to myself:

I Promise to live in the moment, not the past or the future.

I promise to always be grateful,

I promise to remember the TRUTH,

I promise to live each day through laughter, joy, and, love,

I promise to see those that I truly love for who they are,

I promise to chose friends that only bring out the best in me,

I promise to be just me!!!

Just Be Jess!!!

BBQ Meatballs

BBQ MEATBALLS
My kids love these meatballs & so will you!

2lbs of hamburger
2 eggs
1/2 box of crunched up Parmesean Cheez-Its Crackers
I dont measure on the seasonings I just guess
pepper
salt
Chili powder
Ground Cumin
Onion Salt
Garlic Salt'
BBQ Sauce Ingredients:
1 cup of ketchup
1 cup of brown sugar
1 t of Hickory Smoke
garlic and onion salt
First combine the hamburger, eggs, crackers and seasonings.  Roll in a ball and bake at 350 for about 30-40 min.  While that is baking Combine the Ingredients for the BBQ sauce over the stove top cook until a rapid boil.  Then pour over the meatballs and cook for another 10 minutes. 

I like to serve some yummy red potatoes with the meatballs.  Enjoy!!

Always Remembered

It has been a year now since I lost my close friend, Robbin, to a tragic car wreck.

I never asked once, why God brought you into my life. You always knew the right words to say, how to make me laugh, how to teach me to let go and not stress the small stuff, and You were Always there for me!!! No matter what we did together we always had the best of time! You taught me so much when you were here  and you are still teaching me!! You never cared what I looked like, what size of jeans I wore, how messy my house was, or if my kids acted up!! You still cared and loved no matter what!! You will always be remembered and never forgotten, because of your BIG heart and how you lived each day to the fullest!!  Your beautiful smile and laugh is imprinted in my mind FOREVER!! Love you always, Robbin Mae Ward!!!
Song by The Band Perry "IF I Die Young"
This song makes me think of Robbin.

Mornings at Our house

I don't know how it is in the mornings at your house, but our can be a little hectic.  I try to get both of my kids up and ready before I have any daycare kids.  My son, Shae, wakes up the crack of dawn, jumps out of bed, puts on his clothes for school before he even leaves his room.  (Sorry, can't get the picture rotated the right way!!) This is Shae after he wakes up, ready for school!!

 Here is Haylee after she wakes up in the morning, she stole her brother's pillow, and came out and laid down on the floor.  I wake her up an hour before school, and she will lay around until she gets sick of me telling her to get ready!! I think she does it because she know how much it irritates ME!!

Beauty Health Tips

So, Since I've started back school I have been having breakouts terrible!! Nothing can ruin a day worse than waking up to an ugly pimple in the morning YUCK!! So I have been freakin out trying new things to get rid of my breakouts.  So like everything else I googled different types of cleansers.  Then I decided to google home remedies to take it away.  I found a list of foods to help the breakouts and vitamins to help so here is the list of things that I'm trying:

 

These are the vitamins recommended Chromium, One a day, and Zinc.

Drink 8 cups of water daily, by just drinking water it will give your complexion a natural glow. 

Drink Herbal Tea Daily (I'm trying the Mixed Berry, its growing on me)

Apply a fresh sliced cucumber or tomato to the area and leave on for an hr. 

-(haven't done this yet )

Use an egg white as a mask.  

-I saw this on Dr. Phil a long time ago, his wife Robin uses this remedy on a weekly basis.  

-This also works as a wrinkle fighter, I like using this one!!

Strawberries and Carrots are great fighters to prevent breakouts.

 I also found where applying lemon juice or rub fresh garlic on the spots will help.

- (have to do this one when Bobs a way, he'll make fun of me!!)

Using a honey mask or just directly putting honey on the affected area.

-As long as you don't mind the stickiness this actually does work, I've put honey on directly on a spot and it was cleared up overnight, I still haven't came up with a good honey mask.

