happy birthday princess!

My Little Bit is 5 today!!!  These last five years have gone by so fast.  I can't believe how big she is getting and what a sweet little lady she is becoming.  I love you precious girl!

{autograph} book

We are enjoying fun times at Disney World this week!   One of Little Bit's favorite things to do is get characters names!  ;)  We used the same book for the last 2 trips, so I figured it was time for a new one...

 

I wanted one that was a decent size, big enough to include 4x6 pics in it but small enough to fit in my purse.  I also thought spiral bound would be good.  In my head I was thinking drawing book because it would have blank pages and be spiral bound.  Well I didn't realize there were so many different options.  I ended up choosing a mixed media notebook.  I liked the thickness of the paper in this one and knew I could easily alter it up!

I just added some cardstock, Mickey head and some letter stickers.  Then I took a ribbon and tied one end to a sharpie and the other to the book!  Happy signing characters!!!

Have you been to Disney?  What are your favorite things to do there? 

project {life}...weeks 18-21

I'm still playing catch up with my scrapbooking.  I'm loving my new craft room, it's just that not much scrapbooking is getting done in there yet.  I'm trying to get a new routine figured out now that school has started...slowly but surely!

In the meantime here are some pages I had done before the move...

 Our house went on the market this week, we sold a couch, got a new one and got new dishes!

 This week brought several showings already, Mother's Day and Mark ran his first 5K!!!

Little Bit did a Mother's Day recital for me!  ;)  It was so cute, she drew her dance moves and then preformed them for us!!!  I love this girl!

 My sister graduated from 8th grade this week, Gracie's last soccer game and last day of school!

Our 1st week of summer!...lots of outside time!

1st day of school...

So we are 2 weeks into school but still thought I would share our 1st day pics!  It is extra special this year because it was Little Bits 1st day of her last year of preschool...and my 1st day of my 1st year of teaching!  

 

Look at my big girl!  I tell her all the time I'm going to put a brick on her head to keep her from growing anymore...hehe!  Why do they have to grow up so fast?!  

 

 We were both pretty excited to get our first day started! 

She couldn't wait to get inside!  I was wanting to savor the moment and snap some pics.  ;)

Here are a few pics of my classroom...

 My theme is owls!!!

I made this tree for the wall using brown paper shopping bags.  I then cut some leaves out of various green paper to add to the tree.  The first day of school I had all the kids stamp their hands in green paint, I have cut them out and added them as more leaves to my tree.  I added a sign that says "Our friendship grows every day!"

So far so good....I love that I have the same hours as Little Bit.  She loves having me at "her" school!  ;)

How did your first days of school go?

Menu Plan Monday

Monday ~ italian beef, mashed potatoes, salad

Tuesday ~ chicken fajitas, chips & salsa, refried beans

Wednesday ~ chicken caesar burgers, tater tots, corn on the cob

Thursday ~ honey coconut salmon, green beans, rice

Friday ~ crock pot pork chops, rice, green beans

Linking up with Org Junkie...check them out for more recipes.

Jamaica picture book...

This summer my sister in law went on a mission trip with her church to Jamaica.  They stayed with local families and worked with kids in the community each day they were there.  When she got back, she took some of her pictures from the trip and put together an awesome picture book for Little Bit!  

She was so excited to get the package in the mail.  We opened it up to find the book and 3 wrapped gifts.  The book was awesome!  It told all about her trip from start to finish.  From getting on the plane, to what kinds of food they ate, the weather, and what they did every day.  She also told her about several of the children and how they were similar to Little Bit! 

Each gift was numbered, so when we got to a certain point in the story she would open the gift that she was told to.  Here she is opening gift number 1. 

It was shells from the beach! 

Gift number 2 was a craft she made with the kids while she was there.  She made 2 this particular day, 1 for Gracie and 1 for a little girl in there in Jamaica named Nacosie.  

The last gift was a Jamaican doll!  Little Bit thought it was sooooo cute!  It is to remind Little Bit of the kids that Aunt Becca visited.  We pray for them each night at bedtime!

This was such a fun way to tell the story of her trip!  After I read it to Little Bit once, she sat and looked at it over and over.  She remembered lots of the details from the story and was able to retell most of it to daddy when he got home from work that day! 

Thanks so much Aunt Becca!!!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday ~ ground pork pizza burgers, sweet potato fries, corn

Tuesday ~ toasted cheese, sweet potato bisque, fruit

Wednesday ~ fish sticks, mac & cheese, salad

Thursday ~ pesto cavatappi, salad, bread

Friday ~ dinner on the go...

Linking up with Org Junkie...check them out for more recipes.

make room for something new...

