Dane has become obsessed with crayons.  From the moment he wakes up to post dinner time clean up, he is constantly scribbling, throwing, chewing and playing with crayons.

Honestly they are driving me nuts.  Being the sneaky mom that I am, I have been slowly (to avoid detection) stashing the excess in a hiding spot to reduce the number of crayons I have to pick up each and every night.  So far he hasn’t noticed.

I came across these neat ideas that I would love to recreate to make crayon ownership that much more bearable.

Love this one but there is that minor detail of not knowing how to sew.  I am thinking no sew glue is in order for this one.

With body lotion use on the rise there is little need for these soap holders anymore.  They are a dime a dozen at thrift stores and I will be on the lookout for a few to store travel amounts of crayons for the road.  At the rate I am hiding them that will be all that’s left of them.

I had so much fun creating my son’s cowboy themed third birthday party, so much so I had to blog and brag about it.  Imagine my surprise when the ladies from Creative parties and Showers contacted me to submit his party for them to showcase.

You bet I did.  Thanks Shannon!.  Head on over and check out the amazing parties ladies around the worlds have created.  I know I’ll never be stuck for ideas with this site on my RSS feeds.

This is the end result of the first night putting the boys in the same room.  Two hours were spent listening to Dane scream.  Landon, bless his heart, tried his best to console him.  I overheard him telling his little brother “It’s alright Dane, there is nothing to be scared of, I am here to protect you”.  Evidently that was not enough and Landon finally climbed in to be closer to him.  Guess that worked because this is the scene we found when we checked on them before hitting the hay ourselves.

For more wordless Wednesday’s visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

So much for spring.  Several days ago I spent the afternoon perusing the aisles of Home Depot admiring all the patio furniture (nicer than my living room set I might add) and now I cannot find the deck if I tried.  We got a whopping 20+ cm of snow.  Instead of being depressed I decided to make a day of it and jack the kids full of sugar.  Nothing like being cooped up in the house with a tummy full of Rice Krispie treats to drive a momma crazy.  The nice part about this snow is it’s light and fluffy, so when the kids start climbing the sides of the TV armoire they dressed in their one piece snowsuits and booted outside to burn off some energy.  I got a chance to sit by by the patio window sipping my three times reheated coffee picking paint chips for the new house.  Ahhhh! a snow day at its finest.

I have to tell you about our weird ritual when making Rice Krispie squares.  Most people cook them up and ever so neatly place them in a buttered pan, wait until they cool before cutting them into neat little squares.  Hence the name.  As you probably guessed by now, we do nothing normal.

Growing up Rice Krispie treats became an event.  Normally this was made on a storm day or late at night while watching a movie.  My Dad, who exclusively made these treats, would whip up a large batch with added peanut butter and pile it on a buttered plate complete with 4 spoons stuck in the middle.   We would each take a utensil and ferociously dig out a portion and pick it off with our fingers and gobble it up still warm and gooey.  If there happened to be some left it would be stashed away in the cupboard for the following morning’s breakfast.  I have yet to see this happen since the arrival of our little porker Dane. 

With the horrible weather conditions outside, I knew this would be a perfect day to break out the clearance box of Holiday Rice Krispie and whip up a large plate of ooey gooey goodness complete with tall glasses of milk.  I hope my children will remember these moments as much as my brother and I did growing up. A  single bite of this treat brings back so many wonderful childhood memories and how we spent it as a family.  Amazing how a simple dessert prepared in an unusual way can bring you back to a simpler and safer time.

Funny thing is I don’t remember the belly ache that accompanied this.

Thanks to my good friend and super talented photographer and  scrapbooker Kathy Thompson Laffoley, the memory of my first moments with Dane have been preserved forever.  No video could conjure up the memories that this shot does.  Sometimes the perfect photo tells it all.

For those that have struggled with infertility as I have, will no doubt relate to this beautiful poem written by an individual on a support group I am a member of.  This poem kept me going when I felt all hope was lost, the road was long but I held on to hope….and finally held on to my little guys.

I just had to put the two together.

It reads as follows:

Although not completely wordless…so hard for me to do.

Check out more cute captures and pictures at 5

minutes for mom

I posted about my deceptive little trick for hiding veggies in sloppy joes nearly a year ago and after a long hiatus, I decided to place them on the menu this week.

