Halloween Bat Craft

Here is a very simple craft for you to do with your kiddo! My son made the bat in the photo. He is 4 and did 99% of it unassisted. This might be a good craft for your kids while the busy mommies get a chore done or lunch made.

What you will need:

2 pieces Black

1 piece White construction paper

Pen

Scissors

Googly eyes

Pom Pom

Directions:

1. Fold one piece of construction paper in half. Draw out the bat wings.
2. Cut them out, you should have two wings now.
3. Draw out the bats body.
4. Cut it out.
5. Glue the wings to the body.
6. Cut out two white fangs.
7. Finishing touches! Glue the googly eyes to the head, glue the pom pom on for a nose and add fangs!

Day 5: "Dinner Time Battle"

Image courtesy theblueroom.me.uk

Those were 5 quick days. Last night was the last night of my “Dinner Time Battle” series.

I made my family homemade peperoni Halloween pizza last night. It was a Halloween pizza because I cut the cheese into the shape of a pumpkin with a small cookie cutter. My son thought this was pretty cool and he started to gobble it down. Normally he will not eat homemade pizza. He likes Pizza Hut. He ate about ½ a piece and said it was disgusting. I figured this would be the case.

I didn't serve him any other meal but he was welcome to more pizza. There was not one fit at dinner time and he even said the prayer before our meal. So, I am not sure it was a total success or a fail, but we made it through dinner fit free!

Thank you for following me for this series.

Day 4: "Dinner Time Battle"

Image courtesy of laaloosh.com

Dinner was not as wonderful last night. I made pork chops, garlic mashed potatoes, and a pea an corn medley. Gabe's meat was prepared with no spice at all and he refused to even try it. I knew this would be a hard night. He has never liked pork and he only likes frozen peas. If they are even room temperature he won't eat them. So, Gabe had only four frozen peas. He devoured the potatoes and even had seconds.

Before giving him seconds I tried to bargain with him to try the meat first or no more potatoes but I knew that was a battle I would lose since I already knew he was not a pork eater. I hope his taste buds mature soon.

So, night 4 of the “Dinner Time Battle”... mission failed.

Easy Glitter Pumpkins

Image courtesy of artglitter.com

These glitter pumpkins take minutes to decorate and are actually elegant (if you can say that about a pumpkin).

I think this looks best on a smaller sized pumpkin, however, any sized pumpkin will work.

What you will need:

1 pumpkin

White school glue (such as Elmer's)

Glitter

Paint Brush

Newspaper

Plastic Bowl

Directions:

1. Lay out the newspaper on a flat surface.
2. Place your pumpkin on the newspaper.
3. Pour your glue into a plastic bowl.
4. Paint ½ of the pumpkin with the glue.
5. Sprinkle glitter all over the glue (the glue dries clear so if you miss a spot it is ok)
6. Paint the remainder of the pumpkin with glue.
7. Sprinkle glitter all over the glue.
8. Allow to dry and enjoy!

There Was A Tornado In The Back Seat Of The Truck

Image courtesy of soaphead.com

It smells sweet, sour, dirty, musty, and moldy. What am I talking about? Come on,give it a few guesses. It is not my kids dirty feet or dirty diapers. It is my truck. The nasty things I find and smell in my truck after toting two boys around for a week is nasty. It looks like a tornado swept through the back seat. I have become such good friends with the shop vac, I am considering naming it.

This week as I cleaned out the truck I found not only one but four moldy GoGurt containers. They smell sweet from the GoGugurt but then there is mold all over the top. It is rather unpleasant. I know those little things are horrible to take in the car but my kids love them so much and I am a softy so I give in.

I tracked a full list of what nasty food items I pulled from the truck. In the front two seats I pulled out three GoGurts just starting to get sour and mold, a half eaten chocolate granola bar, two never opened but all smashed up fruit grain bars, and three bottles of partially drank water. In the back seat I found the nastiest piece of week old cucumber! There were three slices left and they were as mushy and stinky as you could imagine. It made me cringe just to hold the bag. There were so many cracker crumbs in Hayden's seat there was no chance of cleaning it up without the help of the shop vac. I bet if I was to open that sop vac 95% of it's contents would be Hayden's crackers. The third row of seats has been laid down for extra storage so it is pretty clean. There are only a few corn husk particles there. That is an easy mess to clean.

With all of the food mess I had to carry into the house 3 sweatshirts, a pair of shoes, two winter jackets, 3 coffee cups, several toy guns, and a few costumes.

