Snow Plow Needed!

Even in South Florida....

AT MY HOUSE! NOW!

Everyone is back in school..,the routines, the schedules, the homework (ugh..we even had a huge project over the Christmas Break..Homework over any break should just be plain illegal)

Balance is returning to my corner of the world.

Now, I face the aftermath...the clean up, the piles, the projects.

Oh My! Only a Snow Plow will help move this along...or perhaps, realistically, here in Florida.... a BULLDOZER. Maybe I should order a CRANE and a FORKLIFT while I am at it.

I thought about taking "before" and "after" photos to share with the Blog World...if I posted them, you would think I staged them for Oprah or some other reality show...there are that many and they are that bad...(Yep, me the uber organized person..I have fallen off the edge)

Although, now that I think about it, posting them could or would be a motivator for me..I'll ponder the possibility!

On the up side of this mess...I have used one little trick...THE FIVE THINGS RULE... with this, I say to myself, just choose FIVE THINGS to pick up and/or put away. It is amazing what this seemingly small step does. And....it never stops at FIVE THINGS...it snowballs and all of the sudden, an entire pile disappears..voila! Of course, there are 5 Million Piles remaining, so sometimes, it is only obvious to ME!

Every corner of my house needs attention. It is overwhelming to know where to start. For now, I will take a deep breath, attack a few piles at a time (FIVE THINGS), and HOPE that Snow Plow finds its way to me soon.

Have you ever had so many messes that you just don't know where to start?

Do you think plowing it all away will help?

Have you Tried The Five Things Rule or something similar?

Back To School Traditions and Projects

Back To School Traditions And Projects

Kissing Hand Cookies and the following Stories work for Parents

at home or for Teachers to use during the first few days of school.

Read my in-depth post about this amazing book

HERE

Then read this book with your children for Back To School!

We prepare our children with school supplies, new clothes,

lunch boxes, bike helmets, the works.

However, do we spend enough time preparing them to

treat others with kindness? Do we teach them to look for the new

faces or those who may be a little different and include them

at their lunch table or at recess? This is a great book to read with a

Young Women Group, also. The message is vital.

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Do you have a child who is apprehensive about starting

school and/or leaving you. Are apprehensive about having your

children leave? If so, read this book with your children.

HERE is my in-depth review on this Book and Activity
Read

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

Then,

Make These Kissing Hand Cookies
Use any Sugar Cookie recipe, cut out in the shape

of hands (your own child's or a cookie cutter)

Top the cookie with a Hershey Kiss.

Make sure to pack these in your child's lunch

on the first day of school.

If you are a teacher, read this story and make these

cookies for a first day activity and snack!!!!!

Another version of Kissing Hand Cookies...

Cut out a small Heart Shape before baking.
Have you read either of these books?
Do you have any Back To School Traditions or Recommendations?

Bargain Alert

Bargains And

Back To School Shoes

THREE pairs of shoes for under $20

YES! And the are totally CUTE!

At Target!!!!

$4.24 Per Pair!

Megan and I hit the Back To School Shoes Jackpot

today. Target had so many great shoes on CLEARANCE,

most likely to make room for all the Back To School

Merchandise they will put out when 4th of July is over.

Megan is at the stage of growth where I do not want to spend

a lot of money on her shoes. She will be grown out of these

by Christmas if she continues her pattern of growing like a weed.

The shoes are adorable and great quality...and very important....

SHE tried them all on and LIKES ALL of them!!!!

July 4th week is notorious for being great for Clearance Sales

and Great Bargains.

My other Bargain find is Swimming Suit Clearance Sales.

Macy's has them on Clearance with and extra percent off.

I got a new swimming suit for $30 that would have been $98

at regular price.

I am also finding great bargains for Katherine's Back To School

Clothes. She is heading to Middle School so a "New Look" is in order.

It is easy to stick to my "Never Pay Retail" Motto with so many

Clearance Sales to consider.

School Open House Night

Back To School Curriculum Night

We visited the 5th Grade classroom of our daughter, Katherine tonight. Along with the other parents, we learned all about what to expect for this coming school year. It was great to feel the energy of Katherine's three teachers and experience a small slice of her daily routine. We feel over-the-top blessed to have our girls at this school.

The children prepared a front page newspaper article all about their likes, interests, family, etc. We learned something interesting about our family.....

This is how Katherine described us:

I have a Mom, a Dad, a Little Sister, Three Big Brothers with TWO WIVES. Yep, you read it here. (I think that means.... one of my brothers has a wife and one is engaged to have a wife.)

Just when we were done laughing about the TWO WIVES, we switched classrooms and had to sit at the desk of a boy named Matthew. Each of the children had written a letter to their parents and placed it on their desk. The parents were to write a response for the child to read the next day.

It was obvious the children were to write what was great about 5th Grade...A glowing, exciting report that would bring a smile to Mom and Dad's face.....

Matthew's letter began.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Fifth Grade is great, it means this is the last year at this crappy school.

Then he proceeded to write about all the exciting things he loves about school, the treasure box, the reward tickets, the recess, the PE, etc.

It was clear that his mom was not thrilled about the first line, someone had tried, without success, to erase the word "crappy"

Another note--we were not the oldest Grandparent looking parents tonight. Last week in the 2nd Grade class, I leaned over to Ron and said, "We are old" . He immediately pointed out a set of parents who looked about our age. I said... they are the Grandparents......

