Saving laminating pouches…and your sanity!

I LOVE laminating! I don't know what it is about it but holding that sheet of plastic covered paper, still hot off the presses brings me so much joy! It's like that piece of paper just got a whole new life and there are endless ways it can be used now. Stupid I know… But I also know I'm not alone. I joined a homeschooling group on Facebook and just about all of the moms on it love laminating too.

*This post contains affiliate links.*  

My laminator is pretty new. I purchased it over the Summer to laminate worksheets and wall decorations for the kids' learning area. It's the Scotch Thermal Laminator and I LOVE it! One thing I found out right away though, was that "static cling" in the pouches don't really CLING very well when there are a bunch of smaller papers in it. Heck, even just yesterday I was trying to fit four squares of card stock (one sheet cut in fourths) into a pouch and if I didn't hold it just right, some of them would move as they were being fed through the laminator. Thankfully they were big pieces and thankfully my laminator feeds pretty slowly so I had a moment to fix it before it was too late.

This morning I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. I had printed a few pages for an activity I was setting up for the kids but printed on plain paper instead of card stock. To not waste paper and ink, I thought I'd laminate the cut out pieces and send them with Jo to his daddy's house today, so that he can practice his learning over there too. Well, what I hadn't really thought through was that I would have 18 tiny strips of paper, 18 small squares and 3 larger strips that all needed to be laminated. I arranged them on a sheet so I could figure out how they would fit but how the heck was I going to be able to laminate so many tiny bits of paper if my static cling decided not to cling today??

And then it hit me… GLUE! But not just any glue… This glue.

*NOTE: I am in no way being compensated by Darice or anyone else for this blog post. These opinions are my own.*  

I came across this re-postionable glue tape one day in JoAnn, and because it was on clearance that day, couldn't resist picking up a few of them. I especially love how it works like the white out tape I used to love when I was in school. 

After arranging my pieces of paper exactly how I wanted them on top of a closed laminating pouch, I slid them off one page at a time and ran a very small amount of glue on the backs of the papers. Then I opened the pouch and stuck each piece back inside, exactly as I had arranged them beforehand. The fact that I was able to use the glue meant that each and every piece stayed exactly where I wanted it to and if a piece was TOO crooked ( I was not going for perfection here) then I could very easily lift it up and fix it.

The REAL test came when it was time to laminate. Look at the bottom sheet in that picture. Can you just imagine the kind of craziness that would have unfolded once I lifted the page to feed it into the laminator? The second row of strips and all of the big ones would have sank straight to the bottom messing everything up, transforming me into some sort of crazy Momzilla I'm sure. Let me also mention that I was doing all of this an hour before I had to leave for work because I am crazy like that. BUT once I lifted up the pouch, nothing moved! I even gave it a nice little shake and the pieces stayed put. It was a miracle! Into the laminator they went and they came out perfectly, AND because the glue is transparent, there are no marks on the other side either!

Seriously you guys, this discovery today has me feeling like some kind of genius! I haven't even searched Google or Pinterest for anything like this yet simply because I still want to believe that only I could have produced such a brilliant idea! Using the glue tape saved me time (I would have made myself late for work trying to fight the static cling), saved laminating pouches (I was able to use every single inch of those things), and definitely kept me sane! I hope you will try it out and let me know how it works for you too!

You're Welcome :)

Clearing my mind

Hello! Once again, it's been a while hasn't it? Ah, life. Life keeps me so so busy, but most of the busy-ness is me trying to just organize everything around me. Oh man I can't tell you the different cleaning projects I have picked up around the house and all of the purging that has went on lately.

I took a moment to really look inside myself and figure myself out a bit and what I've discovered is that all of these seemingly endless tasks I've taken on, all of the organizing and cleaning that never ever ends when there are toddlers in the house and adults who all have their own style of living, it's all me just trying to gain a sense of control over things I have no control over. It's like, if I can organize the house, then I can organize the jumbled mess of thoughts and ideas in my mind. It reminds me of the  "nesting" stage in pregnancy. I can't get anything to be clean or organized enough but every single day I'm working on something, somewhere just trying to make a dent, trying to get ready for something. But what exactly am I getting ready for? I have no idea. A part of me feels like if I can purge all of the junk and find places for all of the "stuff" and just make everything nice and neat (you know, like a Pinterest home) that everything will somehow be better. How does that make sense? I can't even tell you. I still won't have a car or place of my own. My paycheck will still be itty bitty. I still won't have even the slightest bit of "me" time. The kids will still drive me crazy at least once a day. And there won't be a husband coming home to me who I can rest my head on and open my heart to. No, a clean house won't solve any of those things. And a clean house, with two toddlers won't stay clean long at all. So I'll just keep busy doing what I'm doing, trying to grasp onto some sense of control. And maybe one day things get better. And if they don't, well then I'll just have to keep reminding myself of how blessed I am to even have such a beautiful home and wonderful family at all.

