And The Correct Answer Is . . .

Here's a little "What If" scenario for you . . .

If you are driving home from your in-laws which is an hour and a half away and your five year old starts puking in the car right when you get to a small town that is a tad shady and you need to pull over, which of the following would you choose:

A) Turn in the same spot a drug-dealer-looking car in front of you is turning---which is a dark, unlit, and deserted parking lot.

B) Turn into Chili's parking lot which is crowded, but still dark. Not to mention, people are either going in to eat or coming out after having just eaten.

C) Turn into Wal-Mart.

I think any woman in America knows the obvious answer. Of course, Rhett chose the first two. Luckily, due to my screams of dismay, we didn't stop and get out at A or B. Okay, so I didn't say Wal-Mart to him specifically. I just said, "We need to pull over." But we were on the same street as Wal-Mart! I just don't get men. How can I create a plan of action and a list of items I can run in Wal-Mart and buy that would help the situation within 10 seconds of BFG starting to puke and a man has no clue? Doesn't that make sense? Wal-Mart is brightly lit, crowded enough to be safe, and has anything and everything we could possibly need to make the hour left we had to drive home. And why can't Rhett just read my mind? I love him dearly, but do I really have to say exactly what I mean all the time? LOL!

Due to the argument that followed, we ended up choosing D and gunning it home. Luckily, BFG barely had any on her clothes and immediately fell asleep after she puked. So, we zoomed along with pink puke all over the car and me gagging at the smell with my nose out the cracked window in 20 degree weather. When I would get too cold, I luckily had some smelly lotion I slathered on my hands to give me something to smell.

Good times, good times. As you can imagine, we had a fabulous Valentine's Day. (Wiping up the drips of sarcasm from that sentence.)
Mama Said

So, About the Whole Chores Thing . . .

when exactly does it pay off to "patiently" teach your child how to do tasks around the house? I am a basket case from doing it!

I have been planning on starting BFG on some you're-part-of-the-family-you-have-to-contribute chores and some chores that earn commissions in 2010. But because I am having surgery next week, I knew I should put it off til February so we could be consistent.

However, BFG has really been wanting an I Spy computer game and she had run out of birthday money. So, Rhett being the darling, thoughtful man he is, told BFG she could do chores around the house to earn the money for the game. It was a brilliant idea! BFG was pumped! The problem is I'm the one who is left dealing with having her "help" me around the house.

I have been insane! There was one day I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from offering her the money to not do the chores. I really wanted her to run off and watch TV and just let me clean the darn house. But I knew that would obviously send a very wrong message.

So, here I am with days like that and Rhett comes home from work every day and says, "Here, BFG, I've got you a present. Here's a dollar for your I Spy envelope."

Great. The chores were his idea. How is that fair? He gets to be the free-money hero while I'm the grumpy old chore troll! What the heck? Oh, well. I did get her to keep her shoes picked up for three days straight for a dollar. That was like a piece of heaven not having to trip over them or remind her to pick them up or pry them out of the dog's mouth. Aaaaaah . . . . .

She finally only needed two more dollars. I was going to Target anyway. So, when she asked for an icee and popcorn, I said why don't we use that $2 and put it toward I Spy? She agreed and was thrilled. Hey, she didn't work for it, but it still taught her something about money, right? And I really, really wanted to do my own chores today in peace and that was totally worth $2!

At Target, she said that if they make any more I Spy games, she thinks she will get sick of doing chores. Oh, my love, just wait til February when you are doing most of the same stuff for free.

Mama Said

Leaf Man

As a part of our leaf unit, BFG and I read the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. We were just fascinated by the illustrations and decided to create our own Leaf Man book. All you need are some leaves, berries, acorns, etc., white paper, a camera, and photo album. I highly recommend the book, but ya'll could have tons of fun coming up with your own creations.



We took about an hour exploring outside and gathering up our leaves and other treasures. And we set to work seeing if we could recreate Ms. Ehlert's pictures. We had to get creative because we did not have the same type leaves she did and she used color copies of leaves which allowed her to do different things. But it seriously turned out great! Isn't the duck precious?


We did NOT glue the leaves down. BFG created her animal, we snapped a picture, and dumped the leaves back into the pile to start on the next "page". I think the cow is my absolute fave! The udders are just too cute!

The next day we ran to Wal-Mart and printed out our pics using the one hour lab. I put the pictures in a cheap photo album and went through them one by one letting her "write" her story as I typed out the captions. A little print-print here and a snip-snip there and we had BFG's very own Leaf Man book!

She is so, so proud of this book! The whole idea from its conception just thrilled her. She couldn't sleep the night before knowing that when morning came she would get to make a Leaf Man book.

She literally spent hours making the pictures--trying to copy Ms. Ehlert's and creating her very own. The next morning, the materials were still out on the table and she made even more pictures.

I hope some of ya'll try this and have as much fun as we did!

Mama Said (aka Leaf Mama)

Not Me! Monday

First of all, I did NOT attempt to go to 5 stores and a warehouse sale in one day last week. Whatever! I would NEVER do that because I am NOT that dumb. Seriously, who would try to take a 4 yr old to that many places? Not me! And while at the warehouse, I did NOT let BFG get a slap bracelet to play with the first two minutes we were there. That would be insane! And she did NOT spend the next hour slapping it against the buggy making her very own fireworks show. And since she would NEVER do such a thing, she did NOT keep saying, "Mom, mom, watch! Are you ready for this big firework? Huh, mom? Are you ready? MOM! Are you watching?" Naturally, I am such a CALM person that my nerves were NOT totally shot. I'm serious. They were NOT so shot that my teeth were chattering. That is so NOT me to lose my cool like that. So, I certainly did NOT end up uttering through very clenched teeth (to stop the chattering), "I cannot, absolutely cannot watch ANYMORE!!!" To which, BFG did NOT reply, " I know you can't watch, Mom. Okay, are you ready? Now, watch!!!" And, of course, the warehouse was NOT un-air conditioned in 90 degree heat, which made things SO much more fun!

My sister and I did NOT renig on our stance of no yard sales this summer on Saturday. Why would we? We do NOT have so much of our own junk that we have this insane need to go buy other people's. I did NOT have this burning desire to go to yard sales that festered inside me for weeks until I finally went. And, if we did lose our marbles and actually GO to yard sales, we would absolutely, NO how, NO way come home with over 200 Beanie Babies!!! I don't care how much our girls would NOT like them! I don't care how good of deal we did NOT get! We just would NOT do that! I mean really, over 200 Beanie Babies! Puh-lease! NOT us!

BFG and Curly Sue (my niece who lives next door) did NOT get the hare-brained idea of disguising themselves so that the neighbor girl would not recognize them. They did NOT put on wigs and make-up. Oh, NO! NOT them! And, of course, they did NOT stain their clothes with the make-up and drop and break the powder on my bathroom rug staining it, too. Of course, I did NOT give them permission to put on make-up because I was NOT picturing a little glitter and lip gloss. And I knew EXACTLY what they were NOT doing the entire time! 'Cause that's the kind of mom I am. On top of it for sure! And I am NOT posting a picture of the results. Oh, and of course, the neighbor girl had NO idea who they were especially since they had on their favorite clothes they do NOT wear every other day.



Rhett did NOT take a quick trip to the mini-mart on Saturday. NOT him! And if he did, he would NOT arrive home 2 and half hour later. Oh, please. Because he did NOT go to the mart, he did NOT then decide to go visit a cemetery for his "research". He NEVER does that. And since he did NOT do that, he did NOT leave his car running while and he got out only to come back and find his car had died. That's just ludicrous! Stuff like that NEVER happens to him. Seriously, that car has NOT been leaving him stranded since we first met 7 years ago. Of course, it's NOT like he refuses to own a cell phone and had to walk 4 miles to our road to a neighbor's house to call. And, as you can imagine, the road was NOT completely uphill and down at almost vertical inclines the whole way. Naturally, this whole time I was NOT worried one bit about him and did NOT have a gut feeling that something was wrong. Oh, NO. I did NOT spend 2 and half hours saying, "I'm getting worried about him. Something has happened." Because if I was really that worried, I would NOT have gone outside for the second hour and a half and missed his phone call. Oh, well. At least the neighbor's did NOT give him a ride home so he didn't have to walk another 2 or 3 miles.

Aaaah, there's NOT more to tell. But I am sure you are NOT sick of reading by now. Happy Not Me-ing!
Mama Said

Do I Get a Prize For This?