Oddly enough, with all this mess, my truck never really smells bad.

It was just a cute way to start my story. However, if I did not clean it weekly I reckon it would. Now that my truck is clean it is time to load the kids up and start all over again! Hey, maybe I will be adventuresome an give them an ice cream cone in the car! Oh, wait I have done that!

Day 3: " Dinner Time Battle"



Image courtesy of snooth.com



It is the middle of the week and I was ready for a break tonight. I decided on a simple dinner. Tonight was grilled cheese and tomato soup.

I expected Gabe to eat all of the grilled cheese and not a single bite of the soup, but again I was wrong. The first thing he ate was soup. He said it was delicious and asked that nobody eat seconds. He said he wanted to save it all for him. Hmmm... what is going on with this kid?

Gabe sat there an ate very well, although his table manners were pretty rough. With every bite of soup I heard a slurp. Yum yum!

Tonight Gabe ate 3/4 of a whole grilled cheese and a full cup of tomato soup. As dinner time came to an end an he got full he decided to tell me the last few bites of soup were disgusting. Was it disgusting or was he just full?

Since my son is proving me wrong in this dinner time challenge I am considering starting a challenge for my little one, Hayden. I might call it, " Sleep in your own bed!". What do you think? Will I get so lucky with that challenge?

A Naked Morning

Image courtesy of planetandroid.vitaeblog.com

I feel so naked and all alone! I have NO cell phone right now. My phone was not just an ordinary flip phone, it did everything! My whole routine is turned upside down this morning. No checking morning emails and facebook while cuddling my kids on the couch. I actually had to go old school and use my computer. I can not believe how much I rely on technology. I did not think I was so addicted.

I bet you are wondering why I have no phone. You remember a few days back when I posted about bath time being so unpleasant? Well, unpleasant is now an understatement. It is hell.

I was running bath water for Gabe and there is Hayden smacking his hand back and forth in the running water. This makes the water splash Gabe and I. We are a few feet from the running water, so you can imagine Gabe's frustration. I was helping Gabe get his clothes off and I felt a huge splash. At first thought I jumped quick thinking Hayden went over the edge. No, he did not. He threw a large truck in the water. As I leaned over to get the truck out my cell slipped. Right out of the pouch of my sweatshirt and into about 5 inches of water. It was completely submerged. Oh CRAP! I grabbed the phone as quick as I could, ripped the case and screen cover off of it. Of course I dried it off but I could still see water inside the screen. I ran into the office and got a can of air and tried to blow out the water. No luck! I ran down stairs and put it in a bowl of rice.

Since I am complaining of no phone you know nothing worked. Thankfully when my husband bought the phones he got me some good insurance. He knows how much technology hates me. I should be up and running with my new phone sometime tonight, but until then, my whole world has been turned upside down.

Jerky

Image courtesy of purelyusa.com

I was recently inspired by a friend who makes some delicious jerky. I though I would try my hand at it and I must say it turned out pretty yummy. I am sharing the recipe I used with you. After searching for a good recipe I was not satisfied, so I made my own. I guess I just had beginners luck. Enjoy!

3 lbs rump meat

½ cup of barbecue sauce

¼ cup of brown sugar

1 tsp spicy brown mustard

1 tbsp lemon pepper

1 tbsp liquid smoke

½ tsp pepper

1. Cut the meat into ¼ inch slices. Blend all ingredients together. Add meat and stir well. Cover and refrigerate over night.
2. Lay the meat on foiled racks ( a cookie sheet will work as well). Set oven to 160 degrees and prop the oven door open about two inches with a foil ball. Cook-dry meat 8-10 hours or until dry.

Note... I have children and was only able to allow the oven door to be open part of the drying time. The jerky still turned out delicious.

Day 2: "Dinner Time Battle"

Image courtesy of free-extras.com

Day 2 of “ Dinner Time Battle” was again a random night. I don't even know what to make of it.

Tonight I made lasagna for dinner. On a normal night I make lasagna, Gabe takes a glance at it and says it looks nasty. He pretty much refuses to taste it. Tonight I had it all cut up and ready to eat at the table for him. I called out for him to come to dinner and told him we were having lasagna just like Garfield eats. He said, “ Mmmmm, Mazana.” He has never pronounced it just right.

He sat down and ate ¾ of a large piece. There was no whining and he was rewarded with chocolate milk.

I can't believe this child. He is making my 5 day challenge a bundle of boring stories! However, he is eating his food!

