EARLY Black Friday Ulta Deals!!! Stocking Stuffers 5/$10!!!!

 

Sweet & Shimmer 5/$10!!!

These are great for stocking stuffers, presents, etc.  I stock up during this time of year so that I have some left over for Easter basket fillers!!!:-) 

Sparkling Berry

Vanilla

Make-up

Viral MAELYS products starting below $20!!

Colourpop for ONLY $1, make sure you snag this great product

Essence dropped a Harley Quinn line, and it starts at $2.99!!! 

First Aid Body gentle cleansing bar, 50% off!!!

Pacifica GLOW BABY vitamin C balm, 50% off!

ALL of the Early Black Friday DEALS !!!!

Life Goes By Way Too Fast

I haven't posted in awhile.  Life has just been crazy busy and time flies!!! We have been immersed in school and school activities, I have been working my Young Living business like crazy, kids have been sick, etc.  I know most everyone else feels the same.  The days just do not have enough hours in them. 

Yesterday we worked hard playing catch up in school since we are behind and we are taking the next three days off for Thanksgiving.  This means from 9-2 we were completely focused in on school.  That is a long day for us!!! The kids hung in there though. 

Regardless of how fast life is moving I want to encourage everyone to slow down the next couple of days and enjoy your family and friends.  From our family to yours Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Handsome boys!! They have grown so much in three years and we have added one;-)

Spring Break Family Fun!!

This past week was our Spring Break vacation or as our adorable 5 year old says "Spring Break 2016 BABY!!".  We had such a good week exploring Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Then we wrapped up the week by celebrating Easter at home with family.  I love spending quality time with my crew...it is never boring with all my guys:-)

DIY Fall Window Clings

I saw this really cool activity circulating via Pinterest.  It was how to make your own window clings with puffy paint.  I thought it looked really fun but I didn't really expect them to work.  Nonetheless I bought some puffy paint and wax paper then printed out templates for the kids to use as patterns.  I figured in the end they would have fun and that is really all that matters:-)  I of course did a couple first to see how easy/hard it was before turning over the activity to the kiddos.

They look pretty cool and much to my surprise once they dried I easily peeled them off of the wax paper and they ACTUALLY stuck so here is how we made them.

1. I taped down printable pictures for the kids to use as patterns
2. I placed wax paper over the patterns and taped it down (the tape isn't required but it sure helps small hands)
3. We used puffy paint to trace over the patterns
4. Wait for them to dry COMPLETELY then peel them off of the wax paper and stick them on the window

Super EASY and FUN...we can't wait to make Christmas ones:-)

Thankful Tree 2015

This is our 4th year doing a Thankful Tree.  Each year we have done it a little differently.  You can check out our previous ones Thankful Tree 2012, and Thankful Tree 2013.  I somehow managed to have a Mom fail on our Thankful Tree 2014 because I can find no record of it anywhere.

This year I dropped the ball and got a very late start, we hung our first leaves on the 15th of November.  The goal is to hang a leaf every day of November.  Since we got a late start I did a smaller version of the tree base then what I usually do.  In the end  I think it might be my favorite.  I can't wait to see all the leaves at the end of the month and how they will be completely overpowering the tree.  Just proof that in the end my family has a lot to be thankful for:-)

November and December Giving Project for Adventure Homeschoolers of East Tn

For the months of November and December we are doing a giving project within our group.  In January we will get together to give each child a a chance to do a presentation sharing with the group who they donated to during this time.  Participation in the presentation is NOT required but it is a wonderful opportunity for the kids to work on speaking skills.

Below I am going to list all of the project options we have up in group.  There are two options on donating items.  You can bring all of your donations to the December co-op and we will get them to the appropriate places for you or you may deliver your donations individually at anytime during November and December.

East Tennessee Children's Hospital
Toiletry and Activity Bags for Local Shelters
Donations for Local Animal Shelters
Send a Care Package to a Soldier
Fish Hospitality Pantries
Auction for Asa
Tiny Trees for ETCH


Here is the event for when we will get together and present our Charitable Giving Report.  Keep in mind your child can participate in any giving project they choose not just the ones we have listed.   I will keep adding more as the month goes on.

Giving Project Presentation

Painting Pumpkins- Halloween 2015

We are somehow ending up with three pumpkins per kiddo this year.  We bought pumpkins to carve, then each kiddo got a small pumpkin from their Fruit and Berry Patch field trip, and on the 28th of this month they will get another small one from our field trip to Oakes Farm.  So this year we are carving pumpkins, painting pumpkins, and doing one of our fall favorites making erupting pumpkins.  We have to use all those pumpkins somehow. 

Tonight we started off our pumpkin fun by painting some of the smaller pumpkins.  Even the baby got in on the fun with a little help from his Aunt;-)

Finished products!!:-)

The creative kiddo did a two faced pumpkin...

The rest of the littles' ranged from abstract and colorful to delightfully creepy;-)

And then of course the baby's first pumpkin ever compliments of his Aunt:-)

Halloween Fun!! Enjoy These 7 Unique and Exciting Activities!!

Halloween is a big time of year in our house.  We love it!!! I always try to do a lot of Fall/Halloween themed activities with the kids.  I am going to share some of our favorites in this blog post.

