Toy Story 3 Birthday Party Planning

Our son will be 8 the day before Easter and wants a Toy Story 3 party. There is a woman in our town that makes incredible cakes. They are beautiful as well as the best tasting cake I have ever tasted. However her MIL is ill and she has had to quit making cakes for now. Boo-Hoo. He and I found an awesome cake, I mean awesome, online and thought that we would be getting her to make it. Since that isn’t going to happen I might give it a try. I have made birthday cakes before but have never fooled with fondant before. This particular cake is 3 tiers and the top is a planet. If I do give it a try, which I am planning on, I will post here. That could be really interesting. lol

About 5 months ago he had decided that he wanted a camo party and the Dollar Tree had camo items, including hats, that are from “God’s Army” so we purchased enough for 18 at that time. Hey, when you can find caps for $1.00 and can get enough for a party, do it. To keep this in the party we are planning on putting a few more soldiers from Toy Story in than normal and bring that part out. This way we use what was purchased and keep both themes going.

Our church has an overhead projector that is rarely used anymore but I always have a use for one. lol While at church and working on the Easter Bulletin Board (that featured our missionaries around the world) I took a few coloring pictures and reduced them down and placed them all on one sheet of overhead film and blew them up to around 4 feet and traced out Buzz and Woody on a sheet of roll paper that we found on clearance at Wal-Mart. I really need to get my paints and get those painted. We made large pictures for another party and tried coloring them and ended up with dark places here and there and we tried markers and they ran out of ink to quickly when you are talking about larger pictures like that so I am going to purchase some paints for a couple of dollars and hopefully it will turn out looking good. I will post those as well.

If you have any good game ideas, snack ideas, or craft ideas…..please let me know. We are having it at the local pizza place, the kids love to hit the arcade after the party, but we have reserved the private room. Hopefully they will have the air on this time. Last party we about roasted in there!! lol

Be sure to check back later. God Bless!!

Updates....updates....updates

Hello out there in cyber world. lol There has been so much that has been going on in our little part of the world that the blog has been long forgotten. Our 7 year old son has pneumonia and our 16 year old began her first job, babysitting 2 kids that we go to church with at their home when needed. This time of the year is always bad for us due to my son and myself having asthma and add our daughter to the mix with bad allergies for the 3 of us and it is a mess for about a month or more depending on this crazy weather. You know bad news could go on and on and on. But isn’t it much more fun to focus on the positive. lol

We have watched several new movies since I gave the last update.

1. Tangled

We LOVED this movie!!!! Can’t say enough good about it. Our son is extremely gender specific, meaning he does not like to do anything girly. Well he loves this movie and even used his allowance to purchase the Wii game…..which is fun as well but it didn’t take very long to get through the biggest part of it.

2. Yogi Bear in 3-D

This is the first movie that we watched in 3-D in the theater. Our daughter couldn’t enjoy it because the glasses are a bit heavy and the whole thing gave her a headache. I enjoyed the 3-D but agree with the glasses being bulky and heavy therefore giving me a bit of a headache as well. Dear dad didn’t comment much either way. Our son loved it regardless. He is a very optimistic person and doesn’t complain much at all. He sees beauty in just about everything. It is a massively awesome gift that he has. The movie was good but I would have enjoyed “more”. I can’t explain that much more than “more”. It just wasn’t enough for me.

3. Rango

Okay. Number 1 about this movie, shame on Nickelodeon!!!! Can someone explain to me the reasoning behind the language?? I don’t get it. The movie was good and the kids enjoyed it other than the language. I would have really enjoyed having it without the bad language and we would happily add it to our extensive movie collection. But due to the language……not going to happen!! Shame to, it would have been a great movie and I can’t believe it has been put as high as it has been with the language that is in it. Apparently it didn’t bother many but to me it is a HUGE turn off!! Well that’s a quick update.

Hope you come back soon. God Bless!!

