More Pinterest Love

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

I’m loving all the great ideas on pinterest.  Let me share my latest favorites with you!

I downloaded “The Christ Book” off of Sew Dang Cute.  She put together scriptures, songs and pictures that you can read every night.  It takes you from the beginning through Jesus being a child.  I was excited when I found this.  I don’t like all Christmas stories that claim to be about “the true meaning of Christmas” when really they are about a certain aspect of Christ-like qualities.  Does that make sense?  The true meaning of Christmas is Christ’s birth and that’s exactly what this book is.  Doctrine straight out of the scriptures and the illustrations are from the Primary packets.  It doesn’t get more kosher than that. I’m excited to use this in December.

A picture is worth a thousand words.  All it is is a cereal container being used as a garbage can in the car.  We went on a road trip last week and this thing was Super-duper handy!  I’m glad I saw this before we went on our trip or there would have been tissues and candy wrappers all over the place. Big thumbs up to whoever came up with this one!

This last one is a big thumbs down.  It’s a tub scrub recipe from Martha Stewart.  You take baking soda, an essential oil (I used peppermint) and liquid soap and mix them together to make a paste.  Then you scrub your tub with it and it supposedly magically comes clean. Not.  I scrubbed and scrubbed and it didn’t work nearly as good as Soft Scrub.  Sorry Martha Stewart, you lose.   However, my bathroom did smell pepperminty fresh.

I have soo many fun ideas pinned – it almost gives me anxiety because I want to do them all.  Soo many great ideas, so little time. 🙂

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Three Things Thursday

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

#1) Did you know that BYU offers free online courses?  I’m doing Building a Functional Family right now.  When I’m done with that one I’m planning on doing all of the scripture courses.  It’s nice to have a little intellectual stimulation in between building block towers and cleaning up messes.

#2)  Halloween costume construction is underway.  Macey is adamant that she be a dinosaur for Halloween.  Oh boy.  I hope her costume lives up to her lofty expectations.

#3) I’ve got my endurance built up so I can run for 25+ minutes without stopping! Yay! Except I did something funny to my ankle yesterday and my run was no bueno.  Limping home without getting a good run in was really frustrating.  I’m hoping and praying it heals fast!

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Running? Me?

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

A few months ago I was doing my daily routine of putting in an exercise DVD and then less than ten minutes later turning it off, not because I wanted to but because the girls were in my way, using me as a jungle gym and I gave up on getting any exercise in for the day.   I had had it.  I needed exercise, I craved getting a good sweat and being sore the next day.  But it just wasn’t happening.  Then I had a light bulb moment.  If I put both girls in the double stroller, then they don’t have any choice but to sit down, shut up and hang on.  So that’s exactly what I did.  I had never wanted to go outside and run before because I was to self conscious.  But I decided to just get over it and go for it. And I’ve been doing it three to four days a week ever since.  I downloaded the couch to 5K podcasts off of itunes and I love them!  There’s a 5K in November I want to do and then a 1/2 marathon in January.

Gotta love four-year-old photography assistants! The sunglasses aren’t because it’s so bright outside, they are because I’m to lazy to do my eye-makeup twice in a day.

So anyways, having lived here for six years and just starting to be a runner (not that I really consider myself a runner – I move at a turtles pace) I’m wondering why I didn’t start doing this sooner.  I live in the most beautiful place in the world.  The Ironman and many relay races go by my house.  Plus the weather here is absolutely perfect 3/4 out of the year.  This is the view out the back of my house – isn’t it gorgeous?

My favorite part of running is when I get home I make myself a banana chocolate protein drink.  With a pink straw of course.

I am really proud of myself for sticking with this hobby and I’m hoping to reach my goals.  I feel ten times better than I did before and I’m a  much more patient mommy.  Thanks for stopping by!

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Learning and Teaching

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

When school started awhile back I heard a few of the other ladies in the ward (neighborhood) talking about how their child scored on the kindergarten assessment.  Some scored high in some areas and low in others, some scored so low that their teachers suggested holding them back another year.  This peaked my interest and made me curious about what exactly was on the kindergarten assessment test.  So I googled it, and you know what? The whole thing is on the internet.

I printed it alllll out – the administration booklet and the student handouts and studied them.  Before you go pointing your fingers and calling me a cheater just keep in mind that Macey is my first kid and she didn’t exactly come with an owner’s manual.  I feel like I should be teaching her important stuff,  but what stuff and when is a mystery to me.   So back to the assessment test – – – so now I have an outline of what kind of things to work on with her.

Macey does go to preschool two days a week for three hours a day.  But there are seven days in a week and thirty days in a month and going to school for 6-8 days a month just doesn’t seem sufficient to me.  Her brain is a little sponge right now, so why not take advantage of that and teach her as much as I can, right?

I picked up a pack of sight word cards and divided them up into three groups.  So far she has already passed off one group and we just started working on another set of cards.  She has learned enough sight words that she can (with help) read through the easy readers at the library.  We go every Wednesday to the library after preschool.  She knows she can check out any book that has a EZ on it.  After she loads up on her easy readers we wander over to the magazine rack so I can check out the latest issue of Runners World (my new hobby, more on that later) and Consumer Reports magazines for daddy.

We have settled into a routine of working on words and numbers in the morning and then in the afternoon working on writing ABC’s and reading books.  It is working out good for us and I’m grateful that I have access to the kindergarten assessment test so I know what we need to work on.  Do you ever wish your kid came with a manual – something that spelled out exactly what your supposed to do with them?  Just curious. I sure do!

