DIY Angry Bird Star Wars Costumes

Okay, I'm going to apologize in advance because this will be the lamest blog post ever. I don't have actual tutorials. Sorry, sorry, sorry! I was in a frenzy to whip these costumes up and didn't take any pics during the process but I will tell you what I did. My kids wanted to be Angry Birds for Halloween, but not just the regular birds, no no that would be too easy. They wanted Angry Bird Star Wars! These seem complicated but they weren't that bad really. If you know how to sew, you should be able to duplicate just from looking at the pictures. I barely know how to sew and I figured it out. But if you don't sew, you you can still make these. Seriously. You just need a glue gun and some patience... and some band-aids probably (for the glue gun burns) 

I just went to Google and searched for the characters we wanted. Printed out large images of their faces to use as templates. I used felt to cut out all the faces and glued them to the front of the costumes with a hot glue gun. 

Super Hero Chore Chart & Reward System

I recently started working a little harder to make sure my boys are learning about responsibility. I wanted to have them track their chores and come up with a reward system other than the standard allowance. I saw several ideas regarding a "Chore Store" and I really liked the idea but I wanted to have something cute that I could theme all together with the chore charts. My kids love super heroes so I decided to use that as a theme. 

I created a chore board where I could keep track of everything. Both of my boys chore charts are on the board along with a pocket for extra chores (Super Jobs) and hooks to hang bags for their tickets. I decided to give my kids tickets as rewards instead of money because I felt it would be easier for me and the learning  concept is the same for them. 

They have their standard daily chores that they each complete and earn one ticket per day for these. Then I have the extra chores (Super Jobs) in a pocket that they can choose to complete if they want. There are extra chores like dust, mop, wipe down the baseboards, etc... each chore is printed with the reward associated with it and laminated and kept in a pouch on the board. You wouldn't believe how often my kids are asking to do extra chores!

One of my sons is only 3 so his "chores" are really more about him taking responsibility for himself and his daily routine. Getting himself dressed, brushing his teeth, making his bed, etc... I designed his chore chart to be very simple for him. I created pictures of some of his favorite super heroes demonstrating what he should be working on and then there are just flaps to close as he completes the chore "BAM" he's done! 

 On Friday nights I open the chore store "Super Store" and the boys are able to shop and trade in their tickets for various prizes. I shop at thrift stores, garage sales, ebay, Dollar Tree, etc... to find all kinds of stuff for a good deal. I like that I am able to offer a big variety and I'm not roped in to a set dollar amount like I would be if I had agreed to an allowance. I can buy items at my own leisure and decide the value of them. I have all sorts of items from puzzles, art supplies, craft stuff, books, games, and toys of all types. I also include coupons I create for things like Ice Cream Sundae night, Trip to the Movies, Stay Up an Extra 30 Minutes, etc... I have things for higher amounts to encourage saving and things that would be fun for both boys which would encourage them to work together to earn the tickets to get it.

Chores are a "Super" time in our house now!

Before I had baby number 3 I decided to make some quiet time activities for my toddler. My idea was that I could pull these items out when I needed to feed the baby so he would be occupied, quiet, and hopefully distracted long enough for me to get through a feeding. He really enjoys playing with the things I created. Today I'm going to share with you 2 projects that I made using magnets.

DIY: Spongebob Party

When my son turned 5 he was crazy about Spongebob so we decided to throw a themed party. I think I was more excited than he was, I love to make my own decorations for parties! I was able to throw together this super cute party for very little money, you won't believe what I used...

Revamp your Grocery List: Part 2

A while ago I posted about the way I make my grocery list. Feel free to read the whole post here. To sum it up: I create a weekly menu at the top of my list, then the list of ingredients I will need to accomplish the menu, then next to each item I write the price of the item (my best assumption of the price if I don't know the exact amount, rounding up/down as necessary). I have been doing my shopping like this for years and I have to say that 99% of the time I know how much I'm going to spend on my groceries within $10.00. I'm never surprised at check out, which is nice when you want to stick to a budget. Also, due to rounding up/down on the prices, I always have some wiggle room so even if I break down and grab a pack of Oreos that weren't on my list I still don't go over my estimated amount. I recommend giving it a try, what have you got to lose?

To make it easier, I created a free grocery list printable with space for your menu at the top and an organized list of your items with a column for your price estimates. All I ask is that if you use it and enjoy this new method of shopping you share it with your friends!

Grocery List Printable

Family Dinner Conversation Starters

Take dinner conversation beyond "how was your day?" and expand it to fun topics that will bring your family closer and help you learn more about one another. A while ago I saw a few posts on Pinterest about dinner time questions and I thought it was a brilliant idea! I created a bunch of questions and put them in a jar on the table. My family loves it, we end up sitting at the table long after the food is gone and it didn't take us long to burn through all of our questions! As I sat down last night to come up with some more questions I decided I would share them with you and encourage you to adopt this new family tradition. I hope your family will enjoy it as much as mine has.