Another New Pet

My son told us that all he wanted for Christmas this year was a kitten. How sweet is that? Well the rabbit that my daughter had in her room is not at papaws. She chose to let it run free on the farm. It seems to be much happier. We had one parakeet left after the last cat got the food door open and ran through the house with the other one in her mouth. My daughter normally shuts her door, I don’t remember why it was open but that doesn’t matter. We took our Peek-a-Poo to be fixed and saw a huge, I mean huge, cage that had 1 parakeet in it. We asked, with my daughter’s permission, if they would like to have another. They agreed and we took her down to them. Theirs was a male and ours female, just what they were searching for, and they hit it off great. So we are now down to the house of dogs. LOL We have my daughters boxer in the kennel outside as well as our 4 year old dachshund and 1 ½ year old Peek-a-Poo inside. I vow that when something happens to these two there will never be another inside dog!! I love them but I hate having them inside.

Back to the kitten. We have 1 pet store in town that opens, closes or goes out of business or switches owners or all 3 and opens again and it does the same thing over and over and over. We had purchased a kitten in there before but the new owner has so many different pets in there that he just finds homes for kittens and cats, no fee. My husband actually picked one out that reminded him of a cat that we had when we first were married and it passed of feline leukemia, horrible disease. I can’t keep going straight through a story; I have to cover all the bases while I am there. LOL Our son agrees to the kitten, he didn’t care what it looked like. We took it home and it was odd from the beginning. It loved to be held and would cry when you put it down. It urinated and did number 2 wherever it felt like. It would pass up the litter box and go to the dog’s pads and relieve itself. When it sat on your shoulder or the chair it faced the wrong way. It was always with its head toward the wall. It would stand and look at the refrigerator or wall or whatever and meow. It meowed all the time. It was a very, very odd kitten. Then a few days into having it it lay down on the floor with its back half under the couch, still not unusual. Then our daughter made the comment that it needed to blink. She had been looking at it for a few minutes and it hadn’t blinked. My husband moved its head and it just let it flop and meowed softly. He hovered over it and told me to come there. I looked and it was dying. I sent the kids into the bedroom and we wrapped it up and I sat and petted it until I was bawling. All of those odd things must have been a sign that something was very wrong with it. I had given it a bath and it was fine. It had walked around and lay on the couch as usual and then just got down on the floor and lay down to die. My husband took it carefully into our storage barn all wrapped up and comfortable and let it pass away and he buries our pets that pass. As you may guess, our kids were devastated.

A few days later my mother shows up with 3 very small kittens while we were in a store. I was talking to her on the phone and went out to see them while the rest of the family stayed inside. They were small and cute and I picked the fuzzy one, with the worst case of cold in its eyes that I have ever seen in my life. These are kittens from cats that she is trying to find homes for. One of those places where people decided to drop off cats and kittens and all of a sudden you were feeding 2, of which were yours, and within a few months you are feeding over 13, seriously. So I cleaned it eyes out and wrapped it up and took it into the store to surprise them with. Even my husband had no idea of what I was doing. It was a small consignment shop so she didn’t mind for me bringing it in. Well they loved it and we loaded up, after paying for our purchases, and went straight to the vet. This time we were making sure it was in good health and getting medication for its eyes and treated for fleas as well. It got a clean bill of health except for the cold in its eyes and a regular cold. We took it home and medicated it for a few days and yesterday it was a playful little kitten. It ran all over, tried to climb everything in sight, swatted at the dogs, played with us all and slept on us like a little baby. We have to lock it in the utility room at night until it gets the hang of the litter box. I thought that kittens came out being litter box trained. Boy was I wrong. LOL But I think it will be just fine. Oh, it weighed less than a pound and she clipped its claws, that is something that I am going to keep up with this little one. I don’t want it climbing the curtains like I have had done in the past. LOL

Is that one lazy kitten or what? But cute none the less.

Until next time, take care and may God Bless you all. Ü

Nakaylee Jade

Isn't she a cutie!!

This is my husband’s cousin’s daughter. We (my daughter and I) like to claim her when we can. LOL

My son doesn’t care for her at all. She is the first “baby” that has been around for me to give attention to and he became extremely jealous very quickly. I have reassured him that mommy loves him and that he is still my baby. He is okay with her being around now but still doesn’t want anything to do with her. LOL

Just wanted to let you all see her. She is a cutie and is normally a very happy baby, although she is getting that bit of attitude to know that if you move her and she didn’t want to be moved, she starts crying until you put her back in that position or one close to it. She loves looking around, like all babies. My daughter went over to their house yesterday and was holding her and her mommy put “Finding Nemo” in. She said that she just starred at the TV. Too cute. And she loves my daughter. She can make her laugh and she just smiles when she sees her. Of course she is a super great girl as well. Love my kids!! God Bless!!

