Our Favorite Books

I know I was supposed to have picture of the birthday stuff up, but I haven't gotten them uploaded yet.  However with all the gifts that Lil Mr. got it got me to think about our favorite books.  So here is a list of our 25 favorite books to read to Lil Mr. and our 5 favorite series.

Guess How Much I Love You - This one is our favorite!  Lil Mr. will bring this book to us over and over again.  I especially love the end!

Wake Up Papa Bear - Lil Mr. loves to read about how to wake up his Papa Bear!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Lil Mr. loves this one too!  

Veggie Tales Bible Storybook- I like how this gives you a story that goes with the lesson and the original bible story.  How could you not love Bob and Larry?



Ten Shiny Snails - We like to count the shiny snails and go along with their adventure of the night!



The Happiest Hippo in the World - This green hippo helps us celebrate our differences. 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - "I'll meet you at that top of the coconut tree".  I like the way this book flows, it is easy to read and a fun way to learn your abcs.   



Caps for Sale -  I like the silly adventure of getting his caps back from the mischievous monkeys!



Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins -  This is one from when I was a kid.  We were Jewish, I think I got it from a book fair.  But I do like the story and the lessons it brings.  Even if you are not Jewish this is a great book, and it teaches a little about the practice of Hanukkah too!!



The Little Engine That Could - This is the cover that I remember as a kid, but we have a board book that is different now.  I still love this story.  "I think I can, I think I can"



The Lorax - We love all things Dr. Seuss!  I love truffula trees and the  Brown Barbaloots!  When will the Once-ler learn?  I am also super excited about the new movie!  



Love you Forever - This book is another favorite because it teaches that we love our children no matter what.   



Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - This book was around when I was a kid and I loved it then.  I was stoked about the movie too when it came out, and I am just glad that it has been given new life so that I can share it with Lil Mr.  



If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Another book from my childhood that I love sharing with Lil Mr.  It is such a zany tale of cause and effect!  



Thunder Cake -  As a kid my mother and I made thunder cake. MMMMMMmm.  I can tell that Lil Mr is not yet into this book, I think I read it more for my benefit.  But I am hopeful one day he loves this story as much as I do and we make thunder cake together.



Saint George and the Dragon - Classic hero story.  Knight saves princess from dragon.  If you are familiar with the story The Fairy Queen you'll recognize this story.  The illustrations are phenomenal! Edge to edge!  This is one that my father bought me as a kid.  I read it so much that it is held together by clear packing tape!



Oh, the Places You'll Go! - No list in my family would be complete without this Dr. Seuss classic.  It was my Grandfather's favorite and now one of mine.



The Velveteen Rabbit -  Always a classic.  Everyone knows the story of the Velveteen Rabbit and how toys become real with all that love poured into them.



Where the Wild Things Are -  I was really disappointed in the the movie.  However I still love this book and always will.  Lil Mr. loves monsters and he likes to roar at the ones in the book.



Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - I think that Lil Mr. just loves to look at the pictures.  We have a box collection of these books.



Goodnight Moon -  Goodnight everything! 



Corduroy - This Bear's journey in the closed department store to find his lost button is too cute.  I remember this book when I was young.  I read it over and over!



Runaway Bunny - I like the game of chase... this book paints a vivid picture of a mama bunny running after her baby bunny, "For you are my little bunny."  I think our first copy of this book was my dad's.  So we are on third generation of reading this one.



Harold and the Purple Crayon - How could you not love Harold?

 And my 5 favorite series:

The Frog and Toad Series - I read them all as a kid! Such great stories!



The Little Bear Series -  Read all of these.  We also like the television show.  Lil Mr. doesn't watch much but when he does it is Nick Jr.




The Franklin Series - Another book series that was adapted into a television show.  Lil Mr. likes the cartoons too.  "Franklin could count by twos and tie his shoes."




The Little Critter Series - These never get old! With a lesson in each story you can't help but love Little Critter!




The Berenstain Bears Series - I had forgotten about these until we got one in a book club mailing.  We have fallen in love with this bear family all over again!