Homemade Baby Food

I've always wanted to make my children's baby food but ended up buying store bought out of convenience. When my last son was born he was diagnosed with Galactosemia. I decided that I would make his food so I would never have to be worried about ingredients that may be potentially dangerous to him. 

As soon as I started making his food I learned that not only was it incredibly easy, it was also a huge savings, and I had confidence that my son was getting the healthiest food possible. I can't wait until my garden is full of fresh veggies again, but for now I pick up what I need in fresh produce for very little cost and it goes a long way. You don't even need a bunch of fancy equipment, more than likely you already have everything you need at home.

Make Your Memories into a Board Game

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been to a zoo or a theme park and gotten a map. I always save them thinking that I will use them in some way to preserve our memories of the special day we had. They always end up in a pile collecting dust, until now. I just had a brilliant idea of what you can do with these great souvenirs from your trip… Turn them into a board game!  

Imagine the fun you and your family will have re-living your memories from your special day each time you play!

Date Nights: A Whole Year of Once a Month Themed Dates

Dating when you have 3 children isn't easy. Being in a new town and away from most of our family we have to find someone to hire to babysit. It's hard to know who you can trust and it's also expensive. We can't really afford to pay someone to watch the kids and still have money to go out and enjoy ourselves so I am always looking for fun and creative ideas of things we can do at home.  Yes, we can always rent a movie and pick up a pizza but it doesn't take much more effort to spice it up a little and make it more fun... make it feel like an actual date...

DIY Frames

I am in love with these frames!

You can purchase these at: http://store.theorganicbloom.com/

 


I have seen them used in many different ways and I just love them. Every year I create photo gifts for my family and I thought these would be perfect... except for the price (being that I needed so many) and the weight to ship. So I decided to make my own version of these frames that would be cheap and lightweight.

I was really happy with the way they turned out and everyone seemed to really like them so I thought I would share. Here are the ones I made for my sister:

I was able to make 8 frames in these styles  for less than $5 total for all! 

(The frames are 8 x 10, the photos are 4 x 6) Here's how:

Snow Ice Cream Blizzards

Take that Dairy Queen!

Snow Ice Cream

1 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 tbsp Vanilla Extract
Fresh White Snow

Mix the first 3 ingredients together in a large bowl. Slowly add snow and stir up until you reach the desired consistency. I took a tea pitcher outside and filled it with fresh snow then used about 1/2 to make the ice cream, about 4 large serving spoon fulls. Just do a bit at a time and taste as you go.

*Tip: Don't add sugar after you add the snow, it will just freeze and stay gritty.

We added crushed m&m's and candy canes to ours. Sweet and fun treat that the kids really enjoyed. This will be a new tradition for winter time in our house. Can't wait to make some chocolate!

Bath Time Finger Puppets

I saw this post with a super cute idea to make finger puppets that the kids could play with in the tub:

http://spoonful.com/crafts/waterproof-puppet-theater

My kids love puppets and they love to play in the tub so this idea is genius! It's also easy, fast, and cheap. Pick up a couple packs of rubber cleaning gloves for $1, cut the fingers off, then draw whatever you want on them with permanent markers, and you're done. Your kids will think you're super mom and bath time tonight will be full of imagination, fun, and giggles!

Elf on the Shelf

A New Christmas Tradition

This year we jumped on the bandwagon and got an elf. My kids were a little apprehensive about having him in the house at first so I didn't really emphasize the part of the story that states that he would be watching them and reporting to Santa. We read the story and they did see that part but I just chose not to remind them of it over and over. I wanted them to think that he was a cute little elf not a creepy little stalker. We just looked at him as a fun addition to the magic of Christmas around our home. I decided not to make our elf naughty either, though I have found a lot of hilarious things I would have enjoyed doing, it just didn't make sense to me to have an elf that belongs on the naughty list! 

My kids named our elf "King Kirby". My 2 year old wanted to name him Kirby, after the Nintendo character, and my 8 year old wanted to name him King of the Elves... neither would budge so we agreed to a combined name of "King Kirby". 

If you are contemplating adding an elf to your Christmas traditions next year, I say go for it! I had a lot of fun with it, it took very little of my time, and it was great to see my kids reactions as well as to share the adventures with others online, everyone got a kick out of our little guy this year. I think that I will get another elf next year and then another the following so that each kid can have an elf. I would love to think that when they grow and have their own children that they will continue this tradition using the elf they themselves had as a child.

I found lots of cute ideas of things to do with Kirby on Pinterest and also came up with a few of my own: