Phew

Okay, so obviously summer is not going to be a good time for me to keep up on this blog. The insanity of having both kids running around without a break... well, it just didn't happen.

The good news for you all is that I DO have an activity planned for this week (it was supposed to be today, but life kind of happened, and while that's a long story, it will be happening tomorrow instead) that hails back to when I was a kid myself - so I will be bringing you that one tomorrow.

Just wanted to let you know, I have not forgotten about you all, and I will return, hopefully with many more fun posts now that routine is about to start (since Monster Boy heads off to Kindergarten next week!) and I should have more *ahem* time on my hands!

Apologies... Again.

Well, I had the best of intentions - let me assure you.

I fully intended to do, or at least lay out, several projects with Monster Boy (and a few even with Little Miss Sunshine) this past week.

However, we lost a beloved member of our family - our cat of 14 years, Samantha - on Monday. And, well, without going into gory details, let's just say that I found her dead, and it has proven to be a bit traumatic to me. So my week pretty much went downhill from there, and I have not had much success getting things back on track :(.

However, in an attempt to make amends, I bring you my "Mom Emergency Casserole". I *think* I made this up myself years and years ago - I'm sure it's nothing really original, but it's a staple in our household on those nights where you are running behind, or you have tons to do and can't really mess with cooking dinner, or you don't feel like cooking, or, hey, you just want to throw something in the oven and then sit on the couch and read a book for half an hour or something.

Mom Emergency Casserole

Ingredients:
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup (or Cream of Mushroom - either works!)
1 package flavored rice (We like to do either chicken or mushroom flavor on this as well - I typically alternate the soup and the rice - i.e. chicken soup and mushroom rice or vice versa)
1 package of chicken (we prefer boneless, skinless breasts or tenderloins - tenderloins will obviously cook up faster)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 450
2. In casserole dish, mix cream of chicken soup with can of water as instructed on label
3. Pour in contents of rice mix and stir together
4. Place your chicken in mixture, covering chicken fully
5. Cover dish and place in oven

Cook until chicken and rice are thoroughly cooked - the rice should be soft. With the tenderloins, it takes about 30 minutes. Chicken breast takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 50 minutes, depending on thickness. Always check both your chicken and your rice to be certain it is fully cooked.

Serve up and enjoy!

I'm a slacker...

I know it!


BUT - in other exciting news... once we finish up this nightmare of a garage sale we are dealing with right now.... I will be BACK!

I have LOTS of fun activities planned for Monster Boy, and maybe even will get Miss Sunshine involved in a few... And I will be sure to take lots of pictures so I can make some great blog entries for you all...

I know, I know. You can barely control your excitement. And why should you???

Stay tuned!

Check it out!

I am slowly but surely become a "green" mama. And in honor of that, I bring you a contest!

The Green Quiz Quest - head on over and check it out - lots of great "green" sponsers and lots of great "green" prizes!

Where does the time go - AND a little project!

Wow - I'm so sorry you guys! Life caught up with us and I just did not get around to getting pictures of any of the projects Monster Boy and I have done lately....

But to assuage you all - I have a NEW project for you!

Last month, we redid Monster Boy's bedroom. We (finally) got paint up on the walls - he had been living with Builder's White since we moved in to this house three years ago! Well, our paint turned out a bit brighter than intended (think highlighter green!) but looks AWESOME with all his new bedding that we got on clearance at T.arget!


Well, as you can imagine, all that bright green is a little overwhelming with nothing on his walls!
We discussed long and hard our options for decorating his walls - we looked at stores and nothing just stuck out to us. Then came time to go through his school folder this last week - and lo and behold - the answer to our needs!

Monster Boy's preschool teacher, Mrs. R, is a fantastic woman who is SO wonderfully inventive. Well, she'd have to be with a class full of boys (seriously, Monster Boy has only ONE girl in his Pre-K class this year!). She has done several art projects with the kids (and has graciously agreed to let me "steal" them for you all here!) and, since Monster Boy's favorite colors to paint with are, conveniently enough, blue and green, some of their art projects made PERFECT artwork for his room! So off to the local craft store for some plain white mats and plain white frames (which I found on sale 2/$7 - doesn't get any better than that!) to make REAL art pieces out of them!