Seriously, there should be a Playhut Olympics! It only took me 20 minutes and one broken fingernail to get this thing folded up and that's the fastest we've ever done it! And who needs to exercise when you've got one of these things around? I was sweating, sprawled all over the floor, and using every muscle in my body. Every time I would think that I almost had it, I would leap on it and hold on with all my strength just to have it pop back up in my face and throw me to the floor. But I did it! I'm really proud. Can you tell? After all, the thing is taller than me. And the Christmas my dad gave this tent to BFG, Rhett, my dad, and me all three together couldn't get it folded back up. In fact, the tent even popped up and hurt my dad in a private place. LOL! So I'm waiting for my prize. Even a congratulations would suffice.

And after folding this mumbo jumbo thing, I managed to vacuum the playroom and only vacuumed up one tiny Barbie fork! That was something in itself, too. Really, did you ever consider the feats you would have to accomplish when you were pregnant with your darlings? This stuff should be included in pregnancy classes. I think there could even be a game show with contests in stuff like cooking supper, answering the phone, and breastfeeding a baby all the same time. Or who can grocery shop with two buggies and three kids the fastest or something. My friend would definitely win that!

Of course, whoever gives me my prize for my accomplishments this week will have to ignore the unvacuumed downstairs, the unmopped kitchen, those towels I never got around to folding, the menu I never quite finished filling out, and the piles of boxes I still haven't unpacked. But, hey, at least the tent is down and we are only down one Barbie fork. That's pretty darn good for me this week.
Mama Said

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

That's What Little Boys Are Made Of . . .

Uh, could we check that again?

Someone obviously didn't know BFG and her cousin.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the snake. I was too busy trying to kill it. Maybe next time.

(On a side note, see BFG's green t-shirt? It says "My Grandma Sells Candles". I bought it second-hand. And I will confess how mean I am. Sometimes I send her off to her grandmother's wearing the shirt just for a laugh. Hee, hee! Like when I know they are going somewhere. Ha!)

Fightin' off critters right and left,

Mama Said

Happy Mama's Day Gift

I just had a sweet lil' ol' idea for a Mother's Day gift (well, a keepsake really) for the grandmas and myself. First, I stole an idea from Let's Explore for a Mother's Day interview. I decided to ask BFG the questions about her grandmas and I went ahead and did one for me as well. I tried to do the great-grandmas, but I think she just doesn't know them as well. (For them, I did 3 Things I Love About ____) I typed them up in a cute, child-like font and underlined the portion that is her answer. I rounded the corners and glued them on construction paper.




They turned out really cute! I never knew my mom's favorite TV show was Spongebob or that when my mother-in-law goes shopping that she buys acorns! The best prompt is My (Mama, Nana, Whatever) always tells me . . . . BFG's answers were: to clean up (my mom), to eat healthy stuff (my MIL), and when I'm in trouble (me). (I really don't know where she got that! Not me!)

On the front of the construction paper, I made a little flower-thingy with her handprint. We used tempera paint. The flower is her hand, the grass is her fingertips, the bees and ladybugs are her fingerprints. I went back and drew in the details on the bugs with a fine-tipped Sharpie.

I just thought they turned out pretty cute! I'm going to have them laminated tomorrow. I thought about doing it every year for the next several years to get a laugh off of what her answers are. I even thought about doing a modified one for my mom myself with more meaningful, in-depth answers. But all three of us are sick now, so that may wait til next year. I am going to do a version of it for Father's Day though. I'm so excited! Men are way too hard to buy for or even make stuff for.

Happy Mama's Day!

Mama Said

Stained Glass Easter Eggs

Looking for a last minute Easter craft or decoration? This one is super quick and easy! Check out the tutorial below for instructions.



Step 1: Cut ovals out of black construction paper. I used my Coluzzle, but you could use anything as a template even your shape drawing tool on Microsoft Word.

Also, roughly cut out squares of tissue paper large enough to cover the entire "egg".

Step 2: Punch out shapes using scrapbook punches or an adult could cut out designs with an Exacto knife. You could even fold them and cut out designs like snowflakes. BFG had loads of fun creating her "designs"!

Just be sure there is black in between to get the stained-glass effect.

Step 3: Spread glue on all the black areas in between the cut-out.
Crafting With Kids Tip: I cut wedges out of paper plates and squirt some glue on there. Then, the kids use q-tips to spread out the glue. It results in alot less mess!



Step 4: Place your tissue paper on top of the glue pressing and smoothing out.


Step 5: Flip over and trim the excess tissue paper.

Step 6: Decide which window to hang them up in and enjoy!


