after school snack

I love this picture. It's the face that says, "I'm not real happy about this snack, Mom".

"get ready sticks"

This is such a simple little thing to do and it's working great!!

I found this little idea on the make and take blog about a month ago. We've been using it since the girls started school and I've saved myself so much misery during the morning time routine. The girls actually carry their sticks around and when they complete it they come and put it in the jar upside down. Once all of their sticks are back in the jar and no color is showing then they are done getting ready for school. As with all other great ideas, I'm sure this one will only last so long and then we'll have to come up with something else to motivate them. But for right now it's working great and I don't have to tell them every five minutes what to do next to get ready for school. Oh...the joy I feel when Emma Grace is putting on her shoes and socks and I never said a word.

Each child has their own color. Even Charlie has sticks but they just say "Charlie".

Here are the things that are written on our sticks:

-make bed

-clean room

-get dressed

-put pajamas away

-eat breakfast/DISHES

-brush teeth

-shoes & socks

-fix hair

-fill water bottle

my favorite recipes

Look what I just found at the check out stand at Safeway! Just last week I explained on one of my posts how the recipes from Southern Living magazines were my favorite. I'm so excited to start looking through here and finding some yummy new recipes.

our table

I hate when a project takes so long that by the time you're done you're over it. But I've been waiting to finish this project for a year so I could blog about it. So here goes!

I found this door in my neighbors bulk trash early one morning last August. I went back to our house and pulled Todd out of bed to have him come and help me get it. Todd was mortified that we were pulling something out of someones trash. My motto is, "one woman's trash is another woman's treasure". I was so excited! I had the top for my new table!!

Our old table was so trashed and old. It came from the clearance "scratch and dent" section of Costco five years ago for $150.00.

We didn't really have the money to buy a new table and I was getting anxious. The door sat in my garage for several months until the weather started cooling down. Then I had to convince my husband to succor a friend(Bill) in to helping him make the table skirt and legs. That took until November. The table was finally made then I had to find time to paint it. Well, now it was the holidays so the table was at the bottom of the list. When January came, I finally got all of the painting done and called someone to come and measure the table for a piece of glass to go on top. Now we had the table in the house!

This is a picture of Todd and Bill putting the legs on the table after they had just built the legs and the skirt of the table.

This picture shows the detail of the old door.

The next part of the problem were the old chairs. After being at my sisters(Miralyn) house last summer, she convinced me that benches around the table were the way to go. I was so tired of having bulky chairs in such a small space. So now I had to convince Todd to succor a friend(Bill) into helping him make benches.

Months went by and there was never time. Three days after Todd was released from his calling in the Bishopric, I asked him if he was done making those benches yet. It took a few more weeks but they finally were done. Then it took us several more weeks to finally get out there to paint them.

Any outside project in the summer months in Arizona is miserable so it's easy to put it off. The benches are finally done. We love our new table that fits our space perfectly!! No chairs in the way...hurray!

I wasnt' sure how I would like having glass on my kitchen table. I thought maybe it would be a little "cheesy". But now I think it is the greatest and most practical thing for a family with kids ever! It's so easy to keeps clean. You don't have to worry about the wood finish! Love it!

Total estimated cost of my low budget new kitchen table and benches:
table top= free
4 table legs= $20.00 ($5.00 each)
wood for table skirt= $10.00
paint for table= $10.00
wood for benches= $30.00
paint for benches= $5.00
glass top= $100.00


Estimated Total= $175.00

do you like "time-out"?

The other day Eliza asked me, "Do you like your house?". I told her I did. Then she asked, "Do you like time-out in your house?". I replied by saying, "Well, not really!". Without missing a beat she quickly said, "you better get rid of it then!". I told her I thought we better keep it and she wanted to know why. I explained to her that it helps kids to have time to themselves and think about how they can act better.

She's so funny! She comes up with things like this all the time and keeps me on my toes. I asked her if I could tell about this on my blog and she agreed. So I had her pose in our "time-out" for a picture. She was trying to make a sad face for me.

dessert kabobs

This is a fun and easy treat that the kiddos can put together. This is what we did for our FHE treat tonight. Everybody loved them.
Here is what you need:
strawberries
large marshmellows
Sara Lee frozen pound cake
semi-sweet chocolate chips
kabob sticks

Wash the strawberries and cut off the tops. Cut the cake into 1 inch squares. Have the kids put all of the treats on the stick. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on the stove. Lay the kabobs on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Drizzle with chocolate. Put in the refrigerator for the chocolate to set.

get the woogies out

The other day I walked into the bathroom where Eliza was "getting the woogies out" in front of the mirror. I have no idea really what it means to get the woogies out! But it was very funny to see Eliza dancing and singing, "get the woogies out, get the woogies out, get the woogies out". So funny! Since then we all can't keep from singing the silly tune! But we leave the dancing to Eliza and Emma Grace.