Okay, so put a tomato, cucumber, a bit of honey, and egg-whites on your face and you may wake up break out free & smelling like food  LOL!!!! Can you tell I like food :)

Another tip I found:   Make sure not to use anything with the bleaching agent called benzoyl peroxide.  This can irritate the skin & make it worse.  

Fall Crafts

LEAF PRINT PROJECT

The other day I had the kids go outside, in this beautiful weather that we've been having, and pick leaves.  Then we came inside and painted them and stuck them on paper, to make leaf prints. 

 We painted the leaves first and stuck them on the paper, we mixed together red, yellow, and brown, & well you can see it made the color brown.  (Note to self:  don't use brown next time) Then we put construction paper on top and used a roller to make the leaf print.  The kids love using my big Baker's Roller!!!

And here is some of the finished project!!

PUMPKIN PROJECT

I bought a pack of miniature pumpkins from Walmart, and had the kids make pumpkin prints on paper.

This turned out really neat, and the kids are learning new ways to make prints out of different objects.

 Then we decided to decorate the pumpkins and make them look silly.  We used paint, silly eyes, and orange yarn for hair.  They look pretty silly looking if you ask me!!!

Favorite Pictures

SUMMER 2010

I was looking through some of the pictures I took this summer, and remembering all the good times we had in the Hot Sun & just had to share my favorite pics from our Summer 2010

Bob found this bike at a garage sale, he thought it was the coolest thing ever!!! Well, so didn't someone else!! I just laughed my butt off when I saw it!!

There's my man sitting and chilling in his chair.  Can you read what his shirt says, "I'm kind of a Big Deal!"  He really is!!!

This picture cracks me up!!! These two girls have been best friends since they were 2 years old!!!

& I just had to put this picture up of Shae. He has to get Root Beer everywhere we go to eat.  This was at Dave & Busters in KC, the kids favorite place to eat!!

 

& A picture of Bob & I at my Favorite Restaraunt in KC, Ponaks.  Its the Ultimate best Mexican place, hands down, that I've ever had.  They also have the best margaritas (as you can tell by Bobs red cheeks!)

Reviewing Numbers

 Number Review

I printed off this 1-10 number sticker sheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler and let the kids use pom poms to count. 

I found a number chart at Dollar Tree and cut each number out for the kids to review.  We like to use our shapes that I found in the dollar section at Target to count.

The older kids like to use clothes pins to count and pinch onto the number cards.  I have seen this activity all over Mommy Blog land.  

File Folder Fun

I have discovered a new way to interact and teach the kids using file folders.  This is a great way for kids to learn their numbers, letters, math, and colors.  I have only had a chance to make a few of them and here is what I have come up with.  

You can find the file folders made by another amazing Mom blog and a great website listed below!! Check them out!!

confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com

http://www.filefolderfun.com

Here are a few of the file folders that we worked on today:

 Color crayon matching:

Cupcake Counting:

Lower Case & Upper Case "A" Matching game

I will continue to post more of our file folder fun!!! We are really enjoying them!!

Letter "M" Activities

For the letter "M" we built shapes and objects out of Marshmallows and toothpicks.  They also had to eat a few while constructing their design :0)

Then we made Mini Blueberry Muffins, the kids helped out adding the ingredients and mixing it all Up.  

To go along with our lesson we read the book "If you give a Mouse a Cookie." by  Laura Joffe Numeroff. 

Crockpot Chicken Flautas

Crock pot Chicken Flautas

Ingredients

1 lb of  chicken
1 small can of green chilles
1 8 oz. tub of sour cream
1 cup of Monterrey jack cheese
small flour tortillas
oil in fry the flautas

This is a favorite of Bobs & mine!! You can use this recipe in the crock pot or cook your chicken on the stove top.  I like using my crockpot so that's what we use!! Cook the chicken  in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hrs.  Shred the chicken once its cooked thoroughly.  Then  add in the green chilles, sourcream, & cheese.  Mix it all up.  Let it cook for another 1/2-1 hour in the crock pot.  Then roll up your chicken mixture in the flour or corn tortillas (we prefer the flour).  If you decide to use corn tortillas, they must be microwaved for 10 sec to make them pliable.  (this is an essential tip when cooking with corn tortillas, or else they will break apart when you try to roll them).  Use toothpicks to hold the tortillas together.  Heat the oil in a skillet till it is VERY HOT!! Then fry them until they are nice & crispy. 
These are good with white queso dip and top with sour cream and salsa, & make your favorite Margarita & You have the perfect dinner date for you & your Husband : )

My Small WishList

Doesn't everyone have a Wish list!!! this is a few of mine, just a FEW!!