Birthday Week

So it is Birthday Week for Lil Mr!  (And me, we share a birthday!)  So March 10th!  I can't believe that Lil Mr. will be one!! It just doesn't seem real yet.  I feel like I just brought him home bundled up against that late snow we had last year.  Now he is walking, eating big boy food, talking a few words, and has teeth.  He claps, and shares, he hugs and kisses, he laughs at the right moments, it is a lot to take in.  But there is no time time to dwell!!  I have so much to do!  I made a banner that matches the invitations that I sent out, it is too cute and I will post a picture when it is complete.  On Friday I have to make a cake and maybe get some of it decorated.  I am going to attempt this look...



http://www.bakerella.com/pop-star-jennifer/

But mine is going to me two tiers, no mouth and purple and green.  So excited to see how it turns out.  Oh an the cake is going to be a banana cake.  Yum!!  Bananas are a food group to the Lil Monster!  It should be a blast!  I can't wait to see him open his presents and eat his cake!! YAY!  Happy Birthday Week Lil Mr!!!  (And Mommy)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I am so excited about The Lorax coming out!  I love Dr. Seuss!  Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!  

Today in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday most schools participated in "Read Across America".  Did I mention that I am a school resource officer right now.  Couldn't beat the hours.  Anyway another Police Officer was invited to read to the students at one of the elementary schools that he is responsible for.  He invited me along.  So I got to read Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss to 4th grade class.  It was really fun!  I even got a little certificate for it.  I am so glad that the other Police Officer invited me along.  He read And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street By Dr. Seuss.

I even wore a silly Cat in the Hat hat just like this!

It was also a little nostalgic for me as well.  My grandfather was a teacher and really instilled a love of reading (and Dr. Seuss) into us.  His favorite Dr. Seuss book was Oh, the Places You'll Go!  We lost my grandfather in 2006 and I miss him dearly!  So it was kind of him saying he's still looking out for me.  (we didn't pick our books)

What a good day.

TGIF... Or my head might EXPLODE!

No craft today :(  Just a plain old rant.  I was hoping along Pinterest (I am so addicted) and I found a post that I would like to try one day (maybe even soon) so I followed it back to the originating web page.  I get there and the idea is as easy as it is fabulous!  I get to making conversation about said post with a fellow mother / DIY-er / Pinterest fiend.  Conversation goes well until I make the comment that "Public schools have taken the fun out of bringing treats to school.  I hate that everything has to be store bought and prepackaged. I remember my mom making cupcakes for me for my birthday to share with my friends."  Wow!  That did in the pleasantries.  Well store bought items have an ingredients list and it is for the protection of our children who have allergies (to everything).  Well if your kid has a gluten allergy he / she is not eating cupcakes... weather they are store bought or not.  I do have an ingredients list for my homemade items too.  And you can pronounce all of my ingredients!  Oh and had I known that your kid had that specific allergy I would bake around it.  But store bought it is.  I guees my kids won't take treats to school for their birthday instead I will have them invite their friends over for some of my homemade yummies. 

Sorry for the rambling rant... I just hate it when people try to argue a stupid point.  Like the school that replaced a child's turkey sandwich homemade lunch with the school's chicken nugget lunch because the homemade lunch was not as nutritional???  Private school looks better and better every day!  No seriously... It is a true story!

OK and done!

More Glass!



So I have a bunch of glass bottles / jars that I have saved because "I know that I can do something amazing with this"! I found Polar fruits in these cute little glass jars that look like buckets and they were $1 each.  After I used up the fruit I saved the jar.  It has been sitting on my window sill for a month now just waiting.  So finally I made something with it.  I am not sure what I am going to put in it yet.  Maybe I will give it as a gift.  But it turned out really cute.   



I used a Fiskars punch for the flower template.  I kept the etching cream on for 10 minutes (think I may try longer still) glued on the ribbon and the clip (both Target dollar bin finds).  I thought that the tag would be cute for the picture (another dollar bin find!)

 


I think I might plant some of Big B's and my wedding flowers in the jar and put a wedding picture on the clip... I may give it as a gift and make more.  I still have 2 jars left at home that need some love!

 

Blog Candy Contest Entry

400 Follow Giveaway!  I hope that I can have a giveaway soon.  I am thinking maybe something small for 25 followers... let me think about it!  But while I think about it hop on over to

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Decoupaged Boxes

Over Christmas I made a few boxes for family for Christmas.  They loved them!  I mad most of them out unfinished wood boxes I found at Michael's.  I wanted to experiment with other materials too, so I tried paper mache boxes as well.  I actually originally found a bunch of recipe boxes made this way on Etsy.com.  I couldn't find one that I really liked at a gift for my Sister in Law so I made one.  I have not figured out the ink distressing so that it looks like all of their yet so I used paint.  I still think that the boxes are gorgeous!  I use acrylic paint, scrapbooking paper, and Mod Podge (in the glossy formula).  I think that I would like to try the matte finish next to see how that looks!  I have a few holidays coming up in which some boxed gifts might be in store.    

Here are my latest creations. 

Leopard print and burlap pattern scrapbook paper on a wooden box. 



This box is paper mache.




This box is paper mache



Boutique Style Cards

My younger sister is turning 24 in a week so I needed to make a Birthday card.  I got carried away and made 3!  They turned out so beautifully!




I made the bow with ribbon and a brad that I had in my embellishment drawer, the Embossing was done with my Sizzix Dots folder, and the border was cut from Stretch Your Imagination Cricut cartridge.
This is the card I ended up sending to my sister.
Entered into PTT Challenge Anything Goes





The embossing is (on card) Cuttlebug Spots & Dots and (the band) Sizzix dots folder, the flower is from Stretch Your Imagination Cricut cartridge and the "happy birthday" is from Sweet Treats Cricut Cartridge.  the "stitching" was done by me by hand.

 


The card was the negative of the first card I made, I felt bad throwing all of that away so I glued it to the card and let it dry before peeling it off my Cricut Cutting Mat.  The Center is household aluminum foil embossed with my Sizzix flower mini folder that came with the Sizzix Texture Boutique.



Saturday Morning Puffs


These were absolutely heavenly!  They just melted in our mouths!  I make pancakes or waffles every weekend for breakfast, I wanted to change up the routine.  I scoured through the 20 + books and magazines for something quick and easy and delish!  I found the recipe for French Breakfast Puffs in my big Betty Crocker book.  I had everything on hand and it took 30 minutes.  Here is the recipe that I followed.



French Breakfast Puffs

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 Ingredients:

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease 15 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2x1 1/4 inches.

Mix shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and the egg thoroughly in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg alternately with milk. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center of puff comes out clean

Mix 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll hot muffins immediately in melted butter, then in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Serve hot.

Monsters are in the Mail!

Oh my goodness gracious!!  What a week I have had!! I finished working on Lil Mr's birthday party invitations on Monday and they FINALLY made it to the mail box today!! 

Monday night Lil Mr. started running a fever!  I figured he had whatever everyone else had.  He started to get congested and would not eat or drink.  No biggie for one day.  Wednesday morning rolled around (2:30 AM) and Lil Mr. had a 104.7 fever!!! We took him in the doc as soon as we could.  He has a double ear infection.  Poor bubba.  Well we get him on the antibiotics and the diarrhea and the vomiting started Wednesday night.  So until about 2:00 AM Thursday we were at the children's hospital emergency room so he could get some hydration.  He slept all day Thursday and all night last night.  He feels so much better.

I finally got pictures of my Lil Monster's monster invitations.  All done with my Cricut Mini Monsters Cartridge and my Sizzix embosser.  So cute!  Here they are:



I entered these in a Shape card Challenge over at Double Click - AKA Abusybee



And here is how they open up:



Excuse the sloppy "Paint" censoring!



I think they turned out super cute.  However they are pretty big and awkward, so they didn't fit in any of my envelopes I had on hand.  I bought Wausau Stardust envelopes.  I want to say A9 size.  And used this video to make them fit each monster!  Wonderful video!



So now my monsters are in the mail!  I am going to try my hand at a monster cake for Lil Mr's birthday.  I am also going to try some party favors with my Mini Monsters! 

Happy Friday!