Snowball the dress up bunny...

My daughter had this little dress that we had purchased over a year ago for her (then) baby boxer pup. In the last year it has been on the boxer, our dachshund, peek-a-pooh and now the bunny. Isn’t she cute ;) Just had to share. God Bless!

We Found the Easter Bunny

Just thought I would introduce you to the newest member of our family, “Snowball”.

My husband and daughter went to Tractor Supply and I received a phone call, “Mommy, we are at TS and they have a white bunny rabbit. How much money do I have in my bank in my room?” She had nearly $60 and wanted the rabbit and the cage kit that they had. This is the 2nd rabbit that she has had. However, this one definitely has a much larger personality and is very friendly. She is going to be a rather large rabbit, you can already tell and she eats very well.

Our son wanted to know where we were going so I told him that they had found the “Easter Bunny” at TS. LOL He was ready to go. We are such an animal loving family.

Food Labels for Picky Kids

Our son is an extremely picky eater. In hopes of helping him see how limited he is and possibly getting him to try new foods I have devised a system for him.

First I took pictures of all of the foods that he will eat, which didn’t take too long. After taking the pictures I printed them out on Kodak paper and cut them to size. For the labels I used a really cute large font that I had found earlier on the computer and printed out breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack. To attach them to the refrigerator I found magnetic tape strips for $1.17 at Wal-Mart that has 18 adhesive strips measuring 0.5 in x 4 in long, plus they are peel and stick which is even better.

After getting everything cut and laid out I began placing the magnets on the backs of the pictures and labels. DS had his large metal dump truck by my desk so I tossed them onto it and they stuck. That caught his attention and to the truck he ran to grab each one and take them to the refrigerator where he arranged them to his liking.

The plan is for him to go to the refrigerator, before breakfast, and place the magnet or magnets for each meal under the label and follow through with his picks, no changing. He then has choices as well as responsibility.

Pictures are shown for anyone that is interested in how it is done. I am sure that we will make changes in the future to it but the idea is to have something that keeps him interested.

Thanks for looking and have a great day. God Bless!!

Pictures of his foods

Magnets found at Wal-Mart

I suggest using tweezers to get the backing off of the magnets. It just made it easier. And the strips can easily be cut to the length that you need.

This is our refrigerator after he placed them all on it last night.

His choices this morning....biscuits consisted of biscuit and gravy.

Good Lesson from The Disney Channel

In the past day or so I have noticed that The Disney Channel has began to make commercials trying to remind or let kids know that what they post or say on the internet can be hurtful to others and that it stays out there. My first reaction was; what a great lesson and a great place to put it for kids to learn. Kudos to Disney!!

One in particular that I have seen today was where 2 friends are texting each other on their phones. The one girl asks the other not to be mad at her, and she asks why and so on. The point is that because of pier pressure the one girl told a secret to the world about her friend having a crush on a boy on his profile page. This caused hard feelings and embarrassment. However the way in which TDC portrayed it the one girl forgave her friend and she was very happy that her friend could forgive her and that she saw how good of a friend she really was and how foolish her actions were.

It is a great lesson for all kids these days. Kids today as young as 5 have cell phones, I’m guilty my 6 year old has one that the most he does is call mamaw on it every few days. But many end up on the internet and texting way too much and telling things they shouldn’t be telling anyone about themselves and their friends and family. I know that many parents have lectured and lectured their kids about who they talk to and how much information they give out, although I don’t think you can ever remind them to much on that topic, I am glad that they are making points like this on a children’s channel.

God Bless .^_^.