Who doesn’t love sloppy joe’s (actually I don’t) but most people do.  Here is a little trick to sneak in a little more nutritional value into this beef filled mixture.  Sloppy joes are perfect for those busy nights when all you can muster up the energy for is pressing the buttons on the microwave. This meal is frugal, simple and most of all quick to prepare and when placed on top of a whole grain bun can even be somewhat healthy.  Previously prepared and frozen family sized meat mixture can be thawed and fried in no time making this dish even more appealing.  Into this, I typically add a small bag of ground cabbage that I normally pick up for 1/2 price on the reduced cart as well as with the pre-mixed salad bags of coleslaw mix.  This addition not only adds a little crunch and tang to the meat mixture but more importantly adds a veggie that you would otherwise not be eating.  The best part is the coleslaw has the same shape and colour as ground beef once it has been fried in the sauce and makes it near impossible for your certain picky child (or certain picky father) from detecting and ultimately complaining. I normally place a little olive oil in the pan and add the fresh cabbage with the partly thawed meat and by the time the hamburger is heated through the cabbage is ready.

I have even gone as far as adding this in some of my meat loaves and other ground beef hashes without too many complaints.  Just make sure you destroy the evidence (bag) before they see it.

For more kitchen tips visit Tammy’s recipes

I thought I should post on Landon’s 4th birthday party celebration before preparations are underway for his 5th.

In the past he had a Curious George as well as cowboy theme party but this year we decided on a Lego motif to go with his recent fascination with this timeless toy.

I started with a simple handmade Lego invitation using shiny red scrapbook paper on which I placed raised pop dots on matching cut out circles.  Using a simple stamp set with a printed date and time card, they were simple and frugal.

For decorations I stuck to primary colours of blue, yellow, red and green.  The tablecloth was bright yellow on which I placed plastic storage bins filled to the brim with various flavoured potato chips.  For added interest I sat them on two large Lego boards I picked up at a thrift store for a quarter each with plenty of Lego colouring sheets and crayons to keep the little ones busy.  In the centre I filled a large clear vase with Lego candy I got on sale several weeks back using a 30% off coupon at our bulk food store.  You can actually build stuff with these candies and I made sure to send each child and their poor mother a large size goody bag filled to capacity.

For lunch I made my tried and true recipe of garlic fingers made with Amy’s pizza hut style pizza dough and to further streamline the process I pre-baked them the day before.  This way I only had to melt the cheese over the garlic butter to provide hot garlic fingers to hungry toddlers.  The best part of these has got to be the donair sauce.  I originally had two versions, one fattening and the other so much so you can actually feel your arteries clog as you swallow.  Of course I went with the latter, special occasion calls for special donair sauce.  I also know my best friend Stef loves these so I made sure I had them for her.

After last year’s cake masterpiece created by my father masquerading as a Martha wannabe, I thought he would have no problem pulling off Lego cakes.  I simply mixed up a double batch of my foolproof chocolate cake thanks to Voluntary simplicity and baked them in 4 small loaf pans.  Using a regular icing recipe of milk, icing sugar, vanilla and butter I tinted and mixed 3 different colours using food paste I picked up at Micheals with their 40% coupon resulting in deep prominent colours.

After unsuccessfully trying to coat the chocolate Rolo’s we decided to use to mimic the bumps, we finally admitted defeat and left them as is.  Nobody seemed to notice and there were plenty of oohs and aaahhs from the kids in awe of the chocolate blocks.

Finally, what is a party without a goody bag?  I used some plain red lunch sacks picked up on clearance after Valentines day and used an extra one to cut out red circles to adorn the bag similar to the invitations.  Using the same circle punch I made use of my scrapbooking scraps and crafted some simple thank you tags to attach to the bags using red ribbon once again picked up cheap after Valentines day.  Inside we put a Wii Pez dispenser, a mini Lego block set, a box of Smarties, candy ring and finally a large bag of Lego shaped candy.  I also picked up these inexpensive travel cups filled with craft activities a while back on clearance at Michaels. Inside there is instruction and supplies for several different crafts and after they are complete you are left with a nifty sippy cup.  Before leaving I simply washed and dried them before replacing the supplies back in to enjoy at another time.

All in all this party was inexpensive and made use of supplies I already had on hand.  By deciding on a theme early on I was able to keep my eyes open and take advantage of specials to further cut down expenses.  By making my own cake and garlic fingers I eliminated costly trips to the pizza joint and the added bonus to making my own was the ability to pre-bake them so I could quickly toss in another pizza if need be depending on how hungry people were.

All in all this party was a success and Landon had a blast as did the other children.  Now I have 11 months to come up with something for next year.  I am tired thinking of it. On that note:

This is what a 20 month old looks like on a sugar high……………….

and this is the same 20 month old on his way down

For more frugal tips visit Bilblical womanhood online