Tuesday, April 30th - Free Books! Online or download!

Hundreds of FREE children's books is truly free!  You do need to join by giving your age and e-mail to access all the books, or you can just read the editor's pick without giving any information, this is a very cool site!  The books don't have recorded readings and are user page turned.  wegivebooks.org is from the Pearson Foundation (Pearson does textbooks) and once a year gives a printed book to children for free to promote reading.

Schools can earn free physical books by reading online books, look into it for your kid's local school!

Monday, April 29th - Steak and Veggie Roll-Ups & Virgin Sangria

My fabulous sister hosted a birthday dinner for me on Sunday, it was so fun and the food was delicious!  My two favorite eats were these: Summer Cook Out Sangria (made virgin and with blackberries) and Balsamic Glazed Steak Rolls.  These two are definitely for the recipe book!

Sunday, April 28th - OPI Bubble Bath nail lacquer

OPI Bubble Bath - Love these nude!  I was shocked that this would be a color I would like!  Thank you Pinterest!  I recommend 2 coats and prefer it on shorter nails.  It looks so clean and fresh, it goes with everything.

Saturday, April 27th - Free ClipArt Sites for LDS Visuals

primaryclipart.com and freeldsart.com and myctrring.com

Friday, April 26th - Oatmeal Cinnamon Waffles

I personally didn't care for these, but maybe you will!

Oatmeal Cinnamon Waffles

⅔ cup flour

½ cup old fashioned oats

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

2 eggs           

1 cup buttermilk

2 tbs melted butter or oil

1 tsp vanilla

Crochet: Starting a Granny Square

Crochet: How to Start a Granny Square, this is a great link to tutorials for crochet and videos.  I used it as a refresher before teaching the 8-11 year old Activity Days girls at church how to start crochet projects!

Wednesday, April 24th - Happy Birthday to Me! Have a Bundt!

Nothing Bundt Cakes!   The Mister surprised me with a chocolate chocolate chip cake with cream cheese frosting for my girlie party, so good!!!

Tuesday, April 23rd - Kid Day!

My kids - funny stuff!

They take over my bed and tv

Take over my working space

And take my heart!

Monday, April 22nd - Primary April 2013 Sharing Time

Sofias Primary Ideas: April 2013 Primary Sharing Time was a great help for sharing time ideas, since I'm teaching on Sunday I wanted some different ideas.

Sunday, April 21st - Free Primary Printables

This calling is intense!
Free 2013 LDS Primary Presidency Planner
This planner works well.

Saturday, April 20th - Crazy House Day!

  

Crazy House Truth, my house is quite unpredictable!

Friday, April 19th - Quick Bacon Carbonara

Quick Pasta Carbonara was awesomely delicious and extremely filling!  In our family, toppings are added by an individual basis.  I doubled the recipe so I could get rid of my block of cream cheese.

Quick & Yummy Carbonara

1 lb. of pasta of your choice (whatever style)

1 bag of frozen peas

1 block of cream cheese

1 package of bacon

1 teaspoon Garlic powder

1 1/2 C. milk

1 C. parmesan cheese

Cook pasta.

Cook peas.

At the same time, crisp bacon then remove from pan.  Chop up!

In bacon drippings add the rest, stir over low-medium heat until cream cheese is melted.

Mix all and serve hot.

How to host a Playdate

From my Family and Kid Activities pinboard a combination of 5 different pins: How to host a Playdate.

1. Have a set time frame
2. Have two or three set activities
3. Have "free play" toys out - rotate a few at a time to keep interest
4. Plan on snack, lunch, or treats

This seems to work with any age group!

April 17th - LDS Primary Printables

Whoohoo I'm now in Primary at church!  Let the crafting and puppets begin!  here are a few of the printables that I printed out for free and are super cute!
Subway Art

Sacrament Program

April 16th - DIY OxiClean

DIY OxiClean worked!  1:1:2 ratio of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and water.  I Put my blueberry stained kid clothes in the bathroom sink, added the 1:1:2 ratio on top, then filled halfway up with hot water.  It took out the stains in about 3 hours and smelled a bit like pool water.

April 15th - Dealing with Stress

Today I definitely needed this!  Dealing with Stress was a great reminder: snow, traffic, one year old shots, grocery shopping with 2 kids, and carpooling take a toll on my patience.  I find that the workout stations on Pandora are great for not feeling too stupid dancing around with my kids.

April 14th - My Philosophy Regarding Promptness

Sunday's are a great challenge to get everyone up and out the door on time.  I have finally succumbed to this: My Philosophy Regarding Promptness.

'Nuff said!

April 13th - Wreath of the Month: Happy Birthday Balloon Wreath

Happy Birthday Balloon Wreath is my Wreath of the Month for April, it seemed fitting since I have 3 family birthdays and 4 friends birthdays.  I found this wreath exceedingly easy and quick to assemble.  It cost between $10-$15, a bit more than I'd normally spend.  I ended up not able to finish the complete round before I needed to cover my naked door.  I actually received so many compliments about it just the way it was, I'm going to keep it that way and use the extra supplies for other projects.

Supplies via Wal-ly World: straw wreath form, 2 bags balloons, 2 bags floral pins

Leave the plastic wrap on the wreath and stick the balloons on with floral picks

Rotate colors and position of balloons to cover up the pins, the more you do the better!

My finished wreath

April 12th - Happy Birthday Baby! Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  Love, love, LOVE you!  I know that when you're a teenager you'll hate that birthday headband, that's why I pull it out now when you can't even think about it while you eat your delicious cupcakes (3 total!).

We had a Minnie Mouse themed party, with Cherry Vanilla cupcakes.  Hobby Lobby had cute red with white polka dot cupcake liners.  I used Betty Crocker Cherry Chip and Betty Crocker Vanilla cake mixes and frosting, and frosted the opposite flavor cake - so vanilla cupcake with cherry frosting and cherry chip cupcake with vanilla frosting.  It was delicious!

I used large Oreos for the face and mini Oreos for the ears, and I recommend placing the Oreos immediately after frosting for better sticking and to twist your Oreos in half - the full Oreo on top of a cupcake was almost too much, almost.

CakeMate makes a pouch of Glitter Red squeezable frosting which was very easy for Minnie's hair bow.  Two dollops next to each other made a quick little heart.

I made mini cupcakes for the kiddos and have found them to be the perfect size.  Giving each kid a candle to blow out seems to be very helpful and a fun event for older kids that want to help!  I found the little Minnie Mouse figurine at Dollar Tree.

April 11th - Practicing "Minnie Mouse Hairbow" Hair, adapted from Half Up Hairbow Hairstyle

My baby's 1st birthday is a Minnie Mouse themed party and I am going to dress each girl up in a special party outfit. The birthday girl has her special cake outfit and headband and will be adorable.  My 3 year old is wearing yellow Minnie high heels, white, and a red flouncy skirt and, yay!, Minnie Mouse hairbow hair!

The only pic I could take of her holding still!

This is my final result:

I adapted the Half Up Hairbow Hairstyle to be all on top.

Half Up Hairbow