by jcastles | Sep 23, 2013 | Birthday Parties, Crafts, Family, Uncategorized
My youngest son has recently become a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan. We have no less than 50 episodes saved to our DVR and yes I taught him how to use it so I don’t have to stop what I’m doing every 25 minutes. No I’m not the parent that limits my kids TV time. They play outside plenty and their rooms plenty so I don’t feel I need to limit it. I have on occasion but mostly they do manage their own TV time well. Ok..back to MMC.
For his birthday he wanted a MMC party. I was happy because I knew that I could make just about everything for the party. I knew I wanted to cherish his birthday forever, so I had to seek professional help from https://www.youngfilmacademy.co.uk to make a birthday movie for my son. Since we’re in a new state with rain possibilities all the time and I’m not use to it yet we were having a hard time finding a location for a party. There isn’t much here that’s indoors which is totally weird to me. I wanted to have it at a local farm and if I hadn’t waited so long (he has a labor day birthday–gotta plan a later party) for his party we could have but the rain came the day of his party so i’m really glad we didn’t do the farm. I decided to go with the ole Chuck E Cheese birthday party. Which it turned out GREAT so I can’t complain!
Now onto the birthday party! One month before the party I was trying to decide between 2 different types of invitations. I had created a 4×6 invitation but decided to go with a crafty one. The yellow insert with all the party details comes out of the pocket. I used my Silhouette Cameo for all of it. I was so glad that I had it!! I seriously made everything for the party with it!
Here’s the banner!
The good bags! I’m not big on goody bags so I usually make them sweet and simple. I made it from a popcorn template and added ribbon. Each goody bag had cheese it’s, mini fruit rollup, mini play-doh, and mini bubbles.
I had to add a mini Mickey Mouse head to each bubble bottle!
Mickey Mouse head cake pops!!!! I made the cake pops like normal and added mini oreo’s for the ears. I attached the ears with chocolate first and let that dry. Then I dipped the entire pop into the chocolate (well I use almond bark).
Because I wanted some really good looking cake pops I made a few regular.
I had leftover chocolate so I made mini Mickey Mouse heads as a treat to just have on the table…I came back with almost all of them…ah well.
Here is my bucket of bags! I made the giant Mickey head and used the saying at the end of the show “Thanks for Stopping By”.
The cupcakes!!! Yup, I made them. Even made cupcake toppers!! I loved them and so did everyone else.
My little guy loved his party. I was glad it was over…..a month of party planning and I was sick of hearing about it, lol!! But it was definitely fun!
Here’s our post party coma coming on.
by jcastles | Sep 21, 2013 | Family, Household Tips, Uncategorized
Yes that title explains me completely. I over organize everything! I even took pictures of my kids rain jackets this year so if they became lost I could send a picture to their schools to help retrieve it. I know that sounds silly but last year my youngest had lost his jacket at his new school in Washington. No big deal normally…well sorta….but we just moved here and all our stuff wasn’t here yet. We had no extra’s of anything. Luckily I’d found a picture of his jacket online and with that they were able to locate it very quickly. Yes, I know….a little over the top.
In addition to over organizing I thrive on routine. I’ve always been that way. I have set days I clean, do laundry, etc. I’m open to change but with little wiggle room. If I start something I am most likely to complete it. Even something as simple as cleaning. I like to clean the house in 1 day. If I’m going to sweep/vacuum I want to be able to mop the floors the same day. Cause if I were to mop the next day the floors would have dirt and dog hair on them…you can’t mop floors like that! I always say I’m just going to clean this little mess in the living room….then I wind up vacuuming the entire house! I just can’t stop once I start. I like it all done at the same time. I definitely got that from my momma!
Because I am this way it brings it’s problems too. I like things done a certain way. It’s hard for me to let someone else do a task that I can get done in no time. I know I have to let my kids grow and learn so I let them do the chore/task and then when they’re at school or in bed I go back and complete/correct it.
It’s also hard for me to understand how someone loses things. I do not lose many items if at all. I notice if something is out of place usually right away. So when one of my kids comes home from school and they don’t have their jacket in their bag I’m like ummmm, I sent it with him, he’s in preschool why can’t you keep track of it?!
When I worked in a preschool class I always made sure my kids that came in left exactly the way they came or better. Their clothes, jackets, toys, cups, etc were never misplaced and I had up to 22 two year olds. I know it’s hard but it’s dedication. These parent’s left their trust in me to care for their child day in and day out. It was my job to care for them and their things. I treated every one of them as if they were my own and I do expect that from any teacher that comes in contact with my kids. I know that it won’t always be like that and I try to make my kids accountable for their own things but sometimes they do need an adult’s help.
So there you go….you’ve just seen a glimpse of what’s in my head. If you know me you know I have a clean house all the time. And you should also know that it doesn’t bother me that your house isn’t spotless!
by jcastles | Sep 19, 2013 | Crafts, Family, Uncategorized
So for the past month i’ve been working in my office on my son’s Mickey Mouse birthday party. I tried to sneak down there but a few times I was caught by the kiddos. Don’t get me wrong I’d tell them i’m going to my office to work but I’d make sure they were busy with something before I went. I’d at least get 45 min of steady work done doing it that way.
Of course they wanted to do stuff in there while I was. But my desk had my computer on it and my craft table had the projects I was working on. If they worked on the floor the dog would eat the paper so they used the top of a crate I had in the room. It’s funny because they didn’t care as long as they got to be creative and the dog didn’t’ eat any paper….they were fine.
Funny thing is they really weren’t “creating” anything. They are fascinated with the paper cutter and that’s all they wanted to do. So I gave them old ugly scrapbook paper that I won’t use for anything and they cut and taped and cut and taped. They had a blast and that was good enough for me. I hope it’s one of those things they remember when I’m old that was one of their favorite things to do….was to cut paper while mom worked.
by jcastles | Sep 17, 2013 | Family, Uncategorized
I recently updated my kids chore charts. My 5 year old just got his printed chore chart this past week and we’ve successfully completed one week! I’ve had him doing chores but nothing was set and he was asking for a chore chart so after his 5th birthday I decided it was time.
I found this super cute chore chart online that works great for us! For my youngest son I did have to alter it a bit and add pictures since he’s autistic and pictures definitely help since he can’t read yet but it’s the same chart. I put X’s in the circles on the days they don’t need to do the chore and they check off the chores they’ve done.
I gave my youngest son (now 5 yrs old) the chore of swiffering the floors and it’s so funny cause he wants to do it every day! He doesn’t do a great job but he does a good enough job to understand what he’s doing. He also helps stock toilet paper throughout the house, helps with laundry-mostly getting the baskets and moving doggie gates for us to carry it all downstairs, brush his teeth, make his bed-the best he can but with my help, and clean up all his belongings before bath/bed time. So far he’s doing fantastic with it.
So in addition to chore chart changes going on my middle son has been wanting to walk home from school. He’s actually always wanted to but some schools were just a little too far for our comfort or it didn’t work with our schedule. The location of our school and house here are perfect for it. It’s pretty much a straight shot but we’ve had a bit of crime in our neighborhood lately that now I don’t feel all that safe in our neighborhood. So I told him I’d let him walk down the street from the school to a closed grocery store parking lot. It’s literally right down the street. He crosses the street from the school via 2 adult crossing guards and walks a short .2 miles to the next crossing guard and i’m in the parking lot right there. He’s seen by the crossing guards the entire way and I can see him before he crosses with the last crossing guard. It helps give him his freedom and keep my mind at peace.
The kids are also liking playing outside more and more. With the highs being in the low 70’s lately it’s been real nice. As long as they get their homework and chores done they can play outside until dad gets home. We’ve had a few busted lips, skinned knees, and tears but I’m glad they’re getting to experience it w/out the Texas heat.
It’s also time to up the 9 yr old’s chore difficulty…..but I’ve got time…..I think, lol!!
by jcastles | Sep 1, 2013 | Family, Uncategorized
I want to start off by saying Tuesday can NOT come soon enough!! I need a kid free pedi and quiet…plain ole quiet!!!
Well that dreaded time has come…..back to school shopping! Back home in Texas we usually buy shorts, a few t-shirts, socks, underwear and shoes for back to school. Then in late November we usually have to buy the kids a few pair of jeans and that’s it. But now that we’re in Washington (incase you’ve been in a hole or forgot!) we had to buy for an actual fall/winter! So strange!!
A few weeks ago we found out that a city about 40 min away had a Dickey’s BBQ Pit. That’s our go to bbq place in Texas so we knew to go especially since it was by the mall we needed to go to. So we planned our shopping around a lunch trip to Dickey’s! OMG that was absolutely worth it! I haven’t felt so stuffed full of food in 4 months!!