Have blessed Easter and remember Jesus is the reason for this season, too!
Mama Said

Video Guilt

Do you ever feel just a little bit guilty when video taping your children? By that, I mean the "oh, they are so going to kill me when we show this at their wedding rehearsal dinner" guilt. Ya'll know what I mean---like when your kids and all the cousins stip down to the buff to play in water at the Memorial Day picnic. Or the time BFG and her cousin Curly Sue put on a rock concert with their Barbies and I taped it. Or tonight when I was taping BFG dancing and I accidentally said her kids would want to watch this one day. Whoops! That topic is taboo with BFG. She scrunched up in her angry face and was screaming "I am NOT going to have kids! I am NOT going to get married! I am going to live here with you FOREVER!"

Yup, I feel a little guilty. But probably because I'm mean enough to plot out how and when I'm going to use the video footage against her. Just wait til she hits those teenage years and is stomping around saying she can't wait til she can move out. I'll say, "Oh, contraire, my dear" and smoothly hit her up with the video. And maybe I'll play the Barbie concert at her high school graduation party. That'll get both BFG and Curly Sue! Hee, hee, hee. See, ya'll? I am just evil!

Snow Bling!

We did the easiest project this week for Friday's Book Project. It was so much fun! I did a mini science lesson with BFG with this book Why Does It Snow? which turned out to be a very good simple explanation for preschoolers.


And we followed it up with a craft: Making Our Own Snow Bling!
All you need is white glue, glitter of your choice, silicone mat (or waxed paper), and a whole lot of time. Oh, and a paper plate to shake the excess glitter onto if you are trying to keep the mess minimal, which is kind of an oxymoron when it comes to glitter.


Create snowflake designs on the silicone mat or waxed paper. Be sure to keep lines of glue thick and go back over any places that bead up and create unconnected lines. Cover with glitter. We used silver and white. Shake off the excess.

After the glue completely dries, it peels right off and you have the coolest snowflakes ever! It will take a long time to dry, but it is totally worth it. And, take my advice, wait for it to completely dry. I peeled up a couple before they were completely dry and the lines broke and messed them up. But after drying all the way, they pop right off.

We hung them up with silver thread. What kitchen doesn't need a little Snow Bling for the season?

Oh, and wouldn't these make good spider webs, too?

Have fun!

Mama Said

Muffin Tin Monday: Snow Princess Party!

Our theme for Muffin Tin Monday was royalty. I just happened to have bought some muffin tin liners 75% off at Kroger that have snowflakes and polar bears on them and I kept thinking about my silver serving tray and Voila! A Snow Princess Party was born!


I didn't want to buy any special food to pull this off. Plus, it was very last minute! LOL! I collaborated with my sister and we pooled together every white food we could quickly put together quickly.

The foods I'm listing are in no special order. It would be too crazy since we had 1 muffin tin liner per food per each of the 3 kids (BFG, my niece and nephew).

Snow Princess Party Foods: white cotton candy, Laughing Cow Spreadable Cheese Wedge, Saltine crackers, Rice Chex cereal, macaroni noodles with butter and Parmesan cheese, popcorn, mini marshmallows, deviled eggs, white chocolate covered pretzels, bite-sized sugar cookies with blue ICE-ing and snowflake sprinkles, and Aurora Borealis Milkshakes (Neapolitan ice cream blended with milk topped with Redi-whip and crystal sugar sprinkles). Whew! I think that's all.

Okay, I went a little over the top for this one. But it did make for a fun party that kicked those winter blues! We had Snow Princess hats . . .


And a crown for the Snow Prince . . . (which as an almost 9 yr. old, he hated it and only kept it on for this photo)

We cut out paper snowflakes. I burned a Yankee candle that I thought was called Snow Angel, but realized later it was called Sparkling Angel. Oh, well. I found a Floamies snow castle I had bought 80% off last year after Christmas (See above pic of table decor.) and BFG had a blast decorating that and has been totally occupied with playing with it and her princess Polly Pockets for days. I even played a tape of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. See what I mean? I think I crossed the line into goofy!

We played Pin the Face on the Snowman, which turned out the be the hit of the party! It really was fun! My sister and I played too which just thrilled the kids. This game was super easy to free-hand cutting it out and to set up. I did use scrapbooking punches for the eyes and mouth, but you wouldn't have to. This pic was one of the better results. The kids got better at it the more they played.

We finished up with a mini art lesson and art project featuring Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day, which you can read more this project and see close up photos, here.

Thanks to Her Cup Overfloweth for giving the challenge! My family had a blast (or would that be blizzard)! Pop on over there and check out how everyone else interpreted the theme.

