Me, Muffin Tin Meals & The Magic School Bus

So Monday's at our house are not so fun for my kiddos. We always start our morning with chores, but Monday's are "Clean the House" day. Which means we dust, mop, clean glass, and basically put things to rights after the chaos of the weekend :/ On top of that "unfun" we always do extra subjects in school that day, due to our busy schedules on Tuesday & Wednesday. When we are out of the house for most of the day with Bible Study and Co-op. So to say the least my children aren't so fond of Mondays!

In an effort to make them dread Monday a little less, I had shared last week how I do "Muffin Tin Meals". I also have started letting them watch the Magic School Bus while they enjoy their tinned lunches. This is a fun little reward for helping around the house that morning, yet I don't feel to guilty because Magic School Bus is pretty educational! Here is what my guys enjoyed today:

Milk, Baby PBJ on mini flatbreads, cheese, grapes, chocolate chip cookies, and cheetos!

They watched the "Magic School Bus goes on Air" while noshing their lunch.

And because my Mom made a comment about my pic last week I am including a self photo, just for her:)

"HI Mom, I miss you!"

I am going to attempt to link this post to Muffin Tin Mondays. Wish me Luck!

Homeschooling Hints & Helps: School Lunches (The Homeschool Version!)

So I don't know about you guys, but at times I am a wee bit jealous that I don't get to pack a cute little lunch for my kiddos everyday in a matching lunchbox. I decided this year to rectify that by trying to be more creative in the lunches I serve at home. We do also take our lunch at least once a week to Co-op, so I get to "play" a little there;) So here are some of the things I have been doing to keep lunch interesting at our house lately:

1) Muffin Tin Meals. There is a whole blog dedicated to this idea! I actually had thought of it before I saw it, however the images gave me the incentive to do it:) The premise is easy. You simply serve your child lunch in a muffin pan. I love that I have to think of so many different things to fill all the little holes:) I have been trying to do this every Monday.

This Monday's meal consisted of (from left top): Juice Box, Mini Corn Dogs, Ketchup, Applesauce, Babybel Cheese, and a mini Brownie. As you can see with certain foods I use muffin liners and with prepackaged food I don't. But the liners work great for ketchup, and since I spray painted this tins to match my kids school stuff they aren't super "wash friendly" . I cut the brownies with a cookie cutter so they would fit!

 P.S. I got my tins at the dollar store, score!

2) Food Service Baskets. This little plastic baskets have been one of my favorite ways to serve food for years! You can usually find them in a dollar spot at Target or Micheals. However they are usually red or yellow. I happened to be a TJMaxx last year and found a set of bright colored ones! I snatched those babies up:) These baskets are best with simple foods: Hot Dogs, Burgers, Corn Dogs, Wraps. Cause you can't fit a lot in the little baskets!

This day's meal consisted of Baby Burgers (sliders), cucumbers, and chips of choice. Plus V8 fusions to drink. The kids really like this method! As shown in the following exhibits;)

Ok I admit, even I LOVE to eat out of a fun little basket:) P.S. Do you notice that I am NOT drinking a V8 Fusion!:P That is the look I give my children when they play with my camera!

3) Bagged/Box Lunches. If you are on the web or Pintrest, you have seen the new craze of Bento Boxing. I never want to be one to be left out so I found a similar container at Target and have been using it on Co-op days since we have to bring a lunch. I LOVE these! Now I am not so creative that I shape everything and coordinate it with a theme. But I do enjoy filling all the little "spots" in the container with something fun,yummy & nutritious (however you will have noted by this point in my blog that I am by NO means a health-food addict, I merely strive to present "well rounded" meals).

