Ultimate Lego Storage

Let's take a minute to talk about Lego's.  They are fantastic!!  Aren't they?  Here's the problem, at least at my house.  My son is 7.  His absolute favorite toy is Lego's.  He gets them for Christmas, and Birthdays and for doing extra chores around the house and...you can see the problem.  He has so many sets but for a long time we haven't had a good way to store them.

We live in a small house.  No basement, no extra bedrooms or a playroom, and not much closet space.  Our kids have to keep their toys in their bedrooms.  Most of their toys are packed tightly in their closets.  Toys & clothes & shoes all kept in a tiny closet.  We've tried storage bins and a toy box, but things still get jumbled.  Then there is the issue of trying to keep Lego sets together. 

Honestly here is our Lego routine.  My son gets a set of Lego's, builds it once, then I try to put it in a zip lock bag with the instructions, but somehow most of the Lego's end up in a little blue container in his closet with instructions floating all over the place.    He has tons of Lego's, but it seems like every single time we go to the store he is begging for another set.  (Don't worry, I usually don't give in).  I couldn't understand why he kept asking for more sets when he already had so many.  Then it sort of occurred to me...trying to build something when you have to dig through hundreds of Lego's to find the right pieces was a daunting task, especially for a little boy.  It was easier to just get a new set.

I decided to find a better way to store his Lego's.  I found tons of great ideas online, but our space is limited and I really wanted to keep each set together.  I remember when my girls where little we used to keep a lot of their toys in containers under their beds.  I found a big flat container made to fit under a bed.  It had wheels and was light enough for him to lift.    Once I had the big container I went in search of some smaller containers to fit inside.  Our Walmart happened to have pencil boxes for less than a $1 and they happened to fit perfectly inside the box. 

I pulled out all of his Lego's.  The storage bin we already had some in, every instruction booklet I could find, every set still in a box, and also those in zip lock bags.  At first it didn't seem too bad.

Not bad right?  Ha!!  You would be amazed to know how many bazillion Lego's fit inside that blue container.   I started by laying each booklet out.  Then I went through each booklet and found all the pieces to make that set.  1 hour turned into 5 turned into 2 straight days of sorting Lego's.  2 days.  Think about that.  If it took me that long to sort these Lego's, think about how long it would take a 7 year to build something with all of his Lego's jumbled together like that.  Frustrating right?!! 

After 2 very long days I was done.  Each small container holds one set - pieces and instructions.

As soon as I was finished, I had a happy little boy busy putting together each set, then cleaning up and putting that set away before moving onto the next.  He kept saying how cool it was.  Now I have a happy boy and a happy momma because the Lego's are finally, finally under control.  Plus we have plenty of space for more sets in the future so this storage will work for a long time with his growing Lego collection.

As a side note, the large container was about $17.00 at my local Walmart and each pencil box was $1.00.  The large container can hold 28 pencil boxes.  So this project cost me just under $50. 

Holiday Photo Book

I have this habit of doing all of my deep cleaning in the fall before the holidays.  This year my goal was to tackle the "junk" closet.  I'll be honest, I've been kind of dreading it.  I kept putting it off and stacking more and more junk in there and finally I could hardly open the door without stuff falling out.  It was way, way past time to get it cleaned out.

Finally I got around to it.  One of the things I keep in this closet are boxes of old pictures and school papers and stuff.  I started going through each box and pretty soon I realized, that although I haven't been very consistent on anything in my many years as a mom/wife, the one thing we have done is taken a picture each Halloween and made Christmas cards each Christmas.  But here they were stacked in a box, years and years of pictures and cards neatly tucked away.  I wanted them out.  I wanted my family to enjoy them.

Here's my sad confession though: I don't scrap book.  I used to do it begrudgingly, but I really have never enjoyed it.  Then came along the Internet and shutterfly and photo books and tada!!  My easy fun way to create a scrapbook for the kids.  Lazy, of course, but at least it was getting done.  However, I still had this stack of Halloween pictures and another one of Christmas cards and I wanted to do something with them,

I remembered a couple of years ago when we took the kids to Disneyland, we had made our own autograph books.  They were super easy and so cute.  Plus the pages were nice and thick and they were very sturdy.  I thought that method would be perfect for making some super easy holiday photo books.