Nutritionist and www.NutriMirror.com

My husband had an appointment yesterday, his 40th birthday as well, with the nutritionist at the local hospital due to his lipid panel. When he returned home he had several papers as well as a “Portion Pack” that I will make up my own version of and have as a free download soon. This is broken down into 3 meals and 1 snack color coded cards for your easy use. For example the green card = Non-Starchy Vegetables. The explanation on the card is as follows: 1 serving equals: (choose one) ½ cup Cooked Vegetables OR 1 cup Raw Vegetables OR ½ cup Tomato/Vegetable Juice. It goes on to explain: Non-Starchy Vegetables include: asparagus, green beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, eggplant, greens, mushrooms, okra, onions, pea pods, peppers, radishes, lettuce, sauerkraut, spinach, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips and zucchini. So everything is on the one card and when that blue card shows up during the day you are to eat 1 serving from something on that list. I know that there have been color coded card or something, it seems like it may have been Richard Simmons, in the past and I don’t remember the details but these are very well explained or spelled out.

While I was reading through the new material he called back and asked about a food and exercise journal, as the papers states to use, but the didn’t offer one and actually had never been asked that question so was unsure as to how to answer. So what do you do when you need to know something? Google it! Or at least we do. I really, really, like Google. Anyway, my husband did and found www.NutriMirror.com right off the bat. We signed the 3 adults up; well my husband, myself and our semi-adult daughter ….. Against the website we fudged a little on her age. However, I set it up and have the user ID and password and it will be under my supervision. Her file is mainly to log when she exercises and so forth, a great homeschool tool! Physical education, check. Whereas my husband and I will log into the full program and take advantage of what it has to offer. Did I mention, it is FREE! 100% FREE of charge. If you haven’t checked it out, do so. It is complete with tips, tutorials, meal plans, recipes, goals, the entire kit and caboodle.

In today’s society healthy habits need to be stressed more and more and we need to be setting a better example, as a whole, to our children when it comes to leading a much healthier lifestyle. The US has a growing obesity problem, of which I am sadly in the ranking. We need to do what we can to help turn this problem around. Have you seen the movie Wall-E. I love the movie for the simple fact that I can see our world becoming so computerized and technologically efficient that we are a nation or world of those obese individuals on the floating chairs, unable to walk or move about on their own and oblivious to the problem. That would be awful!! So, these are our baby steps to helping our kids become aware of healthy eating habits and forming a daily exercise regimen. Hope you join in and I will be working on those cards, if you are interested.

God Bless and have a wonderful day. Spring is near!! Yippee, bring on the warm weather!!

(Every day my son, 6, wants to know if it is going to be warm enough in the next few days so that we can go swimming. He is a water dog!! LOL)

My lil' snowman making a lil' snowman

DS and his little snowman.

He worked on this for hours. He would get it looking good and then add to it again and again and again.


Here he has added 2 of his sisters BB's from her gun for eyes. The green eyed snowman.

This is our crazy Cami that was watching him and playing with the railing, snow, branch, anything that she could grab and smack or hold onto. LOL

Have a good snowy day and God Bless!!

Candy making with the kids

My littlest chef mixing up the peanut butter center for our candy.

My niece adding the powdered sugar.

I let the kids go wild with the cookie cutters.

Now doesn't he look like an intense chef?

This is my real back up chef. She is the one who takes over and helps out when mom needs it. She loves to watch cooking shows and try new things. They had a really good time making the candy and then covering it with chocolate.

Actually once the chocolate was melted and my son knew he was ready to be done with the peanut butter center, he was ready to cover his fingers, candy, or spoon, whatever in chocolate. He is a true chocoholic!

They had a blast. It was a mess but well worth it and my niece said it was one of the most fun things she has been able to do and was going to go to school and tell all of her friends.

We are in snow, just like the rest of the nation, and they are calling for 6-8 more inches in the next 15 or so hours so I don't know when she will be going back to school. My poor kids don't have to worry about how much it snows. The only time they get out of school with bad weather is when I agree to take in a child or 2 so the parents can go to work or do whatever they want to do. Homeschooling has many advantages; my kids would probably say that is not one of them. LOL

Have a great day and God Bless!!

Heart I-Spy Bag

Trinkets that I am adding to the bag.

Finished product.


I have seen several blogs where moms make these cool I-Spy bags for the kids to pass time. This was a very rushed job so it is definitely not the best. This was a last minute Valentine's Day morning gift. The kids were playing games, my niece was keeping my son busy and my daughter was in her room just chillin and watching TV.