His FIRST project was "Painting with Cars". What a GREAT idea! Mrs. R let the kids take tempera paints and some matchbox cars and "paint" with the cars. Basically, the kids put splotches of paint on their paper and then ran the cars through them to create patterns. Here is Monster Boy's results - all nicely framed and ready to hang!




The other project they did was painting paper towels! Again, inspired! Mrs. R gave the kids some individual paper towels and water color paints. The paper towels really absorbed the paints in VERY cool patterns and look FABULOUS (well, at least in my opinion) all nicely framed up to hang on his walls. Monster Boy made two paper towel paintings on different days out of the same colors (have I mentioned he likes Blue and Green?) that really look like they belong together. So they are our other "works of art" for his room.



I think these projects are GREAT and are SO easy to do. And what better way to decorate your kids' rooms than with their OWN works of art? Monster Boy was so excited about framing these projects to hang up in his room.

Call me crazy, but...

Okay, again, with the cloth diapering! I have become a cloth diapering ADDICT! I need help!I counted up my stash the other day, and holy crap, I have a lot of diapers. I have 21 gDiapers (I love my g's!) and 3 BumGenius All-in-Ones. I haven't actually gotten to try out the BumGenius yet - I just got them in the mail yesterday and am washing and prepping them as I type. We will try them out tomorrow. I am liking the look of them though - and they seem like they will be super easy, and a good candidate for my nighttime diapers!Anyways, so I belong to many, many blogs about cloth diapering now - and some of them are doing some great giveaways. This is a current giveaway that is just TOO good to pass up - you should go check it out! http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2009/11/bum-flipn-genius-super-fluff-friday-56.html

Puppy Dogs

So the Turkey project wasn't enough entertainment for Monster Boy the other day, so I had to think fast and come up with ANOTHER project for him.

So we made Puppy Dogs out of foam as well. (Can you tell this is my new favorite product? It's PERFECT for preschool aged children!)

For this project you will need:

Foam sheets (any color - sticky back optional)

Glue

Scissors

Optional items:

Things to use for templates for your shapes

Any additional decorations you would like to add.

Step One: Create a backing for your project. We used foam cut in the same way as on the turkey project - but you could also use construction paper, poster board, etc.

Step Two: Have your child pick out the color for their dog's face, ears, collar, and eyes. (Again, we have a green dog, as this is Monster Boy's favorite color. This time we have orange ears, because he informs me this is his second favorite color, and blue eyes because that is his "other" favorite color.)

Step Three: Draw a circle for the dogs face. I used the bottom of a cup to trace the circle and it wound up the perfect size. (It was a foam drink cup). Have your child (if they are old enough) cut it out.

Step Four: Make your ears. I just drew a leaf shape onto the foam for the ears - it turned out pretty well. Again, have your child cut the pieces out.

Step Five: Make the whites of the eyes. For this I used a basic Bic lighter bottom. Again, it turned out just the right size. Cut out.

Step Six: Make the colored portion of the eyes (better known as the iris) I used the bottom of a AA battery for this one. Cut out.

Step Seven: Make the nose. Again I used the Bic lighter for the shape. We made a pink nose, but you could also do black if you preferred. Cut out.

Step Eight: Make a mouth. You can either draw a mouth on or cut one out of foam. I used remnants from cutting out the nose to create the curve for our mouth.

Step Nine: Make a tongue. I drew a small U shape onto the red foam. Cut out.

Step Ten: Make the collar. For this you just need a short, straight strip of foam. Cut out.

Step Eleven: Make the dog tag. I used gold foam, but any color will work. I used a quarter to trace this one. Cut out.

Step Twelve: Have your child place the Dog face onto the foam.

Step Thirteen: Place the ears at the top of the dog face. I glued mine on drooping down, Monster Boy preferred to have his pointing up, and then decided to move them again so they were sticking straight out!

Step Fourteen: Place the Whites of the eyes in between the ears of the dog on the dog face.

Step Fifteen: Place the iris of the eyes on top of the whites at the bottom edge.

Step Sixteen: Place the nose directly below the eyes.

Step Seventeen: Place the mouth below the nose and position the tongue so it is "sticking out" of the mouth.

Step Eighteen: Place the collar directly under the dog's head.

Step Nineteen: Place the dog tag directly below the collar.

Step Twenty: Have your child write their name if they are able, or write their name and date the picture for them!

Monster Boy's dog: