Gadget Wall

Molly loves playing with the locks on the dog kennels. She already knows how to lock and unlock them. So when I was looking around on Pinterest and found something called a gadget wall I knew Molly would love it. I added to and tweeked the one here.

Rustin did a great job mounting each clasp so that there are 4-5 little doors that open and I plan on putting a picture of a family member under each one. Her favorites are the door stopper and the gate lock.

Happy fathers day

This year I was blessed to spend time with my father, my grandfather, and the father of my baby on Father's Day. We had a great time at church and then went to help Rustin pick out his new boots.

Then we went to my parents for lunch.

My Dad loved his gift. Each year in his card we'll add 4 new pictures for him to put in his frame.

Freezer Cookin' 101

Last summer I was preparing for Molly when I filled my freezer and I enjoyed that feeling that knowing I could pull something out and have quick meals on hand so I decided to fill the freezer again this summer.

I started by pulling all the meals we enjoy & weeded through to figure out which ones I could freeze. This is what I came up with. From the list of recipes I jotted down the ingredients I'd need for each recipe & then totalled them up (how many lbs of chicken, how many cans of cream of mushroom soup, how many roasts etc.) to create my final shopping list. Don't forget a box of Heavy Duty Freezer bags.

I shopped. Molly napped through the trip to HEB so that helped me get in and out of the store in less than 45 minutes & I only spent $142.21 which made 24 meals, 1 side dish, and a batch of garlic cheese biscuits.

I had some help getting the ground beef into the pressure cooker & chicken breasts into some boiling water. She also helped me label each bag with the name of the meal and any cooking instructions.

After the meat that needed to be cooked was done I started getting the ingredients for each recipe into their own bag. I laid them out flat on a baking sheet in my freezer so they'd take up less space in the deep freeze.

Mother's Day Gifts

Here's a fun little peek at the gifts our Moms got this year for Mother's Day.


You can see the whole book here

DIY iphone Case

I just loved the idea of one of those fancy personalized phone cases but realistically it's not in my budget. So I made my own!


I bought a clear case from Amazon for $1.95+ shipping.



I found a pattern online that I liked and used Microsoft Word to lay a text box with my initial over the (2.3in x 4.5in) patterned space. Next time I'll probably just buy a piece of patterned scrapbook paper but I couldn't find any in this color scheme that I liked on my last Hobby Lobby trip. Then I cut around it and used a hole puncher to cut a space for my camera lens.

Super easy and took less than 5 minutes.

Spring Fever

This spring break has gone by so quickly. I do feel like I've gotten alot done, but I've been avoiding this

So instead of ironing I put up our photo wall. I've been wating to get this done for a while now but haven't had a chance.

All the frames are either ones we already had or from the Dollar Tree. I had Wal-Mart print the pictures then got them into the frames. I'd looked at several layouts on Pinterest but finally just had to start laying them out on the floor to see how they'd fit togther.

Here's the final project.

Dinner for a Year

No it's not a giveaway.( Although that'd be nice) It's something I saw on Pinterest. This woman is amazing! I'm not so naive to think that this is something I could do or that I even really want to do but I did want to put something together to keep me out of a cooking rut. Homemade Gourmet used to be the answer for me but after 3 years a lot of those meals found their way into a rut of their own. (Although some of our favorite meals are HG meals & pop up often in our menus) So I sat down and wrote out a list of all the meals I cook. Then I asked Rustin if there were meals on the list that he absolutely didn't want to eat unless he was stranded on a deserted island. That took out a good chunk of my list. At least I know that if I put one of the meals from the list on the table I'm going to hear ANY complaints. So I found this Menu that you could type right into.


I started filling in the blanks to fit our lives like MacKenzie had mentioned. For instance on Wednesday Rustin is on his own for dinner since Molly & I go to Bible Study. Tuesdays & Thursdays are Jazzercise nights so crock-pot/ easy recipes are a must. Saturday's I usually have time to try something new and since there were a lot of meals that I'd pinned (and I really wanted to try them not just look at them) I designated Saturdays as *NEW RECIPE nights. These recipes are completely new to us and therefore come with the Pizza Clause (If it tastes awful then order pizza). I took my finished menu and wrote out a grocery list for the recipes on the menu that way all I have to do is add the little things like lunch stuff, milk, eggs, etc. to my weekly grocery list.



After a few days of poking around I'd picked more than a few new recipes so many that I started an entirely new Board.

And after looking through my list and the board of new ideas I've come up with 3 months of recipes with very few repeats (just the favorites). I know that there are going to be things that come up (last night Rustin didn't get home until 10) and that the menus are meant to be flexible. But it sure does make it easy to know how many points I'll be having each night, what groceries I need each week, and that dinner isn't as much of a hassle as it has been the last few months. It may not be in a fancy binder but I'm pretty proud them.

Classroom Updates

Here's a few pinterest ideas that I've incorporated into my classroom. Somehow I always manage to miss out on getting pictures of my students doing the cool lessons I've found. Oh well!

This is our writing anchor chart for all the mentor texts we've read. Each strip has a picture of the mentor text and what we learned from that writer. Then we place it under the "Trait" it fits best.


This is my T-Do list. I never seemed to get back my pre-pregnancy memory.


This is my "new" file cabinet. I put a border on the side closest to my desk and covered the drawers wih bright paper just to jazz it up a little.



And I didn't see this on pinterest but i thought it was a cute idea I came up with all on my own ;) This group will all have a new baby within a 1 school year span. 7 babies (lindsey's still out on leave)!! Lots of new friends for Molly, Can you believe it.

Sensory Play

I'd been reading over on Play at Home Mom about sensory tubs. I decided that I'd make one for Molly since she's been getting more an more curious about things. It didn't cost much at all.

I hit up Wal-Mart and the Dollar Tree and bought 5 cup containers & a 6.2 Quart Steralite container. I also bought beans, rice, oats, pasta, corn, & Water Beads. I also have containers for rocks & shells, gems, and puff balls (pom-poms)

I put them into the storage containers and labeled them with my handy dandy label maker

Today I thought we'd start with the pasta

She LOVED it!

Spreading Christmas Cheer

The neighborhood that I work is pretty affluent. My students always have the coolest & newest phone, gadgets, and toys. So before our annual Holiday Party where they'd open gifts, play games and eat sweets I wanted my students to take the opportunity to serve others first. Here's a quick re-cap of our "Pre-Party" Service Project Party.

First we built blessing bags for one of the churches in the area. ( I know you can't see their faces but they have such big smiles on them) We included things like tissues, soap, shampoo, razors, tooth brushes & a snack.

Then we wrote letters to the troops.

I'm blessed to have the opportunity to serve these kids daily.

Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:28

Deck the Halls

With boughs of Holly

FA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

Tis the season to be Jolly

FA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

And here's a close up of Molly's stocking

Parade PJs

I really wanted Molly to have a cute pair of Thanksgiving PJs to watch her first Macy's Day parade in. Only everywhere I went looking for a cute girly pair all they had were plain boyish ones. So I ran to Hancocks and bought some fabric.


Then I used this tutorial that I found on Pinterest.

And here's the finished product.



I can't wait to see her on Thursday morning!

The Thanksgiving Spirit

This past Sunday Molly and I got up early and made a little Thanksgiving treat for her Sunday School teachers. It was a really simple Trail Mix with raisins, red/orange/yellow M&Ms, CheezeIts, and pretzles.
Then I made a quick topper using orange card stock and Thanksgiving stickers. I wrote a quick note to each teacher letting them know what a blessing they are to our family. Molly and Ms. Kat


Molly and Ms. Joan

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thes. 5:18