I hope you all had a good dinner too!

High Maintenance Dogs

Not only do I have my two high maintenance boys, but I have two high maintenance dogs. Yes, that is right. They are prissy weenier dogs. As the rainy season is approaching the battle of getting them outside to pee begins. I refuse to allow them to use my rug as a potty patch this winter so I am taking a new approach.

My dogs sleep in the laundry room so they stay quiet and don't mess the house while we sleep. They are usually eager to get up when we do and go pee, however, if the grass is even a little wet they do not want to go outside. You know what this means. Those adorable but nasty dogs will pee in my house.

This year I am starting a new technique. I don’t want to have any accidents. When they wake up they will go outside, just like always, but I have to watch them close. They are sneaky little dogs. They will stand on the porch and not go potty. If they do this, it is back in the laundry room for them. Here comes the frustrating part. It is not like I can just tell them to go to the laundry room and they go. Nope! They are too stubborn and high maintenance. I have to one by one round them up and take them in there. 99% of the time I am doing this with my one year old, Hayden in my arms. Sometimes I can actually work up a sweat doing this. I have been continuing to do this until they go so it can take hours to complete this task. It is working so far!

So, imagine this. Mom is trying to get two boys breakfast, watch the prissy weenier dogs go pee, pour a cup of coffee, and turn on a tv show for the boys all at the same time within the first 5 minutes of waking up.

The dogs are on my poop list today. Each dog snagged a piece of my son's sausage off his plate. They have returned to the laundry room where they will remain for a while, or at least until everyone finishes their meal.

Why do I have to love weenier dogs (one of the most stubborn to train)? Could not I have chosen a German Shepard or something? Such is life and I love my crazy life!

Happy Birthday! Love, Gabe and Mr. Plumber

Photo courtesy of fkclinic.blogspot.com

Here is a story I must share! My son was almost two at the time. It was almost Thanksgiving and we were living in a rental home during the time this story took place.

My dad had just left to go home after visiting for my birthday. My dad had given me the most generous birthday gift ever. He gave me $400. Yep, you are reading that right.

Not $4, not $40, but $400. Little did I know I would not see a dime of that $400.

I was in the bathroom cleaning up after his visit and preparing for Thanksgiving company. My son was standing on the toilet smearing shaving cream on the mirror and making designs. One of his favorite things to do at that age. This went on for a half an hour or so until it was time to clean the mirror. I took Gabe off the toilet and he moved on to play with toys on the floor next to the bath tub. He was really doing a fabulous job of entertaining himself. Ten more minutes pass and finally, the bathroom is clean.

We are done with that chore and move on to go play in the living room.

Over the next few days we are having issues getting the toilet to flush. What in the world could it be? I just cleaned in there and the toilet was working just fine. We try plunging it and it seemed to help a little but not completely clearing up the problem. We decided to wait over the next day to see if whatever is blocking it passes. Plumbers are not exactly cheap.

No luck. We were to the point of having to plunge it after every use and if we flush it again we are going to be swimming in poop. My husband went out and got some tools to see if he could unclog it but after scratching up the porcelain and having no success we had to break down and call a plumber.

The plumber had to remove the whole toilet to find what was clogging it. Thankfully he was nice because he charged us $452.32. Now you know where my birthday money went and why I never saw a dime of it.

So... what was clogging the toilet? A large plastic pack of dental floss that my son willingly fessed up to dropping or putting into the toilet and flushing down. I could not just flush away $452.32. I washed off the dental floss pack an broke it apart so I had just the front flat surface. I printed on the computer a picture of a price tag. Then I hand wrote $452.32 and I framed it and hung it in his room.

Happy Birthday Mommy! Love, Gabriel Preston

Day 1: "Dinner Time Battle"

Image courtesy of food-faq.net

Good evening all! It is day one of my 5 day “Dinner Time Battle”.

Tonight I made hard shell tacos for dinner. We had a fairly successful night. Instead of having Gabe's meal already dished up before I called him to dinner; I involved him a little more in the process of dishing up his dinner. This was a little different approach because I normally have him help me cook the dinner.

I already know he is not a meat eater, so instead of forcing him to put meat in his taco, I allowed him to put it on the side. However, he was required to taste it. Do you think he liked it? To my surprise, heck yeah, he did. I did cut the taco seasoning in half to tempt his taste buds, but it worked! I figured he'd spit it out immediately along with a gallon of saliva, but I am happy I was wrong. What is even better is that he asked for seconds and thirds. He ate about a cup of taco meat and all of his shell filled to the rim with cheese. He was still hungry after that and asked for more grated cheese. Holy cow! I am SHOCKED!

