Oh, How Pinteresting!!!! Recipe Edition

Here are some recipes that I really have been loving from Pinterest this week:

Pumpkin Crunch Cake - looks super easy and super yummy!

Crock Pot Applesauce

20 Slimming Smoothies - I can definately use these and they look so yummy!

Grilled Chicken Pizza

Canned Apple Pie filling

They all look so yummy!  I can't wait to try them.  Happy Pinning!


Linking up with the Vintage Apple!

Storage Wars

Over the weekend, my husband and I had a Storage Wars marathon.  For those of you who have never heard of it, it is a newer (2010) show on A&E (We streamed it through Netflix since we don't have cable).  I was only planning on watching 1 episode to check it out and well, eight episodes later........let's just say that we really thought it was interesting.  Basically, they follow five different people around to storage auctions.  Most of the five people show up to the same auctions, so they really get to know each other.  Storage auctions are when people have stuff in a storage unit but fail to pay their monthly bill.  After three months of not paying, their unit get put on the auction list.  During the auction, they open up the unit and everyone has 5 minutes to see what's inside.  They can only look from the entrance of the unit and CAN NOT go inside.  The bidding then starts.  Sometimes they see good stuff from the entrance and other times they only see junk (or what they think is junk!) Some Most of the people don't like each other so they are always trying to bid each other up.  Because of this, some of the people end up paying more for a unit then they originally would.  Once they purchase the unit, they have 48 hours to get everything out.  Some of the units are full of surprises!  One unit that looked like all it had was furniture really had collectible action figures worth 10's of thousands!  Another unit held an entire coin collection.  Still other units had full piggy banks and safes with money.  I can't believe some of the stuff that people leave in storage units.  My husband and I came up with two conclusions about why the units with awesome stuff went unpaid  (1) the owner of the unit passed away and the heirs let it go, or didn't know about it.  (2) Or that the couple that was renting the unit was in the middle of a divorce and thought that the other person was paying the rent when really no one was. 
If you ever get the time or opportunity, check out the show.  It's pretty interesting!

School Stuff: B is the letter of the week

We used this worksheet to practice writing the letter B:
http://www.first-school.ws/t/alpha_tracers_zb1/b4.htm

I totally forgot to take pics of her worksheets! Sorry!

For more details on what I did for these worksheets, check out this post here. 

Snacks that start with B
  -Mon - Black licorice
  -Tues - Banana Bread
  -Wed - Bugels
  -Thur - Blueberries
  -Fri - Bologna and cheese

Books we read that focus on the letter B: 
  -Bebe's B Book by J. L. Mazzeo
  -It's B! by Katherine Hengel
  -The Berenstains' B Book

Other Alphabet books we read:
  -Babar's ABC by Laurent de Brunhoff
  -B is for Bookworm by Anita C. Prieto

I couldn't come up with a popular holiday that we celebrate in the U.S. that starts with B so we just continued with our Autumn theme. We read:
  - It's Fall! by Linda Glaser
  - What Happens in Fall? by Sara L. Latta

One of our projects was to look in a magazine and find pictures of things that started with B.  I then had her cut them out and glue them on a piece of paper.  Here is our B magazine project:

Boys, Band-aids, Ball, Broccoli, Bear, Bathing Suit, Baby

We also did some bowling on our deck in the backyard.  I set up 10 2 liter pop bottles and let the kids knock them down with a soccer ball.  Here are some pictures from that activity: 

Hope you enjoyed our Preschool adventures!

P.S.  I just checked out my library account and I have 45 books checked out!  I don't think that I have ever had that many checked out at once.  I am surprised they keep letting me check out more books!

Two year anniversary

Two years ago today, my mother died from Pancreatic cancer.  She left behind children that she would never see graduate from college.  Children that she would never see get married.  Grandchildren that she would never be able to meet.  I am sad that she is missing out on these wonderful events that are taking place in her children's lives.  That is why we need to find a way to stop this horrible disease, so other lives are not affected in the same way that mine has been. 

Stats about Pancreatic Cancer:

* For all stages combined, the 1-year relative survival rate is 25%, and the 5-year survival is estimated as less than 5% to 6%.
* For local disease, the 5-year survival is approximately 20%.
* For locally advanced and for metastatic disease, which collectively represent over 80% to 85-90% of individuals, the median survival is about 10 and 6 months, respectively. Without active treatment, metastatic pancreatic cancer has a median survival of 3–5months; complete remission is rare.
*In 2010, an estimated 43,000 people in the US were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and almost 37,000 died from the disease

*Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest fatality rates of all cancers, and is the fourth-highest cancer killer among both men and women worldwide. Although it accounts for only 2.5% of new cases, pancreatic cancer is responsible for 6% of cancer deaths each year.
Pancan.org

This past Sunday, we got the opportunity to walk at the Detroit Zoo in honor of my mother.  Our team "Mak Attack" raised almost $800.  This money will be used for Pancreatic Cancer research. 