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Activity Days – Strawberry Jam

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

For our last activity the girls made strawberry jam (the super easy freezer version).

Since the counter tops are to high for them – they put the bowl on the ground to mash the strawberries.  Not exactly hygienic, but whatever works.

I did the pectin on the stove top.  Later, after the activity Sister J called and asked if I turned it off.  I thought I did and didn’t think much about it untill about 9 o’clock at night.  I was laying in bed and the thought of “what if the church house burns down and it’s all my fault” came into my head.  Then I got all stressed out, had to call the primary president (who I’m sure was less than thrilled to be called that late at night) and asked if I could stop by and get the keys from her again.  Justin ran up to the church to check for me so I wouldn’t have to get dressed.  When he came back he said that the burner was in deed off, however there were a few lights left on in the church.  Whew!  I’m pretty sure we won’t be doing anything that requires the stove in the future!  Me and my anxiety issues can’t handle it!

All done!  The girls with their lip-gloss size jars of jelly!

Activity Days is an LDS activity for eight to eleven year old girls.

To learn more about my religion click here.

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Morning Get-Ready Chart

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

I’ll spare you all of my lame excuses for why I have not blogged in a long time (like my girls being little insomniacs and my computer having technical difficulties) and just get on with it.

SCHOOL STARTED!!!!

Even though it’s just two days a week I think we both benefit from a break from each other.

Last year Macey did preschool.  And almost every morning I forgot to brush her teeth.  And it was a struggle getting her to sit on the potty before the bus came.  (Long bus ride, little bladder – it’s a necessity that she go.)

So here’s the “plan” that I came up with.

(Ugh, photoshop is still not working and I’m about ready to lose my marbles!)

So the way it works is once Macey accomplishes something off the get-ready list she can move the bead over to the right side of the chart.  It works great too!  She will willingly eat her breakfast, sit on the potty, get dressed etc. just so she can move the beads over!

Genius!

We haven’t forgotten to brush her teeth yet either.

I got the pictures off of this website and everything else just came out of the crafts closet.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Dinner Distraction

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

So I was making dinner the other night and the girls were really driving me crazy.  You know, the usual – right under my feet, pulling everything out of the cabinets, making ginormous messes.  My blood pressure was rising and then I had a light bulb moment – give them something to keep their hands busy.  I pulled out the strainer, grabbed the fuzzy sticks a.k.a. pipe cleaners, and let them have at it.

It worked – they were content to shove those pipe cleaners into the holes clear until dinner was done!

Masterpiece!

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Kitchen Curtains

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

We have lived here for longer than I care to admit.  I just never got around to putting up curtains (or do I call them valances?) because I didn’t know what style I wanted to go with, I didn’t want to pay a ton of money on store bought ones, but didn’t want them to look homemade either.  Finally last week I decided I knew what I wanted (thanks to the internet and lots of home decor blogs), and put my big girl panties on and bought the fabric and supplies.   I spent most of the afternoon sewing the valances together.  It really shouldn’t have taken that long but my girls love to “help”.  I’m quite happy with the way they turned out and they match my new kitchen table quite well.

I can finally check “kitchen” off my to-do list.  Next I need to do curtains for my bedroom, but I need to get a new bed set before I do that. Hmmm, maybe I’ll get it done before the end of next year.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

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Scripture Stickers for Boys

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick

I love my scripture mastery stickers and I wanted Justin to have them in his scriptures so I made up some non-girly ones.  I just did a simple black border and a nice font.  They turned out pretty darn good so I though I’d share them with ya’ll.

Here’s the great part – I scrunched them tight enough that you can print them out twice on one sheet of sticker paper!  Sticker paper is about two dollars per sheet – so it’s nice to get two sets of scripture stickers onto one.

Here’s the jpeg.  Just click on it and print.

If you do download and use them, be sure to leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by!

Linking to: Someday Crafts

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Blog Swap with Capital B

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Ten Cow Chick
Hello Hello Ten Cow Chicks! 🙂
I remember when I first saw Mariesa’s button on UCreate awhile back
and knew immediately it would be a fun blog just from her fun blog name!
I love how down to earth her blog is and
always feel uplifted having stopped by.
While she’s introducing herself to people over at my blog today,
I get to tell all of you a bit about me!

My name is Sky and my blog is a simple place called Capital B. I blog about family, craftiness and just simple goodness in general. While Mariesa specializes in girls, I live in a boys world, with two little guys and two older stepsons, not to mention my hubby! My favorite projects are the things I do with or for them…

Things like these Spray Play Shirts- they each got to choose the picture they wanted and spray it themselves!

Or Simple Snap Painting- what kid doesn’t love making a mess with paint!
Or downloadable Water Gun Targets- these are a fun way to keep from getting squirted yourself! My four-year old loves trying to spray Mom, whether I like it or not!

Another favorite thing I love sharing at Capital B are the printables I design with quotes or sayings! These are two recent examples- if you’ve seen the last Harry Potter, maybe you remember this one?

The kitchen isn’t where I spend the most time, but I do share the occasional favorite recipe, too, usually with a fun printable recipe card! The latest: crispy fruity popcorn that is perfect for taking camping!

Anyhow, I’ll leave it at that- Thank You, Mariesa, for swapping with me today! And even more for having this  little spot that Ten Cow Chicks like yourself can relate to! 😉 Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

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