May Day Baskets

May is one of my favorite months of the year.  We made May day bouquets today.  They were very simple to make.  Had to find something simple and easy for children under the age of 4.  I printed off the templates from DLTK-kids and let the kids color them the way they wanted.  I bought the flowers from Walmart for only$1.  It took a total of 15 minutes to make.  The girls loved the flowers and thought they were pretty neat to make!!

Paper plate Easter Bunny

Supplies we used:

glue, paper plate, cotton balls, pink & black construction paper, wiggly eyes. 

 They turned out really cute!!!

Happy Easter to Everyone!!!

A Child's Prayer

I love to hear my children pray.  God listens to everyone's prayer even the little ones' prayers.

  Haylee's prayer tonight 

"Dear Heavenly Father, I am so thankful for all the happy things in my life, I pray that my brother Shae gets better so he can play with me, I pray that his fever will go away.  I love you God. Amen."  She is so sweet, love her Big prayer for her brother.  You know that they love each other when the other one is down and not feeling so Hot and they pray for them to be better!! Hope everyone is staying healthy and enjoying the beautiful spring weather!!! & praying my little man will be well soon to enjoy it himself :) 

Love, Jess

This is one of my favorite pictures of Shae, I don't take pictures of my kids when they are sick, I'd rather them see pictures of themselves when they are the most happiest!  Get feeling better Shae!

Spring Tree Craft

I love spring time, 

the beautiful weather, 

green trees, flowers blooming, 

and the kids get to play outside, 

(makes me happy).  I decided to 

do a little craft with the daycare 

kids.  

It was a simple, cute craft. 

They painted their arms brown 

and placed them on paper to

make a tree.  

Then, they collected little purple

flowers off the tree outback 

and pasted them onto their trees.

  Here's their finished trees. 

Way to go girls!!

Spray Painted Old dresser

After my test today, I should have spent more time studying instead of home improvement jobs.  But, when my husband decides he wants to do one of  my Honey-To-Do jobs, that I have been wanting to do for a while, I jump right up to help.  I have been wanting to spray paint this old dresser of Shaes'.  The color doesn't go with the theme of his room.  It was a nice hand me down from my brother.  So, that was our project we worked on today.  Bob gets most of the credit, I went to the store and purchased the items to spray paint and he did the labor :) I have a great guy!! So this sideways picture below is Shae dresser before.  It has definitely seen better days. 

 Sorry the picture is sideways, the best I could do. 

 This is what we found behind the dresser after we moved it, a gummy bear.  Don't know if Shae was saving that for later, Hope not!!

 Here is the finished dresser and night stand. Bob used a aluminum color spray paint, and black for the top.  I bought new knobs at Lowe's. 

Haylee & I went to Hobby Lobby to get some decorations to match his skate board theme.  I want to go back and get the rest of the letters to his name & hang them on the wall.

  The dresser looks great now, I love how it turned out. 

& my poor Shae has came down with a hi fever today. I hate when my kids are sick.  

Painting Metal Cabinets

You can call me crazy, but I want to paint our metal cabinets.  

I found this website retrorenovation that shows exactly 

how to do it.  With the help of my AMAZING husband I think 

that we could get them done.  So check out these finished painted metal cabinets. I love the metalic orange color.  

But, I am debating between that color and a chocolate.  Our kitchen is painted a green color. What color do you think would look best in our kitchen?!?

 The picture above is a metallic orange.  Bob hates this color, he doesn't think it would match the kitchen.

 This color above would probably be my pick, maybe a smudge darker. 

The top picture looks a little to dark, but I think a little bit lighter than this would give the kitchen a whole new look.
 This is the color of our kitchen.  The cabinets need some TLC to say the least. 

Which one do you like the best?

Card made by Haylee to Me

My little girl is always making cards 

and notes to everyone in the house

Well, everyone but her brother :( Poor Shae.  

She made Bob & I both cards today.

She brought mine into my room while I was

watching my statistics lectures,(which was dreadful).

Here is what the card said that brightened my day:

Me & my mom go shoping that is the Best part.

I lik go shoping at the mall.

I love going with my mom.

I love my mom she is the Best

Mom in the world.

My mom is realy good at school.

the end. 

Love Haylee

Well Haylee, I think I am the one that

has the Best girl in the world!!! She

is just the sweetest little girl I know. 