Items Needed:

1 spiral bound sketchbook
Scrapbook paper
Ribbon
Scissors
Glue Stick
Photo corners
Your family pictures and cards

The sketchbooks from Barnes and Noble are perfect for this project.  The pages are thick and durable, and they are acid free to protect your pictures.  They come in all sizes and start at $3.  Plus they have lots of pages in them so you can add to them for many years to come.

Take the scrapbook paper and cut a piece out that is the same size as the front of the book.  Use the glue stick, glue the paper to the front cover.  Use any other decorations you want at this time.  Then do the same for each page.  Glue in a piece of scrapbook paper, then use the photo corners to attach each picture and card.  You can hand write the year if you want (I printed mine on the computer, then glued them in).  Use your creativity and imagination.

To finish up each book, cut a strip of ribbon, long enough to tie in a knot and have a little hanging out  about 2 inches past the edge of the book (this will vary depending on the size of your book and the look you are going for).  Melt the edges of the ribbon with a lighter to seal the ribbon and stop the ribbon from fraying,  Then tie the ribbon on the spiral part of the sketchbook.

That's all.  Easy!  Each book took me about an hour.  But my kids have loved these books so far.  They have pulled them down off the bookshelf several times now.  It's been fun to have our pictures available for them to look through and remember little stories from each year.

Halloween Subway Art Sign

I know, I know, it's not quite October 1st, but I just couldn't help myself.  I've been planning and waiting to get my Halloween decorations up and this weekend I finally got it done.   I wanted something a little different this year and decided that I loved the idea of classic black and white decor.  I only had the wreath from last year.  So I didn't have much to go on.   I did have a bunch of leftover stuff from past projects that I figured I would use.

I've saw this little saying somewhere and I thought it would look so cute on my porch.  I went out to my craft room (actually my garage...) I had a 2 1/2 foot board left over from my sons industrial shelves and some flat black spray paint that my husband used for something.  The only thing I purchased for this project was a couple of white paint markers, I found for $2 each at my local Walmart.  I got 1 with a fine tip, and 1 with a medium tip.  So this project cost me $4.  Not bad, not bad.

I sanded the raw edges of the board and put it down on a piece of plastic.  Then I went a little crazy with the black paint.  I also used it to paint a couple of old candlesticks I had that were just hanging out in a closet, and a lantern that I found in the Easter clearance section at Tai Pan Trading for 

75% off.  

Once I got the board painted black I had to decide how I wanted to put the words on the board.  I don't have a cricket and I didn't want to pay a bunch of money to have vinyl cut so I used a technique I have used before.   I used my computer and Microsoft word and printed out  the words that I wanted.  No special fonts here either, just basic ones that were on word.  

Next I cut out each word strip and placed them on the board where I wanted them to be.  (My printer is almost completely out of ink and I did not want to run to the store at 11pm, so my words were barely visible.)  Use what you have right?!!!  Anyway, after  I got the words placed where I thought they should go, I took a pen and traced each letter.  When you do this, you need to remember to push down a little bit, as this will leave an indent in the wood, which you want.

After I traced the words, I removed my paper.  You can just barely see the indent that it leaves, but it's exactly what you want.

Next I took my paint marker and colored in the letters left when I traced the words.  It's not perfect, but that's ok.  This process takes a little bit of time but it looks so nice afterward.

When I had all the words written on the board I put a layer of clear coat over it and let it dry.  That's it.  Easy, cute, Halloween Subway Art Sign for about $4.  

How to get GUM out of fabric

Today started out to be the loveliest of days. We slept in late and woke up to the most glorious sunshine.  We had plenty of time to get ready for church.  There were no obnoxious arguments and no bickering.  I had time to get dinner put into the slow cooker and even time to vacuum the house.  Maybe I should have realized this morning that it was all too good to be true, but.....