This is what we took to Co-op yesterday: Mini Turkey & Cheese sandwiches on mini bread rounds, Grapes, Carrots & Dip (that is the little round container by the sandwich), Chips, Homemade M&M cookies, and a Juice Box. I even ate the same exact thing myself except of course the juice box:P

A few notes about this particular lunches "supplies". The lunch boxes are Ziploc brand and come in a set of 2 from Target. The little dip containers are my new obsession! They are Diamond brand, they come in a set of 50 cups and lids that each fit 2 oz of liquid. They are slightly pricey but SO worth it. They are fairly leak proof too! The fun little bread rounds were something I just spotted last time I went grocery shopping, and I am sucker for anything mini! They are Arnold Sandwich Thin Minis and come in a pack of 16. This lil cuties are only 50 calories apiece, and perfect for my non-bread loving children!

4) Cafeteria Style Trays. My mom had some of these growing up, and I remember thinking how fun it was to get served lunch in little compartmental plates:) So when I found these at Target a few years back I gladly began the tradition in my home. 

My Son felt obligated to oversee that day's lunch since it is one of his faves;) The kids were served mini pizzas (courtesy of Schwans), mandarin oranges, pudding & an orange flavored Izze to drink. So definitely not the most nutritious lunch, but for sure school cafeteria fare;)

And that wraps up all the different ways we inhale lunch at our house:) Hope I have given you some fun ideas for your own home. Feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions!

P.S. Thinking of trying to make this a more than occasional blog topic. I would share my organizing, scheduling, and curriculum thoughts. If you would enjoy this please let  me know. Cause honestly this blog was kinda time consuming if no one really wants to read it!;)

A few of my faves...Movie Version

So in an effort to at least blog once a month I am presenting you with a short list of my ALL time favorite movies. I will put them in order of my favorite to my MOST favorite.

A Few Good Men. This has been one of my go to movies for years! Also one of the only movies I can stand with Tom Cruise in it:/       

     

 Sweet Home Alabama. This is such a sweet, feel good movie. I actually had to shop the pawn stores to find it on DVD after I realized I kept watching it every time it was on TV!

50 First Dates. This is one of the very few movies that isn't totally raunchy AND yet it still has Adam Sandler in it. I love that it is sweet but funny. One of the first movies Steve and I went to see once we got married.

The Three Musketeers. This has been one of my faves since I was a teenager. LOVE this movie!

The Princess Bride. This is my ALL time favorite. My feel good movie. I actually just sat down with Steve and the kids and introduced my kids to it:) SO many good lines in this movie!

Ok that is my short but sweet post. Feel free to leave a comment letting me know what your all time fave is:)

Makes my heart go Flip Flop!

So I am back from my many travels this summer and I already have a TON going on! However before I get into the Fall swing of things, I have a fun summer post. I put this wreath together and couldn't be more pleased with it. It is the perfect thing to hang on my front door between 4th of July & Fall. I will admit this isn't the cheapest wreath I have ever made, but I thought the result was well worth the cost:)

This really was super UNCOMPLICATED so I won't bore you with many details, I will just give you a brief overview.
1) I bought a flat wooden wreath form from Micheals. Used a 40% off coupon and I think I only paid like $6 or so. Then I spray painted it white. That is what went with my flops best but you could definetily mix things up here:)
2) I then spent WAY longer than I need to arranging the flops onto the wreath in the order I wanted. I used girls size 1 flops that I got for $1.26 a pair and ended up needing 6 pairs. If you use larger or smaller flop this number could be different. Then I hot glued all the flops onto the wreath form.
3) I bought a couple spools of coordinating ribbon at Hobby Lobby 1/2 off, and used them to make a big ole bulky bow. to fill in the spot were I couldn't fit another pair of flops and to add some dimension.


And that my friends is IT!! Honestly I think I did the whole wreath for around $20 and spent less than 1/2 hour making it (excluding spray painting & drying). Not bad for such a fun result:)

My first Applique!! Sew Cute;)

Continuing with my VBS themed crafts, I decided to do a little applique project for Gilly. I have been wanting to try one of these for a long time but didn't have a cute "idea". But with this years VBS theme being the "Big Apple" I knew exactly what I should try for my first one. This was SO simple I am not even going to bore you with step by step instructions.