My Kids know How to Party

Today was just beautiful outside.  We had a great day spending time with the kids outside.  Bob grilled some chicken and the kids decided to dance on the back porch to the radio.  My kids are so much fun, I can't imagine not having them in our lives.  Love capturing moments like these to laugh about later!! 

The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow

I am trying to make the best of these dreary, cloudy days.  There wasn't any sunlight to raise my spirits today.  I keep telling my husband, Bob, that this weather is going to put me into deep depression.  Just wanting some BEAUTIFUL, spring weather here in Kansas Lord.  I love being able to go for walks at night with my husband and kids.  Love spending time sitting on my back porch watching my kids play.   
Here some pictures to remind me that the sun will come out again very, very, very soon.  Because Lord knows all of us mothers need the sunny weather to stay happy!!!

 Nice Pose Shae!!

 Having a good time

 Little Cheezers 

 My Beautfiul little Girl

This is my younger brother Tyson on the Chappy.  (think i spelled that right.)  Bob bought this scooter last summer, on any nice night he is taking it out for a little cruise.  I love this picture of my Brother, he looks soo cool on the Big Ride doesn't he?!?! 

Hoping these cold spring days don't last long!!!!

Spring Bird's Nest Recipe

Haylee & I found a fun and easy recipe to make bird's nest.  This is a simple recipe that you can do with your kiddos.  All you need is half a bag of chow mein noodles, 1 package of butterscotch morsels, and Easter egg candies (we chose M&M's). 

Here are the kids helping Daddy putting the eggs on the nests.  I love that Bob likes to help out when we make things.  He is such a good daddy!!

Treasure Find

I have been looking for a used buffet for a long time now.  My mom came down to stay with me and the kids for a couple days through their spring break.  We decided to go check out a second hand furniture store.  As soon as saw this beauty I knew I had to have it.  It took a little convincing with Bob, but I got what I've been waiting for. The lady had it marked at $250 I talked her down to $215, I know Bob thinks I'm crazy when I bargain  a price with people.  But hey,  I got a pretty good bargain on this one!!  They run from $900 to $2000 in a furniture store.  And this buffet is solid walnut, Bob let me know how solid it was when he moved it in.  I love it!! It has so much storage in it.  I can hide a whole bunch of toys and books and whatever else in it.  I am so excited about it I just had to share my new find!!   So here is a picture of my new (used) buffet. 

The bad news about today, is my moms car won't start.  So, she is stuck with me for another day until Bob figures out whats wrong with it.  I feel horrible about her car but, on the bright side I'm glad I get to have her here with us another day!!

St. Patricks Day With the Daycare kids

The kids made their own hats for St. Patricks Day.  They painted the bowls green and we glued them on top of a paper plate and cut out the middle of the plate to make our hats.   They turned out pretty cute. 

The girls finger painting their shamrocks. 

 Little Cheezer!!

 Hat didn't make it very long, but she sure looked cute in her all green outfit!!

 The girls with their hats, we were missing the boys on this day.

Practicing Writing our Names

All of the kids here at daycare are learning to write their name.  I thought it would be fun to get washable markers for windows and let them practice writing their names.  They LOVED it!!!  They had so much fun writing on the windows.  One of the little girls says to me "I can write on your window and I won't get in trouble."  It was the funniest thing ever.  Here is a picture of one of the girls practicing to write her name.  The picture didn't turn out very clear.  We will be practicing writing on my windows a lot more!!

Sweeping the Bad Attitudes out of our House

Yesterday I spent the entire day with my children.  I didn't open a single text book to study.  I wanted the whole day to be focused on my two kids.  Some things I learned yesterday.  We went to the mall to meet some friends to have lunch.  I bumped into another mom I know, who I look up to.  She is an incredible mother, and I love listening to her talk about her kids.  She is a mother to four amazing children.  I was talking to her oldest son, and he had such a kind sweet spirit about him.  He was so laid back and a great big brother to his 3 younger siblings.  As we were sitting next to them, I realized how thankful her kids were for spending time together at the mall.  They sat there and appreciated this privilege of going to the mall with their mom.   Ok, so we are sitting next to them and my kids are complaining left and right how starving they are.  Yes, they probably were, but they could've showed some patience.  Both of my children were saying how bored they were being at the mall.  I realized that I have taken a wrong path somewhere to show how ungrateful I am, that my kids were acting like this.  So last night after spending the day with my kids I sat down and prayed, and thought over everything.  First of all I need to start showing my kids more respect and appreciate who they are.  If you want your kids to give you respect you have to model that behavior.  Second, I should not be comparing my kids to other kids.  Even though my friend's children are soo well behaved, my kids are pretty great too.  I sat up last night and typed out some new rules that will be changed in our home.