Church was nice and went by quickly.  The kids were excited to get home so we could eat dinner and watch a movie as a family.  We pulled into the garage, grabbed our stuff, heading into the house and I began getting things ready for dinner.  I opened a cupboard to grab a pan for rice and a glass dish fell out, shattered to pieces on the floor and cut my foot in the process.  This is were things quickly went down hill.

As I started cleaning up the glass I hear my oldest daughter ask my son what is on his pants?  "I don't know"  he says.  "It's like pink stuff all over the back of your pants" she says.  "Oh ya, I accidentally dropped my gum and sat on it....   It's okay though, I picked it up."  This is when I turned around to see the damage.  Gum, pink gum all over the back of his church pants.  The ones we bought just 2 weeks ago for my daughters graduation.  The same pants that he has only worn one time.  I decide they are ruined.  Gum never comes out of anything.  I have him go change and I toss the pants in the garbage.  All of a sudden it dawns on me.... "Buddy, where were you sitting when you dropped your gum?" I ask him.  "In the car."

I'm about ready to lose it at this point.  I can't even bear to look in the car.  I send my daughter out to look.  She comes back in and says its all over the seat.  Uggg!!!!!!

I decide I've got to figure out how to get gum out of fabric.  I check online and find a couple of people that suggest using ice, but this has not worked for me in the past.  I have some goo gone that I've used to get gum off of hard surfaces but decide it's too greasy to use on fabric.  The only other thing I can think of is nail polish remover.  I've used it for so many other things,  seriously you would be surprised to know how much I use nail polish remover.  It might just work.

I grab the nail polish remover and the bag of cotton balls and I get to work.

How to Remove Gum from Fabric

Nail Polish Remover
Cotton Balls

Put a little bit of nail polish remover on a cotton ball.  Start with one section at a time and rub the area until the gum dissolves.  Continue this process until all the gum is gone.  Then wash the piece of clothing according to instructions.

For the car seat it was the same process, but then I used a wet wash cloth to wipe the seat to remove some of the nail polish remover.

Twenty minutes later and tada!!!,  the gum was gone and dinner was served.  Now back to enjoy my Sunday evening.

Summer Reading

Summer is upon us and I am so, so excited to have all of the wonderful things that go along with it; swimming at the pool, late nights, bbq's, hiking, fireworks, rodeo, derby, popsicles, sprinklers, water fights, family reunions, and so much more.

But as always, I'm concerned about how my kids are going to be spending most of their days.  My hope is always that they don't park themselves in front of the tv and sit there for 12 hours a day, the entire summer. 

I, like so many of you, am a working mom, so they have to entertain themselves most of the time.

Last year we came up with our Ultimate Summer Boredom Busters and the Kid's Passport Printables that we will be using again this year, because we actually didn't get to do everything.  But I also want my kids to read more this summer, since I feel like they lose a lot of what they learned the previous year in school over the summer. So I found a few great reading programs that might keep them interested in reading. 

SUMMER READING 2015

Scholastic Summer Reading - May 4 - September 4.  Free online reading program for kids with book lists, activities, and tips. 

Barnes and Noble Summer Reading - Read books, keep a journal, earn a free book.

Pizza Hut Book It - Starts June 22

Book Adventure - Read books, take quizzes, earn prizes

DIY Summer Reading Camp  - free printables and ideas for hosting your own summer reading camp

American Girl - Read-a-palooza - Select Stores have free reading events, printables and activities online. 

Chuck E. Cheese - Incentive Program, earn tokens


Check around your own town for fun activities for your kids.  Most public libraries have summer reading programs. 

For all my Southern Utah Locals, here's a list of summer events in our area:

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

Summer Reading Program - Starts June 1st

Sunset on the Square - Free Summer Movies

St. George City  - summer activities, arts & craft classes, day camps, Lego classes, Lil Detectives, and so much more

Washington City Community Center - swimming, lap pool, and rock wall

Tuacahn Center for the Arts - summer performances

Hurricane City - summer camps and clinics

Hurricane City - movies in the park

Thunder of Utah Air Show - July 25-27th St. George Airport

Washington County Fair - August12-15th

I'm sure there are a ton of other things going on to, but I hope this list gets you started.

Old-Fashioned Slush

When I was a kid we spent 6 weeks every summer living with my grandparents.  I loved when we got to finally visit them.  Summertime brought on all sorts of traditions, like our annual trip to Lagoon, and our
Independence Day fireworks show in the backyard, riding on the combine and tractor, earning pennies by pulling out sticker weeds, sneaking fresh raspberries off of the bushes (even though Grandma asked us not to touch them), climbing trees, playing in the ditch...honestly I could go on for days. 

This week, as the weather here is getting hotter I was searching through my recipes for summer ideas and I ran across our family recipe for slush.  The most wonderful memories of summer came flooding in.  My grandma was a saver.  By that I mean she saved everything and usually re-used it.  I remember her washing plastic sandwich bags with her dishes and then laying them out to dry.  Weird?  Maybe.  Thrifty?  Definitely.  She also saved every container.  I mean everything from the pickle jar to the plastic bucket that the ice-cream came in.

This was what came to my mind when I found the slush recipe.  I remember at almost every family event we had 2 things.  #1 homemade root beer, #2 homemade slush.  On a hot summer day when everyone was done eating my grandma would pull out the re-used ice cream bucket, which would be filled with frozen solid slush.  She would lovingly fill our little plastic cups with slush and then we would top them off with sprite or 7-up.  Then I would take my treat and head out to the swing.  I could multi-task back then.  I could swing and eat at the same time.  Some of the best memories I have involve food.  I hope you are all making memories as well.

 Old-Fashioned Slush
1 1/2 c water
1/2 c sugar
1 banana
1 1/2 c pineapple juice
1/2 c frozen orange juice concentrate
1 TBSP lemon juice

Add sugar to the water, stir, then let sit for a few minutes, then stir again till sugar dissolves.  (this only takes a few minutes).  In a blender combine banana, pineapple juice, and orange juice concentrate.  Cover, blend till smooth.  Add sugar/water mixture and lemon juice, blend for a minute.  Transfer to 9x13 baking pan.  Freeze for 4-24 hours. 

To serve, let mixture stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.  To form slush, scrape a large spoon across frozen mixture, spoon mixture into a glass, then pour sprite or 7-up over it.  Enjoy!!

Ultimate Summer Boredom Busters

My kids will be out of school in just a little more than a week and we are gearing up for a great summer at our house.  I love summertime.  It means late nights, fire pit, Popsicles, sleeping in, swimming, road trips and so much more.  But let's be honest, typically I start hearing the dreaded "Mom, I'm bored" statement about 2 weeks into summer vacation.  That is why we always have a back-up plan.  Today I want to share that with you.

I always start by making my kids a summer schedule.  I know it's a fun thought to just hang out and do whatever you want but in reality my kids are happier, healthier, and more productive if they have a set schedule.  I also make them do chores - I know -GASP, "but it's summer mom".  My theory is that just because it's summer doesn't mean we don't work.  I still have to go to work in the summer, so my kids still have to do chores.  The last and probably the best thing I have ready to go for summer is our Boredom Buster Jar.  It's a jar of things for them to do when they are really, really bored or just to fill some time in the day so that the dreaded electronics stay turned off more often than not.

So here is my list of of Boredom Busters and our Summer Schedule:

Ultimate Summer Boredom Busters - pdf.

Summer Schedule - pdf.

Now I know that sometimes you just need an hour to yourself and handing the kids the ipad or laptop or letting them watch tv is easier.  So I also wanted to share our list of favorite websites for kids:

1.  PBS Kids  Has educational games for kids.  It is a little bit harder for kids 5 and under, they need parent supervision.
2.  Disney One of our favorites.  It has games and episodes to watch.  Plus the games are easy enough that kids 5 and under can play by themselves.
3.  Fun Brain  Lot's of educational games.
4.  Kids National Geographic Has games, crafts and recipes, science, videos, and animal information. It's perfect for the 5 and under crowd.
5.  Wonderopolis Discover a new wonder each day. Wonders are amazing facts and intriguing questions such as: Why are they called Lava Lamps? What Badger has a sweet tooth?

