Have a Super Valentine's Day!

For this Valentine's Day, my little superheroes are getting some super treats! 

I found some great little treats at the Dollar Tree.

*Spiderman plastic fork and spoon, Superhero Squad 25 piece puzzle, Spiderman Hand Sanitizer (to be used with supervision of course!), and Spiderman 3-pack of ring pops

I found all of those Dollar Store treats and the red tote bag at the Dollar Tree last week. They had a TON of superhero stuff!

 To round out the gift bags, I found a couple of cutie shirts.

I found the yellow big boy shirt at Target. It was $8.00. The blue Captain America onesie I found at Walmart this morning for $4.00. Henry and I shopped in Walmart and found a Captain America Belly Washer juice bottle. For Henry, he gets puffs and yogurt melts. What else can you get a baby?

I hope my super guys love their Valentine's Day gift bags.

They do sell these cutie DC Super Friends at Walmart. (But, I just can't spend $7.00 on them! They are just little people. However, they are cute!)

Fisher Price Little People

 They sell cute Superhero board books on Amazon too. Check this out for another fun idea!

   Amazon

I did come across these REALLY cute little printables on Sugar Tot Designs. They are 'super' cute and I am going to print them out for the kiddos in Jack's class. Go check them out!

Glass Nightlight

 Glass Nightlights made from Craft Glass Blocks

These glass craft blocks have been flying around pinterest. I had looked at Joann's and Michael's and had never seen them, so I kinda just forgot about them. Until....I was in Hobby Lobby the other day and they were on an end cap for 50% off!

Score. I bought two of the medium sized blocks for $4.99 each on sale. They were also selling the nightlight light bulbs to go with them for $2.99. Some people use Christmas tree lights too. I followed the general guidelines from artsy fartsy mama. I followed her advice and did not try to even modge podge anything to the glass. I did use the spray adhesive instead. That worked out really well. I let Jack pick out everything for the project and he did NOT want his name on it. Haha!

Materials Used: 

Glass Craft block
Christmas lights or corded night light
Adhesive Spray
Translucent scrapbook paper
Translucent Stickers
(Vinyl lettering) I didn't end up buying any because Jack was adamant that his name was left off. Who knows????
(Ribbon to go around it if you are making for a little girl. I didn't do that for my boys.)

As a demonstration: Jack liked this paper because his favorite stuffed animal, Tiger has a pillow I made from fabric that looks like this, but as you can see, not a whole lot of light passes through. 

This is translucent scrapbook paper and it is perfect. Jack chose green for himself and blue for his baby brother. They were $0.49 each.

Use spray adhesive according to direction and glue on paper. Try to smooth out air bubbles.

Jack is carefully deciding which monster he would like on his nightlight.

Decisions, decisions...

To get the light bulb through, cut this into fourths and then slide the bulb through. 

Jack's nightlight! 

Henry's nightlight. (It's a blue background, but just a little hard to tell in this light.)

I have extra paper and stickers, so I may go back and add a back to them tomorrow. :)

Strawberries Died in the oven, I mean dried....

Pinterest Fail Again!!!

Here's the pinterest picture you've seen floating around.

 Pinterest Pin

Here's mine...and yes I followed the directions....

Yum!!!!

Pinterest Fruit Snacks

Ok, so I was really excited about trying these. Jack loves fruit snacks, but I am not a fan of them. I think they are okay in moderation if you consider them a candy, which I do, but not as a "snack." So, the idea of making healthy fruit snacks out of real fruit, little added sugar, and in my own kitchen sounded awesome. Blah! I am so disappointed. I tried the recipe found at Crumbs and Chaos and followed it exactly. Well, I did strain the mixed berries through a mesh strainer so the fruit wouldn't be all seedy, but I followed everything else exactly. I used lemon juice as the recipe suggested. I should have used orange juice which was listed as an alternative in the recipe. The lemon juice totally overpowered everything else. It was way too sour. Jack and I both tried it, and we really couldn't even finish it. I gave us both permission to spit it out in the kitchen trash can! I am willing to try it again, but this time with orange juice. They did set up perfectly. They looked like fruit snacks and the consistency was close to the ones you get at the grocery store. They did work well in the silicon berry molds and popped out easily. If they had tasted right, I think they would have been a big hit. I will try it again with orange juice another time and hope they come out right. I'll let you know.

I found that if you use a small spoon to gently pour them into the mold it works better than pouring from the measuring cup. As you can see, it was a bit messy at first. 

Goodwill Hunting... for books!