Out attempt at Fork Painting

The other day while scrolling through Facebook, something caught my eye. Shaunna over at Fantastic Fun and Learning, shared a really neat project that she did with her children. They used FORKS to paint really sweet designs onto paper and then cut fish shapes from the finished paintings. It was beautiful!

While reading her blog, I was inspired to give this a try with the kids but instead of fish, I wanted to try zebras and tigers since we had just seen some at Disney's Animal Kingdom days before.

I set out a few colors of paint and several different disposable forks that we had in the "junk drawer."

Josiah gave the fork a few tries before giving up right away. It was a little difficult to get consistent lines with the forks, instead, he used his to make dots. I sat down with him and tried painting with all of the different forks. I found that the plain white (cheap) forks gave me the best results. Eventually, Josiah did what he always does; he put his hands in the paint and smeared it across the paper.

I, on the other hand, managed to get a few decent lines on my paper and then cut out a "basic" zebra shape (if you can even call the shape of a zebra "basic"). The background is Josiah's finished painting. I never got around to trying a tiger.

I really like the way my zebra came out and definitely plan on trying fork painting again with the kids!

Update

Hello! It's been what, another month or so since I've blogged? Boy, let me tell you that it's been much harder than I ever expected to keep up a regular (2-3 posts/week) schedule on here. Seriously, hats off to the bloggers who are kicking butt in this nice right now AND keeping your home in working order. This isn't a goodbye post or anything like that, but it is an admission that I probably won't be able to update AS regularly as I originally intended. BUT I will keep writing, I started this thing and refuse to give up!

Here is what's new with us.. 

I am still working at my job and according to my manager and co-workers, I'm doing very well. I really like my job and although part of me wishes there was a way for me to work another day or two, I also really love that I get to spend most of my week with Josiah. Being a mom is the greatest job there is!

Josiah is amazing and is basically a genius now. 

Warning: Lots of mommy-type bragging and gushing to follow!

My little smarty pants has been speaking in sentences for months. He knows all of the basic colors, including black, white, and brown, we're working on gray still. Letter and number recognition are areas that I try to focus on with him these days. He knows his alphabet only because he knows the song. Actually, he knows a TON of songs! Music is most definitely his "thing" and I can't wait to see how that grows with him throughout his life. Josiah has started counting and is grasping the concept of counting more than one thing but he's not quite there yet. The other day, he counted to seven (incorrectly) and told me that Mickey Mouse had 7 feet. Nice try sweetie pie <3. He also memorized the rhythm to "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?" and "reads" it often. For a two year old, he is simply amazing. He's very well behaved and doesn't have many meltdowns. He's definitely a BOY though and likes to bump into everything and fall all over the place. Scrapped knees are for mommy to kiss are very common, but other than that, he's such a joy to be around! And I know I am saying that because I'm his mommy and I can, but I've heard it from friends, family and strangers as well, so thank you Jesus we are doing something right with little child of His. 

My family and I have been spending lots of time at Walt Disney World lately and the kids (and grownups) absolutely LOVE it! This weekend we took them to Animal Kingdom and had a blast seeing the animals. It isn't a Zoo but it's the closest to one that we have access to at the moment and the fact that we already have annual passes helps my wallet as well. Win!

For Mother's Day we didn't do anything particularly special. In my family, we aren't too big on giving extravagant gifts on small holidays like that. I did want SOMETHING though and hinted to Josiah's daddy that Josiah should make something special for me. It wasn't a big surprise when that didn't happen though. After all, I was usually the creative one in the relationship. So, to get my wish and also make something special for my mom and grandmother from the kids, we had some fun with paint. 

As you may already know, I absolutely LOVE art that involves little hand and footprints. I had seen footprint butterflies on Pinterest many times in the past and thought it would be the perfect activity to do with the kids. They loved getting their feet painted and that they got to use their hand as well to be the sun in their pictures. They turned out adorable and all of the lovely mothers in my house loved their gifts! 

