Birthday snacks for a friend...

My friend, Carmela and I are hosting a birthday party for our friend, Jennifer at a local clothing store called Maurices this weekend.

So I decided to make a few little snacks for the party...purple is her favorite color :)

Now I haven't made the brownies yet, so I will post those once they are finished, but I made some white chocolate dipped pretzels (that Carmela's daughter Rachel sprinkled) and white chocolate dipped marshmallows rolled in spring colored sprinkles. Really easy!

Here are the pictures in progress, and I will share the party pictures later on this weekend.

Update on school issues...

It seems as though things may be looking up for Caleb in terms of his schoolwork. We have officially held his 3 year Re eval ARD, and an additional meeting to discuss the school psychologist's evaluation. I have never seen so much paperwork! While he is still qualifying for the special education AU program (although mainstreamed with supports), he has been determined to have Aspergers. We anticipated this change, as he has been gaining skills and adapting to his environment a little better each year. For educational purposes, whether a child is low functioning, high functioning, or anywhere in between, Autism is Autism.

Our wonderful school counselor has made up a supplemental paper for him to use during all of his classes to help keep him on task, focused, and engaged, and at the same time help teach him learning strategies for the information being taught in a VISUAL MANNER.

After discussing it at his ARD and brainstorming on how to use it in the classroom, it has been officially put into place. I talked to Caleb about it after his first week to gauge how it is working and how he feels about it. So far so good. The teachers sent home each page with his end of week work last week, and it seems to be successful. He is highly motivated to draw Angry Birds, he enjoys SEEING what is expected of him, it is helping him get back on task when he drifts, and is reducing his incomplete work.

Here is how it works in action: (broken into individual, manageable activities)

Now for years, we have been using a modified version of this for transitions at home (with visual supports), but I never knew how this would really look in classroom form with assignments. At home, it looked like:

IF you put on your shoes, THEN you can wear a Mario shirt

IF you finish your homework packet, THEN you can play 10 minutes of video games

IF you put your clothes in the hamper, THEN you can work on a puzzle

IF you complete your morning routine, THEN you can watch 10 minutes of TV

I am really happy that we have found something that works...even if it's just in the short term. I really hope that this can continue and help give him some confidence in his academics.

Bagel birdfeeders

Building off of my boys' love for Angry Birds and my desire to find Spring inspiration for revamping our disastrous backyard....we crafted bagel birdfeeders today.

The boys were totally into this activity and were really interested in making up stories on what kinds of birds would be flying in to feast on the birdseed.

Jansen's theory: "There are birds in other places that had like an earthquake or a tornado. Then they have no food, so they fly to our house to eat our peanut butter and birdseed."

Caleb's theory: "Angry Birds don't really exist so they won't eat this birdseed. Crows eat corn, so if we planted corn, we would have to build a scarecrow. Crows are definitely scared of scarecrows. There is no such thing as a Mighty Eagle so he won't eat our birdseed. Hummingbirds drink red juice, so they won't eat our birdseed. The state bird of Texas is a mockingbird, so they might eat our birdseed because we live in Texas. Maybe a bluebird too."

Yep, everything has to be difficult and factual with Caleb and more imaginative with Jansen.

So if you are looking for a quick and fun activity for your kids...this is it. Include a lesson in with it...read the bird feed bag to see what is in it. Talk about your state bird. Find out what your child's favorite bird might be and where it lives.

Here are the basic supplies you will need for this project:

Bagels, peanut butter, a plastic knife, birdseed, and string of some sort.

Let your kiddos spread peanut butter to coat one half of a bagel...

Sprinkle birdseed onto the peanut butter and gently pat to have it stick. Gently shake off any additional seed.

Tie your string around the bagel.

Find a place to hang your feeder in your yard...

Sit back and enjoy the fruits of your childrens' labor.

Wet N Wild Comfort Zone

Ok, I am totally going to brag on my new favorite brand of make up....Wet n Wild.

I have used all kinds of makeup from Clinique, to MAC, L'Oreal, to Mary Kay and everything in between. Let's face it, makeup is expensive and it is especially disappointing when you pick a color that is gorgeous in the store, and when you get home, it is 4 shades of U-G-L-Y. It has happened more times than not for me.

