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OhSo LUCKY

That tricky leprechaun is headed to our house on March 17! I wonder what tricks and pranks he'll pull this year...

Last year he peed in our toilets and left his footprints all over the bathroom...
and all of our drinks came out green...
our beds were made upside down and backwards...

What kind of tricks had he pulled at your house? Do tell.

For Card Group I made up this OH So Lucky Card and treat set. I'll give them to my lucky family. Along with green meals and a little 'going green' environmental project, that oughtta cover it.

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Lucky you, lucky them!

You get the free printable, they get Oh So Lucky with a treat and card.

Go ahead and print out this template on white cardstock (or you can trace the outlines onto cardstock). I designed this with Silhouette, so it did all the cutting on colored papers for me. Lucky me, right?

Valentine's Day Printables

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tonight we will celebrate with all of our loves... 

our whole family, together. 

We are having a lovely family movie night!

I picked up a new DVD and made up 

these printables for movie time

 treats for my sweets.

Go ahead and print these freebies for your Valentine.

Share the love!

Drink Wrapper:

Popcorn Wrapper:

Designed by Shannon Ballard of Fun By Design.

Does Valentine's Day BUG Your Kiddo?

All this icky love stuff BUGS my 6-year-old. These Valentine's tell all about how BUGGED he is... in a sweet, squishy, buggy kind of way.

Bubble Bubble Valentine

Isn't it so bubbly and darling? My Oliver loves bubbles (who doesn't?), so I made my own take on a fun idea I saw on Pinterest. I designed it with colors fit for a boy, but it would work for a girl too.


Like it? I'd be happy to share the template. Just leave me an email in the comment box.

Not-so-Cute Valentine for Big Boys

My son is ten and isn't going to admit he likes the mushy love stuff of Valentine's Day. He doesn't seem to mind getting chased by girls at recess though.

For Valentine's Day he wanted to show both sides of Valentines: guy style. I snapped several pictures of him and settled on three, then came up with three Valentine statements blaming Cupid for taking aim at Gavin.

Doesn't his black eye add to the effect? He trains in Martial Arts. He thought it was a nice touch to Cupids shot.

Happy Valentines Day

Smart Little Cookie

One sweet way to say thank you to your teacher. 

Jar and "cookie" points included.

Super Simple Steps:
1. Buy a medium-size jar. (I found these at Walmart)
2. Bake a couple dozen chocolate chip cookies {see my coveted recipe below}.
3. Using a coffee filter as the insert, stack a dozen cookies in the jar.
4. If you have a vinyl cutting machine, cut out the teachers name and apply it to the cookie jar.
5. Tie on the tag. {see below for printable}.

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Mrs. Ballard's Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 lb. butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups brown sugar, packed

3 large eggs

2 tsp. Mexican vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. soda

6 cups flour

4 cups extra-large milk chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Whip 4 minutes. Mix dry ingredients together, add to batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Use an ice cream scoop for extra large cookies. Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

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Smart Cookie Template 

Save the image, then drop this into your word, photoshop or pages program. Add a text box or hand write the teacher name.

yo ho yo ho

a pirate's life for me

Mini Pirate Ships

easy to find supplies:
1 bag of Rolo's candies, wrapped in gold foil

12 small skewers, cocktail fork, or long tooth picks

12 whole fruit leather strips

1 box of chocolate Zingers

super simple steps:
1. remove wrappers from zingers and fruit leather
2. slide a skewer or cocktail fork through the top center and bottom center of the fruit leather until it bend like a sail
3. top with an upside down Rolo, keeping foil on
4. insert the end of the skewer into the center of the Zinger

Sweet Tooth Cookies

Yup. For those of us who can't resist a soft, chewy cookie or chocolate and candy this combination is sure to captivate those taste buds!

Sweet Tooth Cookies

1 lb. butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

6 cups flour

Chocolate bars*, caramels, coconut, any type, chopped

Beat the butter with sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until nice and fluffy for a few minutes. Mix the dry ingredients together and gradually add to the batter. 

Using an ice cream scoop, drop onto a baking sheet. Parchment works great to keep the bottoms nice and light. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Don't over bake these or they won't stay soft.

Allow to cool on a wire rack for a couple minutes, then press the candy and chocolate pieces into the tops of each cookie. Use combinations that sound good to you like chocolate bars and caramel pieces, or just keep it simple and stick to one type on a cookie like Reeses pb cups or Kit Kat. Allow to cool completely. Be sure to store any leftovers in an airtight container to maintain softness. Enjoy them while they last! Yield is 3-4 dozen large cookies.

*If you use peanut butter cups (highly recommended!) be sure to refrigerate them before chopping and placing on the cookie. My first attempt turned into pb puddles!

for goodness sake: point jars

I love this reward system. It is easy to understand, visual and teaches that good stuff really adds up. I have used it since my oldest was barely four and it works wonderfully! I have shared the idea with many friends, sisters and fellow-moms in search of a reward program for kids. Keep reading if you want to learn how it works.

To make the Point Jars...

super cheap supplies:
foam shapes (medium-size shapes work best)
empty jar
label
crayons

lickity split steps:
Have your kiddo decorate his own label, then stick it to the jar. Keep it in a visible place. This is how it works...

Every time your kiddo does what he's asked, goes the extra mile, is helpful, extra good, etc. give him two points. The points are actually foam shapes which are cheap, kids don't try to eat them, an you don't have to worry about keeping loose change handy!

Unless your kiddo is perfect, he'll likely slip up and ignore you or tease his brother, etc. so when something less than good happens, simply remove one point from the jar.

This teaches: good counts double, the good things that he does matter more and get more attention. Very clearly: Good is better! Misbehavior and acting up loses a hard-earned point, but lets them know good behavior is still worth more than the bad, which is why only one point is lost. This method helps you as a parent focus on the positive and allows a very visual tool for your child to see how all those good {or bad!} things add up.

reward time:
Set a goal for what you'd like to use the points for... it can be for a trip to Lagoon, spending money for ToysRUs, going to see a movie in the theater, earning some extra dough for video games... whatever you and your child decide on. You set the amount. I love to use it to diffuse the high anticipation of holidays and vacations as well. I came up with this system about a month before a trip to Disneyland and it worked so well we kept it up. My kids seem to act up a bit more during times like these, so I use the point jar to motivate them to keep up the good stuff, and with all those points they earn they can get a cool souvenir or an extra package under the tree.