Here is a pic of Josiah's art taken off of my Instagram account.

Besides that, my mind has been one big, messy, never ending to-do list. I'm desperately trying to purge and organize a LOT at home. I live with 7 other people so we have a lot of stuff and have accumulated plenty of junk in the 10 years we have lived here. My big mission these past few weeks was to tackle the garage. The garage was a place for storing everything and anything. It's a two car garage and it was so full that we had a hard time getting in and out of it. As a matter of fact, we had a fire scare in there last month and it was hard for the fire department to get in there and find the source, but I'll save that for another post. Slowly but surely the floor has been making it's appearance in there though. My goal is to be able to fit one or both cars in there in the event of an emergency (such as a hurricane) and to have a big empty space for the kids to play in when being inside is boring but being outside isn't an option (gotta love FL thunderstorms). 

Other things that crowd my brain right now are: Finishing School (I am SO CLOSE), Starting "school" for Josiah and Lily, Organizing and finding a spot to call a school area for the kids, curriculum planning, eating healthier, exercising regularly, building my savings account, reading my Bible and reading/teaching it to Josiah, being a better mom/aunt, being more attentive, blogging more, getting back into photography, refreshing my photoshop/illustrator skills, finding time just for myself, doctors appointments and a potentially new journey for Josiah….. Gosh the list goes on and on and I am exhausted just trying to write it out. Those are all things I am trying to do on a daily basis, most of which I never get around to though. Most days we are lucky to have picked up the toys at the end of the night. Still, as exhausting as it might be, and even though sometimes I REALLY wish things were different (better), I can't ignore the fact that all of it is very humbling not only for myself but for Josiah as well. Had we been in a different situation, we definitely wouldn't be the people we are now and would not have had to lean on God as much as we do. It's a beautiful thing, really.

So that's what's been going on in my life, I pray you've all been well also! 'Til next time!

Happy Birthday Josiah!

Wow! I've been gone for a bit. MY apologies. I WAS waiting for more pictures to share on this particular post and then life took over (and I never did get those other pictures).

Josiah is TWO!

This year for his birthday we went with a Minion theme since he really loves Minions. We also decided that the best place for our budget and all of our family and friends would be to do his party at the same park we did his party last year. I searched Pinterest for "Minion Party Ideas" and came across a ton of fun ideas including Gru's party rules, and Minion favor bags. One thing I needed though were baskets. We had planned on an easter egg hunt and I certainly did not want to spend more money on baskets for about 10-15 little ones SO I learned how to cut my minion bags and turn them into baskets. Genius! They now served as goodie bags AND baskets for the egg hunt!

Another goodie we came up with were the "Freeze Rays." I had found 3 packs of adorable little water guns in Target's dollar section and picked up a few, not really knowing what to do with them. When Josiah's daddy, his fiancé, and I huddled together to plan this thing and I mentioned the water guns, she said "Freeze Rays!" They were probably the biggest hit of all with the kids (and adults too!). Josiah had a little bit of trouble shooting his water gun, the only way he was able to make it work was by using his thumb, which meant he was always squirting himself in the face. It was the funniest thing watching the toddlers chase/squirt one another and Josiah running after them, shooting himself!

The egg hunt was pretty simple. I filled about 70 eggs with candies and had my brothers hide them throughout the park. I switched the tops and bottoms of the yellows and blues to make minions, added googly eyes and sharpies the rest of the details. There were also purple (evil) minions hiding around the park as well. 

*Note to anyone having an egg hunt in the park: use pre-packaged candies and stay away from chocolates! This was my first egg hunt ever and so I bought some chocolates and jelly beans to fill some eggs. The chocolate was melted and the jelly bean eggs were full of ants! Whoops! Good thing most of the eggs had packaged gummies inside.

After hours of play time at the play ground, it was finally time to wind down with some cake. It was an adorable Minion cake that Josiah still talks about. For a few days after the party he would NOT let me sing happy birthday to him because I didn't have a Minion cake. 

All in all it was a big success. My only regret is that I should have taken more pictures of Josiah. But he would NOT stay still and I don't blame him at all!

On his actual birthday, Josiah and I went to Disney World to say hello to Mickey Mouse. His reaction was priceless!

I can't believe my baby boy is TWO now. As sad as it is that my baby is growing up so fast, I am looking forward to all of the fun and excitement these toddler years will bring us!