These are just a few to get you started.  Also don't forget about all the summer reading programs:

1.  Barnes and Noble  - read 8 books, record them in a journal, receive a free book.
2.  Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge - Read, log minutes, earn rewards.
3.  Sylvan - Book Adventure - Read, take a quiz online about what you've read, earn prizes.
4.  Pottery Barn Kids Summer Reading Challenge - Read, track progress, visit your local store for a free book.
5.  American Girl - Reading Palooza - Enjoy reading, quizzes, and printables.
6.  Chuck E. Cheese Rewards - Earn 10 free tokens by completing rewards calendar.
7.  Pizza Hut Book It Summer Challenge - Begins June 1st.  The challenge incorporates reading with fun activities, games, and a chance to win prizes.  (Please read rules).

Don't forget to check with your local library for Story times and other events.

I hope this gives you all a ton of ideas for summer.  Stay tuned, I have a fun summer activity with printables that I will be posting in a few days.


Also - we strive to always give credit where credit is due, so here are some of the links I used for ideas:

I'm Bored Jar - Shabby Beach Nest

Bored Jar - IMOM

Summer Activities for Kids - Martha Stewart

Caramel & Coconut Sugar Scrub

We live in a quiet cul-de-sac in what I can only assume was meant to be and started out as a retirement community.  But over the past few years more and more young families are moving in.  My street however still consists of only retirees.  Now you would think my kids would be devastated to not have any other kids to play with, but its not that way at all.  Our neighbors have all become like grandparents to my kids.  There are many days when I can look out and see my little boy's bike and helmet parked at one of our neighbors houses, knowing he is inside visiting.  Sometimes he's up at Grandpa F's house playing Lego's or learning about what he planted in the garden and sometimes he is across the street at B & B's house learning about rocks and trying to be patient waiting for the rock tumbler to be finished (which apparently takes a very long time, like several weeks), but most of the time he is happily taking treats around to them (when I bake we give most of it away).
 
We try to do a little extra around each holiday to show our wonderful neighbors how much we love them.  So today on Mother's Day, we made sugar scrub and my kids lovingly delivered them to our neighbors.  We love our neighbors all so much and I am truly grateful my kids have a safe place to be.

Caramel and Coconut Sugar Scrub
3 c Granulated Sugar
1/2 c Coconut Oil, room temperature
1 tsp caramel extract

Stir all your ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.  (It should feel a like damp sand, if its too dry add a little bit more coconut oil)  Put into glass jars. (This is enough to fill 10 of these small Jelly Jars).

I had all of the ingredients on hand, which worked out perfectly.  I had sugar, caramel extract,  coconut oil left over from when we made lip balm at Christmas, and Jelly Jars (4 oz) leftover from when we made mustard.  I absolutely love giving gifts in jars.  I sure hope all my neighbors love their sugar scrub.

This is honestly the quickest little gift to throw together at the last minute.  Just add handwritten labels and a little ribbon or raffia to decorate the lid and your all set.

Classic Jello Salad

I adore things that are vintage, retro, or classic.  Including old recipes.  I have a ton of old cookbooks.  One of my favorite things to do is browse through my cookbooks and find old recipes.  I especially love Jello.  They use to do some amazing things with Jello -  like make "Asparagus Mold"  and "Tomato Aspic Salad", yum!!  Some of these recipes might sound completely disgusting, but someone use to eat them so they can't be all that bad.  I am determined to "bring back the classics"  so today a special treat for everyone - Classic Jello Salad. 

Classic Jello Salad
16 small packages knox gelatine
16 cups of water (8 boiling, 8 cold)
1 small prepackaged salad

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil and....................

Happy April Fools Day!!!!

Spring Flowerpot Makeover

Spring has arrived here is Southern Utah.  It's starting to warm up (finally) and everything is in bloom.  Last week we decided we wanted to plant some new flowers in our flower pots.  But when we went out to start cleaning up from our long winter, we noticed our flower pots looked really bad.  They were pretty faded from 2 years of hot summers, cold winters, and lots and lots of wind.  I didn't want to throw them away because they were still in great shape so we bought a couple of cans of spray paint.  30 minutes later and we were done.  Easy!!  And they look much better I think.