 

All I did was take a plain white Tshirt and then it was as easy as 1,2,3...

1) Pick a pattern on which to base your applique and print it out or trace it.

2) Take your prewashed fabric and some HeatNBond and apply using pattern as directed on HeatNBond package.

3) Go around your applique using a broad zigzag stitch .

TaDa!! Super cute and easy applique in like 5 minutes. Here is a close up of my "Big Apple", but don't look to close! I was using a new stitch on my machine and it took a minute to get the hang of :/

Happy Bday Mom!

So today is my mother's birthday and in our family birthdays are BIG deals! So since I couldn't be with her to celebrate her special deal I of course sent her a gift. But I also made her a little "happy" and thought I would show it to her on here, since I am horrible about mailing gifts on time:/

So for My favorite Mom on her bday:

This is the 2x4 Flag that I made for my mother who ♥s all things Americana. This was so super easy that I whipped up a matching one for myself;) I found the tutorial online and "roughly" followed it.

Hope your day is as fun as I would make it if I were there Mom! Love you and wish I could be there:)

Grab a Cab (Snack that is!)

So today's post isn't quite as corny as the title;) However it is super quick and easy. I am not going to give long detailed steps since it basic (Don't act SO happy!). Instead I will just give you a quick overview.

Here is what I came up with:

All I did to whip up these cuties is take a small treat bag ( I got 100 at Hobby Lobby for a $1.50 with my 40% coupon!) I then printed the words "Cab Fare" on yellow cardstock. I cut to size of my baggie and then stamped with the cute Taxi stamp that I got from Lifeway! I also punched out the checkerboard pattern at the bottom and put black cardstock on the back to make it show up. The punch is purely optional, actually the Taxi Stamp came with a Checkerboard stamp it is just bigger than I wanted to use. I then stapled the whole little "header" on the baggie in which I had placed 3 chocolate coins. Ta Da that's it! For resource purposes I will show the stamps and punchout that I used:

You will notice that I pulled the cab stamp off the foam block and put it on a clear block. I found it impossible to line up using that bulky foam block! I actually have an extra set of these stamps so if you leave a comment you can win it! Check back tomorrow for more:)

VBS Gifty Week!! BookClip Tutorial

So I am sure if you reference last years VBS Post you will see shocking similiarites. Again we are between church homes, so I am not able to help with VBS. This makes me so sad:( However I can't help by getting in the theme of things with a few little quick crafts. The ideas I post this week would be great as teacher appreciation gifts from a student to their teacher, or a left by a VBS director in the teacher's lounge, or from a teacher to their aides. Nothing I will post this week is very spendy or complicated, so all you have to do is get the supplies:)

My first little "gifty" this week is Apple Clips. These little cuties are a breeze to make and would look so cute on your VBS guide book;)

You will need the following supplies:

 Cardstock in Colors of your choice, Jumbo Paperclip, PopUp glue dots, punches in the following sizes: Large Scallop, 1&3/8 Circle, and Apple punch. (oh and a taperunner or gluestick, just pretend you see them!)



Punch two of each shape as follows:

Stack and Glue (use tape runner or gluestick NOT PopUp dots yet) your punches in this order: Scallop under Circle but not the Apple yet. Then take your Paperclip and PopUp glue dots and sandwich the PunchOuts on either side of the paperclip with the gluedot in between. Now you can add the apples! If you add these before you put it on the paperclip, it is a pain to line the apples up right.

What you should end up with looks like this:

This actually way easier than the complicated steps I have to always include:P In fact I whipped up a different variation in approximately 1 minute!

I just love this lil guys:) If you don't want to run out and buy the punches I am willing to mail sets of the punchouts for basically postage & cost of supplies which means all you would need to purchase is the paperclips and gluedots! Check back later this week for more VBS ideas:)

P.S. Should I give one of these away to one of my few loyal readers? Leave a comment and tell me whatcha think;)