Several months ago, I tried my first Wet n Wild product, mascara...purchased from Target. I thought it was really nice looking, but was worried that because it was more inexpensive than any other makeup I had tried, that it would be flaky and cheap looking. Not true. It was my favorite!

Then I tried an eyeshadow trio for $2.99....this one to be exact...

It was cute, but it is not something that I could wear everyday.

I bought 2 lip glosses from Wet n Wild thinking surely this will be sticky and goopy because it was only $1.99. Not so. It had a rich, long lasting color that made me smile.

So, I was getting really confident with this brand. As I ran out of my current makeup, I would just replace it with a WNW product. Concealer for $1.99, blush for $1.99, and now my new favorite.......The Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Collection in Comfort Zone!!! $4.99

This collection has 8 shadows in the one compact...each highly pigmented. I noticed very little flaking and super easy blendability. Is blendability a word??? Well, it is now. You can use any combination of colors...one to four and it really makes a great impact from every day wear to more dramatic special occasion wear.

Two snaps for this color palette. Makes me so happy!

Oh swimsuit season....

Yep, Spring Break is here and that means the dreaded "Swimsuit Season" is upon us.

Nothing compares to shopping for a swimsuit if you are larger than a size 6. It sends shivers down my spine. Maybe it is because of that beautiful image of yourself....2 shades of pale, with a suit 2 sizes too small, staring back at you from a dressing room mirror in a poorly lit department store. Nothing says Sexy Summer Suit like staring at yourself with your holiday socks on your feet and your underwear tucked into a bright swimsuit.

That is what gets me every year. It is so hard to imagine how this suit is going to work on you with granny panties bunched into it and Valentine socks.

Online shopping it is. This time I only had to order two suits to find the one that will work for me.

Here is the first one I tried...

So beautiful. It fit perfectly, except for the side without the strap. This suit had no support and it literally looked like one boob was 5 inches lower than the other one. I reluctantly sent it back.

Then I ordered this one...

It is perfect! It fits like a glove, was in my price range, and has a really cute vintage nautical vibe to it. Exactly what I was looking for.

Phew. No bunchy underwear for me this year. Straight up comfort from the privacy of my own home. Operation Swimsuit complete. :)

Spring Break in T-minus 1 day...

That's right. Spring Break totally crept up on me this year. Tomorrow is the last day of school before Spring Break and my husband is going to be working all of it. No trips for us.

So what's a family to do? Actually, what is a mom and two boys to do???

Stay-cation 2012!

We live in a semi rural area, about an hour from Houston, so hanging out in Houston isn't really an option for us for the week.

I did some research into our area, Brazoria County, and found several things the three of us can do for a little moolah. Here is what we have on deck.....

• a day at the beach
• planetarium evening
• our local museum
• picnic at the park and playground
• roller skating at Skating America
• a trip to Moody Gardens in Galveston
• strawberry picking in Alvin
• living room camp outs

It's going to be a fun week!

Teacher Appreciation Gift 2012

This year, Caleb has 3 teachers and Jansen has 1.

Always thinking ahead, in this case to May, it is time to start working on Teacher Appreciation. Since I am the PTO President this year, I am thinking about things that we can do for our faculty as a whole, but while doing that, I need to put together something for my childrens' teachers from my boys.

I wanted to combine something cute with something practical, and with buying for 4 and then three weeks later buying an End of Year gifts for them all, this needs to be inexpensive yet heartfelt and usable.

While browsing for ideas, I came across this SITE, which is perfect for our school. These teachers live on Sonic drinks, especially at Happy Hour. She has provided a ton of printables that would be great for teacher gifts, so check it out. There are so many more options than just Sonic printables.

This afternoon, I made the first one:

Basically, I printed out the cute saying,

put it in an inexpensive frame,

made some paper rosettes,

and hot glued them to the frame.

Tomorrow I will go purchase Sonic gift cards, and they will be tied to the frame with ribbon. Perfect combination of cute and practical :)

I think I am going to make some of these up with gift cards for the office workers for End of Year gifts as well.

One down and three to go, and gifts for Teacher Appreciation week are done :)