I really did not see us succeeding on day one but this was awesome. I am making a Spanish rice dish tomorrow and he is not one to like rice, so I am sure that will be an adventure.

Mess Free Pumpkin Decorating



Today I wanted to share with you an “almost mess free” way to decorate your Halloween pumpkins. This is really a great idea for the little ones who are not quite old enough to use the carving kits.

We used stickers this year. Our stickers were purchased at Target for $5 per pack and there are enough stickers in the pack for at least two pumpkins. The stickers we used are puffy but I am sure any sticker of your choice would work. Other ideas would be to get princess stickers, Disney characters, superheros, animal stickers, etc...

*The pumpkins in the photo are actually pumpkins created by my son.

Invitation To "The Dinner Time Battle"



Photo courtesy of myhealthguardian.com



We never have a relaxing dinner. My little guy, Hayden refuses to sit in his high chair for longer than ten minutes, which results in me trying to scarf as much food as possible in that amount of time. Thankfully, I am not one to get indigestion or anything like that. Whatever I have not eaten is often shared with him and it becomes a mess. Not just a bean spilled on the table but a huge mess with food all mixed together half on the table, half on the floor, and half in his mouth. He is 1 year old and learning to self feed! Hayden has his own plate in his high chair with the same food, however, mom's food looks much better. It doesn't matter how many times I say no or even sit him back in his highchair it is not a winning battle. Often, it is easier just to get through dinner with him quiet and on my lap rather than screaming and in his seat.

Now, to tell about my big kid Gabe. He has recently moved on to what I would call an Extreme case of “ the picky eater”. He does not like anything with spice. The only spice I can seems to use is garlic and seasoning salt. However, I can only add garlic to the potatoes. If there is any spice on his chicken, the dogs are getting it. This must be why we have a fat dog! That was the case a few weeks ago anyway. Now, I can't even get him to eat chicken. Not even chicken nuggets. He has even given up hot dogs over the last two days. What kid doesn't eat hot dogs? If he was allowed to choose his dinner it would be apples,oranges, cucumbers, hard boiled egg, and Scooby Do GoGurt. It is not an unhealthy meal but I would love him to learn to eat what I cook for dinner, like he used to a year ago.

I am inviting you to follow along with me over the next 5 days as I start to battle this problem. Starting Monday October 18, 2010 I will begin a series titled “The Dinner Time Battle”. I will share with you what was made for dinner, my ups and downs of dinner time, and if Gabe ate his dinner or not. I am putting my mothering skills to the challenge and sharing it with you! We will deal with getting Hayden to sit in his highchair another time. One challenge at a time. :) Check back tomorrow to see our progress!

Wondering What To Do On This Cold Sunday Morning?

Photo courtesy of jimbocyberdoc.wordpress.com

Make homemade play dough of course! Here is my favorite recipe. I make this with the kids often. We make dinosaurs, teddy bears, stick figures... you name it you can make it. Cookie cutters work well with this craft as well.We bake our creations in the oven at 300 degrees for roughly an hour. Have fun and Happy Sunday!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon oil

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Food coloring by drops

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a pan and stir.  Cook over low heat, stirring until a ball forms.

2. Add food coloring and mix thoroughly until desired color.

3. Cool on foil. Store in covered container.

Bedtime



Image courtesy of i-love-cartoons.com



How quick does your little one scurry off to bed when you call out bed time?

In my house it is pretty quick. I say bed and I'd say my son is up the stairs within 3 minutes and very minimal whining. Are you thinking about what an awesome mom I am or how awesome my son is? Think again... we are normal.

What happens after the teeth are brushed an he is in bed is a different story. The real question is "how many times does your little one get out of bed after being put down"? Mine gets out about 5 times. One of the things I often hear wile he is delaying bed is, “Mom, I am hungry”. How can this be? He just ate. A favorite things to say is, “Mom, I just have to go pee”. I am all for this one and he knows it. He had to pee three times last night. After the third try he asked me why there was no pee coming out. Gee son... because there is none left. Now, go to bed! He does the classic one where he wants water and a new one here is to come in my room to tell me what is happening in the movie he is watching.

It drives me nuts but I love him so much. He seems to have perfect timing. He comes in the room just as I am getting his little brother asleep nine times out of ten. Oh... little silly children!

Why can't children cherish their sleep like us adults?