School Days

It's that time of year again. There is excitement in the air. Soon it will be time to meet that big yellow bus at the end of the driveway and send my little fellow off to school again.

We are all ready! New clothes are washed and put away, the new shoes are broken in and the backpack and lunch box are all ready to go!

Just look at these cute little stickers I won over at A Simple Kinda Life! Angie is a friend of mine from way back in Jr. High! Check her out, she is always reviewing and giving things away! These little cuties are PakNaks. They are rubbery little stickers for all of your stuff! They are held on with Velcro so you can change them around if you would like!

I always say I am going to be more organized than the year before, so here is this year's idea.
A lunch packing station. I have it stocked with a sandwich holder, small containers, two different size lunch baggies, spoons and forks. Everything I need all in one spot!

I even have started some little surprises to tuck into the lunchbox. I just took some index cards and jotted down some jokes on them.

I wrote the answer on the bottom part, folded it and sealed it with a sticker.

I have enough done so far for the first two weeks of school. This month I'll do jokes, maybe next month will be strange space facts (he has been into space lately) and keep changing with the months to come.

I also have a great dry erase calender on the wall for all of our events. It is in a central location between the kitchen and living room for easy visibility. Hubby has it all filled out, so it has too much personal info to post a picture, but you get the drift!

I think we are all ready! How about you? What do you do to keep it all together? I would love to hear your ideas...I could use all the help I can get!

Tuesday's Talent

Today's talent is from my son.

Meet Pizza Pete. He's a Pizza Joe's delivery pizza. When someone takes a bite out of him, that part just grows right back. That makes him a super pizza. And that pizza van in the background isn't just a pizza van. It's a flying pizza van. And when his pizza van breaks down he uses his string cheese powers to get where he's going. That's his story.

Tuesday's Talent

The first talent today was a total surprise! I opened my e-mail to find this tasty little treat!

This is the dancing cupcake from Miss M. I love this cupcake and all of her sassy dance moves! The sprinkles are the best...so colorful! Look at the cute little picture she drew of herself (she really is that cute in person, too!) You know what Miss M? You're my favorite little sprinkle!



The next drawing is not as cute, but the artist sure is...it is from my own little cupcake! Here we have Alien Man

Alien Man is a villain and enemy of the Super League of Weirdos. He fell to Earth inside a cardboard box. His favorite food is cardboard. He was so hungry, on his way to Earth he ate his cardboard box! His favorite drink is dirty dish water. His favorite thing to do is eat. He is also a space pirate. He tries to defeat the Super League of Weirdos by trying to eat them. He thinks people taste like cardboard. His least favorite food is chicken. One day when he was flying his space boat, he came upon Creature Man. Creature Man fighted him and that's how he got his peg leg. One day when he was flying his space boat, he came upon Toilet Man. Toilet Man flushed him down and that's how he got his eye patch.

Thanks for the talent kiddos! I can't wait to see what you come up with next week!

Dreams and Comfort

Have you ever heard something in a song, or on television and it just gets stuck in your head? You know, a lyric or a phrase that keeps coming back to you when you least expect it?

Yesterday was one of those days. I was watching Little House on the Prairie with my family and Laura was going on about how it wasn't fair that she had to work in a stable to make enough money to get shoes for her horse while Nellie was just handed a thoroughbred. Of course Pa had some words of wisdom for his little "Half Pint". He told her that in life you are going to come across things that just don't seem fair. That's why the Lord gives you little gifts in your life, to help you get through the tough times.

It was this little morsel that kept creeping in and out of my mind all day. As my family ran around doing some errands, I kept thinking about Pa's advice and all of the little gifts I have been blessed with.

We finished up our errands and headed home. When we got home, I phoned my Mom, just like I do all of the time. When I finished rambling on about what I did that day and what I planned to do tomorrow she gave me some very disturbing news. Someone we are very close to suffers from an addiction to pain medication. This is someone I am very close to and love very much. Worse yet, this is someone my seven year old son is close to and loves dearly. This person HAD 12 years clean time. My mother went on to tell me that this person is once again abusing medication. At this point, there is nothing I can do but pray.

So, after hearing this news, I tried to continued on with the rest of my night as normal. Every chance I got, I silently said a prayer for our loved one's problem. Pa's advice to Laura kept racing through my mind once again. I went to bed, and that's when I was given one of those little gifts from the Lord he was talking about......

I had a very strange dream. I don't really remember most of it, but what I do remember is a gift from above. At some point in my dream, I was in a house. I'm not even sure it was mine. I remember hearing a car pull up and the front door opened. In walked my Granddad and he said my name. I can still remember sound of his voice. (this Granddad passed away in 1998) . I ran over and gave him the biggest hug around his neck.

At that moment I woke up. It seemed so real, that for a moment I wondered if it really did happen. Even though it was a dream, I was filled with such warmth and comfort. It still feels so real, tears are streaming down my face as I type this.

Upon waking, I instantly thanked the Lord. I prayed that He continues to bless me and my loved ones with little gifts to get us through the tough times. The Lord heard my prayer for comfort and strength and He answered in a very powerful and awesome way.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven....Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5: 3-4)

Tuesday's Talent

Today's Tuesday's Talent is a gathering of the Super League of Weirdos. In the middle is Creature Man and he is surrounded by all the members of his League.

We Have a Birthday to Celebrate!

Aww, look at this little fellow, with his cute little bib and shiny golden crown. He must be having a birthday............

Well actually he has had quite a few of them......as of today, fourteen to be exact!

This handsome fellow is my friend's son. He is quite the wild man and gentleman all rolled into one fantastic package and today is his birthday!

Happy Birthday Wild Bill!

I hope your day is as awesome and fun as you are!

Tuesday's Talent

Today's talent is another drawing made by my seven year old. He created Ben Franklin by using what is called a doodle trick. Mr. Franklin is made from the number 100! You can visit www.activitytv.tv to learn how!