HOUSE RULES

Show Respect to Everyone in our home (daycare kids too!)

Help others who are in Need

Show Compassion & love to others

Obey your Mom & Dad

Do not worry about your problems, pray & lift them Up to God

Do not compare yourself to others

Try your hardest at everything you do, and you will accomplish Great things

This is going to be my new goal.  I want everyone in my house to model all these behaviors.  

Friday Night

So Bob has 1 rule in the house.  NO Dog in our bed.  He is pretty adamant about it too.  Its Friday night and Haylee stayed the night at a friend's house.  I finished up writing my paper so Bob & I are watching tv on the couch and where is my son?!?  I go to see what he is doing and find him cuddled up in our bed with Rex.  I am just laughing my butt off, cause I know how mad his dad would be to find Rex in our bed.  So here is a once in a life time picture of Rex in our bed.

Look at those Faces, how can you say "No" to that!!

Learning Names

We have been working on learning the letters of our names.  I have collected for months tops of everything, milk jugs, juice bottles, anything with a colorful top.  I wrote letters on each top and have had the kids learn the order of the letters, & to identify the letters.  Its a fun, creative way to learn. 

They are pretty proud to put them in correct order.  Way to go girls!!

Letter "O" Craft

Letter "O" for Octopus

We used tissue paper for the legs and the kids glued on the eyes.  I thought they were really Cute!

BBQ Potato skins

I plan on making this recipe also for super bowl this weekend.  

*3 large potatoes

*cooked bacon

*2 T. butter, melted

*1 clove garlic, minced

*my homemade bbq sauce

*cooked BBQ pulled pork

*sour cream and cheddar for topping

Directions:

 Bake potatoes at 350 degrees F. for about 1 hour.  Remove from oven.  Bake strips of bacon in the microwave.  Crumble bacon when cool.  Cut potatoes in half, and spoon out the middle.  Melt butter and add minced garlic.  Brush the potatoes with butter & garlic.  Butter the bottoms.  Cook in the oven for 5 min.  Fill the potatoes with BBQ pulled pork, crumbled bacon, and cheese. Top with sour cream.  

BBQ sauce recipe:
1 cup of ketchup
1 cup of brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 tsp of liquid smoke
1-2 tsp of hot sauce
1-2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
4 T onion minced (optional)
* I usually double this recipe, because I like a lot of BBQ sauce.
Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan.  Cook over medium heat until boils, stir constantly, boil for 5 min.

Game Day 7 layer Dip

I am planning on making my7 layered bean dip for super bowl this weekend.
Ingredients:
1 can of refried beans
1 small tub of sour cream
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 packet of taco seasoning
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese
1/2 cup of salsa
diced green onion
olives (optional, I prefer not to use them)

Use a microwaveable dish and put refried beans at the bottom and black beans on top.  Cook in microwave for 3-5 min.  Mix together sour cream and taco seasoning packet and add on top of the beans.  Top with lettuce, cheese, green onion,  & salsa. Chill.  Serve with tostitos or celery sticks.  I only make simple, fast, Yummy, recipes, & this is one of them!!

BBQ pulled Chicken Sandwich

I made this for supper tonight and it was Delicious!! I make my BBQ sauce it taste so much better than the stores.  You will have to try for yourself to enjoy!
Ingredients you will need
1 lb. of chicken tenderloins (thawed out)
BBQ sauce recipe:
1 cup of ketchup
1 cup of brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 tsp of liquid smoke
1-2 tsp of hot sauce
1-2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce
4 T onion minced (optional)
* I usually double this recipe, because I like a lot of BBQ sauce.
Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan.  Cook over medium heat until boils, stir constantly, boil for 5 min.
Place the chicken in the crockpot on low heat. Cover completely with BBQ sauce.  Cook for 6-7 hrs on low.  Or you can cook on high for 4 hrs.  Once the chicken is cooked, shred the chicken.  Serve on a roll or bun and top it with ranch.  I love cooking in my crock pot and this recipe is super easy and YUMMY!! Enjoy!!