Happy Spring!!

Colored Celery

When I was little my mom always had something fun to teach us.  I remember this one very clearly.  We would take celery and color it, or mix baking soda and vinegar to make it foam up and lots of other fun things.  The kitchen is where we created many memories as kids and it is a place I hope to create many memories for my own children. 

This week we decided to do some "science in the kitchen" for St. Patrick's Day. 

Colored Celery
1 bundle of celery ( divided into stalks, do not remove the leaves)
6 jars
water
food coloring

Divide the bundle of celery into stalks, leaving the leaves on.  You must have the leaves intact to make this work.  Next fill jars 1/2 with water and add 3-5 drops of food coloring to each.  We made the colors of the rainbow, but you can do whatever colors you want.

Cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom of each stack of celery to give it a fresh edge, this will also help the celery absorb the colored water.

Let sit on  counter overnight.  Then remove from colored water, cut, and serve with your favorite garnish.  We like peanut butter, ranch, or cheese spread.  You could also use them in a salad.

Tada's Simple Tip- Yogurt and a straw

[This post is sponsored by every mother, everywhere, who is SICK of cleaning up yet another mess from their children ;)]  

OK not really.. but it should be!

This is a trick I learned from my next door neighbor,  who actually learned it from my niece(you know.. the one who designed our beautiful blog)

Any way.. sick of cleaning up, yet another spilled yogurt.

Frustrated because the kids love them so much but you don't wanting any more messes on top of all the others.

This will do the trick!!!

(In pictures)

 (baby just 1 year old, can drink the yogurt without the mess!  Wohoo!  score 1 for the mom team!)

(3 year old's who can drink with out messes but one still likes the straw..)

Bath Fizzies (free mustache valentine printable)

 Have you always wanted to make your own bath fizzies?  Well we thought it would be fun to do.  I had pinned this on pinterest back in December because we had planned on making these as Christmas presents, but, you know, life gets crazy sometimes.  So we decided to make them for Valentine's Day instead.  I think they turned out pretty cute. 

 Bath Fizzies

3/4 c baking soda
1 c corn starch
1/2 c Citric Acid
Spray bottle with cold water
Food coloring
Essential Oil (we used lemon grass)
Rubber mold (we used a rubber ice cube mold that we bought on Amazon)
(This recipe makes enough to fill 3 molds)

In a large bowl, mix baking soda, corn starch and citric acid.  Now at this point you should decide if you want  your bath fizzies to be one color or several.  Each of my kids wanted a different color so we divided the mixture evenly between 3 smaller bowls.  Each child added 3-4 drops of the color they wanted and 4 drops of essential oil.  Then using the spray bottle, spray water a little at a time into mixture, then stir.  You don't want to spray too much water at once because it will fizz up.  Spray a little at a time, stirring in between until you have a mixture the consistency of damp (not soaking wet) sand.  Just enough that when it is pressed together it sticks.  Once you have it to this point, press your mixture firmly in the mold.  Then let it dry overnight.  Remove from molds once it's dry.  Enjoy!

 A few things we learned from this:

1.  Citric Acid was a little tricky to find.  We found that in most stores you can buy it in the pharmacy behind the counter, but it is in capsule form, not powder and it is very expensive ($17.99 for a small bottle).  We found this to be true at almost each pharmacy we went to.  Finally as a last resort I called the health food stores in town and they sold it in powder form and by the pound.  So we bought 1 lb, at $9.  (It was way too much.  You only need about 1/2 lb.)
2.  If you get your mixture too wet and then try to press it into the mold it will fizz up.  This happened with the first batch we made so I went back and added a little more corn starch and baking soda to it to make it less sticky and it worked much better.  The other batches worked just fine once we figured this trick out.
3.  Rubber molds are best to use for the bath fizzies since they can be a little tricky to get out of the mold once they are dry.

 

For our valentines we bought the 50 count, Wilton treat bags found at Walmart.  Then we printed our valentine toppers and stapled them on.  My kids are very excited to hand these out to their friends for Valentine's Day.

Click Here for PDF File.