While they were all busy I printed off 2 heart templates from the first site that I could find and resized on Word. Cut the felt around, 2 layers thick and cut the vinyl the same size as the smallest of the 2 hearts. This was a very, very rushed job. This is the first time I have tried sewing with vinyl but it really wasn't that bad. We had went to Hobby Lobby and between the Easter section, jewelry, crafts, doll house section (miniature dice and cola cans that are really cute), bugs, and buttons I came up with the items to add into the bag.
The next time I make a I-Spy bag I will take time, plan it out and close it much better than the quick seam on the side. However, this was fun for them to play with and try and figure out what all was inside.


Having fun at home.........God Bless!!

Sleigh Ridding Part 2 of 2

My nephew actually smiling!!

Against my better judgment the kids wanted to sleigh toward the creek and my daughter was willing to stand and catch them before hitting the water......good luck.......we'll see

Still happy as can be........"Let's go again!!"

OH, this is what mommy was afraid would happen. If you notice DD is on the ground. My nephew came down first, knocked DD down and she couldn't stop DS from hitting the water. You can see the water moving, I got the shot right as he hit!!

DS was not happy, the next photo was actually him standing with hands on hips letting him have it because he is now wet and has to go in!!! Good Grief!!! LOL LOL

Happy sledding and God Bless!!!

Sleigh Ridding Part 1 of 2

My little snowman

My daughter, son and nephew

My daughter sleighing

My little snowman mid air

My little snowman sleighing

Taking Care of Pets

Let me get on my soap box for a few minutes. Before you take a pet home from wherever, please be able to spay or neuter them. So often people adopt pets, see a cute puppy or kitty at the mall or get one given to them before thinking it through. Pets are a big responsibility as well as cost. We have had so many dropped off near our house that it is insane. Most of the strays are cats. Cats normally have 2 litters of kittens a year. That is on average 4-8 every six months or so to find new homes for. I don’t mind feeding and taking care of what is mine, which is why I brought them home. But when you decided to make that decision for someone, it is normally a big mistake.

In our area you can get a cat or dog fixed for around $90 - $150 with shots included. We decided to look around for another vet in a nearby county. This was well worth the time and effort. We now have a good vet that spays or neuters your pets for $67. They take really good care of the animals. We even have a large animal vet that lives near us that works there two days a week.

Really look at the prices of food (canned and dry), pee pads, cat litter, toys, beds, flea medications (good ones like Frontline-my favorite), vitamins, grooming, vet visits, shots, spaying, neutering, as well as a ton of other things. Pure breed animals have more health issues as well. Look at the breed before taking in the responsibility and ask a local vet what they see that breed in their office for most. Have a little money tucked away for pet emergencies. I never knew there were so many emergencies until we bought our loving dachshund. He has had a few. We have also taken in kittens from strays and have had enormous vet bills. We have also had pets that have gotten out and were hit by a vehicle.

If they make it there is normally a very large vet bill. If you live in a rental that allows pets, make sure that if something happens and you have to move to somewhere that doesn’t allow pets, that you have someone that is willing to take your pet in.

Crayola Window Crayons

I have 2 children that are homeschooled (if you hadn’t read that before) and I always have extra kids around.

It is hard at times to keep all of them entertained. While at Wal-Mart we noticed these crayons for under $4.00; I thought, why not. They are great little time consumers as well as a great tool for your budding artist. They come in a pack of 5; black, yellow, blue, green and red. The kid’s can write on mirrors, the front door, any type of glass, even your automobile windows. Just watch what they write or draw. LOL

Clean up is quick and easy. Having tried different things I recommend window cleaner. Your glass is clean and the crayons are gone. You can use soap and water or about any type of cleaner as well.

The only thing to look for is when they push hard on the crayons you will see a little clump of color, they are soft. When these fall to the floor and get stepped on the colors will spread on the floor as well. I haven’t had to deal with them on carpet so I can’t say how easy or hard clean up would be. However, on linoleum it is as easy to clean as off of the glass. Just tell them to write easy and not to press so hard. The crayons do roll up so there is plenty for your money and their time.

Take care and God bless!!

