I'll love you forever.....

Decided it was time to get that tatto for my children....Bode and I love to read the book I'll Love You Forever....so here it is for Bode and Delaney....as long as i'm living my baby you'll be

Teacher Appreciation Week

I found the base of my idea here http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/04/22/appreciation-7-days-a-week/, but I decided to change it up a little bit.  I bought treat bags (wanted clear but ended up with green because the clear was all gone).  I also got all of the supplies to go along with it.  Here is my list:

Thumbtacks
Paperclips
Post-it notes
Cans of soda
Mints

I went through and basically picked out five things to pass out, one for each day of the week.  My son and I split everything up and put it in the baggies.  This is what we ended up with!  There is a bag for his teacher and his class's aid for each day of school for the week.  We also made a bag for his gym, art, music, and library teacher (the specials teachers).  For example, Monday is art so the art teacher, his aide, and his teacher all get the same treat bag.  On Wednesday, his aid, teacher, and library teacher get the same bag.  No specials on Tuesday, hope this makes sense!  I typed out my own tags and printed them on cardstock.  I asked my son what were things that he liked about his teacher, the aid, and then each special teacher.  I wrote this on the back of each tag and had him write his name also.  So everyday they get a little gift with something that a student likes about them!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I have been making my own laundry soap for quite some time.  I was at Rural King shopping and found the recipe in the laundry soap aisle with all of the makings.  I decided to give it a try because other people I knew had tried it too.  That recipe called for me to grate the soap and cook it and add all of this water to it.  It worked well, it just took a bit to make it.  Not to mention it made 2 1/2 gallons at a time.  I found a new recipe online and decided to try it since there was no cooking involved.  All you need is: 2 bars of fels naphta soap, 2 cups of borax, and 2 cups of washing soda.  I grated the bars in my food processor then I mixed in all of the soda and borax.  Gave it a good shake to mix it up and I was done!!  I use 2-3 tablespoons per load, just depends on what I'm washing.  What a productive weekend!  Fabric softener made one day and laundry soap the next!

Banana Bread Muffins

2 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of salt
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
3-4 bananas
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, soda, powder, and salt.  Cream together eggs and sugar then mix in bananas, vanilla, oil, and cinnamon.  Add flour mix 1/3 at a time until combined.  Pour into greased muffin pan and bake for 18-24 minutes. 

These are fantastic muffins!  Sometimes I will pour part of the mix into a loaf pan and then the rest into muffins.  This recipe will make enough to fill one loaf pan and more.

Friend book

I made this for my BFF. First I made of template of each letter, I lined them up to make sure they stuck out just enough. I glued together two 12x12 sheets of scrapbook paper for each letter and then traced the letter on the paper to cut out. Once they were cut and ready to go, I stacked them together and punched the holes. I bought book rings to hold it all together and notted different colored ribbon on each ring. I then went through and basically scrapbooked each letter. The "F" was the introduction, there is a quote on the front and I wrote her a note on the back. The front of the "R" was a pic of one of our first years of friendship. I tried to date the pics as I went through. The front of the last year, "D", was the most recent pic of us at that time (that's one of the pics I posted). I did not scrapbook the back of the "D". I just stamped my handmade by with my name and the year I made it for her. It was a hit!

T-shirt scarf

I seriously have been crafting stuff most of the day...its a bit out of control today! This was the easiest and quickest thing to do.....step 1 find an old shirt or tank, step 2 cut it in strips, step 3 stretch each strip out ( I made seam covers for my strips because my shirt had a side seam). I cut the tops off the tank top and glued the edges under then wrapped around strips where the seams were. 

MY BFF WEARING THE SCARF AND FELT FLOWER PIN!!!

Felt flower pin

Another fantastic idea from pinterest....here is the link for the instructions I mostly followedDIY Mother's Day Corsage.....I used a hot glue gun instead of the bottled glue (the glue gun and I are great friends!!)  I didn't put a pocket on the back of mine either.

Frozen yogurt drops

Scoop some yogurt in a ziploc bag, snip a small corner off and drop circles of yogurt onto a cookie sheet then freeze! I put them in a baggie once frozen for a quick snack. I am thinking this will be a great thing this summer for my boy when its hot out and he wants to cool down!

OMG!! Apple pie with a twist

I keep seeing this recipe for this banana toffee pie. I decided I was going to try it with apples, since I had some that needed to be used. I bought a graham cracker pie crust, a tub of whipped topping, and a can of sweetened condensed milk. You have to simmer the can, completely submerged in water, for 2 1/2 hours. Make sure you remove the label before boiling. Yes you can really cook the can!! I was kind of freaked out by this, but it works. I let it cool for an hour or so before opening the can. While it was cooling I made my own apple pie filling. Once everything was cool and ready I put the apples in the pie crust then dumped the cooked milk on top. They say it is now toffee, tasted and looked more like caramel to me. At the end you top it all with the whipped topping and refrigerate for about an hour before serving.

low sodium taco seasoning

During both of my pregnancies I had to cut back on my sodium intake.  I found this taco seasoning recipe and loved it!  I was never much for measuring, but I actually did when I put this all together.  I saved it in a ziploc baggie with my spices.

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp flour

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cayenne