Birthdays!

Today, we went to a birthday party. Our little friend turned one year old and had a cute, simple little party. Josiah and I got her a small toy and we wrapped it in one of Josiah's paintings.

Please excuse my horrible handwriting and questionable "balloons," I fixed them after I took the picture! Lately I haven't had the brain capacity to think up new and wonderful ideas for the kids, so we paint A LOT! I use Ikea easels for them and the giant roll of paper (affiliate link). As a result, I now have a ton of large paintings hanging around my room and more drying on the easels. I knew it was about time we found a way to recycle some of them. It was a hit with our little friend's parents and an extra special touch from Josiah. 

The party got me thinking about Josiah's upcoming birthday. Josiah will be two next month and we still don't have a clue what we are doing! For his ACTUAL birthday I have a special idea in mind, but as far as his birthday party I'm drawing a blank. This is one of the draw backs of being separated from his father. Because we both have our own separate lives, we don't always have a lot of time to actually SIT and communicate about things like this. Usually it's only a few short chats when one of us is dropping Josiah off with the other, and those chats generally don't end up with a final PLAN. 

Last year we had a really nice party at the park, I really like the idea of open air because between his fathers family/friends and mine, we are a lot of people and children! We had lots of fun and had the playground all to ourselves. To keep it simple and inexpensive, I think I'd like to go this route again. 

Josiah's First Birthday Party

What would you suggest??  Time is running out and I need ideas, help! Please leave some suggestions here in the comments or on my Facebook page! 

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Starburst Pixel Art!

Hello!! What a week it's been over on my end. If you've read my earlier post about my quest to learn more about handling finances responsibly, you'll be glad to know that I have already taken the first few crucial steps! Although it was hard to think about at first, the more I gave it thought, the more I realized that going back to work (and therefore leaving Josiah in someone else's care) was the right thing to do. Earlier this week, I started working again. I've still got mixed feelings about it all but I think once the newness of it all wears off, everything will be fine. I've also opened up a savings account. Let's just say that the last time I had one of those I was still a minor and had it only because I was too young for a checking account at the bank I was with. Yeah… I didn't do very well with it then because I had no idea what it really meant. This time WILL be different!

Anywho, I've also came to terms with the fact that I probably wont be churning out awesome ideas and activities 3 times a week like all of the "bigger" blogs I drool over. BUT I do have something fun to share today!

This is actually something I did LONG before I had Josiah. I was a part of a message board type website that shared crafts and I shared this there. Then, not very long ago, someone shared a link with me that featured my project and picture. I wanted to give it an official "home" on here and also share with you how easy, fun, AND tasty this project can be!

Two Years STRONG

I've been trying to write a this post for about a week now. I knew what I wanted to write about, but every time I was able to hop on my laptop, something would come up. When I did find some free time, I wrote. And wrote and wrote and wrote. It was way too long and full of way too much detail and my point wasn't coming across like I wanted it to.

And then Monday happened.

But before I explain Monday and before I explain what I had been writing about, let me share one of the last sentences I wrote in my original draft before completely deleting it all and starting over again...

"But everything happens for a reason. And I believe it's ultimately to glorify God."

God. Jesus. My savior. My comfort. My peace. I had planned to add Him in at the end of my post but I know now there is no other place for Him than right here at the beginning. All the glory for everything you are about to read goes to Him!

Pom Pom Painting and our Valentine

Hi! Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's day! I did, I had an interview and got the job! Woo Hoo! The rest of my day was spent with my little love, Josiah!

The day before V-Day, Josiah and I wanted to "kill two birds with one stone" and make our Valentines with the pom pom painting technique.

To set up, I took four pom poms (red, green, yellow, blue) and four clothes pins. I attached one pin to one pom pom and then placed each color pom pom in it's corresponding little pot of finger paint. We were making valentines for his daddy and daddy's girlfriend so I presented the materials to him with two folded sheets of construction paper.

Here's how it went…

No Mess Finger Painting

Hello everybody! Long time no post right? My apologies. Truth is, I've been mentally exhausted lately trying to get certain things in order and also, now I watch my niece overnight while my brother goes to work. So, most days I'm just happy to make it through the day and keep the kids are fed and changed regularly, know what I mean? That doesn't mean we aren't playing though, but it does mean I'm not documenting and sharing everything either.