Making Your Kids Christmas List

While in the stores this weekend my son kept picking out things that he wanted for Christmas, don't they all. Well I decided to pull out my phone and take pictures of the items in which he chose as well as shots of the prices. Now I can put them on the computer attach the name of the store and email them to family members that are all the time asking, "So, what do your kids want for Christmas?".

Going into a store armed with a large digital camera may look suspicious and you may get much unwanted attention. However, just about everyone has a camera with a built in camera these days. After thinking of the possibilities I was amazed. For a baby shower you could do the same thing. Take your phone around, take a picture. Go home and load them into the computer. Categorize things into what is the most needed down to what you think is cute and wouldn't mind having and email it to family and friends. This way there are also pictures instead of just descriptions that go along with your request. You can show the price (in your area anyway) and the store where you found it. However, someone that is buying for you somewhere else may find the exact item at another store for less. Saving them money and you still get what you need and/or want.

Phones have come such a long way and the home phone will soon be a thing of the past. At the University of Kentucky they removed all phones from student dorms last year, it saved the school money and most of the students had cell phones and were not using them anyway. Can you imagine what all they will invent in the next 20 years? My kids are already amazed, and probably can not truly grasp, how I grew up and some of the ideas about the good old days. Can you imagine if the TV only had 3 channels and they had to get up and change the channel, by hand. OMG In my opinion it would be better. I really enjoy TV, please don't get me wrong, however with the growing electronic world look at the obesity rate of our selves and more importantly, our children. It is phenomenal. Technology is great in many ways but as with everything, you have to have bad to go along with the good.

Boy, did I get off topic or what. LOL

Have a great November and God Bless you all.

Crayola Hassle Free Watercolors

Since we have been on the road most of the past week and a half I have been looking for things for the kids to do that doesn't make a mess. I found these yesterday in our local Wal-Mart, of course, and they are fabulous. No Water! No Dripping! No Spilling! Is what the package advertises and it is true to its advertisement. The kids can create whatever they want and then change colors with no effort and no mess. It comes with 2 of the paint pens so each of my kids have their own and the only thing that I can see that will be a problem, with us, is that the pens tips are like long felt markers and I am sure that my kids will push to hard on them and they will split or tear up. We will see. But for under $4 I believe this to be a very good purchase for anyone with kids who like to paint.

God Bless!!

Homeschool and Public School

We homeschool, as do many families these days. However, my little one (DS age 6) has decided that he now wants to attend public school. I think that for him that this is a good choice, at least for now. He is a very outgoing and friendly child that wants to be around other children all the time. Public School has now been in for 2 days and he has not attended. He woke up at 4:00 am the first morning sick. What does a 6 year old think about while sick early in the morning the first day of school.....what if something happens and mommy is not there? So there went the first day. I did try however until 9:00 am to get him to go. He was scared out of him mind. I gave in and decided we would try it the next day. Friday morning rolls around and he is still against going. This is now 3 days after his big decision to go and the rushing around, getting records together, filling out paper work, scheduling eye exams and physicals as well as purchasing nearly $200 in supplies that are required. My cousin’s girl, that is only 6 days younger than my son, gets off of the bus at our home and he went with his daddy yesterday to pick her up. He comes back in the house and says, for the hundredth time, "I am going to school". Okay, I am a very patient mother but this has got to go one way or the other. I agree that giving a 6 year old the choice is somewhat unusual but I think that my children should make decisions, but this is a really large one. So this time I have made it. I called his teacher and she informs me that he is no longer enrolled in her class since he did not make the first 2 days. Okay, now what?? I had my husband call the front office and they were kind of snippy, I understand. "Are you still giving him a choice??" "No, he will be there on Monday." After a brief discussion we came to the understanding that Monday is the last straw or he will be un-enrolled and if we decide to re-enroll him that he may be sent to another school in the district due to the over flow of Kindergarten children in this school. Although I believe that the best education for a child is homeschooling I am going to make him try public school for at least a week and then see how he responds. I believe that being around other children will actually help him to grow. My daughter went to public school for the first 4 1/2 years and it was in her best interest to remove her from that environment. If I feel the need to remove my son from public school then I will and keep him home but I would like him to have the experience if only for a brief time.

Wishing you and your children all the best this school season!! God Bless!!