4 Nails is All I Can Handle

A friend of mine was sitting in a waiting room recently and found herself with a teen magazine as her only reading material.  What she gleaned from it was priceless to me.  First, clumpy mascara is in....sorry, can't get on board with that one.  I would feel the need to explain it to everyone.  Not for me.  The one that I can fully embrace is painting only 2 of your fingernails on each hand.  THIS, my friends, is brilliant.  I like the look of painted nails but they chip so quickly and redoing nails so often is impossible for me to keep up with.  But 4 nails...I can keep up with 4 nails.

Since doing this last night it has been going over and over in my head.  Life is like the 4 painted nails.  I can't do it all.  It's me outwardly showing that yes, a full set of painted nails would be nice, but I cannot do it.  It's a display of me and my hot mess.  I don't need to put on a facade of being all put together.  Every time I look at my 4 nails I am reminded of doing only what I can handle, and it brings me joy!

Reuse Play-Doh Containers with Math Toss Game

I had several empty play-doh containers and just had to do something with them.  My students love to work on their math skills in all different ways.  This is a good game to use their motor skills as well as their math skills.  Have them toss 2 pom poms into the cups.  They add these numbers.  For my students with strong math skills, they can do it in their heads.  For students that need to work out the problem, they can use a white board to draw and add dots.

This would also work with older kids with subtraction or multiplication.  More rows of cups could easily be added.  This could be used with letters as well.....say a word that starts with the letter__....

 You could change the pom pom to an acorn for a fall unit or a plastic egg for spring.

Find anything that is safely tossed.

I will make more of these for several students to use them at the same time.  They come apart for easy storage or would stack nicely as well. 

Don't have play-dough containers?  Use the plastic cups that so easily accumulate from kid drinks at restaurants.  Just think of the possibilities :)

Preschool Snacks

This was my last week of having the snack basket.  Ever.  :(

Goldfish "Carrots" - all over Pintrest

I improvised with the long pretzel bags.

Carrot Garden Pudding Cups

(carrots made out of orange starburst and green apple sour straws)

Jello Rainbow in the Clouds Cups

Addison Road

Have you heard of Addison Road?   This was the first song I heard by them and I was blown away.  Beautiful.  My girls and I sing their songs in the car at the top of our lungs.  Sometimes I stay quiet and listen to my girls sing along.  It brings tears to my eyes to know that their hearts are full of lyrics that point to God in every situation.  What the heart knows by heart, the heart knows.  I pray that in life's difficult moments they will remember these words and let the Holy Spirit wash over them.

Unfortunately the band is no longer together.  The songs they put out are certainly treasures.  Go check out their "Stories" album.  The variety of songs makes for a great album.

DIY Etched Mason Jars - Sleepover Party Favors - Tutorial

I have been slacking on the party planning for an upcoming sleepover.  In previous years we had tons of girls, which requires tons of planning.  This year there are only 3 special friends sleeping over.  My oldest has finally discovered that less is more!  Can I get a Hallelujah?

Despite my last minute efforts, I think these turned out beautifully.  I actually had everything on had.  I had the glass etching cream from when I did the wedding gift casserole dishes.    The cute flower cut out lids came from a recent Pick Your Plum impulse buy.  You can get them on Etsy as well.  The white lids I have on the jars in the tutorial are from Mountain Woman Products.  They are leak proof and I LOVE them!

Step 1.  Tape off the portion of jar where you want to etch.  Use letter stickers for the name.  Make sure all are completely fastened or the etching cream will leak in.

Step 2.  Thickly apply the etching cream.  And wait 20 minutes.  The directions on the cream say to wait 5 minutes but I think it makes a bolder etching if it stays on longer. 

Step 3.  Rinse cream off jar with water, take off letters, wash thoroughly before using.

Couldn't be easier!