BUT I have a free moment to share something fun we did recently. Someone sent me a link on my Facebook page to this tutorial from Baballa on mess free finger paints. I loved every part of it, especially because I am constantly stressing to keep messes to a minimum since this is my grandparent's house and not mine.

The original site is in spanish but the pictures speak for themselves (also, you can choose to translate the website and google does a pretty decent job at it too).

Well, my try at it didn't exactly turn out how I expected it to. Have a look :)

Super Easy Piggy Bank

Hello everyone! I hope all of you up north are finding ways to keep warm while all of that cold and snow continues to come your way. Down in FL, we cool down significantly, but it's nothing compared to some of the subzero temps I've been hearing about. Still, the constant change in weather from warm and humid, to cold and dry in just a matter of days (sometimes hours) means colds are everywhere. I'm currently dealing with my 3rd cold in a row in 3 months. The last two left me with pink eye so I'm PRAYING I avoid it this time around. Lots and lots of hand washing! Good news is, Josiah's cold is not much more than a runny nose, and he should be getting antibodies from me when he nurses. Gotta love breast milk! Seriously, this child has been sick only a handful of times in his almost 2-years and they have never been bad!

Sunday Special

I just wanted to share a little something special that happened this past Sunday. It was just before 9 in the morning and Josiah and I were snuggled up in bed. We usually spend an extra 15 to 20 minutes in bed after we wake up and snuggle, nurse, talk, whatever, before getting out of bed to start our day (or in this case, get ready for church). So there we were in bed and I was making him laugh when all of a sudden he stopped, got quiet and gasped at me.

Learning Financial Responsibility

Lately I've been thinking about finances and the future. You see, I'm a stay at home mom (SAHM) and while I love every waking moment of this life, the unfortunate truth is that being a SAHM doesn't pay. At least not in dollars. As embarrassing as it is to admit, it's about time I learn how to REALLY be financially responsible.

Image courtesy of hin255 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sticky Bug Monsters!

Happy New Year beautiful people! I pray you welcomed 2014 surrounded by family, friends and loved ones. We celebrated at our church and it was great! I look forward to enjoying my beautiful family this year and sharing them with you all as well! 

Sticky Fingers

One Sunday morning at church, before service began, I needed a way to keep Josiah entertained. He pointed to a roll of colored duct tape, so I put a piece on his hand and we pretended it was a bandage, or an "owie," as he calls it. It wasn't long before the owie lost it's fun factor and Josiah was bored again. Thats when I tried something new and it was a win with not only Josiah, but the other kids too!

Our Pretend "Date"

Having two babies in the house, they do a lot of playing (and fighting) with one another. Last night was pretty special though. Lily went to bed early while Josiah stayed up playing with our new-to-us kitchen/diner set. I've been in awe at the two of them lately because they've started really getting into pretend play, especially with this kitchen set and the new one at our church as well.

Real Snow for Warm Weather Winters

Something Crazy happened last night! What's wrong with this picture, can you tell? Palm trees and snow?! Snow in Florida? That has to be fake, Right? 

Ok yes. Well, yes and no. Let me explain… 

Felt Christmas Tree with Gift Bag "Pockets"

Christmas is right around the corner and this momma is happy to FINALLY be done with classes for the semester! My last paper really kicked my butt and kept me away from the blog for longer than I expected. But it's over now and I am here and ready to serve you! 

I've been busy (between finals and papers) thinking up and working on a few fun ideas for the kiddies and I am maybe a little bit TOO excited to share with you our latest creation! 

About Me

Welcome!  

I guess we should start off with proper introductions first, right? My name is Erica and I've been blessed and honored with the job of being Josiah's mommy! I am a single, stay-at-home mommy as well as a part-time student. This wasn't exactly the life I planned for us but I wouldn't have it any other way! Josiah is my inspiration and motivation. He's my whole world!

Ready to meet him?

Thanksgiving Craft: Hand and Foot Print Turkeys!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I figured it was time for a craft! Josiah and Lily don't know a thing about Thanksgiving or turkeys yet, but they do know that when I say we're going to "color" they're in for a good time!

Browsing through the dozens of crafts on Pinterest, I came across this one (Scroll down to "Turkey Shirts" I could not find any other source for this project so if it's yours, please let me know so I can give proper credit.) I knew this would be simple enough for the kids to make with the help of myself and my brother and would get them just messy enough to enjoy themselves. I gathered some materials and set out an old table cloth on the floor...