Mama Said

The Snowy Day Art Project

Friday I did a mini art lesson and art project with BFG and her two cousins. It was part of our Snow Princess Party. I used the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. I talked to the kids about how he was the author and illustrator and had won a Caldecott Medal for his awesome artwork. I taught them about part of his method to create his artwork was collage. We looked at the book page by page and I pointed out each place where you could visibly tell he had cut out paper or cloth and used it in the collage (Peter's pajamas, his mother's dress, cotton for the clouds, etc.). I challenged them to use construction paper to create their own collages like The Snowy Day. I demonstrated how they could tear the paper or cut it and I made a tree with snow on it or something being careful to emphasize that their own collage did NOT have to look like mine.



I was so pleased with the results! They turned out better than I had hoped. BFG's is a little rough, but good for a four-year-old. And you can see that she grasped the concept of collage which was the point of the lesson. I think for her age and younger, it would be a good idea to already have various shapes and pieces already cut out to use.

BFG's Snowy Day (age 4)

Boy Wonder's Snowy Day (almost age 9)

Curly Sue's Snowy Day (age 7)

I was so impressed by hers!!! Look at how she pieced Peter together! And if you're familiar with the book, you'll recognize she was trying to recreate the scene where Peter is sitting out during the big boy's snowball fight. And I did not have the book opened to that page during the project! I am just amazed by her picture!

Stay warm and cozy,

Mama Said

An 18 Year Old Dream Come True!

Remember her? Peaches and Cream Barbie. She was one of my favorites. She was my sister's, but I played with her so much more than she did.

Or what about her? I can't remember her name, but she came with that little tube of lipstick that you could put on her and she could kiss Ken's cheek. Me and my sis both had one of these.

Anyone have her? She came with fabric roses you could tie on and decorate her with. And I think she smelled like roses too (when she was new, not 20 years later, we won't go there).
And who else fell for the Jem fad? Remember how her earrings would flash and she'd change into Jem the Rockstar and the dolls came with cassette tapes of their songs and their enemy was the band called the Misfits. "Jem, Jem is excitement! Ooooh, Jem!"

When I put all these dolls away when I was 12 or so, I vowed that I was going to save them for my own daughter one day. And I promise you, one of my first thoughts when when BFG came out a girl was "Oh my gosh!!!! I am going to get to pass on my old Barbies!!!!" The Big Day finally came on Monday. She was so excited. I was so excited. Sniff. I've got a tear in my eye just thinking about it. I am so glad I did that. It was really cool going through all my old Barbie stuff and seeing BFG get excited about the same things I loved and played with for days on end. Of course, some things weren't quite as spectacular as I remembered. Alot of the clothes were torn or missing snaps. (Yeah, for all you young people, Barbie clothes used to have snaps, not velcro. And they fit a heck of alot better with snaps, too.) Alot of the bodies were broken and some of them had sticky legs from the attic heat. So, we've got about 12 heads for 4 bodies. I just had so much junk in the box. Like trash. And I used that when I played. It's just weird. It's the same kind of stuff that gravitates into BFG's Barbie stash that I keep wanting to throw away and she won't let me. Isn't it weird how our imaginations change? And it is so weird how possessive I still am over my stuff. I totally didn't want BFG using my favorite Barbie brush. Uh, she might lose it and it's my favorite.

Anyway, it was a beautiful moment. Good times, good times.

Mama Said

Kid Free Time

Am I the only one with this problem? Every time we send BFG to spend the night with the grandparents, I struggle with how to spend my "kid-free" time. I've always had this problem and now it's alot worse because of the house. Kid-free time is sort of rare for us because I'm so darned overprotective. Whenever BFG is gone, I want to make the most of my time. I want to sleep/rest, do things I can't do easily with her here like stamp/scrapbook, or I feel like I should clean, or make a run to all the thrift stores while I can shop peacefully, and I always feel like Rhett and I should spend time together. Now, I've added a gigantic list of stuff to do to the house while she's gone. It's so tough to decipher which thing is the most pressing. Sometimes it's just such a relief to have kid-free time we just walk around like zombies and do nothing. I really think mine and Rhett's time should take the top spot. But it is soooooooo hard to make ourselves take time to go out on a date and relax and just be together with all this work hanging over our heads. We managed this weekend though and had a really nice time together and got a little work done, too. Aaaaaah, priceless!
Mama Said