We had a short list for today since I took the boys during the week to get jeans. The top items on our list today were rain jackets and shoes. The first place we hit was Burlington Coat Factory. School starts Tuesday and our boys are not use to being in the rain. Luckily we found one for the youngest really quick. After about 3 others stores we wound up paying a little more than normal one for the middle kiddo but his little tubby tummy was hard to work with. And we actually found a winter jacket for the middle kiddo…..that he liked!! That’s like the hardest thing to buy this kid! Besides shoes. I’ve never seen a kid so picky especially a boy about shoes and jackets. So even though we weren’t prepared to buy a winter jacket we did it anyway. And of course we hit Famous Footwear to cover our precious kiddos feet and they had a buy one get one 1/2 off deal going so I was determined to make the kids settle but they actually found some they liked. And BONUS! As we were standing in line I found a coupon online for 20% off for rewards members and 15% off for non reward members. So duh! I signed up at the register and got my 20% off the already awesome deal!
Then of course since it’s almost September the Halloween stores are opening up. And we were suckered into one, lol! We are always scrambling to get Halloween costumes….find the right size..etc. So this year we decided to buy 2 months early! Crazy, yes. Happy about it, yes! I’ll have a black morphed kid and a mickey mouse this year!
To end our exhausting day we decided we needed to be stuffed one more time. We hit The Outback Steakhouse and OMG OMG i’m so glad that we did. I ate so much!! We started with the bread, salad, bloomin onion, steamed broccoli, sweet potato, and a steak……well half of it came home, lol!! But it was absolutely worth it!!
Now I have a tiff about the jeans I bought earlier this week. Old Navy jeans fit my kids really well. So of course with their $12 a pair sale I got them each 5 pair. Each friggin pair had 3 tags on them!! WHY?!! If they reduced it to 1 tag per pair i’m quite sure they’d save a ton of $$ and could charge us less. Look at this pic! This is all the jeans….just 10 pair of jeans!!! Crazy!!!
by jcastles | Aug 1, 2013 | Family, Uncategorized
These past 2 weeks have been hard for me mentally. I don’t know why because the people i’m about to tell you about have no relations or friendship to me.
Two weeks ago a friend of mine added me to a facebook group and at first thought I didn’t want to be added to it…for a few reasons. 1) I no longer live in Texas. 2) I don’t know this family and sure I feel sorry for them but I don’t know them and I don’t usually like stuff on FB because it usually junks up my page.
So fast forward 2 weeks…….I stayed on the page. Her 1.5 yr old son choked on a pop tart and unfortunately didn’t make it. I read everything that’s posted on the facebook page and cry just about every time. My youngest son is almost 5 yrs old and I am so connected to him because of all the obstacles we’ve hit with him being Autistic. So the thought of loosing him (really any of my kids) is just devastating. All I can think about day and night is what would happen if I lost my kids. I find myself hugging, loving, and kissing them so much more. It should NOT take a child’s death to make me love my kids more. But that’s how I feel lately….that I don’t show them I love them enough. I have found myself slipping on them going to bed on time, wanting to read more of that book, wanting me to read a bedtime story even though I said no the first 3 times….I’m slipping for my kids. We won’t be here forever and I want to learn to cherish those moments more and more.
I’ve seriously thought about getting out of the facebook group. But then that makes me think….she lost a kid….a friggin kid and I haven’t. If I were her I wouldn’t want people to turn away because it was too hard for them….hell she lost her baby!!! So like I said I read the posts and see all the pics and video’s that are posted….and I hurt for her. I hurt for her so much.
This past weekend another death of someone that I don’t personally know affected me…why? I dunno. He was a radio dj back home in Texas. I grew up listening to him on and off my entire life. He had a heart attack and died…..no symptoms led up to it, it just happened and he was dead. I suppose I’m in shock because he’s the first celebrity type person i’ve known my entire life that’s passed on.
Just with those 2 deaths I feel like in some weird way it’s made me a better mom. I don’t think I was a bad mom before but I do think that I can let go of some things like reading a bedtime story….why is the news or a movie I want to watch more important than my child wanting a story?!
To my kids…..I love you all…Derryk, Kennyth, & Jayson…more than you will EVER know!!!
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