I was so excited to receive this box of goodies from Meijer featuring new products from Campbells & Pepperidge Farms.   Included was a Meijer reusable tote, Campbell's Skillet Sauce, Campbell's Go Soup Pouch, Campbell's Gourmet Bisque, V8 V-Fusion Kids Juice, and Pepperidge Farm Jingos!

The first thing I wanted to try was the Skillet Sauce.  The one I received was for Scampi.  I just love shrimp scampi, so I was super excited about this product.   It was very easy to make.  You just heat some oil in a skillet and cook your shrimp, then add the sauce packet.  I made some angel hair pasta to serve with it.  My husband and I enjoyed the meal but weren't blown away by it.  I won't be adding this recipe to our favorites list but it is something I will keep on the back burner if I see a good shrimp deal and am in the mood for scampi!

Little Bit was anxious to try the juice, which she loved!  I took a little sip and it was very tasty.  She even asked for another one the next day.  Guess I will add these to my shopping list. ;)

We also tried the Jingos crackers.  The whole family loved them.  We had the fiesta cheddar flavor and they were yummo!  I think we ate 3/4 the box in one sitting. ;)  I even found a printable coupon for $1.00 off to use on our next box!  I plan on adding these to our shopping list too!

Don't forget to sign up at mperks.meijer.com to start saving on your upcoming shopping trips with digital coupons!

Thanks again to Meijer for this opportunity!  The opinions were all mine.

project {life}...weeks 14-17

I am so far behind on posted and actually putting these pages together.  With the move and starting a new job, I have just put scrapbooking on the back burner.  Well school is in full swing now so I'm ready to get back to my pictures!  Since I haven't posted any pages in a while here is the month of April!...

It's Easter time!  I included an insert this time that had vertical slots for 4x6 pics...love this! 

 

This layout is weeks 15 & 16 combined.  I have done this before when I don't have enough pictures from one week.  

And week 17....soccer, garage sales and a family visit!

I'm hoping to scrapbook tonight and catch up a bit...we will see!

Menu Plan Monday

 

Monday ~ hot dogs, mac & cheese, cherry tomatoes

Tuesday ~ sausage cups, scrambled eggs, fruit

Wednesday ~ pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread

Thursday ~ ground pork pizza burgers, sweet potato fries, corn

Friday ~ pasta, salad, bread

Linking up with Org Junkie...check them out for more recipes.

target finds...

When I was in Target last week I stumbled upon 2 great clearance deals....at least I thought they were pretty great! 

First up is adhesive!  Since I craft quite a bit I'm always running out of double sided adhesive.  My favorite kind to use is a roller dot adhesive.  I really like American Crafts and Scotch brands.  So when I saw this Scotch adhesive roller on clearance for $1.12 a roll, I snatched a few up...{probably should have gotten more}!  You only get about half the amount of adhesive than in the other Scotch one but it is still a better price!  If you are a crafter and you are going to be in Target soon....check out both the stationary and school supply section for this clearance deal!  I found it both places.

Next is this water bottle.  I bought it for us to take to Disney {when we go in a few weeks!}.  We usually take a mister bottle but the nozzle sometime falls off and it doesn't always spray well, etc.  But Little Bit loves having one with us and it is great for the super hot days...and good entertainment sometimes when waiting in long lines!  So when I saw this water bottle/mister for only $2.38 I thought I would try it out!  It has a little handle to hang from our stroller.  The opening is large enough to put ice in, so the water will be super cold!  It also eliminates one thing we have to carry....we won't have to bring a water bottle and a mister.  Since we are flying, the lighter we can pack the better!  {I found this in the sporting goods section.}

What great deals have you stumbled upon lately?

owl canvas...

I saw this gift bag at Target and knew that I wanted to use it for some sort of wall art.  I orginally thought I would cut it apart and frame the owl on the branch.  Well, it wasn't the right size for a standard frame...so I went back to the drawing board.  Then I saw a painted canvas set that my friend made with an owl on one and a scripture verse on the other.  I decided I would create my own version using this gift bag owl.  

So I started by removing the handle from the bag.  Then I cut out the owl and branch.  I saved the sides of the bag, which were blue, and used them to make the circles on the canvas with the verse.  The yellow circles just came from some paper in my stash.  I picked up a 2 pack of 8x10 canvases from Michaels on sale and I also picked up some black letter stickers from Hobby Lobby.  I used Mod Podge to adhere everything to the canvases! 

I just love how they turned out!  Here they are hanging in my classroom at school!  ;)


Linking up with...

Made by you Monday @ Skip to My Lou