Back To School Report

Safety Patrol Excitement

After an entire night of not being able to sleep due to the anticipation of her first day as a Safety Patrol, Katherine woke up long before any of us. She was dressed, cheerful and ready to report for duty. No coaxing her out of bed or prodding her along to dress, eat, pack up.

Her assigned post is holding the front door open for the Kindergartners. She read the Safety Patrol rules and duties over and over last night and is ready to take her job seriously.

Megan is loaded up in "The School Bus" aka mom's car. For now, she is prepared to arrive early each morning at the same time Katherine arrives. This is bound to change when we start biking and get the rhythm of this new year.

Heard coming from the back seat yesterday:

Katherine: This was the best school day of my life!

Megan: Me, too! I can't wait for tomorrow.

From my perspective, indeed it was a wonderful start to the school year. I am so thankful to be at this school and for the teachers and staff. Some time I will post on how we even got to this school and the change from our little Private School to our local Public School. This is the first year I have not dreaded how Katherine would be treated after the years of her being bullied at the Christian School.

School Is In

Back To Class

You are looking at two very excited little girls on their first day of school this morning. Katherine is in 5th Grade and Megan is in 2nd. They had difficulty sleeping last night due to their excitement. As their mom, I am excited for them.

The first day of school is difficult for me. I cry when I meet the teachers I cry when I drop them off, I cry when I pick them up.... I just cry. Mostly, the tears are happy. Crying is just my emotional release. It was much easier today because they were so excited. I was not calming fears and sensing apprehension in either of them.

This was a fun summer. Longer than usual and calm by design. I think not planning a lot of travel and activity made it particularly enjoyable.

More later on Back To School!

Ooey Gooey Popcorn Treat For My Young Women

Back To School Centerpiece and Young Women Back To School Send-Off Treat Recipe (It involves Sweetened Condensed milk....enough said!

At Church last Sunday, we had a "Back To School" Send Off for the Young Women. When the girls entered the Young Women room, this Centerpiece was on the table with some Back To School Decorations. It is just Die-Cut School Busses attached to wooden skewers. I stuck them in a basic green plant and voila! It created the tone for the Send Off! I also used smaller Die-cut School Busses for Gift Tags on the individual for each girl.

We held regular class which was dismissed 5 minutes early so the girls could gather again for their Send Off and Treat. I made Ooey Gooey Popcorn (recipe below) and placed it in brightly colored Chinese Take Out style containters for each girl. Each leader and teacher wrote a personal note to the girls in their age group. The notes were attached along with a School Bus Die Cut (same as the centerpiece) with each girl's name of the School Bus. The School Bus Die Cut was attached to a card that said :

"We Wish You A School Year 'Popping' With Fun Excitement, and Learning

Our Love and Prayers Go With You Every Day"

Love, Your Young Women Leaders and Teachers

Our Young Women President gave the girls a beautiful Back To School Send Off message and away they went... another school year. It was like a "Spiritual Pep-Rally" to remind the girls of how much we love and support them as they make daily choices during this school year.

As I was writing the notes to my 12-13 year old girls, I was contemplating a small gift I could give each one of them in addition to the popcorn. The one gift I knew I was to give them was prayer. I committed to each girl that I would pray for her, by name, every school day this year. There can never be too many people praying for a person. It is amazing to me how much love I feel for each girl as I pray for her by name. This is how service is, we love those we serve!
Ooey Gooey Popcorn

2 Cups Brown Sugar

1C Light Corn Syrup (Like Karo)

1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

8-10 Quarts Popped Popcorn (Air-popped is best)

Combine Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup, and Butter in small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat to a boil. Bring to Soft-Ball Stage (drop a small amount of the hot mixture in to a cup of cold water, if it forms a soft ball, it is done) Remove from the heat and add Sweetened Condensed Milk (Yes!!!) Stir well and pour a little at a time over the popcorn, stirring to coat each piece with the mixture. This is very very stick (hence, ooey-gooey) and become soggy quickly. To make it less sticky, spread coated popcorn on 2 large baking sheets. Place in 250* oven for about 10 minutes-watch closely and stir every 2-3 minutes. As soon as you see the popcorn turning light gold, remove it. This last step also helps the popcorn last a few days without getting soggy. Store in airtight containers. ENJOY!

Back To School

End of Summer Vacation and Back To School...

We celebrated the end of Summer Vacation yesterday! Every Thursday has been Beach Day for the moms and kids from Church and the Community (organized by yours truly). It has been a fun tradition, one I look forward to each week. The kids have had fun with friends and the moms have had plenty of great adult conversation.

I could tell my girls were ready for summer to end when Megan told me, "You know, the beach is always the same... The water just goes in and out and in and out......" She has obviously had her fill of the beach. Give her a month and she will be begging to see the water 'just go in and out and in and out'. A Saturday Beach trip will take care of that.

Generally, this time of year, I am more than ready for the routine that Back To School brings. This year, I find myself wishing we had just a few more weeks to enjoy each other.

The school supplies are purchased and ready, the clothes and new shoes are ready, the girls are excited and ready, the teachers have called...it is apparent.... I had better get ready!

Back To School Giveaway

Check out the great Back To School giveaway contest from

Design Mom Anyone preparing children for Back To School

will love the clothing CWD offers. Enter today by leaving a

comment!