1.  Lake Shore Letter Builders

We had a Awesome surprise tonight from our Wonderful Friends!!! They bought us letter builders that we've been wanting!!! Thanks Kelsey and Burl,  You guys are the best :)

2.   Letter Sound Matching Board

3.  Number Peg Board

4.  Laminator  

 First thing to cross off my list!!!  I already started on my file folders!! I love my laminator

5.  Pattern Blocks

6.  Giant lacing Beads

7.  Magneatos

 For Christmas one of my Awesome daycare parents bought us Magneatos!! The kids love them!!!  I highly recommend this toy to any parent. 

8.  Magnetic Shape Board

9.  Geoboards

Oh my goodness, I just found the coolest thing EVER, and had to add it to my wish list.  Check this cool mat out!!!

10.  U Play Mat

Letter Reveal Craft

We took foam letters and stuck them randomly on a sheet of paper.  Then used our wonderful rollers to paint over them.  Then after letting them completely dry we took off the stickers to reveal the letters.  I recommend using a thicker piece of paper, construction paper would work great for this project.  This was a new one for me so we didn't use thicker paper and it tore a little taking the stickers off. So here is our project before, (forgot to take a picture after).

I bought the paint rollers and paint cups at Discount School Supply:
 Paint Rollers

We just received these brawny tough Art Trays from Discount School Supply.  They work great for paint crafts, I no longer have to hurry and clean up the paint off my tables when we are done with our crafts, YEAH!!!  You can find them here:
Brawny Tough Art Trays

Fall Butterfly Craft

We used leaves as the wings and the stem as the antenna.  The kids helped cut out the body and glue the leaves and eyes on.  They turned out pretty cute!!!

Art Trays

We were so excited this week when the Big Brown truck came and delivered a package to our house.  I purchased some new art trays for the kids to paint on, do crafts, or make things out of Wikki Stix!!  These are so much Fun to play with!! I don't know why I haven't thought of using them before now with the kids.  We have been very creative with using them, shaping them into numbers, letters, or just making something silly out of them!! Check out our wikki stix FUN!!

Shae thought they were cool to make as a beard!!

The trays came in handy doing our paint project for the week!!

You can find these art trays at Discount school Specialty online along with the wikki stix!!

Mini Art Trays

Wikki stix

Day out With Dad!!

Last Saturday I was stuck in my room studying the entire day, I know sounds like soo much fun don't it?!  My ever so kind husband took the kids out of the house, so I could have a nice peaceful house to study.  So this is how they spent their day with their Awesome Daddy!!!!

Check out those tires!!

Shae was so proud of finding his Transformer Bumblee Car!!

Way 2 go Dad!!

Ultimate Margarita

Ingredients:

1 can of limeade
1 bottle of blue moon
triple sec
tequila
lime and salt/sugar for the rim

Pour the limeade in the blender then use the can to measure your tequila and triple sec.  I prefer clear tequila whatever brand you use is fine.  I also have used different kinds of triple sec as well, any will do. 

Fill the cup with tequila bout 3/4 full then pour into blender and then fill it with triple sec about 1/3 full.  Then add your ice.  I always guess on how much ice.  Blend well then after you blend it, stir in a bottle of blue moon, make sure you don't blend it you'll have a Big MESS!  (Don't Bob look so excited to make these for me!!)  This is the key ingredient to the PERFECT margarita.  Then pour into your favorite margarita glass and call your neighbor up to have a margarita :) and you'll never wana go to Carlos for a Margarita again!! These are the BESt!!  Ask my neighbor, LOL!!!