The first one up is Glue and Chalk Pastel Pumpkin Art.  This was one I wasn't too sure about.  I worried the kiddos might be too young to complete it on their own but they rocked it out.  This art activity takes two days to complete or needs to be done in two steps one early in the morning and one later in the afternoon:-)

Salt, Black Glue, and Watercolor Fall Leaves 
This was one of our first successful experiments with salt and watercolors.  We had tried a couple before that did not turn out.  These were really neat though.  Once again this is a two day or two part activity the glue has to dry:-)

Shaving Cream and Paint Leaves
This activity is super easy and a definite crowd pleaser!!:-)

Life Cycle of a Pumpkin
This was a little more learning then just straight art but the kids still loved it!!:-)  And the finished products turned out great.

Melted Crayon Apples
This one was a lot of fun but definitely requires parent assistance.  I hadn't made these since I was little so the first couple we used as a learning curve;-)  But we finally got it right!!

Pumpkin Pie Playdoh
Who doesn't love playing with playdoh?? We do but we despise the way store bought smells so we make our own very often.  This playdoh recipe is a great smelling and feeling Fall activity:-)

 The last activity I am going to share is our absolute favorite Halloween activity.  Erupting Pumpkins never fail to be a huge hit!!! I love them almost as much as the kids and they are entertaining for kids of all ages!!! This works best with small pumpkins and an outdoor setting:-)

The Never-Ending Snow 2015

     I realize to everyone that lives or has lived up North all of us down South coming to a complete standstill over a few inches of ice and snow seems ridiculous BUT I am OK with that.  The fact is that here in the South we have lots and lots of curvy, skinny, steep back roads (where the majority of us live) that the road crews simply can't or don't treat.  I detest the phrase "The main roads are fine." well yes they are but my driveway and 3/4  of a mile back road I have to maneuver to reach that main road is most definitely NOT FINE!!
     The past few weeks we have had several small surges of ice and snow.  It has been so cold that the ice and snow decided to linger around for a pretty good chunk of time.  This gave my family and most of everyone else in East TN a serious case of cabin fever.  Regardless playing in the snow is one of our favorite Winter pastimes and so I thought I would share some pictures.  Today the sun is shining and after 3 weeks most of the snow outside is finally gone so I decided I could share some snow pictures without gagging;-)

 The cute young men in the picture above me were warming up with some hot cocoa and tea after a night time adventure of sledding:-)

 Meet Balto, our snow dog, as our youngest calls him;-)

 Even at 32 I love sledding!!!!

 My handsome hubby and 3 youngest boys....our oldest was boycotting the snow......

     

The Egg-Cellent Easter Adventure .....Egglo Eggs and Easter Curriculum Review

     The Egglo Egg-Cellent Easter Adventure kit review is one I have been looking forward to since I found out about it.  Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  I love Spring, the beautiful colors, dying Easter Eggs, watching Easter themed movies and reading Easter themed books to my kids.  This whole kit from the Egglo Entertainment Company from the Egglo glow in the dark Easter eggs, Egglo treasure scripture scrolls, Bible verse scroll stickers, program guide, all the way to the adventure book is an absolutely beautiful addition for Easter.  

The first thing that grabbed my attention out of all the products that arrived in the mail was the beautiful adventure book.  It is called THE EGG-CELLENT EASTER ADVENTURE and the colors on the book cover immediately draw your gaze.  When you open it the gorgeous illustrations continue and with the turn of each page you almost feel like you are being pulled into the story by the picture itself.  Since I would be reading this book to my kids I was a little daunted by the seemingly long story but I shouldn’t have been worried.  The story is so fast paced, and action packed that the kids listened raptly while I read it out loud.  The first time we read it I had planned on stopping halfway through and then finishing the next night but they refused.  They begged me to keep going and so thirty-five minutes and a glass of tea later we finished the book.

Now the first thing that grabbed my kiddo’s attention was of course the Egglo glow in the dark Easter eggs.  They had a blast turning all the lights off and exploring the house trying to find them.  Our original plan was to have an outdoor Easter egg hunt at night but Mother Nature just refused to cooperate with us.  We have had three weeks of cold, rain, snow and ice at our house.  The glowing eggs are super easy to snap together and it only takes them a short time under light to be charged enough for a bright glow.  We stuffed our eggs with candy, Egglo treasures scripture scrolls and Bible verse scroll stickers so the kids loved opening them up to find an extra treat.

 The final part of the package was The Egglo curriculum program guide.  We didn’t really utilize it a whole lot for all of our activities at home but it was a great addition to organizing an Easter Egg event with our homeschool co-op.  The program guide was designed to help a church or other groups plan an egg hunt using the Egglo Entertainment  products.  It covers topics such as; snack suggestions, decorating ideas, Bible activities, egg hunt rules or guidelines, and much more.

Be sure that you check out all the great social media sites for these products; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.  Pinterest is a great resource for additional ideas of activities to do with the eggs.  When you visit the Egglo Entertainment website remember to sign up on their main page to receive some really neat coloring sheets, etc.  We will definitely continue using these products between now and Easter.  Our homeschool co-op also plans on hosting a much bigger Easter event where we will be using this whole kit again.