Beginning of the walk

Aunt Ellen, Cousin Steph, Aunt Sandy and Aunt Sue (my mom's sisters)

Me and my sister Jessica

Cousin Stephanie and Malachi

Aunt Ellen, Stephanie and my hubby

Fiebelkorns

My brother Chris and brother Ryan

The cutest animal at the Zoo - Red Panda



Team Mak Attack

RIP Mommy!  We miss you and love you, and know you are in a better place.

Hanging kids pictures

So I saw this idea over at Pinterest and thought it was amazing and just what I needed! 


Kids art work line

 Our fridge is already full of Leap Frog magnet sets and our calender, so we pretty much have ZERO room to hang our kids coloring pages or school and church projects.  I decided to come up with my own variation (based on the types of hooks I could find). 

I went to Walmart and had some time to kill before I picked up Alyssa from Preschool.  I thought I would look in their hardware section and see what I could find.  I ended up finding these white hooks with a small screw in the end.  I think they were suppose to be used to hang mugs???  The hooks were only $1 for 4 so I thought I would give them a shot. 


Here is a closeup of what the hook looks like

 It didn't come out perfectly but it will definitely work.  I used a piece of yarn for the actual line and I already had the clips.  Hoping to use this line to hang up lots of artwork.  Maybe I will even put up another one somewhere else in the house, since I have two more hooks. 

School Stuff: A is the Letter of the week

So this school year, I have a few learning goals for Alyssa.  Yes, she is in Preschool twice a week for a few hours, but I still want to make sure that I am teaching her stuff at home.  She really enjoys playing "school" which makes my job a little easier.  One of my goals is for her to be able to write out the entire alphabet (lower and upper case).  Even if it's not perfect, she will have an idea of what to do when they actually start writing in school.  So every week we are going to be focusing on a letter and have some activities that go along with that letter.  These posts will be a week behind cause I want to show pictures of what we get done.  We are starting at the beginning so last weeks letter was A. 

We used this worksheet to practice writing the letter A:
http://www.first-school.ws/t/alpha_tracers_zb1/a2.htm

On Monday, I let her color in the letter A and the apple with crayons.  I had her trace all the uppercase A's with her finger.  We then used a crayon to trace the dashed A's.  We did the same thing with the lowercase a's.

The rest of the week, I used a clean copy of the same worksheet in a page protector.  She traced the letters with a dry erase marker.  Overall, I was impressed.  She did a pretty good job, seeing as this is the first time that she has ever really practiced writing or tracing lines, and she really seemed to enjoy it. 

Snacks that start with A
  -Mon - Apples
  -Tues - Almonds
  -Wed - Avocado (just a few slices to taste - Malachi liked, Alyssa did not)
  -Thur - Applesauce
  -Fri - Apricots

Books we read that focus on the letter A:
  -Aimee's A Book by J.L. Mazzeo
  -It's A! by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann
  -Alexander Anteater's Amazing Act by Barbara deRubertis

Other Alphabet books we read:
  -A, You're Adorable by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise, and Sidney Lippman
  -Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak

Season/holiday that starts with A that we learned about:  Autumn
  -Read Little Red's Autumn Adventure by Sarah Ferguson
  -Craft: tissue paper tree

One of our projects was to look in a magazine and find pictures of things that started with A.  I then had her cut them out and glue them on a piece of paper.  Here is our A magazine project:

Angel Soft toilet paper, Apron, tag with Annette, Advantage
doggie medicine, letter A, Asparagus

Hope you enjoyed our Preschool adventures!

Oh, How Pinteresting!!!!

So I finally broke down and joined Pinterest.  I really didn't need one more internet activity but I really want to start working on some home projects this winter and needed ideas.  A few of the bloggers I follow join up with The Vintage Apple every Wed. for Oh, How Pinteresting!!!! and I thought I would join in the fun!

I need to make one (or a few!!) of these for all the papers that hang out on my counter. 

How gorgous is this nail polish!?!?!  It's OPI Holiday Glow.

What a great idea!  Now if it would only work for spinach.

Yummy White Chocolate Peanut Butter Krispies

I think the dress and boots are super cute together!

Hope you have a Pinteresting Wednesday!!