Goodwill Hunting...for books! 

*My normal clause! Sorry for any errors or typos. I do these real quick-like while the kids are napping!!!

If you haven't been convinced to check-out your local Good Will store even after reading all of the DIY pinterest posts you have been pinning that turns some incredibly ugly old dresser into a "Potterybarnesque" armoire, maybe this will be another good reason to check it out. 

My friend, who does all the good money-saving, score-a-deal shopping with me gets the credit for tuning me into this outlet.... Good Will: They have books. Yeah! I mean they have the books you used to read when you are little and wish you still had, but you gnawed up the board book about 30 years ago, or your mom sold it in a garage sale, or you have red crayon drawings all over the copy you still do have. Anyhow, if you have kids, the nostalgia gets flowing a lot! If you are like me at all, you want to read to your kids a lot of what you read when you were a little tot. I mean if it was a great read 25 years ago, it's gotta be better than some of the Sponge Bob, Cars Toons, or other TV rubbish books that are all over now. (Yeah, I will admit that they have their place, especially if it is the only way a child will read... but that's another story.) They also have all the goodies and oldies that kids still read today like, The Berenstain Bears, Franklin, The Magic School Bus, etc.

What I have been particularly excited to find, were these little gems. Some of them you can still buy at the bookstore, but some of them are not in print anymore or are terribly expensive or hard to find.

Now, if you are cringing because of germs or that they are second-hand, then this is not for you, but you will have to pay big bucks for books at a bookstore. I just wipe them with Lysol and they're good.

Jack's books in slight disarray. Henry's got a shelf himself with more of the board books that Jack has outgrown. Although, occasionally, he still goes into Henry's room to pick out an oldie but a goodie. 

This was my Goodwill haul from today. I spend $8.00 and all of the books would be considered to be in excellent condition. There are no writing on them, no bent pages, and no tears. I found the Sesame Street Golden book and I nearly cried! I loved that book! It is too cute and Jack squealed the entire time I read it. It is too cute!

I LOVED this book when I was little! I had forgotten about this version until today. I do see that this version is still in print and about $4.50 at Walmart for the hardback. I paid $1.25.

Anyone remember these?

Love these books! I couldn't find, But No Elephants, but it is probably under a napping child's bed. It is a favorite around here. We think Grandma Tildy is funny. :)

So, just to illustrate how some of these books can be hard to find...I am sure you could try eBay too and find them. 

Henry's Awful Mistake by Robert Quakenbush: Amazon Price Wow!! Crazy! eBay price Holy Cow!
Milk and Cookies by Frank Asch: Amazon Price Wow!!
Blueberries for Sal is pretty readily available and can be bought as a paperback.
Hamilton Duck by Arthur Getz: Amazon Price
The Monster at the End of this Book: Amazon Price Not bad! Only $8.99, but I did pay $1.25 for mine today. (But, it is available for a good price off Amazon if any of you LOVE this book like me and my kids do!)

But isn't shopping at Goodwill wrong?

I have heard people say that shopping at Goodwill is wrong because it takes away from those who are really needy. My finances aside... this is not true! Not even to the good folks of Goodwill. When you buy from Goodwill, you are making a donation to a good cause. Read from the Goodwill site for more information here. 

Other sources to score great deals on books!

1) Goodwill
2) Consignment Sales
3) Garage Sales
4) Public Libraries (every so often they sell older or slightly damaged books to make room for new books. Check out your local library for more info.)
5) Church Book Drives: A lot of churches including mine, (Saint Columba Episcopal Church) have book drives at local festivals or bazaars.
6) Used bookstores (In Johns Creek, try Read it Again, used book store.
7) Hand me downs!

More pirates!

Jack was quite pleased with one pirate, but was very anxious for me to start some more. I have learned that it is just as easy to make one pirate at a time as it is to make three. So, if you are thinking about taking this on, go ahead and do a couple at a time. Jack was happy to customize his pirates. He most definitely had his opinions about the colors of their hair, design of clothes, facial hair, and funny enough, gender! I had assumed he wanted all boys, but I was wrong. I had to turn one into a girl for him. He said," Girls, can be scurvy pirates, too!" Here's how they turned out. The felt pouch behind them was in the jewelry section of Hobby Lobby on clearance for $1.43. Awesome deal!

Just Roll With it!

I am watching my 8 month old roll around to whatever he wants. No crawling yet... If there is a certainty, it is that I am probably wrong, but I predict that Henry be a late crawler and early walker.