Cutesy baby burp cloths

I saw this tutorial and decided I wanted to make some of these for a friend who recently had a baby. They were quick and easy to whip up!...and turned out just adorable! {I think so anyway!!!}

Menu Plan Monday

I have been slacking off on blogging this week...since Little Bit doesn't turn 3 until the end of September, she has to wait until next year to go to preschool. Soooooo....I have been busy trying to plan some stuff for us to do for "school" at home. She is always eager to learn and do projects so I think it will be fun for both of us! I plan to share our journey with you...if you care to follow along... :)!

Anyway....on with the menu for the week...

Monday ~ ...leftovers from the weekend

Tuesday ~ italian chicken & cheese, steamed zucchini, bread

Wednesday ~ meatball stew, corn bread muffins, fruit

Thursday ~ apricot pork chops, green beans, mashed potatoes

Friday ~ scrambled eggs, biscuits, bacon, fruit

Visit Org Junkie for more recipes!

{check} this out...

A month or so ago, McDonald's had toys from the new Shrek movie. Little Bit fell in love with the 3 pigs one and so began the pig series...

If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff

Piglet and Papa by Margaret Wild

Pigs to the Rescue by John Himmelman

Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems

My "p" Book by Jane Belk Moncure

{don't forget...utilize your local library for reading & AV materials!}

Here are some of the activities we did...

pig coloring page...I printed the coloring page, let Little Bit color it and then worked on sounding out the word PIG.

marshmallow pig...Here was my inspiration for this project. You'll need 1 large marshmallow for the body, 3 mini marshmallows and a pipe cleaner. I cut the mini marshmallows in half {so they would be sticky} and Little Bit stuck them on for legs and a nose. I just used my paring knife to make indentions on the nose. Then I cut a half in half to make the ears. She curled up the pipe cleaner and stuck in for a tail {cause she said it needed a curly tail!}.

{This pig has been a huge hit! She played with it for days and still has it sitting on her table.}

pig puppet...Put together a pig paper bag puppet {Martha Stewart...bought on clearance awhile back at Walmart}

puzzle time...Put together several farm animal puzzles.

snacks...lots of "p" things...popcorn, pretzels, pickles, pig animal crackers, peanuts

Creative Corner...Scrap Club

Dad's are "SUPER"....so that's the title we went with for June scrap club, since Father's Day was that month. Little Bit had a great month with her daddy so I had plenty of fun pics to use on this layout!

We also had bonus pages for those who participated Jan-June. We used the title "SCOOP" along with a stamped ice cream accent. I used mine for the opening page of my 2010 album...so it's the 2010 family scoop!

If you are interested in joining scrap club, check out more info here.

we will {shout}!

...One of Little Bits favorite songs from VBS this past week was Shout to the North. The theme was High Seas Adventure. The decor was awesome....this fabulous ship was constructed on the stage...the kids just loved it!

She was one of the youngest participants and I was super impressed at how good she did! I was helping out with preschool crafts so she got to stop off in my room for a bit.

Getting ready for opening music session!

With her little class...they all held onto a jump rope to stay together while traveling from room to room. {I asked her what her favorite class was and she said Miss Tami's room...bible story and they sang a song she loves! She didn't even pick crafts with her own mom, can you believe it?!}

At church Sunday the kids got up on stage and sang some of the songs they learned throughout the week. She knew more of the songs and words than I thought! How did she grow up so fast?!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday ~ pizza, salad, blueberries

Tuesday ~ orange-ginger tilapia, sauteed zucchini, mashed potatoes

Wednesday ~ hamburgers, tomato slices, tots, pickles

Thursday ~ southwest roll-ups, rice, corn

Friday ~ three cheese chicken penne, salad, bread

Visit Org Junkie for more recipes!

Deals of the Day...Big Lots

You still have time to get to Big Lots today and take advantage of this coupon for 20% OFF your entire purchase! We stopped in after church today to see what we could find. We found this cool sound spa projection clock for $15! I also picked up some All detergent for $2.40! I always make sure to check out the scrapbook supply section when I make a trip to Big Lots. It is hit and miss but I have found some great crafty deals. This time there were a good amount of Martha Stewart products for $1.00!!! I got some rub-on letters, stickers, chipboard animals, clear stamp set and bird punch...for $.80 each with the discount!!!

If you have a Big Lots near you and haven't checked it out lately...hurry in to see what great deals you can score! Let me know what you find!

Meijer at a glance... 7/18 - 7/24

Here are just a few of the deals at Meijer this week. Be sure to check out theMeijer Mealbox for extra savings on various items. Also, for more deals check out your local ad here!

Meijer Gallon Milk... $2.00

General Mills Cereal...

$2.29

{Includes: Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Golden Graham, Honey Nut Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Puffs, Cheerios, Wheaties}
$.50 Cheerios in the 6/27 SS
$.60 Cinnamon Toast Crunch
$.55 Cinnamon Toast Crunch
$1.00/2 Cheerios
$1.00/2 Cheerios
$.55 Cheerios
$1.00 Wheaties Fuel Cereal

Country Crock... $.99
$.40 Printable

Activia 4pk... $2.00
$1.00 in the 7/18 SS
$1.00 in the 3/28 SS

Snyders Pretzel Rods... $1.50
$1.00 in the 5/23 SS

Philadelphia Cream Cheese... $1.89
$1.00 Printable

Yoplait Cups... $.50
$.45/6 Printable
$.50/8 in the 5/30 SS

Special K Fruit Crisps... $2.49
$1.00 Printable

Eckrich Franks... $1.50
$1.00/2 via Meijer Mealbox

Juicy Juice... $2.50
$1.00 Printable

DiGiorno Pizza... $4.99
$1.50 Printable

Classico Sauce B2G1 Free
$1.00/2 Printable

throw some candy at me mommy...

Soooo...we went to a local parade last month and Little Bit loved it! They threw out quite a bit of candy and she just thought it was great! Well now she wants me to do parades for her at home. She puts a blanket down and grabs one of her "friends". I gather up some candy and a few parade trinkets then march around the living room {pretending to be different stuff like you'd see in a parade} throwing goodies to her!

Monday ~ cheesy potato soup, bread, apple

Tuesday ~ honey coconut salmon, sauteed zucchini, ramen noodles

Wednesday ~ southwest roll-ups, rice, corn

Thursday ~ pork chops, fried zucchini, stuffing

Friday ~ three cheese chicken penne, salad, bread

Visit Org Junkie for more recipes!

Meijer at a glance... 7/11 - 7/17

Here are just a few of the deals at Meijer this week. Be sure to check out theMeijer Mealbox for extra savings on various items. Also, for more deals check out your local ad here!

Nectarines, Peaches, Plums or Apricots... $.99/lb

Strawberries... $1.67 1lb. container

Kellogg's Cereals... $1.99
$1.00/2 Frosted Mini Wheats in 7/11 RP
$1.00/2 Mini Wheats or Raisin Bran in 6/06 RP

General Mills Cereal... $2.50
$.55 Cheerios (yellow box) Printable Coupon
$1.00/2 Printable Coupon
$1.00/2 Cheerios Printable Coupon
$.75 Kix Cereal Printable
$.60 Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal Printable
$.75 Total Printable Coupon

Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Lunch Meat... $2.79
$1.00 Printable Coupon

Bisquick Baking Mix... $1.99
$.50 Printable Coupon

Snyder's Pretzels... $1.67
$1.00 in 5/23 SS
$1.00 in 6/27 SS

Yoplait Greek Yogurt... $.99
$.30 Printable Coupon
$.30 in 6/13 SS
$1.00/2 in 4/18 RP
PLUS $1.00/3 via Meijer Mealbox Printable

{Crock Pot} Italian Beef

My friend Jamie posted a recipe for Italian beef the other day and I thought it sounded yummy! I love Italian beef but think I have only made it once before. She used leftover meat and just heated it with the spices on the stove. I decided to do it all in the crock pot...

Ingredients:

2 lb beef roast

2 cans beef broth

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 clove finely chopped garlic {I just use my garlic press!}

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes, optional {I left this out}

Directions:

Place beef roast in crock pot. Combine broth and spices in a medium bowl, then pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Shred meat and enjoy!

**This was so easy I will definitely be adding this to my menu favorites!

{dream} banner

You might have noticed this banner when I posted about Little Bit's big girl bed. Since I took the bear quilt down I needed something to fill the empty space above her bed. I love seeing these banners everywhere and they are so fun to create! {see other ones I've done here & here}

I cut 6 inch squares from each sheet of designer paper I wanted to use. Then I made them into triangles by cutting from the center of bottom edge to right top corner and then from bottom center to left top corner...{make sense?}. I cut out letters for the word {dream} on my Cricut. I added butterflies, felt and paper flowers, a stamped owl, and buttons on the triangles for some extra cuteness! Then I punched holes to thread the triangles on ribbon and hung the banner on the wall!

Menu Plan Monday

....or uh Tuesday! What awesome weather we had last week....alot of time was spent outside. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! Our weekend was a busy and fun time spent with family. Now back to somewhat normal! {Our garden is doing pretty good....so I hope to incorporate fresh veggies this week!...and will soon try spaghetti squash for the first time!}

Monday ~ creamy mushroom & chicken soup, bread

Tuesday ~ pizza, salad

Wednesday ~ stuffed chicken breast, sauteed zucchini, ramen noodles

Thursday ~ orange-ginger tilapia, green beans, potatoes

Friday ~ southwest roll-ups, rice, corn

Visit Org Junkie for more recipes!

Creative Corner...pinwheel wreath

I have been wanting to make some paper pinwheels for quite some time now....they are just so stinkin' cute! So when I saw the wreath in this post I knew I wanted to create my own version. So last night I whipped this up...just in time for the holiday weekend!

I used some scraps of patriotic paper that I had leftover from other projects to make the pinwheels. I cut 5 inch squares. From each corner, cut in towards the center stopping about halfway towards the center. Punch a small hole in each corner of the square and one in the center. Gently fold up each punched corner to line up with the center hole. Secure with a small brad. Then I added a punched star with some dimensional adhesive to the center of the pinwheel....and finished it off with a button! I hot glued all the elements to the wreath.